EXTIZE Interview

Extize Exclusive interview with Rapha Hell

By Karloz aka ExSubte
 
GGM> How do you remember the very first years of Extize? And what led to the formation of Extize?
 
RAPHA HELL> 2005 I was partying hard in the goth clubs in France and Germany, I felt in love with the dark electronic club music I discovered there and I gave me the motivation to try to create my own club tracks. Each time I went in the club, I brought some self burned CDs with me to give it to the local DJs. To be honest, the most of the tracks were really bad, because I had no idea with music producing and there were no one million Youtube tutorials like nowadays. But one song of mine started to be  played at many goth parties in Germany. I guess, one of the DJs I gave my CD sent the track to another one, and another one etc… Then, I got a call from one of the biggest German goth print magazine (Gothic Magazine) back in the time, they wanted to put this song on a very famous goth compilation (Extrem Sündenfall) in Germany. Then this song were played in many clubs in Europe, and I got a call from one of the biggest gothic label (Trisol) which signed EXTIZE. You can listen to this song called « Poser » on my very first album « FallOut Nation » which was released in 2009.
 
GGM> How can you best describe your music? 
 
RAPHA HELL>It’s personally call it Dirt-E-Tronic music because EXTIZE has no precise genre. I’ve industrial tracks, dark electro tracks, industrial metal tracks, synthpop tracks, EBM and techno tracks, electronic blues and country tracks… There are very very different from each other but you can always recognise that it’s from me.
 
GGM> While composing something, what do you think first? Please take me through the process of writing a song.
 
RAPHA HELL> Well, at the beginning I was very club-oriented, that means I was always thinking about what would make me dance in the club. Then, after that I produced several club-hits, I stopped to think about the clubs. I get extremely fast bored, that’s why I hate to do the same things again and again, and that’s why there are so many genres in EXTIZE. My musical kink is to make concept albums, with a specific topic. For example the concept of my album « Redneck Industrial » was to mix industrial music with country and blues. The concept of my last album « MonStars » was to write a tribute song to each of my favourite horror movies from the 80s – 2000’s. And this is how I start to write songs, I first think about a new concept, then I start to compose the music, then the lyrics, and then comes my favourite part, I do the visuals and marketing! The concept of the next album is the craziest idea I ever had, it’s a big challenge for me to make it, I had to get new skills to produce the music… More tba… 
 
GGM> What have been the most significant changes since the beginning of Extize?
 
RAPHA HELL> Well, absolutely everything changed since the beginning. The entire line-up of my live musicians, the music genres, the aesthetic and outfits. Simply everything! But the biggest change is me, I started this project as « teenager » who had only parties & girls in my mind, now I’m running a serious music label and I the only times I go to a club is to support one of our bands or to DJ. The way I took with EXTIZE, all these changes, the XP points this project brought me during all these years is just unbelievable. I’m really proud to look back and I never regretted any decision. 
 
GGM> Who are the members of Extize?
 
RAPHA HELL> I do all the music, artworks, lyrics, mixing, mastering and concepts completely alone but on stage I’ve a really awesome team of great people around me! There is Jan Dysfunction at the keys, DJ Barus in the mix, Mondi at the e-drums and our wonderful dancers the « Vixxxen » with us on stage!
 
GGM> What are the main topics for most of your Extize songs? 
 
RAPHA HELL> since each album is very different, I’ve no standard topics. But if I go through the concepts from the beginning to now, and in the right order, I was talking about: Party & Sex, Dystopia and Cyberpunk, Stupid people, Heaven and Hell, Rednecks, Vampires and evil creatures, horror movies..
 
GGM> What would be your dream collaboration, with any Dj, producer or musician?
 
RAPHA HELL> There are so many musicians I would love to work with. Especially my idols when I was a teenager like Marilyn Manson, Till Lindemann, The Prodigy… But also great « newer »  musicians like Little Big or Electric Callboy. I love people who don’t give a fuck and who have a huge self irony.
 
GGM> What is your favorite Extize album of all time? 
 
RAPHA HELL> I think it’s my last album « MonStars » because it’s an homage to all the horror-heroes I grew up with, and because I think it’s the album in which I’ve put the most efforts. I really took time for the production of the songs, I released a video for each song of it, I’ve made the coolest collector box ever with 19 items inside like the digipac CD and its 3D booklet and 3D glasses. I’m very proud of it. It’s also the most popular album of EXTIZE which reached over 1 billion plays on Spotify within 1 year!
 
GGM> In the last years has anything changed in Extize in terms of your song writing , lyrics or attitude in general?
 
RAPHA HELL>In the very beginning when I started with EXTIZE my goal was that my music is played in the clubs, so I tried to write club-hits only. Now I absolutely don’t give a fuck about that, I also don’t write with any intension of plays, live or whatever. I just do my concepts like I want and I’m happy!
 
GGM> And, finally, we come to the end of the interview, I would to thank you for your time. These last words are yours.
 
RAPHA HELL> Thank you very much for what YOU do for this scene. It’s very important to keep this scene alive, and your work is crucial. Now everybody is a DJ or a musician, I think it kills the scene because it divides people because of the selfishness of all these new « superstars » . So I’m super thankful that there are still some people like you who, who do journalistic work and who put some light on some actors of the scene. Thank you for what you do!
And about EXTIZE: the new album is 70% finished but this weekend I’m going to start our « MonStars Festivals Tour » , so if you see me live (as DJ or on stage) at Festivals like WGT, Mera Luna, Castle Party, Dark Dance Treffen, Etropolis… Please don’t be shy, come to me to say hello, I love to meet new humans (and also aliens).  

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