Abnormal.
A chat with Aboriginal Voices; Heinrich “Wüste” Zwahlen & Micheline “Misch” Pfister.
"ab"; a formal element occurring in loanwords from Latin, where it meant “away from”. Consider its significance when applied to words such as "above", "abdicate" and "abolition".
When expending this idea through sonic form, you could think of the paired words "Aboriginal Voices". This also has been the chosen band name for this couple in the Zurich eighties scene. Coming from a classical or Jazz background as well as being part of some of the more successful 80s Zurich punk bands, the pair's knowledge in pop songwriting did not convince them into stapling this format for their creative endeavours.
Consisting of Heinrich "Wüste" Zwahlen and Micheline "Misch" Pfister, their music features themes in the likes of the need for naive creation, the dullness of routine in one's life and uncertainty. It seems that even forty years later, the message is still broadcasted in a loop, retaining its value and meaning yet situationally unchanged from its ground zero.
Blurring the lines between proto-techno, Wave and Synthpop, this month's showcase is the loud accomplishment of a couple over the span of three years. Organic and lush, raw and futuristic. In this chat titled "Abnormal", I catch up with A.V. and discuss the bands genesis, significance of their songs, perception of female band roles in the eighties and being pioneers of a genre.
So how does it feel to have your music released 40 years later? How did that come to?
[Wüste] Well it’s an interesting feeling because on one hand, it is absolutely a blast from the past. The nostalgic memories of a previous time in my life. On the other hand, it feels very new because we never released through a record label in the traditional sense..
[Misch] We only released on cassette and did ourselves and through local distribution like Rec Rec.
[Wüste] Reto Carduff contacted us two years prior wanting to do this release. According to him, he was so impressed by our performance at the Rote Fabrik in the eighties that we were a big influence on his musical endeavours. Reto then reached out to Billbrook Records and handled the rest in organising the release. “The First Album”, was the remainder of the music that we had recorded. Reto did not feel that it would fit with the LP reissue “Instant Music” as it was too different in style. But I am very appreciative that people care enough about our music and that it has impacted people to do a well crafted vinyl release.
How did the genesis of Aboriginal Voices occur?
[Misch] Before Aboriginal Voices we were part of a bigger group, consisting of several members that came in and out of the band. We were called the Doobie Doobs, like in Clockwork Orange. The idea is that it was full of members that had no musical experience or background. All but us, which we happened to already have some know-how. Myself was trained classically on piano and was part of a four piece band called Drop Off. Heini had a sort of Jazz background as well as being part of the Nasal Boys.
At the time, Heini were a couple and in love, but also mutually felt that the band situation started to become mundane. Creative differences and whatnot. So we decided to start something else, something different that entailed futuristic sounds to break out of the ordinary punk band format that was becoming so prominent in Zurich. In total, we wrote, produced and mixed our only three EPs, where we had Magda Vogel from UnknownMix to do vocals on the first one. For the very most part, it was just Heini and I.
[Wüste] It’s funny because before I started playing with Misch, we were kind of always dissing each other's bands.
[Misch] When I was younger, I travelled and lived in different places, whether it was for studying in Montpellier or growing up in Northern Africa like in Egypt, it took a few years before I permanently settled back in Zurich around my late teens/early twenties. Back in Zurich, I was studying ethnology and working at this “punk” fashion wear boutique called Booster, selling things like Doc Martens imports which everybody now seems to be wearing today. On that street there were many bars, notably this one called the Tiki bar, as well as the Zuri bar which everyone we knew went to. Being exposed to many venues meant we had our foot in the door in terms of networking.
[Wüste] In the beginning we started very simple. We were not able to do shows first, so we were mainly experimenting with analogue gear. It was only as time progressed a bit that digital synths and sequencers started to come out. With those you could save certain presets, sequences.. which made performing for this type of music at the time more realistic. I think that actually enabled us to do live shows sort of like a traditional band format would. It allowed us to maintain a better performance structure where we could switch from one song to the next and be able to make drastic changes.
[Misch] Besides this preprogramming, everything was live. Most bands (in a similar genre), if not all the bands we knew in our immediate surroundings, would usually have a backing track on cassette, blasting from a boombox. We never wanted or did something like that.
Why did you feel this was important to do everything live?
[Wüste] Good question.. I’m not sure. Because we were experimenting a lot, our compositions came out as sort of jams before these ideas became core results. We were always composing with the thought of whether we could replicate this in a live scenario, and vice versa. Which comes first; performance or music? If we can’t perform it, then we abandon the idea. It was kind of a feedback loop in that sense.
Furthermore, I think it all intertwines with the principle of going against the waves. It was a sort of provocation if you will. Since nobody else was doing this and were always seeking for perfection and authenticity to their studio produced tracks, we did the opposite. Allowing imperfections and mistakes define and blend together our artistic image and who we were. At the same time, we did want to be in control of certain elements. Since sound design plays a huge role in our artistic vision, we wanted to be able to orchestrate our instruments and be able to produce the best sound possible for the venue. Same for being in control of our own mixing board when performing live. It is not to say that the sound engineer of the venue was incapable at their job, but more so because we knew how we wanted to sound since there were no reference points for this kind of music at the time. It was all too new and not fitting to monitor our sound the same way you would a rock band for instance.
[Misch] The lineup duties were based off of this actually. We wanted some recognisable instrumental elements in our music, so live Heini was on the mixing desk and guitar duties and myself keyboards and synth arrangements. Heini had some pre-programmed sequenced music and handled the rhythmic section, the drum machines. I was playing all the live synth parts, and also tweaked the modular. And for vocals, both of us singing. In the beginning we recorded at home. But as our artistic ambitions grew, so did our studio space. So then we started having a locale at the Rote Fabrik, by the lake in a sort of bunker in the Zurich park and at the Section FIVE which was close to the Langstrasse.
[Wüste] (...)how did we even learn that stuff? Certainly there was no internet and YouTube clips back then so our approach was totally naive. You're just experimenting. This was a very busy time in our lives creatively speaking because since we were also a couple at the time, we were already spending a lot of time together anyway, so we were constantly feeding off of each other’s energy..ideas... Therefore composing a lot in the late hours of the night. But being so clueless about all this technology, listening back to our music forty years later, I really feel that it all contributed to our sound sounding so futuristic and fresh.
“Aboriginal; relating to the people who have been in a region from the earliest time”. Relating to what you just said, Is that why you picked the name because you wanted something primal to what Switzerland was at the time?
[Misch]The name of the band came partly from this, partly because of my somewhat nomadic heritage. Also since I was studying about immigration related themes, Heini and I felt like we were the aboriginals of Zurich.
[Wüste] I just like the word ‘Aboriginal’. Because there's the word ‘original’ in there. You know, I think it was clearly kind of like nobody else was doing that. And for me, it was also like a technical feat to be able pull that off live, especially with two people. The band name also came from the fact that we wanted to create a ground zero in terms of sonic style in addition to a sort of two meaning wordplay. Aboriginal Voices; something above originality. (...) You (Dee Dee) mentioned the world play ‘Abnormal’, which I actually never thought of during all of these years. I find that great, the meaning fits super. It's definitely abnormal.The audience probably looked at us as abnormal. And it was kind of a provocation to just do everything, with machines because a lot of people thought of them as cold. That you could not really make music with something like that.
[Misch] In relation to going against what other bands were doing It was very important for me to NOT stand out as a woman. It seemed like women in mainstream music, bands like Eurythmics, always put the female as the focus despite being a group with other musicians. Therefore in addition to singing, I also wanted to play instruments. On stage, we were never behind or in front of one another, but rather facing each other in order to communicate, but also to dissipate the idea of frontperson. I always rathered being equal.
I met this couple who also played in a band together in the eighties, whereas the woman did not have such fond memories in that aspect. People would perceive her as being overshadowed by her partner who was male. She apparently would not be taken as a serious musician, contributor or could manage on her own due to being a woman. Misch, I was wondering if, as a woman, you had to double your efforts in various ways to retain not only equal, but as a credible musician on stage and not as “the female member” of the band?
[Misch] Not exactly. With men who were my colleagues in the music scene, it was never really an issue. Also, you have seen my hair cut at the time. It was partly done purposely to fight off these stereotypes. I was also wearing men’s clothing from my boutique. I was leaning towards androgyny. For me, it was not a problem. I think we were really equal with Heini. I took notice on how other male musicians were very nice and respectful of my craft. Of course, I was hit on like any other woman to be honest but it was pretty playful for the most part. Because as a band we were equal, it made me feel strong and secure in my role. It made me feel empowered because I was not portrayed as a sort of mascot, only capable of singing or just looking pretty while dancing, whatever.
Ironically, I could not say I had the support of my fellow women of the scene during that period. At the time, the music industry felt categorical. Being gay or a lesbienne was a bit “new” at the time so to speak in being accepted in mainstream popularity, so there was less expectancy and thus more fluidity, new rules and freedom of expression. As a straight woman, it felt, or rather was expected, that you fit within a certain box, such as you stand in front, sing and dance, and look pretty. That, or you had to be part of an all female band, such as KLEENEX/Liliput. This was a bit of the norm. It is not to disregard female fronted groups, but rather explaining my situation as Aboriginal Voices, where I wanted to front gender equality more in regards to a lineup premise. We didn't want to match in all these patterns, and therefore I was criticised a lot by women, my friends, because they could not understand why I would dress like a tomboy, have really short hair and go against what you would consider patriarchal discourse. Were they jealous? Scared? Somewhat brainwashed? I couldn’t speak for them, but perhaps it was an amalgamation of it all. As a result, sometimes I felt very isolated due to some close people who didn't want to talk to me anymore. How I looked was not because I wanted to jump on a trend, or to make a statement really. It was simply to express how I felt.
Going a step back to the beginning of how Aboriginal Voices started. How did you even get all these instruments? Because at the time, it must have been very inaccessible and expensive. Right?
[Misch] We were very fortunate. At first it was a very modest setup, the bare necessities. But after we started gaining popularity, we got given stuff like the Linn Drum. Eventually, Roland, the instrument company, wanted to do a promotional campaign in Switzerland of its youth using their equipment. A company representative saw us perform and gave us gear to use, such as the System 100, in exchange for having promo pictures of us in their advertisement catalogues. Otherwise we always worked for everything and invested in ourselves. It was crucial to maintain that punk, DIY ethos in our artistic endeavours.
When you first started Aboriginal voices, whether your image or sound, did you already have a clear concept, an idea of where it was going, or rather did you add things on as you grew more knowledgeable of the possibilities of your equipment?
[Wüste] I would say that we didn't have a plan from day one, because we were dipping our toes in this very new world of synthesisers, so we did not know how far we could take it, let alone the feasibilities of performing and producing this music live as a mere duo. Like I said, our artistic vision, performance and sound developed as synthesiser technology was moving along side by side. Like our lightshow towards the end of our career, it was synchronised with a CV output from our modular setup so it stayed more or less in time with our performance. We added things as our knowledge and gear grew, we did everything ourselves or otherwise with the help of a friend who built a custom little box to act as a translator between our synths and to the lights. That was icing on the cake for our performances.
[Misch] In regards to our image. It was never intentional. We just simply matched where others couldn’t. But perhaps the only thing we had in common in our attire was that we possibly shared the same barber at the time.
I can imagine the hassle of carrying all of this equipment, setting it up, tuning it… Could you describe to me how an average Aboriginal voices show would be like?
[Wüste] To my memory, it did not feel that bad. It’s important to note also that back then, there was no alternative. It was peak technology. Since we did not have any other choice, it just felt like that was what you had to do to perform this kind of music. Looking back, sure it was pretty crazy to need an hour or so to set up, but back then it was standard. Perhaps an issue was that analog gear could have the tendency to be unstable. You’d get these weird tuning offsets but in the end, we used this to our advantage since we wanted to have that raw sound. We weren't aiming for perfection, but rather as emitting an attitude.. For example, you can always use better words in order to better your speech but the importance is getting your message across. The same goes for music. If it goes off a few cents or one full semitone, who cares? Perfection implies a threshold. We’d rather be limitless.
It must have been something to make music that has yet been predefined in a genre. There is a lady named Veronica Vasicka in New York who runs a record label whose focus is to unearthed such periodic music from the eighties. To define such a genre that encompasses so many influences and that was perhaps not properly defined back in the day, whether by its creators or listeners, she coined the term Minimal Wave (which is also her label’s name). She used this term because in a nutshell, it encompasses everything between Minimal and Wave, comprising of all; elements that blur the lines in between.
[Wüste] Back in the day, people indeed did not know how to categorise us. Some referred to us as avant-garde, which I guess holds some truth, but I much prefer the term used by the person you mention. The point of our music was always supposed to be minimal, primitive, and not something you would produce in studios with various contributors and high end equipment. Wave, well because there are definitely influences from genres that had that word in them.
[Misch] Synthpop is also something I would use to describe our music. We were definitely influenced by bands like Depeche Mode or Human League, but they were already quite big studio produced bands already. Our approach was more raw, albeit retained some elements of pop, especially in the song structure. It was not intentional at first, but in hindsight, I find that we could be further categorised as Proto-Techno. It is reflected in the repetition of sounds that we use as well as our lyrical content. The idea of not really singing, but rather chanting words in reflection to our music, similar to marching robots or giving/receiving orders, metaphorically speaking. You find similar traits in how Techno music uses samples in order to give their piece structure.
To add to this, our environment was also very influential in our songwriting. Zurich was a pretty bleak place in the eighties, no funding for youth or cultural programs really which contributed to the Zuri Brannt riots. Maybe you’ve heard of them? Anyways, the monotonous, repetitive lifestyle with no aspects to prosper in your future were incorporated in our lyrics, which retained revolutionary traits. You can hear this in our song “Switch n Play” or “Destination”. From this dystopian-like environment, we wanted to express nihilistic sentiments under the guise of social commentary. For me, “Destination” was a song about finding yourself… what are you doing in life.
[Wüste] There was definitely something mischievous when we wrote “Destination”. Internal storms brewing… We were not violent people, but with all this political unrest, there was some arson intent with sentences such as “matches in my pocket and I know my destination”. What, we wanted to burn something down? It was quite sinister and dark. We knew what we wanted and knew how to get it. To abolish the current normality and to innovate by breaking boundaries and tradition in relation to creativity, so to speak. Come to think of it, it’s pretty crazy that although we were singing and complaining about our mundane environment, it was a period that was very innovative in terms of original music.
[Misch] Paranoia themed songs about being followed by agents… “Le Jour, L’ennuie (La Nuit), Je pars, J’en ai marre”. All in expression of the boredom it all. Wanting to sing simultaneously in different languages was somewhat innovative in combining English and french. That was the privilege of myself having relatives in Geneva, so I could speak french rather well. Even with the chord choices were intentional and deliberate to express anguish and darkness, as if something imminent to explode.
Having Switzerland being multi linguistic and therefore having rather strong cultural influences from different neighbouring countries, do you feel that that played a part in your creativity?
[Wüste] Absolutely. I listened to a lot of French pop music in my young years, before I got into the English stuff, but there's almost always the outside influence. In Switzerland, you have a lot of cultural influences from such a small place. We don't have a very strong national identity, musically speaking. It sounds harsh,but I see it as rather positive. Switzerland has always been kind of on the cutting edge. very open minded in absorbing different musical cultures and very quick to pick up new trends and styles and thrive them by making these influences our own. Especially for Swiss Germany. I find it fine to sing in French or Italian, but it does not feel doable to do it in Swiss German. The linguistic aesthetic just wasn’t there, so you switched either of the aforementioned two or in English. In our case obviously, we did it both (French and English).
