Auf Abwegen, Vol. 22 Summer 1997
Originally in German, translated (poorly) by me
Auf Abwegen: Lately you've been publishing Archival material. Does the tape [Verhalt dich Ruhig] contain new material?
David Jackman: Yes, that's new, from last year.
AA: Why the return to the tape medium?
DJ: That seemed to fit the material. The sound quality didn't play a large role. The material is over forty years old - garbage, I found it in a junkshop and then processed it.
AA: Another question: I have the impression your music is self-contained. Are there any influences?
DJ: Not anymore. In former times - Asiatic music, Buddhist music. But that was a long time ago.
AA: Does your music develop?
DJ: No. Not actually. In each case, it goes in a circle.
AA: How is your music played? You make it because you do it gladly, or is it a ritual...
DJ: I make it, because I make it gladly. It's not a ritual. I make music, if I have an idea. For example the sawing piece[10 Cut]: that emerged fully finished in my head. I don't think there's more to it, I don't know where it came from. It just makes me laugh.
AA: Does it have a spirituality?
DJ: NO!! (laughs)
AA: I don't mean in the esoteric sense; does it bring you in contact with any energies which are your own?
DJ: No, I think that's not it. The question is not stupid, but it does not mean anything for me. I do not think much about the origin of my music; otherwise I probably wouldn't make it. I simply make it.
AA: Back to the tape: The cover seems to have something to do with the Third Reich
DJ: Yes, that's a photo I took at Birkenau. I was really frightened of the place. I think, for you Germans it's easier - or, not easier, but you're more accustomed to it, it's part of your background. For me it was a shock. Until two years ago I didn't know anything about it. I know someone who was in Auschwitz, so it began to interest me.
AA: Why did you use it for the cover?
DJ: That's a complicated idea - an accumulation of ideas. The message (Perform calmly!) is an instruction, which is on the Shithouse wall, which they were allowed to use only once a day for one minute - it's thus nonsense. Additionally there was a female orchestra, which had to play this garbage for the SS in Birkenau. Therefore the connection; Bad music, Muzak, instruction... it's not a coherent idea, rather a collage.
AA: To return to your beginings in the Scratch Orchestra, that was also political - is there a connection there?
DJ: No, it's not important to me whether its political or not. The political aspect of the Scratch Orchestra began only in 1972, when I was no longer there.
AA: Some of your singles sound like contract-work, for instance: make me seven minutes of music, and I'll give you five hundred marks for it?
DJ: (laughs) That's beautiful! No, I made almost no contract-work. I have an idea, and then I execute it. The singles I'll try to bring out now, on my label Aeroplane.
AA: How did it go with "Veil of Tears"?
DJ: The pieces were recorded in an abandoned railway tunnel. I threw stones and metal. That was very pleasant; only it was very cold, I made it in the winter.
AA: What's up with "A Mouse Orchestra"? Is that ongoing?
DJ: Oh, that was only Christoph (Heemann) and myself. It was a unique thing.
AA: I saw a new disk announced in a label catalog.
DJ: Really? I'd like to get a copy! Doesn't matter - so long as they send me a percentage of the profits...
(another): : I believe there's another group...
AA: If you transfers your ideas, does improvisation thereby play a role?
DJ: Sometimes I use improvisation, in some pieces, but as a dogma or ideology it doesn't interest me. I like it, when things have that certain form, and those which don't, always fight against improvisation.
AA: Where do the titles come from? eg:"Tower of Silence" brings up certain associations (the towers of the silence are funeral places of the Parsen, an Indian religion).
DJ: Oh, the titles simply emerge when I hear the music. I don't think much about it; I try to avoid titles which evoke false associations.
AA: If you cannot put your music into words, how do you arrange the ideas for your fellow players?
DJ: Good question. Usually I leave it simple - to mesh, which they also do. But I control the mix; however there are also pieces which were mixed by others.
AA: Like Robert Hampson (Main)?
DJ: Yes, and Jim O'Rourke, Steve Stapleton and Christoph Heemann - a few people who I trust. Jim is a master of hearing - he hears things which I cannot.
AA: I come now to the piece on "Submission", the one with the bird noises and the motorcycle..
DJ: Yes, there someone started their motorcycle. I felt it was "right". I had very little cash at the time, and the cheapest way to make a piece was live. So I recorded at a place where half of the noises were not made by me. That isn't very profound, but it meshed well.
AA: Do you have any non-musical influences in your music?
DJ: Now, I actually don't have a background as a musician, but as a painter. I like many things, 20. Century, medieval art.
AA: Max Ernst?
DJ: Yes, when I was very young.
AA: Many your collages resemble his works.
DJ: Yes, I actually made Max Ernsts in the past - only better (laughs) No, no, he was great. I simply feel comfortable with collage. The music of Organum is also collage: layer laid upon layer.
AA: Perhaps you do not like the comparison, but I had to think of Anselm Kiefer, with his thick color and ash layers.
DJ: I know few of his pictures, but they please me. What was the question again?
AA: Non-musical influences on your music.
DJ: I'll try... I often play railroad recordings for myself. I love them - I have hundreds sent in from all over the world. Nowadays I listen to normal noises rather than music: Birds, water, frogs, insects... Insects are like minimum music - only one note. One note is enough. That's good!