KMFDM one of few pinnacles in music this summer
Josh Bashara
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Josh Williamsonyear or two, only to reappear with lightning-fast speed, biting down hard on the neck of popular rock.
Formed in Paris in 1984 by Sascha Konietzko, KMFDM would soon host a multitude of members and tour around the world, pioneering the industrial genre alongside the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Ministry.
After nearly 20 years, 16 albums and latest release Attak, industrial rock band KMFDM reinvented itself once again and set out for the road, stopping in Omaha over the summer.
Although Konietzko's brainchild has been attached to the industrial rock genre for over a decade, these days it's a term he's trying to shed.
"We've always tried to distance ourselves from the industrial label," Konietzko told The Gateway this summer. "It's just too constrictive. KMFDM is not an industrial band by strict term and definition. Why be pigeon-holed?"
Recently, KMFDM was coupled with electronic rock label Metropolis after the band left original industrial label Wax Trax! a few years ago.
Artistic freedom is not a problem these days, Konietzko said, due in part to the label's light promotion and distribution efforts.
"[Metropolis] is like a really low-key operation," Konietzko said. "You give them a master and then they make a record eventually. It'll only show up in some record stores. Do they give us freedom? Yeah, because it's not even up to them to decide what they give us, because they give us practically nothing."
Shortly after, Konietzko hinted around with the idea that KMFDM's own record label may be somewhere over the horizon.
The nu-metal trend is definitely something of a thorn in the music industry's side, which Konietzko feels must wither away for more bands like KMFDM to blossom once again.
"People need to make more exciting stuff," Konietzko said. "I think there are two kinds of people who go out and do this thing. One I call artists, the other I call entertainers. All that nu-metal stuff falls into the entertainer category."
"Entertaining is more successful and instantaneously financially rewarding to labels, so they put more steam behind it," he continued. "It's all you see, I mean, you can't even find cool little bands between all these billboards for Christina and Britney and f**king Limp Bizkit. You don't see the forest for the trees, it's a big smokescreen."
Despite the 2,000-plus capacity venues KMFDM filled up its entire summer tour, the band stopped at the Ranch Bowl in June, where capacity barely reaches 500. Konietzko didn't seem to mind the small (but sold-out) crowd.
"This is the best tour we've over done," he said. "Attendance is up 150 percent since the last tour."
The concert itself humbled the Ranch Bowl. Within seconds of the first note, when the smoke began to pour out and the lights started to pulsate, it was obvious this tour was not meant for such a small venue as the Ranch Bowl.
The stage was literally a crowded mess of steel and electronics. Konietzko was flanked by Tim Skold, Raymond "Pig" Watts, Bill Reiflin and Lucia Cifarelli. Crowded but looking smooth, they pounded out a good hour and a half of KMFDM songs, old and new.
The live dynamics were good and the band was great. What almost seemed like recorded-quality sound (due in part to the fact that most of the sampling is pre-recorded) was furiously unleashed to a maniacal crowd.
The energy never came to a lull until the end of the show and even then you could still feel the energy of one of the oldest industrial bands still crackling in the air.