Mooner Industries / Erkrankung Durch Musique
Interview by Erkki Rautio / pHinnWeb
October 6, 2001 - Mooner Industries hails from Munich, Germany -- the Bavarian capital of South Germany which alongside the more traditional tourist attractions, such as the famous beer-swilling Oktoberfest and those ever-sexy Lederhosen, has a long electronic dance music tradition from Giorgio Moroder's 1970s productions for Donna Summer to today's popular Disko B and International Deejay Gigolos record labels.
Mooner maintains the Erkrankung Durch Musique label, which specialises in re-inventing the electronic new wave/punk/disco of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Under its roster Erkrankung Durch Musique holds such artists as Steril, Hong Kong Counterfeit, Queen of Japan, The Magnificents and Mix Mup, on all which you can find more info under Mooner Industries' own Web site. EDM has also published a compilation of Commodore 64 SID music including such artists as DMX Krew, Gerhard Potuznik, Steril and many more.
pHinnWeb got into contact with Mooner Industries through a mutual friend and fellow Chicks on Speed co-conspirator, Sven C. Steinmeyer of schönereWelt!, who shares the same office space with Mr. Mooner, and this little E-mail interview was the imminent result.
- What is Mooner Industries?
Mooner Industries is my artistic pseudonym, as I am Mooner. That is nothing more than my name, basically.- What is Erkrankung Durch Musique?
EDM is the name of my record label.- How did you get started in music?
I always consumed a lot of music. I started off doing performances and parties with a group that I founded with friends in 1993, called GMAM. We did parties in empty factories, abandoned buildings and sites for a long time -- but more in a sort of a sub-art background including performances, happenings more than techno raves. Later I met Splank [of Zombie Nation fame], and at the same time thought about doing a compilation with early electronics classics. I deejayed at illegal parties, that's how the whole thing started.- Do you have any role models or other people who have influenced you?
Not really, it was always very important to us to do something different to everything else that was happening. In Munich, facilities and good cultural happenings were rare, that's why we wanted to start something like a subculture.- And any current acts which would particularly impress you, or feel are on the same wavelength with you?
There's a lot of music I feel close to, a lot of people I feel I have things in common with over the whole planet. I can't really think of any particular WOW effect for the last months; a Gomma record with old NYC disco/New Wave/electro tracks hit quite a lot the target for what I was looking for, so does the new Gigolo release called Crossover.- How about your previous live performances and tours?
Best and worst experiences? Any interesting gig stories?
Worst: deejaying in a big club for a 5-hour set, and having food poisoning.Best: Doing the Club le Bomb End of World party at the eclipse of the sun last year [2000], where 500 people went mad in our Punkclub, basically destroyed the whole venue.
- How is the Munich scene at the moment? Are you well connected with other local record labels and artists?
I am in close contact with Disko B, Gigolo Records, Gomma, and some others. The lack of night life makes people work a lot on music; the scene, in my opinion, is very good.- And how would you comment the scene in Germany in general?
Hard to say: I feel that in Munich, though there's not much going on, people really know how to party (is that a sort of a North-South thing??) When I was in NYC, nobody was dancing; that really surprised me, and I thought people in Germany are maybe not that bad, after all. Germany is kind of taking over the electronic music scene; labels like Kompakt, etc. are in every shop around this globe. I'd say the scene is very big.- How do you see the future of electro music?
Electro has always been there, and always will. Music is constantly changing, so does electro.Your current/all time Top Ten?
Hm? See www.mooner-industries.de/charts.html. I like a lot of music. Punk really influenced me, so did Kraftwerk. Can't really put it down to 10 songs...- The future plans of Mooner Industries?
To take over.- Your favourite question no one ever asks in interviews?
"Can I make you really big?"
Mooner mode
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