Schwein, all members interview
Rec DVD? [the date appears to be early in 2001 before the album was completed]
youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsU_qxmzND4
kalavinka's translation

***This interview was for Rec DVD, as the members say in Japanese. I am not sure what Rec DVD is. A video magazine? Also, apparently conducted by Pig's manager. At least that is my guess judging by Sascha's interview segment. Also, if you have ever noticed, some people go back and forth when they are talking and have several false starts when starting a new sentence. Atsushi is one of those people, in particular with this interview, so there is a lot of "er", "well", and "um" type of stuttering.***

[start of clip]

[Atsushi interview segment]

Atsushi: Hello to the viewers of Rec DVD. I am Sakurai.
[bows]

[on screen: Q: What are the particulars of how Schwein formed?]
Atsushi: I think it will be faster to ask Raymond, erm, but for awhile, a lot of, well, I made a guest appearance on Raymond's Pig album, and Raymond  did a remix for us, and we also toured around Japan together. We were both thinking that it would be nice to do something together again. Then last year around summer, talks started about working together. Um, we were busy recording and then the tour back to back. Raymond definitely wanted to do collaborate together. We were clear about that. Well, he had the songs ready quite quickly. Eventually the timing was right.

[on screen: Q: What kind of music will it be once it is completed?]
Atsushi: Well let's see. Definitely for those that listen to Pig's music and Sascha's music, as well as those who are familiar with our band's music, well they might think it's like that. For sure those are the fundamentals and the musical pieces are kind of like an experiment. We just do it and think "ah~". Well, on top of being hard there is Japanese words, my voice. You might say that it's physical. That there's something thick in the air. And the rest is well, a lot of ideas, there was this, there was that. Yes, the situation is that we're not just stuck on one thing, like now we must do this. We take it day by day, evolving as it goes. Wonderful, what the hell is it called. For sure nothing that we had up until now, nor for Raymond, nor for Sascha. I think that as long as we go that way...In that manner it will be good.

[on screen: Q: How was the recording?]
Atsushi: Definitely, well, we were not disappointed in getting ready, but when there was what you might call accidents in the studio, we used those as well. Well, it was quite different from our band and well there was that change in the way of doing things. Um, I wouldn't call it smooth but there was very much a sense that we must show our weekly strengths. We were able to do that and well it was a lot of fun.

[on screen: Q: Regarding Schwein's future]
Atsushi: A release date has been decided for the album and well, as for the tour, I can't yet imagine how that will be like but, whichever, how it will look...well for the sound, yes...definitely we will have rehearsals and for sure...I don't want to prepare anything in my mind. I think I would just like to go with the tension of the moment.

[Sascha interview segment]
[It's all in English with Japanese subtitles.]

Sascha: My name is Sascha Konietzko. I'm from Schwein.

[on screen: Q: How did you come to participate in Schwein?]
Sascha: Well it's very exciting. I get to work in Japan for the first time so that for me is [thumbs up] very good. [off camera: I see] And uh, I like working with Raymond very much. Uh, looking forward to working with Atsushi and Imai on this project.

[on screen: Q: How was Schwein created?]
I meet with Raymond I think in 1983, 1984 so a long time ago. And uh, Raymond introduced me to you, of course, and to Atsushi and Imai and suggested to work on this project and uh, here I am, part of it. [off camera: I see]

[on screen: Q: How are the Schwein songs written?]
Sascha: The sound is like a hybrid between, of course, my roots which is very much industrial music and a lot of techno, electronic elements, uh coupled with very melodic influences from Atsushi and Imai. And Raymond, always, Mr. Rock, [off camera: yeah] Mr. Rock Star [off camera: chuckles]. So, you know, I'm just more like the technical, behind a little bit. [off camera: I see, I see] I do a lot of the techno stuff.

[on screen: Q: What do you think of Sakurai's music?]
Sascha: Oh very good. He's a great artist, great singer. Very much like his style. [off camera: I see]

[on screen: Q: When is the release?]
Sascha: So release date is 9th of May in Japan and hopefully a little later in the United States.


[Hisashi interview segment]

Hisashi: Hello to the viewers of Rec DVD. I am Imai.

[on screen: Q: What is Schwein's taste?]
Hisashi: This taste is precisely, well, you could say hard music or also it is heavy music.

[on screen: Q: What has been the response of this unit?]
Hisashi: The shape of this, if you want to call it that, is that there are 2, 3 vocalists, I don't know yet about when I will help. [inaudible] It's like we will let them try it out.


[Raymond interview segment]
[It's all in English with Japanese subtitles.]

[on screen: Q: How did you come to participate in Schwein?]
Raymond: Well I've been working in Japan for many, many years on different projects and in that time I've met with many Japanese musicians. I've built relationships with them. I've also worked in America with American bands and in Europe with European bands. And I felt it would be interesting to break some of the boundaries between the US market and US, European, and Japanese musicians. To break that and to push it together, to create something that is, a new, you know, bake a new cake.

[on screen: Q: What are the origins of the album?]
Raymond: And the album is called Schweinstein. Now this basically represents the different parts, like Frankenstein, Schweinstein. Where with Frankenstein, the Frankenstein monster was a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. So Schweinstein is a representation of this, you know, melange of different people, [off camera: yeah] different cultures, different musical cultures, different languages, different approaches. To create this new monster. [off camera: I see]

[end of clip]