From former Eastern Germany reaches to us the self released album „Voyage into the past“ by die mannschaft grandT and M.A.R.C. aka To Avoid. Raised on the electro, industrial, and EBM of the 80s and 90s they heard on forbidden radio stations, To Avoid creates a mixture of all these influences into an old school sound that reminds us of such bands as Trial, Dive, and many more. The duo joined us for a talk on what the band is all about. (By Bernard Van Isacker)
SL: A German band using WW2 images is always a bit tacky to non-scene people. Not that you bother about that I guess?
M: The pictures of the 2nd World War reflects a sad chapter of German history. We think that there are some fellow creatures which play down the entire events contemporarily. By using very drastic pictures we try to attest the cruelties of this war and all other wars and so therefore they don’t fall into oblivion. Of course it probably sounds a bit well worn. But recent times show that the propensity to violence increases more and more. Not at last of increasingly unemployment and frustration. In any case for non-scene people it shows that all EBM fans are radical only when they have short haircut and an own dress style. This kind of discussion we know well enough.
SL: „To avoid“ as a band name is not quite easy when I got a mail to do an inten/iew with you guys I thought I was basically asked to avoid you guys!
G: The name „To Avoid“ emerged from human relations between Eastern and Western German friends. Contrary to some opinions it doesn’t mean „Tech n0 Avoid‘! That’s nonsense but somehow very funny as well! We haven’t had any problems with our band name. Furthermore it helped us the last time because all people tend to take a first look at what they should „(to) avoid“! That is the nature of all humans! It’s also a kind of unintentional marketing-strategy! (Laughs).
SL: Please tell me a bit of your musical backgrounds, where you come from, how the band got started.
M: We both grew up in Eastern Germany. So it was not easy to get first material of electronic music. Our first impressions with electronic sounds came from collecting songs from a prohibited radio show that played songs from bands like Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Boytronic, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk a.s.o.. The recording of this show was an absolute duty to get the newest material. Nowadays, where you can buy a CD at each corner it’s almost unbelievable for some people. After the reunion of Western and Eastern Germany we visited the first concerts of bands like And One, Leaether Strip, Suicide Commando who had his first live gigs as newcomer, Armageddon Dildos, Mentallo & F. and so on. At that time grandT started an education computer business. So he got the First contact with software and hardware for music production. That’s the time where the first To Avoid songs were developed but still not ripe to offer to the masses. Summarizing we can say that especially the earlier 90s influenced us in our musical doing. GrandT runs his own business while I work as an employee in a great store.
SL: Your sound is damn close to that of Trial on several tracks… Coincidence?
G: The comparison to Trail is very interesting, because it’s already the tenth band which we are compared with. It makes us happy and likewise proud to be compared with such known names. In addition it shows that we are on the right way and nevertheless pursue our own style with success. Everyone has his own personal views. I also discovered some similarities with the way Dirk Ivens works on his material, the way of singing, for example on „Feel it“. What attracts you in his work?
SL: I also discovered some similarities with the way Dirk Ivens works on his material, the way af singing, for example on „Feel it“. What attracts you in his work?
G: „Feel“ is also a very personal text, in which m.a.r.c. tries to process the drug death of his cousin who was very close to him. The musical comparison to Dive honoured us but we can’t say a lot about Dirks way of producing. He is a musical hero in any case what makes it very difficulty to copy. By the way Dirk Ivens got a promo of the EP „Maiden Voyage“, but we think that it probably did not meet his taste!
SL: You guys want to be placed in the old school scene? It sounds like that I must say.
M: We love the sound of older bands because we interpret this style as EBM- Electro. It of course has had influences on our music. But we use new production structures and elements as well. Therefore it’s very difhcult to be placed into the Old school „sliding“ EBM scene. Partly we are between „tree and bark“ as a German proverb says. We don’t like the today’s trend because it reminds us more of Techno! But we hope that more and more bands think better of the „old school“ even when it’s not lucrative and long-winded at the moment.
SL: Your lyrics relate to your own lives and experiences in both their dark and positive aspects. Please explain with some examples.
M: Tracks like „strange day“, „Small wheel“, „Sowing the seeds of violence“, „Deep“ and „Hypocrisy“ are very personal. „Deep“ for example is my own view on our society where important political themes and problems are hidden away from people by the media which reports about unimportant nonsense.
SL: Where did you pick the samples from on „Hypocrisy“?
G: That’s the secret of a musician!
SL: You will self distribute the release, how come?
M: We got the contact to the Berlin label Dark•Wings which works close to SPV and we decided to work through the American label C.0.P. for the US market. They liked our sound straightaway and offered us the possibility to handle the American market. All seemed to work until we got the information about the wind up of the DW label at the end of September. Fortunately we came to an agreement with SPV and so our album is the last release of Dark-Wings. Labels we are available!
SL: What is your view on the current scene situation? Some say there are just too many bands around making that sales per artist drop a lot?
M: The costs for a CD production are so low that every good earning guy can afford it. Of course on the one hand it’s a good chance for a new generation of talents to present themselves to an audience without a label. But that makes it very difficulty to get live gigs or to sell a cost-effective record-production as well. There are too many bands which are supported by the opinion of friends and family and finally think that their first trips with a synthesizer are worth to be published. For example we worked more than three years on our first material before we believed that it had the quality to release it to a bigger public. Every week there are new bands signed which sound somewhere similar. That’s a reason for the bad situation as well.
Bernard Van Isacker
