The Smashing Pumpkins performed their Depeche Mode cover “Never Let Me Down Again” last night in Madison, WI. This was the first time the band have played it since 1995, so we’ll see if it stays in the set list. Aside from some new songs and classics, they also covered “Friday, I’m In Love” from The Cure.

Setlist:
Solara
Zero
Today
Never Let Me Down Again (Depeche Mode cover)
Knights of Malta
Tonight, Tonight
Dross
Friday I’m in Love (The Cure cover)
Disarm
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
Travels
Cherub Rock
1979
Ava Adore
Heavy Metal Machine

Encore:
Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)
Muzzle

Encore 2:
Siva

For Part 3 of Home’s exclusive interviews with the recently re-formed Nitzer Ebb, we check in with Simon Granger, the art director behind much of NEP’s early creative brand presence, designing album covers, band merchandise, and the overall artistic output. In this interview, Simon speaks to Home’s Pete about getting back with the boys in both an artistic and, for the first time, a live musical performance capacity.

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Home: Can you tell us how you first got involved with Nitzer Ebb?

Simon: We all grew up in the same town of Chelmsford, which is now a city. There were very few places for people who liked alternative music to congregate, so we were drawn to the same record shops and pubs. David, Bon, and Douglas would be roaming the streets on any given Saturday, inevitably drunk, shouting abuse at anyone who was a bit like them, I responded in kind, and this went on for a few months before a friend mentioned that Bon was now in a band that was influenced by DAF and he was looking for a synthesiser. So that was it, I was in, armed with a WASP and with ideas for art all ready to go.

Home:  How does it feel to be back working with the original members?

Simon: Truly excellent, as ever. We have never really been 100% apart, although separated by geography, work and life in general, the connection has always been there; strong, childish, funny, independent and unbreakable.

Home: The Artwork for Belief was simple but incredibly effective, often seen worn on T-shirts by various members of Depeche Mode. Can you tell us how it came about?

Simon: This is my favourite of all the NE designs, the main influencers were Max Ernst, the Dada artist, and the timeless elegance of classic Chanel. Max Ernst was not just an influence because of the work he did, but also for his face, and specifically for his eye, which is on the wrap-around section of Belief. This was shot by process camera from books liberated by myself and Douglas. The spacing of the typeface and sparseness of the design was from Chanel packaging – using a very simple design with high-quality materials, so we had metallic silver ink with reflective spot varnish over the black areas, and the wraparound was designed to cover the barcode, which I thought looked unsightly. This caused problems when distributors were trying to scan the first pressings of the vinyl. Mute was very understanding.

Home: You have never performed on stage with Nitzer Ebb, what will your role be in the new live setup?

Simon: I am contributing a small amount by using live sequencers controlling a Moog DFAM and Minitaur with effects by Eventide. This comes from my role in STARK where myself and David use a mix of live hardware and programming for our live sets. These will be mainly percussive simple patterns and small insistent riffs.

Home: Did you spend much time in the studio with the band over the years, any memories you could share?

Simon: In the early days yes, we were all in the studio together. We would receive a call to be in London around midnight to go into PWL on the end of a previously booked session, usually either Dead or Alive or Kylie, where we would work with Phil Harding through the night, who was using the 48 track SSL to create and mix the tracks. I do remember top-end Acoustic Energy monitors being blown, and someone saying to Phil “You really work with some shit bands.” which may have been Pete Burns, or possibly the other Pete, Waterman.

Home: You have been working with David Gooday as “Stark”, can you explain your involvement in Stark?

Simon: David was talking prolifically about this for a while and would often phone up and drunkenly play tracks down the phone at colossal volume whilst shouting over the row that I needed to get involved. A short while after, on the way to one of Douglas’s weddings, David was playing some music which I thought was excellent, and it turned out to be him that was responsible. So I was in. Again. STARK then evolved to become what we are now, live electronic music, a digital record label Starkfutures Recordings with our friend Paul, a physical record label Stark Editions, and soon, merchandising by Starkthreads. We all run the labels and I do the artwork with David overseeing everything. Musically I control some of the live hardware sequencers and sequencers, which David blends into the overall live experience.

Home: Douglas and Bon spoke of the very close friendship and respect for yourself and David Gooday in a recent promo video – clearly you are all very close, so why has this reunion taken so long to come about?

Simon: It has been a mixture of different projects for all of us for a while, and full time working. Over the last couple of years, we have been seeing more of Bon when he was over from LA. We regularly inflicted STARK on him whenever he was about, and he saw and heard the progress and liked the idea of taking elements of what we were doing and making a reconfigured Nitzer Ebb for now out of it, and, after talking to Douglas the concept became a reality.

Home: Do you still have your old Wasp Synthesizer?

Simon: Ah no – that was the infamous device that helped to kick start everything. I sold it to Bon. It had a good, if erratic sound, coupled with appalling build quality. You could make it play itself by putting water on the touch-sensitive keyboard. I always wanted the Spider sequencer but could never afford it.

Home: The Orange/Black design for Showtime was really eye-catching, again very simple but very effective. The associated T-shirts again were worn by Depeche Mode. Will you be reissuing classic shirts on the new tour?

Simon: We do have a reborn version using elements from That Total Age. There is an all-black-on-grey limited version and a regular red-on-dark grey. I have attached a file showing the limited edition front.

Home: Who decided on the “Nitzer Ebb like their balls empty” text on the infamous 1992 T-shirts?

Simon: That level of wrongness could only come from the combined effort of Steev Toth and Douglas McCarthy I think. I may be wrong. Steev was the NE manager around that time.

Home: How much involvement have you had in the reworking of tracks that will be performed?

Simon: David asked me what kind of thing I would like for a re-engineered Nitzer Ebb. I replied with something along the lines of more space and more of the funk and disco. The tracks have now been opened up so the melodies and countermelodies that live and breathe in Bon’s basslines are more easy to hear. Percussion has been enhanced and a low end from techno has been discreetly employed. When David played back what he had done, there was nothing I could even criticise or want to change. It is a perfect evolution. So my role for this has been purely at the annoying ‘critical listener’ level.

Home: Douglas once showed me a newspaper article in 2010 about the repercussions of a music critic listening to Nitzer Ebb too loudly. Did you ever see this story?

Simon: Yes – it’s brilliant – that still makes me laugh.

Home: It was a dream come true for many fans to see Alan Wilder producing Nitzer Ebb, and the finished material was excellent. If the band ventured into the studio again, would you guys be interested in working with Alan if he was up for it?

Simon: That would be a question for the more musical elements of the band, Bon and Doug I think. I don’t don’t really feel qualified to answer that one. I’m pretty sure they would.

Home: The Tour starts at Electrowerkz in London which is now Sold Out, as is Berlin, are there any further dates to come?

Simon: There are now additional shows in Sweden, [Germany, Poland, Belgium, and the UK], as well as the existing Gothenburg and Stockholm dates – the latest news should be here: http://www.nitzer-ebb-produkt.com/ 

Home: Thanks, Simon.

Simon: Thank you. It was very enjoyable to answer your questions.

This week, HOME’s Pete interviewed David Gooday, who was among the earliest members of Nitzer Ebb, and is part of the newly re-formed act. Gooday brings us up to speed on his most recent projects, as well as shedding some light on early NEP history.

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Home:  As an original member could you tell us about your earliest recollections of the band?

DG:  A wasp, A Jen-SX 1000 and a BOSS DR-55. Then an SH-101 [Roland]. A handful of drums, some lumps of metal and Douglas singing. Well, I say Douglas singing. When we first started out as Nitzer Ebb, we all sang – shouted, in my case – swapping roles for whoever was the best at the task in hand at that time. Wanting to stir a few things up, wanting to do whatever we wanted to do, knowing there probably would be some consequences (the general musical tastes in those days were very narrow if you had no guitars then ‘how can you call it music?’ LOL.) Feeling I had something to change in the world and wanting to leave my mark on music.

Home: Why did you leave the band?

DG: At that time in my life, I wasn’t enjoying what was going on. I had a lot of outside pressure, and it was time to go. I felt at that time I had done within the band what I personally had set out to do.

Home: Having remained very close personal friends with the band, how was it to see other musicians filling your initial role?

DG: I never had a problem with anyone else taking over my part. We had all been friends since school, and we’d been through a lot together…achieved a lot together, actually. I think it was me who suggested that Julian drummed after Duc. It was what it was. The band was going to go on with or without me, and I would have been really upset if it hadn’t.

Home: What is your favourite album that the band recorded after your departure, and why?

DG: I suppose I would have to say ‘Belief’, probably because Bon and I had already started on that album – or the ideas behind it – before I decided to leave. Blood money is one of my all-time favourite songs by the boys probably because it was the last thing Bon and I wrote together. Saying that I have favourite tracks on all the albums. As they grew musically, so did the sound. And that is something I would have wanted it to do.

Home: You and Simon have been busy with STARK. For those who don’t know, what is STARK?

DG: Ok STARK is a project that Simon and I do together, along with collaborating artists. I was writing again for a few years after Douglas gave me and my second wife, Karla, a music program for a wedding present. I had gotten a few tunes together and was starting to enjoy making music again, so I started hassling the shit out of Simon to come [and] listen. (Usually when I was drunk and excited about whatever I had done…) We were on our way to another one of Douglas’ weddings, and I played Simon a few of the tracks I had just done, and he was into them. So, Stark was born. (Simon named it.) And we began to work together again on the music.

I think it’s been five or six years now, and we are still enjoying playing live sets, releasing music and learning all processes and everything that goes with. We also have STARKFutures Recordings which is our digital label…run with Paul Eiger Fosset. Also, STARKEditions which is all physical forms of release (vinyl and live recordings), and we are in the midst of creating STARKThreads, which will be our clothing line. We endeavour to write, record, and play live anything that takes our fancy. We do not follow genres or fads. We only release, play, and enjoy what we like. Below you’ll find a few links to the things we do.

STARKFutures: https://starkfuturesrecordingslabel.bandcamp.com/

STARKFutures: https://starkfuturesrecordings.greedbag.com/

Home: How was it performing several years ago with the guys for the first time in many years, and how did that come about?

DG: I can’t actually remember how it came about. LOL. But that was quite a strange evening, as it had been a good few years since I had banged a drum. No rehearsals for me, so straight on and go for it. (I completely forgot how hot and physical it was on stage. Not prepared. LOL) But I fully enjoyed it, and it seemed that the audience did too.

Home: I have personally been down the front at many Ebb shows over the years, and I’ve come out battered and bruised. Have you ever been down the front at an Ebb gig?

DG: Got to say, “yes,”…a good few times. And I watched one of my sons doing the same as he fully reveled in the whole experience. For me it was nothing new. It just felt like being a teenager and going to a show that you wanted to give your all for.

Home: One of the old videos of an early Ebb gig has a bit of a scrap going on down the front. Do you remember that?

DG: [That was a] very long story, and it’s to hard to explain.  But we did end up with our first publishing deal that evening.

Home: Will you be getting out the big spanners out and performing “Whiter Shade of Pale” by any chance? What was the story with that track?

DG: Absolutely NO Chance!! I think back in those days, we really weren’t big fans of all the dross rock shit that was around. So I think Bon thought it would be fun to try and do our version.

Home: Are you looking forward to getting on the road? What excites you most: festivals or more intimate shows?

DG: Yeah, really looking forward to doing these shows. It’s been a while. And I am really looking forward to Simon being up there with us.  In to doing either, I prefer intimate shows. But then a big stage is a great place to perform. They both have their places and create a different show.

Home: Have you guys worked out a set list yet for the tour?

DG: Yeah, we have a set list. But that will probably change as we go along. The guys have written too many outstanding tunes over the years, so there are a few to choose from.

Home: Any plans to record any of the shows?

DG: No plans at the moment. Again, I guess wait and see. You never know.

Home: Douglas said that there had been “reworkings” of tracks. Can you shed any light and explain the procedure?

DG: OK so a year or so ago, Bon asked Simon and me if we would be up for getting involved again.
And asked if I could rework some of the tunes. I really didn’t want to do remixes, so I would call them reworks. As we have never been ones to keep doing the same old thing time and time again, we decided we would put our STARK spin on them and then work together to create something we would all enjoy. They are a little more spacious than the originals, with room for us to add a lot of live interpretation; which is what Simon and I do with our STARK shows. Expect live mixes.

Home: What can you tell us about the Iggy Pop Cover you guys have recorded?

DG: This is a project that Simon wanted to do and has been in the pipeline for the last five years.
We had been seeing a lot off Bon in the last two years. And thankfully, as we are talentless keyboard players, Bon played the Bowie organ parts for the tune. We had already got a local singer in mind for the vocals, David Arscott. And [we had] a rough idea of how we wanted to interpret the song. So we went ahead and got the first version down. Very sadly, whilst in the process of doing the tune, a dear friend, Donald Rody, passed away. Donald was a massive Iggy fan, so we decided to dedicate the release to Donald, and all profit would go to a charity of Donald’s wife Sharon’s choice. In the meantime, we thought it would be a great idea if we all got involved. So there will be two versions on a double A-side for release next year. A STARK version and an Ebb version.
The Ebb version has both Bon and Doug contributing on the vocals, and Simon and I did all the arrangement and production.

Home: Thanks for your time. And best of luck with the projects ahead.

You are more than welcome. – D.T.G.

Photo: Hazel Hill McCarthy III

The electronic music fandom was sent into a tizzy recently with a slate of announcements on reformation, reissues and reunion tours from EBM/industrial/Balearic legends Nitzer Ebb, well-known as previous Mute labelmates, collaborators, and friends of Depeche Mode.

Home reached out to all of the boys in the band for q&a’s about projects past, present, and future. In the first of the series, we caught up with NEP’s workaholic frontman Douglas J. McCarthy.

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Douglas J McCarthy

Home: The recent Pylon release, “1982-2010: The Box Set”, seems to be any NEP collector’s dream. How much input did you have into which remixes and alternate versions would be included on the releases?

DJM: The Pylon Records release was something entirely pieced together by Peter Black, who is a huge NE fan. There was certainly some design input from Bon and myself regarding the book and sleeve and we wrote the text that is included in the book.

Home: The focus of the box set is the Geffen Records years, save for “Basic Pain Procedure”. Was there an effort to clear some of the other material? (e.g., “So Bright So Strong” or 2010’s “Industrial Complex”)

DJM: Again, that was all Peter. He approached Universal to gain the licenses and then whatever they had he will be releasing.

Home: Your wife, Hazel, is a filmmaker. She’s directed some videos for collaborative and one-off projects you’ve worked on. What did she bring to those video productions and shoots?

DJM: Yes, she has been doing all the NEP social media and web presence. As Daniel Miller always like to say about people who can be trusted to deliver, “she’s a safe pair of hands”. They are quite small hands, but enough about that.

Home: With several other musicians who are peers (Trent Reznor with Atticus Ross, Junkie XL, Thom Yorke, etc) moving into composing for film, streaming, and TV, do you see this as a continued direction for you? If so, what types of projects interest you?

DJM: NEP collectively or me personally? Either way, it’s a yes. As far as types of projects, it’s the usual suspects I’d imagine. Ethereal, challenging stories that connect to the human existence or question our understanding of it. Could be a documentary, a horror film, a family drama as long as it is moving and requires a response.

Home: How did “Bight of the Twin”, the Genesis P-Orridge project Hazel directed and you produced and soundtracked, come about? What was filmmaking like compared to songwriting and performing?

DJM: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge was re-assembling a sort of manifesto S/he’d worked on in the 1980’s. That version was essentially collected writings of GBPO. Through a mutual friend, Hazel was recommended to Gen as someone who could design and compile a much more expanded version. Genesis and Hazel spent a number of years on the book and became very close. Upon a trip to Katmandu Genesis became extremely unwell and was hospitalized. Hazel had read an article in The Guardian about the Vodun Festival in Ouidah, Benin and suggested to Gen that if S/he made it out they’d go to Africa and explore the festival. And that is what happened. Filming was intense. Extremely hot and humid. Very chaotic with lots of confusion. Editing was a blood, sweat and tears type of scenario. The music was a walk in the park by comparison. Hazel had been assembling soundtracks cut from the field recordings and so had a very good idea what she was after and it was down to Cyrus and myself to interpret or add to her vision.

Home: What’s it like having the old boys back in the band?

DJM: Ha! It’s great. It’s been extremely interesting and pleasing hearing David and Simon’s take on the NE catalogue. We are getting down to the nitty-gritty of rehearsals the beginning of November so a fair amount of our time has been spent listening and chatting over a small sherry. We’re all excited. Great to play London to kick things off.

Home: You’ve supported Depeche Mode on several tours going back to the late 1980s but most famously on 1990’s World Violation Tour in North America at some of the biggest venues they’ve ever played there, including the former Giants Stadium and two nights at Dodgers Stadium. What was it like playing to some of DM’s biggest audiences up to that date? Any special memories of that time?

DJM: As you say, the Violator North American tour was certainly eventful. Everyone knew it was going to be good, the album had already led to some massive singles, but the wave of enthusiasm from across the country was staggering. It was a summer tour and only NE’s 2nd as we were denied entry by US Immigration for the North American leg of The Music For The Masses tour (we “lacked musical merit” which to be fair, we did). It was a long tour also, so in one fell swoop we took in the vastness and the cinematic almost mythical symbols of 20th Century popular culture. From the swamps around the Mississippi Delta to Red Rocks in the Rocky Mountains, Manhattan and the Prairies. It was humbling to be on such a grand tour, but what is the most enduring aspect is how close-knit this massive crew and this now hugely successful band were and how inviting they were to us throughout that awe-inspiring experience. There was a lot of piss taking too.

Black Line

Home: How were the Support slots you performed with Black Line for Depeche?

DJM: They turned out so great. Seriously, the DM fans really took the time to get to know who we are and they knew the tracks. It was a bit parky, but that didn’t matter with how well the shows went.

Home: What’s Nitzer Ebb’s relationship with Depeche like now?

DJM: To be honest, it doesn’t feel a million miles from when we first toured with them in 1988. Everyone’s gone through normal life situations, dramas and tragedies but it does feel like we are essentially the same people as we always have been. Some of us chat more often but put us in a room together and pretty soon we’ll be taking the piss out of each other.

Home: Any news from any of your previous band partners like Jason Payne, Julian Beeston or Kourtney Klein?

DJM: JP is a dad and working on scores for film and TV; Julian, as far as I know, has a studio still and is doing well; haven’t heard about Kourtney too much but certainly wish her well.

Home: What do you think the legacy of Nitzer Ebb will be?

DJM: I would hope it would be our work ethic and attention to detail. We never wanted to take our foot off the old creative pedal. When we did, we took ourselves away from NE to pursue other ways of releasing that. We always wanted and still want NE to be the best it can be.

Home: What can fans expect from the forthcoming Nitzer Ebb shows?

DJM: All the classics but not all as you are used to hearing them. That’s not to say there is anything missing from performance or intensity when it’s required, just a slight resetting of how these tracks can sound.

Home: Whatever happened to the planned DVD that was filmed during 2009/2010 – you lived with a camera crew for ages – will the footage ever be released?

DJM: Good question. I think the tapes are in storage in Las Vegas.

Home: Will the 4 of you be venturing into a recording studio at any point?

DJM: That certainly is not on the table, but not absolutely off the table. First thing first is to do the new shows.