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So how did you all meet?
Melissa and I met in Munich about five years back, we where studying art, well, Melissa was studying jewellery, and I (Alex) was studying painting. We just got a bit bored, so began Seppi bar! We did the bar in and around the art school, opera house and the art galleries… just anywhere that was safe from the police. Haha! We then decided we’d start on other projects, and began making music under Chicks on Speed.
So what’s it like in Munich? A creative place?
No, it’s not really a creative place. We just happened to live there haha! But it does give you the freedom to create your own world, so the environment did have an influence… it just gave us a push. We never felt part of what was already established in Munich, it’s a bit boring really, we just started up this whole techno scene out of sheer boredom.
You’ve got other projects in art going as well, are Chicks on Speed pop music or is it conceptual art?
Well, I suppose we came from an art project originally, but now its transforming into more of a music project. We still love doing our visual art and illustrations, we’re going to do a big art exhibition over in Tokyo in may, like a sort of art tour. But as for the music, it’s just pop with intelligence I suppose.
Post electroclash?
No. We never felt part of that scene, we were before electroclash anyway. I think that was a generalised label, so people could understand and pigeon hole the type of music that was around at that time.
You don’t seem to have a particular sound, is that because you’ve got diverse influences or do you just get tired of one style?
We’re not going to limit ourselves to one style. No Way! That’s why we started our own label - Go Records. It gives us the freedom to do songs in 12 different styles, different types of visuals. It seems to us that in Europe, art/clubs/web design all seem to mesh together unlike Britain where they’re all kept apart and quite separate. In Germany, there is a real interest in experimental music, there always has been, and there is more support for musicians/artists in that field.
So do you carry the ethos of punk rock?
A lot of people say this, what do you think?
I’d say ‘yes’, but I could be wrong…
There maybe influences of punk rock within Chicks on Speed, but we consider what we are doing is definitely contemporary. We’re not retro; we look ahead, not back.
So What can we expect from a C.O.S live show?
A visual and musical journey with no boundaries I suppose. The audience are very big part of it, they’re the fuel. You’re not going to get your average rock gig that’s for sure…
Photos by Layla Regan
