Mike: I don't really know in what way the bands you mentioned work together, but as far as I know they really work alone and have their own approach to music. I wouldn't call it a network in the sense of discussing about musical ideas, but some of the Bavarian industrialists help out each other with gear and knowledge on the "music business" I suppose. I never was part of these nets, simply cause I lived in a very small town and never met those people until 2 years ago. Since I have released "Miscellaneous" I meet more and more other musicians. I wouldn't say I'm influenced by them much, but some of them (especially Karl/b-ton-k and Rudy/ :Wumpscut:) helped me very much.

Last Sigh: Did you find it difficult to start up with your own band/music and put out a CD there, or was it a natural type of process perhaps due to the resources in your life in Bavaria, that is, does your networking with friends and other musicians where you live tend to be a big influence for you? Can you tell us what the name "FAV" stands for, and how you came to use the name?

Mike: Putting out the CD was very easy for me, because I had more luck than I deserve. I composed some songs and burned a demo version of a full length CD on CD-r and gave some copies of it to some people and magazines. One of those people was Karl [B-Ton-K, Daham Recordings], and he signed me to his label. That's the story. I just had luck. In the U.S. for example I guess I would have had much more difficulty releasing anything I guess. f a v is short for fucking and vomiting. I saw this phrase on a Japanese website I "accidentally" browsed to some years ago ;) ... and there is a drama by Sarah Kane called "Fucking and Shopping" that confirmed my opinion that f a v is a good name :) . Hmm, I see that some people may think that I chose this name because it may sound "hard" and repulsive, but it's not like this. See the name with a smile ;)...

Last Sigh: Is there any type of creative process you use when you compose your music or does it just flow spontaneously for you? What else influences you in your composing and music content, that is, people, bands, ideas or philosophy, film perhaps? Do you sample things from the immediate world around you? If so, what things do you sample? Radio, the city street life, other music on CD or vinyl? Is your music exclusively done with computers and synths or are there elements of it created with *organic* or non-electronic instruments? Again, if so, what do you use? Do you play other instruments other than synths/keyboards/ electronic based machines?

Mike: There is no "routine" in my work. I always just play around with musical elements and see what fits together. There is a lot of "trial and error" in my music. Sometimes I start with a beat, sometimes with a sample, and sometimes with the lyrics and then see how the song evolves. The speech samples I use are usually taken from t.v. or radio. There are no other bands/musicians that influence me in the sense that I try to copy them, but all the music I listen to does have an impact on my output in a way I guess. If I had to name the bands that influenced me the most, I would say Einstürzende Neubauten, Nine Inch Nails and ea80 (a German punk band). Apart from my voice, my music is 100 % electronic. Nearly everything is sequenced, only some drum sequences in newer songs were recorded "live" with a drumpad, but also these parts are looped and/or manipulated after being recorded.

Last Sigh: On your premiere release, "Miscellaneous" [1999, Daham Recordings], track listings are in German, as are most of the lyrics on the CD cover, as well as performed in German vocals on the release. Can you give us, [those of us who can't read or understand the German Language], a short overview of what you are presenting to the public in terms of the messages within your music lyrically speaking? How would you describe your music to those who haven't yet heard it?

Mike: My lyrics are quite weird and full of allusions. I guess also most Germans don't know what I want to say with my lyrics, so don't worry ;) .. well, I actually tried to translate them into English and put them on my website... hmmm, some of the topics I deal with in my lyrics are sloth ("Leiche"), right wing politicians ("Das Reservat", "Abschieber"), children who meet in the sand-pit and later found a factory of arms ("h/k"), incapacity of Bavarian policemen to speak properly ("Wir Bekennen"), yuppies who jump out of windows ("Warten"), self-pity ("Selection Bias") and many more :). My music is hard, hectic and electronic, something between industrial, e.b.m., breakbeat and punk I guess. The rhythms I create are complex, the melodies are simple and I try to avoid stereotypes, both musically and regarding the lyrics.

Last Sigh: How long have you been toying around with the idea of composing music? Was music a big part of your family life while growing up? Do you have any formal training in music, if so, when, where and what did/do you study?

Mike: My parents bought me a drum set when I was 15, and I immediately started playing in several punk and hardcore/crossover bands with some friends. I also took lessons in drums, (funk drumming mainly), for about 2 years. My parents and my sister don't play any instruments, but they tolerated me making noise in my room. When I was 15, I also got my amiga 500 and started making sound with it, first using Aegis Sonix, later using a tracker called MEd. I continued working with trackers when I got my first pentium machine, and it's still the same more or less now.

Last Sigh: What music do you listen to on an average day in your life? What was the last film you saw and the last non-university related book you read?

Mike: I like listening to good punk music (ea80, Boxhamsters, Babes In Toyland, Dackelblut, l7 etc.), especially when I get up at noon :). Then there are some weird electronic CDs, like Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Kybernaut, Hanzel Und Gretyl, harsh industrial, (Winterkälte, Needle Sharing, Imminent Starvation, Noisex...) and some electronic music I wouldn't consider as industrial, like Numb, Wumpscut, Nine Inch Nails, Cubanate, Rx etc... Sometimes I also listen to good dance music (Prodigy, Fluke), and I also love Ministry and Einstürende Neubauten of course. I saw many good movies in the last months, for example: Very Bad Things, Pi, Wisdom Of Crocodiles and Heart. I hardly read non-university related books (and also hardly university-related ones :) ), the last one I read was "Die Verlorene Ehre Der Katharina Blum" by Heinrich Böll, but that also was several months ago...

Last Sigh: You are currently studying in a University. What subjects are you leaning towards in your college career?

Mike: I study psychology, and I will have something with computers as a second subject soon. I don't have big plans what I will work as when I finished studying, maybe something like web- or multimedia design. We'll see.

Last Sigh: Your web site is over at   Insania.com. Do you build it yourself? How did you hook up with Patzblue at Insania? Do you  have any MP3s on your web site people can download to hear your work? What is the web address for them?

Mike: I built and maintain my website myself. I met Patze Blue once in late summer 1998 when he visited Germany and stayed at Karl's place. At this time I had my homepage on one of those slow but free tripod.com servers. Later I mailed Patze if he could put my page on Insania and he did it :) ... some mp3s can be found on my site, another one is here.

Last Sigh: If you could delete/remove one idea, dogma, event or philosophy from our civilization's history, what would that be and why would you omit it? What do you think the future has to hold for the human race in terms of our evolution? Are you at all worried about the upcoming Y2K/new millenium problems in terms of computer shut down/malfunctions?  Germany is a leader in the industrial global export consumer arena. Does Germany seem to be Y2K compliant, or aren't you keeping up on the issue?

Mike: If I could, I would delete racism and intolerant religions that claim to be the only "true" one out of history. They cause war, hate and are an obstacle for the progress of mankind. What will the future bring? On the long run humans surely will destroy themselves and vast parts of the earth, but some life forms will survive and something new will evolve. That's a natural process and doesn't really worry me much. I'm more frightened of the possibility that my children may have to grow up in a world that is full of wars between those who have all and those who have nothing. This can be between people from first and third worlds, between rich and poor people in the cities, etc. as long as some cigarette slot-machines in my area will work on Jan. 1st 2000, I'm not much worried about y2k :). I don't care about that much. I won't fly at this day anyway, and if there should be no electricity for some hours or days, I know how to spend my time without. I don't have money at my bank, only debts, so if they'd set my bank account to zero, that wouldn't be really a problem for me :) . I don't really know if Germany is prepared for y2k, I guess the big companies and governmental organizations are more or less [prepared].

Last Sigh: Would you like to share your thoughts or give us any information on the anti-fascism movement in Germany or in the area in which you live?

Mike: It's all about one question : Is the use of violence adequate for struggling against the fascists? This question divides the German anti-fascist "movement" (I wouldn't call it like that, it's not so many people) into two parts. I used to sympathize with and support the militant part for some time, but in the last years I saw that I am absolutely not the guy that likes planning riots against 16 year old stupid assholes. And the militant part also makes big mistakes, sometimes they act like their opponent is the police and not the nazis. Not that I like the police very much, but at least they don't beat up refugees in the streets (ok, sometimes they do...).

Last Sigh: How do you feel about MP3 technology in it's wide use in the music business? Do you think labels are *leery* of it in terms of sales dropping due to the 'pirating' of music, and at times entire CDs into people's music collections? Or do you feel MP3 technology is an overall benefit to the music industry? How would you feel if you knew I was encoding your entire CD contents and giving it to 100s of people on the Internet for free without your knowing?

Mike: The music industry sucks ass. First they flood the market with casted boy groups and dance floor projects nobody can identify with and really wants to hear more than the one chart breaker they have [heard] of, then they ignore and later try to fight technological innovations like mp3, and then they are surprised that the sales drop a few percent. In the near future, mp3 may be a real threat to famous artists and the big labels. But who cares if Michael Jackson sells one million copies of his next album less than of the last one? I don't. For the music I like and produce mp3s that are good, it's free promotion, [as] if the tracks were played in the radio. I don't think that good labels like Ant-Zen, Hands, Warp, Digital Hardcore Recordings etc. sell less than they could because of mp3, because the people that really like the music want to own the whole CD/record, not only some files on their harddisc. If you would sell mp3s of me to people, I'd say :"Pass obacht ! A fotzn is schnella gfangt wia a wurschtsemme !!" (<-- and this is not very friendly :) ). If you'd give it to hundreds of people for free, I'd ask your phone company if we could make a deal :) ...

Last Sigh: Can you give your "gear list?"  If you could purchase any instruments you currently don't have to create your music, what would you purchase and why?

Mike: I hardly have any gear. I have an Amiga 500, an AMD K6-2 machine with awe 32 soundcard and some software, and I got a Roland spd 11 drumpad recently, that's it. I am used to working with this equipment very much, so I don't really plan to buy more. If I could choose something from a music store, I'd get the Clavia Nord Micro Modular, a new soundcard with digital i/o and a dat recorder, so that I wouldn't have to change my production methods much. The way I work now gives me a very high level of flexibility, everything works and I can use any sound I like.

Last Sigh: What are you currently working on with your music? What can we expect from you in the future with your music? Are you leaning towards a change in sound or direction from "Miscellaneous" or are you staying with the same style/type of music on the next release?

Mike: Currently I'm working on the Daham, Incest Remix" of a track from Puls/ b-ton-k and on new tracks for the next album (about the half is done already). If I keep up my current speed in producing, the next album should be done in early next year [2000]. Like on "Miscellaneous", there will be harsh tracks and softer ones on it, electronic sounds and noise, fast beats and simple melodies. I think it will be at least as diverse as "Miscellaneous", maybe a bit harder over all.

Last Sigh: Will you be playing live anywhere in the future? If so, where would that be and when? Can you give us a URL to those events for reference?

Mike: I will do two live performances in California, one at Das Bunker, Los Angeles, ( http://www.dasbunker.com ) on September 3rd and one at Club Dekonstrukt, San Francisco ( http://www.dekonstrukt.net ) on September 5th in San Francisco. Savak, a side project of Holocaust Theory will be the main act, and Mikael Orgillon (ex-Death Industry) will support me on stage at both concerts. There are also plans for some concerts in Germany together with Noisex and Infact, but nothing is confirmed yet. I will post news regarding [future] live performances on my homepage.

Last Sigh: Thanks for taking the time to share your ideas and life with us and those who read Last Sigh Magazine. Is there anything else you would like to share with us? Any words of wisdom you have gained over the years, or advice to other musicians?

Mike: I don't want to give anyone advice. To young musicians I would say: Be honest and don't try to copy anyone. it's wasted effort. Thanks for the interview Kim !

Michael Krauss

[Editor's note: The concerts FAV performed at Dekonstrukt in San Francisco and
Das Bunker in Caliornia were splendid, from what I hear!]