FS - The Final Interview

[Two guys in a small basement room. FS sitting in a brown old-fashioned leather armchair, interviewer standing in front of a small table with a digital recorder on it.] 

[Interviewer tries to start the recorder. Succeeds after several failed attempts. FS doesn't hide his scorn and puts his feet on the second armchair in the room, forcing the interviewer to remain standing by the table.]

I1: Well, I'm ready to begin. I'm extremely honoured to be doing this interview for MetalNonsense.de. However, I have not been able to listen to the new album – what was the title again – you know, so little time...

FS: Cut the crap, will you? 

I1: Oh, er, OK, yeah, sure. Er, since this is the first interview we're doing with Nucleus Torn, please tell us something about the band's name and the history of the band. 

[FS takes a shotgun, shoots the interviewer at point-blank range. The promoter peeps in from the adjoining room, turns to get the next guy. FS sits in his armchair, apparently unconcerned with the body lying on the ground and the bloody mess surrounding him.] 

[Interviewer 2 arrives, turns pale at the sight of his recently deceased colleague and nearly faints. Then tries to run away.] 

[FS shoots interviewer 2. There are now two bodies lying on top of one another, there's an awful lot of blood running down the walls behind the corpses and some more dripping from the ceiling.] 

[Promoter comes in to have a real look. He doesn't appear surprised in any way.] 

Promoter: Glad to see YOU alive. 

FS: Don't worry about me. I know how to protect myself...

Promoter: Few do... 

Promoter: [Leaves the room and shouts] NEXT!

[Interviewer 3 comes in, eyes and mouth wide open, apparently shocked by the sight he's confronted with. FS silently points to the empty armchair, interviewer 3 sits down reluctantly, eyeing FS with growing anxiety and panic.] 

FS: Don't stare at me like this. And shut your trap unless you want to ask me some seriously inspiring questions. 

I3: Sorry, I just wasn't aware of Nucleus Torn literally being a death metal group. It shocks me very much. 

FS: Drop the metal. 

I3: Sorry. Avantgarde. 

FS: You're sort of funny. 

I3: Did they insult you so badly?

FS: These two guys get the Manowar-True-Metal-Award. They died for metal. 

I3: Don't you think it's rather creepy that we stay in here with these... [points to the dead bodies on the floor, trying to avoid looking at them.]

FS: Life is creepy. That's why we remain down here – in my kingdom. 

[I3 wipes sweat from his brow.]

FS: What are you waiting for? Impress me!

I3: Well, Nucleus Torn's music is quite hard to describe, avantgarde and unusual and well, lots of things happening...

FS: Did you listen to the music or just read my f**** press release?!?

I3: I listened to the albums several times on high quality equipment and made sure I wasn't distracted. 

FS: You better did... [Gives interviewer the look of death]

I3: Yeah, OK, well. It's innovative. I haven't heard anything like it before. 

FS: You listen to the wrong kind of records. 

I3: I thought so, too. 

FS: I know that feeling. [There's a flicker of a sarcastic smile appearing on his face]

I3: Do you also think that you're doing something new/innovative?

FS: No, we're closing the doors on what is there. Let's finish business first. 

I3: What "business" exactly? I'm afraid I don't quite know what you mean... [Another frightened look in the direction of the bloodied walls and ceiling] 

FS: Stick to the point. We're talking about musical traditions and not the losers over there, although I must admit that sometimes I'd prefer to finish this "other" business as well... [Caresses shotgun lovingly]

I3: [Tries to appear unimpressed] Ah, you want to destroy traditions!

FS: No, on the contrary. I want to round things off, not destroy them. I want to complete certain developments in the history of music. Nucleus Torn is very much part of tradition. 

I3: But I don't see the traditional element in your music. 

FS: All we do has been done before. The combinations might be new, however. And the intention as well.

I3: In what ways, if I might ask?

FS: I try to render any future rock albums useless. I want to finish off progressive rock music, I'm one of its grave diggers. It needs to stop, it has been stagnating for decades already. Copy-pasting has become much too easy. 

I3: But if the result sounds great...

FS: ...it still wastes my precious time. There's enough "good music" around. What we need is absolutely terrific music, genuine 21st century masterpieces. There's a place for the rest, too. It's called toilet. 

I3: You consider every single piece of music by Nucleus Torn to live up to your standards of excellence? 

FS: No, certainly not. 

I3: I better not ask why and in what respects, do I?

FS: Good boy, I might actually allow you to survive this... 

I3: I try to draw certain conclusions. Do you agree to the following: making forward thinking music is a conservative or even reactionary process?

FS: Why not? Nucleus Torn reaches a little further into the future – where there is absolutely no place for generic rock music – because it looks further back into the past. 

I3: Then why ditch the folk and medieval/renaissance aspects of your earlier albums? 

FS: Looking backwards doesn't require walking backwards. We use rear-view mirrors but keep our eyes firmly on the horizon. 

I3: However, you appear to have come full circle. 

FS: Yes, life's full of surprises. 

[I3 cannot help but look at the corpses.]

FS: Yes, they might have thought so, too...

I3: Things being as they are: Do you search for something in music?

FS. Truth. Enlightenment. Spirituality. 

I3: But it's only music, after all...

FS: I agree. However, its creation is an artistic process. Any genuine artistic endeavour tells you a lot about what you have been or what you might become. 

I3: A murderer?

FS: IT WAS FUCKING SELF-DEFENSE YOU SCUM!!!!

[I3 wipes sweat and spit from his face, tries to regain composure. FS apparently lacks ammunition and fails completely to hide the fact.]

I3: Do you or did you find what you were looking for?

FS: What the fuck are you hinting at? No and no and no. 

I3: Meaning?

FS: After the first four albums, I chose not to try to know beforehand, I wanted to find out.

I3: Do you still have the energy and time this requires?

FS: That remains to be seen. SLF and NLE have been a conclusive affair. As I said before. No more fucking ammo. Here, take the gun, in case you feel threatened, you wimp... [Throws gun to interviewer who catches it and handles it disgustedly but unable to lay it aside.]

I3: In the credits I read...

FS: What, you can read? Most journalists can't fucking read, let alone write...

I3: ...that your priority is sound design, not one of your many instruments.

FS: The sound is more important than its source. I find myself attracted, e.g., rather to the ghost of the violin than the violin. If that requires a lot of processing, I will no longer shy away from applying it. 

I3: Speaking of traditions: as far as I know, no one has pointed out the aesthetic parallels to e.g. Nine Inch Nails both with regards to layout and design and choice of sounds. 

FS: That stuff is thirty years old and still sounds like it could be made tomorrow. I did spend quite some time dissecting the works of producers like Flood and Alan Moulder, i.e. the top of the 90es. Yes, I hear and see those parallels, too. 

I3: A lot has changed since the 90es, and, in many respects, not for the better. 

FS: Making music does not require enough sacrifices any more. Neither does listening to it. Just a few years back, people were almost ready to die for it. 

I3: I guess you hear a lot of the following: "Do you mind that I have downloaded the album and tell you how much I like it? I'm your biggest fan." 

FS: Shut the fuck up. 

I3: Sorry, I should have known. 

FS: Next time, I'm gonna kick your fucking ass, you fucking piece of shit. 

I3: Sorry again. 

FS: ...

I3: Pent up frustrations, eh? 

FS: Don't get me started...

I3: Er, what did make you start in the beginning, or rather, what made you continue so far, against all odds? 

FS: It's about discovering where music comes from, what and who makes it happen. 

I3: Well, you certainly kept releasing quite a few records over the years. 

FS: Sure, I did. Much better than touring. Are you genuinely interested in all those bands who play the same 15 songs 200 times a year? Would you like to be in such a band? Besides: no one is forced to listen to Nucleus Torn's albums, not even those guys. [Prods one of the corpses with his left foot] 

I3: Disturbing the dead is slightly...

FS: Don't lecture me!

I3: ...far out. 

FS: I never promised anyone an easy trip. 

Promoter: [Comes in, hits interviewer over the head with a baseball bat] Police. 

FS: Good. 

[Interviewer lies unconsciously on the armchair, gun next to him. FS and promoter vanish through a hidden back entrance, never to be seen or heard from again.]