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1. HI! SINCE THIS IS OUR FIRST INTERVIEW COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE US A SHORT BAND BIO BY POINTING OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENTS OF DR. ZILCH? ALSO PRESENT THE CURRENT LINE UP.
The debut album “Artcore XXI” was released in October 1999 by PolyGram / Universal Music Portugal and received great critical acclaim. One month later, “The Questioning Worm” single was released. Between 1999 and 2000, the songs "Flesh Getting Higher" and "Human Shaped God" were included in 5 Portuguese compilations! In 2002, DR. ZILCH formed their own label “Artcore Records”. In September 11th 2005, the second album "A Little Taste of Hell Vol.1 - The Way Down" was finally released. It’s already available in stores at almost 50 countries, “CD-Baby”, “Amazon”, “Best Buy”, “Tower Records” and it can be downloaded from the main Download Services like “iTunes”, “Rhapsody”, “Yahoo! Music”, etc. The single “Games of Wonder” had the biggest radio airplay ever! Since February 2006 it can still be heard daily on the biggest Portuguese radio station for rock: “Best Rock FM”. Since 1998, DR. ZILCH has shared the same stages with names like “Clawfinger”, “Senser”, “PitchShifter”, “The Young Gods” and “Moonspell”. DR. ZILCH lineup since 2001 is: Nuno Fadigas – Vocals / Guitars / Keyboards / Programming / DJing Fernando MC – Guitars / Vocals / Programming Brr – Bass / Vocals Henrique Guerra – Drums
The name DR. ZILCH, personifies those who socially feel themselves the all mighty, but who within the reality of our existence represent absolutely nothing! This image of a Dr. Zilch exposes the human nature that in a certain way thinks of itself as “God”. Now I know there was actually a German Dr. Zilch (the first painless dentist). We have nothing to do with that nice buddy… LOL!
Both of them have the same distorted vocals, heavy guitars, loops, samplers, dark and aggressive lyrics and so on… The biggest differences are in the mixing – this new album has more “in-your-face” guitars and the samplers are more in the background (but they’re still there). Most of the choruses are more the sing-along type as well – we’re not concerned of what the reviews may say about it!
If you’re open to new kinds of Metal (and music in general), you like being challenged by new stuff and / or you’re into lyrical content that makes your brain work, then DR. ZILCH is for you!!! Notice that our music is not meant for those narrow-minded Metal-Heads who think Metal with samplers is a sin – what the hell is a sin anyway?
We released two albums. Both of them were produced by ourselves. We have learned from the first one, so this time the final touch (mastering) was done by Björn Engelmann who worked before with Rammstein, Clawfinger, Backyard Babies, In Flames, Hypocrisy, etc. We still learned from this one and I hope we will learn from the next one, so we can always do a better job than before! Things we don’t want to repeat on our next recordings are the same songs! OK, maybe a few of them… LOL!
Then it was time to practice in the rehearsal room and introduce some fresh ideas from everybody into the songs. Then we were ready to start recording the album. Since we have practiced a lot for “Hell on Tour”, there are some new songs which have been born in the rehearsal room. So you can expect some differences on the next album. Since I am a compulsive guitar and vintage synths collector, it’s quite difficult to find a balance! We just follow our hearts, our brains and finally our ears…
My favorite classics are Yes – “Close to the Edge”, AC/DC – “Back in Black”, Alice Cooper – “Billion Dollar Babies”, David Bowie – “Ziggy Stardust”, Kraftwerk – “The Man Machine”, Nina Hagen – “Unbehagen”, Black Sabbath – “Vol. 4”, Iron Maiden – “The Number of the Beast”, Dio – “The Last in Line”, Pantera – “Vulgar Display of Power”, Frank Zappa – “Joe’s Garage”, Faith No More – “Angel Dust”, Clawfinger – “Deaf Dumb and Blind”, Prodigy – “Fat of the Land”, RATM – “Rage Against the Machine”. The birth of DR. ZILCH sound was kind of an “accident”! Maybe these last four bands were the main influence for our different path… Since we have been put into this Gothic / Industrial “container”, of course we’ve been listening to bands like: Ministry, Fear Factory, Rammstein, NIN, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie… they’re all good stuff!
The worst it’s the difficulty of being accepted when you don’t follow the “rules” – but who cares?!
The one where I’m carrying the apple in my hand and the crown of thorns in my head gave him the final inspiration for the cover artwork. I feel he did catch the whole concept of what we really wanted. So I share my own interpretation: The apple and the crown represent Evil and Good or Sin and Salvation. The fusion between them tells us that sometimes there is not a clear difference between these two concepts. The ancient walls might represent the past and conservative tradition that sometimes deters us of being ourselves. In the background we can see technology. This can be the future and our addiction to all these material goods in the nowadays society of consumption. The ladder takes us on our way down to hell. Not Dante’s hell but our own hell inside our minds. A hell created by ourselves with fears, doubts, traumas, beliefs, superstitions, delusions, egocentrism… Finally we have the green light of hope above us but most of the times we just don’t realize it’s there!
The first chapter “The Way Down” is included in the CD booklet. This is the rough story of three teenagers living in the outskirts of a big city, trying to come up with a Rock Band. The only problem is reality! From drug addiction to sexual abuse and even suicide, everything is revealed with the most sordid details. The whole story is based in true facts that happen to people I know and myself!
…you have TV with sports and soap operas and manipulated news to keep you entertained while a modern Roman-Style Empire grows and makes you feel you want to be “Roman”. Making their enemies your enemies! While you keep concerned about yourself only, you’re unable to realize you’re just playing a game where the “machine” always wins!
We have been signed to Universal Music for three years, so we know how it feels to be attached to a giant that’s standing still! Signing up with a label is not or goal right now. Of course we wouldn’t discard a valuable opportunity! I guess the best might be having different labels / distro in different countries.
You know, we’re not working to be the most original band in the world, but we don’t want to be just another copy of everything that has been made before… …we’re just trying to be ourselves! About something that has been said and has nothing to do with our music?! I don’t remember… maybe I just forget about it and move on!
I love performing in order to make the lyrics more real and reach people’s minds the best way I can… I want to make sure I’m passing my message! It’s more than an hour of non-stop music, slideshows, whips, crucifixes, rubber dolls, crowns of thorns, madness… you name it!!! You can take a look at our live pics at www.drzilch.com or www.myspace.com/drzilch.
The video was recorded in six days!!! It passed a lot on the TV, but the song had little radio airplay. Right now we’re still working on “Games of Wonder” as it’s still having very good airplay. The next one might be “Way Down to Hell”. We’ll see…
I could always channel my creative energy through cinema being a director or an actor… I still want to do something like that. Or maybe I could just destroy instead of creating…
Of course I write more when I’m down; that’s why my music is dark in general… depressive and angry but always with a dark wicked humor. Like a painting it would show darkness, pain, sadness and anger like an empty abandoned and vandalized factory.
This is what DR. ZILCH’s Suburban Dark Noise is about!!! Christine Parastatidou
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