With the Dark City Festival in full swing, I hunt down Ronan Harris, VNV nation mainman, and the life and soul of ANY party..
Ronan had arrived Saturday night, and immediately headed to the bar at the venue, family and friends in tow.. He’s an affable, approachable man, all smiles and laughter. He’ll pose with you for a photo, he’ll even phone your girlfriend to say hello on a mobile.. he’s just a LOVELY man. And that for most people is too much to bear, they can’t accept that such a talented man, and a famous band can be so NICE. So they create whispers, they make up stories, they take VNV down a notch or two. But the fact is that both Mark and Ronan are amongst the most approachable and friendly guys it’s ever been my pleasure to interview.. Combine that with a fierce wit, a strong intelligence and driving passion for music and art, and you have an all-round humble superstar. Ronan made a big impact on me, and I was NO big VNV fan to start out with.. But I’ve developed a major respect for one of the most talented and heartfelt artists in today’s scene. Don’t bad mouth VNV in front of me, because these boys are SOLID GOLD.
Let me show you why.. Here’s my 30 mins with the VNV front man.. It’s 4pm the sound check done, the MFB (mother fucking bass) bass sequencer programmed, the drinking started, the fags in full flow.. Coffee in one hand, fag grasped in the other, Ronan strikes a powerful presence as he sits opposite me. We clear the backstage room, it’s just me and him for the next 30 mins, so let us start at the beginning…

R= Ronan Harris
J = Jo aka DJ CYBERCHRIST

J/ Thanks for finding the time for me.

R/ You’re welcome.

J/ So let’s kick this off then.. What’s a nice Irish boy like you doing in an EBM band?

R/ I guess in the 70’s when I was – I’m 36 now, 37 this year – so when I was young I got to listen to electronic music when it first got into the charts, and for some reason Irish Radio used electronic music like Kraftwerk for the links between shows on the radio and the TV as well. So it was a really good grounding and I was just very attracted to the sound. I followed electronic music through the 70’s when I could, I mean, if I got birthday money – my first album was Kraftwerk’s "Autobahn".
J/ Oh really?
R/ Absolutely, I liked the sound of it. I always viewed electronic music in the 70’s as futuristic kind of science fiction music. Then it went on from there and I got into the early Human League, I mean I was really young, I was naive about the scene or what was going on, but I just liked the sound. I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg, on this big valve radio at home. I kind of associate this spirit of optimism in the 70’s, the sci-fi futurism and all that, with the electronic sounds coming from distant cities through my big old valve radio.. It was a time of learning for me. Luxembourg would play all these new underground bands, Depeche Mode, DAF, they were my favourite sorts of bands the heavy EBM bands..Which I guess formulated my opinions about music I guess.
J/ DAF? So it must have come full circle for you when you remixed their track Der Sheriff last year?
R/ Oh yeah..We met them, and well.. Ahem.. ANYWAY.. (cue laughter and rolling of eyes, it’s very apparent that Ronan’s heroes weren’t all they were cracked up to be..) I’m in the fortunate position to have met so many of my heroes from when I was growing up through the years, some are nice guys, some aren’t but the fact is I still admire them, even if I don’t want to give them the time of day.. And the thing I like is that my friends tend to be people who either hate VNV Nation or I don’t like their music and that’s what I like. If it’s people versus music, the people always win out for me.
There are lots of Rock Stars or celebrities if you want to call them that who are UTTER BASTARDS..who have no or little personalities but they write the most amazing music...(continues on next page)