Bryan Erickson of Velvet Acid Christ recently interviewed us for his Electric Deth Trip Media blog. This was our first interview in a couple years, and we think it went very well. He asked good questions, and we tried our best to give good answers without rambling too much. See the transcripts below:

Intro by VAC: I have heard a lot about some of the new bands, from a lot of drama i experienced from doing an interview with a certain someone that turned out to be a big mistake. It opened this huge can of worms. That is how I first discovered this band. So yeah, I went out and listened, and really liked what I heard. They are synth enthusiasts like myself. Finding out we have a lot in common. Very cool band(noisy industrial, brutal, fetish, blood, dirt), I wish I had discovered them sooner. Any how I took some time to pick their brains. Interview is below.

VAC: How are you doing?

Nikki: I’m doing well in this flesh prison On a creative binge
lately. Working on the next Prometheus Burning album. A few circuit
bending projects in the works. Performing with the Bridge City
Bombshells burlesque troupe. I’ve also started a new series of art
pieces made out of dolls that I mutilate and display in real
horrorshow fashion.

Greg: I am doing well I suppose. 2009 was a hectic year. Lots of eye
opening and life changing events unfolded all at once. I am not sad to
see this last year pass and look forward to 2010, as well as finishing
up our next album which is in the final stages of production.

VAC: What inspired you to make music initially?

Nikki: When I was around thirteen I was exposed to Industrial music.
Around this time I was learning to play the Piano and experimenting
with my Casio keyboard. Industrial seemed the most natural path for me
to take with my music, as my childhood sound experiments always led me
to tune into the noise and listen from within. I like music that makes
people look inside themselves. That’s what I strive to create. That
connection in the first Industrial music I discovered helped save me
from the isolation I felt. It gave me something to connect with when I
had nothing else. I’ve made art using various mediums all my life, but
have found music to be the most powerful. Music has the ability to
instantly effect the emotions and mental state of the listener. This
phenomenon and my sensitivity to it is what sparked my interest in
making music. The ability to amplify and transfer energy and emotion
through sound.

VAC: What is the main theme of your band?

Greg: We try to infuse each song with as much depth, subliminal
themes, and jagged emotional fragments as possible. We strive to make
Prometheus Burning something different by encapsulating as much of
ourselves and the things that inspire us, frustrate us, scare us, and
enlighten us. The more that we put out there and expose of ourselves,
the more like minded individuals we encounter. People with similar
thoughts, feelings, interests and ideals that find something they can
relate to within our music. I suppose you could say Prometheus Burning
is more of a project than a band. An experiment which we are
conducting upon ourselves, hoping that in the process we might just
learn something greater about the dimensions inside us and around us,
while inviting others to take part if they so desire.

VAC: How do you go about making music?

Greg: Set and setting is very important. Finding the right state of
mind is also key. I have found over time that my most creative moments
are when I first wake up and am still in a dreamlike state, or very
late when I am getting tired. Sometimes even altered states of mind
brought on by sickness has aided in our creative process. We recorded
the basic structures of our first album “Influenza” while I was very
sick with the flu. I would wake up from a fever dream and stumble into
the studio to capture the sounds in my head while Nikki would be
working on the melodic elements or the occasional vocals found on that
album. We also rely heavily upon concepts with our albums, and try to
shape the music around them. With our “Beyond Repair” album, we both
delved into our painful childhood memories for inspiration. We would
read our old personal journals, poems, sketch books, confronting old
demons and deconstructing years old mental scar tissue. It was a
difficult and emotionally taxing album to create, but one that we felt
was necessary for us to move forward. For our recent release “Plague
called huMANity”, we wrote down notes detailing an entire fantasy
story of a girl named Nyx and how she brings about the end of the
world. We then used this story as a blueprint for the lyrics and
music. Nikki and I feed off of each other when in the studio.
Sometimes a song will start from one of her poems or synthlines, other
times from a beat or sequence of noise from me. Our formula is
continuously changing and evolving.

VAC: What gear do you use?

Nikki: Access Virus Ti. Bugbrand AudioWeevil08. Akai r-50e drum
machine circuit bent by Alien Devices. Yamaha VSS-30 circuit bent by
myself. Eurorack modular system consisting of modules from Harvestman,
TipTop, Doepfer, Flight of Harmony, Make Noise, WMD, and Livewire for
the most part. Boss effects pedals and rack mountable units such as
the FZ-2 and SE-70. Lexicon MX200 delay. Freakshow Digilog delay. King
Capital Punishment devices. JoeMeek SixQ compressor. Theremin.
Electric Violin.

VAC: What is your favorite Instrument?

Nikki: The Virus Ti. I spend more time with it than anything else in
the studio. There are so many possibilities. I can get lost inside it,
spending hours crafting sounds. I love the modular too but nothing
beats being able to save my patches.

Greg: Our modular system “The Beast”. I like the level of
customization and openness you get with modular. We are constantly
expanding and changing our system, swapping modules for others we find
more intriguing. I especially enjoy the interface, manually patching
the cables and tweaking out.

VAC: Do you like playing shows?

Nikki: I definitely enjoy playing live shows and feel the concepts of
Prometheus Burning really come alive on stage. During our live shows I
get to use not only our music, but my body, motion, visuals, and
symbolism to express myself and our art. There are so many more levels
of expression at my disposal live than when we are in the studio. What
I love most is connecting with the audience though, and being totally
free and raw in front of them. Each performance is like a
transformational experience for me. I tend to loose myself in the
moment. I often recall shows afterward as if they were vivid dreams.
The last tour was our most extensive. We did twelve shows in two weeks
and traveled across the Midwest, the East Coast, and even a bit down
South. It was a life changing experience that has inspired me greatly.
I look forward to touring more in the future and playing as many shows
as possible.

Greg: Yes and no. I have a condition called “Panic Disorder” and live
shows can really be difficult for me because of it. Where as Nikki
finds freedom on the stage, I consider the studio to be more my
element, away from the crowds I am often a complete mental wreck the
entire day of our performances. But nine times out of ten, I am always
glad we did the show in the end. When things come together and an
enthusiastic audience gathers to lend us an open ear for an hour or
so, it can be quite powerful. That’s when you know people are not only
listening to the music, but they are feeling and experiencing it right
along with you. There is nothing greater than that.

VAC: What is the funniest experience you have had while touring?

Nikki: We both agree on this one. I’ll let Greg explain…

Greg: After our final show on the “It Ain’t Dead Yet” tour in Atlanta
Georgia, Kellie Laplegua took me, Nikki, Matt of Caustic, and Brian
and Katja of The Gothsicles to a little joint called “The Clermont
Lounge”. This place is not your typical stripper bar by any means, and
felt like something straight out of a John Waters film. It was trashy
as hell and we all felt right at home. At one point a dancer old
enough to be my grandmother came over to us and gave Brian a strip
tease and a lapdance. Shortly after that, another dancer by the name
of Blondie came over to us and offered a dance. Blondie was an
overweight older black lady with huge sagging tits and long blond
curls. After doing her dance, she crushed one of our beer cans with
her giant tits (which Matt Caustic had her autograph and kept as a
souvenir), and then proceeded to smash me in the face with those huge
sagging tits. She was hitting me in the face so hard I saw stars. I
thought she was going to knock me the fuck out. I stank like her cheap
perfume the entire drive home from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. Everyone
shared some hardcore laughs at mine and Brian’s expense.

VAC: What is your favorite hair style?

Nikki: I’ve had many hair styles; shaved, hawked, dyed… loved them
all but I really like the style I’ve recently cultivated. Long hair,
pointy bangs, pin straight or teased to giant proportions. I couldn’t
name a favorite. All depends on how it’s worn. I like it when hair
expresses one’s individuality and creativity.

VAC: Where is your favorite place to shop for clothing?

Nikki: My favorite places to shop are the Goodwill and Thrift stores.
I enjoy modifying second hand leather and vintage items for myself. I
find some really unique items. For the “It Ain’t Dead Yet” tour I had
a custom outfit made by Artifice Clothing. I’ve also commissioned
Weary Drearies, and am currently collaborating with a local designer
Emilee Kohan of Lucid Wear on an outfit I designed to use for future
shows. We also make it a point to shop at NorthBound Leather every
time we visit Toronto.

VAC: I’ve noticed you guys are into circuit bending, elaborate please.

Nikki: Bending for me is an intuitive art. I find it cathartic to sit
down and mutilate circuitry, pushing old toys and forgotten
instruments to make new sounds they weren’t intended to make. My most
recent project, the Yamaha VSS-30 aka “little devil”, has seen a lot
of use since its rebirth. We strive to craft a unique sound and these
custom devices aid us in achieving our goal.

VAC: Who are your main inspirations?

Nikki: I’ve been inspired by many nameless faces as well as those
close and distant. Some are famous people who have altered my
perception of reality, reinforced what I feel at my core and have
inspired me artistically. Those people are: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge,
Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, John Balance, Nivek Ogre,
cEvin Key, Al Jourgensen, Bjork, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin,
Timothy Leary, Clive Barker, H.R. Giger, Aleister Crowley, Austin
Osman Spare.

VAC: List your top ten favorite LPs.

Nikki:
Coil – The Ape of Napels
Skinny Puppy – The Process
cEvin Key – Music for cats
Front 242 – Geography
Converter – Blast furnace
Numb – Language Of Silence
Gridlock – Further
Ministry – Twitch
Portion Control – Filthy White Guy
Ah Cama-Sotz – 10 Years Bat Vibez

Greg:
Coil – Loves Secret Domain
Mr. Bungle – Disco Volante
Venetian Snares – Doll Doll Doll
Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile
Ministry – The Land of Rape and Honey
Skinny Puppy – The Process
Noise Unit – Decoder
Download – The Eyes Of Stanley Pain
Tarmvred – Ileus
Somatic Responses – Touching the Void

VAC: List your Top 5 favorite movies.

Nikki:
Dune
Heavy Metal
Hellraiser
Firewalk With Me
A Clockwork Orange

Greg:
Natural Born Killers (directors cut)
A Clockwork Orange
Bladerunner (directors cut or final cut)
Jacobs Ladder
12 Monkeys

VAC: List your favorite books.

Nikki:
Hatchet – by Gary Paulsen
The Great and Secret Show – by Clive Barker
The Illuminatus! Trilogy – by Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
The Law Is For All – by Aleister Crowley
Wreckers of Civilization – by Simon Ford

Greg:
Imajica – by Clive Barker
Design for Dying – by Timothy Leary
Invisible Monsters – by Chuck Palahniuk
The Ultimate Evil – by Terry Maury
Media Virus! – by Douglas Rushkoff

VAC: If you could change anything about the scene, what would it be?

Greg: We believe that by dedicating ourselves to our art, we already
are working to change the scene toward our own personal vision of it.
The definition of Industrial and the expectations of “the scene” mean
different things to different people, and the argument is a long dead
and well beaten horse. There is a definite rift between certain
mindsets within the community. A community which has been greatly
weakened by this lack of a common ground to stand upon anymore. In
fact, some of the most “Industrial” music we have heard or experienced
live over the last few years at shows or a Midwest warehouse party has
come from outside the scene. Certain artists and albums and events
being labeled as Breakcore, Dubstep, Power Electronics, Technoid, etc,
but containing more abrasiveness, creativity, anti-pop elements, and
DIY Industrial ideals than most of the releases found on some the
biggest Industrial and EBM labels out there at the moment. Most of
what is being slapped with the Industrial brand name these days is
sterile. Conformed. Accessible. Systematic. Assimilated. Predictable.
We are disappointed, certainly, and wish to see the return of more
intelligent, interesting, creative, and challenging music as the
“common ground” that we can all stand upon once again.

VAC: What kind of vocal effects do you use?

Nikki: Not trying to sound vague, but we experiment with literally
anything in the studio that can process audio. Hardware or Software,
if it has an input, we’ve jacked a microphone into it. We’ve been
having fun using the “The Beast” for vocal processing lately, as well
as Native Instruments Guitar Rig. We ended up selling all of our TC
Electronic hardware. We tried using their Fireworx and VoiceWorks
units, but found them too limiting for our type of vocal
experimentation.

VAC: Where do you hail from?

Greg: Hello from the gutters of Pittsburgh, which are filled with dog
manure, vomit, stale wine, urine, and blood.

VAC: How did your band come together?

Nikki: Synchronicity. Fate. Call it what you will.

VAC: Are you into comics?

Greg: I used to read “Heavy Metal” religiously and collected every
Clive Barker related comic I could get my hands on. Every so often I
pick up a manga or graphic novel or art book if it catches my eye. I
have always been into the erotic side of art more so than action types
of comics. I grew out of “Wolverine” and “Spiderman” quickly, and
started exploring erotic graphic novelists like Milo Manara, or
erotica photographers like Eric Kroll at a very young age. The guy at
the comic book store used to tell me “as long as you parents don’t
show up here to bitch at me”, he would sell me whatever weird shit I
would find interesting in the Adult section.

VAC: If you could pull off the ultimate prank on someone, who would it be, and what?

Nikki: If we told you it would ruin everything…

View Original Interview Here

NOVEMBER 29, 2007
Local electro-industrial duo Prometheus Burning turns up the heat

BY MANNY THEINER

Thousands of progressive electronic music fans worldwide are taking a break from Radiohead and Aphex Twin and instead downloading music from Pittsburgh band Prometheus Burning. This considerable Internet interest has helped the powernoise/electro-industrial duo — comprising vocalist Nikki Telladictorian and programmer Greg VanEck — emerge as a flagship act of New Jersey indie label Hive Records.

Strong sales of ProBurn’s 2006 album for Hive, Beyond Repair, prompted the label to authorize a remix album, which came out in July. Anagrammatically dubbed nBoyde raRepi, it features reworkings by some of the duo’s closest acquaintances in the harsh-electronic and breakcore scene, including Abelcain, Iszoloscope, Endif, Proyecto and fellow cyber-’Burgher Xanopticon.

“The remixes aren’t typical,” explains Nikki. “They took a piece of our work and made it their own. People went above and beyond what they needed to do. That’s why we picked the ones we did, because we related to them on the same level.”

Many of the groups on nBoyde probably draw upon inspirations similar to ProBurn’s: a pinch of Skinny Puppy and Frontline Assembly here, some Throbbing Gristle and Coil there. But the duo is a bit more unusual in the scene for being a male/female act, coming across visually like Aeon Flux meets the Terminator. But Nikki says gender’s not an issue in their music.

“[Greg and I] look at things the same way, so we’re not gender-specific. We’re actually fans of androgyny and breaking sexual stereotypes. Gender happens to be a condition of our existence. There are many all-male bands that make music that I love — it’s just about the minds involved.”

Without the freedom to leave their jobs for longer tours, Nikki and Greg have taken advantage of a frequent phenomenon in the goth/industrial scene: “festival”-style shows with big lineups, such as Indoctrination in Chicago, LiveWire in Toronto, and Reverence in Madison. They’ve also performed at local club night Ceremony, sharing the stage with Nevada powernoise pal Endif.

ProBurn also struck up a relationship with cyberpunk writer Kenji Siratori, culminating in the band’s use of his poetry on its next release, a vinyl 12-inch called Retribution, due in 2008 on the local Thaco label. The album art, by Irish illustrator Paul McCarroll, depicts a Medusa-esque succubus with tentacles squirming around her head and body. If that sounds like a character from some apocalyptic video game, the music will most likely follow suit. In any case, Nikki’s ready to make a bold claim: “We’re excited about this release, and confident that these new songs will sound nothing like your ears have ever perceived before.”

Original Article here

The following is very long, unedited interview conducted by Benny Hell of Vampire Freaks. Shortly after we did the interview with Benny, he left Vampire Freaks as a writer/editor, and the interview was never published.

According to your website, you began experimenting with music in 1999. When you started, were you composing together, or separately?

[Nikki] – Long before 1999 I started composing my first works. I loved music class as a kid and was a natural at the piano. My mom couldn’t afford lessons, but after much begging I got my first Casio, a tiny Rapmaster 2000 fully equipped with built in vocoder. I spent endless nights in my room recording on a boombox. I’d tune up and down AM stations to find distorted sounds and fuzz, while playing my Casio with the other hand. I would also use my pitched voice effects as I recited phrases. It wasn’t until 1999 that Greg and I started experimenting musically.

[Greg] – I used to fantasize about making music all the time, but nothing came together until 1998 when I managed to buy a used Yamaha keyboard for $250. I would spend countless hours with my headphones on, just diving into its settings and trying to create new sounds. I had no clue how to properly play, and I didn’t care really. I was just interested in experimenting and making the machine make sounds it wasn’t meant to make. There were times when Nikki and I would mess around together for fun, playing with our keyboards and effects pedals and microphones, but neither of us had any insight that we would be forming a band together shortly down the road. It was just one of those moments of synchronicty when we started seriously composing together.

What did your earliest work sound like? Do you cannibalize ideas and re-forge them into new strains of music?

[Greg] – Back in 1999 before Nikki and I started to focus on Prometheus Burning primarily, I spent a lot of time trying to develop the sound I could hear in my head. None of it had a name or direction at that point. My old friend Abe and his band (now known as Goonland) used to practice at the house I was living in. Nikki was my room mate there, along with a couple other friends. They would store their gear and amps there when they weren’t practicing, and I would mess around with it all trying to learn what I could. This was all before I could afford a computer or proper gear, so I would make noises by running my Yamaha keyboard through the guitar pedals and amps, then out to my tape deck. I accidentally fried his Big Muff distortion pedal one time, but made some incredible recordings as the pedal died and just started spewing out high pitch distorted tones. I also liked recording cordless phone conversations, and random bleeps and bloops from a Radio Shack police scanner I had. I would try to layer these recordings along with the sounds I would make on the Yamaha which had a 2-track recorder built into it. A couple years ago, we rediscovered some the tapes I made of this material, and streamed the recordings to the computer. Bits and pieces from some of those recordings are scattered throughout our Beyond Repair album, and are especially noticeable on the hidden track “Quiditty”… So I suppose some material has been re-forged. We don’t look back very much though, and are always trying to push ahead with new ideas.

There are so many labels that one can associate with your music; Powernoise, Harsh, and Rhythmic Industrial being just a few. How do you define what you create?

[Greg] – We actually don’t like applying specific labels to ourselves and what we create. We enjoy the challenge of meshing different styles and structures together, experimenting with different concepts for every song, every album, and coming up with something unique. We have no desire to repeat ourselves, or anyone else for that matter. We try hard to stay dynamic, and prefer to let our listeners decide for themselves. Influenza has often been described as Power Electronics or “a wave of noise”. Beyond Repair often gets described as Powernoise or Rhythmic Industrial. Some people who have heard samples of our upcoming 12inch Retribution have mostly described it as Dark IDM or Experimental. About a dozen or so close friends who have heard some of the songs we are working on for our next full length album Plague called huMANity have described it as Electro Industrial and very Oldschool sounding. We never aim to fit a specific label or musical stereotype, or to appeal to a specific audience. To us, it is all Prometheus Burning.

[Greg] – We think its great that listeners from so many different musical genres can get into us. For example, we’ve played some very intense Breakcore and Experimental Electronic shows in Detroit over the years. Detroit is a very open minded and artistic city when it comes to electronic music, and their scene is driven by a lot of frustration, DIY creativity, and determination. We love the Detroit folks and have always been very well received every time we visit. We have also performed to some very receptive audiences at some Industrial and Powernoise shows, such as the Reverence festival in Madison and the Indoctrination festival in Chicago. It’s gratifying for us to hear that we are uneasy to define. We like blurring the lines between musical definition and breaking the rules, as opposed to conforming to other peoples expectations. I think that is one of the most valuable lessons we can learn from the early Industrial artists; There are no rules in Industrial music. Industrial means something different to everyone these days, and the list of sub-genres could fill a book. “Industrial Records” was the name Genesis P. Orridge gave his record label. It was never meant to be a definition or genre name to describe what Throbbing Gristle and other experimental bands during the late 70′s and 80′s were doing. They didn’t slap that label on themselves… Industrial as a genre name was invented by people trying to describe something that was indescribable at the time. Something new and experimental that took elements from many types of music (Funk, Jazz, Rock, Punk, Disco, Synthpop), mutilating and blending them together while utilizing all types of instruments, gear, electronics, and unconventional methods. All of this chaos was held together by a self-destructive mindset, punk like ideals, transhumanistic philosophies, and raw human emotion… especially anger. Anger at the government. Anger at our society and species as a whole. Anger at ourselves. But that is our interpretation of Industrial I suppose. That’s what we got out of Industrial music growing up, and that is what we try to keep alive today with Prometheus Burning. It doesn’t matter to us what labels people give our music. Some might not know how to categorize us, but as long as they’re “feeling it”, then we feel like we are achieving our vision.

One of the feelings that I get when I listen to your work, and as I read more and more about you as people on your websites, is that there is a strong, yet underlying sense of purpose and force in what you do, much like the story of Prometheus. There is a great deal of technology involved in what you create. Who writes the music within your project, and what sort of technological platforms do you work from to define your sound?

[Greg] – Thank you for noticing! We try to compress as much meaning and emotion as we can into our music. We like to challenge the listeners inner ear, making them dig deep. We write everything ourselves and are constantly learning and evolving as we go. Nikki is more of a musician than me, and has a better understanding of chords, melodies, and musical theory. I am more of a producer than a musician when it comes to working in the studio. I handle the beats and percussion, along with the noisier and glitchy aspects of our sound. Whatever element one of us handles, the other will provide criticism. We feed off of each other back and forth, trying to synch our minds as one. We don’t believe that hardware or software are better than the other when it comes to creating music. In our studio, you will find a shit ton of gear and computers running software of all types. All of our sequencing and mixing is software based. We record everything to our hard drives and digitally manipulate it from there.

[Nikki] – I handle the more vocal and melodic elements of our music. I write the majority of the lyrics and do most of the singing. I also play keys, Theremin, and other instruments. We like to think of ourselves as a “duo”, but I am more of the “front person” when it comes to live shows and performing. My favorite piece of gear in the studio is the Access Virus Ti synthesizer. The Virus Ti is an amazing piece of technology, as it can function as a VSTi plugin on the computer, or a stand alone hardware synthesizer. I think we are going to be seeing a lot more of this type of hybrid technology in the near future… it really takes things to the next level of versatility.

Your websites, press releases, and biographical information define your lyrical work as being reminiscent of William S. Burroughs in the way that they’re sliced up and syncopated into layers, creating the messages from the abstract. When you compose and assemble the vocal lines, what sort of images do you attempt to conjure?

[Nikki] – When I was a child I developed what I call my “vocal scrying method”. I would sing different sounds and vocal rhythms with a specific concept, feeling, or color in the back of my mind. As my concentration in the back of my mind intensified, I would detach from linear speech patterns. This detachment allows the words to come though me. Another method I started to use later was the “cut up” technique, very similar to what Burroughs implemented in his writings. I sometimes write whole songs and then cut them up into fragments, totally rearranging them to create a layer of encryption over the original concept and meaning. I don’t restrain myself creatively. I’m always searching for new ways to find truth and meaning relating to all things.

On the subject of Burroughs, and linguistic abstraction, you’ve worked with Kenji Siratori(I’m going to post a “here” link to his Wikipedia entry here) on a few different projects. To qualify him for our readers, can you elaborate on who he is, what he does, and how you became connected with him?

[Nikki] – We collaborated with Kenji Siratori on our upcoming 12-inch record entitled Retribution, which should be released in January 2008 on Thac0 Records. Kenji Siratori is a Japanese Cyberpunk author known for his experimental prose and nonlinear narrative. He is a member of the “Bizzaro movement in literature” which focuses on high wierdness. Kenji’s work is prolific. He collaborates with many musicians with his spoken word and poetry material. He’s had appearances on the works of Hypnoskull and Contagious Orgasm just to name a few. We really like what he is doing as an artist, and are honored he chose to work with us.

[Nikki] – Our collaboration with Kenji was pure synchronicity. He contacted us out of the blue shortly after our agreement with Thac0 Records to release our next album. First he sent us MP3′s of his spoken word in Japanese, asking if we would like to try and implement it into a song or two. We decided it would be best for me to sing the poetry instead, so he obliged and gave us text files of the English translation. I adapted Kenji’s complex poetry to fit each song’s structure, trying very hard to keep Kenji’s “cut n paste” chaotic style. Retribution is going to be a very unique release. It features the music of Prometheus Burning, the poetry of Kenji Siratori, and custom artwork by Paul McCarroll. We’re very excited and confident that these new songs will sound nothing like your ears have ever perceived before.

All of that imagery invoked, I would say your music seems to reach out and defy concepts of ‘music‘ as presented by the mainstream, while challenging people to create their own styles. A rampant, though seemingly unconscious, theme within Powernoise is a response to the gradual homogenization of urban environments and the effects of late stage capitalism on America, as well as the global economy at large. You can hear examples of it in the work of other Powernoise musicians such as Ben Dewalt from Terrorfakt. What were your upbringings like? Where did you grow up, go to school, and what triggered your love of/desire to be a part of, music?

[Greg] – I grew up in a tiny suburb called Crafton right outside of Pittsburgh, PA. I come from a very dysfunctional family, and am rather uncomfortable talking about my childhood, as I’m sure anyone that grew up dealing with extreme poverty and abuse would be. But I will say this: I lost my innocence at a very young age, and grew up way too fast. Nikki and I share a lot in common, especially in this aspect. There were times when all I had to keep myself sane was a pack of stolen Kool cigarettes, and my music. Lots of music. Lots of volume. Music became my escape. My emotional outlet. As a kid in the late 80′s and early 90′s, bands like Ministry, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Skinny Puppy, and the early Wax Trax artists became my best friends. I could relate to them. I could find release through them. I think back to those moments a lot when we are making music for Prometheus Burning. I look back and ask myself, would I have liked to hear this back then? Would I have been able to get into this and relate with it on an emotional level? If the answer is “no”, I scrap it. If after multiple listenings, the answer is “yes”, then we keep moving forward with the song.

[Nikki] – My father was a drugged out biker on steroids who liked to drop acid and watch porno around me as a child. He threatened to kill the family when I was 5. My mother saved us by taking us away. After staying in womens shelters for a while we landed in the borough of Ingram, Pittsburgh PA, about 5 minutes away from Crafton where Greg grew up. I was forced to mature very quickly as a result of being the oldest child of 3. I was quiet and expressed my emotions through my art. I always had a fascination with the erotic and a fondness for the occult and supernatural. I work these themes into my art to this day. I wasn’t raised religious. I hated school, but loved to learn. My early disillusionment didn’t go over well with the other kids. My mom had a friend who brought me tape recordings of DJ’s at a local Industrial club called Metropol. This helped shape my musical pallet.

[Nikki] – I’ve gone through a lot of hardship in my life. It has made me grow stronger. My decisions are what have shaped my being, not the actions of others. I use music as a tool to search for the truth and to cope with reality. Music has kept me sane in some of the most difficult times of my life. My only hope is that my music can do that for someone else.