How are you doing?
CL: I’m doing great my friend. It’s been a busy year for me but I am loving every minute of it. The past 5 years have been some of my best years in my life. After all these years I still get to live the life I want to. It’s everything I dreamt of when I was starting out with my old Moog. Only negative thing is the sad state of the sales. That causes so many labels and bands to quit. A tiny scene like ours only lives because of the very dedicated followers, and we all need to give it a little bit extra to save the scene we love so much. We need art just as much as the food we eat. So we all need to get out and buy the music you love.
For some years it seems you were having some kind of hibernation but you woke up with a burst of energy and creativity. What made you wake up of this hibernation?
CL: My little trip to hell started in 1999-2000, with the closing of Zoth Ommog and Losing my beloved Father to cancer, and the after math of that whole thing. I lost many people in that process whom I considered to be a part of my family. I lost the faith I had in the music and the whole business and I couldn’t even sit down and play on my Keyboards without crying. It was just too painful, and that lead to a massive depression that lasted about 5 years. I was a vegetable. And the only thing keeping me alive was the love for my husband Kurt and our animals. The problem with me not writing music for those 5 years was that it was maybe the only thing that could get me out of the hell I was in, and thanks to Alfa Matrix I got out. They were the only people who kept e-mailing me all those years, and one day 5 years ago I answered one of the e-mails, and then the floodgates opened up to my inspiration, and the depression just faded into the background. I need to be very careful because it’s there lurking in the shadows just waiting for a chance to take over again, I can feel it. So you won’t see me quitting the music again. I am not going back to that place I was in for so long, no way.
Leaether Strip is one of the acts who had a strong influence on the electronic music scene, how do you look back on your career so far?
Cl: It is still unbelievable for me to look back at the amount of songs I have written since I started to teach myself how to play a Synth and to create sounds. The first time I touched a Synth , it was love at first site and its changed my whole life. I really didn’t have any major goals for my life as a teenager. I had a lot of inner battles going on inside me. Any gay person knows how hard it is to be gay teenager in the closet or out. So that double life and all the lies was stealing all of me and my energy. Then I got my first Synth and suddenly I could express all the stuff I’ve kept in a very secret part of me without having to actually come out and be open about my sexuality. I still remember the day when I had written my very first song. “Dreaming”. I was so happy. I fucking wrote a song! That day I knew exactly what I wanted out of life. And now, so many years later I still get to do it. How lucky can one person get? Some people out there actually like the music I write. Even after I disappeared from the scene for 5 years, they still took me back. I can’t express the gratitude I feel in words. The only way I know how to express myself that way is with my music and lyrics.
You are around for a long time in the ebm/electro scene, in all those years making music has changed a lot, what are the most important changes for you?
CL: The first thing that really started to make this scene develop was the way the prices on the equipment just went down like crazy during the 80’s. It slowly made it possible for anyone to create their very own sound, without having some lame producer with an ego problem or a label dictating everything. It just made the whole underground scene blossom. Then the whole vsti /softsynth scene grew with an explosive force, and now everyone who wants to can start an electronic band. Most of the styles got attacked by the major labels, but one little scene is still after so many years true underground. And I am so grateful that the major labels still think the EBM scene is not worth spending a cent on. They almost did when the whole “New Beat” thing started out. So thank the lord, that the big boys still thinks we make crap music. That is also maybe the biggest reason for you all out there to support the labels and bands by paying for the music you love. If any more labels go down, the whole ebm scene is in deep shit. The people working all the ebm labels now are all doing it for the love of the music. I need to write my songs, so I will keep on doing it no matter if I’m released or not, but one of my biggest joys in life is to share my music with people who appreciate it. We need our little EBM-tribe don’t we?
Ofcourse you as a person have changed a lot in all those years, in what way have you changed?
CL: I am not ashamed to say this, but I still feel as hungry and enthusiastic about my music as I did when I was 16 years old. My music showed me that there was actually something I was good at other than fishing and being a goalkeeper. There is more “meat” on me now and meeting my husband has changed my life. It meant that I could be proud of who I am and not just what I did. It made me a full person. I still suck at saying no to people, and I still explode and change into a monster if I see or hear about someone being cruel to an animal or a child. I might be a bit calmer that I have been, but I am still just a big bear with a big heart.
For many people you are an icon in the music scene, what does this mean to you? Do you have icons or role models yourself?
CL: I have always looked at my listeners as my friends. When I meet them I want to make them feel that. That’s why I never sit and hide in the backstage room, that’s why I spend more than an hour everyday to answer the people who write to me online. I am “just” a fan of the scene as they are. I also write to my favorite bands / artists telling them how much I love their music or art. So I know how good it feels and how happy you get when they actually get their fingers out and answer. Also because I live far away from the actual scene spots, it’s a great way to get to know the people who actually listen to my work. So I try my best to answer everyone. It has been hard this past 6 months because of the concerts and the hard work preparing them, but I’ll try my best. I have lots of musical role models. Fad Gadget. Soft Cell. Depeche Mode. Jean Michel Jarre. Klaus Schulze. Tangerine Dream. Rummelsnuff. Bronski Beat. Skinny Puppy. Boytronic. Buxtehude. Bach. Charles-Marie Widor. Martin Hall. Dead or Alive. The Skids. Kraftwerk. Marc Almond. Marc and the Mambas. Baby Dee. The Sweet. Human league. and so many other amazing artists.
Leaether Strip has released quite a few new albums over the past few years, where does this endless inspiration come from?
CL: Yeah, I also have a hard time believing where the hell all those songs came from, and the flow hasn’t stopped yet. I have always been very productive. I am addicted to the whole process of songwriting and sound creation, and if I cannot get into my studio just a little bit every day I get cranky. I do stop working when Kurt gets home from work though. I have no idea where all the ideas and sounds come from, but my brain is always coming up with ideas all the time. The best way to get new ideas is when I walk the dogs on my own. Sometimes all it takes is a word or if I hear or read or see some news thing about something interesting. Once in a while I even turn on the comedian and write something silly. Humor is also very important to incorporate into the music I think. We shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously all the time we all need to talk to the inner clown once in a while. Also Sex is fun, even to write about.
Can you tell us the story behind the latest album “aengelmaker” and why you felt you had to use this title?
CL: First I’d like to point out that the “Ængelmaker” album is not a concept album.
The title song is about the only real mass murderer we’ve had in Danish history. She happened to be Female. Her name was Dagmer Overbye. There was this documentary about her on the TV and I was instantly pulled into her story. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more terrible story ever. I then found out that there was a book about her too and I had to write that song after I read it. I hope that one day it will be released in other countries because it’s the best tale of the evil we all are capable of, and the value of a life. She murdered between 9 and 25 children -- of which one was her own -- during a seven-year period from 1913 to 1920. She was sentenced to death, but the verdict was changed to life in a work camp. But if you read about her horrific childhood you can almost understand her. It was almost like she thought she was saving them from the childhood she had.
I also think we today have a big problem with seeing the actual value of any life form. We never learn do we?
A big surprise for us was the cover version you did with Erica Dunham (Unter Null) of the ‘80s classic Don’t you want me. Who’s idea was this and how did this collaboration go?
CL: We’ll it was my idea. I was working on mixing Unter Null’s next album while I was working on the “Ængelmaker” album. I wanted to ask her if she would do a song with me for the limited edition and the first duet I thought off was “Don’t you want me” , everyone knows this song, but not for the lyrics or the chorus, but for that amazing bass line I never grow tired off. And as you may or may not know I am a bass freak. And that bass line is still after all these years, Godlike to me. Sadly Erica’s studio burned down the day after she did those vocals. But the good thing is that she’s on her feet again.
You also released Retention 1 and Retention 2, what made you decide to do this? Were the original recordings missing something or asking for an update?
CL: The first idea was to just release the old albums re-mastered because so many of the new fans had to pay way too much on e-bay for the old cd’s, but I didn’t want to do that. I found that really boring. So that’s why I had the idea to re-write and not re-mix the old songs on a separate cd and pop it into a box. I am a collector myself and though I buy the releases of my favorite bands old stuff I only play the ones that have something extra on it. The “plain” ones just collect dust, and that’s a crime. I also find it really fun to do, though it takes a lot of time. It brings back some fun memories of when I wrote the original versions. I am currently working on No3 in the line. Its Solitary Confinement this time around and I am about 50% done with the re-makes and I am really happy with he result so far. Its taking a bit longer this time because of the concerts, but it should be out early 2010. There will be something out before that but I cannot tell you about it yet. It’s a surprise.
The biggest surprise is that you started doing live shows again, what has changed your mind and how does it feel to be back on the stages?
CL: I am just as surprised about it as you are. My back problem started to get better after I finally found a chiropractor who knew what he was doing. I still didn’t have any concert plans in mind, but then
I was awarded a Golem award for what I have done for the electronic music over the years in Denmark. It was the night I was going to accept that award the whole thing happened. I was giving my “Thank you” speech on stage and then this flew out of my big mouth “I promise you that I will get back on stage, and that Denmark will be the first place I play in”, and I had no idea I was going to say this before it flew out. Kurt almost dropped the video camera when I said it. He had no idea either. Maybe it was something inside me that know that if I said it then and there, there was no pulling back, and I had to do it. And I am SO happy I said those words, because the first 6 shows have been unforgettable for me. I also got to play in Philadelphia for 2 nights and my biggest gig ever at the Amphi festival. And you won’t believe how much all this have meant to me. Getting to meet and talk to everyone has really given me faith that this scene will survive for sure. Thanks to everyone who showed up and will show up at the future shows. You all deserve a big hug!
What are the currents project you are working on?
CL: Right now I am working on a really special release for this fall/winter. I will not tell you much about it but it will be really special and a must have for collectors, and its also a limited released. I am, as I said earlier, also working on Retention no3.
I have also completed a new album / soundtrack that will be released spring 2010 called “Dark Passages” .It got delayed because of the financial situation in the USA so the filming got delayed, but they’re working on the movie right now. It’s not like “Serenade for the dead” at all.
It’s more like a “regular” Leæther Strip album, and I am so happy that I finally got to make music for a movie.
You can read more about the movie here: http://www.outworldentertainment.com/DarkPassages/CRADLE.html
Is Klutae still alive?
CL:
Right now it sleeping, but who knows when it’ll show its ugly face again. Right now I got enough to do with the concerts and the releases I am working on now. I am also involved with another project
I am really excited about. It will be made public very soon.
Any last words for the readers?
CL: Thanks for the support you’ve giving my work over the years, and for all the love from the people who have been at one of my concerts this year. I hope you understand just how much this support means to me. This scene can only exist because of people like you. Thanks and Hugs
Claus Larsen
www.myspace.com/leaetherstrip