This interview was first published on www.emofag.net
You walk down this dark back alley at night, whipped by an ice-cold rain. You’re tired, broke and filled with auto-destructive feelings. A neon sign is flashing, you push the front door, looking for some liquor strong enough to burn your guts and, why not, some venomous female company to forget this dog-day you could call “my best “life’s a bitch” experience so far”… Men dressed in black with faces full of scars looking at you as you approach a free table and grab a chair. You order a bourbon and gaze at the half-naked woman (is this a bruise on her face?) dancing on the stinky stage. The night has just begun and will probably end bad…
A tall dark-haired man approaches and sits at your table, his name is Bain Wolfkind and he’s going to talk to you about his music and everything else if, of course, you buy him a drink…
emofag: Bain, are you a lover or a gangster (you can’t be both)?
Bain Wolfkind: Of course I am, and why not?
e: Have you ever beaten up somebody with a pimp stick? Did you enjoy it?
BW: No I haven’t. A pimp stick, for the benefit of your good readers, is a wire coat hanger fashioned into a kind of riding crop, popular in Chicago from the 1930’s onwards, that pimps used to beat their whores. For more information read Iceberg Slim’s book “Pimp” (NB: Yes he’s right: read this book).
e: I really love the black & decadent atmosphere on the album… Do you hang out in lousy bars that much?
BW: Lousy bars are the best, unfortunately they are getting hard to find these days, except for New-York, Mexico City, Bangkok and Vienna of course, which still have the some of the best, lousiest and sleaziest bars in the world.
e: In fact, I enjoy even more the concept than the music, we really feel that there’s a complete universe goin’ on there… Was it your main intention? Did you think of the music & the themes before creating them?
BW: Well you would hope that musicians, like film directors and writers try and create their own complete universe for the audience to get lost in. Most of my lyrics are based around a story and the music has to compliment the story with a sense of time, place and emotion. Obviously what has happened and is happening in my life, the music, films and books that I’m into inform and colour the style and content of my music.
e: Please describe your music in three words…
BW: Fishnets, booze and cigarettes.
e: Even if there are some loops & samples, there’s a creepy vintage atmosphere on the album… Don’t you think more electronics would have ruined it?
BW: Yes exactly, I attempt to use 1950’s and 60’s production values in my music. I still enjoy electronic music but will save that for another project sometime in the future.
e: How long was it to write all the songs? Would you have done it faster if you weren’t drinking?
BW: It took about 5 weeks to write and record during a very hot tropical summer permeated with horrific thunder and lighting storms and torrential rain. I don’t drink too much when I’m recording, just smoke a lot of cigarettes. The drinking is done when I’ve finished a track, if it sounds good to me when I’m drunk then I’m satisfied.
e: “Music For Lovers & Gangsters” could be a perfect score for a modern “film noir”… Please introduce us to your cinematographic influences…
BW: Well my first memory of cinema was at a Drive-in movie with my parents, I must have been about 5 or 6 years old and they took me to see this surreal vampire film called “Let’s scare Jessica to death” by John D.Hancock. They also took me to the Drive-in to see Roman Polanski’s “China Town”. My father was working in this old 1930’s era cinema and I got to see Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” when it was first released. I used to hang out at the cinema most weekends soaking up the nostalgic atmosphere and really dug the cool organ music and Morricone soundtracks that were played before the films. Eventually they started putting on Punk Rock gigs there which was cool. There isn’t space to go into the details of all genres, films and directors I like but I love Film Noir, 60’s Espionage, 70’s Crime, Spaghetti Westerns and am a huge fan of early John Waters, Russ Meyer and David Lynch.
e: By the way, I don’t know very much about you… Please give us a “Bain Wolfkind Rockstar Biography”…
BW: I started an old school Industrial project in 1988 called Korrective Services. In 91, I was part of a Swans inspired band with Helen Rose, who sang with the Beasts Of Bourbon, on vocals. In 94, I created a Martial Industrial project called Blood And Iron with John Murphy. In 95 came the first purely Electro version of Novo Homo. In 97, I began a group called Frankie Maschine, the precursor to Bain Wolfkind. As well as joining Der Blutharsch, 2000 brought the second coming of Novo Homo. In 2004 I started performing and recording as Bain Wolfkind.
e: If you were not into music, what would you do?
BW: Well I gave up on other art forms many years ago, they made my hands too dirty. That being said, I would love to direct films or write crime fiction. My other great dream is to own my own bar.
e: Where’s the priest in “Music…”? There’s always a priest somewhere…
BW: Well, by birth I’m a White Anglo Saxon Protestant but by nature I’m an atheist. Luckily I grew up in a family who could care less about religion, although one of my uncles is a priest! If you’d done your research, a priest does appear on the “Love Letters Ep” on the track “Death House Blues”.
e: Can you tell us more about the little stories we can hear on the album? Who’s “Black John”? Why “Their Honeymoon Won’t last”? Where do you go “Driving All Night”?
BW: Black John was a sheriff who was beheaded in the 1800’s by some local hillbilly’s in Tasmania, the small island state at the south eastern tip of Australia. “Their Honeymoon Won’t Last” is a purely autobiographical revenge piece written about an ex-girlfriend who ran off with one of my so-called buddies. Where do I drive all night? The same places Travis Bickle drove in “Taxi Driver”.
e: You do almost everything yourself… How do you manage it “live”?
BW: Well I sometimes refer to myself as the “King of Karaoke” which basically means me performing to a backing track with some kind of trashy movie playing on a screen behind. When possible I get someone to play live guitar. It’s kind of lame but it makes touring and soundchecks a dream.
e: You really seem to enjoy walkin’ on a stage right? Is this only because of the groupie thing?
BW: Well yes and no, lately I’ve been so smashed by the time I hit the stage and fall off the stage that I have no idea what’s happening.
e: Do you have to get drunk before performing?
BW: No I don’t, and there are other intoxicants I prefer much more than alcohol! Unfortunately, I’ve been hitting the stage lately at say 2:00 am so by then I’ve been hanging around for 5 hours in a club so it’s hard not to have a few drinks or whatever else is on offer.
e: What’s your liquor of choice?
BW: Bourbon, Gin or Vodka.
e: A lot of Goths must come to your shows… Are you into the Goth
culture?
BW: I haven’t noticed too many Goths at my shows and I’m not particularly into Goth culture but I’m happy if they want to buy my records, buy me drinks or come to see me perform.
e: This album is now out on HaurucK!. I think that’s a very good thing that this kind of music is on the label, don’t you?
BW: Well I’m happy to be on the label and HaurucK! releases many different styles of eclectic music so I don’t feel out of place.
e: Martial & Militaria music is far too much exploited in the Industrial scene nowadays… What are your thoughts on that?
BW: Every genre of music gets exploited and most of the time becomes a diluted form of the original. The interest in the Third Reich and music has been around a long time, the Stooges were into it, as was Jimmy Page, Jim Morrison, Bowie and even Ace Freehley from Kiss. The American, Garage Punk band Gonn, used to get banned from performing for hanging a nazi flag on stage back in the 1960’s. Even though it’s been done to death it still creates extreme reactions in people so I suppose it remains the last taboo of Rock n’ Roll and that’s why people keep doing it. If people were still shocked by Elvis style ass moves, it would definitely be more fun.
e: You’re also part of Der Blutharsch… How did you hook up with Albin Julius? Was it in a lousy bar?
BW: You could say that. Lousy bar but good gig. I was performing in one of the support acts for Death In June back in 1999 when he was still playing with them. We met up again in 2000 when I was living in Austria, we enjoyed each others company, he needed a drummer, so I joined Der Blutharsch and played my first show with them later that year in St Petersburg.
e: You live in Australia, he lives in Austria… No problem with that?
BW: No, I’m sure I would be dead by now if I still lived in the same country as Albin. I partied so hard in Austria earlier this year that I had to go into rehab!
e: You did vocals for the next Der Blutharsch album… Can you tell us how it’s gonna sound? Do you also write the words you sing in DB?
BW: Well Albin describes it as Psychedelic Rock, obviously it’s very different to the early stuff but I’ll leave any detailed analysis of how it sounds to him. Yes, I write all the lyrics I sing for Der Blutharsch, I listen to the finished tracks and then write lyrics inspired by the music.
e: Rumors say that you pay a lot of money to play in Der Blutharsch and Albin also forces you to clean up his house every month, right?
BW: Really? That’s news to me, you must have got your information from one of those stupid Neo Folk forums! The only thing I have ever cleaned at Albin’s house is my own vomit from his bathroom floor after too much drinking.
e: Douglas P. (NB: The man behind Death In June) also lives in Australia I think… Do you go hunting together sometimes?
BW: I’ve performed as a support act for Death In June four times in Australia. I usually meet up with Doug when he’s in Sydney on hunting trips. The last time he was in town we went to see the Tiger Lillies together at the Opera House.
e: Maybe I’m wrong but, is this not you butt-fucking one of your friend dressed in an elegant uniform on the DB website gallery? Do you think it’s a way for a gangster or a lover to behave? Aren’t you ashamed of that?
BW: A lady never tells!
e: What are your next artistics projects?
BW: Well there’s the “Wasteland” EP coming out in august and at present I’m recording a full length album due out in 2008.
e: I think you should hire some musicians to create the darkest big band on earth, that should be your next project…
BW: Yeah I’m working on that as we speak. I’ve had offers from some very talented musicians… Just have to find people of a similar persuasion who are not too fucked up on drugs.
e: Among all the great artists you put in your “sounds like” section on your Myspace page, please pick up three of them with who you’d love to do a song with…
BW: I’d love to be produced by Kim Fowley, Phil Spector or Shadow Morton.
e: Kylie Minogue also lives in Australia… Do you go shopping together sometimes?
BW: Kylie Minogue has lived in England, a place a don’t have much affection for, for the last 20 years so we rarely get the chance to go shopping together.
e: When you listen to “Music…” two years after its recording, what would like to improve on it?
BW: Well I don’t listen to it often but from what I remember, apart from some out of tune singing, nothing.
e: What’s your plans for this summer? Any travelling schedule?
BW: Well it’s winter here now, I’m heading to LA and New-York in October to
play a few shows.
e: Have you ever crossed the route 66? What would be your vehicle of
choice?
BW: No, only Highway 101 in California and Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, New-York. If I was to travel by route 66 my vehicle of choice would be a Chevy 69.
e: Is Elvis God?
BW: I told you before, I’m an atheist!
e: Well, that’s it Bain, thank you very much for your time… If I forgot to ask something you wanna talk about please do it now as the last words are yours…
BW: Other than check out the “Wasteland” EP and come to my next shows in the USA if you’re there, that’s about it.
Bain Wolfkind
OFFICIAL BAIN WOLFKIND MYSPACE PAGE:
http://www.myspace.com/bainwolfkind
OFFICIAL DER BLUTHARSCH SITE:
http://www.derblutharsch.com
FOR MORE INFORMATIONS ON BAIN WOLFKIND, CHECK THE DER BLUTHARSCH INTERVIEW ON THIS SITE