MAGREB talked with Lina Der Baby Doll General, a man behind legendary industrial project Deutsch Nepal, which celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2016

Deutsch Nepal’s music is very ritual by its nature. This rituality reaches its climax in some very special pieces, like “An Invitation To Heaven” or “Deutsch Nepal’s Cosmic Trigger”, with its repetitive structure and ecstatic, sky-piercing vocals. Like a shamanic journey into the under(?)world. What is the nature of this ritual that you’re providing us? What was your intention behind these invocations?

I think when repeting stuctures in an under heartbeat speed all music could be perceived as ritualistic or at least contemplative. Mind turn inwards and one search for explainations inside oneself. It has allways been my intention, to make people make up their own thoughts or answers about my music.

 

Could you give us a glimpse of your method? How do you create your astonishing music? What is that state, that you’re entering in the process of creation? How do you communicate with sounds?

There are no method really…. however not in the way that it used to be before the computors, when the biggest problem was practical and the creative process was more of a handy craft than an aesthetic decision, that it have become today. Long time ago you spend hours to make and record tapeloops or edit sounds numeric in a workstation. Something that feel like stoneage for me though I didn’t stop totally with this kind of devises. Today it became more a play with sounds and structures you collected the week before…the possibilities are unlimited and you just have to decide when your work is finished.

What is that world you’re living in? How do your typical day looks like? We’ve heard that you have a
dozens of bulldogs, who is looking after them, while you’re on tour? Considering that you’re also manufacturing wine of your own, it seems suddenly more reasonable, to see all these dogs on “Alcohology” cover…

Me and a friend  run a company that breed dogs, French Bulldogs. A typical day mean a lot of feeding these dogs and make them comfortable…the rest is paperwork and floorcleaning until you give up and open the first bottle of wine… life is good! When on tour my friend have to do all the work himself, as I have to do when he is travelling.

Five years ago you’ve recorded “Amygdala”, your arguably best album (at least, our favourite). Amygdala is a funny thing, it’s so small and simple, and it affects basically everything, from making connections, emotions and sexual orientation, through fear and social interaction to political orientation! Like the core of everything that matters here, on earth. Esotericists talk so much about pineal gland and its hidden functioning, but nobody except scientists is talking about amygdala…Probably this is the one of the reasons for complete, repeating fail in every attempt of human to achieve some higher, more intelligent and illuminated state – he can’t control his own amygdala, he can’t control himself…

I think you gave most answers in the question… and the topic on this record could be “what are human when out of control?” As usual I have no real answer and my intention is solely to bring it up as a object for contemplation.

Apart from overall “sidereal” impression, many of your work has incorporated various esoteric imagery. What are your relationships with that matter (dark matter!)? Not meaning any cults or religions, but more like intuitive understanding of not-so- obvious for humans things and conscious acting according to the “life’s driving force”?

Not so much… I bring out my inner thoughts via my music to my audience. Obviously it get translated in as many ways as I have listeners. But I have an abstract theory inspired by Castaneda…that the world of perception is a table that ends where our physical abilities have it’s limits. But just because we can’t see and name things doesn’t mean they do not exist.

Your recent involvement with Jastreb project was charming. What do you think about the band’s message, expressed in these words: “hailing from 13th century, these mystical troubadours failed to destroy the Earth in an apocalyptic event gone horribly awry…by opening a diabolical rift and traveling to the future, they escaped the Catholic inquisition and are now getting ready for a second attempt at the aforementioned apocalyptic event”. It is fun, but it is relating to some serious matters, the holocaust of the Cathari and suppression of love and free thought, in some form continuing nowadays…

To tell the truth I wasn’t aware of these things I just saw it as a wierd text for promoting the record and never gave it a second thought. Which often is the case in these collaborations you are more curious about the end result. I had the intention to go to Zagreb to record the vocals in their studio but never found time to go there so in the end I recorded it at home and send them the file for downloading. Thinking about it now maybe I should be happy I stayed at home…. but on the other hand I dearly support everything that is against the church and mindcontrol and the way I know these guys I know they are free loving people.

What is alcohol for you? A dionysian fuel? Deutsch Nepal’s music is a very sober one, ascetic and sharp, nothing dionysian (i.e. vivid, loud and irresponsible as this term is understood in our time)…except the transforming ritual darkness, the very essence of the original Dionysian rites. “Following the torches as they dipped and swayed in the darkness, they climbed mountain paths with head thrown back and eyes glazed, dancing to the beat of the drum which stirred their blood' “Benevolence Of The Fittest God”, indeed!

For people that have a “normal” consumption of alcohol and normal perception drinking might make them dim in mind and even crazy. That happen to me as well …but when one worked a little extra on the drinking one might achieve a different state of utterly sharpness in mind …for me it allways felt like my logic perception just gave up and one might see and understand different contexts in reality. Maybe that could be connected to the theories of “what is human when out off control?” Let go! and you might get a glimpse of the answer.

“It is difficult to reduce all his works to a simple description or review, All of them seem to be the evolution of an early idea, a baby that grows old, getting monstrous and divine while doing so”, – someone wrote about DN on Discogs. Monstrous and divine baby…do you feel yourself truly alone in this world, while living, while creating music of darkest kind?

I think my music is my way to communicate and socialize with people. Otherwise in my real life I’m kind of content with my life though not a very extrovert  social person. I don’t have many social connections and work all time with my dogs or with my music. I guess everything infects on the music but my soitude is something possitive and of own choice.

 

You doesn’t look like a gloomy person at all, but your music gets darker and darker with every release (considering “Dystopian Partycollection II” for example, “How Low…” and “Institution” are blinding beatiful, but
this is really intense and heavy darkness here, surrounding that “golden colour”).

Darkness is pitch black …not gloomy… I guess it’s kind of development of my creations 🙂

Who or what is most inspiring for you and your work? Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?

Life is the only inspiration for the moment. As my life and the music is almost totally integrated it’s hard to separate what is the music and what is life. But sometimes I get fixed to certain topics and behaviors of us humans and then this might be an inspiration for a shorter time in life …. everything get woven into life.

Í’ve been collaborating with the russian project Reutoff for some years and I hope we will be ready to release some material in the near future. Also I’ve been thinking of making something more acoustic in the future and started looking for people to do it together with.

 

You’ve mentioned recently, that you wanted to record 2 albums in one time – “Alcohology” and “Archeolism” and release it in the same time …so what about the second one, do we need another five years to enjoy it?;)

That was the idea from the start. But as many other things in life the plan changes …still I have the fascination about humans having the urge to look at stones carved some thousands year ago and put upon each other….what people are ready to do to get the kick …I think this is more interesting than the actual objects they visit.

What is love for you?

At large love is respect ….but also one of the few things that make me even concider there might be hope for humanity. Whatever people do for love could be justified good things and bad things 🙂

The world today. How does it look to you? How close we are to the apocalypse, and how inspiring/depressing this situation is for your art?

I think of the apocalypse as an ongoing process not as a separate and sudden happening. I think that as soon as the last  iceage ended the apocalypse started again…and will do so until another iceage get the grip on earth. I guess that it is more inspiring then depressing as it’s not so much we can do to prevent the great forces moving over the earth.

What is the best advice you can get to the young people today? What personality traits, what qualities
should one have to live the good, intelligent, creative life, outside the false illusions and boredom?

Don’t expect too much from life… try to be happy from what you have for the moment – the friends you have around or the people you don’t have to meet. The situation you are in now is the best you could have for the moment…if not OK do something about it. Life is too short to hesitate. Just go out and do it! (whatever it is)

Could you name to us any good books/films/albums that you’ve enjoyed recently?

I re-discovered Iggy and the Stooges early works …I allmost forgot how great music can be.

What is the most unexpected/inspiring/weird event or dream that happened to you recently?

I recognized that my turkey is a necrophile while slaughter some chickens to feed my dogs!!!!