Myk of Testify

Interview by Scott Alisoglu

How would you describe the music of Testify?

Myk: It is quite pure Industrial Metal with all features belonging to it: Thick guitars and noises, samples and fuzz vocals etc. Not that speedy as it used to be, ever growing more dark, slow, filled with quite a bit of aggression. We like to define it by the term "The Scream Of Wrath".

How far reaching do you believe that Testify's music will be in terms of acceptance by the typical heavy metal fan?

Myk: Although often sounding quite hand-made, there is still an amount of electronic elements within Testify's sound-construction. And this is a phenomenon that some of really typical heavy metal fans do not appreciate very much (which I regret very much) - on the other hand the number of those who have no objection against this is still growing, I was told the other day.

You've been churning out material for around a decade now. To what do you attribute this longevity?

Myk: Already a decade? Time is fleeting indeed. I fear the answer to this question is quite an easy one: We still have not fulfilled our quest. We still have not reached a satisfying fraction of what we have set off to reach. This hunger for more drives us on.

Do all members of the band share in the songwriting?

Myk: There are different constellations. Myk/ Kullf (guitar) has been the most important songwriter-team for the current album "Triviality Beyond Acceptance". For "Crack The Mind", the predecessor-album, it had been Myk/ MosesW./ Mathias Black. The live-crew, though, is not that much involved in song-writing activities. Which might be changed thru-out the nearer future.

How much touring do you typically do in a year?

Myk: We dot not tour that excessively. Thru-out the last years we mostly had some live-activities in spring and in autumn, mostly in Germany and the states surrounding.

Are you able to reproduce all of your studio material in a live setting?

Myk: On stage Testify consists of five musicians: Kullf and Moses on guitars, Bull the bass-player, Sven on the drums, and Myk. The atmo-noise-samples are coming from tape, everything else is being played live. Yes, after long periods of training we became able to reproduce all the studio material.

Tell me about the new album, Triviality Beyond Acceptance. When is the release date?

Myk: oh! I thought the release-date was about right now. I fear I have to look onto the Web-site again. Nevertheless: This album represents the best Testify ever. Sounds like a worn-out old phrase, I know, but it reflects exactly what I think about it.

How does the album compare to your prior releases?

Myk: The Testify sound in general has grown more slow, darker, with kind of more depths in it. The razor-sharp thinness of our sort of postpunk-Industrial of the early days has been shoven into the background, being replaced by the deep thickness of gnarled blackness.

Is there one album that you are particularly proud of and that you would recommend for someone that has never heard the band?

Myk: "MMMYAOOOO", our 1996-longplayer, is still one of my greatest favorites. It brings together the speed of the very early days with elements of the latter days: the strangeness of weird atmospheres and real mental derangedness. The dynamic of "Lethal Viper" is somehow adorable; "Dumb." is still of extra-ordinaire coolness; and The Dark Ballad "Quest Of Nothing" seems to me hyper-convincing. Yet I love "Triviality Beyond Acceptance" even more than "MMMYAOOOO", at least for the time being.

What made you decide to cover Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz" Are you all Sweet fans?

Myk: That was the idea of MosesW, who later became the main-writer of MMMYAOOOO-material. This was his initiation-activity in 1994, the year when he joined the band: The idea of the BallroomBlitz-cover. Rascal (then chieftain of musical ideas) was very fond of the idea; I personally really prefer Moses' work that followed later. In the retrospective view I am not that convinced about the result of BallroomBlitz; but fortunately I stood quite alone with this opinion.

Who were your musical influences growing up? What bands made you decided that you wanted to be a musician?

Myk: Oh, there is a wide range of different groups and styles, of course, that influenced us in our early youth. Kiss - in matters of Moses; Pink Floyd in matters of Rascal. Everything from Blondie, Stranglers, Ultravox! up to Sisters Of Mercy and Front 242. When you're young you discover the whole range of the music-world, and you find very astonishing bits in very different genres

What bands do are you listening to currently?

Myk: For the time being I enjoy listening to Onairod Psychosis, Fear Factory, Pitchshifter, Rob Zombie, Korn, Zombie Joe, The Fair Sex.

Any last words?

Myk: We hope to get rid of The Black Anger one future day. Than you very much!


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