The Odin Hour
An interview with Douglas P. / Death In
June.
Conducted by AC on November 7th, 2003.
”The dawn is ours if the dream is pure”
For well over twenty years Death In June, headed by the enigmatic
Douglas P., has remined true to its vision. Being one of the primary
founders of an entire genre of music, Death In June is still uncompromising
and sometimes controversial, and is surrounded by an aura of mysticism
that still continues to both inspire and confound.
Birthed in 1981 by Douglas P., Tony Wakeford
and Patrick Leagas from the ruins of the left-wing punk group
Crisis, Death In June has since 1985 had one constant member,
Douglas P. The music of Death In June ranges from the early classic
albums Nada! (1985), The
World That Summer (1986) and Brown Book
(1987) to the stark and cold soundscapes of The Wall
of Sacrifice (1990); from the genre-defining “apocalyptic
folk” albums But, What Ends When the Symbols
Shatter? (1992) and Rose Clouds of Holocaust
(1995) to the gloomy Kapo! (1996); from
the decadently neo-classic Take Care and Control (1998)
and Operation Hummingbird (2000) to
the aggressive and almost schizofrenic folk/noise album All
Pigs Must Die (2002). Notable are also the numerous
collaborative works which Douglas P. has been involved in, such
as the albums Boyd Rice and Friends: Music, Martinis
and Misanthropy (1990), Scorpion Wind:
Heaven Sent (1996) and Boyd Rice and
Fiends: Wolfpact (2002). For various Death In June
albums Douglas P. has been aided by a variety of individuals such
as David Tibet of Current 93, John Balance of Coil, Rose McDowall,
John Murphy of Kraang/ Knifeladder/ Shining Vril, Erik Konofal
of Les Joyaux de la Princesse, Boyd Rice of NON, and more recently
Albin Julius of Der Bluharsch, Richard Leviathan of Ostara and
Andreas Ritter of Forseti.
Death In June is simultaneously traditional and
modernistic, and despite the changes and variations in style and
approach, the aura or essence of Death In June remains essentially
the same today as it was many, many years ago. To try to pin down
specific inspirations behind and themes in Death In June would
only defile and ultimately fall short of adequately describing
its multi-faceted and often dreamlike body of work. One thing
that can be said, however, that is central to Death In June, is
the purity of intent.
***
For the first time ever, (and maybe the last?)
Death In June performed in Tampere, Finland, on November 7th,
2003 (photographs
of the event can be found here). Death In June performed as
a duo, with Douglas P. on vocals, guitars and percussions and
John Murphy (formerly SPK, Current 92, Whitehouse and many others,
and presently of Knifeladder, Foresta Di Ferro and Shining Vril)
on percussions and backing vocals. It is strange what magic can
be conjured by such a minimal set-up, and it stands as a testament
to the strength of the music of Death In June. The beginning of
the concert, with Douglas in his mask and camo-oufit, waving a
huge Totenkopf banner, followed by furious drumming by the masked
personae on stage, was totally overwhelming and seemed more like
some ritualistic invocation than a mere concert. The photographs
really don’t capture the sheer visual and emotional inensity
of the situation. The concert began with a set of drum-accompanied
songs, “Till the Living Flesh Is Burned”, “Bring
in the Night” and “C’est Un Rêve”.
After this followed a very comprehensive set of Death In June
songs, both old and new, many of these accompanied by the seemingly
ever-relevant pig-squeals. The set included “Ku Ku Ku”,
“Smashed to Bits”, “All Pigs Must Die”,
“Runes and Men”, “The Honor of Silence”,
“Rose Clouds of Holocaust”, “Fields of Rape”,
“Fall Apart”, “She Said Destroy” and many
more. Because of certain personal situations that night, the last
song before the encore, “Death Of A Man”, was possibly
the most intense, surreal, emotionally overwhelming, and even
terrifying. But the experience was overwhelming for many others
as well, and the concert and night as a whole seemed to be an
uttrely magical event. That night, “Something” was
definetly in the air.
Despite his tiredness, having only slept for
a few hours the night before, I found the man behind the mask
to be a very compassionate and inspiring person. The following
interview with Douglas P. was conducted some hours prior to the
concert.
***
AAC: This is your first visit to Finland-
do you have any specific impressions of our country?
Douglas: I’ve been asleep so far, so besides
the flatness, no, not really. And pink stone. We were flying in
over the country to land in Helsinki, and I noticed how pink the
countryside was- it was granit, I’ve been told since...
AAC: That was really interesting...
(Laughter)
Douglas: You have a very pink country! (Laughter)
AAC: You had a concert in Norway yesterday.
How well did it go? I understand you had some protesters over
there?
Douglas: Overall, as it was the first performance
of this present tour of Europe and America, I think it went quite
well. There was a lot of anxiety on behalf of the organizers initially,
due to the bad publicity that the so-called protesters were creating
before the show some weeks ago. It’s evidently been in the
national press a lot how Norway was going to be raped, pillaged
and plundered by myself, and there was some pressure to cancel,
but fortunately that didn’t happen. I found the audience
there extremely knowledgeable. They were very, very enthusiastic,
and it nullified any negativity that the protesters might have
generated. There were maybe twenty protesters outside the venue
distributing the same complete lie-propaganda, not based on any
reality, which has been circulating within the past year or so.
I’ve noticed the same stuff mentioned in America this time
last year, where it said I’ve supposed to have raped, pillaged
and murdered in Croatia during the war, and done nothing good,
and I’m the epitome of evil stomping my jackboot on the
face of humanity, but sadly it’s not true (Laughter)...
Although it is an idea, isn’t it?
(AAC note: Death In June was the first
British band to perform in Croatia after the war broke out, and
also released the double-album Something Is Coming, the
profits of which went to a hospital in Croatia treating people
who lost limbs during the war, a total of more than 30 000 Euros.)
AAC: So what do you generally think of
these protesters? They certainly don’t seem to be very well
informed; as we were talking earlier, there were actually some
gay-rights activists protesting against you in America...
Douglas: That was a few years ago, and I don’t
know how that kind of happened. Overall, when you consider the
amount of performances Death In June has done, the amount were
there are protesters is very, very small. It never really bothers
me, because it is based on ignorance, and no matter what you say
will never, never change their minds. It’s like looking
at headless chickens running around the farmyard, I mean, it’s
not upsetting me. They are just going around in ever-dwindling
circles. If they can’t base their antagonism toward me on
any fact, then it’s sad for them, not for me. It
just affirms what I really generally belive of humanity.
AAC: Currently Death In June live consists
of yourself and John Murphy. In the past, I remember you’ve
had probably four or five people on stage simultaneously doing
things. Why have you now chosen to have a very minimalist approach
to Death In June live?
Douglas: Necessity is the mother of invention
in many ways. When we were on tour with Albin Julius of Der Blutharsch,
who was doing keyboard and extra percussion in 1999 in Greece,
we did a second concert in Athens, where it was just a stripped
back affair of just myself and John, and it worked very well and
got me thinking. Albin wasn’t available for any further
work in the following year because his mother was ill and he was
very busy and has been since, and so I thought: I really liked
what I did and it’s how I hear the songs, it’s how
most of them were originally written. I wanted to strip back Death
In June to the pure basics. We did a performance in July 2000
in a castle in Germany where it was like that, but it wasn’t
really the performance by Death In June. It was when I went outside
into the woods- this castle was situated on top of a mountain.
People were having barbeques and fires in the woods, and there
was a group called Dies Natalis that had got their guitars and
some drums out and were performing beneath a lamp in the wood.
It sounded so brilliant, it was so atmospheric and so correct.
I thought if that’s what I’m like, and if I’m
better than that, then that’s brilliant, because I love
that. It was one of those quintessential moments I will never
forget. It just looked so emotive, so romantic, so emotional,
on an extreme level, and yet so simple. So that’s why I
am doing Death In June as you’ll see tonight for the past
three years.
AAC: You are presently working on a collaboration
with Boyd Rice titled Alarm Agent. Could you give us
a preview of its contents? What style and direction will it have?
Will it be in some way a continuation of the Boyd Rice &
Friends series of albums?
Douglas: I think it is an extension of what was
beginning to be written musically, at least for myself, for the
new Death In June album, if it ever happens, which is The
Concrete Fountain, which I have been trying to write
for the past six years. I was on tour with Boyd last year and
we started recording again, and I started using some of that material
which seemed to be a natural thing to do. I had been playing some
of the music during soundchecks and it felt right for Boyd at
that time. We continued to do that in New Zealand and Australia
when we toured there in April and May. Hopefully we will finish
it in America this forthcoming December. It has taken a year to
record. To me it is for the first time a real cross between the
early industrial noise of people like Boyd, and the unmistakable
kind of sound of Death In June. We have still only half-completed
it, Boyd has yet to do a lot of vocals, but if we can get the
balance right, it will be different again. It really will be more
like Death In June meets NON, rather than a Boyd Rice collaboration
with Douglas P., Michael Moynihan or whoever. It does have a different
feel once again. I think it’s great, it’s new again,
it’s exciting to listen to, it’s fresh. As long as
I continue to be stimulated by the work I am involved with, especially
with other people, then it gives me a good reason for carrying
on. So, it’s in a different field again, and until you actually
hear it, you won’t know what I mean, so...
AAC: As we are sort of on the topic of
Boyd Rice and Friends, specifically Music, Martinis and Misanthropy
which has just been re-issued... Those familiar with the
first edition of Music, Martinis and Misanthopy might
notice that the Wolfsangle runes on the sleeve have been photo-manipulated
in such a way that they now resemble the number 3 in roman numerals
(I I I). I presume this is because in some European countries
runes like the Wolfsangle, Algiz, Sol and Odal have been banned,
because supposedly they are “hate-symbols” because
they have been used by extremist rightwing-groups. This has probably
caused some problems with the distribution of Death In June albums.
What do you think about this kind of censorship that is being
used against symbols that are an essential part of European spiritual
and cultural heritage? Although I must admit that I personally
found a sort of wierd twist of meaning with the number 3 in reference
to the last Death In June album All Pigs Must Die (on
which the number 3 is in constant use)...
Douglas: To put it bluntly, I despise the censorship
of our ancient religious and spiritual symbols, and you can’t
really say much more than that. Some symbols are banned and some
aren’t- I think it is really only two or three. But I did
have to censor those (on Music, Martinis and Misanthropy)
because the German company that distributes it said it is impossible
to manufacture there.
Once I had done the alteration, the sort of double-meanings or
more, triple-meanings, began to affect me. I agree with you that
even though I had to alter it, it has only took on other meanings,
and all of them we kept finding were quite good, so it never really
worried us. On the sleeve-photographs, we looked like we had formed
some sort of new society, and that’s what some of the first
letters said, “what is this group that you all belong to,
and why are you wearing that armband?!” (Laughter)
So no matter what we do, it’s okay in the end of the day,
I think.
AAC: Some questions about the visual
side of Death In June. What do the covers of Take Care and
Control and Operation Hummingbird portray and where
are those photographs taken? My friend was guessing that the covers
are showing photographs of the Extrensteine?
Douglas: Both covers of those albums are from
the same day I spent at the Externsteine. A lot of the photographs
were taken in twilight in the dark, so I didn’t actually
see all the detail that was to be revealed when I saw the outcome.
I took the photographs on flash, and it worked out very well.
I knew the series of photographs I took around there were featured
in the Kenneth Anger film Lucifer Rising;
and the grave that’s on the front (of Operation
Hummingbird) is where Marianne Faithful rises as
Queen Isis in the film. The front cover of Take Care
and Control is a split in opinions, that it’s
either a pagan warrior holding an axehead to the entrerance of
a cave, or it represents a monk holding a bible. Some people actually
thought it was the burnt corpse of Adolf Hitler that I had taken
a photograph of, but... (Laughter) You can pick and choose,
but the reality is that it is the Externsteine.
AAC: I actually thought that Operation
Hummingbird had a really strong sort of phallic symbolism,
but my friend actually has a question about that cover...
Friend: Since I visited the Externsteine
at one point I thought, since the cave under one of the stones
where you probably took that picture of the grave- nobody really
knows what that is, but did you find a meaning for it for yourself
which you would like to share? Because it could be an isolation-chamber
for meditation or an actual grave, but no one seems to really
know...
Douglas: For me, it’s really pure and simple-
I’ve seen so many stone graves that the Romans used to use
that I thought it was a grave. It had extra importance for me
because it was featured in the Lucifer Rising
film, which Bobby Beausoleil had done the soundtrack to, so there
was that connection, besides the Kenneth Anger one. It has all
kinds of nice occult connections, and I like Marianne Faithful.
It’s very simple really, it has lots of nice connections
for me...
It was during the same day that I had visited Wewelsburg. It was
outside of it- I don’t know if you have ever seen the Death
In June postcards, which have a life rune outside, I think, the
post office, and it had my name...
AAC: ...Doug.
Douglas: Yes, printed in different colours around
it. It was just a very strange occurence. The whole day was filled
with meaning.
AAC: Many Death In June releases feature
the impressive artwork of Enrico Chiarparin. How did you become
aquinted with Chiarparin and get him to create artwork for Death
In June? I have also seen his artwork for the Sol Invictus album
The Blade, and I remember reading on the Death In June-egroup
that he designs things for Calvin Klein, was it? Where could one
find out more about Chiaparin? Is there art by him outside of
album-covers that one could track down?
Douglas: First of all, he has only really worked
for me, as he puts it, for love. He worked for Tony Wakeford for
money. He doesn’t do other artwork for album-covers. He
has done a vast array of work that I have that has never seen
the light of day, and that I would like to work with in the future.
I met him in the mid-eighties when he was a student and even before
he went to Milan Fine Arts school of Design. He would turn up
at Death In June performances in Europe, in Paris or in Italy,
and we just naturally got on. He volunteerd his services and showed
me examples of his work, which were fantastic. So I thought it
would be nice to bring Enrico into the fold sometimes, and we
have continued to work together over the years. I just saw him
last year when I was in New York and we went to see cabaret together,
along with other friends and huge pitchers of coctails- it was
a brilliant evening.
He does no longer works for Calvin Klein, but he is very high-up
with another fashion house who, amazingly, though being Jewish,
has one of the largest collections of Third Reich militaria in
existence. But unfortunately, because the person concerned takes
samples from the jackets and trousers, they’ve got holes
cut in them... (Laughter) So a lot of that fashion wear
is actually based on something that was happening sixty years
ago, with the fabrics. Enrico brought along a fob-catalog of the
fabrics, and I couldn’t belive it. It’s very strange-
these people are extreme in some weird ways (Laughter)...
AAC: The inner sleeve of the Death In
June album Rose Clouds of Holocaust has pictures of you
performing a ritual called Nidstång, which is based on northern
European pagan tradition. I am curious if this curse-ritual was
actually directed at someone specifically at the time?
Douglas: It was not really meant as a curse.
It was really meant as a ritual for really wanting, really needing
something to happen- and it came about. It was fantastic.
It took place in a wood just outside of Bryssels in Belgium. It
was the only country where we could easily buy horses heads. I
tried in England, and they said according to some law they would
only sell them to me if they were stripped of the flesh, which
would’ve been really, really hard to manipulate in the end,
and extremely macabre, so I am pleased that didn’t happen.
I flew to Belgium, and it was as easy as walking into a shop,
and bying “three horses heads, please”. Then we went
to a garden-center and brought some staves, went to a petrol-station
to buy some petrol, and then we found the place in the woods.
It all worked very, very well. The photographers then were a bit
disturbed by what was happening, so I had to manipulate the heads
onto the sticks myself, and I have to say that horses heads weigh
a ton- they’re really, really heavy (Laughter).
Thank goodness I managed to get it to work. I was covered in blood
while I was doing this (Laughter). And horse-fur is really
hard to set alight, we had to really soak it in petrol to get
the flames showing. But once the whole thing began, the horses
heads were no longer dead pieces of meat- they sort of took on
life again. It was actually quite glorious. We left them burning
in the woods as we walked away. In the end the photographer and
his assistant realized it was a beautiful shot and they even asked
me to take photographs of them by the horses heads. At first they
had been a bit freaked out by what was happening- they didn’t
realize it was going to be that kind of photo-shoot!
(Laughter) But in the end it worked. And as said, it was
not meant as a curse- it was more a sort of a blessing and a request.
AAC: I read that you did the track “The
Only Good Neighbour”, which appeared on The Pact
compilation CD, that you did it as an actual curse against a neighbour
of yours, and that it worked...
(Laughter)
Douglas: ...The best kept magic is the best kept
secret!
AAC: Do you belive in music as a form
of magic; do you think that music can actually have the power
to either bless or curse something?
Douglas: If it is pure enough in its intent,
absolutely. I gain strength from what I do, and I know it can
be used in whatever way if you wish it to... however you want.
I absolutely belive in the power of it.
I was just actually reading only yesterday from one of the old
assistants of The Beatles, who was mentioning how strange they
were when they were writing songs. It would be two or three o’clock
in the morning in the studio, everyone would be really tired and
think “oh my god, this is going on and on and on”-
yet they seemed to get more and more manic and inspired by every
time they played something; that they, as he put it, found an
energy from the music they created. And it made them more special,
and they made the music more special. So I do really belive that.
If even other people can notice that with ostensibly the most
popular commercial group in the world, then certainly it can happen
on a more esoteric level with groups that specialize in the area.
AAC: In several Death In June tracks
there are direct references to violence. And again, having read
many interviews with Boyd Rice where he mentiones some quite violent
episodes involving you, I wanted to ask you, are you a violent
person?
Douglas: I am not quite sure which episodes you
are referring to with regards to Boyd, but I am not and would
not describe myself as a violent person unless necessity dictates.
And that is the end of the story. I don’t feel comfortable
with people who glamorize violence, because I think there might
be something lacking in them mentally, or they have never really,
really experienced terrible violence. I think I realize... There
are things that have happened over the years in my life, including
the war in Croatia... and it is purely by necessity, not by desire.
If you put anyone in a life/death situation, I think you will
find that most people will struggle to survive, and that may necessitate
violence. But it is something I would always steer clear of and
walk away from, given the opportunity. Unfortunately a lot of
people are never given that opportunity- hence the world.
AAC: I thought about why some people
have such strong negative reactions to Death In June, and I think
one obvious reason is some of the symbols you use, namely the
Totenkopf. You have said that the number 6 in the Death In June
Totenkopf refers to the sixth month, June, and that the Death’s
Head obviously refers to Death- and that these together become
a sort of emblem for total committement. I thought that you might
have some deeper personal interpretations of or feelings toward
the symbol, because I know it means a lot to you: you have it
as a tattoo on your arm, and you have continued to use it over
the years, even though it has certainly given you a lot of practical
problems. Could you expound on this?
Douglas: No, I think you have really said it
in a nutshell. It is total committement. It is a sign that appealed
to me at a very early stage in Death In June; the “6”
made sense, so I added the 6 there. It has been there for over
20 years, so... It is perfect. But so is the “whiphand 6”,
and I noticed that even though the “whiphand 6” was
bought in with Nada! in 1985, everyone
always, always, always will remember the Totenkopf 6, even though
it was not used for years and years. It made such a strong impression
on everybody else as well, so it is a perfect symbol.
AAC: One question that I actually thought
of now as you were talking: did you and Boyd Rice discover the
Totenkopf indipendently, because you both have it as a tattoo
and you have both used it extensively on your works?
Douglas: Yes, I was surprised when I saw Boyd’s
tattoo. It took some years before we actually met, but I was aware
of his work in the early eighties, and it was some years before
we met. It was Stumm 3, the catalog-number of The
Black Album that he had released on Mute- that influenced
my artwork for Heaven Street. I was
selling that when I worked at Rough Trade, and I thought it was
a beautiful sleeve; so plain, but so fantastic. So eventually
it was very intriguing that we got to meet each other. I had the
Totenkopf with a variation, and he had the Totenkopf as straightfoward,
so it was meant to be.
AAC: There have been several books and
magazines dedicated to you, countless articles written about Death
In June, a tribute album and probably a lot more than I am not
aware of as well. Most people into Death In June I have met seem
to regard Death In June as a lot more than simply a good band
that plays good music- many consider themselves spiritually aligned
with or inspired by Death In June. What quality of Death In June
do you think it is that evoces such strong feelings in people?
Douglas: I never like to dissect my work, and
say this is this because of that. I can only refer back to the
fact the the best of my intentions have always been pure.
The purity of intent is installed in that, it’s the
only way I can realistically work in a true way, and hopefully,
obviously, that comes through to other people.
AAC: A personal question. From my point
of view, many people are, in the western world at least, devoid
of any sort of real meaning, depth, identity or spirituality in
their lives, the sense of Being that Martin Heidegger alluded
to. In the inner sleeve of Heilige! it says: “To
All Those Who Fight in Isolation”; am I correct to assume
that this fight is against the sort of meaninglessness and nothingness
that permeates the world nowadays?
Douglas: I think it is possibly part of the thing.
That is a fraze I was using in the early eighties and first showed
up on Brown Book, so it was an affirmation
of that. I think I received some sort of news about things from
some people, and I just thought that would be a good way to just
reaffirm how I feel toward those people, as well as myself, and
hopefully things will change. But, I think that is the curse of
our age, personally speaking.
AAC: There are many references in Death
In June to rituals and magical practices, and yet you have said
(in Compulsion
magazine #1) that you no longer feel the need to pray
at altars and...
(Laughter)
Douglas: I pray every day.
AAC: Really? Well, I think you said in
the interview that magic or the esoteric has become such an integral
part of your life, that you can no longer separate the two. I
was going to ask you about this, so...
Douglas: It is such an everyday part of my life
that I do not consider it as an esoteric type of action or anything.
It is part of getting up, having breakfast, taking a shower. As
far as I am concerned it is like that...
AAC: As above, so below.
Douglas: Yes. And I don’t like
talking about because I think that defiles it and weakens it-
that’s for other people to do. But no, it is very, very
much, I think the fraze I used was, part of the furniture. It
has to be.
AAC: In the feature-film Pearls Before
Swine, you have a part as an erotic book-seller, Marion Gough.
I know you shot some extra scenes for a DVD release of the film,
and so a tiring question- will this film ever be released on DVD
for a wider audience?
Douglas: As of two weeks ago when I last spoke
to Boyd on the telephone, yes, it will be. There is a Swedish
company that will distribute the DVD in Europe, and there will
be an American company distribuitng it there. It will include
the extra footage of interviews etc., which was shot about two-three
years ago in Adelaide. It’s long overdue. It’s a great
shame that the film wasn’t released years ago. It’s
been a constant source of frustration for Boyd and myself, because
we have performed it all over the world, realistically. Many times
we have played it before the perfromances, so people have actually
seen it from as far afield as Poland, all of western Europe, Russia,
America and Australia. More people have probably seen it at our
performances than have bought the videos of it that might be available
on the bootleg-markets. It is destined for release, but I have
been hearing that for about six years, so don’t hold your
breath! (Laughter)
AAC: Will there ever be a Death In June
book? There has been talk years and years about it.
Douglas: There will probably be several in the
end of the day. I’m currently working on an Italian one,
and I’ve yet to talk to the author about maintaining the
rights of the English version for me. Outside of that, there will
possibly be sort of an overall history of Death In June, rather
than a personal perspective, which is what I am presently working
on. Then there will possibly be two more books. There could be
a book purely of photographs with some interviews- that was something
that should have come out years ago, but it will be an extension
of that. C'est un Rêve was a book
that should have been released possibly ten years ago now, quite
a time. It will have sort of a coffee-table effect, I suppose.
And also one will feature the words and musical script of songs.
I have a lot of ideas, but until I get around to doing them, you
don’t know where it’s going to go. It’s something
to be viewing when I am fifty in two and a half-years time. I
think that’s the way I am seeing things, that you always
have projects on the go, especially at this stage.
AAC: Could you mention future projects?
There has been talk about a DVD and a rarities-album?
Douglas: Both of those are being done. The rarities-album
I was mastering just before I left Australia. In fact, in England
I have got the CD-R’s I have to listen to to think about
track order. That contains a lot of material that has been issued,
but is rare and deleted, and also unissued material. Going through
the recordings, which I had to do when I was in litigation with
World Serpent Distibution, I was seeing what was really there,
what do I have. I found some complete gems: like different versions
of songs, and I have no idea why I didn’t release them at
the time...
AAC: I love that song “Unconditional
Armistice“.
Douglas: That was like a five-minute wonder on
a Saturday...
(Laughter)
AAC: Death In June goes John Lennon.
Douglas: Yes. That particular song, for instance,
was something that Ken Thomas, the sound-engineer I worked with
for But, What Ends, When The Symbols Shatter? and
Rose Clouds of Holocaust, asked me
to do during one evening when we were doing some mixes. I don’t
actually play on it- he just gave me an idea what he wanted the
lyrics to be. He said he wanted to make it sound like happy Christmas,
war is over, John Lennon. And that was my interpretation! (Laughter)
He wanted to do a christmas-single with me, and that was what
I thought was christams, but evidently other people didn’t
(Laughter). It never got issued for that, so it finally
came out as an extra thing to use as a ticket for the Burg Falkenstein
concert...
AAC: ...On that same CD there was also
this great track with Boyd singing your song “C'est un Rêve”-
changing the lyrics from "Ou' est Klaus Barbie" to “where
is Doug. P?”...
Douglas: Yes, that was in Lausanne. I was in
the audience that night, because if I would have gotten up on
stage, I would have been arrested. So, the rarities album is very
much happening. It is going to take a while to do the artwork,
but the photo-shoot is finished. Hopefully it will be out within
six months. There is always the video/DVD things that will be
happening, those things need to be worked upon. There is a lot
of stuff. This is why next year, I probably will not do any performances.
I have done more performances recently really to keep the name
in the press, because during the litigation that started with
World Serpent in 1999, they withheld everything, so I didn’t
have any records or CD’s available in the shops. They were
trying to murder me, trying to strangle me out of existence. Gradually
that situatuion got better with re-issues. I won a good out-of-court
settlement with them last year, finally, after three and a half
years. But with all the live-work, it stopped me from doing other
things too, and that is why next year I want to concentrate more
on studio-aspects of my work, recording or writing more new material,
getting these other projects out- so there is actually a lot on
the boil.
“If it has to be, then let it be now
Light the Odin incence for the Odin hour!”
*** Photographs from the Death In June concert in
Finland by AC:
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