When My Authorities Fall
email interview with Ivo by SEB WOOd
(stupid questions answered by Andris) 

http://wmaf.core.lv/index_en.htm

Can you introduce yourself and tell us the story of your band so far ??

there are six of us… we started to do things together in late november of 2002. the first gig took place on the 1st of may 2003. the first tour abroad was in late november 2003 (to russia), then first record at the end of 2003 (still not released, but gonna appear on a six band compilation tape on szarapow sound system, st.petersburg, russia). in summer of 2004 toured lithuania, february 2005 - toured belarus. haven’t been playing outside ex-ussr – some people think that that’s our politics :) it’s not… at the moment we are recording some songs for a 7” due to be released on blackprint records from london.

How did you meet Argument 5.45 and why did you decide to release a split album??

accidentally... we kind of toured russia – in moscow we stayed at argument5.45 vocalist kiril’s apartment, talked a lot – none of our bands had records at that moment nor heard each other live... so it’s kinda weird, but we decided to make a split. for us it was a good opportunity to get released in russia...

What was recording the album like ??

the songs you can hear on the split we recorded in two days at ‘phoenix’ studio in riga – the studio dudes are mostly metal oriented. it wasn’t fun at all – cause it was expensive and we had to do it so fast... we are recording new material at friends’ diy studio (as the old songs you can hear on our website), maybe the sound quality is gonna be poorer, but the atmosphere there is much better...

There is a strong connection to situationist philosophy (Debord) in your lyrics…. In the review I have linked this with the passage from soviet oppression to capitalist alienation that might have ruined many people’s hope. What’s your opinion about this ??

yes, our lyrics are influenced by situationist’ critique of spectacle… speaking of that passage from soviet oppression to capitalist alienation – not sure… first of all, in my opinion, there was a passage from soviet oppression to capitalist oppression which overlapped (the time of our childhood – late 80’s - beginning of 90’s) and just in the past few years this oppression settled in people’s brain and became alienation… and it is really intense nowadays – so that’s the reason why we are influenced by it…

Do you intend to write little situ manifestos like Refused did for example??

we are not familiar with that sort of activities of refused, so we’re not inspired by them. but some of our members are involved in anarchozine “pretspars”, publishing different pamphlets – check out pretspars.hardcore.lt (only in latvian – sorry)

About Refused, I was referring to the fact that they used their albums’ sleeves as a means to print situationist manifestoes… To which hardcore group do you relate to ??

none (or maybe didn’t understood the question correctly…)

Why did you choose the name When My Authorities Fall ??

it seemed appropriate and actual at that moment and it is still today. it’s a personal experience. all irrational authorities have to die in your head so you can find the way to yourself. to be what you are and become what you potentially could be. leaving the safe but determined past behind. it’s more difficult to make your own decisions than to follow somebody’s orders, be it man or god. it’s a wonderful and also a scary feeling when for the first time in your life you are really on your own. there is no one who tells you what is right or wrong, what you have to do or not. it’s you who make the decisions now. and from this point on it can only be “before and after”. it’s the breaking point. it’s a constant struggle too. cause authorities are no longer authorities without your respect for them. it’s also a question. when will they finally fall? try to ask it to yourself.

On the 16 th of March, there was a totally legal demonstration gathering ex-SS members and private soldiers in Riga. How did it go?? Why do you think the Latvian government authorized it to take place??

We’ve been answering to this question a lot last days – especially to our friends from russia and belarus, because mass medias there are pretty strong into one dimension of things that happened here... a bit of history: in 1940 latvia was occupied by soviet union, a lot of people were sent to siberia or killed, almost every family suffered from the bolshevik’s genocide. then nazis came – they presented themselves as liberators from bolshevik oppression (they got more developed PR skills) – a lot of people fell for that – and signed to german army, some were signed by force. of course there were some real nazi contributors as everywhere, but this day is not linked with them... when there are remembrance days of soviet army, only strong nationalists link them with bolshevik politics... in our opinion war is not a thing in which you can divide forces of good and evil, a lot of people have been killed and that is really sad... the bad thing is that some political forces (both latvian and russian nationalists) take it as the show-off of their “politics” – desperately trying to get some attention to their ideas... and speaking of latvian government – the legalisation of that demonstration is municipal jurisdiction – and both political forces are well represented there. but as it was suitable for them, there were no problems by legalizing it...

If both nazi sympathizers and soviet sympathizers are well represented, aren’t there regular confrontation in Latvia ?? It’s just interesting to know because in Western Europe, we don’t get much information about Baltic st ates and in Russia, Latvia for example is presented as a hostile place which wants Russian citizens to move back to Russia and which creates Russian ghettos…

you misunderstood... there are no really nazi or soviet sympathizers – there is a huge difference between nazi and nationalist... the confrontations are really rare... only when some politicians want to rise their rates, then they choose some national background and make a loud action... but it only deals with their political influence not the real problems in streets... there are no russian ghettos – there are some small natinalistic/xenonophobic/homophobic political organisations which want to make latvia for latvians – but it’s not state politics at all – state is purely neoliberal...

Time for stupid questions:

What’s the most stupid thing you’ve ever done ??

stepped on nails on purpose – probably not the most stupid, but still something

Don’t you like capital letters ??

somehow capital letters in printed texts turns out as hierarchy... same as ”.”

What freaks the hell out of you ??

bureaucracy

What is your favourite pick-up line ??

i don’t really know what’s a “pick-up line”?

How do you look like in a tuxedo ??

have no clue

Which Hollywood star (dead or alive) would you most like to date ??

bruce lee

What is your favourite curse word ??

bļaģ (bladj)

Where is the evil empire now ??

in my head

What question would you ask in this list ??

what is your filthiest habit?

Thanks.

thanks

/apr 15th 2004/