A while back you said that your interest in electronic dance music had really waned, and that it had just become musical wallpaper. What did you mean by that?

I like a lot of different types of music. I love electronic dance music, I love punk rock, I love classical music, I like jazz — I like everything, to be honest with you. I feel that there was a period from about 1994 to 1996 where electronic music had become very stale, and a lot of it had become just like musical wallpaper. I'd go out to a nightclub and hear four hours of music, and it all kind of sounded the same and kind of personality-less. But know I think things have gotten a lot better. I think in the last year electronic dance music has become a lot more exiting. But, yeah, a few years ago. that's definitely how I felt.

What attracted you to techno in the first place?

Well, I first became aware that I liked electronic music in about 1977, stuff like Kraftwerk, Donna Summer, and...I don't know, I've always liked dance music. I've always liked repetitive, electronic things. I can't figure out anything specific.

You spoke pretty negativity about the whole techno scene for a while. Did anything positive, aside from the fact that it launched your career, come out of being involved in it?

Oh yeah, I still love it. Just because there was that period where I wasn't thrilled with it...I mean, nowadays I love electronic dance music, and part of the reason I was criticizing it was because I liked it so much. If I didn't care about it I wouldn't criticize it. I didn't criticize jazz-fusion because I could care less about jazz-fusion. Uh, positive things? Yeah, I mean the music is wonderful, a lot of the aspects of the culture are wonderful, I've met some really nice people. So some great things have come out of it.

What other aspects of the culture are there, besides the superficial stuff, like fashion, drug use, etc.?

There's a very strong community ethic. People coming together, and they become friends, they go out to parties together, they eat together — it's quite communal. But then again, I'm 32 years old, and the average age of someone involved in the party scene is probably like 15 or 18, so I'm not of that demographic.

After "Go" became a top ten record in England, you started playing in Europe a lot. What was that like? I read somewhere that you just had a keyboard, a few books, your clothes...

Yeah, that was it and at times it was wonderful, and at times it was really depressing. There were some times I'd be playing in front of 20,000 people and the show would go wonderfully, and other times you're playing at 6 o'clock in the morning , and the sound-man's passed out, and it's just disastrous. So it was hit or miss.

How did your interests shift back to rock? Did playing Lollapalooza, touring with the Chili Peppers, have anything to do with it?

Yeah, that had something to do with it. I've always loved heavy guitar stun, whether it was punk rock, speed metal, or old classic heavy metal. But when I made Animal Rights, in some ways I wasn't thinking of it as a "rock" record. I was just thinking of it as a record I wanted to make at that time.

It's pretty electric.

It's 70 minutes long and there's 40 minutes of punk rock stuff, and 30 minutes of very quiet, instrumental things. So, it's certainly not a rock record in the same sense that Black Sabbath is a rock record.

Where does the metal influence come from?

Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Sabbath. I was also involved in the early hardcore punk scene.

What was the name of the band you were in?

Vatican Commandos. And also a lot of the early punk bands like Black Flag, Minor Threat, Discharge [were influences].