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Mortiis Interview 3/21/09 in Helsinki, Finland @ Gloria, Trash Fest II I have been doing interviews for a long time and this is the most fun I have had interviewing a band since Sebastian Bach in 2003! These guys are not only talented musicians, but very interesting to say the least! I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did! ~ mt mt: The name Mortiis, where did it come from? Mortiis: Oh man...something from my teenage days. I think it goes back to when I was pen pals with all these people all over the world and some guy signed a letter with something, something, Mortiis...and I was like 16 and thought that was a cool name, I am going to use that. That was back in the death metal days when everyone wanted to have artists names and I wasn't even an artist at the time and I thought, fuck Mortiis, cool. Then I found out it was misspelled years later... mt: Oh! Well... Mortiis: Well that makes it a name as opposed to a word. mt: How would you describe your music to someone not familiar with it? Mortiis: A very noisy nervous breakdown or industrial rock or whatever. It kind of depends on what song. Some of it turned out more gothic than I thought it to be. It has changed a lot over the years it is not necessarily this one fixed category that we always stick to, whatever we wanna do, we fuckin do it. I think overall, Industrial Rock. mt: Are you getting sick of hearing about the mask? Mortiis: No, because... mt: Do you know how many people asked me to tell you...tell him, yea right. Mortiis: Tell me to use the mask? mt: Yea. (laughter) Levi: He is wearing his right now. Mortiis: You know we aren't doing the mask right? mt: Yea! (laugh) Mortiis: You get your little clique of people that can't really deal with people changing or whatever and somehow they think that it's for them. I didn't start this shit for them, I did it for me...I still do it for me. The day I stop doing it for me man, that is the day I fuckin lose my soul. mt: Take me through the song writing process. Mortiis: Oh God, we don't have a fixed...I mean it could start with a couple of noises and I build drums around it, then I call Levi and say play this and that, or we just experiment something. Make a bunch of loops and comp together which means slicing stuff up and re-attaching, make some riffs. It is very slice and dice and cut and paste...very computerized in the beginning. Then we get into the more organic thing and add vocals and guitars. It is a big combo program, but it can start with a drum loop or a riff or whatever. For us it is just whatever happens, happens. mt: If you could put the ultimate tour together who would you tour with? Mortiis: I guess Nine Inch Nails would be kind of fun. Levi: Ministry... Mortiis: Toto... Levi: Toto! Yea! mt: Toto... Ogee: Wham, Duran Duran...(laughter) mt: If you could meet anyone dead or alive who would it be and why? Levi: Jesus. Mortiis: Actually yes! Because it would be so interesting to see if he actually ever existed. Because I am totally prepared to believe he existed, I am just not prepared to believe that he was the son of God. You have people like Charles Manson or David Koresh, you might as well have people like Jesus Christ. They are all fuckin' prophets with disciples...why not? I mean it would be interesting "man, did you actually walk on water?", "did it hurt getting crucified?"... Levi: Did you hear about the new seven sins or the... Mortiis: Yea, they've added like another seven sins... mt: They did? Mortiis: They've got some fuckin' nerve man. Ogee: I speak on behalf of God...he came to me and told me to enforce seven new deadly sins. mt: Seven more sins to break. Levi: I would also ask him what the hell is up with all that feet washing. Mortiis: Hey man! Change your socks! mt: I say that all the time "I'm going to wash my feet like Jesus." Mortiis: Yup. You gotta do it like Jesus. mt: Do you have any strange habits, phobias or obsessions? Mortiis: To be honest, I don't think so... Levi: Girls in all of them. (laughter) mt: Girls in all of them, that's good. Mortiis: That's a phobia? Levi: Yea. Girls. Mortiis: No just usual. You know, the fear of failure...thet's boring. mt: It's not boring. mt: Your best trait? Worst habit? Mortiis: My best trait I guess is that I always try to be honest about everything. My worst habit? Probably picking at my hair, I do that a lot. I pull it out. I am going to be bald pretty soon. mt: Levi? Levi: I pick at my hair and I am really honest. (all laugh) mt: Oh he's a copycat!! (laugh) Mortiis: I get dreads, he gets dreads...he is like a mirror. Ogee: I guess my good habit is not having dreads... mt: Ok and not being a copy cat. Be original. Mortiis: Bad habit. He uses gay words for everything. mt: Our little group uses gay for everything. Mortiis: He is gay, total gay, for real. He sucks peoples cocks and shit... mt: Nice... Ogee: All the time, all the time. (goes into detail, but if I put it here it would be an X-rated interview) Mortiis: He has his own website... Ogee: Midget gay retarded stuff...You know what we tried yesterday? Remember that? Mortiis: Yea...yea...I wasn't into it. mt: Do you consider yourself romantic? Mortiis: No...I am awful. mt: If you could be invisible, fly or stop time which would you be and why? Mortiis: Invisible would be cool. mt: Why? Mortiis: I could ram baseball bats up into asses of people I didn't like and they wouldn't know what the hell happened. (all laugh) Levi: That would be after you met Jesus right? Mortiis: No, I have no problem with Jesus. They are the people I dislike. Ogee: You could stop time, undress them and move them closer and all of a sudden they wake up in the street...what the hell is your dick doing in my ass? (all laugh) mt: So 2009 plans? Mortiis: We've got to get this album out. We are still looking for a proper deal. After that the idea is to tour the album as much as possible. mt: Europe? US? Mortiis: Everywhere. As long as it's not a financial disaster we will play anywhere. mt: Message for your fans? Mortiis: Keep your eyes peeled for the new album. That is such a lame expression. Thanks for hanging around for so long waiting for an album. There are so many reasons for that, personal, professional and the climate of the music industry is so weird and to top it off the global economy goes tits up so that has put sticks in our wheels. I know we would have had a good deal by now if it weren't for the economy going to hell last year. I am just not going to sign a shitty deal. mt: No, you shouldn't. Mortiis: So were in the middle of a waiting game right now. It is frustrating, but what can you do? mt: Ok! Fast Facts! Height? Mortiis: My height? In cm? mt: Yup. Mortiis: 174 cm, that is what my passport says... mt: Shoe Size? Mortiis: 42 I think... mt: Favorite color? Mortiis: Ummmm.... Levi: Black...no I am just kidding. (laughs) Mortiis: Black actually...technically black isn't even a color. Is it? mt: Ah whatever...we can do what we want! Mortiis: Then take it. Black. mt: Favorite number? Mortiis: 7 mt: Drink? Mortiis: Probably something with Malibu in it. Yes I am a fruit. I am a fairy... Levi: I am a fairy!!! mt: Favorite food? Mortiis: Something with chicken. mt: Favorite place to visit? Mortiis: Ummm.... Ogee: Levi's bathroom? Levi: Yea with mirrors placed so that I can see my penis when I pee. Mortiis: That is so fuckin' disturbing...I fucking am NOT into that... Levi: I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! I actually got that... mt: You do? (hyterical) Levi: Yea, yea...huge fuckin mirrors so I can watch myself. ALL LAUGH... Ogee: You can actually watch yourself poop in there too! mt: That's great!! (laughing) Mortiis: I don't understand the purpose of it... mt: This is funny! This is great! Levi: I placed them on the walls, it's just fuckin great and the cool thing is that I can see the fuckin television as well...and in the mirror I can see my dick. mt: That's awesome! You guys have to be the official mama trash band. This is great, I love it! Mortiis: I feel kind of disturbed by the whole thing, I have to be honest with you. The thing is he has two mirrors too! He has one on the side and one straight in the front. So he can see his dick from two angles. mt: You would do well at my house. Ogee: And your ass! mt: You gotta make sure it all looks good. You never know. Levi: (now standing) and I don't go like this I go all the way down. (pretends to drop pants). Oh man! This is funny...make little S's....ssssssssss.... mt: Oh my god. I love it! How many years apart are you guys? (laughing) Levi: Two. Ogee: He's an old gizzard. Mortiis: Gizzard? What's that? Ogee: Old fart. mt: Geezer. Mortiis: Geezer I know... mt: Oh God, I shouldn't even ask this question...favorite smell? Levi: Oh poo! On the wall? Mortiis: Let's not talk about that... Ogee: Tour farting. ALL LAUGH Mortiis: Somebody poo'd on the wall! Levi goes into the bathroom at the hotel this morning, we had just got back and he says "did you throw shit on the wall?" and I'm like "yea, I did. I threw shit to see what would stick." and he believed it and it turns out there is shit on the wall and he thought it was me. mt: How the hell did that happen? Mortiis: I just don't know. Levi: We have no idea, we asked everybody! We were actually blaming Amanda. mt: Amanda the merch girl, she is the only one that was in there! Did you tell her? Levi: No. mt: You need to tell her! Mortiis: I have a theory. mt: What is your theory? Mortiis: I think she came in there and didn't like us and put shit on the wall. mt: No, she loves you guys. Mortiis: Cool, oh it's a mystery. Favorite smell was the question? mt: Yes. Mortiis: Vanilla. mt: Favorite song? Mortiis: Probably Dragula or something by Rob Zombie. mt: Favorite movie? Mortiis: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. mt: Actor? Mortiis: Johnny Depp. mt: Favorite Sound? Mortiis: Anything that is noisy but has a tonal quality to it that you can play in a chromatic way. Metal. mt: Star Wars Character? Mortiis: Jabba The Hutt. mt: Favorite Indulgence? Mortiis: Talking shit about other people.
www.myspace.com/officialmortiisstreetteam
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