pig
interface magazine, electronic music and art
v.4.1 p.31
interview by alex reed

Raymond Watts, in his many years in the underground electronic music scene has at one time or another worked with Foetus, Einsturzende Neubauten, KMFDM, Psychic TV, Abwarts, and a horde of lesser known Japanese bands. The odds that you don't own any albums with his name on them somewhere are slim to none.

Raymond (aka Nainz) Watts, when he isn't producing or touring with someone else spends the majority of his time on Pig, his own personal project, whose album Sinsation was released on Trent Reznor's Nothing label last fall. Sinsation is a brilliant collection which merges dramatic orchestral samples with powerful guitar-driven post-Industrial. Yes, we did say guitars, but this is no metal album. Pig is almost entirely unique in that their use of guitars (played by co-member Steve White) is neither mixed down to inaudibility nor pumped to corporate rock level of Gravity Kills or recent Machines of Loving Grace. Hard-edged tracks like "Serial Killer Thriller" and "Painiac" are contrasted with truly beautiful slow instrumentals like "Golgotha" to make Sinsation one of last years' best albums.

Sadly, many of Pig's earlier releases, such as A Stroll In the Pork and The Swining are difficult to find in America. but his current licensing agreement with Nothing may change that.

Watts comments: "A lot of (the albums) don't get released in America. Sinsation though, is on Trent's label and it's obviously going to get a bit more exposure than the other ones, so if there are people interested in hearing the other shit, then for that reason alone. It might be quite nice to stick it out there.

Since the making of Sinsation. Pig has already put out another album. Wrecked, which was available only in Japan until it's recent release in the states by WaxTrax!

The fact that many audiences aren't familiar with the newer material doesn't keep Pig from playing it live. Pig often plays small venues which, according to Watts, isn't the most enjoyable and relaxing thing to do. Regarding the recent tour, he said. "I'm running the band and I'm kind of cracking the whip there to get people all day to play harder Harder HARDER."

But Raymond is surprisingly soft-spoken and friendly. One can't be fooled too much by his often over-the-top negative lyrics.

"I kind of mock myself quite a bit harder than you yourself would mock me. It all seems a bit ridiculous, this angsty thing, but at the same time I love it. I kind of like to take the piss out of myself. I say it to mock. I've been around the block too long to take this kind of angsty stuff seriously."

One thing he doesn't try to do in music is shock his listeners. He maintains that the vast majority of industrial music is preaching to the converted. Or rather isn't subverting anyone or anything that isn't voluntarily subjecting itself to the music. " (Shock value) doesn't even enter into the agenda… I haven't been shocked by a Pop band or any kind of whatever the fuck you wanna call it Industrial Noise terrorist nah-nah-nah-nah-nah vomit-inducing bile-fucking shit-fucking fist-fucking super evil scary satanist fucking fuck band. I get a lot more scared by seeing the fucking National Enquirer than listening to anything on an Industrial so-called subversive label."

Watts' insight into issues such as these is worth more than two cents to the Industrial community. He's most certainly been around the loop in many senses. Raymond left England in the early 80's to work with Genesis P-Orridge and to do live sound for Einsturzende Neubauten and ended up setting up a tiny studio in Hamburg where he met Sascha Konietzko and En Esch, who went on to form KMFDM with him. KMFDM's full name was abbreviated to its initials because of Watts' difficulty in pronouncing it.

"I used to try and speak German. but in Germany. everyone I worked with was into music and spoke English. I never really got it together beyond 'Kunst du machen die mikrofone ncr die floor tom-tom bitte?' to which they'd go. 'What the fuck are you saying?' and I'd say. 'but didn't I just ask you to put the mic by the floor tom-tom?' Basically, things got done a lot faster if I was speaking English."

After recording the first two albums, KMFDM left for the US, and Raymond Watts opted to stay in Europe, as he had been busy with other projects, one of which being the creation of what was to become the first album, A Poke in the Eye. Over time. he moved to France and ultimately to Japan. where he ended up releasing Pig material on RCA Victor.

In 1995 he teamed back up with KMFDM to make Nihil, one of the band's most successful endeavors in many respects. As Watts tells it. "I hadn't spoken to Sascha for ages and I think we had been talking about some loose ends regarding publishing on some old material, so the first time we talked, we just kind of caught up on things, and figured it my be quite fun to get back into the studio again and do some things not really under the umbrella of KMFDM or of Pig... We booked a studio, I put a few sounds on cassette, put a few bits and vocals on DAT, got a ticket on the plane and went over there. I came to the studio arid in five days, we had (lone mi EP called KMFDM vs. Pig. The process was enjoyable… and so when that was finished. Sascha said, 'Why don't you come over and stick your nose in on the Nihil record?' So I went over there, and they already had backing tracks which were really down and almost thoroughly finished. They asked if I just wanted to come up with any ideas for vocals, words, whatever, programming. I did some singing and shouting, which was all right ... It turned into the Nihil album and so they asked me to come on tour with them and so I did a shitload of touring with them. After that I went off and did some more Pig stuff, another album, I think."

Another album... To Pig's avid fans. "another album" is a bigger deal than what Watts makes it out to be, as well it should be if his future works are of the same calibre as Sinsation. As we await the US release of the next Pig serving, this writer could not help asking Raymond what should be served with pork. After a moment's thought he replied, "Self Denial,"

'A round of self-denial on the house. -Alex Reed