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#WaxTraxFriday Cyberaktif Warriors and Mechanical Souls

An interview with Bill Leeb of Front Line Assembly

by Graham Needham (© 15th January 2021)

We interviewed Bill Leeb late on the 14th January and worked to get a first draft on line for the launch of Front Line Assembly's new album Mechanical Soul the next day on the 15th. We've now updated this article with proper indexes and links plus a little more editing so that it is a better read.

Interview conducted 14th January 2021

{CyberNoise} Let's start right at the beginning - you were born in Vienna, Austria but moved to Canada at 14 so when you moved to Canada were you into music at that point and if so what type of music? Being raised in Austria I went to a convent for most of my years and you know, you're either in the church choir or they would put an instrument in your hands, and they threw a violin in my hands, and it was okay. But I was definitely never going to be multi-instrumentalist, but you know [laughs], that was my earliest experience of music. {CyberNoise} So, when did you actually start getting into what we now specifically call electronic music? Crazily enough I've always been a massive music fan and so all the rock and roll that was out, the era of Cream and Led Zeppelin, and all that stuff. But I think for me, things really triggered right around, I don't know why, but right around Kraftwerk. You know the whole Joy Division, you know that's when music for like me and cEvin from Skinny Puppy, that's when it really started talking to me like the whole new wave thing, Ultravox and all those bands. It was like, that whole era, we were just in the right age, the fashion, that was a game changer so it was, right, let's make some noise. {CyberNoise} Absolutely, I still think the 80s was probably one of the greatest decades for music and fashion… Yes, we could talk about it forever, like all those artists and the whole excitement. You know Napster didn't exist, everything, it was a big deal you know, like vinyl. We'd wait at the record store every Monday, waiting for all the British imports to come in, because they sounded better, who had remixed what, what was new on Mute Records and it was just a brilliant time. And the Face magazine, the N.M.E., Melody Maker, you know the fashions, the gossip, that was a killer time that's never been recaptured to me. And so yeah, that's where I think we all sort of came from and I think even with Skinny Puppy, our first review ever came from Dave Henderson. He had an article every week called the Wild Planet! and the review said "from the land of Canada, a storm, from the land of Gordon Lightfoot, storms this band called Skinny Puppy and who the hell do these guys think they are?". You know, we were just tickled pink reading that right, anyway, that whole era that was it for me. {CyberNoise} Going straight on to Skinny Puppy - obviously you were with them for only, ultimately. a very small time and you left them to pursue your own music but what made you decide to do that and not carry on with Skinny Puppy themselves? Well you know, the lead up to Skinny Puppy took some years and you know, I was always the big fan of the industrial era whereas cEvin and those guys they were into Japan and all that stuff. So I'd be putting my Throbbing Gristle album on you know [laughs], all that stuff and so culminated in this huge friendship, and I think cEvin was first in another band Images In Vogue which was very John Foxx, very Ultravox. They opened up for Depeche Mode and Duran Duran way back then. And then our friendship turned into more like we want to do more industrial music and stuff so, by the time I was still a novice, whereas cEvin and the drummer already had a lot of experience in it and so he brought me along and he actually showed me how to tune a synthesiser and stuff. So I was just learning at the very beginning and so by the time I was fully rolling and we did our tour, I thought the band was still the two guys Kevin (Key) and Kevin (Ogilvie) and they were so established to what it was going to be that for me to maybe throw my two cents in was probably gonna be too much of a struggle, so I just thought you know like, better I jump out now and do my own thing than get too involved in it. And then, maybe, just get my own identity out of it cos Skinny Puppy had it's own identity and the whole gothic scene so I decided it's probably, cEvin was such a great front man and vocalist, and I felt, well there's no point in two guys trying to do the same thing, so it was probably a good time for me to jump. So that's the basis of that. {CyberNoise} One last thing with Skinny Puppy, you are credited as Wilhelm Schroeder, so I'm just interested to know where the Schroeder part came from? I think it came from, do you know the Charlie Brown / Peanuts comic strip, and you know the Schroeder character on the keyboard? {aha right - yes - okay that makes sense.} We'd jam in the early days around along weekends, and get high, and have fun, and always play, the keyboards were always on the floor, and we'd be up all night and then on our hands and knees jamming away [laughs]. Kevin Crompton ended up being cEvin Key, Kevin (Ogilvie) became Nivek Ogre because he never wanted to come out and so the Wilhelm Schroeder with blonde hair and I was on my knees playing keyboards on the floor all the time. {CyberNoise} That makes perfect sense and so moving on from there you ended up meeting Michael Balch and started collaborating with him, so how did you meet him? Vancouver had a real scene going then, like the whole 80s thing everywhere, and I think he came down and got into the scene and anybody who was into Skinny Puppy at that time, people would approach us and were like "hey you, are you in this band?". And there was a lot of interest and hype and so and so. He just started to show up in our circle and I think he was in a cover band and so he was more like classically trained as a keyboard player and it was just about the time I was leaving (Skinny Puppy). And so one thing led to another. Also he was very knowledgeable about all of the music and so that was that. {CyberNoise} And so, was that a similar scenario with Rhys Fulber or was that a different story? Well Rhys, his whole family comes from music, his dad was in an art Bergen band, part of the same world as famous people like D.O.A., Subhumans and all this stuff. So, he was always around it and I think actually the way I met Rhys was one day at the import world where all the records come every week from Europe, he had a drum machine in his hand and I was there with my big hair and he just came up to me "Hey, are you in Skinny Puppy?", and I was "Yeah, that's right". And so he started talking to me and it just went on from there. That's the first time I met Rhys. He was really into the music and it just kind of grew from there and I worked at a clothing store, my girlfriend got me a job at the Black Market which was the only alternative store in Vancouver, and they imported all this stuff from the UK. And so I would be at the front desk and people like Rhys would come in and stand around and we'd listen to all the good music and talk. And I remember a whole bunch of friendships like that, just working, it was such a good hangout. Like London's Camden Market. {CyberNoise} Rhys was involved very early on, but he didn't officially join Front Line Assembly until around 1990, is that true and is there a particular reason he wasn't officially a member until then? Well, Rhys is so young compared to us you know. I mean he was 13-14 years younger so when we headed out, he hadn't finished school. Um, I think it was like, I think it was like when Rhys and I did Caustic Grip, Michael Balch went down to L.A./San Francisco to do some stuff and I think Revolting Cocks were playing there and they fired their monitor man and you know Michael was really tech savvy so they asked him to do it and then he said yeah and then they were so happy with them afterwards they said he should come do the rest of the tour and so Michael called me and said "hey, I'm not going to be coming back for a while cos I'm going to jump on this tour". And I said "well, what about our so called record for Third Mind Records?" and he said, "it's going to have to wait", so I just called up Rhys, who was working at Starbucks down the street, and he would just come over every day [laughs]. And I had a whole room full of gear and we just, we just jammed out and made Caustic Grip and by the time Michael came back we were literally in the studio starting to mix it and I just said to him "I can't wait for you". But when I look back now it was a good move. {CyberNoise} The first two early Front Line Assembly releases were on different record labels, KK and then Dossier. Was there a reason for bouncing around different labels and also why European labels, if you were based in Canada? Well you know the thing, KK Records, we did one with him (The Initial Command) and like to this day I've never received a statement or royalty or anything but it was like you know all those little more like indie labels were all over in Europe they were more interested in this music and you know, because I didn't have a deal or anything, so I literally made that record and I just wanted it, I just wanted somebody to put it out and I was willing to. My ex did the cover – it was her painting, it was kind of a homemade job and I was just glad that some little label in Belgium, and Front 242 were from there, would put it out so I was happy with that. And Dossier, he was a really nice guy, he put out some early Delerium stuff, he would just give me, back then, $5000 to make an album and you know for me that was more than enough back then. I know it's hard to do stuff like, so that's how that was. They were wins at the time. until we actually got on to Third Mind Records… {CyberNoise} And that's my next question. You initially got a track on one of their compilations in 1987 and then obviously you did sign to Third Mind but how did you meet Gary Levermore? I think what with Gary, it was like the whole Rising From The Red Sand tapes (Volumes 1 & 2 / Volumes 3, 4 & 5). Yeah, I mean that whole world just blew up for me and for cEvin of Skinny Puppy because all of a sudden it was like who are the Legendary Pink Dots and who are Portion Control, and Bushido and stuff and we were just like wow this is incredible. So, I reached out to Gary. You know, even with Portion Control, one night we were partying all night long and then at like eight in the morning, which of course the UK is eight hours ahead, let's call In Phaze Records [laughs]. Portion Control, they had their own place above a car scrap yard and we just called them, and I think Ian answered the phone and we're like "hey, we're from Canada. We love what you do" and they were kind of like "are you guys for real?" [laughs]. We were that enthusiastic and that's how that all came to be. Gary was the guy, I wrote him about the Rising From The Red Sand tapes because I loved those and it just kinda went from there. {CyberNoise} Obviously, Gary Levermore and Third Mind, then the relationship with Wax Trax! started, so were you involved with any of that or was that something that Gary himself did primarily? I think initially it came from Gary. He reached out to them and then it all held together. Michael Balch was doing stuff with Revolting Cocks and Ministry. It all just kind of came together like that, but definitely I think Gary was the one that first reached out to them. {CyberNoise} I mean it's definitely one of the things I loved about the electronic industrial era of that time, what was very much all these labels licencing and cooperating and cross overs with bands and people guesting on albums and tracks and stuff. That was definitely a great period of time. [laughs] I mean yeah, everybody was, Al Jourgenson had six, seven, eight different projects on Wax Trax!, they even did that Acid Horse where Stephen Mallinder turned up. It was just a different world. Everybody was just happy to do stuff and flying by the seat of their pants but people were buying music. I remember record labels would ship 50,000 copies over a new release because there were record stores to put it in, and it would sell through, but you know, I mean look at the way things are now, it's like I don't even recognise the landscape anymore. I think that's how it all kind of came to be with Gary and he was very enigmatic. And he was out there in the world and he did the, if it wasn't for him you know I don't know like if we had got to where it did. The UK always had a soft spot for us. He brought us over and we had good shows, got a single of the week in Melody Maker with "Isolate", got the Stuff Brothers to interview us and it was a good time. Gary really had his finger on the pulse, if it wasn't for Gary I don't know if we would have gotten to where we have or even if we'd still be doing it, so that's pretty cool actually. We're like lifelong friends. Like the last time we played The Garage in London, the entire crew from Hackney showed up and that was really great, and I think that we're like lifelong friends so that's pretty cool. {CyberNoise} It is the 30th anniversary of the single you released at the beginning of 1991, which was appropriately enough titled "Virus", but what I would like to ask is, were you involved in who picked the tracks to be singles and were you involved with the formats that your music came out on such as vinyl, cassette, or 12-inch? That part, not so much, I think that was always handled by the labels. I think the singles were like a bit of everybody brainstorming up especially because with Virus, we also did a video which Gary Smith was in charge of and he also did a lot of the Puppy stuff. Back then it was a little bit of everything, I think, that forced us to get that because the video and that song never really took off that much but anyway it, I think it was a little bit of everybody being involved and then having the opportunity to do a video for it. {CyberNoise} And how about remixes, especially for singles, was that something that you chose or again was that more label orientated to getting those remixers? Ironically enough with the Virus single you mentioned you know that one of the writers for the Washing Post, when this whole thing broke out, we actually made the newspaper with that song and the whole deal, and he did a whole write up [laughs] about the lyrics pertaining to what was going on and stuff. That actually made some noise, it was pretty cool, some months back – who knew right? [laughs]. For the remixes, for the UK Gary was always the guy, like we did The Blade and there's a lot of different remixes, but Gary understood the whole world over there and so we let him do all that because he was available, and I think he really enjoyed that process, so we left it at all to him. {CyberNoise} February 1991 is the 30th anniversary of the Caustic Grip European tour and you did actually play what is now my home city, which is Prague, on the 20th of April that year. This is obviously just after Czechoslovakia split to become the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Do you remember that tour, do you remember the Prague gig, do you have any memories of Prague? Yeah, the first time we went there, Prague is not what it is now you know, it was kind of people still were down and we stayed at a hotel when we were there. I think we were there, actually there for four days or something, cos of the way the scheduling worked. And we had some kind of a mini-van/bus or something, but anyways, the hotel we stayed at didn't have any heat so whenever we would go to the front the guy would just say "no, there's no coal here" and look at us really sternly [laughs] {that hasn't changed much} [laughs again] right. We were freezing our asses off and then we went to go to some pastry shop and there was a line-up of people to get in and then when you got in, they would only have six different things you could buy, so we bought them all and they all had the same jam inside. And there were kids trying to buy American money, so yeah, I just remember when I go to Prague, in the last 5-10 years, it's like a world class city now right? It was really different then. {CyberNoise} Yeah, yeah, they would have literally just come out of communism a couple of years earlier… Ah, right, so when I was there it felt like, wow, I guess it had the bones of what it is now, but it was like I said, when you go to the shop and every pastry has the same jam. I thought like yeah, things are different here. But I do remember that my ex-wife, she came with me doing the merchandise and the hotel was so cold and in the showers the water was cold, and we would wrap towels around our heads to go to sleep under the blanket. It was freezing and it was like every day the guy at the front would say "tomorrow the coal is coming" and I think we were there for three or four days. I mean he wouldn't have that problem, now right? {CyberNoise} It still gets cold and right now it's very snowy here in Prague at the moment, but the infrastructure is so much better than earlier. Do they still use coal? {CyberNoise} No, no, nowhere near as much as they used to. The Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004 and that's made a big difference because of a lot of European regulations and I believe indoor coal burning fires are now mostly banned especially in the city. Modern heating is easily available. The place we play in Prague (Lucerna Music Bar), we've played there a few times recently, one of them was with Die Krupps and it was sold out. Actually, that's a really great place to play. {CyberNoise} Yes, the last three times you've played at the Lucerna Music Bar in Prague I've seen you live here. Yeah, that last concert with Die Krupps – it was totally packed, and it was a lot of fun. And there's that upside down horse there too – I love that [laughs]. {CyberNoise} Also, in 1991, 30 years ago, Wax Trax! were due to release a single which was known as the "Toxic EP", but it was cancelled. Do you remember that or know anything about that? That was just weird you know cos, we had a video done for one of the songs, Rod did it (Laughing Pain), and it just never happened. Truthfully, I don't even know why, I think it ended up just not making any sense and didn't need it and we did the one video and I think a couple of the songs were spread on a couple of other releases. That's it, yeah. I don't really have a solid story as to why that didn't happen. We even had a T-Shirt made. But you know Wax Trax! did eventually go under right. It could have been around that time. {CyberNoise} I believe it was a little bit later, but their issues of that time could have contributed to that decision by Wax Trax! Something I definitely want to concentrate on is, in 1990 you joined back up with cEvin Key and you did the Cyberaktif project and it's the 30th anniversary of that album's release this year on the 1st of March. How did that project come about? That one came about because, ironically enough, before we started on that we went on a big tour with Front Line Assembly and me and my ex we basically put all our stuff into storage and we gave up our apartment and we said well, here we go and so we did a tour and when we came back, we had like no place to really stay, no place to call home. My ex ended up staying on a girlfriend's couch and I called cEvin and he said you can stay with me and Alex Scully, you can sleep on the couch [laughs] with a sleeping bag. So I said, okay I'll do that, and so I was there for quite a while and basically, we just sort of rekindled the friendship. They were busy doing some stuff but every day we would get back into our old groove and talk about music and then we just went on from there. Then cEvin says "hey, why don't you call Jim Nash and say we could do a side project" and you know that's when Wax Trax! was firing on all cylinders and so I called Jim and I said "We need X amount of Dollars" and he said "the cheque's in the mail" [laughs] and off we went in and the whole time we were writing and doing it I was sleeping on the floor so it I guess it was just meant to be in that aspect you know. And then Blixa showed up in Vancouver, and we knew him through somebody else and we got him in the studio one day and the irony of that, we are in the process, we're going to do another one, and cEvin has sent a couple of things already and me and Rhys have been tweaking those and working on it so I think in the next three to four months that's going to be one of the things we're going to work out. We're gonna do a new one… {fanboy, CyberNoise boss, Graham, is running around the room silently screaming at this point} and it will probably be a little more sophisticated. You know back then we were kind of, even though a lot of people liked that song Nothing Stays, ironically enough we're gonna do one more. We've been chatting about it. But anyway, the first one was just because of me staying on the floor, rekindling our friendship and off we went! When we had some spare time and sometimes you don't really plan for these things. {CyberNoise} Sometimes that's the best way for things to happen. You've actually managed to answer a few of my other questions already. Was it easy to work again with cEvin after the gap from originally being in Skinny Puppy and then having your own band? Well, I think at that point it definitely was easier because you know we had been apart enough, and I think they were established, and we had our own little following, that it felt like there was no weirdness or animosity to me. I think everybody was pretty much on their own solid ground, so I think, if anything, it was kind of fun again because it brought us back to before we did all that, and we'd just hang out in the living room and jam and smoke weed and have fun you know. So, we went back into that circle and that was cool. {CyberNoise} I was going to ask, what do you remember of the recording sessions, but I guess sleeping on a couch, popping into the studio and jamming is pretty much the answer to that? Yeah, yeah. You know we were really nervous the day we brought in Blixa [laughs] because he's an intense guy and he wanted some beer and stuff. Me and cEvin are in the control room and cEvin is so "Oh Bill this is so awesome". He had to record and Blixa's in the other room, I don't know if you have ever met him or not, but he's like [in loud German accent] "we need more sound" and "I'm not sure about it" and we're just like "Oh my god it's Blixa from Einstürzende Neubauten", kind of a big deal right – here's two Canadian kids trying to keep this guy happy and to get one song. Yeah, you know it was kind of nerve wracking, but it was kind of lucky that we actually got him, so we're cool with that. Most of the time it was just kinda fun doing it, you know there is no pressure, I don't think anybody felt it was a new Front Line or Puppy album and so yeah, it was a good experience at the time. {CyberNoise} The album was titled Tenebrae Vision. Was there anything specific to that? Any reason for that name? Yeah, I think that's from a movie by one of those European horror directors… {CyberNoise} Yes, Tenebrae is by Dario Argento. That's it. cEvin is a fan and I think it has a meaning and so I think that, and I was like yeah, that's a great title. He came up with that from that movie. I think it's kind of cool that cEvin seems to be really motivated for doing one now, so I think that's kind of great you know. It seems like, especially with the COVID thing going around and no one is touring, you know it's good to keep your mind busy and so it seems like good timing for everything. {CyberNoise} Well, I'm absolutely stoked for more Cyberaktif material, the original album is one of my favourites from that era so really looking forward to that. So, let's move on to newer things and talk about the new album Mechanical Soul. When did you start working on that? Was that before or after the COVID pandemic started? You know I think it was around the same time. I had been talking to Rhys for a while and that was when he was contemplating moving back to Canada because America turned into a pretty big… and California was one of the worst places and his son was 13 years old and Rhys didn't know whether to put him back in school or not. So, they were basically staying home, and we just started talking, then exchanging ideas and in a little while people will forget, but back then there was so much paranoia in the air when the pandemic first hit that it was hard to focus on anything, but we just thought, you know, the other thing is, I think Jeremy's passing anniversary was on the 11th three days ago, and having the last 11-12 years of having Jeremy, Jared and our drummer, it's like a rock and roll movie of the week. Unfortunately, Jeremy passed away aged 33, Jared had his own demons and stuff and Jason just wanted out, so like this band that we've been, Echogenetic came out and became a pretty successful record for us and I think sometimes it takes a while to work with guys to get to exactly where you want to be, to get there and then everything just sort of like a house of cards just collapsed and then it's just me and Rhys again. He's done so much on his own, we just thought maybe we should just do something together again and then I thought well, you know, maybe is it gonna sound like the old days or are we going, you know, dubstep had a big influence on a lot of artists in the last four or five years and all this stuff and so it's like a big question. We just thought, nah, let's just be who we are and what we do like the way we always do and not worry about the outcome. I think just being able to make an album in this last year with everything that was going on to me is an achievement in itself, whether people like it or not and I think maybe to not worry anymore about reinventing the wheel. Once you have such a big body of work behind you, let's just do what we do and be as it may, whether people like it or not. But I just thought this would be a great thing to do while this whole thing is going on and who knows when, if and when we're ever gonna be on the road again. I can do anything, and then Rhys moved back to Canada and he's a forty-minute ferry ride away, so I've been going up there working with him. So that was a great thing too and it's really changed, and I feel like we're at the beginning of a band that started so long ago now everybody else is gone and we're left standing… {CyberNoise} Well, you are still pulling it off because I've heard the new album this week and I am liking it very much already, so you've definitely still got it. We were both worried and when this thing all started, we were in such weird headspace. I would walk around outside, and people would walk ten feet away from me with a mask and look at you like you're going to give something to them that's going to kill them. And you know that, that environment is just strange. I hope it doesn't somehow come up on the music in some sort of strange way that it won't be fun to listen to or whatever but I had to do something with my mind like I was really crushed because, sorry I'm rambling on here, in the last year we were supposed to do two big tours with Ministry and KMFDM and when they announced it within the week the entire tour had sold out for last July and I was like, Rhys was like, this is going to be big. The whole tour sold out and it was so popular that they added another 25 shows for October and we thought this was going to be a great year. And then within a month everything was cancelled, everything was wiped out and we thought you know you work your whole life as a band and maybe to get to that one area and then with a stroke it's all gone. We're not kids anymore and so you kind of, kind of try to put it in perspective and not let it get you down too much but it was a real blow and I thought now they have said loosely for July, I don't think that's going to happen, and maybe now also for the late fall, so with all this stuff up in the air and everything, the environment, it's still pretty crazy right? {CyberNoise} It is! We have our fingers crossed that things will get better and that you'll be able to tour again soon – I'd certainly like to see you again over here in Europe. You've recorded so much material over the years also under different names and pseudonyms and you are very prolific. How do you keep coming up with new ideas? Crazy enough, again I can't give Gary Levermore enough credit because when we did Delerium and we did Silence and that went to number two in the UK in the top ten which you know which is pretty hard and then the BBC played Silence to bring in the new year and then we were asked to be on Top Of The Pops and that was all due to Gary. I was like that was pretty special right? That really distracted us from Front Line and so speaking of different projects and stuff and Rhys does Conjure One. I think when we first started our motive was like okay, we don't ever want to get real jobs, and because when we started you know like, samplers came in and stuff, we thought you can be so many different things with this new technology, you don't just have to be in a rock band. With samplers and stuff, you can be all that and then you could be an orchestra – this is the future and so we tried to make the best of that. Rhys had so many more credits with Fear Factory, I mean he's really prolific right? It's insane actually when I sometimes look at the credits… {CyberNoise} Yes. I've always been a huge record collector and started out doing discographies and still do that today and that's part of what CyberNoise is all about, tracking all the releases and the limited editions and just trying to do the two of you guys and all the related stuff, it's a discographer's nightmare! I just remember like the first time we tried to get, because in the old days you had to get a record deal. It wasn't like now with YouTube where you make some sounds in your bedroom and put it up on YouTube and see how many likes you get [laughs]. Back then you had to get a label and you had to be legit and I remember when we had a record guy come in with me and Michael Balch and we were both nervous but like, okay play him the best few songs and then, I won't mention who the rep was or the label [laughs], anyway he kind of pretended to be interested and then he goes, "well, you know, if you put some cello in there and maybe get a female vocal, this could turn into something", and then he left and we were just like, I know but this is supposed to be fun right? And if I were to have got discouraged, I might have hung it up. I always remember that and it kinda puts things into perspective for me. {CyberNoise} On the new album you collaborate with Jean-Luc De Meyer (Front 242) on "Barbarians" and Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) on "Stifle". How did you find working with them? Well, you know Dino is kind of like family. Rhys produced like four or five albums with Fear Factory and Dino has played live with us before whenever we're in the area, stuff like that, so that was really easy and he's always, he's such a pleasant guy and so positive and whenever we ask him, he's there, so he's like family. And Jean-Luc, we played some shows with him and again, you know, such a nice, mild mannered gentleman and Front 242 were such a big influence, I mean I love Front 242, at the very beginning me and cEvin would argue, well I liked them, but anyway just like Delerium I do like to collaborate with people cos I think it makes things interesting and so when he agreed, I was like, it was on my bucket list. And I love the lyric with "A thousand shards coming down, we promised the barbarians", I just think it's really strong and he's a super nice guy and again, I think we're all getting older, so I think it's nice to be able to do things with people that you've looked up to. That was another real pleasant experience. {CyberNoise} One final question. From, what was, your bio on the Circuitry single CD-ROM disc back in the day, your personal aims were listed as "to be the biggest industrial techno band in the world and buy an island". So, have you got your island, and do you think you're the biggest industrial techno band in the world? [Laughs] It's amazing when I look at some of the old interviews from MTV and 120 Minutes and stuff and I think we're here, I think you need balls, you don't want to be arrogant and stuff, but I think when you, when I was in my twenties and I was full of fire and thought, you know we could, you can change the world and there's no limit {sic} as to what you can do. So, you go on and I think you gotta have that attitude, like the need to go forth and looking at that now it's probably [laughs] what I would like, you know, I mean, I'm not sure how you could even judge that statement. I think [laughs] you need that attitude when you are young otherwise if you're humble and quiet, you're just not gonna last. Maybe a better way of looking at it is to look at both of our entire bodies of work, of what we've done together, with all of it and I would say that we kind of did something you know! That's probably the better perspective of looking at that. As far as the biggest, just because you sell more records doesn't mean you're the best, I don't know how people would evaluate that, but I just think now how fortunate we've been to be able to do what we do. You know Rhys had (Sinéad) O'Connor sing a song. I think for a couple guys who weren't classically trained and had a wing and a prayer and an idea and a couple of old samplers, I think we did okay. Sorry for rambling on. It's what happens when you hit fifty, you get older. {CyberNoise} It's perfectly okay. Thank you very much. There's been some great answers to my questions. Well, we have Cyberaktif, definitely in the throng of getting that going. We're also just finishing, putting the finishing touches on the new Noise Unit album where we have 11 songs, and we have a couple of special guests on there. The artwork's done by Dave McKean, it's pretty much all in the bag.

The new album Mechanical Soul is out on the 15th January 2021 via Metropolis Records. Once touring is happening again and Bill reaches Prague again, Graham will buy him a beer and one of those jam filled pastries. In the meantime, we can't wait for that new Cyberaktif material…

Front Line Assembly Mechanical Soul front cover image picture

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