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Artist: Katscan Date:
3 February 2001
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| MM - When
was the band formed and who exactly is in it at the minute? Mr Diablo: The first thing we did as Katscan was also the last thing we did as our old band 'Putra-Chic'. There were three of us then with a sound leaning perhaps more towards a more obvious NIN feel, but Nihil [the guitarist and CO songwriter] left to concentrate on his own stuff, when we started to veer off in increasingly different directions musically. ... Anyway we had a last gig to do at The Camden UnderWorld and Nihil had already left, so Mr D-Fect and myself had to quickly knock together a totally electronic version so we could still do it as a duo. Luckily it went down a storm and 'Katscan' was born. MM - Describe your music and who would it most appeal to? Mr D-Fect: Hopefully it'd appeal to people who luv a bit of something different. We're quite bored with the whole EBM thang and this is reflected in Katscan - It's a lot more caustic with a sublime blend of broken beats, factory noize and Spooky atmospherics. It's music for straight up hardcore muthafuckin' goth gangstas! Mr Diablo: We've basically chucked together our influences from punk, nu-metal, goth, hip hop and just about every underground dance culture since electronic music first appeared. We want to use total electronics but also achieve all the aggression and spite of the hardest metal or punk bands. MM - Who or what is Katscan? Mr Diablo: 'Catscan' is slang for 'CT scan' which is a big scary medical device my granddad invented for looking inside naughty school children. It's like an X-Ray but more advanced and smart. Mr D-Fect:We changed the spelling because we wanted to look hard, and if we got reviewed in Kerrang! we'd at least get one 'K'. MM - Apart from Putra Chic what other projects have you been involved with? Mr Diablo: The first band I was in was 'The Cheeky Beavers' which was a bit of a weird 'brass and recorder punk' band when I was younger. Since then I slagged about in 'Atrophy Of Faith', Deadboy Craved', 'Nekromantik'. I'm also doing 'a bit on the side' at the mo with my noise buddy Jason Dalton from 'Squid' under the name of 'Swamp City Trailer Trash'. Mr D-Fect: I was ponsing about with Sneaky Bat Machine (now Goteki) for many an alcopop induced knees up Mrs Miggins. MM - What bands are you listening to right now? D-Fect: Right this minute we're listening to Nitzer Ebb. Other jukebox faves would have to include 'Ghost town' by the specials, 'The Pixies' and lashings of 'Korn' *gasp, surely not!* Mr Diablo: My tunes at the mo are a 'Hardbeat' comp I just picked up cheap, 'Sheep On Drugs', 'Rob Zombie', 'Snake River Conspiracy' and 'Specimen'.  MM
- What's the most outrageous thing you've done in the name of Rock
n'Roll/Goth n' Roll...?Mr D-Fect: Well last night we got a chinese take away, some cheap cider (though obviously being more refined i had alcopops!) some strange tobacco i got off some weirdo on a street corner and then just when you thought it couldn't get any more wild we watched Tele. Wow won't see the likes of those days again! Mr Diablo: Sometimes we even swear! ... No 'but really', Nihil in Putra-Chic was our secret weapon of Rock'n'Roll. No ones rider was safe [least of all ours.] and he was known to decorated service stations with fried breakfasts quite regularly. Every time we did a gig, his flight cases would come back bulging with booze, food, and anything else that was lying about at venues that he fancied. We've got to make up for his departure, so expect evil debauchery to follow. We might start by setting fire to 'Craig David' whilst sexing up a dead monkey at the next gig. We'll definitely, well probably, maybe swear a bit though! MM - Which Rock legend alive or dead would you like to meet and why? Mr Diablo: I'd like to meet Fred Durst......So I could 'slap his bitch ass'. [He's a right spunk monkey!] Mr D-Fect: I'd get v moist at the prospect of meeting Jonny Slut (Keyboard player for Specimen) coz he's 'the man'. Mr Diablo: Did I mention that Fred Durst is a grade A spunk monkey? MM - What equipment/programmes do you use to create your music? Mr Diablo: Anything that makes a big fuckin noise really. ['Orrible distorted Synths, Samples, cut up guitars etc] MM - Do you have any CD's/MP3's available right now, and where can we get them? Mr Diablo: At the moment we've got our Cdr EP 'Latest Developments In Field Of Beat Surgery' which you can find out how to get from our site. There's also a load of killa grooves to download in mp3. MM - What would be your advice for someone wanting to get into the music business? Mr Diablo: I don't reckon you can really. It all depends on the type of music you do etc, and what works for one person might not someone else. Besides we're nowhere near being in a position where our opinion is worth that much yet.....I stress YET! Ask us when we sell out Brixton Academy or something [ we can dream.] MM - Who are your main influences? Mr Diablo: Shit? Loads! Beastie Boys, Nitzer Ebb, Dead Kennedys, Birthday Party, Rob Zombie, VAST, Big Black, M.Manson, Specials, Minty, NIN, Lords Of Acid, Korn, Motorhead, Sex Pistols, PIL, Bauhaus, Alien Sex Fiend, Prodigy, Roni Size, Sex Gang Children, The Pixies, Joy Division, Sheep On Drugs, Eminem, Empirion, Panacea, Charlie Clouser. MM - On your promo CD 'Latest developments in the field of beat surgery' the Intro track, 'It's time for your medical' contains a sample from the movie 'Detroit Rock City', are you big Kiss fans? Mr Diablo: I was huge fan of anything like that when I was in school, then I went off on one and discovered thrash and hardcore stuff, and at the same time acid house and hip-hop, that led to just about everything else, and now I reckon I've done 'discovering' so I've been all nostalgic and digging out all the stuff that sent me off in the first place. 'Appetite For Destruction' has even found it's way back on the turntable. The main reason we used the sample though was it's just well smart anyway, regardless of where it's from, so it's the words rather than the context that got me juicy. Mr D-Fect: As for Kiss, I love that dissolving photo story (some lucky fan won a competition to see em without makeup but when the photo was exposed to daylight it dissolved), and the film is cool too. MM - What comes first, the music or the lyrics? There's no real formula really. Sometimes it comes from a wicked big drum track I'm working on and the rest follows, sometimes it starts with the words, sometimes with some nasty ass bassline or synth 'riff'. MM - After you die what would you like them to put on your gravestone? Mr D-Fect: 'He luvved it like a right slag! Maaaaaarvlus'. Mr Diablo: 'I'm fuckin' dead already!', 'Get stretched and leave me alone!' MM - Any plans to release a full length album? Mr Diablo: We're 'in negotiations' at the mo too, with a uk label about maybe putting out an album later in the year. We're all ironing out points at the minute. MM - You are playing some live dates in March including Trillians in Newcastle, what can we expect from the live Katscan experience? Mr Diablo: Confusion. It'll be like a big nasty metal edged sound with loads of shouting and jerking about the place like twats, but at the same time there's no rock pretensions and it's obviously and honestly just 2 blokes, some cranked up distorted synths and FX units and a banging minidisc track. And we're fucking proud of it! It's more in common with the old skool Electro days when they used to have the reel to reel tape on stage there, or the hip-hop ethic of 'two turntables and a microphone'. ..Oh and some swearing. MM - Who does the artwork for your CD's, website? Mr Diablo: So far it's been me, but Mr D-Fect has nearly finished this cool Katscan interactive cd rom thing. It's got video clips, profiles and tunes on it. We're not exactly sure what we're going to do with it when it's finished but it's well smart. MM - Has the internet influenced the way the band project their songs and their image? Mr Diablo: Without a doubt. The internet can be many things good and bad but the most important thing is that it is the most free and un-censored form of media we have right now. In the click of a mouse you can reach thousands of people with a single communication and all it costs you is the local rate phone charge. Giving people stuck in places hundreds of miles from any huge city, anywhere in the world the chance to hear and see things that might usually take years to reach them, if at all. We grew up in a real 'hick' town in Shropshire, so we know what we're talking about here! The Irony is that the internet will no doubt be the thing which kills off the music industry as we know it. [I don't know yet if that's a good thing or a bad thing? MM - Do you do any cover versions, if not, is there any song you would like to give a Katscan makeover? Mr Diablo: For live gigs, we've put together a cover of 'Connection' by Elastica. [You can download it from the site too]. There's loads of songs we'd like to do as well, Like 'She's Lost Control' by 'Joy Division', or 'Ghost Town' by 'The Specials'. MM - Finally, do you have anything you would like to say to your fans? Mr D-Fect: Synth guitar heroics is the future! Mr Diablo: Keep it sanitary, The Doctors will be calling!! |
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