Lords of Acid Praga Khan Genaside 2 Lupo's 2.20.00

Lords of Acid & Praga Khan Interview

 

I arrived at Lupo's bright and early at 5:00pm for sound check. I had scheduled an interview with Praga Khan (Maurice Engelen) who is touring the USA for the first time with his brainchild the Lords of Acid. The Lords are popular in the US, but not Europe. Praga Khan, the band and the man, are tremendously popular in Europe. Until now Praga Khan and Oliver Adams, who create the music for the Lords of Acid and Praga Khan have had to stay in Europe working. They have many hits, and are regarded as great innovators. Now that Nikkie, the third of this holy trinity has left, Praga and Oliver are hitting the states for a sold out tour. Sound check was a sonic affair. While waiting for my interview I got to listen to them do versions of "Lover" and "Rough Sex" with new singer Deborah Ostrega.

Praga

I really don't remember a lot about Nikkie from when I saw the Lords last time around in '97 at the Strand, so I won't try to compare her to Deborah. Deborah is strong and sexy on stage and she has a great voice. I was surprised that she wasn't like nine feet tall. From the photos on the LORDS website she seemed like a tall woman. She didn't have the "Barberrella" hairdo either, like on the web. It didn't matter though because even over the huge amounts of noise Praga was generating her voice stood out nice and clear.

Praga and Oliver add new sounds to the band. The beats seemed huge; I've never heard Lupo's so full of sound. It actually hurt not to have earplugs in during the sound check because the club was so empty.

 

Esther & Oliver

I was hanging out waiting and met a woman named Ester, the background singer, vocalist, and dancer for Praga Khan. She was really nice and we chatted about Amsterdam, where she is from, and some other crap. It was really funny because she was so nice and casual, hanging out with Steph, who is Genaside 2, and the rest of the folks that were there. Two hours later she was in a pair of rubber hot pants and a pink shorty shirt writhing on the amp and singing. For sound check she did her number standing in the middle of the stage in jeans and a t-shirt. God belss her though she sings as good as she looks. After sound check Genaside 2 did some spinning and it flowed for a long time.

I interviewed Praga and Oliver in the back of the Club and afterward they went away to prepare some stuff and do a bunch more interviews. There were like four of five other people there to interview them and they seemed to be willing to take some serious time with each guy.

As the door opened some of the best-dressed members of the audience were asked to join the band on stage. I got a photo of Cara and Roxy, from Burraville and Smithfield respectively. They looked pretty young and I asked them if they knew what to expect. They didn't so I explained some of the 'roles' people had been taking that I'd read about on the internet. Roxy seemed prepared. I don't think they made it on to stage during the show.

Poster Punk Pete also did another great poster for this show. It has a big girl on it looking might sexy- just right. Look for them on the phil-a-arts website. Support Pete, his stuff is good.

Praga and Oliver took the stage alone to open the evening with "Breakfast in Vegas." I really like this tune- it's kind of slow and they repeat "I smell the sweat on your skin- Breakfast in Vegas on cocaine and gin." People moved a bit, but nothing like when Ester came out and got them pumped up. They did awesome, huge versions of "Remove the Armor," and "Independence." "My Mind is My Enemy" really got people moving.

Praga Khan, the band got a great reaction, even though the house wasn't as full as the rest of the tour. They did a cool updated version of "Injected with a Poison" which is a "classic" that lots of people seemed to remember. The set rocked, and the extra speakers and lights that the band brought to Lupo's really made the night, it was loud and colorful like a good electronic alternative rock show should be.

 

Its funny the mix between dance and alternative that the Lords of Acid create. Their fans run the mix from dancing long haired kids with day-glow sticks spinning in the back, sexy dressed rubber pierced people, and of course the rock folks who like the guitar as much as the beat. Everybody had enough space at this show to really have a good time. It was pretty crowded up front and through the middle, but there was enough space around the edges to be comfortable. After changing up the stage we were ready for the Lords.

Lords of Acid: Deb & Praga

The staging wasn't elaborate at all. There were just some blow up doll aliens and one Hustler brand hanging on top of the speakers and drums, and that was it. Having Praga and Oliver on tour means that the band can concentrate more on the sound and let the show sort or make itself up.

The Lords set list went like this: "Most Wonderful," "Rubber Doll," "Do what you want to do," "The Power is Mine," "Let's Get High," "Take Control," "Lover," "Young Boys," "LSD=Truth," "Drink My Honey," "You Belong to Me," "Pussy," "I sit on Acid," "Crablouse," and for encores "Spank My Booty, " and Voodoo-U."

It was a hell of a set from beginning to end. Bass, Drums, and guitar were all live, while Praga played his keyboards in the corner to leave Deborah plenty of room to whip us (figuratively and literally) into a frenzy.

Praga is really a great beatmaster, he casually drops them on you but they linger around getting bigger and harder to resist. Having the live guitar and drums adds another level to the electronica and creates something bigger than just the beat. Even the preppy guys with girlfriends in jeans got caught up dancing. Once the sideshow got started you had to watch, and if you were going to watch you might as well shake some ass as well.

Deborah

The Lords beats might be hard to resist, but the sideshow is impossible to turn away from. Songs like "Young Boys" or "Pussy" call out for some inspired stage antics. For "Young Boys" Deborah got a couple of wet-behind-the-ear lads up there to slide up against and admire. They of course got into a contest to try to get her attention and were soon shirtless and pulling their best dance moves. For "Pussy" about 10 of the best-dressed locals got to strut their stuff and show what they got. All of these girls were dressed in about two hundred bucks of Miko's finest. They too got into an unprovoked contest to try and impress the Lords and soon got into some naughty business. Girls in dog cages on leashes, guys getting spanked, hell they charge big bucks for that on cable, with the Lords of Acid you get the show and some excellent music to dance along with it. Look for a new Praga Khan album this summer.

The new Lords of Acid album should be out this fall. Hopefully they'll tour again soon, because let's face it nobody wants to see the guy in Prodigy get spanked.

Interview Praga Khan & Oliver Adams Lords of Acid Praga Khan Lupo's 2.20.00

Review of 2/22 Lords of Acid Show

 

Maurice Engelen, Praga Khan, was born to a father who was a Noble winning mathematician and astrophysicist. Praga's mother was a rebel for her times and worked to support the family as a migrant construction worker. Oliver Adams is the heir to the Stella fortune. Stella, being Belgium's premium connoisseur brew, has been exported throughout the world. I sat down with these two Belgians before their shows at Lupo's to talk about their concurrent projects, The Lords of Acid and Praka Khan.

Whatever Magazine: When did you first get involved with music?

Praga Khan: I first got involved with when I was like a little kid. My mom she wanted me to be a singer. And in Belgium, which is where I grew up, they had this little contest going on, you know. They called it "Song Contest" and it was a band that was playing and you had to choose out of like 15 different songs to sing. It was all these stupid Schlager Festival songs from Germany. And the crowd it was all like 60 plus, you know, and all these old ladies. In those days I was very, very popular- when I was like 7 or 8 years old. It was so funny, but that's how I got involved. I was not singing about pussy, or dildos or stuff. It was more singing about the sea and the boats or birds.

W:Did you play an instrument as a kid?

PK: No not at that age. Later, when I was about 16 and when I had my first band I played guitar and I didn't know how to do it then, and I still don't know how to do it now. I didn't make a lot of progress playing the guitar.

WM: How about you Oliver, did you play an instrument as a kid?

Oliver Adams: I've played music since I was six. I went to music school for piano, and drums. I play bass and guitar also. I've played music a long time.

WM: Did you ever DJ?

OA: I did it in the 80's. New Wave! (smiles) But not anymore, no.

WM: Praga you did some spinning in the 80's as well, didn't you?

PK: I owned a club in the 80's. We tried to play Alternative music, because there was not many places in Belgium where people could go out and hear that kind of music. The place was called "Happy House" and it was very, very popular.

OA: When I was still a kid I went to that place, like at 15 or 16. It was a happening place.

 

Praga

PK: What we also did was, we didn't make a lot of money out of the place. It was always crowded, ya know, there was like lots of people coming there. But all the money we got we spent on organizing concerts and bringing in bands. We had happening bands in those years, like Judgement, and that's how we lost the money. WM: When did the club close down? PK: Um, that was '86 I think.

WM: When did you make the transition from DJ/ Club Owner to Producer?

PK: When I had the club I was also managing some bands. Famous bands in Belgium, but unknown to the rest of the world. Extremely popular in Belgium though. And I got so frustrated, because always it was like I was working very hard to get them to a certain level, then they came with the wrong thing or made the wrong move. That got me so frustrated that I said, "Now is the time for me to start." Because I know when and where they make the mistakes, so I'm not gonna do it.

WM: Is that when you started Antler Subway Records?

PK: Yup. Yeah.

WM: What year was that?

PK: That was around '84

WM: So when did you and Oliver hook up?

OA: That was 1990. When I was like 20, I said, "What am I gonna do?" I always played in bands, I had my own band, and I only wanted to do music, so I started a recording studio. He [Praga] had a record company and some other guys who were making records for other record companies came to me. I said to them, "You have to check out this guy, he has a lot of good stuff, and he has his own ideas, and eventually we he came over to my studio we started to work and started the whole stuff.

PK: It was a tremendous success because we started to work together and after one year we had made like one big dance hit after another. All these club hits. There was a time when Belgium had its own club scene. It was called "New Beat" and it was very, very big. People, discotechs, they only played Belgium music I can tell you when we were doing these records in like 91, or 92 when the DJ was going to peak, or finish they would play like twelve songs in a row that we did, so we knew we were on the right track.

WM: Yeah, if they play 12 of your songs in a row for the peak of the evening you're doing the right thing. When did you actually start doing the Lords of Acid thing?

OA: Oh, it was already started at that time. The first album was in '92.

WM: This is the first time Praga has been to the USA isn't it?

PK: Um, we did two shows, Limelight in 94, and we also did a Rave with Carl Cox and Felix in Orlando.

WM: How do you find American dance clubs compared to European? Is it very different?

PK: I don't know about dance clubs because the clubs we are playing in, I don't know if you can call them dance clubs. Is this a dance club?

WM: Kind of, but real hip-hop culture and other kinds of dance clubs exist I guess. This is more of a concert place. It is very segmented now what kinds of music a club plays.

PK: It is the same way in Belgium. The strange thing is the Lords of Acid are almost completely unknown in Europe, and Praga Khan is very, very big- because we play Glastonbury, and all the festivals. "21st Century Skin" was chosen as the Album of the year in Belgium. Even for us it is hard to get played in clubs, because the music we are bringing it is too much.

OA: Too much music

PK: Its songs you know, its got words. We have guitars. Some DJ's have a problem with that. And that's why we are doing so well in the alternative market. The festivals we are playing are with like Marilyn Manson, Chemical Brothers- the big festivals. But the people who are doing dance music, just instrumental dance music they can never get on these festivals.

WM: You guys are appealing to a larger crowd.

OA: More like a rock band. It has changed that way the past few years. Bands like us (Praga Khan), Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, suddenly at that those festivals there were groups like us standing there, and our public is like the alternative. Its not those dance kids, what do you call them?.

WM: Rave kids.

PK: The good thing is that we are accepted is as innovators, because the Lords of Acid "Lust" album came out in '92. In those days we were the only ones who were doing dance music with like guitars and songs in there. And now most of these bands now are trying to do that. But still, when we talk to these bands we can see that they have a lot of respect because we were there for so long doing this thing.

WM: How are Americans responding to the fist band, Praga Kahn?

OA: Very good. Very good. I was surprised.

PK: Very good so far. Its not like we are totally unknown in the United States. "Pragamatic" did quite well, we did just over 30 thousand, and uh, "21st Century Skin" is starting to sell well now because of the tour. We have a lot of fans out there. We can see it and we can, you know, see them singing along. And most of the fans know that Oliver and myself are making music for the Lords of Acid and that's also something we appreciate as well.

OA: Hardcore fans they know Praga Khan. I never expected that they wold respond so well. Because after concerts we are selling lots of CD's for Praga Khan, and its good.

WM: I heard you were signing CD's after a show and almost had a riot or they had to bring in more security?

 

PK & OA: Yeaaah. PK: It was Chicago. PK: But the thing is we have a lot of people who are on the website all the time. And these people also follow the concerts that we are doing with Praga Khan over the Internet and because these concerts are sometimes transmitted on the website. So now they can actually see us play as Praga Khan, you know as a support act for the Lords of Acid. I don't feel it as a support act though, it feel it more as a double bill.

Oliver On Drums

Also in New York, we had some people from the record company that came down after the show and said they were so surprised by the success of Praga Khan. Everybody knows the Lords of Acid songs by heart but Praga Khan its something different.

OA: The good thing about the Praga Khan show is this, ok in the beginning we start to move up, they don't notice us and so they don't know the songs, but so what, after three of four songs, until now, we don't know about tonight, everybody goes crazy! I was surprised.

PK: I was too. It was a god thing to come over here, because we are in the middle of recording a new album for Praga Khan, gonna be called, uh..

OA: Newton Funk.

PK: Newton Funk (Ed note: I have no idea if I spelled this right). And that's gonna be out in June. And uh, the good thing is we are in the middle of recording, and we can go on tour and uh, go back and we can also bring something back with us from what we experienced.

OA: Inspiration.

PK: Also the thing is we have to write a new Lords of Acid album, and this is perfect. We see the crowds react from the songs, we talk to people to see exactly what they want, and I think this album, the Lords of Acid could be the best one.

WM: When do you think that will come out?

PK & OA: Fall.

OA: So we are gonna be working very hard this year!

WM: When does your tour end?

PK: March

WM: Do you find it hard being Director of a record company and being on tour? Do you have to check in all the time?

PK: I have to check in, but not all the time. Because I have a partner. The last two years I have been solely concentrated on Praga Khan and the Lords of Acid, and I have the two bands here now, so that's ok. We also brought our European Manager with us, so he's in contact with Germany, Australia, France -all these places where Praga Khan is doing very well, and we want to keep it going. Its hard to keep track of what's going on you know?

WM: It must be hard to keep up.

PK: Well to give you an Idea, "Breakfast in Vegas" just came out in Australia, and it's doing so well. And also, "Bored Out of My Mind" just came out in France and it went straight to number one in one shot. So there's stuff happening everywhere.

WM: Where do you get inspiration?

PK: Things that are happening in our lives, things you see on the read.

WM: Do you still get out to the clubs a lot?

PK: Lots, especially Oliver's Club.

WM: You own a Club now?

OA: I built one, its private. I live in a factory, and it's so huge so I built one. I made my private club out of it.

WM: How did you meet your new singer Deb?

OA: Last year at a concert.

 

Deborah

PK: We were playing a big festival in Germany, Eurorock, and we were like there with like Suzie and the Banshees and all these bands. We were like there hanging out, and Deborah's sister was doing the backing vocals for us, because Ester couldn't. So Deborah, she came backstage after the show and we got to meet her. She had a few glasses of Jack Daniel's and she starts french kissing all of the band, and we were looking for a new singer for the Lords of Acid, so we were saying to each other (pointing to Oliver), "Yeah, it might be a go." And we invited her to the studio and we were so surprised by her voice. She has a great voice, and she is absolutely fucking fantastic. And also on this tour its like she is growing, she is getting better, and better, and better each day. WM: Will she be the singer on the new Lords of Acid album?

OA: She's gonna sing.

PK: Yeah.

WM: How do the crowds respond to her? Are they disappointed its not Nikki?

PK: I haven't heard one complaint.

OA: No, no. In the beginning, some, but after the concert they change their mind.

PK: Nikki is very different than Deborah, Nikki is more real fast-forward sex rock and roll, but Deborah, is different. Nikki has been working on a solo album at home the past few years, she finished it, and we hope it does work out. We love her. We've been a team for so long, and because she's not here with us doesn't mean were still not a team. But, the thing is now, we didn't get much information when Nikki was on tour, because we never went on tour, we didn't get a lot of feedback from the tour. We always had to stay and work in the studio. She didn't talk too much about, except you know, "I had a good time, and I enjoyed it" or whatever, but now its like a learning process you know, to see what's happening, then to use it in the studio.

WM: Have you met a lot of fans?

OA: Yeah, many. And they are surprised that we want to talk with them, but we do. We stay and sign autographs and talk and its fun.

 

Praga on Keys

WM: On the road what's your favorite piece of equipment? PK: On the road? Well, that would be my sampler. That's the instrument that I'm using the most. Oliver has his studio at home and I have my studio, and we can exchange stuff and I can bring them into my sampler, and bring them into the studio. OA: Also my sampler, I mean I keep my PowerBook with me, but it would be my sampler because it is what I use the most.   WM: Well, it sounds like they are ready for you to soundcheck, I'll let you go. Thank you very much PK: Thank you very much my friend. OA: Thank you very much- enjoy the show.