Krank > voice, absynthetiK_ > drums and live machines and Ersatz_ bass and programming answered our questions about this new project that released their debut on Black Rain Records now.

Hi guys, nice that you have some time to answer a few questions. So for the beginning, let’s go back to 2002. You have founded DC then. How did you meet ?

Krank_: We all were University students back at that time and we were also hanging out in the same bars!! We already knew each others and were involved in different bands. AbsynthetiK_ and I were in a twisted metal band in which I played as a guitarist. Ersatz_ just joined another metal band as the new bassist until these bands split pretty much at the same time, then he came one day with a song he was working on, and that was about the time we decided to play together and take an artistic direction that would better fit our personal inspirations.

What does the name DEXY CORP_ mean to you?
Krank_: Until we found the name we really wanted, Mx_ (our former machine guy) had the idea to use the name B-Dirt Machine. We were not satisfied with this so we kept on searching something shorter and catchier. Some of us were having amphetamines sometimes, and while we were spending a cool night among hyperactive friends trying to find a name for their new band, absynthetiK_ said “DEXY” which is slang for that kind of product. Then in order to match with the cyberpunk concept I was starting to write, I suggested to add “CORP” and the underscore coming right after it as the old school computer cursor, all of which finally giving the name DEXY CORP_ and this shit was summing up pretty well what we were about to do: cyberpunk science fiction revealing thoughts about our  living conditions, all of this spit up on some violent industrial rock!!

In 2003, you have released your debut-EP “Jigger“. Six years have passed, your debut album “Fragmentation“ came into the light. What is the reason for the long time in-between?

Krank_: We had many ups and downs during these 6 years!! First of all we composed many songs among which we only kept a half for various reasons. Then, being a small band we needed to gather all technical/human skills and means to record a decent album. Once the recording sessions over, we had to wait one more year before we had the mix and mastering done by Lewsor at the What a fake Studio, London. Fragmentation was a self released album at first, we had no label back at that time so we had to make money to release it!!! We also experienced a few line up changes, our guitarist and machine man left the band so we had to reconfigure dexy as a live band!!
We then began to work with Underclass for the French distribution, before we finally met the Black Rain crew which was a real relief for us!! Black Rain gave this album the opportunity to be re-mastered and an pandemic international way to be spread (laughs!)

Do you stick to your own unique style over all the years, or are there any changes?

Absynthetik_: I would say this is differently the same hahaaa!! The band grew up in many different ways since we started and even if we keep on learning, the songs are more elaborate in the way they are written and arranged, our specific sound is much more designed than it was on the JigGeR EP for instance and is getting even better for the songs to come. So yeah, we mean to do pretty much the same thing than we did before but it’s like wine growing older, we kind of improved I think.

Musically, you blend rock and electronic elements. What are the influences you would like to name for the sound and the band concept?

Ersatz_: concerning the sound we’ve been influenced by bands such as 16 Volt, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails or Static-X...

How do you describe your music in a few own words?

Ersatz_: Music to plug your rage.

AbsynthetiK_: A heart beat in a crushing machine...

Are you more into electronic music or do you like to be put into the metal-scene?

Absynthetik_: Well, we feel at home when we play in goth or metal concerts just as much as when we share the stage with electronic live acts!! We grew up listening to metal so we feel rooted in it but the thing is that we do not mix electronics and big guitars without a reason, the more I grow older the more I listen to electronic music. We actually don’t mind being pushed on one side or the other but most of the time you’ll try to find our record in a shop we’ll be in the metal section, cuz rock’n’roll comes first man :)

What CD did you guys buy for your own purpose in the last months?

Krank_: That would be the last Lamb of God album for me.

Ersatz_:I bought the Gary Newman live album called "the height of callousness"… Some Spineshank and Pantera too and I’m really looking forward to get my hands on the forthcoming album of A Place to bury Strangers.

Absynthetik_: The last ones I bought are the last Venetian Snares, the Soisong album (with Peter Christopherson from COIL), the Peacemakers Inc. split record with Chrysalide, Ambassador 21 and Punish Yourself and finally, a Bogdan Raczynski…

What does the album title “Fragmentation“ mean to you ?

AbsynthetiK_: It can mean many things but when I found the title for the record we had gone through a lot of shit, loosing fellows from the band, from the crew and many other stuff that pissed us, we had a rough time and we were doubtful but the three of us remaining decided to carry on. So this name was quite obvious to me, like when you defrag your computer, you just drop the empty spaces where your previous data were and keep what is left altogether and tight.
This is what it means to me, these songs are the remaining data from a past period of the band, they are what we once achieved, fragments of our past.

Can you tell us a bit about the debut album, its concept and background?

Ersatz_: Some of the songs from the album are pretty old and we had no specific guide line or concept for this album, this is much more of a patchwork. We only kept the songs we were satisfied with, the most effective and aggressive ones to get something pretty energetic and violent as a whole and like the result of this choice.

You are French, so the question is inevitable: Will there be any songs with French lyrics?

Krank_: Le problème avec le français c'est que peu de gens comprennent cette langue. En plus au niveau des textes, j'aurais tendance à trop intellectualiser la forme. L'anglais me permet de limiter le contenu et par conséquent de synthétiser au mieux la forme sans changer le fond. C'est un très bon exercice qui rend les textes plus adaptables à la musique. Mon envie est d'être compris pas forcément au niveau du fond mais au moins de la forme. Le seul mot de français dans "Fragmentation", c'est le titre anhédonie.

This is what it feels like when I sing in French: nobody gets the message (laughs)

AbsynthetiK_: The problem is that when you sing in French it’s really easy to sound stupid, while you can even sing shity things in English and sound cool, this less risky!! We will probably try to do a song in French one day, but the text will have to kick ass!! The only ones who mastered it to me are the Young Gods with their kind of punk poetry.

There are eleven tracks on the album. How are they connected to each other?

AbsynthetiK_: these songs are connceted to eachothers by optical fiber technoloy man!! This is how we do (laughs)

Which purpose do you think music serves in today’s world and society?

Absynthetik_: I think music can help to think straight or help to escape from what reality is supposed to be!!! I mean we get screwed in so many ways all the time in “today’s world” and I find our societies so vicious that it’s hard to believe that things can go better... I listen to a lot of different music pretty much all the time and it also helps being creative in many possible ways regarding your sensitivity.
And last but not least, what would parties be without rock’n’roll man???

Your press info reads: "Download pain, it's time to plug my hate".  What message do you want to transport with it?

Krank_: This sentence is from the song “Fight'o'Clock" on our first EP, JigGeR”. There are many ways to understand it. It refers first to times I was a teenage and I got beaten by other guys: the fact that it happened many times plus the hospital sessions were a tremendous source of pain for me, until the day the day it turned me into an aggressive person. Then I fixed the problem with those guys. I was pretty much a kind person at that time but things have gone differently since then...
More generally you can understand this sentence as when you feel that it’s about time to act concerning something you are faced to and which is wrong in order to fix things you just can no longer take. If I had to rewrite this sentence today I would change the word “hate” for “rage” cause it’s a more effective ally: rage is just as powerful but less self-destructive.

Let’s talk about some tracks now...Opener “Overlord“ is very powerful and dynamic, partly really aggressive. Whom did you dedicate this song to ?

Krank_: The lyrics of this song are a statement about the world last century and it says that the atom bomb created a new era called the New Sun Empire: an empire in which techno-priest (scientists) put technology instead of god in heaven, in which the people are confined in the cathode court (TV) and fallow the pixel religion. They walk proudly towards the reconstruction of a world that is meant to implode. This song is definitely dedicated to the 20th century.

The track “Proselytes“ has a very strange end just like a damaged CD. How did you get the idea and what does this end tell us in connection to the song’s message?

Ersatz_: It's Lewsor, the big beat and digital hardcore master who mixed this record who first had this  brilliant idea and we liked it pretty much. There is no direct link between the message of this song and  the musical arrangement except a bit of irony... This song deals with a manufacturing chain on which proselytes are being made:”here we manufacture good proselytes”  which basically seams to work in a way that nothing could ever stop because of the constant binary rhythm going on, until this line of production is finally crushed apart by this breakcore glitch at the end of the song!!

What can you tell about “A Needle in Each Arm“?

Krank_: The song deals with the issue of capital punishment by lethal injection as it exists in the US. I got the idea after watching a documentary about it on TV. The song narrates the last few minutes of a convict, from his room to the injection. What stroke me in this documentary was the (conscient-or-not) parallel between death and religion: the convict in his cell waiting to hear the sounds of the key : « Jangling of lock told the knell » in the text. He walks down the hall barefoot towards the execution room where he sees a table in the sape of a cross, « It's time for God himself to give up the cross of his own son ». Then he lies down, gets tied up to the table while someone fixes a needle in each of hiw arms, as if it were the nails of Christ. He has nothing left to do but waiting for the injection." injection,injection,... » It's not a drug song basicaly, has many people think.

AbsynthetiK_: and this song is rad to play live :)

“Anhédonie“ is a very slow and quite calm song. What is this song about?

Krank_ : Its one of the few self-centered tracks from DEXY CORP_, it deals a part of my life : After I overdosed drugs one day I had an emotional problem which was anhedonie. It is a very special and very anguishing state. For almost a year I couldn't feel  any positive emotion whereas my negative emotions were taking more and more space in my everyday life. For someone of a positive nature like me it was hell ! I lived in perpetual indifference of pleasure as if I could never reach it again.
I didn’t want the text of the song to be about the causes of anhedonie, about drugs and stuff like that which are not interesting in my opinion. therefore the text focuses on a random day when one undergoes anhedonie, on what i could feel then, on those moments when nobody can neither understand that your emotional state is close to chaos, nor help you. In moments like these you are close to madness.

“Dark Bliss“ is an instrumental. What is the meaning of this song in the context of the entire album?

Ersatz_: This song is supposed to be a little moment of rest in the middle of the quasi non stop violence you can feel in this album... it gets slower...no harsh voices... catch your breath... but no way for you to succeed man!
I like the weird and gloomy atmosphere sweating out of this song, it's like the continuity of Faceless.

“Lie is Life“ is a nice play with words. What can you disclose to us about your intention behind the song and you personal attitude towards life?

Krank_: This song deals with the media. The pattern is simple, it’s a repetition of words referring to feelings and recurrent themes you can experience or see when watching TV, be it love, hatred, desire, war or religion... The aim was to emphasize on the way events are dealt on TV news, like a big theatre you know... So the idea behind that if this is supposed to be life, then most of it is a lie regarding the fact that information are facts and not point of views, and point of views tend to take over the facts on the news.
When we play this song live, I'm having fun changing the words to stick with the current news or my state of mind.

Do you think that lies are a necessary tool to pursue your own success in life?

Absynthetik_: I’m not sure it is necessary, but as a matter of fact the system we live in wants us to lie if you ever want to be a part of it. If you take the example of the job interview, you’ll have to put on your best suit, your CV will probably contain a few experiences you never had and you’ll have to sell yourself to the employer because this how it works, while you’re neither your best suit nor those fake experiences... France is particularly old fashioned at this level.

“Incandescent World“ is a very loud track, too. Who do you aim to enlighten with it?

Ersatz_: Once again irony plays an important part in this song! This one is both violent and catchy, has some melodic voices on the chorus but with dreadful lyrics. Krank is talking about post apocalyptic landscapes, dark visions while the melody sounds quite happy. The ambient bridge symbolises the contemplation of this landscape filled with corpses, cute isn't it!!

The last track is named “Death Plastic Surgery“. It sticks out from the rest of the album with very remarkable keyboard lines. How did this song come to life ?

Ersatz_:Well I can understand this song comes out of nowhere for people discovering dexy corp_ with this record but this is actually a part of what dexy musically is since the very beginning. We had some other songs like this one before, like “B-models” which is one of early live hit and was mixing techno beats with catchy keyboard lines and cut guitar riffs. So Death Plastic Surgery comes from that very same factory, we wanted to keep a part of that spirit on the album because it's cool to play songs with some hardcore dancefloor outfits live.

You play gigs in France in the next weeks. Are there other countries you plan to perform soon?

Absynthetik_: Oh yeah, we have no professional booking agent for the moment but are we totally expecting to come and play in Germany (Wave Gothic Treffen for sure), Belgium, Switzerland and as far as we can in the next few months, this is why we play music man, to take the stage!! So we are pretty excited about seeing how you guys bang your heads!!!

What can we expect in the future?

Absynthetik_: Total chaos over planet E. and a shit load of concerts wherever we can!!!

Many thanks for answering our questions. What do you want to tell the people out there at the end of
the day ?

AbsynthetiK_: Stop messing around and create something :)