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After many days of interrupting Pete while he was laying out new tracks, we finally agreed on a time to chat about his adventures as a Pygmy child.
IF: First things first; what’s the significance of the name Pygmy Children?
PR: Well, none really. We didn’t want to have a typical "industrial" name and we heard the name in the movie "Until the End of the World" and we started using it, first as a joke, but then once we thought about it a bit, thought it was sorta funny...maybe inject a little humor into the industrial world (see...we are both like six foot two or so).
IF: I think many newer industrial bands may lack a little humor sometimes, like they take themselves too seriously...
PR: Yeah, you are probably right. Personally, I think I am an idiot and like to make fun of myself every chance I get. Laughter is good and while we take the music we do seriously, there is always time to smile too. this is supposed to be fun afer all. It’s not like we are getting rich or anything!
IF: So where does the angst and abrasiveness in your music stem from?
PR: Well, we can’t be all grins and smiles and giggles and laughs! I guess the biggest factor in my life so far was that when I was nine years old, our sister was raped and murdered. It sorta fucked up a lot of shit in our family and it seems like it took until I was was much older to realize it all. So i’ve spent a lot of time staying away from people as I thought that would protect me, but ended up feeling extremely isolated. I mean, I can only speak for myself, maybe Brian feels differently, I dunno. But anyway, I think once you cut through all the shit, that’s where all the shit comes from. All but one song ("Never") on Deconstruct, are in some way about that.
IF: Oh man, that’s rough... but I guess I see where you’re coming from. I was wondering that... What about your newest album Low Life Dream? What themes found their way onto that?
PR: LLD delves more into the ultra saturation of media into our lives. If you noticed the transition from the intro into "Plastiq," the last words are about welcoming you to our broadcast DAT, national anthem, blah, blah and then "Plastiq," kind of a comment on our lust for material things. How all we see we take as true. ‘I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT WOMAN’... see what I mean? I’m not a big fan of TV news; rather exploitive.
IF: Yeah, I think Brian did a good job portraying that media theme on the cover...does he do design beyond your music?
PR: Yes. He’s at work right now, doing just that. He also did the grafix for Urania’s "Initiation." When Brian showed me the cover for LLD, I shit my pants!
IF: It’s a very nice evolution from Deconstruct...a progression is apparent not only in the music but in the portrayal of your band as well...
PR: Thanks. As I said earlier, Deconstruct was about purging things through destruction, whereas LLD to me seems like a new begining, kind of like realizing there is still this massive wall to climb. Musically, I think it is more complex - I mean we spent ten fucking thousand years re-doing stuff and being hard-asses on our selves.
IF: Speaking of purging, why did Cleopatra dump you guys after Dcon?
PR: I don’t know...they told us they "aren’t really concentrating on your style of music anymore." So basically, they didn’t want us. I would say more but I am listening to Depeche Mode now.
IF: (laughs) So I guess I dont have to ask the typical influences question then...
PR: I dig all sorts of shit dude!
IF: It’s good that you’re open minded. Anything in particular that you gravitate to?
PR: Brian got me into the whole Industrial music thing. I used to play drums in a Speed-Metal band years ago in high school, but then I heard Ministry! Shit - The Land of Rape and Honey still kicks ass. Lately we both have been digging this record by Dub Pistols; it’s very cool. Generally I like hard music, so it varies on the actual bands I am into. I’m not ashamed to say that sometimes Enya is cool.
IF: That’s noble too. It’s nice when bands say things like that and piss of the elitists of the electronic genres. It seems like there’s an "I’m cooler than you because I listen to bands you’ve never heard of" attitude sometimes...
PR: I guess I’m not "industrial" enough! Fuck ‘em! Well then I suppose I should say that occasionally I like to hear Jimmy Buffett too. (laughs)
IF: Who’s he? (laughs) So how are your records selling in comparison to your previous label? I know you had many opportunities for remixes on Cleo, but whats going on now?
PR: Pretty well - in Europe LLD has sold around two-thousand copies so far since June and I am hoping the US licensing thing happens soon...that would mean a us tour! Now we are writing new songs and learning how to square-dance.
IF: (laughs) Are you serious?
PR: Funny how our new label Out of Line, actually gives us support. Fucking crazy! (No we aren’t square-dancing, ’twas a joke!)
IF: It’s weird to me that you’re a US band with no license here in the States...
PR: It is weird to me too... I think it is some conspiracy.
IF: Would you say Electro music is bigger in Europe overall?
PR: Probably...there were definetly larger turnouts at the shows. The largest crowd was around 500 people in Madgeburg, Germany at this really huge club. As they said there, "Germany is the land of techno, JA!"
IF: Did you have any touring problems while in Europe?
PR: Other than having a sampler die, very few showers and smelling like shit, people were very nice - it will be nice to go again and have more of a crowd from the first tour and such. Maybe next time it won’t be Winter too. I managed to fall off the stage in Berlin, sliced open a finger in Hamburg, sustained a concussion in Copenhagen. All is well though.
IF: How much is a new sampler worth? Not as much as a hot shower in Winter, a finger and a complete skull, I’d imagine... (laughs)
PR: It’s an old Ensoniq - not much - not enough to spend $500 to fix it. I am going to try fixing it myself. I’d like to have it again as it was our first piece, and it is sentimental. Awwwww...
IF: Some people say it’s easy to create Electro music with the right machines doing the work... How do you feel about that statement?
PR: Monkeys and typewriters, huh? I guess with all the gear now coming so loaded with cool presets, that there is some truth to that. Although I also think that most any electronic musician with integrity makes the bulk, if not all of the sounds they use by hand. Good sound design is important, and good songs are still important. You can’t tell the computer to write melodies, perform the vox etc. so it’s like asking somebody in the fifties, "do you think the amplifier makes your job as a guitarist esasier?" It’s all tools. That’s like saying it takes no talent to design on a computer—doesn’t Photoshop do it all! So I think it takes skill and a lot of effort to do things originally.
IF: Ministry’s Twitch was almost fully recorded from factory presets I’ve heard...
PR: Well...presets are so crazy now - I mean the demo song on my new Virus synth is better than a lot of real songs! We always wipe the memory once we learn the ins and outs of the synth because it makes it more challenging.
IF: Do you ever feel that your hard work and self-criticism aren’t worth the trouble? I mean, does your music keep you going, or do you have an extra source of cash?
PR: Worth the trouble how? For money - of course not - we make next to nothing from music, but since it is what we do with passion it has to be worth the effort.
IF: So it’s more self-accomplishment and fun then...
PR: It’s a paradox. I would love to be able to do music full-time, but on the same token we aren’t going to make some shit just because it is easier - fuck that. I’d rather be homeless.
IF: How do your parents feel about your choice to create music? are they supportive?
PR: Yeah. They know I’m a freak. Brian does well at graphics and I am a bike courier. I have gone to school (college) for a number of years but have yet to find something I really want to study. I don’t know, the folks are pretty cool about the music thing, although I always get the 'When are you going back to school?' question. I don’t know where the hell I am going and my folks are mad about all of the schooling.
IF: So where do you want to take your music now?
PR: We’ll have to see. We don’t try to control the music - just let it flow and see what happens. We have ideas, but nothing ever goes as planned so it makes no sense to say. That’s what’s cool about music to me - start a song and before you know it, it is totally taking over and making me do what it wants. Music has energy. That’s what I dig.
IF: I definitely see a stylistic maneuver in your music, so I just wondered if you ever thought of making more mellow, or differently styled music, such as in the other influences you mentioned...
PR: That would be Brian and his half of the music as it’s all 50/50. Maybe someday we’ll get into more dub stuff - I love dub so someday perhaps I’d love to do an all drum-based thing seperately...but time is a bitch.
IF: True true... such is the life of a rock star (laughs)
PR: Sure, sure, maybe you know some I can talk to? I gotta say I think Stewart Copeland (The Police) is a great drummer...had to put that in.
IF: No problem (laughs) My fave song on LLD is Halo Effect, whats your fave track from PC?
PR: That seems to be everyone’s. I have three: "Fear" from Facedown, "Collapser" from Deconstruct, and "Transit" from Low Life Dream.
IF: Halo Effect could very well be big a hit. More people need to hear it!
PR: They were screaming for it in Germany - we had to play it twice one night! I certainly hope Low Life Dream will be available here in the States soon so everyone can buy sixteen copies apiece so I can walk around in fancy suits.
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