counting cracks - the die kreuzen archive

TV: HOW DOES DIE KREUZEN VIEW THE WORLD?

KEITH: Someplace to live. If you want something, you have to work for it. It's not easy.

ERIK: Nothing will get done if you don't do it yourself.

DAN: Fucked up--people don't give a shit anymore. Newspaper headlines read murders, wars, and senseless violence every day.

TV: WHATS THE SCENE LIKE IN MILWAUKEE?

K: There's more people than before.

E: People are a lot more supportive of what we do than they were, say, a year ago.

K: More people are getting bands together and doing things instead of just talking about it. It's too bad that we don't have anyplace to play now that Nikos is fucked...

D: Who cares about that place, kids can't get in anyways and half the scene is the kids.

K: There's a real lack of trendy people, which is great. People are doing what they want.

E: They're doing what they want instead of being afraid of what others will say or think.

TV: WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR THE TITLE "COWS AND BEER"?

HERMAN: 'Cause everyone stereotyped Wisconsin or the midwest in general as being nothing but cows and beer.

D: That about sums that up!

TV: HOW DO YOU SEE THE SCENE IN YOUR AREA AS OPPOSED TO OTHER AREAS?

E: Healthy.

K: People come to all the shows.

H: Everyone around here knows what it's about, they have something to do with it.

K: It requires commitment, and we have it.

E: There's a lot of input, people putting on shows, supporting us and others; photographers, DJs, everyone helps out.

H: Keeping the price down on shews and records helps a lot too.

K: More honest people, less leeches.

D: Our scene is small, but it's very healthy.

E: People work together more.

TV: HOW DID THE DEAL WITH VERSION SOUND COME ABOUT?

?: Husker Du had told us about "Charred Remains", and a few days later we saw the ad for it in NOISE, we answered it and Bob Moore said "Sure die Kreuzen can be on Charred Remains" and he also asked us if we would like to do a record and split the costs with him, so we said yeah. A year or so later: Ta da! Cows and Beer.

TV: WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR YOUR SONG WRITING?

K: It just comes cut, we just sit there and do it. We think up parts and put them together.

E: Sometimes it takes a lot of work to fit the parts together.

H: It's gotta be fresh!

D: It's gotta please us.

TV: WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ON THE CURRENT STATE OF THE HARDCORE SCENE?

K: There are millions of bands playing now...

E: I think it's really great.

D: Yeah, more more people are into it.

K: People don't dismiss it any more like they used to, they take it more seriously.

D: There's more bands and records every day.

K: Everyone is really supportive. You can come from out of town and people are cool, lots of people are helping each other out, like the Huskers.

H: We've gone as far as we have because a lot of people helped us out. Now it's our turn to help others. We're doing what we can.

TV: WHAT SETS DIE KREUZEN APART?

K: We have good, well constructed songs.

H: We're not the typical skinhead or whatever type of band with our fists in the air screaming, "revolt, revolt," people take you at face value, and we don't want that face. We don't want to get labeled.

D: When you label something it becomes categorized, and when you categorize something you've gotten to the first step in ignoring it.

E: I think I read that somewhere...

H: We don't say we hate this so you should hate this...

K: Yeah, we just want people to think for themselves.

H: We want people to be aware of what's going ona round them.

TV: WHERE HAVE YOU PLAYED OUTSIDE YOUR HOMETOWN?

Chicago / Minneapolis / Columbus, IN / New Berlin at Rock City / Madison / Indianapolis / Rockford, IL

TV: IS THIS THE FIRST BAND FOR ALL OF YOU?

YES! We used to be called the Stellas, but die Kreuzen has always had this lineup.

TV: FUTURE PLANS?

K: Go to work tomorrow morning.

H: I hope I have a job tomorrow.

E: Get our record repressed, work on west and east coast tours, new recordings, help out local bands and bands that are just starting and live happily ever after.

ALL: Hahaha.