What’s new in the world of PORN?
A lot ! We are releasing the final act of Mr Strangler Trilogie. It’s a big achievement for us . We are very proud of these 3 albums. Now it’s the end of an era. And probably the beginning of a new adventure.
How was it recording and writing the material for No Monsters in God’s Eyes – Act III.?
It was fun ! Always fun. Even somtimes we were struggling because we wanted to do our best ! We finalized this album with Brian Lucey. He did an amazing job, and worked with great bands like Ghost, Marilyn Manson, Depeche Mode…
Where and when did the concepts for making acts as albums came about?
The Ogre inside is an album about inner struggle, about dark desires, how society can opresses your will. This is a fight no one can win, the Ogre that devours you from the inside always wins..
The album is an invocation, a way to set the Ogre free, embrace your ”true”self and allow your darkest desires to express themselves. It’s an incitement to act.
In this trilogy, The Ogre inside won this inner struggle, giving birth to Mr Strangler.
In the Act II : The Darkest of human Desires, Mr Strangler, by embracing his « true-self », expresses his dark impulses without limitations and has no boundaries. With his crew, Mr Strangler commits murders and massacres. He also invites everyone to make a step forward and act, invites you to express your darkest desires and join his death cult. For Mr Strangler and his team, the Ogre is released ! Let the massacre begin ! Let the darkest of human desires be : murder .
Musically , the Act I is probably more lugubre, more introspectiv and melancholic . The charactere is this Act, is struggling , looking for himself , like a sad child.
In the Act II, Mr strangler is enjoying what he is doing, so the atmosphere is less melancholic, but still dark, cause even If he is enjoying murdering people, he remains a sad man. In this new album i wanted to recreate the frantic aspect of Mr Strangler, his weird joy murerduring people, that’s why this album is more powerful, less melancholic but still dark and lugubre . Mr Strangler is a serial killer. It’s not a easy thing to accept that. Yet today, being an homosexual is difficult. All the adolescent wha are living their adoslence being gay knows it. So imagine as being a killer ? It’ wasn’t easy for Strangler… For example, Jehfrey Dahmer, an american serial killer you can hear in the song „Here for love“ , killed homsexual because of his own homosexuality and most of all because his homosexuality was innacceptable for him and his family…
But Strangler is accepting is true nature , and is accepting the thing that he enjoys to kill people. Mr strangler is a killer as some people are heterosexual or gay, or bisexual… Some psychiatrists claims that serial killers are killing for sexual purpose. I can agree with a part of that. We can say that killing is a kind of sexuality. And in fact, if you can be abstinent as gay or hetero or bisexual, you can be abstinent as a Serial Killer. So maybe the word Serial Killer is not the best to describe the subject. It’s more about desire . The desire for a person, a body , an object ( fetishism) , or things… Do you feel pleasure by killing people ? Mr Strangler do. And to be more precise , he loves to see fear in the eyes of the people is going to kill. There is no better thing for him than to see someone begging for his life.
In the Act III, Mr Strangler in in jail, waiting for his execution. And that is not a easy thing to do , to face your own death. It’s an album about despair, hope. About the feeling of being jailed. Cause everybody can have this feeling, it’s not just about being behind barres. You can feel jailed in a job, in a relationship…
From making music videos like “High Summer Sun” to promoting them whats more fun to do and interesting?
We enjoyed all our videos ! Our latest so far is Low winter hope. We had so much fun shooting it ! It was shot in a former prison in Switzerland ! Such an incredible place ! The next music video will be released in few days. It will be the last one of the Trilogy, shot in Los Angeles. Gonna be an explosive ending for Mr Strangler.
On choosing a band name like PORN who came with the idea and why?
I am a very big fan of The Cure. Our name was inspired by their album : Pornography. Robert Smith is probably the guy who inspired me the most vocally. I really love his voice. I am also admirativ of his hability to write sad emotionnal songs and catchy pop songs. Our name PORN, is a hommage to The Cure and there album Pornography. And maybe because PORN is the thing that everybody watch and lies about.
How many shows do you play per year on average, and how crazy does the schedule get?
It depends. Do we have an album to defend? Are we recording an album?The numbers are not important, the quality is . The quality of our show and the quality of the venue. Because we have to our fans the best show, always ! We don’t have any agent for the moment . We manage all that by ourselves. But we are still open to work with someone able to defend PORN !
How important are music videos in the industry today? How do they compare to videos from 10 years ago?
10 years ago they were more important that today , i think. Youtube is not that important. It’s was. But today it’s all about spotify. The real audience is on spotify. To us videos are important because they are an other way to make Mr Strangler and his crew alive.
Any words of wisdom to share with aspiring artists?
Be yourself. Life is a one ticket travel. Enjoy your stay.