The band's self-discipline didn’t preclude a relationship with their chosen "axes." "Any musician wants to 'possess' his instrument - to know it fully. It's not different for people working with machines, except that with normal instruments, there are rules and chords and notes. When I got my first synth, it took me a half-hour to get any sound out of the thing. It took me two years to know what a tuning was, because I was just doing noises, or sounds, or even notes without knowing there was a tuning," he confides.
Like Depeche Mode in techno-pop, Front 242 faced stiff opposition. They used that opposition to toughen their music and their resolve, according to Codenys.
"The first three-to-five years we were doing music, we had no recognition. We were hated by a big chunk of the press and music business. It was very, very hard. Ours is not a kind of music that you can easily impose upon people. Most people would rather hear melodic music. The situation turned us into fighters because you have to stand behind something. The people inside the band are normal though, thank God. We have a lot of humor. But when you present an art, or a concept, it's important to stand behind it, and have a strong image."
The band's image and sonic vocabulary became dark, foreboding and punishing by '87's Official Version, with titles like "Slaughter" and "Aggressive Angst."
Codenys feels that "happiness is something that can blind you. For some strange reason, it is when people are unhappy that they are the most creative. It's more complicated than that when you go to make lyrics. The tension between East and West was a good theme for us. Pictures on TV news gave us themes. When it comes to sound, we had a very strong anger inside ourselves."
The hard work and perseverance paid off in late-'88 with the release of the throbbing, pounding, menacing, yet somehow inviting single, "Headhunter," and the album Front By Front. The song struck a chord on the dance floor, where its seething groove melded perfectly with its story of a killer systematically stalking his victim: in the process baring the psychology of dehumanization.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
06:21:03:11 Up Evil still ranks as one of the best electronic albums I've ever heard. Not a single guitar on the album, yet even with (relatively) primitive electronic equipment they were somehow able to elicit realistic squawks and squeals that had even a guitar magazine shaking its head in a review they did of the album at the time.
On a side note: I was hoping for a review of their new album, Pulse, as I have yet to hear anything conclusive about it . . . has anyone out there heard this thing?
2 - Eric Olsen
Sorry Tom, haven't heard "Pulse" yet, but glad to see they are still at it.