Published by Alessandro Violante on August 22, 2025
The “ULTRA-HEAVY BEAT” band KMFDM will tour over Europe in 2026, and two years ago have celebrated their 40th anniversary. We’ve talked with them also about these topics.
Hi! It’s a great pleasure to talk with you on our website. KMFDM was one of the first bands we started to listen to, when we discovered industrial music as a whole. We also think that other people, perhaps having an interest in heavy electronic music, or being open-minded metal music listeners, had the opportunity of discovering industrial music thanks to your albums. It’s not by chance that we’ve sometimes read your reviews on traditional metal zines, too. What do you think about it?
Hi Alessandro, it’s Sascha KMFDM here, thanks for this opportunity and your excellent questions!
I never thought of KMFDM as an “industrial” act until in 1989 when we first went to the US and were told that our style of music was called industrial rock over there. To me “industrial” is Throbbing Gristle, maybe SPK, and perhaps Einstürzende Neubauten and ZEV, along with a few others.
I was growing up to glam rock, Bowie, T.Rex, Gary Glitter, Slade and Alice Cooper, New York Dolls etc. and always loved a crunchy guitar riff. Later on I discovered Krautrock which influenced me with its’ “non-rock’n’roll” attitude, denying the generally accepted influx of blues into the popular music of the time, see Rolling Stones etc. Also I loved the repetitiveness and precision of electronic music like for instance Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream to some extent.
So I played a bit of bass guitar in some ominous ‘bands’ as a teenager but quickly found out that it always was the same old 3-chord blues and rock schemes that were omnipresent. And I never liked to be ‘in a band’, hanging out in stinky rehearsal spaces. I wanted more and different from all of that. Then the short lived punk-rock thing happened and it opened my eyes and my brain insofar as I realized: everyone can be a ‘rock-star’, you’re not born that way, everybody can get up on a stage and do their thing. A few years went by and I started Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid as a one-off art project where sound accompanied an exhibit of paintings and sculptures by a German group of artists named Erste Hilfe (First Aid) on February 29, 1984 at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. The concept was simple, loud and eccentric. I stuck with the name and later abbreviated it to KMFDM.
Then I bought a sampler. I think probably not everybody who reads this knows what that is, a sampler. It’s a device that lets you record a short piece of sound and then play it chromatically on a regular keyboard. The early versions of samplers let you record only very short pieces of sound, like 0.7 seconds but as time moved on and technology developed you could “sample” longer bits of sound .That’s when I finally could realize what I really wanted to do. With a drum machine, a sequencer and a synth I could build the basics of a track and then utilize the sampler to bring in “stolen” bits of music, like a heavy guitar riff taken from somewhere. Finally the merging of heavy riffs and electronic precision was at my fingertips.
And so, over time slowly but steadily as KMFDM became more and more known, listeners of heavy metal bands would sometimes find their favorite guitar-hero riffs assembled in a totally different way, merged with stomping four-on-the-floor disco beats and electronic elements. Quite a few traditional metal bands asked me to do remixes of their music back in those days, so I got to work on tracks by Metallica, Megadeth and Flotsam & Jetsam, to name a few.
At some point I was working with guitarists that were capable of playing good enough to not needing to sample others anymore 😉
In 2024, you’ve marked your 40th anniversary. As previously stated, you are rightfully considered pioneers in the hybridization of electronic and metal music, and during all these years, you’ve been incredibly prolific, and extremely loyal to your fanbase and to this kind of sound. As listeners, we can only be glad about it. What are your feelings about this very important milestone?
I was convinced that I never would reach the age of thirty years, let alone having a musical project that would be around for over 40 years !
Being prolific and being loyal to our fanbase, and then being loyal to us I value as a great accomplishment. Resting on these laurels is not my thing, however, it must go on, new music, more tours, more, more and ever more… without our fanbase that simply would not be possible. They are hungry and want to be fed. What I am most surprised by and pleased about is the fact that our fanbase keeps rejuvenating. Many bands that have been around for a long time experience that their fans grow older alongside them. Not so with KMFDM. We see kids right against the stage that are young, as young as 14, 16, 19 years old. We even see parents bringing their little children to our concerts. Sometimes 3 generations of a family show up at our shows. It’s amazing to see that kind of devotion and allegiance. We consider ourselves very lucky and show our gratitude to our followers. Nobody has to pay for VIP tickets, we’re always accessible.
Recently, you’ve announced a new European tour which will take place the next year. What would you tell us about it?
When KMFDM relocated to Europe in 2008 we toured and toured and toured in Europe, trying to establish a foothold here. It turned out to be pretty futile, club shows were barely attended and music festivals would always have the same predictable and boring roster of bands. So after a last attempt in 2013 we gave up. It was too expensive to do shows in Europe for us and the returns were too meager. So now, after a 12-year break we decided to try a European tour again, and surprisingly tickets are selling like hot cakes, even 6 months ahead of the actual dates. So much so that several concert promoters in a number of cities are looking to upgrade the events to larger venues already. We’re very much looking forward to be reconnecting with our European followers and rock their world again !
Your last release, Hau Ruck 2025, is a revamped version of your 2005 album. What has prompted the reworking of that work, twenty years after its release?
Over the years, whenever I heard songs off of HAU RUCK I kept thinking that the sound quality was lacking a bit and yet it being a very good album. So at some point I decided to rework the original recordings and without adding new elements to it, remix it with the sonic quality of nowadays.
I think it turned out very nice.
“Feed Our Fame” is a tongue-in-cheek track in the tradition of others, like the iconic “Sucks”, or the more recent “Bitches”. You’ve always had a humorous component to your music, and you are not afraid of using even what may seem, on a superficial level, self-deprecation and contempt towards your fanbase in your lyrics. Is it something you do in order to take yourself not too seriously, and to remind people to worship none, even you?
There’s definitely a lot of humor involved and self-deprecation is a gentlemanly quality in my mind. KMFDM is very serious about KMFDM but we never take ourselves too seriously. And I really like the way that you put it: to remind people to worship none, even us !!!
“New American Century” is quite a political song about oppression and obsessive control by authority in America, and, sadly, it still rings true today. You have never shied away from openly attacking the government – for example, on your recent album “Let Go” there is a new version of WWIII, named WW 2023. The original song was released more than 20 years ago, and we have the idea its lyrics still describe the world we live in today, too. What’s your opinion? What do you think about the current worldwide situation?
When diplomacy is replaced by tweets, when political realism is thrown under the bus and imbeciles are voted into powerful positions we have reached an extremely dangerous and combustible place in geopolitics. The news aren’t the news anymore, everything is a 24-hour spin-cycle of regurgitated bullshit, lies and falsehoods, boasting and revenge-taking at what cost exactly ??
I am worried.
Speaking again about “Let Go”, It has many elements that recall your early works, but with an updated sound and, of course, a modern production. We have strong dub vibes, old-school electronic music, and experimental moments – even flirting with pop undertones at times – as well as more aggressive tracks and the use of samples, all trademarks of yours. For example, “Next move” is an interesting and peculiar mixing of moody electro sounds, dub moments and even a hip-hop interlude which gives it a strong identity, while “Airhead” is a laid-back track reminiscent of 90’s pop-rock, even if graced by some strong riffs. We are really interested in knowing more about the mindset behind this album, and what you wanted to express.
It is the very nature of KMFDM to keep experimenting, even more so after so many releases, to keep it interesting, to keep progressing instead of harking back on things we’ve already done to exhaustion. At the same time I am very fond of the occasional nod to older songs and sounds, it is part of the ‘conceptual continuity’ first described by Frank Zappa who I am a huge fan of. Each of us brings their own musical background and tastes to the proverbial table and we burst with ideas and contributions. Next Move is a good example of the melding of styles and musical ideas. It is a journey starting in a sort of hip-hop-dub direction, then moving into a rap part and traversing on into something like Nigerian-influenced pop rhythms.
Often times it’s feels really refreshing to beat the old verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-end song structure and instead meander from A via B to C.
You’ve released many albums over all these years, and I think everyone has their favorite ones. Now, we know this is probably not something easy to answer, but we would like to ask you anyway which ones, in your opinion, have been the most important for the development of the “KMFDM sound”.
It’s hard to say because, of course, I have my favorites and not-so favorite albums. Therefore I will answer this question by sticking to, as you put it, the most important for the development of the sound, regardless of my personal taste.
1.) UAIOE because we really stepped out of the early beginnings from the previous albums into something fresh and bold, that release was the reason KMFDM was first invited to the US and subsequently I got signed by Wax Trax Records.
2.) NAÏVE. The first truly ‘International’ release we had. Staking our claim in the US.
3.) XTORT The first step towards abandoning the “old” line up and doing something really different than before.
4.) ATTAK. A new beginning after a two year hiatus and the introduction and addition of Lucia Cifarelli to the lineup.
5.) WWIII introducing Andy Selway on drums and Jules Hodgson and Steve White on guitars brought a whole new sound to KMFDM, hard and heavy brit-influenced rock. This was the longest steady lineup so far, it lasted from 2002-2015.
6.) PARADISE Again, a fresh beginning with a reduced lineup and a somewhat more experimental direction
Since your earliest official releases, all the artwork for your albums, but one, has been made by the same artist – Brute! aka Aidan Hughes. It’s amazing how this collaboration has lasted over the years, and we can safely say that, to many people, his art and your music are intrinsically linked. How would you describe your collaboration with him today?
BRUTE’s artwork is KMFDM’s face, our visual brand. It makes KMFDM easily recognizable and sets us apart from most other acts. It gives the audio content of each release a distinct storyline, sometimes more and other times less directly related to a releases’ title.
But even if you forgot the tile, you would remember the image.
Many years ago, Sascha created the definition “Ultra Heavy Beat” in order to describe the music of KMFDM. How would you further define it now, after all these years and releases? Do you think that your particular sound still holds influence over newer acts?
As I had mentioned earlier on, ‘industrial’ never occurred to me as a description of KMFDM’s sound, yet I felt it necessary to have a term for what we were doing, hence I named it ULTRA-HEAVY BEAT, because that’s what it is to me, it’s beat driven and heavy, it’s not ambient nor EBM, not EDM nor anything, we’re our own genre if you want, and yes, I keep hearing quite often from various people that our sound is or was an influence for what they are doing. And many times I hear how KMFDM’ s music has helped someone through a difficult time, or even ’saved their life’. That makes me happy because I feel it is important to instill meaning and a positive message into our form of art, it sets it apart from the mindless drivel you hear on the radio or the elevator or a shopping mall 😉
Written by Alessandro “FLUX” Violante and Davide Pappalardo