Unedited interview between Magthea ( Hybryds) and Mary from Pilori for Black Magazine (Germany) , Spring 2003-
-
Hmmhmmm....unfortunately not too much was heard about the Hybryds during the
last months (or maybe I was just sleeping), but judging from your online discography
you have been very creative, what are the latest developments, projects and
news about the band?
After Yasnaia left the Hybryds ,it was difficult, I was used to make music with
2 people; I was used to the input from some one else.I went on with a new project
using the name Na-Dha,I released 2 items under this project name at Old Europa
Café (Italy) and Indiestate (russia).As Na-Dha I also did 2 live gigs
in colloboration with other people but live it turned out to be a disaster.So
I decided to do livegigs alone.There are ofcourse still other people involved
in the studio, especially for the vocals. But as you can see at my website,
newspages, I did some live gigs, on which I could redifine the new music and
finally finished the elektrikvoodoo cd in the studio. When I finnally got the
new music ready for release, Dirk from DAFT , blackmailed me, and only wanted
to release under the name Hybryds, so I guess , Hybryds are back.
- The first impression I had looking at the cds was "Wow, great
artwork"...how do you create this artwork and what is your intention with
it? Where is the connection to the music?
I got an education as a graphical designer,old school, pen paper, paint…,
but since Ilearned to work with a Mac, I developed my skills to animation, video,
imagemanipulation, 3 days a week I work at a multimedia company, doing normal
stuff ( the picts I send you, - do not publish, I make them , but they are owned
by my company..) These 3 days keep me alive and the other 4 days a week are
devoted to my personnal art.So all my artwork is made in photoshop, all the
persons I use are photographed by me, I do not steal or sample from magazines.
If there are some nice girls willing to pose for me they can email ( haha) .And
in all the art work of Hybryds I always tried to visualize the side you can
not see in the music.-
-
Another thing that was quite impressing was the sound quality of the cds...it
seems you like to work a lot on the music to make it sound perfect...am I right?
We used to work on a analogue real to real 8- track taperecorder, now I work
on a digital recorder and I do the basics on computer with sequensing. Technology
is getting cheaper, so it is possible to create a professional sound in a homestudio
, Although I think it still can be better, I am very jelous how a cd from Madonna
sounds , unbelievable what they can do with real expensive studio gear. The
sound is very important for me, I am not a musician, I work with sounds, because
I believe sound has an influence on the human mind. So since I got a computer
, I am very excited about this, many things nowadays you can do at home with
cheap software
.-
And the music sounds quite "modern" today, how would you describe
the style?
Tribal, Industrial Trip hop ? When Yasnaia was gone I did not came out of my
magisch theatre for a long time, and since I also moved to a small city there
was no musical connection anymore with Radio Centraal, at Antwerp, a local radio
where I had a radioshow for 17 years. But I do watch MTV and all that crap at
3 o clock in the night , very stoned so I know about contemporay music more
than enough , haha. I just bought some sample cd’s with hip hop and drum
and bass rhythms which I used on a way Hybryds make music.With a computer and
a sequenzer program.Althoug the finishing touches were still done “live
“ on the digital 8 track with my favourite hard ware tool, the Roland
SP808.
- Where did the idea for "Schreie" come from?
-The text was brought to me by a very dear friend, Madeline from Dresden, Germany,She
also had the idea for the Hybryds contribution for the Bloodharsh compilation,
I thought it was funny to remake this 30 ties song for Albin. Madeline did also
some vocals (Maïde) on the elektrikvoodoo, Check the project she is involved
with : Schattekindern.
-
What is your favourite song on the album "Electric Voodoo" and do
you have a special interest in voodoo or where did the title come from?
I do not have a favourite, and elektrikvoodoo seems to be a good title for the
atmosphere inside the music, dark,mesmirizing, ritual, trance and electronic…-
-
You also released an EP called "Lust"...All the song titles seem to
be related to each other, can you explain us a bit (uff my english!!) la concordance
thematique of the songs? (the context and it seems the songs are in the "right"
order)
I met Miss Poly Ester ( a Dutch based DJ) at a concert, it turned out she writes
beautiful texts, but did not want somebody else to use it, claiming also she
could not sing, I let her speak the text.And ithink it is an excellent spoken
word concept release. The texts are indeed part of a bigger concept, but we
only recorded 4 songs. - Who is Miss Poly Ester?
She is a Duch based DJ, I think she is originally from Perzie but was raised
in Europe,
-
Tell me a bit about the Na-Dha project...what is it about?
I now use this name on the CD sleeves to show people, that Hybryds are not the
same project as before 2000;
- By the way, did anybody ever ask where the name Magthea comes from?
After artschool,
I called my working studio : Magisch Theater, a place in the book The Steppenwolf,
a place where everything is possible. The name : Magthea I choose as AKA, because
I find it stupid to see my name on the cd covers.- You have this secret art
gallery on your homepage and you also sent me these painted pictures and you
told me you will be publishing them soon...which ones? Those of the gallery,
the ones you sent me or both? What do the painted pics mean, what context do
they come from? And those from the secret gallery? Can you tell us more about
those? What kind of scooperation is there with Magisch Theater? (Personnal :
– the picts I send you of the digital faces where from my job, this is
what I do for my living, I rather want to talk about my personnal art-)
When istarted to use the computer for visual art a new world of possiblities
openend. It seems that this tool is the best to create the images in my mind,my
main tool is photoshop 6, input : I use a digital camera and a flatbedscanner
( not only for pictures but really good for structures like real wood, cloth,
inkt on plastic, sand….My basic art is very erotic, but only because it
is nicer to work with woman than flowers. I never use professional models, -
that is why my art is mostly without faces. It is not about a particular woman,
it goes about the atavistic feeling of female beeing, the connection with the
mothergoddess and earth.Some call my art pornograhic al and aggressive though
I really only see beauty, passion, surrendering to love,and estetics in them.It
was hard to find but now their is a online company which will sell high quality
photoprints of my work: http://www.podgallery.com/. On the other hand I work
3 days a week at a multimedia company, doing animations ( in Flash) , photoshop
maniplatiopns, creating 3D faces , making video and processing them, I enjoy
this very much, but ofcourse my personnal art is more important for me. So if
there are some beautiful German girls willing to pose for me, they can email,
haha.
- You last played in Leipzig, right? How was that and how do you perform live nowadays?
Leipzig 2001 was the first time I performed the new music by myself. I start enjoying performing by myself, no problem anymore with other people creative demands,.., I know not much happens at the stage, I have to push my buttons ( haha) but I got a video if you are bored looking at me, and I still find the music important , close your eyes; it is a cliché , but let the sounds take you away and enjoy…
-
Where were the 2 concerts from the live cd recorded and how did it come to the
cooperation with Martin Franklin...who is he and how did the audience react
to this improvised gig?
Martin franklin was know in the past as TUU, etnic -ambient music, now he has
a new project : codeTrippa ( see his website) . I know him from early days,
and we are good friends. This live gig with him was completely improvised.He
arrived the day before and iinvited him to play with me for the Hybryds gig,
but we decided to make something from scratch, he just got an iBook with “liSa”
(some strange software wich can manupilate sound in real time,) Recycle software
and I got my trustfull SP808 sampler and spoken words CD’s;There where
two sequensed rhythms used but everything was invented on that moment, I have
done this many times before in the studio, but it was the first time live. This
live session will later be released as a DVD with probably other videoworks.
We are not sure as Martin neither me have worked for DVD before.It is new, but
Martin did already some stuff with the video, ( visit his site:www.codetrip.net
) it depends from our computers I guess.
-
When will we be able to see you live again here in Germany?
- No dates yet
-
What are the future plans for the Hybryds?
- No idea,DVD? Video?- I finally have a computer where I can make video on a
professional way, and maybe these video will be released on DVD?