WHITE DOG
"the intention to explore dissonance, conflict and confrontation"
STATEMENT
White Dog is an industrial music projectwhich uses a unique combination of sounds, vocals, rhythms and structuresto create physically and cerebrally challenging aural attacks. The workof White Dog is unrestrained, and unrestricted by adherence to one setform of instrumentation or sound, but always constant is the intentionto explore dissonance, conflict and confrontation.
Can you tell us more about the "grindingimpulse" for starting all your activities on musical field? Howwere your inspirations - philosophical, artistic and others in the beginning?
GAYA: in my formative years I had experienceswith a folk music company doing Neapolitan traditional music I usedto play and sing in a punk band
Other influences in my musical expression are RELIGIONS, VIOLENCE ANDDEATH, the ENVIRONMENT I live in, HORROR AND WORLD CINEMA, LITERATURE,wars, humans.
JOANNE: I started playing and writingmusic quite late- 8 years ago when I was eighteen and had never pickedup an instrument or made any sort of music before. I was directly inspiredto start playing bass and to write music by punk bands. I had alwaysliked British post punk/ new wave bands and this led me to discoverindustrial music of the early eighties. At the same time I was at stillat University and did a lot of research on performance, and I thinkthat also fed into why I first got involved with music. I've been activein bands ever since, most significantly with the band Naevus, my soloproject Virginia Fur and most recently White Dog. My work is usuallyvery personal, but also concerned with basic human needs and failings,and their unlimited confusions, complications and conflicts.
Can you tell us more about your currentWhite Dog project - who is in the band and how would you describe yourmusic?
GAYA: White Dog is a collaboration betweenmyself and Joanne. We met when we both joined the London based labelOperative Records and both contributed to Operative's "First"compilation, myself as Anti-Child League and Joanne with Naevus. Fromthat we decided to get together and start a new project. White Dog workson the construction and deconstruction of sound, which ranges from darkambient to power electronics, with folk melodies to harsh electronics.With strong vocals
JOANNE: White Dog is a collaborationwhich genuinely has no boundaries in terms of how we sound. Generallythere may be some form of harshness or uneasiness running through ourwork, but this is often offset by juxtapositions with less abrasivesounds or samples.
Who creates the music and what kindof instruments / technology do you use?
We both collaborate on the music andwrite lyrics. We use digital and analogue technology, synths, samplesand acoustic instruments with field recording and also recycled sound
Can you reveal more about your currentartistic concept - your complete background - i.e. certain philosophy,other artistic influences etc? Can you provide our readers with a descriptionof your live-performances?
JOANNE: the concept behind White Dogis essentially that we are two distinct individuals with different backgrounds,approaches and previous musical experiences, but we share a certainway of working and love for similar kinds of sounds. We formed the projectbecause we felt we could work well together to produce a different andinspired form of industrial music. The nature of our live performancesvaries depending on which of our music we perform. The aim is alwaysto create as strong and as affecting sound and experience as possible.We recognize that discipline and control are as important as experimentation
GAYA: I have harsh influences as I comefrom a punk background
I would say that every song I have ever done has strong environmentalinfluences especially Christianity ,exploring the sites of human natureand the chaos we live in as I'm very melodic sometimes, expressing thedark loneliness that is deep inside.
My philosophy is " Discipline Yourself Through Yourself. BE STRONG.Live we operate machines, perform vocals, percussion, some acousticinstruments. But the rest is to be seen...
What do you consider unique in yourmusic / creative output?
JOANNE: We are unique because havinghad different routes into music we each bring a different range of experience,skills, ideas, approaches and knowledge to White Dog, yet at the sametime, we share the same desire to make powerful, interesting music inthe industrial tradition.
GAYA: White Dog has a broad approach.It's not fixed into being one kind of thing or sound.
Any other art forms you are involved?
JOANNE: I am involved with other bands,mainly Naevus, whose third album will be available on Operative Recordsin May 2002. I also write, although this always tends to take a backseat to my musical activities.
GAYA: I have my Anti-Child League projectand also collaborate with other individuals. I also do multi-media filmand sound work and organize and promote gigs and performances as HinoeumaMalediction
Do you consider yourself to be apart of any artistic movement? Are you working in a frame of any "culturalautonomous zone" or "autonomous cultural unit"?
GAYA: I don't feel like I'm part ofany movement. We have alliances in London and around the world but theseare few. Isolation can sometimes be a reality. There is no zone, justseparate autonomous cultural units made of individuals.
JOANNE: I agree. At certain events/gigsthere might appear to be some kind of scene but really most people workin isolation and only occasionally come together. Part of the idea behindOperative Records was to bring together industrial musicians activein the London area.
What do you understand under theterm "industrial" nowadays?
GAYA: old school industrial
JOANNE: There seem to be a lot of fairlymainstream bands around at the moment who call themselves industrialbecause they understand it to mean music which is simply harsh, noisyand maybe a bit electronic. To me it really means music that sharessome of the approach of Non, TG, Psychic TV etc.
What kind of music do you preferin your privacy? Your top 5 (both your "all time stars"and"last week top five")
GAYA: the noise generated by the constructionwork happening on my rough estate
ALL TIME TOP FIVE
1.Crass
2.Throbbing gristle
3.Whitehouse
4.Laibach
5.Patty Bravo
CURRENT TOP FIVE
1.Der Blutharsh " when all else fails"
2. Death in June "all pigs must die"
3.Genocide Organ " remember"
4. Con-Dom " color of man
5.Whitehouse "cruise"
JOANNE: my lists always change, butat the moment:
ALL TIME TOP FIVE
1. The Slits
2. Death in June
3. Lemon Kittens
4. Swans
5. Nico
CURRENT TOP FIVE- what I've been listeningto this week
1 Novy Svet
2. Der Blutharsch
3. Psychic TV
4. Laibach
5. Lydia Lunch
About censorship - what do you thinkabout free music distribution on the Net? Do you stand for a certainkind of restrictions or for full albums / tracks distribution?
GAYA: I am against any form of censorshipbut think it's wrong for people to make it an advantage for their businessis r for labels - distributors and artists
JOANNE: I think it's important for anymusician or artist to have control over their work. If you decide tomake your work available on the net, fine. To acquire a copy and makeit available without the artist's knowledge or permissioth disrespectfuland wrong.
Which label will release the plannedprojWhite Dog and other collaborations?
We are discussing it.