[:SITD:]

Tell our readers a little bit more about yourselves and the band [:SITD:].
Tom: - "Gladly, the band consists of the members Carsten Jacek (Vocals and lyrics), Francesco Frank D''Angelo (Additional keyboards) and Tom Lesczenski (Music and backing vocals). Basically I compose everything of the music, while Carsten writes the complete lyrics. But everybody has an influence on the work of the other band member. The band started in 1996 as Shadows In The Dark - a metaphorical expression for the music and lyrical content of this project - but many people, especially the press and record-companies, thought that we're a Gothic band. Consequently we have decided to write our band name as short form in brackets to underline the electronic style of our music. We've released some tracks on compilations and published two self-produced CD's entitled 'Trauerland' and 'Atomic' which are both sold out now. 2001 the CD-compilation Septic 2 including the club version of "Snuff Machinery" was published by Dependent. To our big surprise it became a massive hit and then we had the possibility to support VNV Nation on their Futureperfect tour. Many labels were interested in signing us. We were in the good position to choose the best contract from many offers. So we came to the conclusion to work together with Adrian Hates, the singer and mastermind of Diary of Dreams, and his label Accession Records. In 2002 we have released the 'Snuff EP'. We didn't just reached the pole position on the Dutch Underground Charts, we even topped the German Alternative Chart (D.A.C.) for three consecutive weeks and our single counted among the ten most successful German alternative hits of 2002. So the story goes..."

Tell us some more about your latest album 'Coded Message: 12'.
Carsten: - "According to numerology, 12 stands for unity and perfection. The number twelve has had significant meaning in many cultures and systems of belief. The European Union decided to use 12 stars on their flag as a symbol for unity. The number 12 is symbolic of the creation of the universe. Twelve appears several times in the Bible, i.e., the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Disciples of Christ, twelve stones, twelve princes, etc. In the old Babylon the 12 stands for Nergal, the God of the underworld, war and death. This is the background to the new [:SITD:]'s album and in the broadest sense every song on 'Coded Message: 12' is about that theme. 'Coded Message: 12' starts with the song "Curtain Raiser" which is an introduction. Adrian Hates of Diary Of Dreams speaks the opening words from where the journey starts. The second song "Brand Of Cain" is about a person which is driven by jelousy. The song describes a tense relationship and its termination. "Richtfest" is inspired by mass-murderers. We read a lot of biographical stuff about such shady persons like Fritz Haarmann, Jeffrey Dahmer or Jack Unterweger. Then the human cannibal story in Rotenburg / Germany happenend: Armin Meiwes, the yellow press called him the Cannibal from Rotenburg, has confessed to murdering and eating a fellow homosexual who volunteered to be killed in one of the most bizarre ritual murders in Germany in many years. Armin Meiwes was convicted only of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison. "Richtfest" is about the ''mask'' which those criminals wear to hide their perverted desires. "Upstairs" is a song about dissociative identity disorder. Dissociation is a mental process, which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. When faced with overwhelmingly traumatic situations from which there is no physical escape - for example sexual abuse or experiences with massive violence - a person may resort to ''going away in his head''. Dissociative Disorders are often referred to as a highly creative survival technique because they allow individuals enduring ''hopeless'' circumstances to preserve some areas of healthy functioning. "Wegweiser" means as much as ''signpost'', but we made use of this expression in a very metaphorical way. The song is about the people's disappointment concerning the Reunion in Germany and also about specific problems in the European Union. "Plastination City" is a critical view on Gunther von Hagens, the inventor of the plastination technique and the creator of Body Worlds. A documentary which was shown on German television reproaches that Gunther von Hagens would buy the bodies of executed Chinese prisoners to create a perfect body world. "Crusade" is about the conflict between the fundamentalist Islam and the western hemisphere. The song criticises both sides and stands for the wish to restore peace. "Sentiment" tells the story about a person in desperation who has lost his faith in God. "Yield To Despair" is the instrumental bridge to the following song "Releif". The song gives a word of comfort and consolation. Tom has performed the vocals on this track. "Ascension" is about a near death experience and "The Final Curtain" starts from where "Ascension" ends. Adrian Hates speaks the last words in a very emotional end of the album."

You have a new live member, Frank; will he be a full time member in a near future? Does he in some way help you with the producing of your music?
Tom: - "Francesco Frank D''Angelo is the official third band member of [:SITD:]. Frank is not involved in writing songs, but he supports us during the shows as additional keyboarder and backing vocalist. Furthermore he has an important role concerning administrative things. He spends a lot of time in [:SITD:]. We value and appreciate his engagement."

I've read that your latest album will be released in Russia? What are your opinions? Do you think it will be a success?
Tom: - "That''s right. Irond Records is our new label partner in Russia. We are happy about the fact that all our friends in Russia have now the possibility to buy our records officially in a store or via mail-order. We don't have any high-wrought expectations, we will see what the future has in store for us."

With your track "Lebensborn" you strike a punch at the horrors which occurred 60 years ago. Is the Second World War still buried deep down in people's minds?
Carsten: - ""Lebensbord" from our first album Stronghold is about one of the most horrible chapters of German history, the so-called club, founded by SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler in 1935, whose doubtful aim was to keep an ''Aryan race''. In those days, altogether thirteen ''Lebensborn'' homes got built with cynical names like ''Sonnenwiese'', ''Heim Hochland'' or ''Wienerwald''. In these homes, women who fulfilled the Nazis'' ''race criterions'' had to offer their ''sexual services'' to the SS officers to give the ''Aryan race'' a continued existence. This didn't happen because on the one side there was an increasing birth rate, but on the other hand many people died because of the beginning of war. Himmler then came with an even more drastic idea: the Nazis took blond, blue-eyed children from ''east protectorates'' and carried them off to these homes. When ''upbringing'' failed in the Nazis' eyes, the children got killed or were used as cannon fodder at the front. With this song, we want to show that there were much more outrages than the ones that the media has been talking about for all these years (i. e. the building of concentration camps) in the dark chapter of Germany's history. "Lebensborn" is one of these outrages, and in times of general political disaffection it seems very important to us to strengthen democracy and make a clear statement. We should all be aware of how important democracy is. You can't take things like being able to speak freely, to vote or have the right to demonstrate for granted."

Your lyrics are sometimes a little bit cryptic and sometimes quite easy to get, is there any common source of inspiration to your lyrics?
Carsten: - "Yes, there is. Just watch the daily news on television or go through this violent world with open eyes. It is our intention to lay our fingers in the wounds of this sick-minded society. [:SITD:] is a kind of therapy for us. Writing songs and textures is a survival technique in this world which is full of agony. This is our common source of inspiration."

You had a major hit with "Snuff Machinery" even before the release of your first album, on a demo if I'm not wrong? What are your opinions about this? Was it surprising for you?
Carsten: - "Yes, you are right. We gave some deejays a demo-version of "Snuff Machinery" and the feedback on this has been exceeding all the expectations we had. This applies to the DJ's and media's resonances as well as to our audience."

With your latest album you have made it to be one of the major acts in the EBM-scene today, what's your secret?
Tom: - "There is no secret. We have worked very hard and [:SITD:] is 100% authentic! We don't have the intention to write the history of electronic music again, but we guess that [:SITD:] has build up an own identity and over the years we have created our own style. It's a gift to bring the most important thing into the focus: Our music. It's simple,