An interview with Raymond Watts How did you end up working with KMFDM again? Raymond: "We had to sort out some publishing shit from ages and ages ago so we started chatting, this was about a year and a half ago. I was releasing some stuff in Japan and I wanted get some remixes done of it so I asked Sascha if he'd like to do one. So he did a remix for me, so then we kind of kicked the idea around of doing something together, but without the kind of finite idea that I would do it with him and it would be a KMFDM record. One of my things is called Pig, so we did a record called "KMFDM Vs Pig" which was done sort of in the same framework in which we originally worked. We booked six days in the studio, this was up in Seattle, and came up with three tracks and did it really quickly and spontaneously. That went quite well and we enjoyed the process, so then when it came around to the putting together their KMFDM albums, Sascha asked if I wanted to come and do some yelling and have a moment on this particular musical structure. So after Sascha and Gunter had put together the basic programs and guitars, I turned up and wandered in. I think in three days before we went into the proper studio, I sort of paced around and yelled and screamed and said 'well what do you think of this?' and they went 'alright' and that was it, I put some melodies and words on it. Then we actually set about the process of doing it properly." Do you think you'll stay with the band? Raymond: "I don't know. I just take it as it comes. If I enjoy the process, then that's it, that's what I like doing. The end result is the end result, I don't care, I'm not going to think 'yeah, I'm in this band' or whatever. I don't like bands, I find bands really archaic, old fashioned kind of structures. I think the whole idea is that people come and go and it seems to be centered around Sascha and Guntar and En Esch. There are these other satellite bodies that occasionally have orbits that come together." In the live shows, do you perform on KMFDM songs from albums you didn't appear on? Raymond: "Yes. There were some songs in the set that I never heard. So I don't really know them. I learned them in the studio but I still get them wrong, and I still get most of it wrong anyway. I can't remember anything longer than about three seconds. I've got a scrambled egg in my head. I think it comes from over indulgence in smoking pot when I was in my early 20's and late teens. Of course, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole now." Why did you leave the band in the first place? Raymond: "I was in Hamburg and I had this little studio and it was like running a fucking tobacconist. It was such a drag running a studio. There were some quite interesting bands working in Berlin at the time so I gravitated towards there and was going on tour doing sound for people and doing recordings." What else have you been doing in your time away from KMFDM? Raymond: "I've done about 4 Pig albums and some ideas, and produced and worked with a neo-acoustic band from England and was involved with Foetus. Last year I was working with some Japanese musicians on a project called Shaft, which was two Japanese guys and me and we did an album and toured it. That was quite interesting, and nice because they were quite popular over there so I had a budget and could get in people that I wanted. I'm in London now and I've got a studio again. I'd got rid of the first one, and before I knew it I turned around and I had another one! They just fucking grow, like mold, I just hate them. But they seem to be kind of evil but necessary to lancing particular emotional boils that I need to squirt." by Bob Gourley © Chaos Control