BM: Firstly I´d like to invite you to introduce yourself and LAHKA MUZA to the readers of BLACK  MAGAZINE...

LM: OK, for an introduction should perhaps be enough, that we are from Slovakia. we began in 1984 as a four member band influenced by "new wave". From the original line-up remained up to now songstress  Gudrun and guitarist 677. Gradually we became more experimental and over-genred band, that tries to  join the methods on the boundary of electro/goth/industrial music - and all this on the basis of minimalism  with specific female vocal. 

BM: The information sheet of the album "Cesty Svetla Plynu Temnotou" (The roads of light flow  trough darkness) says that your music is a mixture of dark gothic music with industrial and  electronic touches. I think I could agree with this description, but the sound of LAHKA MUZA is  very difficult to put in one of the typical musical drawers. So how would you describe your own  music to somebody who never heard of LAHKA MUZA before?

LM: As we have said before, we try to seek for new and surprising combinations there, where bands, that  move only inside of the limits of one genre, don´t look for. Our aim is to make these fusions not only  make look impressive from a view of musical perception, but also make it sacral as a whole. An  important role in the overall sounding also has the vocal expression of Gudrun in our native language (Slovak) and likewise philosophically spirited lyrics. We think, that our music affects with its power,  urgency and emotiveness. 

BM: I can´t believe that LAHKA MUZA exists since 16 years. So what have you done before? Did you  release other CDs, tapes or vinyl by yourself or on other labels before and if yes, are these releases  still available?

LM: Yes, that´s right. Through those years we have released 6 albums, last four of them as CDs. Our CD  debut "Tieň bolesti" (1992, Zoon) /The shadow of pain/ addressed mainly those who listen to guitar  industrial scene, and the second one, "Chvenie absolútna" (1995, Indies) /The vibration of absolute/  succeeded chiefly on the electro scene and between listeners of mininalistic classical music (it´s full of  chorals and sublime orchestral compositions). Our third CD "Sen ohraničeného života" (1998,Sonicca) /The dreams of defined life/ united both these camps and joined the fans of gothic music (for a greater  deal of guitars). The actual CD "Cesty svetla plynu temnotou" (2000, Black Flames) is beside these  elements full of rhythmical structures and vocals. From the first reactions is clear, that there are again  another new listeners who admire "hard" guitar scene. From these four CDs are only the two last  mentioned still oficially available in Germany via Dark Vinyl distribution. The first two are sold out.  However, to those, who are interested, we can offer good-quality CDR copies, which can be ordered  through our web site http://artist.music.sk/lahkamuza 

BM: The information sheet for your latest release talks also about magical / dark ideas from batcave. Are  you really interested in magical themes and if yes, what kind of magical practice do you like? And  what about your interests in the English batcave movement?

LM: Many of our listeners describe our music as very ritual and magic. Maybe it sacral is, because we tried it to be. To the overall atmosphere contribute also the lyrics and the whole graphic design of each CD. We use various symbols and icons as an entrance gate to the complex content of our work. We try to  accompany the listener through the lands of his own soul. We want to take him to the places, where he is scared to go alone, and we offer our music as a guide. For things can happen that we can get lost and we cannot find the right direction...Even on the roams through the land of your own soul there applies the rule that the bigger part of the darkness you lighten, the deeper abyss you see... And to our own magical  practics? We definitely prefer individual approach of perception of the mysteries of this world to the  organized and boring associations of evaporated snobs and bookworms. That is, seeking for the answers of the Holy Grail is finding the answers about the rules of the universe of one´s own soul. 

BM: I never visited Slovakia until now. So if I´ll find some time in the near future, which places must I visit in Slovakia importantly? Are there any great, ancient cathedrals and monuments which  could be interested to visit and get a feeling of the Slovakian culture?

LM: All the countries in the World hide their own unique and unrepeatable beauties. This definitely applies to ours. We prefer the unrepeatable atmosphere of our mountains to the pearls of our architecture for its diversity and wildness. Between the products of a mankind surely get your attention the castle  Oravský Podzámok, where was in 1922 shot the legendary Nosferatu movie (Eine Symphonie des Grauens) with famous Max Schreck. Likewise beautiful is the biggest castle in the Central Europe - Spiš, then the gothic cathedral of St.Martin in Bratislava and many more... 

BM: What about the music scene in Slovakia and Bratislava especially? Are there many interesting  underground bands and what can you tell us about the audience and fans? Are these people dressed  in black clothes with white make-up like here in Germany?

LM: I think that the biggest problem of our "dark scene" is, that we live in a small country of 5 million nation, where all the noncoventional genres of music suffer from the lack of audience after the break of Czechoslovakia and 40 years of totalitarian culture. It seems to be a paradox, but although there is here only one band of each genre - industrial Einleitungszeit, EBM K.I.F.O.T and gothic Last Days of Jesus - all of them are already well established abroad. And so we are used to in these conditions to be much more able to respect and co-operate at many various shows. Of course our audience is not left behind the European. The best you can see it at the festivals in Germany, where you just cannot know our people from yours. The image simply unites. 

BM: If you have categorize your own musical style, what would you say... sounds LAHKA MUZA more  like a typical Goth-Rock-Band or more like cold industrial-music?

LM: Well, basically it is pretty hard to answer this, though we should come out from the above mentioned thoughts, I think that the last two CDs are balanced between gothic and industrial music.

BM: Here in Germany the underground-scene is categorized in different styles... like darkwave, goth-rock, ebm/electro, noise/industrial, avantgarde, neofolk or dark-ambient. In the USA all these styles  are put together in the drawer "industrial/gothic" and in England you ´ve to look to the section  independent if you like to buy a Gothic-CD at a CD-Store. So what about Slovakia? Is it very easy  for you to buy CDs from other European countries there and how many musical categories are  known there?

LM: Here people rather carry on in the "german" style of the scene dividing. Our journalists like to precisely determinate space for life of a band and so they with great enthusiasm create new "boxes". We do prefer in this more the looser "american" way. Concerning to the availability of this kind of music in here - it  works the same as elsewhere in the world: the biggest stars of a certain genre you can buy in the CD store and the others you´ll have to order through many different distributive companies. We think, that the most essential problem here is the high price of a final CD product, which definitely does not support very  significant spreading of this music between the wider masses....

BM: In Germany a great medium for new bands and artists is the recordable CD, which could be burned  with a PC at home. Many new groups uses this medium and the good old demo tape is forgotten for  a long time. Is the recordable CD an interesting medium for America artists too, or did people their  still use demo-tapes?

LM: In this is the situation here probably very similar to the rest of the world. The classic cassette definitely  lives its last days and the recordable CD clearly wins all along the line. Surely I don´t have to describe to you its advantages starting with the relation between its price and quality of the sound and ending with the general availability of it. 

BM: What do you think generally about new medium like recordable CDs or the possibility to do  recordings via home PC?

LM: We prefer the studio with good equipment and good sound engineer. In this we want to be more artists than the service workers. We have quite specific idea about the "colour" of our sound, and since we do use live instruments and hard vocals, it is to us by all means more advantageous. Certainly not financially. But we paint our paintings with sounds and so we cannot spare on this. On the other side these technologies get still better with such a pace, that it will certainly threaten the recording studios. The idea of making it all at your own home is really tempting and this tendency is unstoppable. 

BM: If you have the chance to recommend a special atmosphere - to listen to your own music - to the  audience, which atmosphere or mood would you prefer?

LM: If we were really to recommend, then it is the way as we do listen to it ourselves. Maximal volume in magical night atmosphere with closed eyes. Our imagination may work then at full power. The music wants to communicate with its listener in both ways... It wants to blend with his consciousness at least for moment in another world full of feelings, images and mysteries... 

BM: Did you ever perform your musical material live on stage and if yes, what could your audience  expect from LAHKA MUZA live?

LM: Live performance inseparatebly belongs to our band. On concerts we play in this line-up: Gudrun –  vocal, 677 - guitar + programming, Voda - bass guitar. And since we are performative kind of a band,  there is also Cora performing on the stage with us. Performative art is close for us anyway. In this spirit  we shot also our actual video to the track "Sen ohraničeného života". In the future we would like to  more extend on this aspect of our shows. The show itself corresponds with our music, what means, that  the visual experience only intensifies wholy strong atmosphere and supplies the part, that you don´t see  on the CD. We hope to belong to the bands, which people like to listen and watch too. To all interested  ones we recommend our web site, where they can find many stylized photographs as well as form our  concerts and this can integrate the complete atmosphere of our band.

BM: Do you have plans for the near future of LAHKA MUZA as for example new releases, live-gigs or  contributions to compilations?

LM: Of course, we have future plans. At the moment we prepare for our first concert in the new millennium, which shall also be our 106 in the order. It is going to take place in the best club in our capital city  Bratislava, in the Duna Gallery. Then we shall play in Brno and Prague in Czech republic and in Poland. Some of the terms of the summer festivals appear as well. We would like to shoot one more video and  make finished a videotape with these clips including the best material from our live shows. And as for the  compilations - our polish publisher works on this very intensively, but for our new CD is out only since 1st November 2000, it is too soon to give you any concrete information. And then we start thinking about  what and how we want to say on our next CD. We hope,that the magic aspects of the first year in the new millennium will strongly inspire us to enter another no man´s lands...

7.12.2000 by Lahka Muza