Krystal System

After having several go betweens before I could make this interview possible (including a man named Sean mentioned near the end of the article), I was finally able to get an interview done with Krystal System. Not only shall I be discussing the France scene, feedback from fans, but I will also be discussing their participation in this years Alt-Fest. Read on to learn more about this duo's electro rock'n'roll life.

Well, first off, thank you for your time and for allowing me to interview you. So, let's start with the basics. Introduce us to yourselves, give a little history.

N°7 - "One day I was hanging around like a dead soul wondering what job I could do, I rang Bonnie and asked her if she wanted to form a band with me. So we did. We made a few tracks and sent them to the label Alfa Matrix wich signed us. We then released our 1st album Underground, won an international video award while making gigs in France and Switzerland (what a hectic year it was)."

Bonnie - "We had the chance to see our albums hitting the German Charts and to getting great reviews from the German, US and French journalists. I should add the band was born out of a chance encounter, we realized that we shared the same way of doing things. What motivates us, to make it short, is to try and wake up. It's like a fight to live in the present."

I understand that there are only two of you as of now. Were there ever any other members involved in the band?

Bonnie - "Before Krystal, we formed a cyber-punk band in wich we were 4. It was fun but we used to talk and drink our packs of 6 much more than we made music, so after a while we decided to start from the scratch with only the two of us."

N°7 - "Once in a while, a friend may come and play drums for a recording sessions, but yes Krystal is a duo. We write music and lyrics together and it works fine this way."

Your main style, to me, as of now is electrorock. Do you have any plans to switch styles or even let other styles influence your works?
N°7 - "Electrorock ? Yes you can call it like that but there's also a lot of hi-gain metal guitars. And punk too."

Bonnie - "Not to mention clean right-from-the-amp guitar sounds."

N°7 - "Right. For this album, we really wanted to hear the naïveté of a simple guitar tone, and blend it with electronic, industrial sounds, classical music and fat-ass metal guitars. The idea is to try and create a style of our own, so we don't plan to switch style but rather to improve ours."

Did you ever have any troubles in developing your work?

Bonnie - "No."

I'd like to discuss Rage with you. Was the title of the album chosen because you were releasing a lot of anger from it?

N°7 - "Don't get us started on rage, it'll last 3 hours. What I feel is that the world we're living in is not real, it's more like a joke. Since we're kids we're trained to use our brains instead of our hearts and to consider the world only as a rational thing.

Our education is nothing but learning and repeating what others have thought, we're condemned to walk on worn out path. What did we learn when we were at school or with our families ? Have we been taught to master our thoughts, to live in the present, to become ourselves, facing our weaknesses and force ? Or did we just learn what date the war started and what was the name of this shitty statue that was supposed to be Art ? You go to your philosophy course but you don't learn how to think, you learn by heart what others have thought!

What's the point of living if it's to copy and repeat over and over again what we've been taught ? This is bullshit ! We're in this world to become ourselves and to free our mind from our education and our own self-centred behaviour and blindness, not to train ourselves to become another clone...

But above all, we feel rage because one day we're going to die. And what have we done ? Did we live our lives or did we just think it ? That's what Rage is about.

Now, told like this, it can sound a bit serious. That's why we prefer to turn this feeling into music rather than talking about it. Hopefully we add a little touch of humour on our lyrics."

Bonnie - "To me, rage is a feeling that seems inseparable from the search of calm, silence and justice. The more you're looking for justice and equilibrium, the more you have reason to get angry in a flash."

With your live shows, are the crowds fairly positive to your music?

Bonnie - "Yes, for any reason we've always had great feedbacks from the crowd. I mean when you're performing on stage, you always have the feeling you could have done better, have improved a thing on yourself, on your technique, or whatsoever. That's why I personally feel surprised towards those cool feedbacks."

In comparison to the rest of the world, how is France different within the industrial scene?

N°7 - "Here comes the killer-question."

Bonnie - "I think that France is a fairly conservative country and the cultural habits are very different from what you can find in countries such as Germany, the UK, the USA or the Northern countries."

N°7 - "In Germany, the underground culture is a part of the society and music like ours can enter the charts and be broadcast everywhere. You can't imagine that in France."

Bonnie - "Fortunately, things are changing slowly."

Alright, now, let's talk Alt-Fest. Have you ever really played in Europe before on a scale this big?

Bonnie - "We played on large European festivals with famous acts such as Combichrist, Suicide commando, Hocico, Apotigma Berzek, Zeromancer... but no, never on that scale, the Alt-fest is just Uber-huge ! And I can't wait to be there, not only to make the show but also to see the other bands and to stroll along the place..."

N°7 - "Hell yeah ! Great industrial, goth and metal bands, a steampunk market, a circus of horror... It's like a journey to Disneyland, but for the Twisted brothers."

How does it feel to be in a festival among famous artists such as Marilyn Manson VNV Nation?

Bonnie - "Hey! The response is in the question. How can we feel else but privileged?
Cradle of Filth, Killing Joke, Clan of Xymox, Peter Murphy...They're legends, I'm really proud Krystal System is part of it."

I'm gonna keep this a constant question through all interviews, but, what do you think you'll be able to bring to Alt-Fest that other artists will not?

N°7 - "Bonnie's wild side and purity. She's unique."

Do you know of any friends/label mates that will be performing at the festival as well?

Bonnie - "Sure, some Krystal fans will come there, I hope we'll meet them. And Front 242 are label mates, we'll see them live at last!"

How did you get accepted into the festival? Did someone approach you or did you approach someone else?

Bonnie - "If I remember correctly, our manager approached the Alt-fest staff. They replied and... here we are."

N°7 - "Bless you, Lou."

And that about sums things up. Do you have any final words for anyone out there?

N°7 - "Never trust a hippy."

Bonnie - "Thank you for this interview, Sean! On a different note, I want to thank every single Krystal fans. We love you guys. Be your dream."