Die Warzau

Die Warzau, (originally referred to as Die Warzau Synfony), is an industrial music band formed in 1987 by performance artists Jim Marcus and Van Christie.

History

Originally signed to Chris Parry's Fiction Records, the group released Disco Rigido in the late 1980s (distributed in the United States by Atlantic Records), which featured "Welcome To America", "Land of the Free" and "I've Got To Make Sense". Though the album falls solidly into the EBM genre, it contains hints of the experimentation and genre-bending that later recordings would feature (e.g. "Y Tagata en Situ").

A second album, Big Electric Metal Bass Face, built on the foundation laid with Disco Rigido and upped the ante with excursions into funk ("Funkopolis" and the live take of "Coming Down"). Contributors to the band at the time included, Chris Vrenna and James Woolley, both members of Nine Inch Nails during the mid-1990s and to round out the band, audio/video artist, Burle Avant, he went on to co-create MTV-Amp(tv series) the only electronic music, art and culture show in America.

Engine, a 1995 release on Wax Trax/TVT, was a huge jump forward and found critical acclaim for its decimation of genre boundaries. Die Warzau could no longer be simply pigeonholed into the "industrial" category, as their music became more organic, rounder on the edges, yet still retaining their trademark knack for insistent rhythm and pure, unrefined electronic noise. "Liberated" and "All Good Girls" became trademark songs for the group. Related act Sister Machine Gun "inherited" an unused song from this period ("Hole In the Ground"), which they included on their Burn album.

Die Warzau as a group then went on hiatus for a number of years, with Marcus and Christie working on other projects. Jim Marcus founded the pure funk group Everplastic while Van Christie worked on Eco-Hed.

By 2004, though, the duo had reconvened and, together with new members Abel Garibaldi and Dan Evans, released Convenience on their Chicago-based label Pulseblack Records. The album was a continuation of the path they started on with Engine, featuring a somewhat more subdued and occasionally commercial sound.

In 2009, Die Warzau continued to break new ground by making many of their most popular songs available for sale as multi-track files, where the different musical elements (vocals, drums, bass, etc.) are available in separate files for remixing by fans. The songs, for sale at fan remixing site RemixGalaxy.com, allow Die Warzau fans the opportunity to create their own versions of classic Die Warzau songs or incorporate the parts into their own original tracks under personal, non-commercial license.

Discography

• Disco Rigido (1989)
• Big Electric Metal Bass Face (1991)
• Engine (1995)
• Convenience (2004)
• Vinyl88 - Not the Best of Die Warzau (2008)

Trivia

• Both Christopher Hall (Stabbing Westward / The Dreaming) and Chris Vrenna were members at one point.
• Kevin Temple (Sister Machine Gun, Apartment 26) was a member during the Engine era.
• Warzone Recorders was started by Van Christie and Jim Marcus in part of Cabrini Green Housing Projects

Sonic Boom Interview

• PULSEBLACK Records, a Chicago Indie Label is now home to Die Warzau Pulseblack Records
• In 1991 Die Warzau supported Nine Inch Nails on tour. NIN Hotline
• Van Christie worked at Traxx Records (from 1994-2004) and worked with Lil Louis on the hit "French Kiss"
• Abel Garibaldi who is credited on "Convenience" is head recording engineer for R. Kelly
• Jim Marcus is a well-respected typeface designer for T26 Font Foundry.
• Album "Convenience" wins Industrial Album of the Year, 2006 Just Plain Folks Music Awards

External links

• Fabryka Industrial Rock webzine interview
• myspace page