Informatik

In short terms, tell us about the guys behind Informatik, and what you do when you're not doing music.
Da5id Din: - "I enjoy, reading politics, and vegan cooking."
Tyler Newman: - "Music is about the only thing I spend my time on, other than sex!"

You started the band back in 1993, still you have only released three albums and the remix album 'Re:Vision'. How come?
Da5id Din: - "I've also written two DIN_FIV albums, produced two Psyclon Nine albums as well as mastering dozens of releases including five Assemblage 23 CD's and four Velvet Acid Christ CD's. I've been rather busy."
Tyler Newman: - "Yes, there's a million things that happen alongside the release of our records. Other projects, and shows, and our lives all take some time! Rather than release a bunch of underdeveloped garbage once a year, I think its better that we only release our best work every couple of years."

Is your latest release 'Re:Vision' a finalisation of your career or just a summery?
Tyler Newman: - "I think it's an excellent document of where we are now and where we've been, musically. Plus, it gave us a good opportunity to have some bands that we like remix our work."

You were more harsh and old school back in the days, but your latest release is much more soft and layback, how come?
Da5id Din: - "I've mellowed out quite a bit over the years. The music is just a reflection of that."
Tyler Newman: - "It's a lot easier to write harsh noisy music than it is to convey subtlety or genuine emotion. It's more of a challenge for us as musicians to take a different approach over time, rather than just repeating the same formula that worked in the beginning. While it may have been easier for us to deliver another album like 'Syntax', I think it was a welcome new challenge for us to take on 'Nymphomatik' and 'Re:vision'."

How do you think your music have evolved since the beginning?
Da5id Din: - "It's much more mature in terms of composition and production. Ideologically speaking, the change has been less significant."
Tyler Newman: - "The production has improved exponentially. Our ability to write songs has definitely evolved in a positive way. The overall tone of the music and lyrics has shifted away from being a hard, distorted EBM style, into a more modern and trance-oriented sound. The key word is evolution!"

Tyler, you have a side project called Battery Cage, tell us more about this project.
Tyler Newman: - "Battery Cage is more of my main project, actually. It's a much more "rock" oriented sound than Informatik. We recently released an album on Metropolis ('World Wide Wasteland'), and are hard at work on our next record right now. We actually just reissued our debut album from 1998 on our own label as well."

What's the plan for the near future?
Da5id Din: - "I have lots of mastering and production work scheduled at the moment."
Tyler Newman: - "I'm busy working on the new Battery Cage album, which will be out sometime in 2005. I've also been spending some time helping produce the new Stromkern album which will be out very soon. It seems like things are incredibly busy all the time, so mostly I'm just trying to get all the loose ends tied up."

Which artists are your personal favourites?
Da5id Din: - "I've always been a big fan of Assemblage 23. Other than that, I really don't listen to much that's out there."
Tyler Newman: - "I mostly listen to ambient and techno music, so most of the music I like won't be familiar to the rivethead crowd. Some things I've been listening to lately include: Monolake, Lycia, Ellen Allien, Brian Eno, etc. The only time I really ever hear industrial music is when I'm at clubs, and I usually don't like what I'm hearing...everything kind of sounds the same to me. I was really very impressed with Front 242's album 'Pulse' as well as the most recent In Strict Confidence record."

Have you ever been to Sweden and are there any plans of coming to Scandinavia?
Da5id Din: - "Perhaps on vacation."
Tyler Newman: - "Scandanavia ranks very high on my list of places to visit or tour. I haven't had the chance to get there yet, but someday..."

What's your worst and best tour moments?
Da5id Din: - "Playing the Palace in Los Angeles was one of of our best shows to date. The video appears on Re:vision. As for the worst, there are too many to recall. They mostly involve crappy PA's, unqualified sound personel, and inadequate dressing rooms."
Tyler Newman: - "Actually I think the most recent Informatik show we did in LA at Perversion was probably one of the best shows I've ever done. The entire room was on the same wavelength as the band, and the energy in the room was just tremendous! Not the largest audience we've ever played for, but certainly one of the best! Worst moments...I try not to let them get me down too much, but when there are technical problems that affect the show, that's always a bummer. There's a lot of stress before the show, that's why it's always nice to get to the end and relax."

Any last words to our readers?
Tyler Newman: - "Have a good time, all the time!"

This interview was made 2005 and initially published on Neurozine.com