We are approaching our 3 year anniversary! On Friday, December 9th, join us in celebrating three years of Auxiliary Magazine! The party is at Club Diablo in Buffalo NY and it will be a night full of fashion and music! There will be a Cats Like Us, the Buffalo based retro clothing boutique, fashion show and music will be provided by Edwin Somnambulist of Industrial Strength Nightmares Radio and the monthly Toronto event Neurodance, plus Aaron Andrews (regular Auxiliary Magazine music contributor), Jason Draper (Auxiliary Magazine contributor), and Darago (Auxiliary Magazine music editor Mike Kieffer). In addition we will be raffling off tons of gift certificates and great items from the event’s sponsors. If you’re in the area, we hope to see you there!
Perhaps the most well known modern EBM/futurepop group of today, Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson of VNV Nation continue on their vigilant quest to spread their music to any willing ear. Automatic is their newest weapon, which is powerful enough to please their fans and pull many more onto the VNV bandwagon.
Wrath – VNV Nation is entered in a fight to the death battle of the bands, who would you want to square off against and what weapon would you choose?
Ronan Harris : Not being a fan of violence or displays of testosteronal inspired violence, this is hard to imagine but if this was a scene in some far-fetched, postapocalypse, low-budget sci-fi movie with Christopher Lambert or JCVD as the cyborg leader whose very word means life or death through the medium of bad acting and interpretational dance, and including some obligatory cliché punk looking folk driving around in chopped up Pintos, firing shots into the air, while inexplicable gas explosions shoot up into the sky around an abandoned factory… etc. (see 1980s for more on this)… I guess I’d go up against Belinda Carlise, if nothing for the sheer bizarreness of it all. Was she a band, even if she was a solo act? Who cares. It’s my answer. VNV vs Belinda Carlisle. Weapon of choice; I think grenades or an MP5K should do it. It’d be quick. The after-party would be awesome.
Envy – If you could put one item on your tour rider that you would always get regardless of price what would it be?
RH : When we started out we used to put “One shaved Golden Condor” and some other necessary items on the rider that you really do need on tour but people didn’t seem to have the sense of humor we expected. Hell, it was for our amusement, no one else’s. If I could put an item on the rider now that I could actually have, it would be one of two things… One, a fabric-lined, wooden box containing a bottle of an ultra rare single-malt scotch that I happen to like, and a collection of handrolled Dominican Republic cigars. After load-out, when everyone’s gone home, the whole crew would all sit around and act like kings of the road, enjoying some fine scotch and discussing the day because our crew’s conversations are hilarious and it would be the high point of the day. Two, an inflatable bouncy castle to be erected in the corner of the hall. You can never go wrong with a bouncy castle. It’s the ultimate icebreaker at cocktail parties and promotes fine conversation covering a wide range of topics. That or people would take their shoes off, get on the thing and re-join the 8 year old mosh pit club, remembering what it was like to smash their nose while flying around on one, though without a parent to run to after.
Are you ready to take a journey through time and space? OK well maybe just be hypnotized for 11 min. or for as long as your ADHD will allow. BT’s latest video for the track “Le Nocturne de Lumière” from his Grammy-nominated full length album These Hopeful Machines, is a visual treat. Reminds me of when visuals were all the rage using Winamp.
Step 1: Turn down the lights
Step 2: Turn up your speakers
Step 3: Hit play
Step 4: View full screen
For over twelve years God Module has injected a healthy dose of creepy into the dark electro scene. We had the chance to interview Jasyn Bangert, the mastermind behind it all, as he once again sets loose his imagination and musical talents to eager fans with the release of God Module’s new album Séance on Metropolis Records.
interview by James S. Cole, Kelly Cole & Mike Kieffer
God Module seems to be a band that cares a lot about and has a close connection with it’s fans, how does this relationship effect the band?
Jasyn Bangert : One of the great things about God Module is that we have some very devoted and supportive fans. In response to this I have always made a point to go out of my way to stay in contact with our fan base on a personal level. Since I was a kid I have been deeply involved in the gothic/industrial/alternative scene and I still remember every time I met people in bands who were important to me. Now that things have changed and I find myself on the other side of these situations, I’ll be honest that I do find it strange from time to time but it is also just as important to me as it is to them. I don’t take our fans or our success for granted in anyway.
What is your personal favorite song on Séance and which song do you think will excite fans the most?
JB : At this point my favorite song is “Doppelgänger” for a few reasons. I really like the synths in the track and think they give the track a pretty but unsettling, eerie feeling. I used samples from the film Happy Birthday To Me when I had my yearly viewing on my birthday this year. They really fit perfectly with the lyrics and the theme of the song. As for the rest of the CD I think the songs “M.D.K.” and “Rituals” are going over really well live.
M83 released their new LP Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming today. Check out the video for “Midnight City” off the album and check out the October/November 2011 Issue to see our review of the album.
Former member of Atari Teenage Riot, Hanin Elias revels how she sins.
interview by Mike Kieffer
Envy – What would your reaction be to a fan getting plastic surgery to look exactly like you? Would you consider that self love?
Hanin Elias : I would be horrified! Plastic surgery already gives me shivers of horror when I see someone who had done it. I think you always see it and it just makes the person look very unsure and a poor victim of superficial narcissism and a fear of getting old is something I don’t have and I wish no one would have it. I would begin to doubt if the people really get my messages right…
Gluttony – You enter a food eating competition, what food would you choose to rule over and become the champion?
HE : I would choose maybe raspberries, I can eat tons of them!
focused music news for week 37 : September 11th to 17th 2011
September 13 – This week is all about cult followings. First up is the electropop/synthpop/shoegazing band from Liverpool, Ladytron. With their fifth studio album Gravity the Seducer pushing the their sound that so many bands have tried to imitate. Ladytron is a name that is as common as pie and with plenty of die-hard fans supporting Ladytron this album is bound to make waves across the music scene.
September 13 – Next up we go a tad bit darker, but the cult following is just as rabid, God Module releases their new album Séance this week. I was shocked by how many of my friends are obsessed with them as I wouldn’t peg most of them for even liking the band. The new album Séance tones down the aggrotech allowing an identity to be formed, this separates the album from the countless other bands in the genre. Yet, this album still has the God Module spooky sound that I think is what draws in all the hoards. Listen to a track from the new album on YouTube!
focused music news for week 32 : August 7th to 13th 2011
August 9 – A new album from The Gothsicles, Industrialites and Magic is out now on WTII Records, and while I didn’t exactly give it a glowing review, the album is still fun and I still love The Gothsicles. While listening to the album for the review, I struggled to figure out what “Save Dat Mermaid” was about and now there is an official video to clue us all in!
August 9 - The Birthday Massacre release a new EP, Imaginary Monsters on Metropolis Records featuring three original new tracks and a slew of remixes. Temporarily, or so I hear, they are streaming the new EP up on their Myspace page. So dig out your old passwords and check it out!
focused music news for week 28 : July 10th to 16th 2011
July 12 – Claus Larsen’s other project Klutæ (not Læther Strip) is out with a new album, Electro Punks Unite, on WTII Records. I remember in the mid 90s running around in circles, filled with teenage angst listening to early Klutæ. This new album still has that classic EBM energy, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and powerful vocals that tuned me into an adrenalin hyped monkey.
Check out the new video (it is one of the slower songs).
July 12 - Remember Juno Reactor? Metropolis Records is releasing Inside the Reactor which is a remix album of classic Juno Reactor tracks. Now I know that remix albums don’t really get too many people all bonkers and the real news is that Juno Reactor is almost done with a NEW album expected to be released this fall! YAY! In the meantime dig up all your old records and purchase this new remix album in anticipation. Also next time you hear “God is God” at the club think about how that track came out in 1997, there is so much more out there and hopeful in the fall there will be that much more.
For a little flash back, check out the classic “God is God” video HERE.
June 24th to August 14th – Vans Warp Tour ’11 starts this Friday in Dallas and with a slew of dates around the country (USA) it should be stopping close to wherever you are. This year features the usual crap load of bands with the main stage being reserved for; The Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandriam, 3OH!3, Gym Class Heroes, Less Than Jake, Against Me!, Attack Attack!, Paramore, Pepper, A Day To Remember, August Burn Red, Jack’s Mannequin, and D.R.U.G.S. If you are in a band and want to play main stage of Warped Tour, I suggest changing your name to start with the letter A.
Now it’s time for Grandpa here to tell you a story from back in the day. The year was 1995, I was 15 or 16, math is hard at my old age, and there was this sweet punk rock festival coming to my home town of Buffalo. The bands like Quicksand, L7, Wizo and others I can’t remember, rocked hard and wound all the kids up to hyperactive levels. Then it rained and the field where the stages were turned to mud. Shortly after there was no grass to be seen a band called Sublime went on. They sucked and as a way of showing their opinion, a bunch of hooligans threw mud at the band and started booing, Sublime quickly turned away and went off stage and the crowd went nuts!
