Z Prochek

You haven't reached so far yet, start off by telling us about Z Procheck.
- "Z Procheck is a duo including Martin Skånberg on synth/programming and Johan Otterheim who sings and writes. Our music can simply be described as a hybrid between so called futurepop and dark EBM, where distorted singing mixes with female vocals and beautiful strings combines with heavy industry drums. We are seeking for some energy in our tracks without loosing the red line, to make electronic music that works in both the kitchen and the dance floor. It seems to work so far."

Which artists have inspired you?
Martin: - "It's mostly different electronic bands like Covenant, Front 242, Depeche Mode and so on. But we also like artists like David Bowie and Queen. I also like to listen to classical music."
Johan: - "A lots of different bands, you have influences in you from bands you listen to as a child, but the most obvious is Covenant, A23, Hocico and so on."

For how long have you played together?
- "We started fall 2002. We started with Z Procheck then. The months before we had different plans on how our music should sound. Johan plays guitar so we tried for example crossover, but after that Johan throw away his guitar and took the microphone we had Z Procheck."

How did you get a record deal?
- "It's actually kind of fun because we didn't really do anything. After the first track was finished, I sent it to a friend who then mailed it to Memento Materia. They contacted us and wanted to hear more. We've only made one track so we started with a demo. It ended with a four track demo. After we had been on the demo collection 'Monument/8' we signed with Prototyp/Memento Materia."

How would you describe you album?
Martin: - "'Intravenous' is made during a two year period where our influences changed a few times. The whole lead to that the album got an incredible wide that should fit the most that like dance music"
Johan: - "'Intravenous' is very multifaceted and in that way creative because we have used jazz influences on some tracks. It's absolutely music that works on the dance floors. But there is also some tracks that works home or as background music."

How do you do to promote yourselves?
- "In the beginning we wrote in forums and in guest books, but people seemed to pick us up instead. Especially from USA we have been receiving a lot of fan mail. Now we are being helped from Sami in Stockholm."

Do you have any gigs planned?
- "At the moment it's pretty empty. But soon it will all be finished and we will play again."

Do you seek gigs yourself or do you let them contact you?
- "Right now we are taking it kind of slow with the live performances. We do get mails regularly about gigs. Sami even keeps this in check for us."

What does the future look like now? What's ahead?
- "Right now I have remixed a few projects, like Glis and Final Selection. Otherwise it's all about making new tracks. Right now I'm very inspired of electro clash so next Z Procheck track is possible flirting with electro."

You have a female vocalist on the album, tell us more?
- "Well, her name is Karolina Nilsson, and she agreed to sing a few tracks after we asked her if she was interested. We recorded her singing during a few days only, so I am very satisfied of how it turned out. She has never done this kind of music before and I don't know if she has any other project right now."

What would you say is most important, a heavy beat or a synth loop that gets stuck in you head?
Martin: - "It depends on which type of track you do. Prodigy works on getting a heavy beat, while Kraftwerk does the synth loop, if you can do this comparison."
Johan: - "A combination I would say."

This interview was made 2003 and initially published on Neurozine.com