KMFDM (Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid), in case you’re wondering what it stands for, which translates somewhat loosely to mean “No Sympathy for the Majority,” is one of the most influential Industrial Rock bands of all time. I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with founding member Sascha Konietzko to discuss the band’s 24th album, “Enemy,” in their 42nd year.
You can listen to the interview on YouTube below or read the interview underneath:
XS ROCK: Well, let me start off by saying I’m just stoked to be able to talk to you. I started out listening to KMFDM back at ” Don’t Blow Your Top”, so I’ve been a fan for many years. I’ve had a chance to listen to the new album Enemy, and it is fantastic, of course. There’s not a KMFDM album or side project that I don’t like, so there was no doubt I wouldn’t like this one either. So maybe I’m a little biased, but the fantastic lyrical content is on point. Of course, I don’t think you’ll ever run out of lyrical inspiration with the way the world is right now. What sets Enemy apart from previous KMFDM albums in your mind?
Sascha: That’s really a tough one to answer because it’s so fresh, you know. It’s kind of like if you ask me if I were a mother and I had 24 babies, and you would go like how are they different? Which one’s your favorite? It’s a question that I can probably answer in about a year’s time. When we have a chance to play some of the songs live and see what’s really interesting, though, in the reaction of people to this album. Well, not particularly this album, but every KMFDM album. It goes like somebody says song number one is my favorite, and the next person says number two is my favorite, no number three is my favorite, number four is my favorite, and so forth. So it seems first of all, the outpour of opinion on this particular release is at a much higher level of volume than on previous releases
XS ROCK: I have to say that, yeah, and I think the track list is great. Obviously, you usually have what you’d consider a standout single for release, but it’s a really solid track list from top to bottom.
Sascha: The thing is, when we make an album, we think a lot about how to start it off, how to sort of build a plateau, then take it up a bit more, and then you know finish it with some sort of crescendo or even a decrescendo. It seems like this time the material and the sequencing and whatever magic or juju there was in play just seems to really strike a nerve, which, of course, makes us super happy, and I’m very happy with the artwork. I think it really sort of stands out. It might even be my favorite
XS ROCK: The artwork is really cool, it almost has a James Bond-Esque feeling.
Sascha: Exactly, it’s going to be like James Bondish, and it jives really well with the title. It’s the 24th KMFDM record in the 42nd year of KMFDM’s existence; there must be some 24242424242 type connection there.
XS ROCK: It’s amazing, and you guys deserve all the credit that you get. KMFDM is just a legendary band in the scene. You know, when I talk to other people, it’s always the same. Most fans don’t have one or two KMFDM albums; they’re completists, and I think that really stands out not only for your credibility as an artist but also for the good songwriting and song construction. You are just off the charts in making great danceable songs with that ultra-heavy beat.
Sascha: It’s so funny, sometimes we do in stores (signing) and then you know a couple of three four people down, the band spots someone that has a stack of CDs like this tall yeah or just booklets you know and they go like all right we’re going to go have a beer he’s going to be busy signing 45 albums and nine singles or something. So yeah, I mean, there’s a shitload of love going around, that’s for sure
XS ROCK: Well, like I said about the lyrical inspiration, I mean, I probably don’t have to ask your opinion on what’s going on in the world right now, with fascism on the rise again. The lyrics are on point. You guys have always been a very open, politically motivated band, I think, in your lyrics, very up front about that. It’s definitely timely. I think in this album in particular, with what’s going on in the world
Sascha: Some people write about diary entries, how they sort of feel and how love went wrong for them, but for KMFDM, it’s always a bit more on a timeline, sort of spot on a bit, and of course, with a lot of humor and self-deprecation and all that goodness. KMFDM albums are not so much like striving for that one album, the masterpiece of a lifetime. It’s more like entertainment. It’s like we document the time that we are not out on the road whilst we’re in the studio by making songs that are sometimes a bit more lighthearted, sometimes a bit more serious, but we’re always in touch with our fan base, and we talk to them. You know what’s going on in your life, and we get so much feedback from people, and that all flows into the song making, into the lyrics writing. I can honestly say that from all the bands that I know, KMFDM is definitely the most in touch with our fan base, and you know, as someone put it, our inner woman (laughs).
XS ROCK: Well, I think your lyrics are poignant, and I think they’re relatable. I’m one of those people who read the news, and it’s all shit, and I’m in a bad mood, and you know, you flip over to a KMFDM song, and then I feel energized again. I feel like I’m not the only one who feels this way. I think that it resonates with a lot of people
Sascha: I mean, the reason we’re making music is that we don’t want to be all depressed about what’s going on. The reason we’re making music is we’re sucking it in what’s happening in real time and turning it around and spewing it back out, and we always tend to see some sort of humorous aspect of it. It’s all like a game, and you know everybody’s like being big macho and stuff, yeah, you know what, you’re a bunch of pussies.
XS ROCK: I mean, yeah, and you have to look at the world that way if you don’t laugh at it, I mean, you’d cry right
Sascha: To be a dictator, you have to be a bit of a pussy too, you know, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way.
XS ROCK: I mean, well, it starts with being a dick, and then the tater comes after, I think.
Sascha: My dear friend Bill Reiflin, you know Bill from the ministry and Revolting Cocks and whatnot. His cameo name was Richard Tater. Call me dick.
XS ROCK: There was an announcement that came out before the European tour that you had to delay it or cancel some of the dates because of an illness. I don’t know if that’s a private matter; I never heard any more about it. Is that something you can discuss, or is it just more personal?
Sascha: Well, it’s something that needs to be addressed, and it will be addressed, and it is being addressed, but I can’t really make any statement about it until you know the results are on the table, so I’m going to be still about it for the time being, but a full disclosure will come, definitely
XS ROCK: Well, I hope, since it seems to be related to health, that whoever is involved, you know, I wish them well. I hope everything comes out great. So, is the entire tour kind of on hold until you work this issue out?
Sascha: No, actually, the European dates have been split up. The first leg will be repeated in August, and the second leg as well. It was moved to March 2027, and we’re currently booking shows for October and November-ish in the States.
XS ROCK: Do you have any surprises on this tour?
Sascha: On one hand, it’s the continuation of the course of the 40th anniversary tour. On the other hand, we have a new album to perform songs from and we’re going to continue with the thing that we did on the on the last tour in late 2024 where we’re going to radically change the set list each night so you never know what you’re going to get because we don’t know what we’re going to play until the morning of the show. We basically toss the songs into the hat and pick tonight’s set list.
We’ve been guilty of the sort of you know cookie cutter set list for so long until we actually tried out to do it differently and then found out how actually rewarding it is to just go like all right you know it’s not like same every night it’s just like we start with the opener and we start with the last song and we finish with the opener or something like that you, know just switch it up a lot in between everything. It’s just like, hey, you know, I mean, there’s 42 years of material to try to make everyone satisfied, and deep into the discography as well to play some of those songs you know that maybe people don’t hear as often, but really have a fondness for. So, of course, at the end of the tour, there’s a very large effort being made to showcase all of the songs that have ever been played on that particular tour, and people can then enjoy the songs that maybe they missed. The ones that they anticipated hearing on any given night. So you can never make it right for everybody, but we’re trying our best to make it right for most
XS ROCK: So, you started out in 1984, I believe, as KMFDM. What were your musical inspirations at that point, and what made you want to start a band?
Sascha: 1984 is a long time ago, and the world for me, and obviously for everyone, was very different at the time. I was living about 20 to 25 miles away from the so-called Iron Curtain, and the specter of nuclear annihilation was on the news every night. You know, the Soviets could overrun Western Europe within a day with their tanks and their rockets and whatnot, and so my perspective at the time was really like, why would anyone even plan for a family or buy a home when life could be over at any given moment. So there was this really intense no future moment. The sort of proverbial no future from the punk rock movement, but it was real, I mean, it was totally and tangibly real. So, we didn’t make plans. My generation did not look at what they called the four k’s, future planning kind of stuff; it was just like live for the day, and that’s it. Live for the day, do some drugs, get high, and get by, and that kind of thing. So, I was surprised to be alive after turning 29. There was a definite end-of-times theme running through everyone’s minds, not so much in our parents’ generation, who had lived through the war. They were like, ” Oh yeah, things are getting better, and we had the economic wonder years, la-di-da! with the help of our American friends and but that didn’t really percolate down to the youngsters. Expressing oneself and being loud and obnoxious was really an expression of that sort of doom type of feeling, angst, if you will, maybe all kinds of just bottled-up outlets. Basically, fuck everything. About 15 years later, the end of the Soviet Empire came about, and everybody started to look at the world as a place that might turn for the better. But has it really? I don’t know. I mean, the basic problems and the basic oppression and all these wars are not being played out directly, but by third parties. You know, everything is really wrong, and what irks me the most are the attempts, not only in America, but everywhere, to demolish democratic structures
XS ROCK: That seems to be a worldwide phenomenon at the moment.
Sascha: I’m a democrat at heart, not meaning in the sense of like Democrats or Republicans, but in the understanding of an American democracy. I think a government should be determined by the people, and a government should have the benefit of its people first and foremost in mind. There should be a security net for those who just don’t make it. They should be subsidizing health and children’s daycare so that people can go about their businesses and don’t need to work three or four jobs, and that kind of stuff. Apparently, there’s an undercurrent of anti-democratic force, whether this is in Hungary, France, Germany, the United States, or you name it, that is really trying to oust the people who don’t want to go along with this new sort of fascism as enemies. So our stance is that if they want us to be the enemy, we’re going to be the enemy, and we’re going to bring about their downfall because we are numbers. We’re huge. We are the artists, the writers, the journalists, the LGBTIQQ community. We are everyone who goes against their fucking rule, and we’re going to bring it down, and we’re going to do it in a non-violent way, and we’re going to do it just because we’re the better kind of humans, and I think that’s really the point that we wanted to make with enemy.
XS ROCK: Yeah, and I really got that from the opening track, I mean, it seems like it’s a statement of intent. The album is appropriately named, as well as the matching artwork by Brute, which is always fantastic. He’s done every album cover, except for one.
Sascha: Yes, that’s correct. I had just moved to Seattle from Chicago, and he had just moved somewhere from the United Kingdom. Somehow, he must have gotten hold of my telephone number in Seattle, and he called me and said, ” So you’re in Seattle and I said, ” Yeah, ” and where are you? He said I’m in Seattle, too. I said, well where are you and he told me the address. I said dude, step out on your front porch and so did I, and he was not even half a block away from me. It’s incredible, you know, a German and a Brit just meeting somehow totally by coincidence on the same city block in Seattle. It was just like wow.
XS ROCK: Yeah, what are the odds, right? But you know, I really feel like it’s been very reciprocal for you and him as artists. You guys are very intertwined, and I think you basically promote each other if you want to put it that way, because a lot of people see it as a very synonymous relationship. I know he does other artwork, and I’m impressed with that. I love the style, but I feel like you guys are definitely a partnership in a lot of ways.
Sascha: We do get along without talking all that much about things, you know, I mean, I tell him what we’re about, and he goes like oh I have an idea and you know sometimes the idea is just like spot on, or sometimes you know we have to work it out a little bit more. He’s a very phenomenal person, a very outstanding artist, so we kind of literally sort of understand each other without talking more than a couple of sentences.
XS ROCK: So, did you really have much input into the style of this cover as far as the design, or was that pretty much all Brute?
Sascha: I just called him up, and I said, ” Hey, I just had this sort of idea of one of your beautiful woman characters fighting this big, nasty octopus underwater. This is my dream come true.
XS ROCK: What’s next for KMFDM?
Sascha: I mean, we just had the album release about a week and three or four days ago, and if illness had not come in the way, we would be on the road right now. For the next couple of months, we’re just going to tread water and see how things turn out health-wise, and then we’re going to make some serious plans. I mean, we’re currently looking at dates for touring North America, and as I said, our European dates are postponed but not cancelled. The second half of this year is going to be on the road, and who knows what will happen then. I mean, we have to go back to Australia at some point. I really want to, and we also really want to go back to Japan. So yeah, before international travel gets increasingly difficult with you know all kinds of looming threats here and there, I want to get a bunch of shows under our belt and take it from there.
XS ROCK: So now you’re living in Germany?
Sascha: Correct
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XS ROCK: So, do you have dual citizenship, or do you have to do the whole visa process before you can come over and tour?
Sascha: I have to go through the visa process each time I want to come to the United States, even though I’m still a taxpayer, even though my wife and my daughter, Lucia and Anabella, are both Americans, I still have to undergo this tedious process, which is not only tedious but also quite expensive. I have to tell them things like when they ask me, ” Do you plan to start a sex trafficking organization in the United States? No! Are you planning a terroristic uprising? No! It’s like I said: it’s time-consuming, it’s expensive, and it’s a bit annoying, especially since I’m still a taxpayer. I file my tax return in the United States each and every year, I pay taxes there, and then I have to do the same over here. I don’t know why they didn’t want me to keep my green card, but hey, you know.
XS ROCK: Well, it sounds like lots and lots of behind-the-scenes work just to get the tour going. Besides the tour dates, everything’s interdependent. You’ve got to get approval first, then you’ve got to get with the promoter. That’s a lot to juggle, but you guys have done it fantastically for years, and I recommend anybody to go see you guys live, if they have the chance, because it’s always a spectacular show. I’ve seen you in smaller clubs and bigger venues, and it doesn’t matter. The audience goes wild, and it’s the same show as far as the quality at the smaller clubs as in huge venues. In fact, I remember when you brought Rammstein out to open shows. Which was the first time I had ever heard of them, and I give you points; I said when I was at the show, that “I wouldn’t want them to open for me because these guys are insane, you know”. Rammstein puts on such a show, and that’s the first time I’ve ever seen them. I was blown away, and yet you guys came out and killed it and brought the focus back to KMFDM again.
Sascha: I think that was Rammstein’s second United States show.
XS ROCK: KMFDM always brings out good bands, so you know I look forward to the shows. I highly recommend the new album, Enemy. I just can’t get enough of it. Thank you again for taking the time to talk to us. I truly appreciate your time and effort. Thank you so much for all the great music you’ve put out there.
Sascha: Thank you, Bobby.
For more on KMFDM, visit: https://kmfdm.net/
Featured image by Justin Hill
