Interview: Foreign Body
We spent a lot of time thinking about patterns of deviancy and figures who lived their life with an almost undying contempt towards all.
Brooklyn’s Foreign Body have just brought out their raw and relentless new album Libertine and it sees the band taking absolutely new prisoners with its brilliantly confrontational noise. To celebrate the tales of Libertine, Gavin Brown caught up with Foreign Body guitarist Nikolai to talk about Libertine, New York, decadence and the rawest music out there at the moment.
E&D: Your new album Libertine is out now. How excited are you have this album out?
Nikolai: We’re incredibly excited to bring forth this album; it has been long-suffering and we’re glad to put it out of its misery.
E&D: How have the tracks you’ve brought out so far been received?
Nikolai: Our newest tracks have been received pretty well despite changing up the formula in terms of tempo and song length.
E&D: What have been the biggest influences on the sound and the outlook of the album?
Nikolai: The biggest influences for this album come from the excesses of classic rock. We spent a lot of time thinking about patterns of deviancy and figures who lived their life with an almost undying contempt towards all.
E&D: Is this album a mixture of the decadent and more gutter sides of life?
Nikolai: This album tries to erase the distinction between both “high” and “low” art at the same time as it erases the distinction between “high-class” pleasures and gutter pleasures. We’ve tried to have both the sound and the songs themselves reflect this combination: the taste of expensive champagne and piss.
E&D: Can you tell us about the music video you have done for the song ‘Libertines’ and how that was created?
Nikolai: We can’t take credit for the music video for ‘Libertines’. We hired the artist Allan Demuth based on his novel approach to lyric videos which we feel tend to be a bit cliched. Without too much instruction, he really took off and made something amazing all on his own.
E&D: The album was released on September 11th, does this album remember a pre 9/11 time?
Nikolai: This album remembers a pre-9/11 time only as far as it rejects the notion of a “reformed” or “safer” city. This album, and this band, however, can be said to be haunted by that great spirit that terrorizes the city in a drunken stupor. It is haunted by episodic blackouts and missing memory.
E&D: How much does New York City inspire your music?
Nikolai: Our music isn’t exclusive to NYC as its subjects and broader critiques apply to a lot more cities than our own. I do think it is impossible for us to push out its influence from those images we keep turning back to. It is not a city for good people.
E&D: What are your favourite grimy places in NY and which still have that dangerous edge to them?
Nikolai: The beauty of a city like New York is that it is less a matter of location and more a matter of time; how far one is willing to go is the only deciding factor when one has 200 dollars burning in their pocket and finds themselves in the South Bronx past midnight
E&D: What are your favourite NY bars?
Nikolai: Lucky 13, Gottscheer Hall, Jimmy’s Corner, Lefthand Path, Abe’s Pagoda.
E&D: What movies best represent New York City for you?
Nikolai: For films, the 1970s seemed to capture the city’s undying grit, like rock-salt, that turns ice into sewer sluicewater: King of New York, French Connection, Kids, The Warriors, Maniac, Bad Lieutenant, A Panic in Needle Park, Midnight Cowboy, Cruising, American Gangster, Super Fly, Taking of Pelham 123, Death Wish, and Mean Streets
E&D: What music spots in New York do you love the most?
Nikolai: A lot of the music venues there suck or have been shut down. Or both. Always a pleasure to play at Lucky 13. TV Eye is pretty alright. The food is okay at Warsaw. The bathrooms at Basement are great for sniffing bumps off of people. Our favourite venues will always be little shithole apartment basements and backrooms just big enough to fit a drumkit and cabs.
E&D: What albums represent New York the most to you?
Nikolai: Madball’s Set It Off, Agnostic Front’s Victim in Pain, Merauder’s Master Killer, Warzone’s Don’t Forget The Struggle, Lou Reed’s Street Hassle, Velvet Underground & Nico’s self-titled, Big Pun’s Capital Punishment, Big L’s Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, Willie Colón’s Lo Mato, Prurient’s Frozen Niagara Falls, and obviously Wu-Tang’s Enter The 36 Chambers.
E&D: What are the essential noise rock albums for you?
Nikolai: Even the Flies Won’t Touch You, Songs About Fucking, Born Pregnant, Urge to Kill, Heroin Man, Take As Needed for Pain, Rehab, Generic.
E&D: Have you been happy with how your debut album FIXED has been received?
Nikolai: We are stoked it has resonated with as many people as it has: not releasing it through any formal channels, a lot of our listenership was word-of-mouth and thanks to people like Colton at Reanimated Miscarraige who have supported our music from the beginning.
E&D: Did you feel any pressure in following it up with Libertine?
Nikolai: There’s always some pressure to “follow up” one’s first album in some way. For us, I think we purposely approached the writing of this album as an attempt to experiment more than we would normally, so we got rid of a lot of the pressure we imposed on ourselves by identifying it as trying something different and not merely trying to copy the first record.
E&D: Are you looking forward to hitting the road when Libertine comes out?
Nikolai: It will be good to spend some time far, far away from New York for fucking once.
E&D: What have been some of your favourite shows that Foreign Body have played so far?
Nikolai: Shattering tequila bottles outside an abandoned church in Rochester in the pissing rain ranks pretty high up there.
E&D: Is playing live a visceral experience for Foreign Body?
Nikolai: Playing live is always one of our great pleasures as I think our tracks are best “realized” in the live setting. It gives us an opportunity to really punish the audience in a way we can’t always get away with in a studio setting.
E&D: What have been the most inspiring live shows that you have ever seen?
Nikolai: Watching Kickback live when they came to NYC last year was pretty inspiring. The last Rectal Hygienics show with Bloodyminded was transformative for us. Seeing Genocide Organ perform live really sets this impossible standard for having an entire crowd wholly entranced by a performance.
E&D: What else is next for Foreign Body?
Nikolai: We hope to put out a split at some point in the next year and continue playing any live shows that happen in our neck of the woods.
E&D: Will you be making it over to the UK and Europe for live shows at any point in the future?
Nikolai: The desire is there, certainly. We just need to figure out the logistics of touring over there.
E&D: Who is making the rawest music out there at the moment?
Nikolai: Most of the black metal coming out of Horrible Room is incredible. Most of the Finnish noise scene continues to dominate. Some American acts as well: Pissgrave, our friends in Violent Pleasures, and Legless. Recently enjoyed hearing the demo tape from Pennsylvania’s Treason.
