For Greater Good did an interview with German magazine
Obliveon.deHere is the link to the interview in German, but for most of you the following translation in English will be more than helpful, we guess :)
1) Starting with the usual questions like when were FGG founded, which were the founding members and what were your musical as well as your lyrical influences when you started FGG?FGG started somewhere in 2004. Heavily influenced by the early 90s Dark Ambient bands such as Raison d'Etre and Ordo Equilibrio, FGG composed six dark ambient pieces and brought them out the same year (the 'Lethargy' demoCD). Carpe Noctem, a local promotor/label, gave us the opportunity to play a concert as openers for DEATH IN JUNE. Not seeing the point in stepping on stage alone and playback the demo, I asked samdevos to join and to give a new twist to the music. After that performance, IZ and samdevos stuck together, combining their respective creativity and view on the music that is For Greater Good nowadays. Influences are many, going from ambient over electronics through classical and industrial, but even modern pop and rock might be an interesting source of material.
2) The EP I reviewed, although mainly being for promo-purposes, was released one and a half year ago. So what were the reasons that the release of the official album took such a long time since then?IZ: When one wants to issue a good cd, one takes his time. We worked on the final mixing of the songs. Sam and I are very precise in what we want to hear, and we do not settle for a job half done.
3) When we first had contact you mentioned you'd be in negotiations with Cold Meat but now you released the album on your own. What were the reasons that you didn't get signed by Cold Meat, even more as you've been part of the "All My Dead Friends" compilation issued by Cold Meat?CMI and Roger Karmanik had too much other music that needed taking care of, thus putting the FGG cd on the slow lane. Eager as we were to out this first full-cd, we decided to issue it as a self-released album.
4) FGG seem to have a bit of a twisted mind musical-wise. On the one hand you have these dark and pure Dark Ambient-tracks, but on the other hand you also have tracks like "Le Jugement …" which strongly remind me of bands like Rome. What do you prefer especially when looking into the future. More working with vocals or more focussing on instrumental works?IZ: Can't say really. I don't sit down at night going: "hey, let's make a dark ambient piece today!" I just hear a melody in my head and then I start to build a song. After a couple of lines, Sam comes in, and adds some other lines. This way, it is never certain where a song will go. I think the variety you hear in our debut cd will go on like that for quite a while...
SAM: Our two ways of building a track and bouncing those ideas off one another is what makes For Greater Good. I would be messing with my synths and find a great sound then I let it evolve and then send it over to Iz. Or Iz sends over some melodical part and I'll start throwing beats at it.
It's a bit like locking a classical composer in a booth with a broken drum-machine.
5) When did you start working on the album and how old are the tracks that made it on the album? Do you have unreleased stuff as well?Some tracks on the album are as old as the first demo. 'Dawn Over Dachau' was also on 'Lethargy' but is completely reworked for the album. So is 'White Is The New Black'. And the keen listener might recognize the melody line of 'De Te Fabula Narratur' as it is the very same as the outro from the demo.
There are unreleased tracks as well, all new, and they will be released somewhere in the near future.
6) Some of the tracks of the album seem to have very controversial titles like "White Is The New Black". "Love Your Terrorist" and especially "Dawn Over Dachau" which might be misunderstood easily, especially here in Germany and the fact that Dachau was the first German city with a concentration camp back in 1933. What is the conceptional background of these songs?Well, there is nothing to be misunderstood about these songs really. 'Dawn Over Dachau' is just what it says, a song about the horror of concentration camps.
'Love Your Terrorist' is about Guantanamo Bay imprisonment without any form of trial or supervision from Human Rights Organisations.
And 'WITNB' covers racism and the battle against it.
7) "Spring Mechanist" to me is the most unusual track on the album, almost being a soundtrack like piece of work. Is this something you can imagine working on in the future?SAM: "Spring Mechanist" had to be on this album, it is the sparkle of hope for the future…
Soundtracks have always been a big inspiration to both of us. We would love to do the score for a movie.
8) Live you've also been working with visual effects and movies. Who's shooting and creating these videos? How important is the visual aspect for FGG?IZ: Visuals enhance the whole atmosphere of the performance, the trick is to make them blend together as one piece. That's where Dave comes in, our live VJ and multimedia performer. He triggers images and puts effect on them, all live, so that the visuals blend in as perfectly as possible.
SAM: We also work with graphic designers and video-people from all over the world.
Dave mixes up all the videos and images they send us.
9) On your homepage you're looking for different kinds of artists to collaborate with, no matter being a photographer, a musician or any other form of artist. How important is that artistic interaction for FGG? If you'd be able to choose an artist to work with, who would be your choice and why?IZ: 'Important' might be the wrong word here. 'Interesting' more likely. We want to collaborate with other artists just to see what comes out. The element of wonder and surprise is paramount here. It might turn out bad, or it might turn out good.
10) Do you consider FGG to be a multiple artistic project not only focusing on music?IZ: We'd love to see that happen, yes, only time will tell if and when it works out. A massive collaboration of artists, comprising dance, photography, video, colours, lights, and music. All for greater good...
SAM: I consider all musical projects as multi-art projects.
11) Until now you didn't play too many concerts. How important is the direct contact to an audience and what is the reason that until now you just played these few concerts?IZ: We did not play a lot of concerts because this cd is the first 'big thing' we produced with FGG. But we did play at some great venues, like AB in Brussels as the warm-up show for Front 242.
SAM: We are a hard band to program as we do not aim to get people dancing, we want them to shut up and listen.
12) What's coming up for you in the next months? Any new releases or concerts planned?SAM: We are playing the Noise Central Festival IV in Utrecht, Holland on November 8th. With a brand new line-up and new videos. We try to make every concert a unique experience.
IZ: Anybody, feel free to book us! We are also working on new songs, and on a project with Japanese cyberpunk writer Kenji Siratori, which is almost finished, featuring FGG in a more industrial sounding production.
SAM: And some remixes of FGG songs will be popping up soon.
13) What's the situation like in Belgium for bands such as FGG, even more as Belgium mainly is known for EBM acts like Front 242, The Klinik or other bands of that genre. Is there a large following for a band like FGG and Dark Ambient / Military Pop / Neofolk-acts in Belgium?We have our share of fans. There' s not much going on for ambient/industrial concert-wise, although there are a lot of good bands here. Pity, of course, because this style deserves the attention. I have the impression that there's a lot more going on in Holland, for example, and fortunately enough, that's not too far away for us to go and play.