| The Family |  |
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| Victor Nolton & Carl S. Johansen: May 18th, 2004 |  |
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| Ven: | | I read somewhere that you started working for Praga Khan in 1994. What did you do before 1994? |
| Carl: | | I started in the early 80's with The Neon Judgement
and worked sort of "fulltime" with them, very much the
same way I work with Praga today; as a producer,
sometimes co-writer, studio-engineer, front-of-house
engineer on the tours, but also designing the
stage-shows, doing some of the management etc... In
'88 I set up my own studio in the building of Play it
again, Sam!, and worked with many of the labels'
bands, such as ý;GRUMH, the Cassandra Complex, the
Weathermen, Trisomie 21, Minimal Man and others...
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| Ven: | | Praga's adventures seem to have started around 1988, How exact did you meet Praga Khan? |
| Carl: | | Belgium is a small country, everyone knows each other,
especially if you're working in the same music style.
I know Praga since the very beginning, he was one of
the owners of Antler Records, the label that released
the Neon Judgement's first single "Factory Walk".
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| Ven: | | Before you started working with Praga Khan/Lords of
Acid/MNO stuff,
were you a fan yourself? Did you go out and buy the
music everytime a
new release came out? What was your first album of
any of the MNO
projects you bought? |
| Carl: | | I'm not a fan of any band, I do have respect for many
artists. I never buy music.
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| Ven: | | As with many people in Lords of Acid/Praga Khan history, everyone has stage names. Yours is the famous Carl S. Johansen, how did this name come about? |
| Carl: | | Carl S. Johansen is my real name. Ludo is too.
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| Ven: | | In all of the years you've been involved in music,
is there anything
that you haven't done and would like to? For
instance, I remember
from talking to you in the past that you were really
excited about
working on the Young Primitives/Not Strictly Rubens
projects. |
| Carl: | | Sure there's one thing I haven't done, but I'm doing
it right now. We're creating "The Next Dimension", and
are working on it since more than a year now. It's
gonna be the most fabulous show Praga Khan has ever
done.
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| Ven: | | With technology advancing the way it is, I notice
you use Macs (good
choice). What kind of equipment did you use back in
the 90's to make
music? (I think I saw an Atari 1024 ST in the attic
studio one time). |
| Carl: | | Yep, had Atari for many years, and Commodore 64 before
that. On the Macs we use Cubase, Logic and Protools
these days. |
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| Ven: | | Aside from working with Praga and various other
groups, personally
what are a few of your favorite groups (perhaps
outside of the
techno,electric genre)? |
| Carl: | | As I said, I don't really have favorite groups.
Occasionally there might be an album or song that I
really like. Madonna's "Ray of Light" is the perfect
example. |
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| Ven: | | If you were given a 2 week paid vacation and could
go anywhere in the
world, where would you go? |
| Carl: | | I'd come and visit you, Ven
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| Ven: | | Are there any aspects of music making or equipment
used in music
making that you miss now that we have advanced so
much? |
| Carl: | | Don't really miss anything 'cause we kept all the
nicer older gear. We still use a lot of analogue
stuff, especially compressors etc. And we kept a lot
of the synths, we still use Prophet, ARP, Oberheim
synths.
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| Ven: | | How many hours a day (roughly) do you spend in thestudio? |
| Carl: | | Don't even wanna think about this. |
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| Ven: | | What would you consider to be your top 3 best
produced albums?
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| Carl: | | Well, production is one thing, but if the songs, the
lyrics, the musician's perfomances aren't there,
there's only little to hide with production. Oliver's
definately one of the best producers in Belgium or
even in Europe, and if I say that Electric Religion
and Pragamatic are really well produced, it's also
because my favorit Praga songs are on those albums,
and Maurice is always the creator of the spine of the
songs.
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| Ven: | | I know for me there is this feeling I get when I
hear Praga's music,
and when I see them live or on video, the hair
stands up on the back
of my neck. How do you feel when you hear and see
the music. Is it
the same kind of feeling? and when you hear the
music you've produced
etc, do you get a great feeling of accomplishment? |
| Carl: | | Well, I think it's different. Sure, I do like the
music, and I do like the people I'm working with, I
would have chosen another job a long time ago if I
wouldn't. But when you create songs from scratch in
the studio, or when you do a live gig, there are so
many technical aspects involved that the feeling we
get from it, must be different. Fans can just relax
and enjoy.
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| Ven: | | Out of all the shows of Praga and Lords what would
be the 1 show that
stands out above the rest? |
| Carl: | | Impossible to tell, also because of what I wrote in my
previous answer. Sure we've done shows in Werchter or
Tokyo for 50.000 or 60.000 fans, that we'll always
remember. But we've done such brilliant tours with
Lords of Acid in the States (like Sextacy Ball in '95)
and with Lords and Praga later. Impossible to pick out
1... |
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| Ven: | | Being a man of music is there any group or artist
out there, that if
given the chance, you would like to meet (assuming
they are still
alive)? |
| Carl: | | Not really, no...
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| Ven: | | If you could change 1 aspect of Praga or Lords, what
would it be? |
| Carl: | | With Electric Religion just out, and The Next
Dimension on the tracks, I don't think we should
change a lot... |
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| Ven: | | You are very talented in what you do, did you take
any college type
courses, self taught, or just a natural genius in
what you do? |
| Carl: | | Oh, Ven, please....
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| Ven: | | With Electric Religion out in Europe, and I am
hoping soon in the US,
do you think this will drive Praga Khan over the
top?
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| Carl: | | Well, it's definately Praga Khan's best album ever.
But the way music has evolved, making a brilliant
album is one thing, and perhaps the only thing we
musicians can do. It is now in the hands of so many
business people, record companies, promo guys etc.
Let's hope for the best. |
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| Ven: | | Do you ever think Praga Khan's music will grow so
big that eventually
Lords of Acid music will cease to be worked on? |
| Carl: | | I honestly have the feeling we'll make another Lords
album. Can't yet tell when though... |
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| Ven: | | Last question.. Was this interview painful? :)
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| Carl: | | What do you think? |
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| New Members! | |
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