Albums of Purgatory Interview Fear of Dolls' Greg Forschler

Albums of Purgatory: Firstly, what you up to?Have you got any touring planned?

Greg Forschler: Right now I'm just looking for new band members. I'm not sure if there will ever be enough of a demand for a Fear of Dolls tour.

AoP: Have you had any luck in replacing Bonni on vocals?

GF: I've had no luck in replacing any of the past members. I need to at least find a singer who I really connect with and can try to make it last longer than a year. The other instruments I might just do without, it's too
difficult to find and work with and keep people.

AoP: How did Fear of Dolls begin?

GF: It began in 1995, after a year long search for members who of course did not work out at all. That was step one of my learning process, and it left me rather frustrated. I despise the first line up, it was a complete waste
of time. But I did learn a lot about what I really wanted to do and how to do it.

AoP: How would you describe the Fear of Dolls sound?

GF: The feeling you get when you're leaning back in a chair and it's about to fall over backwards.

AoP: How would you describe the sound of Faith & Disease?

GF: Beautiful, simple, honest and human.

AoP: Whats happening with Faith & Disease?

GF: We just recorded an album worth of material for Projekt Records a couple of months ago. It probably won't be released for quite a while.

AoP: What's your favourite Faith & Disease track?

GF: "Jardeau Blue" is my favorite to listen to, and probably to play as wellbut they've played that song for years and I think they're a little tired of it, at least more than I am. There are some newer songs that I feel more a part of than previous material, more involved in the process of creating the songs, so the new album might be my favorite.

AoP: What's your favourite Fear of Dolls song?

GF: I think the one I'm most proud of is "Fragile Toy", and I can't really explain why. But it's difficult, if not impossible, to have a favorite song out of things I've been involved in.most of the time, when the track
is "finished", I usually hate it in a certain way afterward. Not really hate it but it's hard to step away from it while you're involved in it, and when it's over with and you can step back and have a different perspective, then you star to have a different feeling for it, and sometimes it's a horrible gut-sinking feeling that you've done something
horribly wrong.

AoP: What about a Ninth Circle track?

GF: I don't really knowthat was so long ago. I guess "Rain" is one of the better songs in my opinion.


AoP: What's your favourite all-time track?

GF: You mean from all music, or out of things I've been involved in? Either way, that would be an impossible question to answer.

AoP: What was the first record you bought?

GF: I honestly can't remember. I know I had the Star Wars soundtrack on 8-track when I was really young (right after the movie came out). The first "real" record I bought that I was really into and still am was probably the Cure, either Head on The Door, or Boys Don't Cry.

AoP: What would be your dream band line-up?

GF: Nico from the Velvet Underground on vocals and Joy Division as the rest of the band. But seriously, there's really no such thing, I mean, musically the last lineup, and to some extent the one before it, were both perfect except that they didn't last and some members turned out to truly be assholes and psychotic.  But then that's what made the music what it was, it's all sort of an experiment in exploitation of insanity, and so it's always self-destructive. I'm not sure anymore if this will always be the premise for the band.

AoP: What is your favourite memory from your career so far?

GF: The first time Bonni really screamed on stage and none of us, even her, where expecting it. It sounds silly, but it was really frightening and real.

AoP: Do you have any funny stories you can share with us?

GF: The last line up was pretty funny. Bonni and Shaun, the drummer, where dating, that ended badly and they both started not being able to talk or look at each other, but each would say that it was the other that had a
problem. Thomas would throw stupid little temper tantrums for no reason, Bonni stopped writing new songs for several monthsthe other two became mad at her, and at me for not hating her, and then they all got some
impression that a record label was interested in us and that if I went on tour with Faith & Disease and had to cancel one of our shows that the label would no longer be interested in us 4 weeks later. Then everyone decided that the best thing to do would be to not talk about anything or ever talk to each other again. Sad, but funny, at least if you were there.

AoP: What do you think of the position of music today?

GF: I don't like most music I hear now days. It's mostly syntheticand pathetic. It's not really music, it's wallpaper. Even the artists that do put feeling into it are just putting feeling into wallpaper.

AoP: Finally, what do you see for the future?

GF: At this point I'm not really sure, people are too difficult, and rarely contribute to the music the way I would like, so I don't know when it will come together again or in what form. Although I've been increasingly inspired by children's music. There will be a new CD shortly, a single comprised of tracks that the last line up recorded but never released properly. It will all continue, I just don't know when or how.