Amen eng

-Why in the first place did you choose this name of " Amen ", which means rather a benediction ?

- It's a sort of pisstake against the American culture, it was also something universal. It's a very common word, which everyone can understand.

- Virgin - Happy to be on the Sex Pistols label ?

- (Laughs) Of course, yeah. It's the best label in the world, we've been very happy to be on it. They've treated us very well. We're really fortunate.

- What are the main differences between " Coma America " and " We've come for your parents " ?

- The first one I wrote mostly with another drummer, but he left the band and a lot of it wasn't his style. This one was definitely more concise. We were able to track 20 songs in 30 days. We finished the album in 6 weeks, old school-style. We had a preconceived notion this time. For the first one, we just went in and recorded it.

- Is the point of Amen to lead a political fight, like Clash, Dead Kennedys or Black Flag did in their time?

- To a certain degree, it's more about personal politics, not like the Clash who were having issues with the government. For us, politics, are sex, religion, living in the Americain society, more like the Dead Kennedys than the Clash.

- What was the importance of Ross Robinson on your work?

- I think he brings out the best of the performers. With every band, he has a different role, he doesn't care about sounds, which is what I really like.

- There were talks about a collaboration with you and Iggy Pop for an album which should have been produced by Robinson ?

- I wrote 14 songs for him. Ross and I met with Iggy and Ross wanted me to write the album for Iggy and get a new band for him. So, I wrote 14 songs and demoed them in the garage. I did all the guitars and bass, no vocals obviously, and on the next day, I play them for Ross and I ask him what he thinks and he says: "Dude, this shit is great!!!" Put some vocals on some of this stuff and see what happens." On the next day, Sunday, I put vocals on 7 of the 14 songs 'coz I couldn't do any more. They were just rough ideas. And the next day, I'm told I can keep them, because it doesn't go anywhere that Iggy thinks. We were trying to talk Iggy into getting a new band, because Ross really believes in Iggy, as I obviously do, it's just that we thought his caliber is a little higher than the bands he plays with. We wanted to get Johnny Ramone on it, Cheetah Chrome from the Dead Boys, people who are inspired by him, but also from the new school, who play their instruments with fire. So, anyway, we kept 7 of the songs. One of them is "Dead on the Bible", on the new album, and another one. So, I don't know what's gonna happen. One day, we'll definitely do collaboration. We talked quite a bit, he was saying he was a fan and really like the first album and I was really blown away.

- Talking about Iggy, was he a big influence for you?

- Oh yeah. I grew up and all that Bon Jovi thing surrounded me. That's all the rock'n'roll I knew about. Then, all of a sudden, one day, when I was really young, I was given a tape of Black Flag. I thought, "What the fuck is this? There's another kind of music out there and I can identify with it." So I became a hardcore fanatical and bought all the records. I started tracing that to the '77 explosion, with the Pistols, the Damned, etc. I became more involved with the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, the New York Dolls and then, for me, the centre of it all was the Stooges and MC5. That is the nucleus of the music that feeds me, because, to create that kind of music, in the summer of love, I cannot imagine what it must haven been like recording "Funhouse"in '69 and it coming out in '70. I asked Iggy about it and he said, "Well, I was declared an enemy of the state". (Laughs) To me, that's the most important recording in the history of mankind. It was like a landmark.

- I heard you were also a PJ Harvey and Nick Cave fan.

- Oh yeah. The common thing is that they're all real. They don't create music for money. It comes from their heart, like Iggy, Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, etc. I think it's largely a male-dominated business, but when a woman can do it well, she does ten times better than men, like PJ Harvey and Patti Smith. I like Bjork and I respect her, but what she does sounds a bit like cabaret and I don't really listen to it. I love Emiliana Torrini, though.

- Tell us about your brief appearance with Christian Death ?

- I moved to California when I was about 18, I met the band for their reunion tour and they wanted me to play bass. They're a band I grew up listening to, so I thought "Fuck, yeah!!". I turned in to one show and then, it turned into a big tour and a live recording, as well as working on different things with Rozz.

- Is the opposition between parents and children important in your lyrics?

- It's the only thing left in America that's real. Everything else has already been bastardized, so I always try to use the imagery just to represent the album and for some reason, for the 2nd album, I was influenced by this artist John Hartfield, who was a WWII propaganda collage artist. A lot of the artwork was inspired by him.

- Do you have lots of censorship problems in the USA?

- Yeah. "Land of the free" (laughs). For instance, we did a video for "Price of reality" and we did an edit of it, which we sent to Europe and everyone loved it. MTV America got it and said we could take everything out of the video, except the band's performance. There's this hypocrisy in America: they got this rap music, people with materialism and self-loathing, it's all about money, drug dealers, etc., but a video with nothing shocking at all to me, they had problems with.

- Do your health problems influence your writing?

- Yes, because I have to carry a bag of medication around and I have to take pills all day long. I'm like a drug-addict with no choice. I have to take pills in the morning to breathe, other medications to counteract the side-effects, it becomes a vicious circle. So, when you wake up and you can't breathe, sometimes you really want to write. I suffer from an undiagnosed lung disorder, it's a pulmonary dysfunction.

- Blink 182 et Green Day are punks for fun : would you define yourself as real punks, like the Pistols or the Clash were ?

- People in modern culture use the word "punk" a lot, for bands like Offspring and Green Day. I think they're good pop bands, they're the farthest thing from being a punk band there could be. My mother loves Blink 182, you know. She sings their songs. I don't think anybody's mother would have loved Iggy back in the days. Anything that's truly punk surely can't be really socially accepted. To a degree, it should be almost unlistenable. It should be shocking, but not for shock value, for the intensity of the music.

- Do you think all this energy could be destructive for the band ?

- Yeah, we're gonna definitely self-distruct. If we get bored, we'll just leave.

- Do you think the Pistols, who broke up after 2 years, had a perfect career?

- Yeah, I do. I think that was the right time, there were lots of other acts, like the Damned, and everyone had prolific careers, but the Pistols definitely made an impact. They had all the right elements: the charisma, the manager, the propaganda.

- Did you see the movie "The filth and the fury"?

- Yeah, I really enjoyed it.

- Could Amen come from another place than the USA ?

- I think the American culture drove us to be where we're at. Living in the American society is what pretty much feeds us to play music. I'm gonna move to Amsterdam one day. I like it a lot.

- Do you want to talk about American elections ?

- I don't care, there's no choice, I don't get involved in comedy. (Laughs) It's a fucking joke, it's embarrassing. These are the types of things that make me ashamed of being an American. I love living in America right now, I have lots of good friends and I love what America stands for, but I hate what it's becoming.

- Do you feel you're being a public enemy in the States like Manson is ?

- I love Manson. I think he has a show, it's more showmanship, a lot of theatrics. I think he tries to shock as well, there's a shock-rock value there. I think Iggy said it best, I asked him if he was friends with Bowie and he said, "Let's just say David doesn't need me that much anymore." I said "What does that mean?" and he replied "David can do just fine on his own. He can marry a supermodel, he can go to dinner with the Queen, he can hang out with the journalists and make them smile, I can't do that, 'cause I'm not that guy!!!" (Laughs) I think in a sense, that's the same kind of scenario. I think we're just a little more deranged, we have a few more problems. We're probably more violent, I think.

- Do you feel lonely in the USA, after refusing to be commercial and to sell yourself for fame ?

- Yes, we're definitely in an island, we're not on a bandwagon or trying to cash in on the rap-rock movement or whatever else. We feel alone, but we're proud to be.

- What are your next projects ?

- We have hopefully an EP coming out, with 6 songs that didn't make the album, in a couple of weeks. If all goes well, I would like to record an album every 8 months.

- Would you like to come back to Europe and play bigger venues?

- Yes, if people want us to. I love playing in Europe more than in America, the societies are more individualistic, there's less group-thought. I love the interaction with Europeans, they seem more intense.

- So, anger is an energy?

- Yeah, sure. (Roars of laughter)

Don't bow to Amen , you could get your ass kicked. Alleluiah !

(Interview by Jean Paul Coillard and Mister Xcommunicated)

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Amen - Quasi chaos on earth