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Terence Fixmer: Protecting Cheese and Hairy Girlfriends “I realize that I have a ‘label on my face’; that people associate me with a kind of techno/EBM style, which in a way is true. But as you can hear with these new tracks, even if they’re less aggressive and energetic, there is always a specific atmosphere which is maybe my true trademark. And when I use melody there are always some melancholic feelings.” With a recent support slot for Nitzer Ebb’s reunion tour and on ongoing collaboration with NE singer Douglas McCarthy firmly under his belt, Terence Fixmer has cemented his reputation as one of EBM (Electronic body music)’s key figures though new EP Avalanche is something else. Dubbed ‘progressive techno’ (by its label Different) and ‘hypnotic and melodic’ (by Terence himself) the EP draws on his national service experiences in the Alps, dodging wolves, abominable snowman and greedy conscripts. “Mountains were my speciality, but I protected nobody,” the French star proudly recalls, “Though maybe I protected the cheese in my pack from the others. We spent our time skiing, climbing mountains and I learned cliff-hanging skills, all while sleeping in a kind of igloo. We trained to survive the roughest conditions on the mountains, just in case of war,” he says. The melancholia and hypnotic vibe he delivers reflects the bleak and stark visceral scale of the Alpine passes he learnt to climb in, though he’s equally happy chatting about yetis and the supernatural. “Did I meet any yetis or abominable snowmen? Hmmmmm, I met some unusually ugly hairy girls in the mountains for sure but they were the girlfriends of some sergeants,” he laughs. “And yeah I tried experimenting with supernatural forces. I’ve always tried to make move objects by the power of my mind, but I still cannot succeed. Being specific, I send strong hypnotizing thought to sexy woman to fall in love with me and get naked as soon as they see me,” he chuckles.
Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): Avalanche is a radically different track from what you normally produce: how did it come about- a flash of inspiration or rather a conscious decision to explore a different sound and style?)
Terence Fixmer: “In fact when I produce music, I don t really think in one particular style, I just let my fingers push buttons in haphazard fashion, but of course I was in the mood to do a more hypnotic and melodic track when I did the Avalanche Ep. I like exploring this direction mentally. With my previous tracks I loved producing dark tracks full of energy. I know how to make those special sequences sounding full of power but I also enjoy creating moody sequences which are less energetic but more hypnotic and also to introduce melody too.” Skrufff: Do you have any concerns about alienating your more purist EBM fans? Terence Fixmer: “I don’t think so much in those terms, I make music in an egotistical way and after a while if you produce with the fans’ point of view in mind you stop evolving and you put yourself in a prison. I realized that I have so many tracks with different moods that it would be a pity to not release them. But even if the new music is slower hopefully they’ll probably like some elements of the tracks.”
Skrufff: What did national service as a mountain guard actually involve? Who were you protecting?
Skrufff: Are you still actively collaborating with Douglas McCarthy (what happened with NE reformed: were you involved?)
Terence Fixmer: “Yes, in fact we’ve just finished our second album "FixmermMccarthy ; Into the night", and it’s gonna’ be release in May on Vitalic’s label Citizen Records. For the new album we go in a more melodic style, Douglas has lots of power in his voice, but he also has a lovely voice when he sings proper songs. Regarding last year’s Nitzer ebb reunion, yes I’m proud to say I did have some role in helping them start working together again; I was particularly pleased when Daniel Miller (the boss of Mute) told me that. During their reunion tour, iI was playing live as support act of their tour in Europe. It was lots of fun as well as a little strange for me as an old fan to realize that I’m involved in a Fixmermccarthy project with the singer as well as touring with them as support. Life can be strange, can’t it? Now we’re like some weird kind of music family mafia.” Skrufff: What do you make of the latest French new wave of dance music: why do you think so much great music is coming out of France in particular? Terence Fixmer: “I don’t’ know, difficult question. As far as I’m concerned there is good music and artists coming from all countrie; I don’t know if there’s particularly more from France; But there’s lots of crap as well.” Skrufff: How important is France for you as a market, compared with the UK and Germany? Terence Fixmer: “Difficult to say, I am a French artist so of course they know me in France. For my style of music though there are fans everywhere but I would say that Germany was probably the first country where I started to succeed. The UK was more into different techno back then.” Skrufff: You've been making a living from music for more than a few years now: does it get easier or harder over time? (how much is your business being effected by downloading?) Terence Fixmer: “Yes I see that vinyl sales are so different now, especially having had an overview for many years. Times are changing especially in the last 3. Even now I know some purist vinyl DJs who stopped vinyl and switched to mp3s because they receive all advance promos as MP3s so if they want still to play unreleased tracks they have no choice. If I was 16 again and starting DJing I would never buy vinyl, I’d go directly to downloads for both playing and mixing: there are far more possibilities with digital. It's cheaper, cool and easier for everything. The problem at the moment is that what we lose on vinyl sales, we don’t get back from downloads so there’s a loss somewhere. So as an artist you probably earn less in terms of sales, but my main income always has been from playing live and DJ sets.” Skrufff: Have you had periods when you've struggled creatively or seen bookings tailing off (if so, how did you deal with it?) Terence Fixmer: “In terms of creativity, I’ve never felt myself yet with a lack of creativity, maybe I have too much of it, I can do so many tracks in such a short time that I force myself to not doing music because I get crazy after in terms of choosing which track to release or not.” Skrufff: Have you ever been tempted- or tried, to make crossover, more commercial music? Terence Fixmer: “No because when i make music I want to be proud of it so I always make music with no compromises. Sometimes it’s happened that I’ve made some music and accidentally understood that it’s really commercial and when that happens I feel bad and I put it straight into the trash. I prefer the artistic direction; I don’t think about sales when I do music but about making myself happy.” Skrufff: How much is performance more important these days, being 'Terence Fixmer'”
Terence Fixmer: “I just try to be clean on stage; but i try to be just myself and natural.” Skrufff The last time we chatted (in 2004) you confessed to torturing spiders in your youth: did it bring you any complaints from spider lovers? Terence Fixmer: “Not really, but nowadays I don’t kill spider anymore, I have a better solution; when I see one in my house I just take the vacuum cleaner and hoover the spider up; then I shake my vacuum cleaner a little to be sure it will not escape. So I don’t kill them and they are probably happy now to be still alive; in my vacuum cleaner, no?” : Skrufff: How much do you believe in karma? Terence Fixmer: “Hmmmm, I don’t know, I don’t think much about karma really. The main thing is that I can still look myself in a mirror without saying to myself; 'I am an asshole"...(except for the spiders). That’s my direction to stay and be.”
Terence Fixmer’s new single Avalanche is out shortly on Different Recordings.
http://www.myspace.com/terencefixmer Article by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
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