New Zealand radio interview now available

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/music/talk and click on the link on that page.
It lasts twenty minutes and covers pretty much everything. Some interesting facts for followers of non-league football in West Yorkshire, politics plus the usual promises about new recordings - "chucking away stuff for free in dribs and drabs."

[TheBoyNextDoor]

Thanks for posting.

[lachert]

time to make myself a sisters tattoo

[Being645]

Thank you very much for the link, Nikolas. I really wish I could download that somehow, but I just don't know how to manage ....

A very nice, extended interview. Of course, I'd have loved to listen to them for another 20 Minutes ... ...

Kudos to NZ Radio and Von ... ...

[Being645]

So, treasures ... I've transcribed the first part of it as far as I could. For I found it not so easy to understand just by hearing
and I know that many of us are no native speakers of English (just like me). If anybody could fill the gaps where I've put
question marks, that were quite lovely as well. Enjoy! The rest will follow.

Alright, how are you, where are you today?
I'm in the North of England today.

OK. But you don't live there anymore, do you?
Well, some of the time. My local sports club is just been hosting it's, err, has just been hosting a European Championships so I've been back to help with that.

OK. What's this sports club. I'm a bit of a football man myself, if it's football.
Err, no. It's fencing.

Fencing! Wonderful! Are you a fencer yourself?
I am.

Wicked. You're still actively fencing?
Yes, I am still actively fencing.

Oh that's magic. I've heard you were a football fan as well, so I assumed it was football.
No. I do like to go to a footie, but I hadn't played a competitive match for about ... probably about 10 years ... I don't get picked anymore ... is what I'm saying.

Oh, you, you ...?... What's your favourite position?
Err, mid-field right wing.

OK. I know another rockstar that has .... ?... he's moved into the backline, as you do, as you, you know, ? ... career ...
No, I'm more your midfield supreme 'cause I don't like to run around ... and I've got no left foot, so they've got me on the right wing.

Ah, I see. I'm a goal keeper myself. So just angry man in goal.
I see. You ...?... You're a big lad ... (joking)

I make still reasonable goal keeper, thank you, Mr Eldritch ...
Oh, great ...oh, err, look just what on the football tip. You must be a Leeds fan, I suppose?
No, no not at all. Leeds is my adopted city by, err, ...?... academia. But, err, football wise, it doesn't appeal to me. I've been out ... ?... a few times, but it's a pretty horrible place. I go what's like called to non-league sites round here. But, err, it's been a ...?... since I've been to see Leeds.

Who's, err, what's the non-league sites you follow?
I'd go to see Bradford Park Avenue and I go watch Farsley.

Farsley I've heard of ... OK.
But, my, my might, yeah, I do follow football, but in as much as I follow football, I'm a big St. Pauli fan, which is a German yo-yo team ... sometimes ....

Yeah, they're quite famous there, aren't they? St.Pauli, got a bit of a history ....
...?... knowing them for famous ...

Yes, yes, ya know a little bit of that if you're viewing football
They're not so much a football site as a folk, punk, political event.

Yeah, yeah, they're quite intersting, are they, their history and, and ...
Yes, they are. Yeh, and I used to live a couple of hundred metres from their homeground for many, many years ... so, err, so good.

'nough. Though, do you live, err, you live in Europe mostly. Is that correct?
On the mainland, yesterday. Yah.

Hhm, hhm. Spain or who ... is that right?
Err, officially my residence is in the Netherlands, but I, I get around.

Ah, I see, you're, you're a nomadic person.
I always was. I was, err, a forces child.

Ah yeah. Which, which force?
Err, air force.

Uhum.
So, err, I went to very many schools in my childhood and ... very many cities in my adulthood. I don't really have a hometown. You know, I'm happy being a, I'm happy being a good European. I'm kind of looking forward to coming down South and being a good Antipodean. It'd be my first time, I'm really, I'm really looking forward to it.

Is that right? so what, 30, 30 years and you haven't been to New Zealand, certainly ... have you played Australia before?
Oh, we couldn't get a ...?... to it. Well, obviously we did get a ...?... to it. But, no we couldn't get a ... ? ... to it. Err, this is going to be the first time in your part of the world and we're very exicted about it 'Cause all the pictures we've seen make it look like the 1950ies. We did have for a while a guitar player from New Zealand, and he wasn't keen on talking about it.

Really? What's his name?
His name is Chris Sheehan. He played with us for four or five years. And, eh, every time the subjects of New Zealand came up he was very disparaging. But, you know, I, I didn't exactly trust his opinion, because I suspect, like a lot of New Zealanders, he moved to London because the availability of heroin was better.

It's a lot better, I'd say. Yeah, absolutely. What, what can we expect? Who's, who's in the band at the moment?
There's me, there's the Doktor, as ever, err, there's the Nurse. And we have two very, very fine guitarists who've been with us for many years, who are - very fine. And we will, err, we will come to your town and we will play some rock songs.

You've got a, you got some synths, synths' players in this? The Nurse is on synthesizer, is she?
Err, the Doktor does the synths. It's kind of half-programmed and half-steered. The machines do it, but they steer all the machines.

I bet you put on a big, a big, big a live stage shows, is it ...
Oh no, no, we don't. We put up a bit of scaffolding, we chuck out a butch of smoke, we put up a couple of lights aaand ... leave up to rest to you. ...

OK, sounds like fun.
It usually works.

I've heard you, ehm, you are, you are quite, quite the front man. Is this true?
Errmhn, only in as much as I'm an introverted person. I don't like to be the front man. I kind of fell into it by mistake. Errrr, I'm only front and center 'cause nobody else would do it. Err, that is no songs are in the key of ...?... , because that's all I can sing. I'm not your natural frontman, I'm not your natural singer. However, once I get on stage, it's my stage and woe betide anybody that challenges me on that.

Good, good, you need a strong frontperson, I think, in a, in a rock band?´
Yeah, I seem to get away with it.

Ha,ha,ha, ha ...
It's been a warn that on that, that I might do have no challenges. So, I do is the best job in the world or nobody else wants it.

You might be quite good at it, Andrew, you know?
I might be quite good at it. I suspect that nobody else wants it.

Ha,ha,ha, ha, ha ...
Oh, oh look, the fans down here in New Zealand, errm does, does like, you know, does like the show, errm ... I don't know whether we here are little less forthcoming then, say ...
Well, I, I, I warn you now. It's not your average gourd-at-the-fretboard show. We really do chuck out a bunch of smoke. We don't like be seen. We like the songs to be heard. It's all about the songs and about losing yourself in a swirl of fog and colour. It's not about how great my hips look. Although, obviously they do.

Hihihi, good stuff, alright, nice. Yeah, subitem, I'm a litte bit hazy on the details. The stage ...?... doesn't matter there's plenty of time ...
Fine, fine, fine ... I live through them, I'm probably more hazier than you are.

Who keeps, eh, the machine running, The Sisters machine running these days? You must have some ...
We call him The Nurse.

Yeah, right, right, right. He's in charge. He's a male nurse?
Right now, well, yeah, we think he's male, but they do exchange partly through it, so I'm not exactly sure.

Ahem, do you know, have you heard of New Zealand's smoke-free legislation? Does one act thus mark a problem for you personally? Do you still smoke?
Ha. ....................... Errrrm ............ in the fog of war a lot of things can get ... mislaid, like my cigarettes - and my smoking them.

That's right, that's right. Probably, you get away with it, I dare say, and "Hey Rock'n Roll".
I think, I, I think we probably will. We'll see. We've had a few runnings with fire marchers over the years. I've been busted for a lot of stuff but not that. Well everytime we play a really tall building, eh, all of us lads on stage we run a sweepstake and bet money on just which song it's gonna be where we set the fire alarms off on the tenth floor.

And you're usually on the low floors, I imagine?
Yeah, we're always in the basement. That's our rolling high ...

You know, I was thinking that the model that you've got ...where, you know, you haven't recorded for twenty odd years, I think, but you just tour, is ...
Good thing, isn't it? It's completely brillant...

It's brilliant... today it seems to be the model that everybody should follow, really. You can't be ..., can you?
We didn't stop for that reason. We didn't foresee it a complete collapse of the record industry. We just got pissed off with that label. But, eh, having now seen the complete collapse of the record industry - we're cool.

Yeah, yeah, you are ... no record company ...?..., but you can tour, you keep touring, you make money of tour and the back catalogue...
Yeah, yeah, we're doing. Yeah. Every so often I get weird emails from a record company saying " would you like to do this or that or the other for" - tuppence. And I think: No, not really. No, no, no. We're a hard working band that makes money. What are you? Oh, you're a corporation that loses billions. f**k off. We don't need to get that. We, we might ... I mean, we do record stuff from time to time, just cause when we're tired of reheasing and tired of noodling around we do actually get to grips with the tec and record a few tracks, but ... actually releasing it and going through the grieve of dealing with distrubitors and stuff... oh, I don't know. We might get round to just chucking away stuff for free in drips and draps but, err ... it's really not on our priority.

You guys do play new songs and you've always played more material, so the fans are going: "When's he gonna release something?!!!" ... You know?
Yeah, but they got enough live recordings and YouTube nonsense that they can swap around amongst themselves, they're fairly happy. They keep turning up ... ah yes, they bicker, but that's the nature of fans, isn't it.

Yeah, well what was top of the list of a mate of mine is that he's got a Sisters of Mercy tattoo on his shoulder...
Brilliant. You, you get a, you get a free ticket for that.

Thank you. I'll tell him.
We, we have a, we have a standing command to door staff that if you got a Sisters tag you get in free.

We could all pass this on ...
Although, ... ?... I paid heavily.

Now Kurt's top of the hitlist was new recordings. You know, he's got everything you've ever put out. You know, he wants more like there's song of yours. He wants more. Can you give him some more, please?
We can give him a better rendition of it than we ever recorded cause we play it live at the moment. We might get around to just chucking away stuff for free in drips and draps but ... it's really not on our priority ...

Sisters fans do seem particularly devout?
Yeah, some of them are ... a bit ... *sigh ... misguided ...

Oh, they're just people, aren't they. What do you mean?
No. They're roamers. Half of them ... yeah, do it. Now I've to look at them in the third row. Trust me, they're roamers ...

Does that have a, err ... don't you have any, you know, say self-loathing that these are the people who put the food on your plate?
Everytime I look at ...?... - No. There's something about what we do ... that means a lot to people. And the fact that it means a lot to them means a lot to me. And that's why I keep on keeping on. When we started the band, we were just ... looking to get on the radio, just for kicks, a two-minute high ... and once we'd done that it occured to us that there might be something else in it. And after four or five years of pursuing that something else, it all went horribly right. I had a five-year plan back in 80something. Right now I don't have a plan. I just keep on keeping on.

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

So, treasures ... I've transcribed the first part of it as far as I could. For I found it not so easy to understand just by hearing
and I know that many of us are no native speakers of English (just like me). If anybody could fill the gaps where I've put
question marks, that were quite lovely as well. Enjoy! The rest will follow.

Alright, how are you, where are you today?
I'm in the North of England today.

OK. But you don't live there anymore, do you?
Well, some of the time. My local sports club is just been hosting it's, err, has just been hosting a European Championships so I've been back to help with that.

OK. What's this sports club. I'm a bit of a football man myself, if it's football.
Err, no. It's fencing.

Fencing! Wonderful! Are you a fencer yourself?
I am.

Wicked. You're still actively fencing?
Yes, I am still actively fencing.

Oh that's magic. I've heard you were a football fan as well, so I assumed it was football.
No. I do like to go to the footie, but I hadn't played a competitive match for about ... probably about 10 years ... I don't get picked anymore ... is what I'm saying.

Oh, you, you ...?... What's your favourite position?
Err, mid-field right wing.

OK. I know another local rockstar, he's still playing actually, little league, a couple of years younger than you and he's moved into the backline, as you do, as you, you know
No, I'm more your midfield supreme 'cause I don't like to run around ... and I've got no left foot, so they put me on the right wing.

Ah, I see. I'm a goal keeper myself. So just angry man in goal.
I see. You can't do a shift ! You're a big lad ... (joking)

I make a reasonable goal keeper, thank you, Mr Eldritch ...
Oh, great ...oh, err, look just whilst we're on the football tip. You must be a Leeds fan, I suppose?
No, no not at all. Leeds is my adopted city by, err, dint of academia. But, err, football wise, it doesn't appeal to me. I've been dahn to Elland Road a few times, but it's a pretty horrible place. I go and watch local non-league sides around here. But, err, it's been a while since I've been to see Leeds.

Who's, err, what's the non-league sides you follow?
I go to see Bradford Park Avenue and I go and watch Farsley.

Far(n)sley [sic] I've heard of ... OK.
But, my... my, yeah, I do follow football, but in as much as I follow football, I'm a...big St. Pauli fan, which is a German yo-yo team ... sometimes ....

Yeah, they're quite famous there, aren't they? St.Pauli, got a bit of a history ....
Well done to you, Sir, for knowing that they're famous ...

Yes, yes, indeed, I know a little bit of that about European football
They're not so much a football side as a folk, punk, political event.

Yeah, yeah, they're quite interesting, their history and, and ...
Yes, they are. Yeh, and I used to live a couple of hundred metres from their homeground for many, many years ... so, err, so it's all good.

'nough. Though, do you live, err, you live in Europe mostly. Is that correct?
On the mainland, yes I do. Yah.

Hhm, hhm. Spain I heard... is that right?
Err, officially my residence is in the Netherlands, but I, I get around.

Ah, I see, you're, you're a nomadic person.
I always was. I was, err, a forces child.

Ah yeah. Which, which force?
Err, air force.

Uhum.
So, err, I went to very many schools in my childhood and ... very many cities in my adulthood. I don't really have a hometown. You know, I'm happy being a, I'm happy being a good European. I'm kind of looking forward to coming down South and being a good Antipodean. It'd be my first time, I'm really, looking forward to it.

Is that right? so what, 30, 30 years and you haven't been to New Zealand, certainly ... have you played Australia before?
Oh, we couldn't get arrested. Well, obviously we did get arrested. But, no we couldn't get arrested. Err, this is going to be the first time in your part of the world and we're very exicted about it 'Cause all the pictures we've seen make it look like the 1950ies. We did have for a while a guitar player from New Zealand, and he wasn't keen on talking about it.

Really? What's his name?
His name is Chris Sheehan. He played with us for four or five years. And, eh, every time the subject of New Zealand came up he was very disparaging. But, you know, I, I didn't exactly trust his opinion, because I suspect, that like a lot of New Zealanders, he moved to London because the availability of heroin was better.

It's a lot better, I'd say. Yeah, absolutely. What, what can we expect? Who's, who's in the band at the moment?
There's me, there's the Doktor, as ever, err, there's the Nurse. And we have two very, very fine guitarists who've been with us for many years, who are - very fine. And we will, err, we will come to your town and we will play some rock songs.

You've got a, you got some synths, synths' players in this? The Nurse is on synthesizer, is she?
Err, the Doktor does the synths. It's kind of half-programmed and half-steered. The machines do it, but they're steer-all machines.

I bet you put on a big, a big, big a live stage shows, is it ...
Oh no, no, we don't. We put up a bit of scaffolding, we chuck out a bunch of smoke, we put up a couple of lights aaand ... leave therest to you. ...

OK, sounds like fun.
It usually works.

I've heard you, ehm, you are, you are quite, quite the front man. Is this true?
Errmhn, only in as much as I'm an introverted person. I don't like to be the front man. I kind of fell into it by mistake. Errrr, I'm only front and center 'cause nobody else would do it. Err,the reason all the songs are in the key of A is because that's all I can sing. I'm not your natural frontman, I'm not your natural singer. However, once I get on stage, it's my stage and woe betide anybody that challenges me on that.

Good, good, you need a strong frontperson, I think, in a, in a rock band?´
Yeah, I seem to get away with it.

Ha,ha,ha, ha ...
It's been a while now and I've still had no challenges. So, I do is the best job in the world or nobody else wants it.

You might be quite good at it, Andrew, you know?
I might be quite good at it. I suspect that nobody else wants it.

Ha,ha,ha, ha, ha ...
Oh, oh look, the fans down here in New Zealand, errm does, does like, you know, does like a good show, errm ... I don't know whether we here are little less forthcoming then, say ...
Well, I, I, I warn you now. It's not your average gawk-at-the-fretboard show. We really do chuck out a bunch of smoke. We don't like be seen. We like the songs to be heard. It's all about the songs and about losing yourself in a swirl of fog and colour. It's not about how great my hips look. Although, obviously they do.

Hihihi, good stuff, alright, nice. Yeah, subitem, I'm a litte bit hazy on the details at this stage it doesn't matter there's plenty of time ...
Fine, fine, fine ... I live through them, I'm probably more hazier than you are.

Who keeps, eh, the machine running, The Sisters machine running these days? You must have some ...
We call him The Nurse.

Yeah, right, right, right. He's in charge. He's a male nurse?
Right now, well, yeah, we think he's male, but they do exchange bodily fluids so I'm not exactly sure.

Ahem, do you know, have you heard of New Zealand's smoke-free legislation? Does one act thus mark a problem for you personally? Do you still smoke?
Ha. ....................... Errrrm ............ in the fog of war a lot of things can get ... mislaid, like my cigarettes - and my smoking them.

That's right, that's right. Probably, you get away with it, I dare say, and "Hey Rock'n Roll".
I think, I, I think we probably will. We'll see. We've had a few runnings with fire marshalls over the years. I've been busted for a lot of stuff but not that. Well everytime we play a really tall building, eh, all of us lads on stage we run a sweepstake and bet money on just which song it's gonna be where we set the fire alarms off on the tenth floor.

And you're usually on the lowers floors, I imagine?
Yeah, we're always in the basement. That's our role in life ... (laughs like a donkey)....(embarrassed at laughing at own joke). Yep

You know, I was thinking that the model that you've got ...where, you know, you haven't recorded for twenty odd years, I think, but you just tour, is ...
Brilliant, isn't it? It's completely brillant...

It's brilliant... today it seems to be the model that everybody should follow, really. You can't be part of it, can you?
We didn't start for that reason. We didn't foresee the complete collapse of the record industry. We just got pissed off with ourlabel. But, eh, having now seen the complete collapse of the record industry - we're cool.

Yeah, yeah, you are ... no record company , but you can tour, you keep touring, you presumably make money off touring and the back catalogue...
Yeah, yeah, we do. Yeah. Every so often I get weird emails from a record company saying " would you like to do this or that or the other for - tuppence". And I think: No, not really. No, no, no. We're a hard working band that makes money. What are you? Oh, you're a corporation that loses billions. f**k off. We don't need to go there. We, we might ... I mean, we do record stuff from time to time, just cause when we're tired of reheasing and tired of noodling around we do actually get to grips with the tech and record a few tracks, but ... actually releasing it and going through the grief of dealing with distrubitors and staff... oh, I don't know. We might get round to just chucking away stuff for free in drips and draps but, err ... it's really not on our priority.

You guys do play new songs and you've always played more material, so the fans are going: "When's he gonna release something?!!!" ... You know?
Yeah, but they've got enough live recordings and YouTube nonsense that they can swap around amongst themselves, they're fairly happy. They keep turning up ... ah yes, they bicker, but that's the nature of fans, isn't it.

Yeah, well what was top of the list of a mate of mine is that he's got a Sisters of Mercy tattoo on his shoulder...
Brilliant. You, you get a, you get a free ticket for that.

Thank you. I'll tell him.
We, we have a, we have a standing command to door staff that if you got a Sisters tat you get in free.

Wicked I'll pass this on ...
I don't have one so I have to pay. I paid heavily.
(Chortles bizarrely)
Now course top of his list was new recordings. You know, he's got everything you've ever put out. You know, he wants more like that song of yours. He wants More. Can you give him some more, please?
We can give him a better rendition of it than we ever recorded cause we play it live at the moment. We might get around to just chucking away stuff for free in drips and draps but ... it's really not on our priority ...

Sisters fans do seem particularly devout?
Yeah, some of them are ... a bit ... *sigh ... misguided ...

Oh, they're just people, aren't they. Like you and me?
No. They're wrong'uns. Half of them ... yeah, dude. Now I have to look at them in the third row. Trust me, they're wrong'uns ...

Does that have a, err ... don't you have any, you know, say self-loathing that these are the people who put the food on your plate?
Everytime I look at my swimming pool i think "Nope". There's something about what we do ... that means a lot to people. And the fact that it means a lot to them means a lot to me. And that's why I keep on keeping on. When we started the band, we were just ... looking to get on the radio, just for kicks, a two-minute high ... and once we'd done that it occured to us that there might be something else in it. And after four or five years of pursuing that something else, it all went horribly right. I had a five-year plan back in 80something. Right now I don't have a plan. I just keep on keeping on.

Great job, Being !

(notes for non-native English speakers. If a band "couldn't get arrested", it means they couldn't get any recognition. "By dint of" is a very formal and rather archaic phrase only used by the very educated which means "as a result of". A "wrong 'un" is a jocular term for a bad person. On a footballing note, when the interviewer claims to have heard of Farsley, he is probably thniking of Barnsley, a pro team in the English Championship.).

[paint it black]

that'll be why he said 'Barnsley I've heard of' then

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

that'll be why he said 'Barnsley I've heard of' then

I should take that Hearing Test over on General Chat.

[Being645]

Thanks for corrections and additions. Obviously, one can only hear what one knows of or can imagine ... ...

Still I wonder. Where does this interviewer come from?
If that should be the typical accent in New Zealand ... The Sisters should do quite well there ... ...

[paint it black]

just glad I'm never in row 3 with you

you must know his bird? she's from row 3

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

just glad I'm never in row 3 with you

you must know his bird? she's from row 3

I suspect that this comment is like your "red dyes" one on the "Happy Isters Day" thread which took me three days to get ...

[Purple Light]

Good god listen to that snorting laugh of his!

[Being645]

just glad I'm never in row 3 with you

you must know his bird? she's from row 3

Oh well, hell. I'm used to that ...

And no. But obviously, rumours are making their way even as far out as to me ... ...

Whatever. Here's Part II now, of that lovely interview ... with plenty kudos to Radio NZ and - to Von ...

And, if - again - someone would please correct my errors and add the few bits I couldn't get?

PART II

Were you really subjected to a tabloid hate campaign in the 80ies, the popular music ...?...
Yeah, pretty much. We’re from The North. Our name is still mud in a lot places for no good reason.
But you know, most of those people are dead and …?... We win.

On that, err, tabloid hate note, err, you’re aware your phone’s being tapped?
Hah, my phone’s always done. My phones been tapped since the 80ies, man. Since the first time I started going to America …

Who’s tapping your phones?
… for the first time I got an, the f…, the first time I got an international visum, my phone’s been tapped ever since.

You’re sure about this?
Yeah, I’m completely sure about this. All my parcels get intercepted, all my parcels are late … and sometimes I’d find that special branch which is kind of police version of MI5, I find their paperwork inside them.

No way …
‘cause they’ve opened it, left their paperwork in it and then passed it on. Now, I don’t get tapped by The Paps (the paparazzi), I get tapped by the police.

You got a, a bit a calibre, eh, of, of … eh…
This is being tapped right now. And I just know, it, it, it’s the way it is. That’s what they do.

I’ve got it that I am recording you right now …
That’s, that’s … for now. It’s fine …

Heh-heh-heh, heh-heh … disclosure! …
I, I take it for granted that my phone is tapped, ‘cause I know they’ve been tapping me since the 80ies.

Does that mean that you’re always on, you gotta be heavy on, you know … on guard?
Yes. Yes.

That must be, you know, err … challenging …
No, ‘cause I don’t do anything wicked, so …

Yeah.
... I don’t have to be, eh, super on guard.

We can ask the state in for doing it these days, since we’re recording this … and sell it to the national authorities …
Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah. Since we’re recordings this, this is for a whole nation, and the cops are tapping me… Well, let me tell you …

I’ve heard you stopped drinking …
Ok, next question …

I’ve heard you stopped drinking, for instance. That, that’s not true, though?
Err? No. I’ve not stopped doing anything.

Good.
Life is for living!

How is your health? You’re a healthy man? You, you’re fit and able and everything?
Well, you said’n I’d light another ciggie. Err, I’ve had a bit of a thing couple of years back which put me off the road for a year, but I’m over that now.

Was that '04, the only year that you guys didn’t tour?
Yeah.

Yeah. Wow, so apart from that, some rough turning the orders, you’ve toured every year for, for 30 years, I guess?
Yeah, forever …

Wow.
Oh no, sad, isn’t it? But these days without a record company if you’re off the road for a year it means you got a bit of a thing is going on. It might be your guitar player’s broken his hand really badly or it might be that your singer ‘s had a motorcycle accident, and, eh … it …*gush … kind of went war play … ehm …

That’s what happened to you in 04?
Not saying.

OK.
But yeah, it’s good to keep your head above the parapet, so err … we like to show our face, regularly.

I want to ask you ‘bout, you know … 30-year tour, sort of a quick look back perhaps … I don’t know, how into that you are, I suppose that there might be interviewers who asked about, you know, the band mates, they’d reform, or their ways or …
They do. I’m not so driven myself. I’ll answer the question as politely as I can, but it’s not the direction in which I chose to look, if you get my meaning.

Yes, yes. No, absolutely. I suppose a question I could take from there would be … you know, it’s you don’t sound like the difficult man…
No. I can be, I can beee… detailed and I can be tetchy. But it’s all in the course of great good. And most people forgive me that.

You’ve done a few covers over the years. You covered The Stones, Give Me Shelter … good version …
Yeah. We did Give Me Shelter.

Yeah, and, err … even of, eh … David Bowie …
Yeah.

Is there cause that we tell you here that with the lots of The Stones and going … you know …
Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah. Oh man. Yeah, yeah there probably is … what you’re saying … hoh, hoh, hoh …

They’ve kept recording and they haven’t done anything decent for about 30 years. Is that something you’ve learned from them, you know, like “OK, don’t do that�?
I certainly think if you can’t make a great record, don’t make a record at all. And we record a lot of stuff, you know… in between rehearsal days and stuff …. aaand we’re certainly not gonna release anything that is not stonkingly great. The record industry and distribution industry is still in a complete mess and, err … we could expend a lot of nerves, energy, time, and, indeed, money on making it with no visible return. And we’re a working band, you know, and we need, we have to watch the bottom line, and we do.

You’ve had a repute of a score of among you know, rock stars, so we say , eh … were you studied pre…, pre…, you know, pre old English poetry among things?
No, no. But I’m a very big European, and so, ehm … I’m very in touch with my Anglo-Saxon Dutch roots.

Very big on the European side of it, err … quite, quite opposite of a lot of English people, I suppose, in, in this?
Yes. Yes I am. I’m a federalist. I want (emphasised) to see The United States of Europe!

Oh, it’s at the moment looking a bit dodgy, I suppose, with the current economic models collapsing in a couple of countries, isn’t it?
Yes, looking like no going. Yeah, I’m not, eh … I’m not keen on that. It can go one or two ways, … ? … federalist. And I am very alone in this opinion… on this little island.

Yes, well, yeah, that was, that’d be we, always be go and think we always keep the pound. But you’d be like “Keep the Euro�, wouldn’t you?
Keep the Euro, and … lets all hold hands, please. ’Cause we tried not holding hands and it ended up in millions of deaths. And we are basically all the same.

Englishmen, they generally even think they are Europeans, do they?
No, they don’t. I do. No, I’m … I’m very alone in that. I don’t know where it comes from. I think it’s genetic. You know, like some people are left-handed, some people are gay … I am a federalist.

So where do you stand, err, if I may ask, on the political spectrum?
Far left.

Faar left?
Yeah.

Right. Anarchist, then?
It’s, it’s … yeah, I would be an Anarchist if you could get there from here, which you can’t. Err .. but I’ve started from a position of Anarchist and I’ve moved to a position of … Bolsh … ? …

Well, didn’t the Anarchists start out as craftsmen, basically, that guild-based thing, that kind of thing, you know, that was rather there in … devolving power …
Yeah, Sir! Anarcho-Syndicalism …Well done you, Sir!

Yeah, yeah, all that. I just scratch my …
Yes! Yes! I’m indeed an Anarcho-Syndicalist, although I don’t know how the musicians would be much of a forceful syndicate.

Yeah, they’d be ...?... , wouldn’t they?
Some of them would be pretty limp.

Hehe, hehe, hehe ...
Although, although! I’d trust PJ Harvey to shoot a lot of people …

Yes, she, she … ?... wouldn’t she?
She really would. I’d, I’d kind of die next to her. Wouldn’t you?

Absolutely!
Oh, I had sensed some bad things by her in the past but I really would die next to her in the ditches.

Oh look, I, I’d bet if you go and you follow … and you got, you got other …
Yeah, I did, I did. It’s been a gasp.

Hey, nice to talk to you, really, really a share …
But, really, really, it has been a gasp … and if, if you wanna do this kind of stuff like, err … when we’re not about to tour …’cause that’d be much better time and you still can.

Well, I tell you what, tell you what, Andrew: you put some music out, on, on there and they’re fine, you know …
Hah, hah, hah, hah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. …he-he, he-he … ok.

Alright, awesome … it’s been a pleasure, lad.
Thanks.

Thanks a lot.

Ha, ha. And thanks a lot from here again as well. Great fun and great pleasure ... ... ...

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

PART II

Were you really subjected to a tabloid hate campaign in the 80ies, the popular music press.
Yeah, pretty much. We’re from The North. Our name is still mud in a lot places for no good reason.
But you know, most of those people are dead and we're still going. We win.

On that, err, tabloid hate note, err, you’re aware your phonea might have been tapped?
Hah, my phone’s always done. My phones been tapped since the 80ies, man. Since the first time I started going to America …

Who’s tapping your phones?
… for the first time I got an, the f…, the first time I got an international visum, my phone’s been tapped ever since.

You’re sure about this?
Yeah, I’m completely sure about this. All my parcels get intercepted, all my parcels are late … and sometimes I’d find that special branch which is kind of police version of MI5, I find their paperwork inside them.

No way …
‘cause they’ve opened it, left their paperwork in it and then passed it on. No, I don’t get tapped by The Paps (the paparazzi), I get tapped by the police.

You got a, a bit a calibre, eh, of, of … eh…
This is being tapped right now. And I just know, it, it, it’s the way it is. That’s what they do.

I’ve got it that I am recording you right now …
That’s, that’s … for now. It’s fine …

Heh-heh-heh, heh-heh … disclosure! …
I, I take it for granted that my phone is tapped, ‘cause I know they’ve been tapping me since the 80ies.

Does that mean that you’re always on, you gotta be heavy on, you know … guard up?
Yes. Yes.

That must be, you know, err … challenging …
No, ‘cause I don’t do anything wicked, so …

Yeah.
... I don’t have to be, eh, super on guard.

What wickednesses do you do these days, since we’re recording this … and sell it to the national authorities …
Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah. Since we’re recordings this, this is for a whole nation, and the cops are tapping me… Well, let me tell you …

I’ve heard you stopped drinking …
Ok, next question …

I’ve heard you stopped drinking, for instance. That, that’s not true, though?
Err? No. I’ve not stopped doing anything.

Good.
Life is for living!

How is your health? You’re a healthy man? You, you’re fit and able and everything?
Well, he said lighting up another ciggie. Err, I had a bit of a thing couple of years back which put me off the road for a year, but I’m over that now.

Was that '04, the only year that you guys didn’t tour?
Yeah.

Yeah. Wow, so apart from that, some life-threatening illness, you’ve toured every year for, for 30 years, I guess?
Yeah, forever …

Wow.
Oh no, sad, isn’t it? But these days without a record company if you’re off the road for a year it means you got a bit of a thing is going on. It might be your guitar player’s broken his hand really badly or it might be that your singer ‘s had a motorcycle accident, and, eh … it …*gush … kind of went wobbly… ehm …

That’s what happened to you in 04?
Not saying.

OK.
But yeah, it’s good to keep your head above the parapet, so err … we like to show our face, regularly.

I want to ask you ‘bout, you know … 30-year tour, sort of a quick look back perhaps … I don’t know, how into that you are, I suppose that almost every interviewer asks you about, you know, the band mates, who've fallen by the wayside…
They do. I’m not so driven myself. I’ll answer the question as politely as I can, but it’s not the direction in which I chose to look, if you get my meaning.

Yes, yes. No, absolutely. I suppose a question I could take from there would be … you know, it’s you don’t sound like the difficult man…
No. I can be, I can beee… detailed and I can be tetchy. But it’s all in the cause of the greater good. And most people forgive me that.

You’ve done a few covers over the years. You covered The Stones, Gimme Shelter … good version …
Yeah. We did Gimme Shelter.

Yeah, and, you've interviewed David Bowie …
Yeah.

Is there a cautionary tale here that with the likes of The Stones and Bowie … you know …
Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah. Oh man. Yeah, yeah there probably is … what('re) you saying ??… hoh, hoh, hoh …

They’ve kept recording and they haven’t done anything decent for about 30 years. Is that something you’ve learned from them, you know, like “OK, don’t do that�?
I certainly think if you can’t make a great record, don’t make a record at all........ And we record a lot of stuff, you know… in between rehearsal days and stuff …. aaand .....we’re certainly not gonna release anything that is not stonkingly great. The record industry and distribution industry is still in a complete mess and, err … we could expend a lot of nervous energy, time, and, indeed, money on making it with no visible return. And we’re a working band, you know, and we need, we have to watch the bottom line, and we do.

You’ve had a rep(utation) as a bit of a scholar of among you know, rock stars, so we say , eh … were you studied pre…, pre…, you know, pre old English poetry among other things?
No, no. But I’m a very big European, and so, ehm … I’m very in touch with my Anglo-Saxon Dutch roots.

Very big on the European side of it, err … quite, quite opposite of a lot of English people, I suppose, in, in this?
Yes. Yes I am. I’m a federalist. I want (emphasised) to see The United States of Europe!

Oh, it’s at the moment looking a bit dodgy, I suppose, with the current economic models collapsing in a couple of countries, isn’t it?
Yes, looking like meltdown. Yeah, I’m not, eh … I’m not keen on that. It can go one of two ways, I hope it goes federalist. And I am very alone in this opinion… on this little island.

Yes, well, yeah, in England they'll all be going "thank god we kepy the pound". But you’d be like “Keep the Euro�, wouldn’t you?
Keep the Euro, and … lets all hold hands, please. ’Cause we tried not holding hands and it ended up in millions of deaths. And we are basically all the same.

Englishmen, they generally don't even think they are Europeans, do they?
No, they don’t. I do. No, I’m … I’m very alone in that. I don’t know where it comes from. I think it’s genetic. You know, like some people are left-handed, some people are gay … I am a federalist.

So where do you stand, err, if I may ask, on the political spectrum?
Far left.

Faar left?
Yeah.

Right. Anarchist, then?
It’s, it’s … yeah, I would be an Anarchist if you could get there from here, which you can’t. Err .. but I’ve started from a position of Anarchist and I’ve moved to a position of … Bolshie … ? …

Well, didn’t the Anarchists start out as craftsmen, basically, that guild-based thing, that kind of thing, you know, that was rather there in … devolving power …
Yeah, Sir! Anarcho-Syndicalism …Well done you, Sir!

Yeah, yeah, all that. I just scratch my …
Yes! Yes! I’m indeed an Anarcho-Syndicalist, although I don’t know how the musicians would be much of a forceful syndicate.

Yeah, they’d be individual collectives only wouldn’t they?
Some of them would be pretty limp.

Hehe, hehe, hehe ...
Although, although! I’d trust PJ Harvey to shoot a lot of people …

Yes, she, she die in the ditches wouldn’t she?
She really would. I’d, I’d kind of die next to her. Wouldn’t you?

Absolutely!
Oh, I have said some bad things about her in the past but I really would die next to her in the ditches.

Oh look, I, I’d better let you go, you've got other....

Yeah, I do, I do. It’s been a gas.

Hey, nice to talk to you, really appreciate it…

But, dude, it has been a gas … and if, if you wanna do this kind of stuff like, err … when we’re not about to tour …’cause that’d be a much better time and you still can.

Well, I tell you what, tell you what, Andrew: you put some music out, on, on there on the phone, you know …
Hah, hah, hah, hah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. …he-he, he-he … ok.

Alright, nice one … it’s been a real - appreciate it
Thanks.

Thanks a lot.

Good work, Being, and a great interview.

[damagedone]

It was fun listening to it,sounds like is feeling pretty comfortable nowadays.
reporter:Do you still smoke?
:er er haarhahararh

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

Good god listen to that snorting laugh of his!

So the demonic cackle on Lucretia must be an imposter. Perhaps that was PatMo's legendary contribution ?

[Being645]

An wonderful interview. Can't tell how glad I am to hear talk Von about that phone tapping and stuff.

For I know that it's true. From the very first day I'd subscribed to The Reptile House, I had strange repercussions here. Like that puppet with broken legs in my mailbox, that I've mentioned elsewhere, or like foam rubber on the windscreen of my car, like steady problems with the employment agencies, like funny occurrences with the phone, like letters and parcels being late ... and endless other tortures. I can't recall them all. It's been terror. It's been such a terror that I, in fact, did not go to The Sisters' gig when they played here in 2001, because I would have more of that, and Von and The Sisters would be off and never even thinking of me. And they would make me pay again. It has stopped some years ago. But it has left an heavy impact on my life. I am not as strong as most others. I do not dispose of a pretty background and or a lovely childhood that might have fed me up to handle a certain variety of challenges at all levels. But I managed, even though I was close to suicide at times. Not because of Von or some heartache, but because of this terror. I will never ever forget it.

However, I don't think there was any kind of state institution behind, though at some point such institutions I'm sure were made involve ... I could feel it, and I had results like steady (indefensible but regularly made) threats on part of especially the unemployment agency. For example, each time I went for a holiday in England, I had a letter in the box when I retured, that had arrived on the day of my departure asking me to apply for a certain job (I wouldn't get anyway) within a week, otherwise I would have my unemployment benefit withdrawn. Fortunately, I do have a father who is quite good at dealing with such offices. And fortunately, I'm also able to fend off such attempts myself. Even my sick insurance was on the brink of making problems, but I was too intangible from that side ... Anyway, with time you know to identify directions and that has made me sure, that no abstract anonymous dead institution was responsible for all of this but someone much alive and pushing through his/her interests ... if ever this person should read it - hope you're happy now.

And yes, I've always wondered whether my letters or postcards or that parcel with the pretty gem have ever reached The Reptile House. Some of them have, I know it. For others I'm not so sure. Therefore, Von, I wouldn't go for that Police department theory to place their documents in your parcels. I'd bet it was someone much nearer and for some reason.

Sorry to anyone. I needed to say that. You can ban me now for it, if you please. Thanks for the love.

[Ozpat]

Thanks for the transcript S.!

[Venus]

Good god listen to that snorting laugh of his!

Good God indeed amongst other things.

Thanks Nikolas!

[Husek]

Thanks for the Interview Nikolas, and Thanks to the Transcript Being645.
Without this transcript i was lost .
All those years watching Doctor Who doesn't help me to understand that Von's brilliant british accent.

[Quiff Boy]

i used to live at the end of the road from farsley celtic football club (now renamed farsley afc)

google map

[sisterslover]

why is his phone being tapped since the 80s?

[Robson]

Does someone know the link to the interview i can't find it no more. I would like to put it onto cd.
thanks

[stufarq]

why is his phone being tapped since the 80s?

Cos he's a paranoid loon. Or he's winding the interviewer up.

[damagedone]

Does someone know the link to the interview i can't find it no more. I would like to put it onto cd.
thanks

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/progr ... 1/20120204

there y go,click on the Sisters Of Mercy and listen