Metrocult conjure up a cauldron of Gothic Rock with a refreshing emulsion of Punk—which make them resonate with the sensibilities of UK Decay, early Bauhaus, and Theatre of Hate, more so than anything second wave goth. This in my opinion is the true spirit of Punk Rock, which is made even more evident by the fact that despite some incidences of backcombed hair, none of the members of Metrocult sport Mohicans.
I recently wrote to Christoffer Bagge and Co to get the deelio (inside joke) on one of Europe’s best new Post-Punk/Deathrock bands:
Can you tell me the origin story of Metro Cult—and what led to the establishment of it’s current lineup?
It started out with Christoffer and Johan playing together. We were inspired by Deathrock, Cold-Wave and Goth-rock, which were genres that practically didn’t exist in Denmark at the time. But at the same time, we were into local post-punk acts such as Melting Walkmen, The City Kill, and Chainsaw Eaters and the K-town punk bands that were active in Copenhagen at the time.
After a little while, Klaus joined the band and we got a rehearsal space. Johannah joined the band in January 2012. They both brought in their own musical inspirations, but we all shared a liking for both classic goth/post-punk/new-wave and for punk/hardcore.
Shortly thereafter, we got an offer to play together with Tanzkommando Untergang, whom we knew from having met earlier in Berlin, and then we rushed to get our set ready. In April 2012, we played our first gig supporting them.
Klaus left the band last year and Mathias joined in. He too shares a liking for a broad range of both punk and post-punk bands, so it was the obvious choice.
Is is difficult to lean more towards the Punk roots of the music scene in this day and age of techno and noise?
When playing outside of Denmark it can be a problem, as certain venues for this kind of music prefer more dance-able electronic tunes these days, but for the Copenhagen scene it’s not really an issue. It seems that punk and rock-oriented genres like psych and garage are still quite popular here. And we have long been involved with the punk / hardcore scenes – our first 7” was released on the punk label Adult-Crash, which is much more known for hardcore punk than post-punk.
You guys seem to be very active in the international music scene, collaborating with many new and legacy bands. I get the impression that Metro Cult is part of a new generation in international extended family of those who are into Post-Punk?
Around the time we formed I don’t think we knew that there was a wave of renewed interest for these genres starting as such, but within short time we started contacting them and they started contacting us. Today a lot of us are brought together by Mass Media Records or for events like Unpleasant Meeting Festival.
The members of the band now book and volunteer for the danish club Totentanz which formed due to us wanting to embrace this new wave of post-punk / new-wave / goth / synth / deathrock etc. So we’ve met a lot of the bands in the scene because we’re doing shows with them in Copenhagen.
It’s incredibly to see the solidarity within the scene. Every band we meet seems eager to put time and energy into helping us and other bands, and there are also some very dedicated bookers in the scene.
What are your influences in regard to your music, and what do you like to listen to? Is it a coincidence that I find similarities to the Danish Deathrock band Ads in your music? (with the new ep Transparent having hints of Corpus Delicti?)
There’s no doubt that early Danish post-punk such as Ads, Sods, Ballet Mecanique etc. have influenced us, but we also try to take inspiration from current bands. The band members have quite different tastes, with some of us more into punk / HC and some of us more into new-wave and goth-rock – though we all listen to all the genres.
Corpus Delicti is not really a band we’ve been listening to a lot, but classic goth-rock bands like 13th Chime, UK Decay, Bauhaus, Killing Joke etc. have definitely been an influence.
Any other Danish bands are readers should check out?
Yes! Our good friends in MOTH of course, and also the project Artificial Monuments that Johannah from our band does in collaboration with members of MOTH. The members of MOTH are also in the projects Chainsaw Eaters and Melting Walkmen (the latter will soon release a record on Mass Media as well). Apart from that, there is Prison (Also on Mass Media), The Woken Trees, Dune Messiah, The City Kill (though sadly disbanded now), Less Win, Deadpan Interference and Boss Norms.
Of course we also like some of the bands that has already gotten some attention in international media. IceAge, Lower, Shiny Darkly, Lust for Youth etc.
Pick up Metrocult’s latest, the Transparent E.P. at Mass Media Records
https://metrocult.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MetroCult
