Alef Zero: Yornet Exclusive Interview and New Song!

Czech group Alef Zero are an eclectic bunch, pioneering a style they call "broken beats," originating from drum'n'bass, breakbeat, ska, punk and electronic. They often perform live with a horn section, and in their own description, it's "rock-like-hell stuff." The group is preparing to self-release their second full-length work, "Back To Zero," following up on 2007s "Olive." They have provided YORNET with an exclusive new song, "Face 2 Face." The new album release party will be on April 27 in Pardubice in the club Zluty Pes.

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MC Vaant

MC Vaant from Alef Zero performing live

I had a chance to interview vocalist MC Vaant and keyboardist/programmer Adin about the new record, as well as a range of other topics, from musical influences to the latest attempts at Internet copyright protection.

Tom: I understand that, as a group, you try to avoid genre labels. How would you describe your music?

Adin: We don't try to avoid genre labels, but they avoid us. The question how to describe our music is a bit difficult for us, because some members grew up on punk, others on classical music or hard core or pop music and these genres inspired each of us in different ways. If we were to put it in simple terms, we call it broken beats.

Vaant: Well, I call it punk though I know that quite a lot of punks would disagree having heard the music we make. For me it is more about the attitude, DIY ethics, alternative subculture and non-commercial approach rather than the genre as such. In terms of music, I'd say it's pop and I'm not ashamed to say that. In fact, I've been trying to clear pop's name☺ But I suppose you can say there are some jazz, drum'n'bass, breakbeat influences there.

Tom: How did the band form? What was the process like, synthesizing all of these different styles and forms of musical expression?

Vaant: The band formed in 2004 on the remains of a band called Blow, which was one of the first acts to play live jungle/dnb/break in Czechoslovakia in the late 1990s. There was Adin and Budy (drums) there and later on I joined them for a few gigs as well. After Blow broke up, we went on making music and later on our friends Ivet and Cenda joined, having played in another band, Daen and the Groove Company. I think we somehow manage to synthesize all of those different styles even though I would add more punk and hard core in it.

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Adin

Tom: Who and what are your influences?

Adin: David Sylvian, Beatles, Goldie, The Holy Trinity.

Vaant: I grew up listening to the Beatles and I have to say they saved my life. It was in the middle of 1980s and in the communist regime we had, or whatever that was, there wasn’t much you could listen to without having to blush with shame. So after I found my father's Abbey Road LP, everything changed. Then I discovered all the mighty music of 60s, 70s, punk, new wave, no wave, hard core, and then the music we actually witnessed emerging in 1990s such as jungle, rave, breakbeat, acid jazz, etc. I was influenced by lyrics and music of bands such as Crass, Scum of Toytown, Chumbawamba, Citizen Fish, Radical Dance Faction, NoMeansNo, Dead Kennedys, Levellers, Sonic Youth, Pixies and many more. Nevertheless, after all those years, the Beatles beat them all☺

Tom: How do you release your music? Do you make vinyl albums, as some young bands are doing again in the United States? Are you interested in making albums or just releasing individual songs? What do you feel about iTunes as a means of disseminating music?

Adin: Yes, we have decided to make both a vinyl album and CD. I prefer releasing an album to individual songs, listeners can then more easily get the picture of the music we make as a band.

Vaant: I love vinyl. I have about 350 LPs in my collection so I was happy when Alef Zero decided to release vinyl too. Actually, I do not think that some young bands are starting to make vinyl albums again as you say. There have always been at least two huge scenes and markets, I dare say, where people preferred vinyl to CDs – punk and dance (dnb, breakbeat, reggae, techno, house) scenes. It is just that it is now coming back to the mainstream or other genres as well. As for iTunes, to be honest, I do not know as I have never used it.

Tom: When you perform live, do you leave room in your arrangements for improvisation on anyone's part? If so, do you also do this in the studio?

Adin: Our songs have a fixed structure, but every gig is different and we can improvise. In the studio we work in a different way - the record is made in individual tracks and there is also a possibility to improvise with mixing after it has been recorded. We want to make more music arising from jamming on rehearsals and it is difficult to tell which way it will evolve.

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Bady

Bady from Alef Zero

Tom: Tell us about your new album. When was the material written? When and where was it recorded? Do you plan to attract label attention, or are you happy to self-release?

Adin: The material was written in the last 3 years and all the tracks were recorded at our studio in Pardubice just a few weeks ago. We will release this album on our own label Manoa Sub Rec., but we have made an agreement with another company for distribution, and thanks to that we will come to other places like iTunes or to other countries.

Tom: Are you planning a tour in conjunction with the release of the new album? David Bowie is credited with pointing out that artists used to tour to support an album, but now release albums to support their tour. Is this the case with Alef Zero?

Vaant: Long live David Bowie! He's one of my heroes. We will definitely tour to support the album in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, hopefully. I am not sure though if it will be a tour in terms of a number of consecutive days spent on the road but there will definitely be more gigs after the album is released.

Tom: You have a wide range of musical expression. Who generally comes to your shows? What is the age range? Do you find a mix of subcultures in your audience - dance, punk, ska - that sort of thing?

Vaant: Well, I'd say that generally it is people who listen to drum'n'bass or this kind of alternative dance stuff. The problem around here might be that quite a lot of people lock themselves in their own favourite genres, disliking the others. So I can imagine a punk rocker that would spit on us because we dare to use some electronic stuff and that’s why we can't be punk. Or someone else who is a die-hard dnb fan and Alef Zero is not dnb enough for him/her. I have bumped into people like this many times. But in my opinion, the system and regime burdens us with so many restrictions that I can't see why I should restrict myself in such a free space as music.

As for the age range, it is somewhere between 15 to 40, mostly around about 25. Yes, a new generation is coming while people of our age are sitting at home watching TV, which is bad, or raising children, which is good.

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Alef Zero - Ivet

Ivet from Alef Zero, 2012

Tom: What are your thoughts about so-called internet copyright protection measures like ACTA, SOPA and PIPA?

Adin: In my opinion the matter is quite simple – those who want to make big money with music, let them earn it - that is their choice. In the Czech Republic we have a bizarre organization called OSA – it is a non-governmental organisation that is responsible for collecting fees for public production, but their methods approximate those of the mafia.

Vaant: There is something very rotten about ACTA, SOPA and PIPA. It is not just about music, copyright or intellectual property. It seems to have far-reaching implications for human rights as such, personal freedom, freedom of expression and communication privacy. There was a problem already in the very beginning of this issue when the initial negotiations were kept in secret and outside existing forums. There is a lot of money behind it as it also criminalizes generic medicine, for example. Just recently we have found out that even governments and parliaments of the countries involved had no idea what it is about. And neither has the general public thinking it doesn’t concern them. I'm afraid that unless this attitude changes we will wake up in another totalitarian regime one day. Huxley, Orwell, Zamyatin and others described that quite aptly.

Video and Links

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Alef Zero Logo

For a glimpse of Alef Zero in action, check out the band performing "WOO" in Pardubice, CZ, 24/03/2010.  Follow the links below for more info, and listen to their new song "Face 2 Face" at the bottom of this article - a YORNET exclusive!