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For nearly a decade, Funker Vogt have been at the forefront of the EBM and industrial scene, pummeling out their harsh electro assault on a world that still lingers on the brink of self-destruction. As the longest tenured band on the Metropolis Records roster, they've weathered through the pitfalls of record label politics in Europe, while somehow finding the time to amass an audience in America despite a criminally low number of American live appearances. Still living in a dangerous world, Funker Vogt continue to belt out their tales of grueling war and paramilitary action, serving as a soundtrack to the current state of the world. ReGen speaks with band manager/lyricist Kai Schmidt, and member Jens K?stel about their immediate plans for the future of their music.

The majority of Funker Vogt is done in English, yet English is the second language for the entire band. Why do you guys choose to do the majority of your stuff in English instead of in your native language?

Kai: Because we wanted to reach people in the whole world and not only in Germany. I mean, there are just a few bands that sing German and have success worldwide, but it's a handful of bands. In order to reach out to the whole world, to Americans, even to all of Europe? I mean, English is spoken everywhere, so that's the reason why.

Another colleague of yours, And One, their last album Aggressor was completely done in German because they did not want to do music in the 'language of their aggressor,' George Bush. Now what are your thoughts about something like that, what And One is trying to do in reaching this global audience that now they're trying to do it in German?

Kai: I don't think it works. That's his decision, but whom will he reach? I think it's his kind of protest, but it's just public propaganda.

Jens: If he doesn't want to sing in the language of George Bush, he couldn't speak to you. Silly.

Kai: He won't notice. Nobody will notice.

Jens: Half of the American people voted against Bush, therefore it's a little bit strange.

Kai: It wouldn't be something we would do this way, ever

War is the predominant theme through all of Funker Vogt's work. What is the underlying message or point that you're trying to convey?

Kai: We don't really want to make a point. We just want to show the current state of the nation, of the world. So we just write about what's going on. Certainly, the songs are more or less against war, because we just want to show the cruelties, the victims of war and everything, what's really going on and put it in front of the eye of the people. But all in all, we are just describing what's going on in the world, and everybody should make sense out of it for his own.

Where do you draw inspiration from? I mean, do you get this off certain television shows, are there certain channels, or are there certain authors you like to read concerning what's going on in the world?

Kai: Yeah, it's about the newspaper, what's in the news, CNN, or even the local news. In Germany, everything is covered there, what's going on in the States and Germany as well. I used to read some science fiction books, and sometimes I use something in a book, or even movies. It's everyday life, so when I go to cinema, I might have an idea, I might not. So I see a good movie, and even a good movie might not impress me or make me write a good song. So yeah, everyday life, whatever's going on around me. I just watch and see what I can take out of it.

Do you think that the theme of war is more predominant in the industrial scene than it is in other forms of music?

Kai: It doesn't fit to pop music, I think. Pop music is about the good world, about love, happy people, and all the nice things. So that's probably why it's more predominant in industrial music. I wouldn't say that it's especially in industrial, but it's more predominant probably in the alternative scene, which is not broadcasted on television or on the radio. But normally, what everybody wants to hear on the radio is nice things.

Who is responsible for the art direction with Funker Vogt? It seems like throughout all your albums, there is a design that correlates from one to the next. It's almost like KMFDM in that when you see the cover art, you know it's a Funker Vogt album.

Kai: Yeah. He's actually from Chicago, his name is Jeff Walker. We started to work with him from our third album on, called Maschine Zeit. He approached me on the Internet via e-mail, asked me if he could do something for us, so I said, "Just present me something, and if I am impressed I might consider it." So I was impressed with his work and we're still working with him. Just today, we had a photo shoot with him, and he is already working now on our next CD, on the artwork and concept of our next CD, and he's already got some good interesting ideas, so I think we'll have something nice again.

Now, how far have you gotten on the new album? Are you still in the conceptual phase, has there been a recording yet?

Kai: Oh, we've started, so we have quite a few songs already. The really rough versions we've done so far. We've got already an idea how the artwork should look, but I won't say too much about this right now, it's all still in the beginning.

You've been with Metropolis since Funker Vogt started and in Europe, you've been through four or five labels. Now what does that say about the European music industry that there's such a quick turnover in their labels?

Kai: I think it's not so much different here. We just have been lucky that we picked one of the bigger ones with Metropolis. I think there are lots of small labels here, which also went down. We also had a side project, Ravenous, we had been on Jarret Records, and we never see a cent from them, they just went bankrupt. We got a couple of CDs from them, but we never got money. I think this could happen here as well in this scene, in the alternative scene. We've just been lucky with Metropolis. Even Metropolis had big problems in the past, not due to their fault, but one of their distributors went bankrupt. But they're good, they're big, so they could recover, but they had a hard time they told me. And there were lots of rumors in the past, and always will be, but I think they'll do fine, and I'm still happy with them, and they'll get the new CD as well.

Currently, I believe, Funker Vogt is the longest active band tenured on Metropolis. There was Mentallo and the Fixer, but they're gone, and Front Line Assembly is essentially finished, so right now you guys are the band that's been longest on Metropolis.

Kai: Actually, now that you say it, that's probably right. We are now doing it for nine years. Next year will be our anniversary?10-year anniversary?for Funker Vogt, and since then we have been with Metropolis, that's right.

Do you have any plans for the 10-year anniversary, or just the new album?

Kai: New album, and maybe something. Maybe a DVD, we don't know yet. We have plans.

So, like you said, it's been nine years. And back when you guys signed with Metropolis, it was still just a record store in Philadelphia. Can you compare and contrast what it's like to work with them now after they've released like 350 CDs?

Kai: It's pretty hard to say for us because we had never? in the past, it was the way that we gave worldwide rights to the German companies, and they were licensed to Metropolis, so they dealt with Metropolis, and we only knew that the CD's out, but we never really had a tight relationship with Metropolis in the past. This changed after all these labels went bankrupt, we got the rights back, we made the contract straight with Metropolis, and now we give them all exclusively for North America. So we can't really say what was going on in the early past, which was the first five years we've been with them, because we haven't really dealt with them. We just knew our CDs are available here and we got some money for it, and that was fine.

So why did you choose to only do two shows and not a prolonged tour in the United States?

Kai: It's really hard for European bands to come to the States. That's a big problem. It's always so easy for American bands to come over to Europe or to Germany and play there, but it's really difficult, especially with these Homeland Security things going on right now. It was already difficult before, but after 9/11, it's getting even more difficult, and it's not that easy for us to come here. Unfortunately, if you do it all by the book, officially, and pay for visas and stuff, you can't afford to come over here, you don't make the money. So we hope that we will sell so much and that we will cover our costs.

Jens: Per person, $50 per show, we will come to America.

Meet the band, get a signature, see the show, $50.

Kai: Yup, it's not our fault. It's the fault that the expenses are so high. We would love to play for less money, but we have to pay that we can play in the end, and that's not the right way.

Yeah, it's very difficult because there's, what, five guys in the band, plus??

Jens: And all the stuff. And we normally come with ten persons.

Kai: Normally four. This time, we have three on stage for tonight.

So you got to fly all those people over, and that's just?

Kai: But normally, we need at least seven people, and that's a minimum crew. In Europe, we have 10 to 12 people in the crew to do everything right, and that's just not possible here. It's almost impossible to come with seven, and that's the minimum that we need.

Can you compare and contrast what it's like to play in The United States vs. the fans in Germany?

Kai: There's not a general difference. You always have local differences, even in Germany. When you play in certain cities, it's really good, you have a perfect crowd, and in another city it could be awful. The crowd is just watching, don't even dance or whatever? so far, we always actually had a good crowd in the States. So for the States, we could say it's more of a general thing, all over the States it's quite good. But in Germany or even in Europe, it really depends on the region. Even in a country, it could be so different from city to city, how the people react is funny. That would really be the only difference really comparing Germany to The United States. So far here, in most cities we play, we had a really good crowd, a crazy crowd.