Interlace

What is "The design for a new breed"?
- "Design for a New Breed is a comprehensive name for all artistic activities within the Interlace framework, underlining our aspiration to merge sound, text and visual expressions into a coherent whole. However, Interlace isn't a traditional concept band, releasing albums where all the lyrics are based on a specific theme. Rather, Design for a New Breed could be perceived as a reaction towards the meaninglessness of commercial culture, where publishers present entertainment without intellectual or emotional contents. What is most offensive about this phenomenon is that it isn't confined to the major labels, but just as predominant among so-called underground artists. Needless to say we have no illusions to change all this, but we don't see a reason to contribute to it either."

What would you say is Interlace's best characteristics as a band?
- "I guess there are two aspects of that question, one external and one internal. Regarding the quality of what we do in comparison with other artists, we prefer to leave that evaluation to others. What with the internal characteristics, I believe our shared view of what Interlace is supposed to represent is both a valuable source of inspiration and an important reference for decisions."

Your debut album 'Innuendo' feels more contemplating and had a feeling of disappointment towards the environment, while your new album is more aggressive, while the onlooker abandons his amazement and takes action. What are your thoughts?
- "'Innuendo' was indeed an introvert phase. There were some obvious drawbacks with this, particularly in regard to the stage performance, that we decided to accept in order not to diverge from the conceptual evolution that we had established. 'Imago', on the other hand, describes the foetus leaving the incubator. This is intrinsically extrovert and allows for a more aggressive approach both musically and on stage."

You had some technical problems with the album and it was delayed for approximately six months, tell us what happened!
- "It's correct that we encountered technical problems and lost some data, but the delay of Imago had nothing to do with this. This spring Memento Materia was in negotiations with some American labels, and the decision to delay the release of Imago was taken in order to coordinate a global release. The result of the negotiations was that Canadian Artoffact, much to our satisfaction, licensed Imago for North America. Of course we're sorry that our European audience was affected, but increased publicity in America will provide us with better resources to develop Interlace, and so the solution will hopefully benefit everyone in the long run."

Do you at this time have any thoughts regarding your third album?
- "The guiding principle for the entire evolutionary dimension of Interlace was laid down before we commenced working with Innuendo, so yes, we know what the third phase will represent. We have decided though, not to present the evolution before it happens."

Is the frustrated feeling that you project towards a fictive world or is it rather the world we all live and breathe in? What it the source of these feelings?
- "Every aspect of Interlace is a reflection of the outside world in one way or the other. Consequently, it would be wrong to write Interlace off as smoke and mirrors. Our ambition is to communicate certain interpretations of reality without succumbing to populism. But although it's important to us that the symbols that we use have meaningful contents, we strive to incorporate an element of fiction into what we do. The prime objective of Interlace isn't to present facts, but rather emotion and vision."

What are you trying to visually project with your powerful stage performance?
- "The stage performance lets us reinforce and develop several aspects of the musical, visual and conceptual contents of our albums. We hope that our listeners will find a deeper understanding of Interlace after attending a concert. To us, live shows are particularly valuable since they allow us to meet with our audience directly. Without the people that support Interlace the project would lose its value, and we could just as well leave the music unrecorded. To take to the stage and entertain and touch those individuals that together with us make Interlace meaningful is a great privilege to us."

Will your already charismatic live performance develop in any way during your musical progress?
- "Every phase has a distinct design, and this will of course become apparent in the live performances. The Imago stage concept, which we introduced at Vogon Variety in Malmö on the 9th of October, differs substantially from Innuendo. To us this isn't merely a way to present and develop an artistic creation, but also an effort to give our audience value for money. Through continuous reinvention we hope to avoid the predictability that artists might otherwise suffer from in the long run."

You have been on tour in Germany with among others Suicide Commando. Tell us more about the tour and how Germany greeted Interlace.
- "The tour was a fantastic experience in many ways. We were lucky to become part of a great team - to travel Germany with Suicide Commando, Tactical Sekt and the crew was just awesome. It was also rewarding to play large stages that suited our show really well. Admittedly, the response from the audience was mixed. Our music differs a lot from Suicide Commando's and most of the people there were - quite naturally - there to see them rather than us. Despite this, we received a nice overall response from the audience, and the tour gave us a lot of attention and many new listeners."

You have remixed Akira Yamaoka on the Silent Hill 3 Soundtrack. How did you come by this collaboration?
- "To cut a long story short, we sent a copy of Innuendo to Akira through his Team Silent and asked if he was interested in doing some kind of artistic collaboration. He suggested he'd do a remix of Missing Link, and the result was, as we all know, spectacular. We, on the other hand, made a version of Rain of Brass Petals for the Japanese version of the soundtrack for Silent Hill 3. Team Silent also offered us to write a text for the booklet, which of course was a great honour for us"

Your new album is absolutely fantastically beautiful, tell us a little more about it.
- "We have worked with Teiaiel ever since the beginning and she offered to design the cover for Imago. At the time she was in England, doing digital effects for Dave McKeans new movie "Mirror Mask". Teiaiel told Dave about Interlace and asked if he was interested in making the design together with her. He accepted, and the rest is history."

Have you received any more offers for remixes after the success with Yamaoka?
- "We get a lot of requests, but unfortunately we have to decline most of them. We expect a lot from ourselves, so every remix takes a lot of time and effort away from our own music. Also, we only accept if we feel that we can make an artistic contribution. We want everything labelled Interlace to be innovative and professional, and sometimes the remix material that we receive doesn't permit this standard. "

Do you have any other projects besides Interlace in the band?
- "All members of Interlace are involved in various artistic activities outside Interlace, and this has always been the case. We don't believe that there is room for one's artistic creativity within one single project, especially if the project is as conceptually specific as Interlace is."

Any last words for our readers?
- "Thank you so much for taking some of your time to read this interview. We hope to see you on our next concert."

This interview was made 2004 and initially published on Neurozine.com