1. Hello, at first I would like to ask you about your impressions after festival in Leipzig. I guess positive, right? You gave a great concert, full of stillness, reflection and melancholic atmosphere. Can you tell me why didn't you play your tracks in minimal-electro climate?

Sofia & Laszlo: The thing which impressed us most in Leipzig was the fantastic atmosphere in the crowd, so enthusiastic, warm and reactive. It was a pleasure to play in front of such an audience, especially when you knew that some of these people had driven miles across Europe and even flown across the Atlantic especially to be there. And of course being there was an opportunity for us to meet again with friends and to see fantastic bands whom we love but never had had the chance to see live before… It is not every day that you see such a gathering of original and talented bands on one festival! As to our own performance, we decided not to play the minimal-electro tracks for two reasons: first because they don't correspond to the music we released on Punch and second because we wanted to do something different, a conceptual performance, with a very precise thematic and atmosphere, in order to create a mood, a feeling which would suit the place and occasion.


2. I'd like to ask you about your name. Why exactly WERMUT? It is the name of a well known alcohol, but it also means "wormwood" in German. So?

S. & L.: Actually the name of our band doesn't have anything to do with the alcohol brand "Vermouth", at least not directly. It does mean "wormwood", and "Wermut" or "Wormwood" is the name of the star which, in "The Revelation of St John", falls to Earth and makes all the waters bitter. It refers to our bitterness towards the modern world, a bitterness which must be overcome one day… Making music with WERMUT is a way to try and go beyond that bitterness. But it doesn't mean we don't enjoy a glass of Vermouth from time to time, quite the contrary! We've even made it our custom to drink a glass of Vermouth or Martini before each performance!




3. Your debut MLP "Les cinq-a-sept post-néoistes" is a great album, where the aesthetics of NOVY SVET is felt very strongly. Why did you decide to change that style on the next publications? Both MLP "Hoffnung" and LP "Anna" are totally different from debut album and also different from each other. Is constant development your priority?

S. & L.: No, not really… we don't think about such things. We never "decided" to change style consciously, actually we didn't even really change: originally "Les cinq-a-sept post-néoistes" was a longer album, it included electro songs which we then took out and decided to release on a 7" because we thought it was better to do a stylistically more homogenous album… So the different tendencies were always there. As to the NOVY SVET aesthetics of the first album, it is of course a big compliment, but we're not sure if it is true… Maybe it comes from the fact that Jürgen sings on two tracks…


4. Why did you decide to create the project ICH WOLLTE, ICH KÖNNTE? What kind of emotions, that are missing in WERMUT, do you want to express through this band?

S. & L.: Originally ICH WOLLTE, ICH KÖNNTE was called into existence especially for the French electro label "Invasion Planete". Now "Invasion Planete" is dead but its children live on, and so IWIK has acquired its own musical identity, independently from WERMUT. Apart from the fact that it is more Laszlo's personal project (even if Sofia is also involved) IWIK's music and inspiration is much more melancholic and nostalgic, and stylistically darker than WERMUT, and contrary to WERMUT almost 100% electronic. In the future, IWIK will very much stay this way. It is WERMUT which we consider our ever-evolving field of experimentation.


5. You have your own company record Treue um Treue, and you release various, but always original bands. Can you tell me in few words, what is the aim of that part of your activity? Which publication do you consider as your biggest success? Why some albums are available only as vinyls?

S. & L.: We started a label because we were aware of a lot of great music which we would have liked to see released, but couldn't think of any existing label susceptible to do it. Being artists and record lovers, creating our own label was the logical next step to take. Our aim was not only to release music, but to produce special artefacts which would ally sound, artwork and idea. That's why the vinyl format has always been at the centre of our concept. There is a feeling to the vinyl record, a ritual associated to it which makes it more appropriate for what we want to achieve than the digital format. CDs tend to represent expandable entertainment music for the masses, vinyl records remain something special for special people. And of course the bigger format offers more graphic possibilities. But we also do CDs, simply because sometimes you don't have a choice, and we don't want to set ourselves such material limits… As to our biggest success, we have no idea… It 's a bit like asking a parent which child they prefer, isn't it?




6. What's your opinion about industrial/martial/neo folk scene? Don't you think there is still too little originality and freshness in that music? Do you believe there is a chance for progress on that scene and if so, what direction could it go into?

S. & L.: We have the feeling that today a lot of projects inside the so-called industrial underground tend more and more towards "mainstream music". They call themselves underground but it is clear in their music and attitude that the only thing they really want is to get out of it and make it to the top. This attitude is reflected by many industrial labels whose politics are hardly any different from that of majors. All of this works against originality and freshness, of course. If there is a chance for progress it is probably in eastern Europe. The scene seems to thrive there as it used to here many years ago, and a lot of fascinating stuff is being produced there.


7. You work together with Jurgen Weber from NOVY SVET, who is very universal and creative musician, and very nice man too. I understand, that this cooperation goes well? Do you have any plans for releasing together album in the near future?

S. & L.: Jürgen and Ulla are very close friends, so we are always happy to collaborate with them. Friendship and music are a good combination! We have no plan about releasing an album together yet, but there is a smaller collaboration on the way, which could see the light of day at the end of this year… But it is much too early for details!




8. It's time for a very classic question, namely, what are your music/film preferences? Where do you get your inspiration from? Could you recommend anything to our magazine readers? Something that, in your opinion, is worth checking out.

S. & L.: We are movie freaks, we can watch up to four films a day so of course it is hard to state preferences… At the place of honour in our cinematographic Walhalla there is for sure Ingmar Bergman, R.W. Fassbinder, Ken Russell, Mario Bava, Luis Bunuel, H.G. Clouzot, P.P. Pasolini, John Carpenter, Jean Cocteau, H.G. Lewis… and many others. As far as music is concerned, the list would be even longer… Let's say that at the moment we listen to a lot of Krautrock, Berliner Schule and 80s new wave and industrial from the tape-labels era. But our inspiration doesn't only come from music and films, we are also very much influenced by things we read, people around us etc.


9. Do you know in what direction WERMUT will go? What are your plans, intentions? I believe you are full of energy and you will release next fantastic albums. Will you still record under the name ICH WOLLTE, ICH KÖNNTE?

S. & L.: There are a lot of things planned for WERMUT. A split 10" much in the style of "Hoffnung" will be released very soon on Treue um Treue, and a follow-up to the "Cinq-a-sept post-néoistes" will also be out soon on OEC. The next album, which is already in preparation, will be very much influenced by krautrock and seventies electronic music. So in the next months we will probably concentrate more on WERMUT, but IWIK goes on as well.


10. I would like to thank you for your time. I hope, I didn't bore you with my questions. Would you like to add anything more?

S. & L.: Thanks to you, it was a pleasure! Keep up the good work with Apostazja.



rozmawiał: Tomasz Borowski



więcej informacji:

http://eys.online.fr/wermut
http://eys.online.fr/tutrur