Still Throbbing

Known to make the faint of heart puke, the confrontational and controversial British industrial avant-post-punk noise band Throbbing Gristle has only played twice in the United States and that was way back in 1981. But soon the band will be clanking, tweeting and humming on American soil again, with three shows planned in town before the group heads out on a nationwide tour. We caught up with members Genesis P- Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter to talk about experimental music, performance art and how the band fits into both.

NYPress: How has your music changed, especially considering how the world, musically and otherwise, is so vastly different than it was when you started?

Cosey Fanni Tutti: The main issue that bugs me is the prevalence of superficial tinkering with sound software and calling it experimental. It’s disappointing when you hear something and you know exactly how it’s been done. It leaves me disinterested.

Chris Carter: The majority of it is just regurgitated crap and flotsam.That’s an ongoing “issue” with me. People seem to think that having a PC, a bunch of cracked music software, a hard drive full of presets and generic loops at your disposal makes you an experimental musician, noise or otherwise—it does not! Having imagination, talent, inventiveness, determination and vision usually does though.

Why does the world need Throbbing Gristle again now? Can you continue to break the rules, musically speaking, after you've already broken them all?

CFT: Throbbing Gristle is now because it is as relevant now as it was back in the ’70s, albeit for some different reasons. Basically the notion is the same—breaking down the acceptance of passivity and a return to the “self.” I’d like to think that Throbbing Gristle hasn’t broken all the rules in music and that there are people out there who can take up the mantle. I remain positive about this because it’s an essential element of the legacy. We set out to break the rules of “music,” but we were also responding to what was absent in our lives.

As early pioneers in the world of noise and experimental music, what are the issues now as opposed to then?

CC: We were (still are) early exponents of the whole independent music “Do-It-Yourself” ethos, the “break away from the majors and just make a noise” attitude. In fact, we went even further than the punks, whose mantra was "learn three chords and form a band." We said: Don't bother learning chords; just make noise, because anyone can make music.

But the irony is that now, due to the affordability and ease of using the technology and computers, 100,000 times as many people are (or think they are) making noise and experimental music. Which you’d think was a good thing... it’s not! Some of the best experimental things I’ve heard in recent years come from people using minimalist set-ups, often because of financial constraints.

Do you, collectively or individually, still consider performance art to be relevant to Throbbing Gristle and your shows?

CFT: No, Throbbing Gristle in this incarnation is different. We all have our separate projects outside of Throbbing Gristle, whereas during our first incarnation we were collectively involved in [parallel] art projects to Throbbing Gristle activities (except Chris). Inevitably there was crossover, particularly as we didn't consider [the band] to be totally independent to our art projects.

If your question really is: ‘Is Throbbing Gristle performance art?’ Then I’d say no, and it never was.

How do you feel about the meaning or message of Throbbing Gristle? In the past, you purposely tried to ruffle feathers via agitprop, but now you’re a bit mellower.

Genesis P-Orridge: Different times require different strategies. There’s enough aggression and depression and concern for the future already so to add to that would be counterproductive. It’s better to present things in the most optimistic and seductive way so that people are still open-minded and open hearted to the message. There’s so much aggression that people have learned to switch off very quickly.

As a condition of me being involved with Throbbing Gristle again in this incarnation we said there are certain songs we can’t sing, because they were for an era where we were angry nihilistic and so on, and that’s not me now. And we’re not actors, and we can’t pretend to be angry, and we don’t think it’s constructive to talk in that way either. We could be misunderstood and just become gratuitous and vicarious rather than meaningful, the original motivation would be lost and invalid. So we were a little surprised when they said they expected me to do these songs.

How does it feel to be performing live in NYC after all these years?

CFT: I’m really excited about it. I’ve played New York before but not as Throbbing Gristle, so it’ll be a totally different experience.

CC: Well, I (as part of Chris & Cosey) have played NYC before but Throbbing Gristle never has, but it’s all feeling fine.

> Throbbing Gristle

April 16 & 28, Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 317 Clermont Ave. (at Lafayette St.), Brooklyn, (866) 468- 7619; 6, $35. Also April 17 at (le) poisson rouge.