Introduce yourself; who are you, what do you do?

Bryan Erickson: Song writer and performer. i play most instruments ok. I am pro animal rights. I am into making media, dark and evil, and funny and hysterical. I'm working on a magazine now, and i am the front man of both Velvet Acid Christ a band known for its more brutal and dark sound, and Toxic Coma which is funny joke music to either irritate you or make you laugh uncontrollably.

What has kept Velvet Acid Christ alive for so long? How do you sustain the motivation to keep the project going?

BE: Music is my life. i can never stop. it's in my blood. i tried to quit many times, and just cant. i don't do it for the affections of females. I don't do it for money. I don't do it for politics. I do it because it is my calling, my life blood, and my fate.

Do you find that doing contemporary VAC is more, less or differently fulfilling than it was when you began?

BE: I go through emotional phases. The line up, and my moods change so much that you can get many dark emotions at any given time. As of now i am feeling more brash and punk than anything else.

What were your original goals with VAC? Do you feel that you have achieved them?

BE: The goal was to make music, get good at it, be honest and try and make something new. To make our own sound. we did that. I wanted to make music more than anything, so getting signed well, it helped me get more gear to get better. but I'm finding, its not always about gear. being signed matters because it helps my budget. But i never set out to win over the world and become a big star. so in some ways, yeah i have achieved them.

After being involved with the music industry for so long, what have you learned about what is able to be achieved with ones music?

BE: Well, you can get a lot of fans who gall you GOD. and i still find that so strange. you can travel the world and play shows, just to see that goths and goths and rivet heads are rivet heads. You can open people's minds to alternative view points. You can make money. you can fail, and fall to the bottom.

What inspired the tracks on Lust for Blood?

BE: Many things. Mostly anime and acoustic guitar. some politics. some older music. but mostly anime and acoustic guitar.. ehehehe

How was the process of writing and recording Lust for Blood different from Hex Angel and older works?

BE: Yes, the entire record was recorded track by track, and not live. the older records were all summed and mixed live. I recorded it all into computer and mixed it and manipulated it in there. it ended up making it take way more time to finish. and really hard to get it to sound aggressive, and i find that i why it sounds more melancholy and dark and wavy. its good for that. but i wanted to get more edge out of the sound. so i feel like i let that get by me. so this next vac record is going to be a lot more punk and edgy, and i have since got away from using computers to record. i'm back to a more live setup.

Every VAC album is fucking amazing, which is something I can’t say about many bands. After making so much music over the years (across multiple projects) how are you able to keep making albums that are unique and dynamic while retaining the characteristic VAC sound?

BE: By working with a lot of different musicians. thats one thing. but i still do about 80% of everything you hear on the record. I just get inspired by different things, buy new gear all the time, and try new ways of doing things. that is probably the biggest thing.

Are you planning on doing more VAC material in the future? What territory is there left to cover?

BE: I want to do punk disco fast stuff. pissed club stomp stuff. i dunno. heavier and more explosive. i think that is what i want to do now.

Any plans for live shows or DVD or other cool shit or all of the above?

BE: I wont ever do a live DVD, they dont sell, i hate how i look, i am never happy with myself. Live shows are in the works, but only if i can put together a good band.

I know you have done some remixes recently, can you elaborate on for whom/what track/how awesome they are/etc. Any plans for more remixes in the future?

BE: I want to remix vnv nation, covenant, and new and upcoming artists. i loved working on brain leisure and emily autumn. that was a lot of fun, and i liked the results, i'd love to work with atari teenage riot and ladytron, or the knife too.

What is your personal favorite album that Velvet Acid Christ has done and why?

BE: Fun With Knives: it was like a dream to me, it happened fast, it was easy, and it sold tons of copies. it was really true to me. I think it has the most heartfelt and exciting songs on it, and it sound very original. It had this energy to it that just glowed, and many club songs that made people dance.. and i like performing those songs the most, they are more fun and upbeat.

One of the things I have always admired about VAC was how much you cared about the music itself and your fans (all the stuff on your webpage…equipment reviews, free downloads of demos, all sorts of cool shit for fans, etc etc), but it seems like virtues like these have been lost over the years. What factors have you seen that have led to the loss of the ideals that industrial music was founded on? Is there any hope for progress within the contemporary scene?

BE: Industrial is a dirty word. and in fact i don't even like labeling myself as such. i use to much disco in my music to be labeled as a "industrial" act hell i think i more goth than industrial, but only goth now and then. more than anything i see myself as electronic music with edge. it can go any where from trip hop to trance, to techno. labels are stupid. they are for scene dorks and djs. I'm a musician. i prefer to be VELVET ACID CHRIST, i gave myself a label. I'm not INDUSTRIAL. I"M VAC.

What do you think the future of industrial/ebm music is? Where is there left to go?

BE: ITS LONG DEAD. edge dark music is still alive, but these stupid labels should of died a long time ago. its about bands, NOT GENRES.

What is currently on the Velvet Acid Christ agenda?

BE: To make a magazine, make a new fuck the world record. punk as in attitude, not sex pistols or genre. To make more funy toxic coma music. play shows all over the world.



Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Wounds of the Earth wishes you much success with Lust for Blood and everything else VAC is involved with.

thanks...
 

-feb 2007 // Q by [.d4n b4rr3tt.] / I by Sarah