FABRYKA INDUSTRIAL ROCK & METAL ENCYCLOPEDIA - Human Factors Lab

2006-11-11 |

Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz and Brian Backlash |

e-mail interview

Brian Backlash: Have any members of HFL played in any other groups?

Sev3n: Well yeah.. I think we have been involved with our share of bands and projects throughout the years.. I myself did some work with Crossbreed, Akki has her own little project called Scarred Lolita. I think everyone in the band goes through phases of being a bit of a music whore.

NINa: You wrote in your bio that you began creating your own form of industrial rock music. So what's the receipe to cook a tasty dish of such a style of music? :)

Sev3n: Well.. We just play what feels right more for our own enjoyment then anything else. We're not the typical imagine that comes to mind when you say "Industrial". Usually when I think industrial I think of 2 guys behind keyboards and vocals so processed you can barley distinguish them from the dirty synths... We don't really fit this mold.. Our live show is EXTREMELY high energy very synth driven of course but also very guitar driven and live drums are a must... But then again we don't really fit your typical rock band image either so I guess we're somewhere in the middle I guess in that sense we are creating our own form.. not in the that we are the first to do it.. But more in just that we don't try to really do anything to fit into any industrial format or rock format.. We just write what we feel....it wasn't really until we started touring that we realized we were a little different then your average "industrial" band... it seemed at 1 show.. we were billed with all industrial bands.. and we would be called the metal band since we used live drums.. then the next night.. in the next town.. we would be the industrial band.. because we were the only band that had keys and wore make up.. fuck labels.

Brian Backlash: Human Factors Lab is just one of a whole crop of third wave industrial bands to emerge within the last few years, others including Rabbit Junk, Particle Son and Stayte. What do you think the overall strengths of the new breed of industrial music is? What are it's weaknesses?

VEX: The obvious strengths come from being inovatively creative from an individualistic aspect as opposed to what being the obvious weaknesses coming from only adopting stylistic-al sounds or songwriting nuances from already established or dated bands...

NINa: The album Pap3r includes remixes by KMFDM, Curse Mackey, Crossbreed, 16volt, Angel, Bile or Cynergy67 (whom we interviewed some time ago) and should be released in November. What's the distribution plan for the CD?

Sev3n: There are currently still a few of the advanced copies available on our website as well as digital downloads of both albums. We are finishing talks now with a couple labels both in the us and overseas in regards to Distribution as well as some other things.

Brian Backlash: Instead of releasing new material you're putting out a remix record, two years after your original effort. Do you think remix albums are especially interesting, or just a way to get your name associated with other bands this early in your career?

Sev3n: Ah.. cute question. PAP3R was originally just going to be a small EP with only a couple of remixes of the song Dinner with Renee. Then as word got out that we were doing this we began getting contacted my more and more bands wanting to do remixes. At that point we thought we should make it a full blown remix album and it was scheduled to be released in the fall of 2005. I postponed the release because I didn't feel the timing was right yet. I was having a revolving live line up which seems to plague most industrial rock bands, plus going through a lot in my personal life. I decided to wait until both stabilized. I wanted to have a solid line up when the album as released because I knew we would be going back to extensive touring. We also have plans to release a brand new album next spring, so the remix album gives us a chance to reach fans that might not have heard of us otherwise.

Brian Backlash: Earlier this month you put out a special pre-release version of the remix album Pap3r that you sold at a couple of shows. Was this just for promotional purposes, are or you indulging your inner collector?

Sev3n: We decided too do a pre-release mainly because the album was ready to go.. We had just finished the mastering at Masterlab and we were picking up some tour dates with some of the bands that did remixes for us.. So it seemed a good idea to give those fans a chance to get the album. We decided not to do a full production run.. and instead we-made a couple hundred.

NINa: You made also a remix for an Australian composer, Adam Pask. The songs is called "Dead Heroes". Did you get in touch thanks to Myspace profiles?

Sev3n: Ok, I'm not fans fans of industrial music are smarter then your average consumer.. but you will notice they do seem a more bit tech savvy. For this and many other reasons we decided to have a remix contest and let our fans not only remix our song dead heroes, but also judge the winner. Personally I felt a little vulnerable doing this at first... releasing my individual layers and tracks from a song into the world, but then I just said fuck it.. Why not. We got about a hundred submissions, Pask happened to be one of the 4 finalist... It turned out in the end to be a tie between Sinscape (track 9 on Pap3r) and Ballistic Buddha (track 12 on Pap3r).

Brian Backlash: What's your song writing process like? How do you know when a song is finished?

Sev3n: As far I am concerned a song is never done I will sit there and rework it a hundred times over my hardrives and sequencers are filled with bits and pieces of songs I should have released years ago... but probably never will I mean when it comes down to it.. I don't write to sell records, or get fame.. I write for me.. I am feeling or thinking a certain thing.. and I want to convey that to those who will listen, and feel the same. If it wasn't for the rest of the band telling me to release it.. They might never be done at all.

Brian Backlash: HFL often adorns makeup and tight, debacherous leather clothing when you hit the stage. Do these theatrical touches help you make a point, or does it cause you to be taken less seriously by the crowds you play to?

VEX: It takes time and effort for the "theatrical touches".. That should be taken into account when it's obvious that it's intended purpose is for the visual aspect of any performance as opposed to just showing up and performing in your jeans and t-shirt.. It's aesthetics are justified even if one is prejudiced towards a preconceived assumption of it's purpose...

NINa: Would you prefer that pure industrial rock music to stay elitist, or let it go to the top of the charts once again like it was in the 90's?

VEX: Time will tell...

Brian Backlash: What would be your dream tour? Give us lots of detail.

VEX: Play to as many appreciative and receptive individuals around the world..

NINa: Is practicing a religion a means to keep the masses in control as it was during the time of the ancient Pharohs?

END ALL: First of all I don't even understand why you would ask us that question. People will always use religion to control other people. It does not necessarily make the message of the religion itself wrong.

Brian Backlash: You hail from Florida, a state notorious for bands like Genitorturers and Marilyn Manson. What other bands from Florida should people keep an eye out for?

Sev3n: It seem over the years the sunshine state has always had a dark underbelly when it comes to music. When releasing Pap3r we were not just trying to use the names of more well known bands as you hinted at before but rather just put together an album and get a lot of our friends involved in it.. some of then you know too well.. some of them you may have never heard of. We had a lot of Florida bands involved in this that you should defiantly keep an eye out for Crossbreed, KYDEITY, Lunatic candy kreep, Rgee, Curse MAckey, Sinscape, and Kuzmartk, just to name a few.

NINa: Are you video games player? What does so called MMRPG (Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game) mean to you? Is it a way to keep guys staying home and do dirty deeds in the virtual world alone?

Ashe: That question offends me - I am a major MMORPG player! (I knew a girl that met a guy off of one once!)

NINa: Of all the songs I found available I find 'Adam and Eve' the most interesting because of its sonic sharpness and dynamics, moreover it sounds scary sometimes too. So, do you think Adam fucked Eve hard to make their children so hungry for sex through all these ages? I thought we come from animals... :)

Ashe: Eve was the one fucking Adam - after all, she was the first to sin!

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