vx69 : Well, actually, this is the germany release date, this album is finished since the beginnings of 2004 and was released in France a year ago... Sometimes a record can get lost for quite a long time in the corridors of international business. But it feels like a new beginning for Sexplosive Locomotive, yeah... And we love a lot this record, even one year after its first release !

How were the first reactions? Are you satisfied with the feedback?

Miss Z : The reactions in France were great, but as we had already released two albums, we were not unknown there. The first waves of feedback from germany are very positive, to say the least - I just regret not being able to understand the german language sometimes.... vx69 : sometimes we get strange comparisons with bands we never listened to or liked, but I guess that’s part of the rules...

Where do you see the difference between the second album „Disco Flesh:Warp 99« and and the new longplayer „Sexplosive Locomotive«?

vx69 : Sexplosive Locomotive is maybe a bit less cold and harsh, it’s more organic-sounding, with a definite poppish attitude - verse/chorus/verse - while Disco Flesh was laying stress on being agressive and hypnotical... We tried to learn a little songwriting. Miss Z : Disco Flesh was all about « straight in your fucking face, dance and die ! », Sexplosive Locomotive is more « come to me pretties, and I’ll fuck you dead ! »

What does the name Punish Yourself stands for ?

vx69 : Punish Yourself was the title of a very early track, we had no name at that point, and somebody suggested to use it. Basically, it didn’t mean anything... But we’ve grown with the years, and the « meaning » came afterwards. « There’s no pleasure without pain, so inflict yourself your own pain before life punishes you »... or maybe « punish yourself cos’ you know what you’re guilty of » ? Well, hum...Actually, not sure about this « meaning » thing lol... miss Z : Punish Yourself cos’ we love all these funny BDSM clichés ? vx69 : oh, yeah, latex and so on. That’s so B-Movie looking !

Why is your album called «Sexplosive Locomotive»?

miss Z : that sounded cool. There’s absolutely no conscious meaning. We’ve stopped trying to make sense years ago ! vx69 : I could say this title sounds fast, heavy, sexy, and we wanted the album to sound like an amphetamine-loaded train... But that would be a lie. We don’t believe in meaning.

Can you say something about your musical background?

vx69 : Batcave, industrial, psych-rock, punk, garage... miss Z : batcave, new wave, punk !

How would you describe your music?

vx69 : Ministry fucking with the Lords Of Acid. Miss Z : sleazy cynical cyber-rock. Something like that... vx69 : acidpunkmachinedancefloorchaoscore ? as long as you don’t use the word « metal », anything is right.

How are you behaving in producing songs? Do you have songs like "Holy Trinh Thi" or «CNN War» from the very beginning in your mind?

vx69 : actually, we have no definetely set way of working on a song. We can begin with a synth riff or a drum-loop, or with already written lyrics... Sometimes we improvize a lot in the rehearsal room, sometimes we work months and months on the computer before playing the song... And then we spend LOTS of time polishing the track. We’re perfectionnists. Miss Z : then onstage, we try to play as loud and as fast as we can, so we turn into pure chaos those finely-crafted songs we worked on... lol vx69 : in the case of CNN War, the song was completely written on my computer first. On the other hand, « holy trinh thi » began as a rehearsal jam. The only stable element in our songwriting is the lyrics - the words always come last. We don’t care a lot about lyrics.

What kind of music or bands do you hear in private?

vx69 : These days, I listen a lot to ambient music, Coil, old Tangerine Dream, gothabilly stuff (I fell in love with Batlord), or electro-dark bands like psyclon 9, Unter Null, Tamtrum... miss Z : my old new-wave and afterpunk tapes.

What are you doing when you are not producing new songs? Which jobs are you practising and which hobbies are you pursuing?

vx69 : No job ! My main hobby is watching Godzilla movies. Actually, I spend most of my time working on the music. And when I don’t, well... I drink, get stone, party all night long, that kind of silly things which make the rock’n’roll go round. miss Z : life’s a nightclub.

Punish Yourself had a gig at the Wave Gotik Treffen this year. How were the reactions like? Are you satisfied?

vx69 : the reactions were good, we’ve had quite a lot of positive feedback. There were a lot of foreigners at the WGT, we got e-mails form the US, denmark, finland... miss Z : the strange thing is the way the audience doesn’t seem to react a lot, during the gigs. They like the music, but don’t dance. We’re not used to that kind of behavior.

Was it your first visit of the WGT? What do you think of this kind of festival?

vx69 : it was our first visit, yeah. The WGT is impressive, but it sometimes looks like a « défilé de mode ». There were more people at the market than at the gigs... But that’s no novelty, there’s always been quite a bunch of posers in the goth scene.

Will you play gigs in near future? What can we expect from your live-shows? Can you please explain this for people like me who couldn’t manage to see you live at the WGT?

vx69 : hell, we’re touring all year long ! I hope we soon play more gigs in germany, tho. miss Z : the WGT was quite strange for us, this was the first time we ever performed by daylight. The trouble is, as we use UV-reactive bodypaints, we couldn’t use our black lights... A regular PY gig features absolute darkness, UV lights and fluorescent bodypaint. The WGT gig was more something like « bodypaints in the full sun », so we had to be very energetic...

I have read something about a «Live-DVD» of Punish Yourself? Is this right? Can you say something more about this idea?

Miss Z : we already shot the DVD, we’re now in the process of mixing/editing it. There will be a full gig (filmed in a little venue near our hometown, a kind of « secret gig »), + lots of bonus, we shot a lot of footage during all these years of touring... Some crazy stuff. vx69 : it’s gonna be called « the voodoo gun night » or something like that, (our new tour is entitled « The Voodoo Gun Tour »). The DVD will come along with an audio cd featuring the gig plus an unreleased 4 tracks EP. It should be released in october

What do you think of the German scene and what’s the difference to France?

vx69 : The german scene is so mainstream ! Here in France, dark music is deeply underground, and generally quite experimental. In germany, it’s more music for supermarkets... I saw some gigs that french people would laugh at, can’t remember the names, but things that sounded like eurovision music with a drum machine... miss Z : this « commercial » side was quite surprising for us. We grew listening to counter-culture bands like Einsturzende Neubauten or Sielwolf... And what we hear now of the german scene is sometimes so straight...

You cannot decide between two CDs, why should people buy your album and not the one of another band?

miss Z : because if they don’t buy our album, we’ll hide under their bed and crawl at night to scratch their feet. vx69 : Because we need the fucking money.

What aim do you want to achieve with Punish Yourself in the future?

Miss Z : We want to become a cult band. vx69 : I’d rather be rich and famous. Free drugs, and so on. miss Z : now that you tell me, you’re right...

Thanks for the interview and good luck with «Sexplosive Locomotive»! The famous last words are up to you:

vx69 : unausprechlichen kulten ich sprachn nicht deutsch eine biere bitte miss Z : as you may have understood : he deeply wants to learn german.

Homepage Band: Punish Yourself
Homepage Label: Sriracha Records

(Interview geführt von Andi)