FABRYKA INDUSTRIAL ROCK & METAL ENCYCLOPEDIA - Vampire Rodents (Daniel Vahnke)

2009-09-02 |

e-mail interview

Marco: I’ve looked for your albums in digital format, but I haven’t found them in any online stores; Why don’t you sell your albums in mp3 (or other digital format)?

Daniel: Sorry, but I'm a complete idiot when it comes to mp3 - internet release issues - I have a vague knowledge of these methods, but I've always relied on others to spread the VR virus. I am at that age where even a few hours a week devoted to such activities is impossible. I had the same problem throughout the VR years. The manhours required for VR was such that I often was unable to even respond to press and record label queries. I'm not an anti-social person, just an anti-HUMAN one, so it is very difficult to communicate in a way that doesn't make me seem (understandably) insane. I would love to meet someone who could handle this for me, but as for now, I am alone.

Marco: Do you know that your albums are the most fancy release of the 90’s american coldwave? You can hardly find them on online stores both used and new but at great price, maybe they don’t know that your discography is on sale in your Ebay store, except a couple of albums.

Daniel: I have no frame of reference for your kind critique. You seem to be sound of mind, so that is a double compliment. The experimental phase of industrial music was a short one, so it is hard to discern a a viable phase of influence on current music forms. I know almost nothing of music from the modern era. I've made a few futile attempts at finding modern SBC composition counterparts, but I am easily frustrated. I would love to hear of your learned reader's recommendations for such music, however. I am not a genius, my friend. An idiot savant is most likely. I have no idea how I ever created my music and the music I hear now in my mind is far more extreme. In my opinion, the last three albums were as commercial and listener-friendly as Sigur Ros!! (a great band BTW!!).

Marco: On August ’08 there were the Olympic Games in China (Beijing). I think that the world miss an opportunity to help Tibetan and also Chinese themselves to fight for their rights. I’m really scared by a People’s Republic who even censors the Tiananmen Square Protest/Massacre from the school’s book. What do you think?

Daniel: My entire adult life has been geared toward producing propaganda defeating Communist & Nazi ideals. In Canada, it was possible to be objective about vocalising against the monsters of human politics, but since Tiananmen, the real shape of the global Politik has become inescapable. There is NO difference between post-Soviet gangsters and American Confederate/Republican idealogy. Both are focused on the mythology that some are born to enslave others. The struggle in Tibet is but a microcosm of that which encapsulates the planet. Do you sacrifice what you have now for the promise of true global freedom in the distant future? Since most humans are incapable of seeng the 'Future' as happening after their demise, what can be determined from their opinions & actions? I hold no misconceptions regarding human courage - it is all too rare a thing

Marco: A new millennium is just begun. Nevertheless the politic and social worldwide outlook is parlous. Despite all the errors did in the past, humanity is governed by Terror, Oil/Gas, Banks, Freemasonry and Religion. Who rules the world in your opinion?

Daniel: That is, of course, a very distressing question. As long as the Alpha male quotient of the population threatens the 'humanist' element, the result will always be the same. The survival of the 'intellectual' minority of any country is dependent on its ability to transfer its 'Intelligence' to viable self-preserving realities. IE - can you make a mortar from scrap materials? Can you send volunteer suicide bombers when/where they are needed without the sappy sentiment roadblocks (that is - keep the relatives in a box!!)? Human history is civil warfare and shall always be so. In modern parlance, DO NOT trust the United States until the US Civil War part 2 has been conducted and resolved. The 1860's Civil War was as unresolved as WWI was as to WWII. The majority of white America still wants its slaves back (and now, these AmeriKKKans are of all colors). The only possibility to complete this evil cycle is to reingage and resolve the American Civil War. If the Nazi element of America prevails, then the rest of the world must respond as a combined unit to exterminate this threat even at the expense of the species, but if global species extinction is a threat, then individuals across the globe must sabotage the MACHINE.

Marco: In your masterpiece Premonition, two lyrics have caught my attention: Infection and Subspecies. In these two songs you declaim (i think it’s a better term then “sing”) a pragmatic manifest of the human history. Religion had a primary role in history, and has again a strong leverage. Do you think religion will continue to affect our lives in the future? Or do you think it’s possible to see a De-Evolution, Posthuman, Transhuman future?

Daniel: Obviously, I'm not the person to ask about this. I consider humans to be an evil destructive species, period. I realize there have always been a weak but more intelligent non-violent component to the species, but by their nature, they have neither the ablilty nor the inclination to defeat/destroy the adversary. For example, after the American Civil War, was Reconstruction & Jim Crow the way to proceed? No, of course not. When you are the victor, you act as a victor. The Confederate South should have been DE-Constructed and even leased (ala Panama) to other countries in order to eradicate the white power element and even banished the former slave-holder elements to Hispaniola as slaves themselves (see - I told you I was nasty...). No, there can be no 'bi-partisanship' (as they call it today) in order to preserve the spirit of the Constitution. Yes, slave holders were an element of the Constitution, but the document itself is more important than any number of white trash 'patriots' you can push into the sea. Sorry, but there is no room for compassion. It is 2009 now, soon we will wake up to the new year or A.D. 1500 and the witch trial will start all over again with 'THEE NUCLEAR ARSENAL' as our Lord & Saviour. Fight today or bow down tomorrow. If there really is a DOG, there will be no more humans tomorrow Forever.....

Marco: Imagine writing an album like Clockseed nowadays. Which artists do you want to collaborate on vocals for your songs?

Daniel: I am absolutely ignorant of modern music. What little I do hear is embarrassing crap that seems to be produced by child pornographers. How else do you explain the yelps & squeaks of Michael Jackson & Britney Spears? Do those weird little sounds mean something to priests & scout leaders? Are they signals to the anal probe Martian invaders - oh wait, that would be self-fulfilling fantasies, I guess!! Sorry, I don't intend to be offensive - just part of the genetics. Seriously, I consider my great fortune & good luck with guest vocalists to be inexplicable. The music was not that great, but somehow, I received incredible results from people I've never met. Maybe that is the key - No communication - just let the experiment ride as it must....

Marco: Eric Powell (16 Volt) returned last year with an amazing album FullBlackHabit. As you can see you’re still in time for the Pillow project… better late then ever. Do we have any chance?

Daniel: Recliner is a not just a dead, but an stillborn project. It was a bad idea to begin with. If you compare the original 'Mother Tongue' instrumental to its Clockseed result, you'd understand it was a grave mistake on my part. The incomplete results can now be heard on the VR MySpace autopsy table.

Marco: You’ve collaborated with Athan Maroulis (Spahn Ranch) on several releases, as on Alchemia. Are there any unreleased songs? Are you still involved in this project?

Daniel: There are no unreleased tracks with Athan. He is an absolute angel and I'm very grateful for his participation with VR. I've always considered him to be my vocal 'twin' and wish I could have helped his career instead of hindered it. His jazz reissue label is a triumph and I think his artistic fruition is still in the future. Jazz music of the 1930-55 era is a rare point of pride for Americans and he has provided a great service in preserving the music of our greatest creative era. The Alchemia project was finished in 1997, but only my pitiful Blue Nile style vocal sketches were recorded over it. Best left to the fishes...

Marco: The Maya calendar predict (or at least our modern translation) an apocalypse, a dramatic change in the world on 21/12/2012, then hurry up to publish the unreleased V.R./Ether Bunny songs…we have only three more years to hear them.

Daniel: Sorry, but I can't get into this. Let's just say, that many other humans share my desire for extinction. So it goes...

Marco: Every time you do an interview, there’s always the same question and also this time I can’t don’t do it: Is it possible a Vampire Rodents come back? Now with Internet you can publish and sell your own work with no intermediary, so no more bad experiences like the Dossier and Cargo ones. You’re one of the greatest alternative artist of the last 20 years, your music is an ingenious collage between Avant-garde, Industrial, Dadaism and other different music style.
So it’s really sad reading in a VR interview of the last year:”There really is no place for me in the modern music world”. I don’t think so.

Daniel: Since there is only me to 'comeback' to, don't count on it. My participation in the industrial/goth movement was fraudulent at best and predatory at worst, so NO. I can't reprise a horrible 10-year practical joke. I'm 44 years old now and no longer see the entertainment in resurrecting this point-in-time. The temporal space which VR recordings inhabit are like old Monty Python or Richard Pryor albums. You've heard it once - great. Hear it twice - kinda not so great. Personally, I've only listened to VR 2-3 times a year in the past decade and it's not that impressive to me. The Ether Bunny record was far more entertaining and at the time, I thought the last two VR albums were as commercial as U2, so what do I know?

Vampire Rodents at Myspace | http://www.discogs.com/artist/Vampire+Rodents | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Rodents