BIRMINGHAM 6

  Entering into the realm of the industrial age, one may hear the gears grind and a faint sound of a hum coming off the engines. The world is dark through an industrialist eyes. Dark and full of  utter madness as the mechanical sound eats at their mind and soul and slowly leaking out to their hands to the music we now hear. The distorted sounds are often overplayed with anti-government, sexplotation, and reaching into the mechnical world society has made for us all.

  This is all expressed in such groups Birmingham 6. They're new to the scene but are  ripping clubs apart with their fresh indust/ dance sounds. They carry  a similar sound to Front242 and Psychopomps and aways with a message about the corrupt government  we all have grown to lothe. This duo has become well known in the industrial scene as well as the internet as I begin he interview....

Where are you guys from?

Copenhagen, Denmark

I know very little about you guys. I got your CD yesterday and it was an old one at that. So how'd you guys get together?

We've  known each oter for 20 years; playing around in bands together and then being apart from each other. We got back together in '91. We're very close to each other and we've been working in coputers and synthesizers at the time.

You always thought you'd be in a band?

Uhhh... I've been doing music or 20years. I never thought I'd be in a band like this; not musical. It's the '90's. I guess that's the direction I have to go.

Where did you come u with the name?

We came up with the name because we had seen a documental on the 6 Irish men that were convicted for life for allegedly being IRA bombers. After 17 years, they got an appeal and proveninnocent....the story was very movig and we like the name.

So you guys get a lot of your musical/lyrical inspiration through the news and media?

Yeh, most of the time we do.

You follow a lot on the current affirs and politics?

Well my singer should be answering this but he's not here. So, I'll try t answer the best I can because he reads a lot and watches a lot of television and news. He gets pretty involved in it when he see people unrightfully sentenced and being treated badly by the system. So, that's the point of view he usually comes across when he writes his lyrics.

Who were some of your musical inspirations?

Front242, KFMDM, Thrill Kill Kult, that's more industrial stuff. Then I like some dance stuff...., like the Cure.

So you don't get into the classical music?

No, nothing like that. Carmina Borona Karlof; that's pretty amazing piece of music. The singer is a bit into classical.

Was it kind of hard for you guys to get intothe industrial music because there's so many indust. bands trying to make it?

No, not particularly. We just did what ever we were feeling like doing and luckily people liked it. Not like it's been a big fight to get up here. We sent our first demo out-we got 5 or 6 offers. That's back in 91. So it like goes upwards all the time. We've been on a few crappy labels during the last few years. Generally it's been going pretty well.

Were you in any other bands?

I've been in several bands before Birmingham . But, none of

them are of any importance. Now, it's entirely Birmingham 6. I don't have any side projects. Oh, well, I do have 1 side project  but it was actually Birmingham 6 under a different name. It was mostly Birmingham 6 tracks in different versions that were aimed at the dance flors. More like techno stuff.

Has anyone considered you as ripoffs of other bands like "You sound like so-n-so.."?

We had a few reviews from our first LP when some were comparing us to KFMDM for some reason. Oh, some would say "this is how KFMDM would sound like if they went dance" It's quite funny.

Have you been touring in the US lately?

We're not on tour at the moment. We we're on tour but had to cancel after a few shows. After everythig was going poorly. We had this very crappy agency. I would like you to write this in your  'zine. It's called CMR Booking which I'm going to warn everyone against that company.

Were they ripping you off?

Yeh, they promised us a gig and when we came over there was suppose to be a tour bus, all the accomidations were to be paid for, food was suppose to be supplied, we would do 5-6 shows a week. So, when it came down to the tour, there was no tour. We were not getting the fee we were suppose to. The money from these fees had to cover the band because there was no money for food and accomidations.

Were you touring Europe as well?

Nope. Were not touring Europe at this moment.

So how's it like working with Front242's Jean-Claude?

It wasn't remixing. It was a complete brand new LP. We made the music and he made the lyrics. WOW! That was quite amazing; being a big fan of Front242. A sort of dream come true. He's very professional.

Do you see yourself as being very professionl or morelaid back?

Hopefully more  like professional; as were not professional at it like were making a liing out of it like Jean-Claude. It's still sort of a past time for me. I try to be as professional as possible when it comes to recording and releasing, and doing artwork, and marketing.

Have you done any collaborations?

We've done remix exchanges but I wouldn't call that collaborations.

Is there a difference in music from Denark than in the US?

No, not really. There's a lot more bands over here than there is in Denmark. The scene in Denmark is really small. It's almost dying.

You have any idea what you're going to do with yor music in the future?

We'll be working a bit more on the group guitr stuff. We'll be doing the very groovy ant the virtual guitar stuff.

You have any advice for anyone trying to get into the music business itself?

It's better to stay at home and work on the material than sending out 3 songs ona demo and going "Oh, now I got to have a record deal!" It's better to work on he material fora considerable amount of time so it's good. And play wht you believe.