I hope you enjoy it -Radio Nietzsche 2/09

Peter Spilles: Officially we are existing since the release of our debut album called "Dhyani" in 1991. Dirk and I met regularly on Parties and in Clubs before we started to collaborate together with the aim to change the world of electronic music. The plan to work together was originated in 1989, but it took us 2 years of detailed experiments before we found our style and released our first album.

Radio Nietzsche: Is it true that Peter and Dirk came up with the name "Project Pitchfork" by picking a random name out of the dictionary?

Peter Spilles: Yes, thats true in some way. But the act itself was not unplanned or without method, because we wouldn't have chosen just any word. We believed that nothing just happens out of pure chance or coincidence. Considering the "Chaos Theory", everything happens for a reason and the word "pitchfork" was quite fitting the revolutionary rage we felt inside, besides that the older english meaning of a "tuning fork" fitted to our musical ideas, so we added the word "project" to state that it's officially meant as a "movement" and to underline our flexibility for guests and additional live musicians.

Radio Nietzsche: You first started making more Dark Wave type music, but in the mid 90's shifted to more Electronic sounds. What brought about the shift in styles? What is just a natural evolution?

Peter Spilles: We always made dark electronic music, but the names for the description shifted from Dark Wave, Electro Wave, Techno, EBM, to Industrial, Electro Goth and other. It depends which person, in which year, on what region of the planet you might ask. We were always interested in experimenting with our sounds and we never used a success formula to recreate a certain effect for the listeners. Evolution in music is a necessity for the artist so that creating new songs is worth the word's meaning. The style of our music always was "dark" and "electronic" for anyone outside the scene. In fact it regularly was too dark and too electronic for german radio stations.

Radio Nietzsche: You guys are from Hamburg, how is the music scene in Hamburg? It seems that so many bands and artists come from Hamburg, really, it's amazing. Is there something in the water or what?

Peter Spilles: In fact here is a lot of water...., there might be something in it. ;o)
Hamburg is one of the greenest metropolitan cities in the world, so you are always surrounded by trees and plants. Further the weather here is often grey and foggy which gives a kind of melancholic touch. Also we got a harbor from which many europeans were leaving to the "new world" to start a better life. The kind of Londonish attitude of the people living here and the fact that Hamburg is a city state in the federal republic, inspires a lot of musicians and artist which are living here. The dark music scene in Hamburg was always very active in creating new sounds and ways to express, which is a big difference to the Berlin scene which always wanted to sound more like american or english role-models.

Radio Nietzsche: Let's talk about the new album: Dream, Tiresias! Where does the title come from, and explain the layout of the album to us. Each song is a dream or part of a dream?

Peter Spilles:There was no concept or masterplan while I was writing the tracks for "Dream, Tiresias!". So it is not a concept album.
But after I finished the recordings there was this title for the album which was somehow fitting to each and every song.
Tiresias was the blind prophet of the Gods. This makes him to a perfect metaphor for all the rebels in our society who do not rely on a superficial view of the world, but search the answers in the depth and are able to "see" the real, hidden truth.
The title of the album is a indefinite description of the "prophecies", "critics" and "views" which can be found within the lyrics.
The themes are various... here are some examples: "If I Could" describes feelings of pain and frustration of a victim towards a mighty offender. "Feel!" is an exhortation not to seal the feelings towards the sufferance of others. "Your God" is a provocative statement to make you think deeper about religions and their origins. "Darkness" contains a critical view about the ease with which wars are started today and the injustice of sending young people to die without reason. "An End" deals with all endings in life. "Nasty Habit" condemns the medication of children through the massive use of psychotropic drugs.
There are 10 songs on the album, connected with musical parts in a Pitchfork typical way.
These instrumental parts got names like "beginning", which is sort of an intro, and "first dream", "second dream" etc. not to confuse them with the songs called "If I Could", "Nasty habit", "The Tide" etc. As the new songs are filled with kind of intense emotions, these small instrumentals are there to reflect on the last song and to set the mood for the next song.

Radio Nietzsche: How did you come up with this idea?

Peter Spilles: My ideas for the music and lyrics come from everything I see, hear and feel. Normally I start with writing a musical structure and I play a little around with it until I have an instrumental song which I love already. Then I start to write sentences which are fitting to the mood I had while creating the musical part. Sometimes the melodies let me fantasize about a plot or a metaphor for a lyrical story. The machines I used are digital and analogue in combination and with the use of modern technic and a big portion of phantasy I created a Pitchfork typical sound-universe.

Radio Nietzsche: I noticed that you are coming to Montreal, Canada for one show this summer. Why not a full tour of Canada and America?

Peter Spilles: We are working on it. But frankly it is much easier for europeans to enter south american countries like Argentina or Brazil. Even Canada is not a problem. But we'll do our best to make it finally happen.

Radio Nietzsche: Do you think there is any irony that Rammstein was your opening band many years ago, and now they have gotten so huge? How do you feel about the level of success you have achieved, and where would you like to go in the future?

Peter Spilles: I discovered Rammstein and invited them to join us on our Alpha Omega tour in 1995. Already back then it was clear that Rammstein was meant to have a huge success worldwide as their management and their label were working hard for it. We instead were much more fun-orientated and were enjoying our german chart entries without following a plan of becoming "the next big thing" or whatever. Till (the singer) often stayed in our nightliner because it was the party-bus, while in the Rammstein-bus people were relaxing from "work".
We are very happy with the level of success we achieved by being musicians while staying true to our wild and chaotic side. We never wanted to feel the things we love as work or something we have to struggle for, ... and anyway we reached the maximum a band can reach in germany. We were the first band from the dark electro scene which was aired in music television and all our albums since "Io" entered the german media control charts. But most important: we're still having fun and we love what we do, we never had a burnout and never felt like stopping it. Project Pitchfork is made for eternity! ;)

Radio Nietzsche: Do you find you produce better work when the music is written by everyone all together or by a single member (like how Peter has done on certain albums)?

Peter Spilles: First of, we never wrote an album all together, and it is and was always me who decided what track, comes in what form on an album. So there is no difference between cds which were written by me alone (like "Dream, Tiresias!", "Lam-'Bras", "Entities", "Io", "Alpha Omega"), or other albums where there are also some tracks written by Dirk or Juergen. In both cases I just allow to put a song on an album when I am totally satisfied with it. Project Pitchfork is a friendly yet strict dictatorship, you know. ;o)

Radio Nietzsche: Do you isolate yourself away from other music during the writing process, or do you go looking for influences from other bands?

Peter Spilles: As I am also working as a DJ, I am totally into the process of influencing the scene. ;)
When I am writing music it is like a state of meditation and I try to focus on what is in me. The inspiration for the music and lyrics come from everything I see, hear and feel. Normally I start with writing a musical structure and I play a little around with it until I have an instrumental song which I love already. Then I start to write sentences which are fitting to the mood I had while creating the musical part. Sometimes the melodies let me fantasize about a plot or a metaphor for a lyrical story. Anyhow, the field of electronic music is so vast, that is is not necessary to isolate myself to write music that sounds just like my music.

Radio Nietzsche: You recently did a single called Earth Song with Sara Noxx, which had an environmental theme. What are your views on our environmental situation, and do you do anything to promote more awareness of such issues?

Peter Spilles: Just listen carefully to the songs of Project Pitchfork..., we promote more awareness of these issues since many, many years. My views on our environmental situation are too many to state them all here, but they do have something in common with this metaphor: Earth will be here for a very long time and it is in our hands if it will be a place worth to spend a lifetime in, or a place we'd be ashamed of giving it to future generations. Of course there will still be catastrophes in form of weather, or in shape of water, earth or fire, ...no matter how nice or bad we behave. This planet is wild and alive...., but who isn't?

Radio Nietzsche: Are you also involved in other political issues?

Peter Spilles: A powerful political act is to buy Fair Trade and organic products. That's the "everyday election".

Radio Nietzsche: What was the influence behind your side project Santa Hates You? Did you just want to do some music that wasn't so serious?

Peter Spilles: Both of my solo projects "IMATEM" and "Santa Hates You" give me a creative free space and they let me see clear where I want to go with Project Pitchfork. "IMATEM" is more on the classical synth pop side with guest singers such as Ronan Harris, Sven Friedrich, Der Graf and many others. While "Santa Hates You" focusses on the wild, juicy and hard electronic dance-floor aspect. Santa Hates You is my playful side, and this is reflected in the lyrics and in the image of the band. However, while being ironic and sometimes sarcastic, neither the image nor the lyrics end up being superficial: there's always a certain portion of depth and pensiveness hidden behind the humorous facade.

(Thanx to Joki Gauthier for his secret help ;))

More at:

• Official
• Project Pitchfork on MySpace