Woops forgot to include the Czech to English translation when I posted this yesterday, Here it is: Written by user Pavel Zelinka | Friday, 06 June 2014 17:04 On Friday, 9 June, we will be able to see the legendary Chrome in Prague for the very first time. And even though only the Helios Creed half of the original duo is still around, Chrome concerts are apparently still worth it. That’s why we called Mr. Creed and talked about Chrome, being arrested for anti-state activities, the breakup of Chrome, current recording technologies, crowd funding, that the American industrial scene was born on the toilet, and other interesting things. CZ SANCTUARY: CHROME BEGAN TO BE TALKED ABOUT AS AN INDUSTRIAL BAND VERY EARLY ON. BUT AT THE SAME TIME I’VE HEARD THAT THIS WAS CAUSED BY SOME CLEANING PRODUCT... Helios Creed: Right (laughs out loud). In the beginning it was actually just goofing around. “What do you actually play?” asked us one radio journalist during an interview in 1976 or 1977. And back then we recalled a frequent scene from Damon Edge’s apartment. A girlfriend of ours would drop by, but would spend most of the time sitting on the toilet. In the evening we’d always have to clean it with some product. And it’s called, perhaps still to this day, Industrial Strength Toilet Bowl Cleaner. So we told the DJ that we play “Industrial Strength Toilet Bowl Cleaner music”. Much to our surprise, at the end of the program he began using the term Industrial Strength Music as a fact. And since then it’s been with us (laughs). That’s how history is made. After all, we’re no industrialists – those were bands like Throbbing Gristle... CZ SANCTUARY: SO THE US INDUSTRIAL SCENE BEGAN ON THE TOILET... Helios Creed: Yeah (another burst of laughter) CZ SANCTUARY: ANOTHER CONCEPT FROM CHROME’S HISTORY THAT ISN’T VERY CLEAR IS YOUR OFTEN USED TERM “CHILL FACTOR”. WHAT DID IT MEAN? Helios Creed: We used it for songs or fragments of compositions that were good. When someone got goose bumps while listening, they’d say that it’s got “chill factor’, meaning that we’d nailed it. CZ SANCTUARY: IN 1983 DAMON EDGE MOVED TO PARIS AND THE ORIGINAL CHROME DUO SPLIT. AT THAT TIME, WERE YOU CONSIDERING ALSO MOVING TO EUROPE AND CONTINUING? Helios Creed: You know, at that time we both had girlfriends, and while Damon’s was literally craving to go to Europe, mine couldn’t at all imagine moving to France. Due to this split I began my solo career and I did quite well right off the bat, so I soon abandoned any thoughts about Europe. CZ SANCTUARY: AND DID YOU STILL KEEP IN TOUCH WITH DAMON? Helios Creed: More towards the end of his life than at the beginning. I don’t know the details of what happened with his marriage, only that they had some complications. I would have liked to help him back then, but that wasn’t really possible to do long-distance. CZ SANCTUARY: BUT A FEW MONTHS PRIOR TO HIS DEATH YOU BEGAN TALKING ABOUT REVIVING CHROME... Helios Creed: Yeah, you’re right. I told him that I was waiting for him in LA so that we could kick it off with a bang again. He surprised me by agreeing, but before we could start working on anything, he died unexpectedly. And so I put on five concerts with Chrome material in his honor. CZ SANCTUARY: HOW WAS IT AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS TO ONCE AGAIN JUMP ON THE TRAIN CALLED CHROME? Helios Creed: It wasn’t easy at all. Plus I wasn’t sure how fans of the band would react to it. After all, Damon was the founding member, not me. But I was encouraged by how many supportive reactions I received, so I asked fans to give me a chance to present my version of Chrome, and the whole madhouse got going again. Even today I still try to keep sight of the idea that motivated us back then. When I play songs that Damon wrote, I still get slight chills down my spine. Occasionally I feel like a scientist that is constantly trying to discover the original essence of our band. CZ SANCTUARY: DURING THE YEAR, TWO CHROME ALBUMS CAME OUT. BOTH THANKS TO THE SUPPORT OF FANS ON CROWDFUNDING PORTALS. WHAT DID THIS SUPPORT MEAN TO YOU? Helios Creed: A lot. I realized that working on Chrome still had meaning. That this group is still interesting for a surprisingly large number of fans, and that’s also why we set out on such an extensive European tour. By the way, do you know that my mother was born in Bratislava? CZ SANCTUARY: SO YOU CAN SPEAK A BIT OF SLOVAK? Helios Creed: No. My mother left Czechoslovakia during World War II, when she was seven, and didn’t have a chance to create stronger ties to her native land. When I asked her about her mother tongue, she admitted that she doesn’t remember anything anymore. CZ SANCTUARY: MAN, THAT’S INTERESTING... BUT LETS GET BACK TO MUSIC. WHERE DID YOU SCROUNGE UP THE NEVER BEFORE ISSUED CHROME MATERIAL TAT APPEARED ON “HALF MACHINE FROM THE SUN”? Helios Creed: Back then we’d recorded a pile of stuff and put most of it aside. As time went on, I’d forgotten that those tapes even existed. Recently my friend Joe Dupre contacted me that he’d purchased a bunch of tapes with unissued Chrome material. I bought them from him, listened to them, and thought: “Shit, that’s good stuff, why didn’t we ever put it out?” So it’s a selection of the best that made its way to us. CZ SANCTUARY: SO IT’S POSSIBLE THAT IN THE FUTURE YOU’LL ISSUE MORE FROM THE ARCHIVE? Helios Creed: Maybe. There’s still a lot of good stuff. I don’t want to promise anything, because you know how that goes... CZ SANCTUARY: OF COURSE. IN ONE OLDER INTERVIEW YOU WERE EXPLAINING HOW YOU CLASSIFY RECORDED MATERIAL. YOU PUT THE HARDER AND MORE STRAIGHT-AHEAD STUFF FOR SOLO RECORDS, WHILE YOU KEEP THE EXPERIMENTAL “TECHNO ROCK” FOR CHROME. IT THAT STILL THE CASE? I’M ASKING BECAUSE THE NEW ALBUM, “FEEL IT LIKE A SCIENTIST” IS A PRETTY ROCKING COLLECTION... Helios Creed: You’re right. Now I’ve got an excellent young rhythm section in the band, so I had to let that fact come through on the album. On the other hand, the new album features a lot of far-out passages that wouldn’t be suitable for my solo albums. Composition is also affected by the current Chrome lineup, which now that it has two guitarists, is probably the most rocking. CZ SANCTUARY: HOW DID THEY WAY CHROME SONGS ARE COMPOSED CHANGE, IF YOU FOR EXAMPLE THE FAMOUS ERA AT THE END OF THE SEVENTIES AND BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTIES WITH TODAY? Helios Creed: The tools available in the studio today have changed. Even though you record digitally, you can still have the final recording come out sounding quite analog. Today there are countless ways to achieve what you want. But the interesting thing is that during the recording of “Feel It Like A Scientist”, I wanted in places to use several tape effects that Damon and I had used on a regular basis before. At first I tried to achieve the same effect digitally, but it wasn’t quite right. So after many years I dusted off old tape recorders and began doing it like in the old days. Playing around with the bass frequencies, around the middle of the piece, is exactly the moment that I’m describing. CZ SANCTUARY: SO YOU LIKE TO COMBINE THE OLD WITH THE NEW... Helios Creed: Mainly I’m trying to use music to entertain myself and those around me. The worst thing is that sophisticated type of boredom. Today you can do everything yourself, but I don’t like that. I like the tension between band members that can even bring a certain discord into play. But that’s simply part of rock. CZ SANCTUARY: ARE YOU NOW FULLY OCCUPIED WITH CHROME, OR ARE YOU ALSO PREPARING SOME SOLO MATERIAL? Helios Creed: Of course. As soon as I return home I’ve got a couple of solo shows waiting for me, and then I want to start recording a new album. But it’s going to take a while, because things have really started to happen around Chrome. CZ SANCTUARY: I READ SOMEWHERE THAT YOU WERE JAILED IN THE PAST FOR UTTERING TERRORIST THREATS, IS THAT TRUE? Helios Creed: Yeah, they’d arrest me once every few months – once even for a couple of weeks. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember much from that time because I was permanently stoned. The entire thing just sort of petered off. Today I’ve been sober for over two years, because my agent made me decide – either me or booze. So what could I do? (laughs). CZ SANCTUARY: WHAT WILL BE HEAR AT THE PRAGUE CONCERT? Helios Creed: Because we’ll be here for the first time ever, we can’t leave out any important milestones from the past, but of course this tour is in support of a new album, so we’ll play a few songs from it as well.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 19:06:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015