This interview gave NEP the moscow radiostation Maximum 103.7 FM. It was a daily morning show and the interview led in a very loose and relaxed atmosphere. Many thanks to Olga which conveyed the interview recording in writing.

---

Interview with Nitzer Ebb on Radio Maximum, Moscow, Russia - 19/07/06

MAXIMUM:
Nitzer Ebb are here and they have just eaten our sponsor ice-cream! So here they are - two smiling old boys in our studio.

NEP:
Very old, yes!

MAXIMUM:
Directly from London where Berezovsky is sitting – Bon Harris and Douglas McCarthy. Hello!

NEP:
Hello!

MAXIMUM:
I’ve heard a lot of your music but I still don’t know what’s the best way to say: Nit-zer Ebb or Knight-zer Ebb? How do you spell?

DOUGLAS:
It's how you feel. Sometimes we feel like Knightzer, sometimes we feel like Nitzer.

MAXIMUM:
How do you describe your music? What’s your style?

DOUGLAS:
The style can be eternally described is terrible, horrible, aggressive, electronic... For us we don’t have style that we call it. We gave the band a name to have something to call it.

MAXIMUM:
For many years you did nothing and now you are on the road again. What for?

DOUGLAS:
We get tired of eating ice-cream for breakfast, that’s why.

MAXIMUM:
You released the compilation of the best tracks. Do you plan to make a new album?

DOUGLAS:
We are now on a go, having a lot of shows. We prefer to do things step by step. But the things are going pretty well so we are talking about new stuff.

MAXIMUM:
So the answer is “Yes!”

DOUGLAS:
Yes, to be shorter :)

MAXIMUM:
In Russia many people knew about your band after your work with Depeche Mode.

DOUGLAS:
Yes, we did two tours: we did a tour for Europe for Music For the Masses and we did a Violator tour for the United States.

MAXIMUM:
Why Depeche Mode is so popular and you are in the underground?

DOUGLAS:
DM came in time in England when electronic pop music was new and there was nothing else like it around. So they came the part of first wave of electronic pop. We came about not too long after that but we didn’t want to be pop music, we wanted to be harder, more like punk-rock and something darker.

MAXIMUM:
One of you is skinhead, right?

Bon:
Only technically.

MAXIMUM:
Where is your hair?

DOUGLAS:
That’s a question he asks himself every day.

MAXIMUM:
In first days there were a lot of aggressive people at your concerts including skinheads.

DOUGLAS:
In first days there were mainly punk rock people who came to the concerts, there was nothing else like that in terms of electronic music that was aggressive so you could dance and jump around in the same way like a rock band. So the audience was mostly rock.

MAXIMUM:
I’ve heard that Madness had problems with nazis on their concerts.

DOUGLAS:
It’s a problem in society and society comes to concerts to listen to music. “Its not our fault!” – like Billy Joel said.

MAXIMUM:
There is a war now between Lebanon and Israel. Who’s right in the conflict?

NEP:
Lebanon!

MAXIMUM:
What’s happening now with this kind of music? You’re now mastodons of electronic music. What new happens in electronic music in Britain?

DOUGLAS:
It’s a kind of the resurgence of stuff that was on when we started. Lots of bands coming in doing really basic kind of aggressive stuff. Bands like Motor... It’s just going back to more basic form. And I think a lot of people want it, world’s coming too complicated and too commercial. And that’s simple honesty.

MAXIMUM:
You speak very good English... difficult to understand!

DOUGLAS:
Teach us in Russian!

MAXIMUM:
Which problems do you see in English society? Do you want to kill Wayne Rooney?

NEP:
No! He’s too stupid to kill.

DOUGLAS:
The biggest problem in English society at the moment is ...

MAXIMUM:
Water!

DOUGLAS:
Water is a big problem at the moment. Especially water coming from the sky, rain is a big problem :) Well, the big problem in English society is that rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. And it’s a big gap. But the problem is also that I’m not one of the rich people getting richer :)

MAXIMUM:
So are you poor or rich?

DOUGLAS:
You saw – I eat ice-cream for breakfast!

MAXIMUM:
You are here, it means that you’re rich! You are from Mayfair!

DOUGLAS:
Shoreditch!

MAXIMUM:
A question about London!

DOUGLAS:
What about London?

MAXIMUM:
How is London?

DOUGLAS:
London is actually for me... Bon lives in Los Angeles, but I live in London.

MAXIMUM:
Have you met Schwarzenegger?

Bon:
No, thankfully no.

DOUGLAS:
London is probably the best it’s ever been at the moment. There’s a lot of live music, a lot of art scene, it’s really creative place to live, the best parties, beautiful women.

MAXIMUM:
In London we can meat the first class bitches!

DOUGLAS:
There’re a lot of dogs, yeah.

MAXIMUM:
What places of London are you visiting? Restaurant, clubs, shops and so on.

DOUGLAS:
In clubs I go to Nag Nag Nag on Wednesday night, go to the Secret Door on a Friday night, I go to Hoxton Square on a Sunday night. Stores - I go to No-One.

MAXIMUM:
And where you go during the day time?

DOUGLAS:
I sleep.

MAXIMUM:
We have “hotdogs” – sausage and bread. Why is this name, what’s the morphology?

DOUGLAS:
I don’t know. I think like many things we can blame the Americans.

MAXIMUM:
You don’t understand Americans? What means “Bush”? It’s a little tree, yes? So it means a man with brain like a tree?

DOUGLAS:
It can be. But it’s not about brain. It can be a small amount of hair around your genitals.

MAXIMUM:
What’s about Pakistanis, Albanians and Indians in you country? We talked to different people from London and they told us that there are many Indians and even big parts of London where Englishmen never come.

DOUGLAS:
No! This area is very close to where I live. There are Bengalis, Pakistanis and Indians. And the food is great!

MAXIMUM:
How to kill a Pakistani? Give him Guinness?

DOUGLAS:
No, I think I’ve seen a lot of Pakistanis drinking Guinness :) Albanians – they are frightening. The Albanians are scary. I’m slightly afraid of the Albanians.

MAXIMUM:
What is the future for England?

DOUGLAS:
I think the future is in entertainment, especially with electronic music.

MAXIMUM:
Who is working now in London?

DOUGLAS:
Everybody! There’s a lot of work now in London. For London it’s good. Outside of London maybe it’s not so good, in the north of England it’s not so good, but in the south, in London... It’s like Russia: in Moscow everybody’s working. But if you go to Siberia, Novosibirsk...

MAXIMUM:
No! In Moscow everybody’s partying!

NEP:
Cool!

MAXIMUM:
Question about football. England as usually sucks...

Bon:
Clearly we know nothing about football and our national team.

MAXIMUM:
Your head is dedicated to football I think!

Bon:
Yeah-yeah!

MAXIMUM:
Why cannot English team reach the end of the championship?

Bon:
The manager’s crap.

DOUGLAS:
The manager, Sven-Göran, was really bad. But also it’s a psychological problem. individually the players are superb, they’re good in their clubs – whether it’s Real Madrid or Manchester United or Chelsea, individually they are good, but as a national team they have psychological problem to join together - they cannot play together as good as they play for their club. I don’t know why. They get paid so much money that their ego is so big and when they come together...

MAXIMUM:
Capitalism!

NEP:
Yes!

MAXIMUM:
Are you communists? No? Che? Ugo Chavez?

NEP:
No, communists – no.

MAXIMUM:
What are you?

DOUGLAS:
That’s a tricky question these days. A bit of everything. Something of the lefts, something of not so left...

MAXIMUM:
Do you know that Ugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela taken his country to Arabian Countries League yesterday? Venezuela is Arabian! It’s a first league of countries :)

NEP:
(laughing)

MAXIMUM:
Tell something about your gig tonight.

DOUGLAS:
It will be lots of energy. We have a third member called Kourtney who will be on stage. So we have a lots of percussion, lots of energy, lots of excitement.

MAXIMUM:
Which computer do you use on your show?

DOUGLAS:
Macintosh. Apple Macintosh.

MAXIMUM:
Why Macintosh? Why not PC?

Bon:
It’s crap.

MAXIMUM:
PC looks like crab?

DOUGLAS:
PC sucks!

MAXIMUM:
PC sucks? You know “peecee” is the same as “cock” in Russian.

DOUGLAS:
(laughing) exactly! You were ahead of this!

MAXIMUM:
So we were just talking about the advantages of different operation systems and got to the conclusion that it’s better to do everything by hands. Electronic music is easy to make nowadays. You can do it at home. And there are many electronic musicians in Russia also. What can you advise to these musicians who just start to make electronic music?

DOUGLAS:
Give up!

MAXIMUM:
Egghead?

Bon:
You got to keep it real basically, the electronic sound gonna do it for you. It should be something humanic in it.

MAXIMUM:
When we talk about the music being alone at home...

DOUGLAS:
...together...

MAXIMUM:
Yes! We think it s better not to make music. If you have a chance to get other work just get it. Is it true?

Bon:
Definitely.

DOUGLAS:
It’s not an easy life necessarily. Even when you are touring and you are able to visit lots of courtiers it’s exiting but its hard work. People forget that being musician is a job and you as well have to work. It’s very hard to take all the drugs and mix with all these women...

MAXIMUM:
Last question. What is better – masturbation or sleeping at night?

DOUGLAS:
A little bit of both.

Bon:
Both! But that can be tricky as you start fall asleep when you masturbating so it’s a tuff choice.

MAXIMUM:
Well, so the most important thing is to wash your hands before sleep as you can find the way to use it later. So guys....now you know what your right hand is for!

DOUGLAS:
Holding a microphone.

MAXIMUM:
Holding your meat microphone!

DOUGLAS:
My special microphone.

MAXIMUM:
I hope your microphone is not for your mouth.

DOUGLAS:
No-no. I do special auditions with my special microphone.

MAXIMUM:
So dear audience, go to the concert tonight, there will be an interview! :)
Thank you guys! Say hello to Tony Blair, to Margaret Thatcher and to Winston Churchill!

NEP:
Thank you!