Interview taken from HermAphrodite #3?

We’re approaching dusk of a gloriously sunny day, but the sky is still the purest blue. Behind our balcony the courtyard stretches out and into the passages of the building. From where Becca and I are sitting, facing Subcircus, we have a sweeping view of rolling purple-headed mountains, between which rises a long-winding path which leads up to a high delicate castle. A graceful dragon is hovering above Nikolaj’s head...

We’re backstage, up in the ‘beer garden’ of the Duchess Of York, and no we haven’t spent too long in the sun. The band are real ( as is the precarious position of my chair on the uneven surface ), but, probably fortunately for Nikolaj, my dragon-view is a wall mural. Though Sir George has told me that, although he “ couldn’t kill a dragon if I tried... ( he hasn’t ) ...Nikolaj could.”

From which one can see that Sir George’s title does not come from dragon-slaying exploits. Instead, he’s Sir George because, as Nikolaj said, it suits him. And “Because I’m the Southerner in the band, and therefore I have a Home Counties accent, so they named me ‘Sir’ after that. I’m hoping to graduate to ‘Saint’ in a few years. It’s going to take a long time though.”

me - “ Don’t you have to die first ?”

Sir George - “ No, no, you can be a living saint.”

Thomas - “ Yeah, but you know at some point one of us has to die anyway.”

Sir George ( contemplatively ) - “ Well it could do the record a lot of good.”

Thomas - “ Okay. ( BIG voice ) It’s you !”

Sir George ( unhappily ) - “ I’m going to have to die for the sake of the band, to become a saint.”

me - “ There you go - if you die killing a dragon that fits everything in together.”

Thomas - “ And we’d get a good headline out of it.”

me - ( thoughtfully ) You could get some good pictures out of it as well.”

Sir George - “ What, my death ? ( thinks about it ) We could record it on the camcorder, put it on the next single...”

Though I think a video of death-by-dragon to accompany the re-release of ‘86’d’might be a little ghoulish for Subcircus, its suggestion demonstrates the extent of their interest in the idea of visual accompaniments to their music. From their disturbing sleeve-art to their live shows, they like to play with all their audience’s senses, and try to provoke some sort of an emotional response.

The artwork for their ( now deleted but to be put out again at the end of year ) debut album ‘Carousel’ has sleeve-pictures of the band wrapped in what appears to be a gossamer web, individual shots of each of them in theatrical-type costume ( where they each can be easily identified ), and also of each of them underwater in a bath ( where they can’t ). But the single covers are... getting weirder ( understatement ).We’re moving into the lives of distorted over-sized heads, leering mouths and hanging bodies. ( Turns to camera ) ‘Nice.’

Explanation?

PB - “ The album artwork is very different, and that was I suppose the consequence of too many people with too much of an idea... I feel personally that it looks a bit dislocated and distorted, whereas the singles now have a definite identity to them. And that was really my choice to illustrate them - before I spoke to the band about it I found somebody I liked, and brought it to the band, and they thought that it went really well with what we do.” ( Which was lucky, really. )

And he’s happier with the way the singles look.

PB - “ I like continuity, in something.”

And the rest of the band are just happy, I think, that they look weird.

( Single-covers, not band members. )

Sir George - “ It’s a product of our disordered minds. That’s what we see when we look at people. ( Becca & I make nervous noises ) No... I think it reflects Peter’s lyrics a lot of the time; they’re kinda twisted and odd, and I think it suits that. And I think they’re good to look at - more interesting than a picture.”

And now, when Subcircus play live, there isn’t just the band to watch. They are currently touring the country with 4 shocking green TV’s positioned behind them onstage. And for why ?

Thomas - “ They’re to watch Coronation Street on... I just think it’s a really cool idea that people actually go to a gig to watch TV, you know...”

By which we start thinking that the audience will be able to watch late night TV at the same time as the band. Which could be cool. ‘Becca, with this in mind, suggests our watching ‘Reservoir Dogs’, which is on that evening.

And though Thomas seems taken with it ( “ That’s a great idea.” ), and Sir George, being a “bit tired” , would quite like the chance to sit on a sofa onstage with the rider and a good film, this cunning plan looks set to fail as the TVs are not really there for ‘Reservoir Dogs’, but Subcircus’ own imagery. Which isn’t quite so popcorn-relaxing.

Thomas - “ The whole concept for it is that we always wanted to try and use some visuals even in the smaller clubs - it’s something we’ve been talking about for ages and then finally after a long time we got hold of Michael - who’s here tonight - who’s like a visual DJ. He’s doing the projection as we play - it’s not something set you know. We tried it out in Manchester last night, and it was fantastic. All the visuals are based on our ideas and little items that we’ve collected over the years.”

Sir George - “ It’s video footage of objects moving around... there’s an eyeball....”

Thomas - “ It’s just weird.”

But not David Devant and His Spirit Wife weird - though they both do like the test-card on TVs thing. The TVs are intended to be more of an added extra to their live shows than a wholly integral part. And their projections aren’t as overtly sexual as Placebo’s, or didactic as the Manics’. But they are quietly and insistently odd, focusing on one small thing in such a way that it increases in importance. Which in itself mirrors their music. And when Rebecca asks if they’d like to be known for their onstage visuals, and for that to be an added reason for their audience to be there, Thomas tells her that “ It’s definitely a part of us. The visual side of Subcircus is as much a part of us as the music...There’s a practical reason why we haven’t been able to do it up to now - because of the cost and that it takes up space onstage...”

Sir George - “ And in the van.”

Thomas - “...and it has to be right”

The idea of strong visual imagery prompt Rebecca to begin the obligatory Marilyn Manson conversation ( she saw them this week, and has yet to get over both it & the crowd ). Subcircus are not a band likely to produce a girdle & suspenders wearing, bare-arsed lead-singer. ( Peter is more of a quiet skirt-wearing type. ) Nor are they likely to mutilate themselves onstage. And that’s because of both the people they are and the music which they make...

Thomas - “ Essentially what you try to do with your music is to get your message across - some bands do do that - and maybe if Marilyn Manson bleeds onstage that has something to do with what they are, what their music is about.”

It’s a different type of ‘dark’ which prompts a band like Marilyn Manson to form...

Nikolaj - “ You can be very dark without being destructive, and I don’t think we’re destructive at all, though we have our dark side.”

Which is something which they embrace.

And when Becca later asks Peter whether he’s afraid of ‘the dark’, and what might lurk within it, she is told simply - “ No. The dark fascinates me... I can only sleep in the dark”

Once you’ve veered away from the ‘lighter’ music - which make uncomplicated perfect pop creations of the more carefree and happy subjects - there is a darker side of music which closer resembles the full range of human emotions. Yet the range of different artists incorporated within this loose-collective is overwhelming, as the term ‘dark’ itself has several different meanings; black leather and black magic is ‘dark’, but so is music which is heavily emotional, often in a negative way. And Subcircus do fall more easily into the latter category. Yet it ought to be remembered that the term ‘dark’ is just a loose-collective. The music press’ relentless seizing upon or enforced creation of countless new waves of music ‘scenes’ is driven purely by their desire to sell papers, and find something of true worth to write on. They now present the ‘New Seriousness’ movement, consisting of ‘new’ bands such as Marion, Placebo and the like. Who all wear eyeliner and are a bit, you know, emotional.

Grrr..

As Peter said, ‘emotional’ music has “ always been there, from really early 50’s music right through to the present day...”

‘New Grave’, and indeed any sort of categorising by the music press is ”just the media’s way of putting you in a plastic bag - making it easier for them to describe you.”

Though I don’t think the tag is something which he or the band are thinking about at the moment, though even without it The Melody Maker have seemed to love Subcircus from the start.. Yet this band would rather concentrate on their plans for world domination, something which they do want.

PB - “ Of course. Well, doesn’t any artist? Not to take over the world, it’s to affect the way people see and feel.”

And that is what appears to be most important to the band. When people listen to their music PB Jnr would like them to feel...”affected. That we’ve actually penetrated the emotional veneer, for somebody to go away feeling that we’ve touched them some way.”...”

As Becca said, he likes the idea that his songs leave an ‘aftertaste’ with the audience. And they affect him as well, the lyrics mean the mist to him as he’s the one who wrote them. Singing his songs, Peter himself feels ”different every time” - he has different favourite songs every day, but does not become tired of any of them. Nikolaj admits that he sometimes does become bored, but, ever the philosophical optimist, says that “then you have to find different ways to play it - it just means you’re bored of the way you’re thinking of that song when you play it.”

>>> Part 2

Last revised: 26/07/01