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PARADE GROUND

PARADE GROUND

Performance Details

Date: Sunday, July 19

Time: 19:45 - 20:30

Stage: Outside Stage

About

Parade Ground is a Belgian electronic duo formed in 1981 in Brussels by brothers Jean-Marc and Pierre Pauly. Operating at the intersection of cold wave, EBM, and electro-pop, they were closely connected to the Belgian electronic scene — their first 7″ single „Moan on the Sly“ (1983) was produced by Daniel B. and Patrick Codenys of Front 242.

Their style evolved from icy, radical cold wave toward more rhythmic synthetic compositions, culminating in the album Cut Up (1988), produced with Wire’s Colin Newman. After a long hiatus (1988-2007), they returned with The Golden Years compilation (2011) and new material.

In Their Own Words

23 Questions · Interview by Maks Giordano · Answered by Jean-Marc & Pierre

Q1

Jean-Marc, your live performances are famous for "the choreography of chaos" and intense physical convulsion. How do you physically and mentally prepare to inhabit such a state of trauma on stage every night?

The Stage is the only place where I really feel myself . It's a matter of provocation : against the mainstream thinking that you should interpret your numbers on stage . I want to live them out . There's always a venenous necessity in what we're doing . I'm a dancer and I'm drawing cruelty on the air .

I'm drawing cruelty on the air
Q2

In 1993, you wrote and composed the lead vocals for Front 242's albums Up Evil and Off. What was it like to step into the vocal booth for the world's most famous EBM group and stamp your signature poetry onto their sound?

It was suffering . I wrote the lyrics too and tried to insert my poetry in a musical genre that isn't poetic at all . It was hard work : 20 different proposals of vocal melodies for each track . And we got no recognition for it ...

Q3

You have collaborated with both Colin Newman of Wire and Patrick Codenys of Front 242. How did Colin's British post-punk guitar ear challenge you differently from Patrick's Belgian EBM synth focus?

We were Wire fans for years , Wire was the first gig we attended abroad in London and working with Colin Newman afterwards was an immense pride for us . Everything occurred naturally . There's no difference between Patrick and Colin : both are artists who want to find the gold of time .

Q4

You published your lyrics in the book Words sword Words. Why is it important for you to present your texts as formal literature, separate from the electronic music that accompanies them?

I'm a novelist first : it's really a demand from the anglo-saxon countries ... To them , my words are more important than the music . Our friend Dirk Ivens always said 'this book is a must have for all music lovers' .

Q5

Your early track "Moan on the sly" has an icy, minimalist cold wave drift. How did your sound mutate into the aggressive, heavy EBM rhythms that defined your later output?

There have always been both tendencies in our music : synth and guitar . But the agressiveness remains on each side . The evolution came from Daniel B's production , but the radicality was there since the beginning .

Q6

You are actual brothers who have worked together for forty-five years. How do you resolve creative differences without letting family dynamics tear the band apart?

We are not only brothers but also best friends . Musical twins . We have been composing together since our first steps . It's only logical to us . We've never disappointed each other .

Q7

Your album Rosary was produced by Patrick Codenys after a fifteen-year period of studio silence. What made you realize in 2007 that it was time to reactivate Parade Ground?

We were in a catholic monastry as monks at that time , where we went on composing . It was our dear friend Dirk Ivens (Asolute Body Control , Sonar , The Klinik , Motorik ) who got in touch with us there : we still don't know how he did it ...

Q8

Many modern techno and darkwave artists cite Parade Ground as a direct blueprint. Do you feel that modern electronic producers understand the deep emotional trauma behind your tracks, or are they just copying your synthetic textures?

Yes , it's unbelievable the number of now bands that would quote us as a reference . Not so much during an interview but through private messages . The words 'legendary' and 'mythical' come back often , although we do know that we will never be recognized .

Q9

Pierre, you program the synthesizers and sequencing. How do you keep your electronic patterns feeling unstable and dangerous when digital gear naturally wants to be clean and precise?

One doesn't ask a corpse what it is doing in its coffin . We never used computers to create and , indeed , I do detest everything that's clean and precise . All bands are , nowadays , on stage , clean and precise . Too easy , and boring too .

One doesn't ask a corpse what it is doing in its coffin
Q10

Your archival albums The Golden Years and The Hidden Side were recently reissued. When you listen to your earliest 1980s recordings, do you hear a band that was ahead of its time, or a naive product of Brussels' post-industrial landscape?

We have always been singular but we created no musical genre as Wire or Front 242 did .

Q11

How do you maintain an uncompromising cold wave identity when performing in a festival landscape that frequently prioritizes clean, safe nostalgia?

We simply are ourselves : we remain true , cruel and tenacious . Nostalgia is formalin . We always re-interpret our numbers with new melodies and new approaches .

Q12

Your VOD Fest performance takes place on the Outside Stage at 19:45 on Sunday. How do you plan to use your chaotic physical performance to challenge an audience that has spent the weekend absorbing electronic EBM and industrial music?

We don't see things that way : as I said we always do as if it were for the last time , giving everything . KILL ME !

Kill me!
Q13

You wrote the vocals and lyrics for two Front 242 albums, giving one of the biggest names in EBM its voice, while remaining relatively unknown yourselves. What is it like to be the hidden author of someone else's fame?

Our great friend Annik Honoré ( Ian Curtis' girlfriend) always used to say that Parade Ground were like Section 25 for Joy Division. And us for Front 242 . Two big trees rarely grow at the same size at the same time .

Q14

You call your music emotional body music, against the machismo and militarism usually associated with EBM. Was softening that genre a deliberate act of resistance?

We never liked the army , therefore the name Parade Ground . I don't think we ever softened anything . We are a razor blade . Futurists in music that want to drive fast and catch the moon .

Q15

Jean-Marc, you treat the voice as the most emotional and melodic instrument in the band. When everything around you is cold electronics, does the voice carry all the humanity, and is that a burden?

Only emotions do matter to us . Jean-Marc is the last crooner and his voice is ninety percent of the band . He could easily make a concert alone , with no music , and it would be perfect .

Q16

You took cues from Dada and surrealism, not just from punk. How does a surrealist sensibility change what a pop song is allowed to do?

Justifying oneself is prostituting oneself . Through this we didn't belong to music anymore .

Q17

You put the band on hold for fifteen years to write and make visual art. What did you need to do away from music that the music was preventing?

Being back to nature , probably . Two self-made then self-unmade musicians . Years were loaded : we only waited for the vertigo .

Q18

Colin Newman of Wire produced and sang on Moans. What did an outsider from a very different British tradition hear in two Belgian brothers?

Colin get very involved in the band's music and told us that Moans would have deserved to be on 154 Wire's third studio album . We are an english band .

Q19

You are brothers who have made this together since 1981. When the two people in a band share a childhood and a bloodline, what can you say to each other in the music that words could never carry?

Love like blood . One must remain playful and be children all the time . We were born for eternity .

Love like blood — we were born for eternity
Q20

You have been called unsung pioneers of EBM. Is being unsung a wound, a comfortable distance, or simply the price of the choices you made?

I think it's the price : one must put one's skin on the table . One must pay . All of the big german festival promoters/god the father , hate us . After playing more than 2000 concerts worldwide we keep on playing marbles .

Q21

Your visuals are ironic and dadaist while your music is full of suffering and rage. How do you hold irony and genuine pain in the same work without one cancelling the other?

We have known psychiatry and suicide . It's our inside visual .

Q22

Your collaboration with Front 242 has run for over forty years. What keeps that relationship alive, and has it ever felt like you were absorbed into their orbit?

No , never. We have never been Front 242 fans , just close friends .

Q23

You returned in 2007 with heavier guitars after years of silence. Did the anger change in character over that gap, or just find a new instrument to come out through?

I think the link between everything is the voice . Jean-Marc could sing on a jew's harp . The album Rosary is an absolute master piece . Never have we been so close to the religious Truth . Now nothing will be but loving .

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