“Hailing from Los Angeles with roots in the legendary Chicago Wax Trax! scene comes the new duo Trash Deity. Combining the chaos and energy of the classic Wax Trax! sound updated with hard and modern production, Trash Deity is Groovie Mann aka Franke N. Nardiello (My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult frontman/writer) and accomplished music producer and industrial artist JDN aka John D. Norten (Blue Eyed Christ).” Writes this unique duos official Facebook page.
Trash Diety is a force unlike any other, uniting two spectacular musicians with a magnificent vision. Senior journalist Anabel DFlux had the sincere pleasure of picking their minds about the latest EP Frantic Child, and all that comes forth with it!
RockRevolt: Hey there! Thank you for chatting with me! How are you?
JDN: We’re doing Great, just released our new EP, Frantic Child, which has remixes from our Metropolis Album Cross & Divide that came out in September. We’re super proud of the album, Groovie Mann is gearing up to release the new My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult album and tour, and I’m finishing the new Blue Eyed Christ album and producing and mixing some other exciting known and new artists.
RR: Tell me about the new EP. How did you two conceptualize this album?
Groovie Mann: We thought it would be interesting to have peoples takes on the songs. People that we respect and know and like as artists.
JDN: People seem to discover and digest singles and songs more than albums often these days, so we thought we’d put the EP out to give some songs to focus on as well as another spin on the sound.
RR: What was the writing, recording, and production process like?
JDN: The writing and recording of the Cross & Divide album sort of evolved over time. It always starts with us going through tracks I have and choosing what to focus on with lyrics and vocals. Groovie Mann will come over with a bag of goodies of inspiration, old magazines, pulp novels, notebooks with newspaper headlines cut and pasted, lyric journals, and we throw it all in a blender and out comes a Trash Deity song.
RR: You both come from very unique musical backgrounds! What has it been like working together? Has your creative process changed as a result of this musical union?
GM: It’s more spontaneous because it’s new and it’s always exciting to work with a great producer.
JDN: Since Blue Eyed Christ is primarily me, it’s great working on another creative partnership. When I’m working with new and creative people, there’s always something to take away and learn.
RR: I hear you launched an awesome contest in advance of your EP! The Fan Album Art Contest for Frantic Child/Cross & Divide Remix EP. Tell me more about this! How did this idea come about?
GM: Our publicist, Tracy at TAG, reached out to Regen who was interested in hosting the contest. We Thought it would be fun because of my paintings and ties to the art community and many of our fans are creative artists and people.
RR: How are you enjoying partnering with ReGen Magazine?
GM: They’re Ace!
JDN: Regen is great, they do a lot to promote and bring together the Industrial Community and fans of the old school Wax Trax! and mixing in new bands with that sound and bringing it all together.
RR: How do you hope fans interpret the new music?
GM: With their feet stomping to the pace of the beat, like glam rock with electro shock punk. My main influences are Glam rock, experimental and punk. That’s to me what makes industrial.
JDN: We’ve had pretty universal great reaction to the album. As far as interpretation of our songs, that’s up to the individual. Many of our songs are abstract, you can probably learn more about yourself from what you think the mean, like a Rorschach Inkblot test.
RR: Upcoming show plans? How would you describe your show visually?
JDN: We keep threatening to put something together, it just has to make sense, like touring with another established Metropolis artist, or Festivals like Cold Waves.
RR: Music videos?
JDN: We have the two videos we did with Neill Kull before the Metropolis deal. Those both really set up the visual aesthetics of the band, “Finger on a Trigger” and the first song we wrote, “Run 4 Your Lies!”. We opted instead to use the other fan art submissions for the remixes on youtube. We thought that would be a cool way to represent the work of the Artists who did covers for the contest.
RR: How do you describe your music to people and what image do you think your music conveys?
GM: Multifaceted and open for many interpretations. Something with Strong will power to exist and leave the doors open for the listener to interpret.
RR: How would you define the word “success”?
GM: Success is getting acknowledgement from the people you respect and admire.
JDN: Success has many faces, the professional success from sales, the personal success from accomplishing something you’re proud of, etc.
RR: What are your fondest musical memories?
GM: as a fan Going to my first show when I was 17 seeing Lou Reed perform Sally Can’t Dance Tour. Shooting the Sex on Wheels animated video and meeting Ralph Bakshi for the cool world movie. Either that or filming the scene in the crow.
JDN: Seeing Duran Duran, Prince, and Depeche Mode. My first 3 concerts. for Blue Eyed Christ I remember a particularly great Metro show at the height of Industrial in the 90s, rolling around on stage at the end of the song “Crash” reciting the end lyrics, “I’m falling apart, I’m slipping away from myself”, I had sort of an out of body experience from my music, the lights, the crowd, I could see myself from above, very cool.
RR: Any last words for your fans before we conclude this interview?
JDN: Stay tuned for more in the Trash Deity saga, enjoy our output available now, and we will be back in the lab working on the next adventure soon!
