FEAR OF DOLLS

Band Members:

Greg Forschler - guitar, drum machine programming, awful violin, other sounds

m. Violet - vocals, percussion (concert toms, ethnic hand percussion stuff, etc.)

Joel Bergstrom - bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, vocals, other things

WEB PAGE: http://www.fearofdolls.com MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/fearofdolls

Interviewer: Gordon Taylor of infectious Unease radio

Interviewee:

Greg Forschler

m. Violet

Date: January 1999

Where are Fear of Dolls from and when did you first begin as a band?

Greg: We started in Seattle in 1995, I’m the only original member from that line up. It took a long time to find what I thought was the right line up, but it took 2 years to realize I was wrong! Those members left or got kicked out and I had to start over.

You all have interesting backgrounds could you tell the readers out there what your backgrounds have been?

Greg: This is a very general question, but I’ll try to answer it. I’m not sure that it’s all that interesting actually, not without getting really personal, which probably won’t come out in an interview for years! We’ve all played in various bands here and there, of little or no interest. Violet was in a band called No Bad Things, who are now called New Bad Things.

m. violet: I was lucky enough to be raised with indulgence. Piano lessons, voice lessons...a lot of music. I started out singing classical chorale and blues. From there I sang with a few straight forward rock bands- or played in them. I was really disillusioned with music for awhile, I was tired of it not meaning anything any longer.

What do you all do when your not working in the band?

Greg: We have jobs that we hate like everybody else. Nothing exciting. Joel works at a Tower Records which will help us to get some distribution when the CD comes out. My other hobby is keeping up on my Edward Gorey web site

m. violet: my significant other, or whatever you call those people these days, and I are both interested in film and video. We have worked on a few projects and are working on a large one at the moment. I am also a huge computer junkie and like to paint.

What is the meaning behind the bands name?

Greg: No real specific meaning, other than whatever someone gets out of it on their own. It’s a real phobia, but then people can havephobias of literally anything, there’s no set list of real phobias, only the most common and documented cases.

What instruments do you all play and are there any particular instrument you enjoy the most?

Greg: Greg Forschler - guitar, drum machine programming, awful violin, other sounds

Joel Bergstrom - bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, vocals, other things

m. Violet - vocals, percussion (concert toms, ethnic hand percussion stuff, etc.)
Shaun Richards - drums, and a bell on one song. I personally like all instruments and have a list of things I would love to play some day, sitar, kettle drum, vibraphone, organ, synths, I used to play bass guitar as well. I think we all have an appreciation for all sounds and instruments. My main thing is playing an instrument differently than the way you’re supposed to. I could just stick with guitar if that’s all I ever have, because there’s an endless variety of sounds and textures and techniques to get from it. We used an old organ at the studio for our CD, and we’re going to start using a drum machine more often.

m. violet: Currently, other than the vocals, I play various percussion instruments and texture/noise makers. While I’d love to play alotofthings while singing, I find myself too focused on the vocalization to play well.

What creative process do you go through when composing your music?

Greg: All types, sometimes it’s all of us together in a practice space, sometimes completely improvised, other times it’s just listening to our practice tapes and ideas at home and really studying them or just waiting for some kind of inspiration. The main goal for me is to make it more inspired in an honest, almost spontaneous way, rather than to technical or planned out - more of a stream of consciousness, so thatthe reason a piece turns out like it does will often defy any sort of logical explanation that you can put into words.

m. violet: A conglomeration of frustration, joy, loathing, and awe. We all begin to work on a piece and sometimes it falls into place quickly-other times it is like pulling out your own teeth. This is such a difficult question to answer. We are constantly finding a new process.

What inspires you when you write your music?
Greg: To me personally, it’s often the sound - I’m into sound as a texture or atmosphere more than just a way to make melodies or rhythms, although I’m into all that as well. The sound often just has it’s own way of going in it’s own direction, sort of a language in itself. As far as the lyrics, which are usually written by Violet, they can be about many things, inspired by stories, real or fictional, or real life situations, often very personal things.

m. violet: I think one of the biggest inspirations for me these days, is a crushing need to get the noise out of my own head. The need toexpress honestly the ugliest parts of the self, but not always in ugly language.

Many of your songs tell a story or a set of themes, how do you go about writing lyric, and what subject matter do you enjoy writing about?

Greg: See Above. I might add that (and this is speaking on her behalf, as well as everyone else in the band), many of our inspirations as far as other artists often lean toward the story telling or narration type of songs, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, The Swans, Current 93, Legendary Pink Dots, etc.

m. violet: Often a few words will tumble around in my head for several days, and just to the point that I think I will never get them out of my head, I start to meditate on them. Once I do that, the lyrics come right out. Another thing that seems to happen is that the lyrics just come to me when I am listening to the band play in our rehearsal space. That is a really powerful feeling, one that I try to listen to. For me it seems that those words are meant to go with those sounds when this happens. Since I write out what is in my head, it seems the subject matter is whatever is overwhelming me at the moment. Or whatever feelings I don’t want to have inside myself. These days, I am enjoying using more mythic themes, fairy tales.... “universal themes” I guess. The actual lyric content is deeply personal, and often not very pretty -but the overall story might be easily recognizable.

Are you influenced by books or movies or plays?

Greg: I’ve always been influenced by David Lynch films, they have such a feel of there own, another world, very surreal and bizarre, which is something that interests me as far as making music along the same lines, a little bit unexplainable and odd.

m. violet: I would say that film influences me in the sense that I love good texture music; filmic sound pieces that underscore imagery. I read constantly though. One of my big inspirations is Antonin Artaud and the Theater of Cruelty. Like other mad geniuses, some of his thoughts resonate for me and others not so much. But his ideas of inciting the audience to experience something near to the metaphysical, through tension and fear, and giving them a sense of purification afterwards...now that speaks to me.

Are you influence by any other bands and do you have any favorite bands that you like listening to?

Greg: I’ve been saying it so much lately that I’m almost sick of it, but one of my favorites as of recently is the Swans. I sort of just discovered them, just as they’re breaking up..it made me feel like “Where have I been” or “why didn’t anyone tell me about this before?”. Other favorites are The Pink Dots, Sonic youth, The Cure, The Pain Teens, the Velvet underground, and Nick Cave.

m. violet: I don’t know if influence is the word I would use as much as inspired. I find Jarboe’s (ex- Swans) voice and artistry the most inspiring, stunning. It isn’t her sound I wish to achieve, but her purity of vision. I find solace in the too few female musicians who won’t compromise their integrity. I listen to things that range through all different genres. Nico’s dispassionate sounding voice moves me, Lisa Germano’s afflicted lyrics, her deeply honest style, reminds me to write about everything and anything, Marianne Faithful’s later work sounds so desolate it captivates, Shizuka’s melodies moving into noise silence me, Diamanda Galas has so much power.... I try to take in other music as a whole and use it to inspire me to keep reaching inside to pull out more guts, more noise, more raw truth, more quiet fears. And these are just the vocalists I am naming off, I could go on and on.

Are you doing any side projects?

Greg: I used to be in a band called Ninth Circle, but as far as I can tell that’s over with for good.

To the readers who may have not heard much of your music how would you describe your sound?

Greg: Hopefully it will come across as intense, overwhelming, and sort of uncomfortable to listen to, many people have said that there’s something about it that they can’t pinpoint, something that makes you nervous when listening to it, in an almost subliminal sort of way. I’m pleased with that reaction.

What Albums have you produced and have you been on any compilations?

Greg: We have our CD that’s about to come out and is as of yet untitled. We have 3 earlier demo tapes, but as far as I’m concerned they’re not worth mentioning, they’re just part of the beginning phase that every band has to go through. We’ve been on one compilation, Nocturne Concrete from Unit Circle Rekkids, mostly experimental and ambient bands. We’re going to be on a Tribute to Goblin CD, which should be out this year (1999), they were an Italian band who did a lot of horror soundtracks, especially films by Dario Argento, if you’re ever seen one (Suspiria, Deep Red).

How has the response been with the latest album?

Greg: We’ll see when it comes out.

What was the inspiration behind the latest album?

Greg: That’s another very general question, I don’t think there was any overall inspiration for the whole album, there’s really no central theme, not as far as the lyrics are concerned. there is an overall feeling to the music itself, even though all the songs are very different.

How long did it take to produce?

Greg: 4 long days in the studio, over the course of about a month.

What have you got planned for the next album? Will it be similar to other albums?

Greg: I think we’ll probably continue to make EPs for now, until we can find a label. Our sound will always change, we have a few new sounds and ideas that we’re going to start using more, but we’ll just have to see as it comes along.

Where have you toured, are you planning any up and coming tours?

Greg: We’ve never toured and probably never will anytime soon, it’s too expensive.

What gigs did you enjoy the most and what was the audience response?

Greg: It’s hard to get a good show when you’re just starting out and not well known and not very commercial in the first place. We had one really good show, our second gig (2nd gig with new line up.) It was at the Fenix here in Seattle, the best club in town. We played all the songs that are on the CD.

What gigs did you not enjoy?

Greg: In Seattle, there’s always somebody trying to start a make-shift club somewhere that’s totally not appropriate for the underground types of music. We played at one of these places and it was a disaster, small crowd, bad sound, bad feeling all around.

Is there anything special incorporated within your performances?

Greg: Not really, it’s pretty straight forward, the music isn’t straight forward, but that’s why we just let it speak for itself.

m. violet : I can’t speak for the others, but I am working towards ritualizing performances for myself. It doesn’t work for me to be on stage and ‘put on a show’ with no meaning. I find myself feeling like a liar after a show like that, as though I haven’t helped the music come to its full voice. Instead, I try to bring myself to a place where I am completely within myself and can call upon the various forces I believe in to help me be raw, be brutally honest, even if that means putting myself in a vulnerable position. It is a process, for sure, and I don’t think I am completely there yet. My hope is that in the long run, this honesty will be more interesting to the audience than on stage antics.

What are your future plans?

Greg: To continue to release our music, with or without a record label, and to develop our sound more, more extreme and more visceral.

m. violet: Right now I just want to do music and film.