I catch up with Johan Van Roy the mastermind of Suicide Commando and its beating heart, at INFEST, the UK’s number one EBM/Industrial festival. Johan is in fine spirits, busy soaking up the atmosphere of the Friday night, not a care in the world. Tomorrow he will be on stage,, but tonight he is willing to let down his barriers and let us into his darkened world. Past the security into the belly of the university complex, Johan briskly escorts me backstage..Long winding corridors end in an equally challenging spiral staircase up to the Suicide Commando HQ, their home for the night. Sat around the wooden tables laid out with a finger buffet of food and a well-stocked fridge of beer, we begin our interview..

CC – DJ CYBERCHRIST        J – Johan

CC// You’re one of the only acts from the ‘Off-Beat Brat pack’ [note: the first bands found and signed by Stefan Herwig were VNV Nation, Covenant and Velvet Acid Christ] to remain at what is now called Dependent, what makes you stay, when everyone else is leaving?

J// I’ve had no reason to leave. I’ve always been happy with the work done by Stefan. He does a very good job. He does very good promotion and distribution, so I had absolutely no reason to go elsewhere.

CC// Following on from that.. Covenant and VNV they’ve all been approached by Majors, have you ever been approached? Are you not tempted to go down that route?

J// NO! (we both laugh at this spontaneous response) To be honest I would never sign to a major because you only have to look at those bands that have signed to a major to see that it is not all it’s cracked up to be. Most of them are coming back now. But actually I am at the end of my contract with Dependent so we’re negotiating with a few different labels right now. Stefan has made me his offer and I have four or five other options too, so we will see..

CC// “Axis Of Evil” seemed to have a much more simple, stripped down production compared to “Mindstrip”, was that a deliberate decision to produce an album like that?

J// Not really. I never set up a plan before I start making an album, I just let the creative process go its own way.

CC// I heard that “Axis Of Evil” was put together over a short period of time, predominantly in the evenings and weekends. It would surprise most people to know that you have a full time job still, how do you juggle the two?

J – To be honest it has been becoming quite a problem and so now actually I’m only working part-time. The combination was getting too hard and out of hand and luckily enough my boss was so understanding that I was able to go part-time. That’s really cool because without the job I wouldn’t survive, I’m no Robby Williams!! (laughter erupts from us both, but it’s a serious point, most bands on our scene don’t make enough money to survive) The scene is so small that it is not possible really to make money enough to live off, so at the moment this is a perfect situation for me since I can work part-time and devote the rest of my time to music.
This has meant that this year I’ve been able to do way more festivals and concerts. Working five days a week and then spending all your weekends and spare time doing concerts or writing music was just too much, it was ridiculous! You can’t do that for long time.

CC// Talking about touring, you recently did a tour with Interlace and Tactical Sekt. What was it like playing with the next generation of Dark Electro bands?

J –(Johan chuckles to himself)…Well actually Tactical Sekt was my idea, I really wanted Anthony [Mather, Mastermind of Tactical Sekt] to be part of the tour, and Interlace was suggested by Stefan, but it worked out really well... (continues on next page)