Jürgen Engler interview: Many thanx to Jürgen Engler for answering these questions! -Mikki 8/04

Jürgen Engler: I went to music school when I was 6 years old... they made me play the flute... but I really wanted to learn how to play guitar... I got my first guitar when I was 12, and I never really put it down again... the first music I wrote then was what you would call Punk-Rock nowadays... my influences were most definetely DAVID BOWIE, THE WHO, but also the early STONES etc.

DML: Have you read Jürgen Teibel's book "Verschwende Deine Jugend"? In this book, the author tries to do a little retrospective about the upcoming German punk scene in the late 70's early 80's. You (and your band Male) are mentioned in it as the core of the Düsseldorf punk scene. What do you think about Teibel's description of the Düsseldorf punk scene?

Jürgen Engler: I think Jurgen was doing a great job of doing research about a period in German music that was ignored or forgotten for a long time... Germany has a great history and lots of important bands when it comes to innovative music... and the period between ´77 and ´82 was probably the most fertile... just think of KRAFTWERK, DIE KRUPPS, DAF, PROPAGANDA, FEHLFARBEN, DIE TOTEN HOSEN and so on...

DML: Also consider the fact that Düsseldorf wasn't just a punk hotspot, but the home of Electronic Body Music / Harsh /Techno / Cyberpunk with artists like DAF, Tommi Stumpff, Kraftwerk, and of course Die Krupps. What are your experiences with these other newly evolving music genres in Düsseldorf at the time?

Jürgen Engler: Dusseldorf has always been at the forefront of electronic music... CLUSTER and KRAFTWERK were probably the earliest ones, with DAF and DIE KRUPPS to follow... there must be something in the air... we all knew each other pretty well, went to the movies together and such... but musically we were all working on our own... there were no collaborations... I guess I kind of started that with the Final Remixes album.

DML: You were a leading pioneer in several music genres, but other bands that came after you have taken most of the credit for this style of music. For example, in German punk-rock, Die Toten Hosen and Die Ärzte are the big names. And in industrial-metal, the big names are Rammstein and Nine Inch Nails. Does it bother you that you were not as commercially successful and as famous as these other bands?

Jürgen Engler: It is a very common phenomenon that pioneers don´t earn the crop... first you have to pave the road and put endless hours into touring persuading the crowds with your music and beliefs... when it pays off, someone else jumps on the bandwagon and brings in the crop... I have seen this many times... it happened in the old punk day with the TOTEN HOSEN in a way... they were good friends of hours, back then still performing under the name ZK, supporting many of my band MALE´s shows between ´78 and ´80... when we left the scene in 1980 after our last gig with THE CLASH and I went on to form DIE KRUPPS, Punk had become big enough in continental Europe, which enabled them to make it bigger than MALE could have been... we are still good friends and I am happy for them, though.

Second time this happened was when I left the field for RAMMSTEIN after dissolving DIE KRUPPS in 1997... to me that whole Electronic/Metal thing was getting old, just like with the Punk thing in 1980, but that was just because I had already been doing it for 8 years... to a lot of people this was still breaking news at the time, and they were excited by the new sounds... I am talking about the average music buyer, not the´up to date scene... this enabled RAMMSTEIN to cash in on DIE KRUPPS, even with a track called Tier, which was a rip-off off DIE KRUPPS´ The Dawning of Doom... compare the two, and you´ll know what I mean... after a legal dispute which I won, they gave me a credit on their records for writing it... again, I am not jeaulous of them either... I know where it´s all coming from... I feel better about being the originator rather than a follower.

DML: Some people might say that you have done in Germany what Trent Reznor has done in the USA. What is your reaction to this comparison? What do you think of Trent Reznor and his success with Nine Inch Nails?

Jürgen Engler: I am somewhat flattered when people call me Godfather of Industrial, it happened many times in the U.S. during interviews... but what is more important to me is that I am an originator, or innovator... I have always tried new ways, and I will do it again... just wait and see.

NIN are a great project... I have seen them in the early days and they were quite amazing... although to me their style of music was not what I called Industrial at the time, they were also trying something new, which again to european ears didn´t sound as new as it must have to american ears at the time... remember Industrial and Electronic music originated ouf of Germany/Europe... to me Industrial music was not 3 minute song structured music, but innovative experimental noise, like early DIE KRUPPS or EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN... I guess Americans just didn´t know what to make of NIN´s music and just adapted a term that to them described or fit the music best.

DML: You have changed genres several times during your music career. First, from punk (Male) to industrial (Die Krupps), and later adding guitars to make industrial-metal. Then, you ended Die Krupps when the band seemed to be doing so well, and begin the project DKay.com. What were the influences that made you decide to switch music styles/instruments so many times?

Jürgen Engler: To me every one of my project was a natural progression of the one before... I always said that I will never repeat myself... I never look back, always move forward... I seemingly broke with my principles when two years ago I started doing MALE again, but that was nothing but completing the cycle... I realized that all my projects or bands were not only related to each other, they were impossible without its predecessor... there wouldn´t have been DIE KRUPPS without MALE, there wouldn´t have been DKay.com without DIE KRUPPS... to me they were all equally important, at different times and stages.

DML: Did doing the (no-guitar) Metallica tribute spark an overall deeper musical interest in metal, causing the shift to industrial-metal afterward?

Jürgen Engler: I had a record label that was specialized in Thrash Metal and Crossover called ATOM H, long before the first DIE KRUPPS reunion in 1989... that was really the spark that fired that imagination... I always heard parallels in the music, and so in 1989 I created a 25 minute long track, consisting of original music, combined with excerpts from ANTHRAX, METALLICA and SLAYER tracks, called Metal Machine Music... the track of the same name that was released on the album I was just a part of that Industrial ´opera´... smile... and the rest is history.

DML: Recently, you have started working again with your original band Male. Has the project DKay.com (and also the website www.dkay.com) been left in the dust? What caused you to resurrect the old band Male?

Jürgen Engler: I was asked by a close friend if I would be interested in reuniting MALE for one gig for the 25th birthday of the group... I thought that was a good reason, and I called the other boys... it was that simple... when we started playing together, it became obvious to me that this was and has always been a big part of my life... I am still the Punk at heart that I used to be in 1977... it felt like I was coming home, and it was a lot of fun... DKay.com kind of got pushed back by my regained interest in MALE, but it doesn´t mean the project is dead...

DML: What future plans do you have? Do you think you will ever resurrect Die Krupps or perhaps your early style of industrial music again?

Jürgen Engler: I can tell you that I will become extremely active again soon... there are plans for reissues of the complete DIE KRUPPS back catalogue, including lots of unheard material and versions... also, I will be working on editing video material from a sold out show in Berlin in 1997, which will hopefully see the light of day as a DVD, including all the official videos... and maybe there will be time for more...

DML: You are noted in the credits of Rammstein's album Sehnsucht for the music of the song "Tier". Can you explain how you started working with Rammstein? In what way did you help make the song "Tier"?

Jürgen Engler: See above.

DML: Do you still have relations with some of your early partners and mentors like Douglas McCarthy, Bon Harris (Nitzer Ebb), or Metallica?

Jürgen Engler: We are not in touch, but since this planet is quite a small place, I am sure we will meet again... and have lots to talk about... and maybe more...

DML: I know the song "Germaniac" quite well, and from the very first time I heard the song I thought it was a little strange with these lyrics. What sort of message or idea is this song trying to express? What exactly is a "Germaniac" anyway?

Jürgen Engler: The song was released on the German election after the reunification... with all the trouble of fascism at the time, which DIE KRUPPS always strongly opposed, the appropriate soundtrack to reflect that important and turbulent time, with all its arising problems, was the song Germaniac... it was very cynical, but at the same time crystal clear observation of the average German mind.

DML: I think those are most of the major questions we have right now. Thank you again for taking the time to let us do this interview with you. Good luck in all your future plans! I hope to hear some new work soon. - Greg Pilling 8/04