Cult With No Nameby Erik Stein, published in Wound Magazine, November 2007
Cult With No Name.jpg)
Cult
With No Name is an electronic duo from the last cultural bastion in
London - the East End. Among their number they boast Erik Stein (Vocals, Keys,
Programming and transport) and Jon Boux (Keys and v-necks). As their cult has
no name, as a departure from our usual style we focus our questioning around
some that do.
The Freemasons desire to ‘build cathedrals of men’. Whilst that is infringing upon the civil liberties of mankind, if not somewhat impractical (and you’d think they’d know, being masons and all), how are CWNN today?
ES: It’s 11.32am. The morning after the night before last.
JB: Fine and dandy, having finished our first album and enjoying the simple pleasures of life - unlike the Freemasons, an order of secret rites, grotesque ceremonies and fantastic costumes (so not all bad).
The Rosicrucians’ basic beliefs of pantheism and reincarnation are fundamental to their way of life and death. So, why and when did CWNN form?
ES: Well, CWNN is based on a friendship rather than an advert in the back of Melody Maker (I’m showing my age here). Jon and I have been friends for 10 years, (You’re really showing your age now! - Ed) but in a cult for only the last two to three. Circumstances dictated why we started when we did. I had finally realised that performing indulgent four-track recordings using an ironing board and dressed in a trenchcoat did not herald the advent of the fifth generation of rock ‘n’ roll. The two people that Jon was working with moved away... one to California, such is the effect he has on people. So, we wanted to see if two rungs make a right. So far, we believe it has.
JB: The seed was actually sown in the specialities section of a record store. We then collaborated on a covers project reworking Dutch band The Nits songs in 2001. From these obscure beginnings came the source of our sound and one thing led to another!
Zoroastrianism was founded in the sixth century before Christ by the Persian prophet Zoroaster, at the time of Buddha.
So, which three people, alive or dead, would CWNN like to see at one its gigs?
JB: Cult with no name welcome any cult heroes to their gigs (preferably alive), but to name a favourite three: Arvo Part (famous Estonian composer); Spike Milligan (famous nutter) and Socrates (mad philosopher and eccentric football star).
ES: We’ve seen enough dead people at our gigs already, thank you. Any three people at one of the gigs would be nice.
The Order of the Solar Temple is based on the Hinduist ideology of Reincarnation and claim that ‘death’ represents for them an essential stage of life. If you weren’t in CWNN, which band should you be in?
JB: Erik would no doubt be in something very obscure if he did not have me to keep him on the straight and narrow and I’d be in something very ambient if I did not have Erik to liven me up a bit? CWNN formed to keep both sane! (Didn’t work though, did it? - Ed)
ES: The Residents, as I have an eye for a good tune. (Careful…- Ed). Plus, of course, no-one would know that I’m actually in The Residents, which would leave me free to front, say, The Tweets.
The Davidian cult in Waco was founded by two blokes, one called Dave and the other called Ian. Have CWNN got any releases coming out soon and where can people get their clarty mitts on ‘em?
ES: Our fifteen (!) track debut album, ‘Paper Wraps Rock’, is being released in September 2007 by an LA-based label, called Trakwerx. The label is actually owned by one of my influences, Jackson Del Rey of Savage Republic/ 17 Pygmies. It’s like a fly in your chardonnay, as they say. What goes around, comes around... and signs you. There’s talk of a second album already. The material is there - it’s just a matter of sowing it up.
JB: What he said and we also appear on 17 Pygmies recent release 13 Blackbirds and a one off EP collaboration CWNN v Doodoo Malicious and further info also appears on our web page and myspace.
The Ku Klux Klan are …. just knob-ends, so give us some parting words of notorious CWNN wisdom.
JB: Less is more!! And in the words of the great cult philosopher Cicero “trust no one unless you have eaten much salt with him.”
ES: Keep music lithe.
Thanks for the kind consideration in this most sensitive of issues.