METAL INVADER



It's not often to meet such a strange band, like you from the States. Give us with a few details the history of the band.

dream into dust began with some unfinished recordings and unlikely pieces of music and noise in january 1997. somehow these elements came together into the no man's land MCD with the help of bryin dall and patrick hogan. prior to that i had some releases under the name december including a 7" on misanthropy's elfenblut records. after the MCD release we issued a prison for oneself in tribute to the 30th anniversary of the cult tv series the prisoner. since then we've been recording compilation tracks for misanthropy, middle pillar, tursa, dragon flight, palace of worms and others. by now the full-length CD 'the world we have lost' is out as the last release on elfenblut.


I know that it's hard for every musician to describe his own music, but I'll ask from you to do it. How could you characterize dream into dust's sound?

the intersection of divergent elements. the spaces between the lines. neither hi-fi nor low-fi, somewhere between traditional and avant-garde. existing genres are only labels anyone can choose to recognise or ignore, or else they are signposts to expand musical knowledge. the words most often associated with the sound are industrial, experimental, gothic, neoclassical, noisy and doom/gloom. it would be easier to be able to name one style or genre but we never seem to take the easy road!


I notice a unique mixture between a classical instrument like viola and keyboards. Is it your idea to mix two totally different musical periods?

i don't think of classical instruments as being rooted in a particular "period", although technically "classical" was a specific point in music history - i tend to prefer the romantic and modern periods. anyway, it's always been my goal to mix instruments of various textures that may seem not to fit but i make them seem like they do. although i like music that may seem "pure", such as death metal or electronic music, i find the more powerful expressions come when artists look outside their own style for inspiration. for example, emperor is a better black metal band for the classical elements they embrace, ministry revolutionised industrial music by adding thrash metal to it, portishead crossed hip-hop beats with old spy movie sounds and billie holliday-style vocals and created something new.


Why did you choose the words of Jean-Paul Sartre, an author specialised in pessimism, as an introduction to your lyrics?

sartre was a great writer and thinker, and besides pessimism is the only rational reaction to the events we have to endure. while recording i was reading one of his books, and as i came across that line it seemed to be a perfect quote to sum up my feelings about the world and the theme of the album.


There's a lyric: "I offer an atheist's prayer for the world we have lost". Which do you think the first - or all - the lines for this prayer?

i don't have a specific prayer. prayer is a metaphorical concept for actively hoping something will or will not occur, usually involving supplication to some outside force, which i disagree with. the combination of words "atheist's prayer" is from friedrich nietzsche's der antichrist, who is thanked on the album. i thought it was very funny - an atheist praying. if you have no belief in a deity, what would you ask for, who would you think you were asking, and why would it do any good?


You are responsible for the music, the lyrics and the artwork. First of all you create the music, or the lyrics? What about the cover of The world we have lost? Is it a picture of some people during a bombing?

music and lyrics arrive whenever they feel like it, separately or together. as i try to write more organically now, it's rare a song will have a proper title and near-finished lyrics with no music, unless it's written for a specific purpose where the idea or intent comes to mind first, for example "stormbringer" since it was for a compilation against censorship. the album cover is people on a winter's day during a cease-fire, who are discovering bodies under the snow as they clear away wreckage.


Is it true that you are a fan of a Greek director called Theo Angelopoulos? In Greece nobody supports him because his films are so boring...

i've only seen ulysses' gaze and then later (long after no man's land was done) landscapes in the mist. the latter was an earlier work and was definitely too long, but still had some good elements. the former film i think is an absolute masterpiece. it's well-filmed, well-acted, spans several different worlds within this one and raises very profound questions, besides having an overall bleakness that i identify with. still, it's been common to be disliked in your own homeland since the time of christ.


My favourite song is "Farewell to Eden". It's like a human drama transformed to music. What exactly did you have in mind when you composed this masterpiece?

like most of my lyrics, it's composed of several different moments and feelings that i later realised worked well together. it touches on missed opportunities, a longing for better times, loss of innocence, and other similar feelings. it wasn't originally intended to be so classically-oriented, but that's how it turned out since it seemed best for the song.


What feelings would you like to surround a listener of dream into dust's music?

almost any feelings or emotions are valid. that someone feels something just from listening to music and words is an accomplishment. too often music is wallpaper. i would prefer it affect them in some way. there are some albums i can't listen to while doing anything else because they are so powerful they encompass your entire being. i think that's a worthy goal for an artist's creation. it may not always be attainable, but it's a good ideal.


Name a few bands that you liked since the beginning of your career. Do you like rush?

ha, ha! well, when i was a child i heard of them of course, and i think i had one album a long time ago. i was exposed to a lot of classical music as a child, some of which i still like, such as prokofiev and beethoven. a band i still like since i was a child is pink floyd, although they're not the same since roger waters left. after that my tastes changed but i kept looking for the feeling of sadness in the music and lyrics, or at least something out of the ordinary in the writing or production.


What do you expect from your band in the future?

to grow musically and lyrically, and to challenge boundaries in music. i would also like to to film soundtracks, people say it has a cinematic quality. it would depend on the project and the people involved.


Let's suppose that the end of the world is coming and you have the opportunity to live in another place. Name three things that you want take with you as a memory from human civilization.

i would not want to remember human civilisation. i'd only take the few things and people i love with me to start over and hope that we forget the mess we left behind.



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