Alone and together DBPIT & XxeNa from Italy are famous artists, which publish a lot interesting releases for people who enjoy industrial muzak or experimental tunes! After the great revenge of Mr. Mallory we talked to the versatile couple and now you read they in our interview series “13 questions…”!
kulturterrorismus: Hello from Germany! We hope all fine with you? Where are you? Please, tell us your story!
DBPIT & XxeNa: HALLO FROM OUTER SPACE! OUT HERE EVERYTHING’S FINE, THANX; DOWN ON POOR OLD EARTH, ON THE OTHER HAND…BRRRRR!!!! JOKING APART, WE FEEL WE REALLY DO NOT BELONG TO EARTH, AT LEAST NOT TO “THIS” EARTH, SO DEPRIVED OF THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF MAN, SO INFESTED BY GREEDY POLITICIANS AND BLOODY RELIGIONS…OUR STORY HERE IS ONE OF EXILE AND SUFFERANCE, OF WOE AND TORTURED SOULS…WE TRY TO FORGET THE EVERYDAY RATRACE AND SORROW BY CONVEYING OUR FEELING IN OUR ART, WHETHER IT’S MUZAK OR VIDEO OR PAINTING…
kulturterrorismus: When did you start composing music? What or who were your early passions and influences?
DBPIT & XxeNa: TALKING AS A DUO – DBPIT & XXENA – WE STARTED OUT BACK IN 2008; WE WERE PRETTY MUCH LIMITED AT THE TIME AS FAR AS EQUIPMENT AND SPACE WERE INVOLVED; OUR FIRST WORK , “ALIEN SYMBIOSIS”, MARKED BOTH A TURNING POINT IN OUR PERSONAL EXISTENCE AND THE DAWNING OF A NEW CREATIVE ERA…AND IT CAN BE SEEN AS A CELEBRATION OF A NEW ALIENUNION AS WELL. IT WAS COMPOSED OVER A RATHER LONG STRETCH OF TIME, MAINLY WITH A VERY OLD LAPTOP XXENA HAD AT HOME; WE RECORDED A LOT OF SOUNDS FROM THE LITTLE, NEW ENVIRONMENT WE HAD SETTLED IN: PANS, BEADS IN A JAR, WIND-UP TOYS, TOILET FLUSH, ELECTRIC RAZOR, HAIR DRYER, TYPING ON PC KEYBOARD, CLICKING ON THE MOUSE, AS WELL AS VOICES (OUR OWN, OUR RELATIVES’, OUR YOGA TEACHER’S…) THEN AS USUALLY HAPPENS, SUCH SOUNDS HAVE BEEN REARRANGED AND TURNED INTO ALIENMUSIC. BEFORE THAT, DBPIT HAD BEEN DOING HIS MUZAK FOR ABOUT 10 YEARS, CONSTANTLY EXPERIMENTING WITH NOISE AND DAILY SOUNDS, WHEREAS XXENA WAS ACTIVE AS A CYBER-PUNK PAINTER, VERY MUCH INFLUENCED BY KEITH HARING’S WORKS, AND AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER; AS A MATTER OF FACT, OUR COLLABORATION BEGAN OVER AN ARTWORK… SOMETHING XXENA IS VERY GOOD AT, WHILE DBPIT IS DEFINITELY NOT… 
ALL THE EARLY INDUSTRIAL BANDS HAD A DEEP INFLUENCE ON US, AS WELL AS EXPERIMENTAL WORKS AND THE IDEA OF MIXING FIELD-RECORDINGS AND ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS TO ELECTRONIC SOUNDS; THE TRUMPET AND INDUSTRIAL-NOISE MAKE A GOOD RECIPE FOR US !
kulturterrorismus: What are currently your main production-challenges? Give us an example! Do you work mostly alone or with other musicians?
DBPIT & XxeNa: AFTER “ALIENS SYMBIOSIS” AND A BUNCH OF OTHER CDs, WE STARTED TO DO AUDIOVISUAL WORKS; SO FAR WE’VE CONCEIVED SIX PERFORMANCES IN WHICH LIVE VIDEO AND SOUND ARE THOROUGHLY INTERWOVEN; WE THINK THAT TOO OFTEN THIS KIND OF MUSIC LACKS A VISUAL COUNTERPART, A PROJECTION THAT IS NOT A MERE “BACKGROUND”, LIKE SOME FOOTAGE FROM YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE OR AN EXCUSE FOR THE SO-CALLED “SONORIZATIONS”, WHICH WE ARE NOT BIG FANS OF; WE BELIEVE THAT IMAGES AND SOUNTRACK MUST BE AS ONE AND THAT THEY SHOULD TELL SOME KIND OF STORY…
OUR FIRST ATTEMPT AT BUILDING SUCH A PERFORMANCE WAS “DRAWINGS AT AN EXHIBITION” WHERE XXENA, UNDER THE EYE OF A WEBCAM THAT PROJECTED HER WORK ONTO A SCREEN, DREW HER “ALIENFISH” WITH A MARKER CONNECTED TO A PIEZO MICROPHONE SO THAT DBPIT COULD FILTER AND PROCESS HER SOUNDS IN REAL TIME, BESIDE ADDING HIS OWN INSTRUMENTS OVER A BASE TAKEN FROM THE CD BY THE SAME NAME.THEN WE WENT THROUGH “THE SOUNDS OF WATER”, A TITLE THAT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF, “FUCKTUM”, ENTIRELY PLAYED WITH KITCHENWARE, “VAMPZIES”, A SITE-SPECIFIC SHOW ABOUT VAMPIRES AND ZOMBIES, “APOLIS”, A DARK STORY BASED ON XXENA’S ALBUM, AND OF COURSE “THE RETURN OF MR.MALLORY”, THE MR. AVERAGE HIT BY A NUCLEAR BLAST WHO DEVELOPS PECULIAR SUPERPOWERS: BY A WEIRD TWIST OF FATE, HE, A LEFT-HANDED MAN, LOSES HIS LEFT ARM AND GROWS SIX, USELESS RIGHT ONES; A FREAK WHOSE INTELLECT DEVELOPS TOO, HE BECOMES OVERSENSITIVE AND FEELS UNFIT TO LIVE; HE GETS MORE DEPRESSED AND SCARED ALL THE TIME; IN THE END HE SEEKS TO FORGE HIS DEATH TO ESCAPE HIS TAINTED LIFE. AFTER A LONG SELF-INFLICTED HYBERNATION, MR.MALLORY COMES BACK. HE SEEMS TO HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW MEAN AND VICIOUS THIS WORLD CAN BE, SO HE WILL FACE GREED, VIOLENCE, RELIGION AND POLITICS AGAIN, THEN HE’LL DECIDE TO BE GONE FOREVER… THIS SECOND PART OF THE STORY IS TOLD BY XXENA WITH OBJECTS AND STREAMED IMAGES OF THE AUDIENCE OVER ALLEGORICAL VIDEOCLIPS. SO FAR, AS A DUO, WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ALONE BUT WE’LL PROBABLY DO OUR NEXT WORK WITH A PHOTOGRAPHER WE APPRECIATE VERY MUCH.
kulturterrorismus: What do you usually start with when working on a new piece?
DBPIT & XxeNa: WHO KNOWS? SOMETIMES A CONCEPT, OTHER TIMES A SOUND OR A TUNE OR AN IMAGE; CAN’T SAY WE FOLLOW ANY RULE.
kulturterrorismus: Do you strictly separate improvising and composing? What is better free jazz or classical style?
DBPIT & XxeNa: I DON’T KNOW IF ANY PART OF OUR WORK CAN BE MARKED AS “CLASSICAL” BUT IN A WIDER MEANING, YES, WE DO “COMPOSE” AT TIMES; AND EVEN THOUGH JAZZ IS DEFINITELY NOT OUR CUP OF TEA, YES, IMPROVISATION PLAYS A LEAD ROLE IN OUR ARTS, BOTH IN VIDEO AND MUSIC: WE USUALLY PREPARE A BASE OVER WHICH WE IMPROVISE WITH VIDEO-EFFECTS OR THE TRUMPET AND SO ON AND SO FORTH… IN THE END, WE DESTROY BOTH STYLES, CLASSICAL AND FREE!
kulturterrorismus: Is any relationship between sound and live or working day? Please tell us your opinion!
DBPIT & XxeNa: LIVING IN A BIG, CROWDED AND NOISY CITY LIKE ROMA, SOUND – NOISE – CANNOT BE DISMISSED EASILY; WE ARE CONSTANTLY HOUNDED AND HAUNTED BY NOISE, IT PERMEATES OUR WALLS, IT PIERCES OUR HEAD, IT MANIPULATES OUR MOOD; IT’S ALWAYS THERE, IT AFFECTS OUR BEING…BY RECORDING, ALTERING AND PLAYING BACK NOISE, WE KIND OF GET OUR OWN BACK ON INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT.
kulturterrorismus: Do you feel it important that your music spread a message? How conceptional is your music or only for hearing without thinking? What await your listeners?
DBPIT & XxeNa: ALTHOUGH WE SOMETIMES DO MUSIC FOR MUSIC’S SAKE, WITH NO PARTICULAR PURPOSE IN MIND, BASICALLY WE MEAN TO DELIVER A MESSAGE, THAT’S USUALLY A DISTRESS CALL…!
AS SAID BEFORE, MOST OF OUR TRACKS STEM FROM A CONCEPT, AN IDEA THAT WE TRY TO CONVEY WITH SOUNDS AND OR IMAGES; OTHER TIMES WE COME ACROSS A SOUND THAT’S INSPIRING IN ITSELF AND CONSEQUENTLY THE IDEA FOLLOWS THE MOOD OF THE TRACK.
kulturterrorismus: The role of an artist is always subject to change. What’s your view on the (e.g. political/social/creative) tasks of artists today and how do you try to meet these goals in your work?
DBPIT & XxeNa: THERE ARE A WHOLE LOT OF SO-CALLED ARTISTS OUT THERE THAT ARE ACTUALLY GOOD PROFESSIONALS BUT NOTHING MORE; ART, IN ITS WIDER MEANING, MUST COME FROM ONE’S HEART AND MIND, SHOULD BRING HIS OR HER THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS OUT; AND SINCE IT’S A POWERFUL TOOL FOR REACHING THE MASSES AND STIRRING CONSCIENCES, WE THINK IT’S IMPORTANT THAT IT BE USED IN THE RIGHT WAY; OTHERWISE IT’S JUST A WASTE…OR A MONEY MACHINE! AS FOR US, WE ARE A MONEY-SUCKING-MACHINE, EH, BUT WE TRY AND MAKE IT CLEAR WHAT WE THINK OF THIS WRECKED WORLD…
kulturterrorismus: There seem to be two fundamental tendencies in music today: On the one hand, a move towards complete virtualisation, where tracks and albums are merely released as digital files. And, on the other, an even closer union between music, artwork, packaging and physical presentation. Where do you stand between these poles?
DBPIT & XxeNa: I’D SAY…WE STAND IN BETWEEN; DIGITAL MUSIC IS A SIGN OF THE TIMES, CAN’T BE DENIED; FLAVIO IS GOING TO BE 50 THIS YEAR, HE HAS WITNESSED THE PASSAGE FROM VINYL TO CD AND NOW FROM CD TO DIGIFILES; WHEN CDs TOOK OVER, MANY GRIEVED FOR VINYL’S DEATH AND IT HAD PROBABLY HAPPENED BEFORE WHEN VINYL BURIED TAPES…IT’S THE SAME OLD STORY: THERE IS ALWAYS GOOD AND BAD IN PROGRESS; WE THINK THAT CDs DEFINITELY LACK THE CHARM AND THE APPEAL OF A VINYL RECORD, AND ITS COMPARATIVELY SHORT LIFE DEMONSTRATES IT; THE CD IS DEAD ALREADY, AND WE DON’T DESPISE DIGIFILES. ON THE OTHER HAND WE THINK IT’S VITAL TO PAY GREAT ATTENTION TO THE ARTWORK THAT GOES TOGETHER WITH THE MUSIC: THE RELEASE, WHETHER IT’S A RECORD, A CD, A PEN-DRIVE OR EVEN A LINK TO A DOWNLOAD, SHOULD ALWAYS COMPRISE AN APPEALING ARTWORK, A NICE AND ORIGINAL PACKAGING THAT GIVES ADDED VALUE TO THE MUSIC; AS AN EXPERIMENT, OUR LATEST RELEASE, “THE RETURN OF MR. MALLORY” CAME IN A METAL BOX LIMITED TO 50 PIECES, WITH BOOKLET AND ALL; AT THE SAME TIME WE PUT IT ON THE WEB FOR FREE: COLLECTORS AND LOVERS OF THE “REAL” THING MAY OWN THEIR COPY AT A VERY REASONABLE PRICE AND THE OTHERS CAN FEED OUR WORK TO THEIR MP3 PLAYER WITHOUT SPENDING A CENT; NEXT TIME WE’LL PROBABLY TRY AND USE PAY-PER-DOWNLOAD SERVICES, DON’T KNOW YET…WHAT’S SURE IS THAT WE SHALL ALWAYS PUT GREAT CARE INTO OUR ARTWORKS.
kulturterrorismus: Music-sharing sites and -blogs as well as a flood of releases in general are presenting both listeners and artists with challenging questions. What’s your view on the value of music today?
DBPIT & XxeNa: YOU KNOW, AS WE SAID THERE’S GOOD AND BAD IN EVERYTHING; COMPUTERS HAVE TURNED HORDES OF UNTALENTED FOLKS INTO POTENTIAL MUSICIANS, AND THAT CAN BE GOOD; YET, INTERNET HAS LET EVERYBODY SHOW THEIR “ACHIEVEMENTS”, HENCE THE FLOOD OF MEANINGLESS RELEASES THAT CLOG UP THE WEB AND PUT THE LISTENER OFF; THERE IS DEFINITELY AN INFORMATION OVERLOAD, IT’S BECOME DIFFICULT TO TELL WORTHY WORKS FROM CRAP; THIS IS THE REVERSE OF THE COIN, YOU SEE? ON THE ONE HAND TECHNOLOGY HAS GIVEN EVERYBODY A CHANCE TO SHOW OFF, ON THE OTHER THERE IS TOO MUCH STUFF AROUND TO KEEP TRACK OF, EVERYTHING’ S TOO FAST AND FADES AWAY IN A GLIMPSE…
kulturterrorismus: Do you see Facebook as blessing or shit? Is it right, that musicans can not work without Facebook, if they want near by their fans, make cooperation with other artists and so on?
DBPIT & XxeNa: IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT WE CANNOT DO WITHOUT SOCIAL NETWORKS, BUT, ONCE AGAIN, IT’S A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD; ONCE IT WAS HOME-MADE FANZINES, TODAY IT’S PCS, BUT THE MEANING HAS NOT CHANGED: PEOPLE NEED A WAY TO LET THE WORLD KNOW THEY ARE OUT THERE. BUT…THERE IS A BUT; WE’LL GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE: HAVING A CAR IS A GOOD THING, ONE CAN TRAVEL GREAT DISTANCES, REACH FAR AWAY PLACES, CARRY HEAVY STUFF AND ALL THAT JAZZ… YET, TOO MANY PEOPLE DRIVE THEIR CAR JUST TO SHOP AROUND THE CORNER OR BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO LAZY TO WALK FOR A FEW MINUTES; THE RESULT: TRAFFIC JAMS, POLLUTION, RESOURCES DEPLETION, ROAD-RAGE…THE SAME GOES WITH FACEBOOK: IT’S GREAT TO BE ABLE TO REACH THOUSANDS WITH A CLICK, BUT IT’ S STUPID, USELESS AND ANNOYING THAT THE THOUSANDS SHOULD KNOW THAT YOU HAVE JUST EATEN A TOAST FOR BREAKFAST!!!
kulturterrorismus: Is money the only thing to be recognized artist? Or could non-mainstream music same successfull as mainstream?
DBPIT & XxeNa: MONEY? WHAT’S THE COLOUR OF MONEY? EH, WE’D LOVE TO SEE SOME OF OUR EFFORTS PAID BACK, SOME DAY; ANYWAY, NO, MONEY AND ARTISTIC VALUE DON’T NECESSARILY GO TOGETHER.
kulturterrorismus: The last words are yours!
DBPIT & XxeNa: WE THINK WE HAVE EXPLOITED YOUR READERS PATIENCE ENOUGH, SO WE JUST LINGER ON A LITTLE WHILE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ATTENTION AND INTEREST, THEN WE’LL JUST WHOOSH AWAY TO OUR REMOTE PLANET!!!
