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I’m
just listening to the superb Throbbing Gristle CD ‘TGNOW’
(2005) which I told Genesis P-Orridge in Sheffield last
year that I liked very much, and again I start to recall
the many snippets of conversations we had during a whole
day prior to the Psychic TV / PTV3 concert on Oct 5th
2006.
Pointing
a movie cam at everything would have changed everything.
A certain passiveness while in the company of the 11 strong
troupe meant not only was I open and observant to their
ways of working and being but meant we could talk as and
when we felt like it. I soaked up GPO's apparently inexhaustible
flow of inspiration and ideas and enjoyed the friendliness
and antics of all the group and crew on this first date
of their tour. For almost a whole day and night it was
as though each moment was magnified as I was aware I was
in was in the presence of this highly influential artist
and group.
The
trip was being recorded, a young French woman wandered
around filming with a gently whirring antique Super 8
and I kept noticing a minidisk player with a microphone
sticking out of it lying around wherever things were happening
between the dressing rooms and the stage and bar area.
Gen tells me it was Bryon Gysin that said to him everyone
will want to know him when he’s old and now at almost
57 it is coming true with three documentaries currently
being made. As he left the dressing room to prepare for
the concert I called out, ‘hopefully you’ll
be able to see them all’. Of course, documentaries
will be made and research will continue into Genesis P-Orridge
and his related work long after he has left the room...
Here's
a few questions I posed to Genesis recently via email.
J:
Hi Gen, it was an honor and a pleasure to spend the whole
day with you and Psychic TV last October. You told me
then that you get around 500 emails a day, so thank you
very much for agreeing to this interview.
G:
No worry.
J: Still as prolific as ever Gen! A huge burst of recent
activity with Throbbing Gristle regrouping, Psychic TV3
concerts and soon albums from both groups and TG video
due out this year too - quite a treat for everyone. The
taster on the web from the forthcoming TG album 'The Endless
Not' sounds really exciting. After what seems a lengthy
sojourn from the limelight do you feel a ressurgence of
power with what's going on?
G:
I started out being a painter. And like many painters
I was looking for a new challenge. Because it is not easy
to make money with art. It's even less easy to make money
with music so one needs to maintain that special outlook.
I feelmore powerful now than I did when it all started
at a young age. After all, you build your own world. And,
in my case, the workshop in my brain has taught me how
to use tools I've been given.
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J:
Do you sometimes get confused being part of so many
significant movements?
G:
Well, music brings most mediums together: Film,
theatre, performance. Sure, you can get lost in
those specific things completely. And if you get
an idea for some xpression of joy, it`s pretty thrilling.
J: I've a question here from Glynn whom you met
after the recent Sheffield show. He says, 'Gen,
your CD with Astrid Munroe "When I Was Young"
is one of my all-time favorites and inspired me
to write the words to "Human Cells" on
the Sunshine Panic CD "Ya Dot!". Do you
have any plans for solo/collaborative works in the
future?'
G:
Yes. ...I´ve got many ideas.
J: How are all the documentaries coming along? Are
you doing any writing such as poetry or commentary
etc., a book perhaps?
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G:
The Brian Jones screenplay deals with time; it starts
at one place and moves forwrd or backwards, or stands
still, relatively speaking. But, time marches on and films
compact time, or prolong time in different ways. There
are sequences built with his death in mind, but it is
still about the musical gift he gave and promoted and
was so treacherously robbed of. So, I guess that most
of my recent writing has more to do with the story and
the editing rather than than with the narrative (poetic)
elements
J: We read that you have been seriously ill, how are
you at the moment? You seemed quite mellow on the tour,
is that you settling down a bit with your other-half or
because of low energy, or both?
G:
That way, the world reveals itself more.
J: How and where do you draw inspiration from, especially
for the outstanding and often provocative prose spoken,
for example, within Thee Majesty?
G:
There's a mood that comes, and the light, and many things
you remember and you stay as true to those things as you
can. When you`re working on anything you might have to
picture a different place in your mind, so you look round
for the closest thing to it that you can find.
J: Really great to see Lady Jaye exhibiting her art in
New York. How close do you work together on visual stuff,
is there a process?
G:
(Being cheeky) The process works.
J: One thing I find so refreshing and original about your
work is that you're not afraid to show your feminine side.
This has become strikingly obvious with the changes you
have made, but I feel the thing people are really scared
of in you (especially men) is the sensitivity and love
you show, for example you said in a newspaper you like
to spend time gardening. It's not something that one might
equate with the 'underground hellraiser / wrecker' image,
or what might help sell records, is it? Or does the shapeshifter
play an even bigger role in your life than we might imagine!?
G:
You have to find your true body and mind, by changing
it. Often.
J: How much of your work is actually a measured response
for sabotaging the system and how much of it is a genuine
part of who you are or are becoming?
G:
Well, I could hide everything to keep opinions as pure
as possible. But it becomes really boring. A lot of thought
has gone into the front, but not into the other real side
of our human nature. The difference is that I'm a very
real person.
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J:
How much of the rest of America have you discovered?
Any favorite parts?
G:
The desert, the midwest, the vast spaces. I really
find beauty in the minimal things.
J:
I'm curious about the London music scene in the
70's, Alternative TV, Here and Now and Gong were
on the
scene back then; I believe you've recently been
talking to Daevid Allen and even Mark Perry, whom
I hear is putting Sniffin' Glue Records back together.
G:
I think it is and was wonderful really! As long
as there`s no compromise.
J: Do you listen to classical Indian music or
any other traditional musics?
G:
Often.
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J:
I guess you've explored the idea of your death many times.
Have you any beliefs about the continuation of consciousness
or soul after the death of the body?
G:
Often my mind drifts in that direction, but I`m not an
architect of (my) death. Although I really appreciate
the great metaphor, and the difference a great metaphor
can make to a person, I believe we all die to go on living.
J: What is the definition of folk music?
G:
Spreading traditions and elements that have shaped, or
are shaping new traditions.
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Psychic
TV's 'Hell is Invisible / Hell is Her/e' is out in Spring
'07
Throbbing Gristle's 'The Endless Not' is out April 1st
'07
TG also have TGDVD coming this year, a box of remastered
films, old and new.
TG have just announced a series of live dates for 2007
details.
LINKS
Genesis
P-Orridge
Psychic TV
Throbbing
Gristle
Thee
Majesty
Photos
of a day with Psychic TV at The Boardwalk, Sheffield UK,
Oct 5th 2006
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