Interview with Rodney Orpheus (vocals, synths, drum machines) from The Cassandra Complex
Good news from THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX! The band around Rodney Orpheus will be going on tour again after a long time, and the new album ‘Death & Sex ’will be released on March 8. As the title suggests, it’s a re-recording of the album ‘Sex & Death’ from 1993. Seven tracks appear in an awesome and surprising new sound! The album features the original founding members Rodney Orpheus and Andy Booth (guitar), with long time additional members Chris Haskett (HENRY ROLLINS BAND, DAVID BOWIE) on guitar and Mera Roberts (FAITH AND THE MUSE, BLACK TAPE FOR A BLUE GIRL) on cello, as well as the new member Brent Heinze (PROBE 7) on keyboards. I had the opportunity to talk to Rodney Orpheus about it.
Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: Hello Rodney, good to talk to you again - you have some great news! Let’s start with the release of a new record that isn‘t really a new album - but somehow it is. In March, ‘Death & Sex’ will be released. So of course we immediately think of ‘Sex & Death’, which came out in 1993. Why did you decide to re-record seven songs from the album?
Rodney: There were a couple of reasons. I always loved the songs on this album, but they are quite harsh and screaming - it was not a happy experience, if you know what I mean! And it was never released in the USA for example, it was only released in Europe. That really annoyed me because we have a lot of American fans and they didn‘t even know that the record existed. I wanted to re-release it, and I wanted to remaster the songs. But when I listened to them I thought, we could do it so much better now! So I decided to re-record almost the whole album and after a short time we realised that it is so much better than before. More powerful and strong.
RoD: Did you already have a plan how the new songs should sound, or did that come gradually while you were working on them?
Rodney: I didn’t really have a plan, but for many years we played the songs live. And every time we played them we changed them a little bit, so the songs have changed over the years anyway. And I worked with other people on ‘Death & Sex’ than on ‘Sex & Death’. When I work with other musicians I always want them to bring in what they have, their own influences. So everyone brought their own input to the songs. With Chris Haskett, for example, who has also played with DAVID BOWIE, we have another great guitarist alongside Andy Booth. We have known Chris for a long time, he went to the same university in Leeds and he already accompanied us at the beginning of THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX. And we have Mera Roberts who already played with THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX before, too. Now that I live in Los Angeles I got in touch with her again. With Brent Heinze we have a totally new person in the band who brings a new perspective in it. So it’s a really good combination of people to make the record new again.
RoD: So the songs on ‘Death & Sex’ show a big influence of the newly formed band…
Rodney: Yes, absolutely! But there is another point: When we recorded the album more than 30 years ago, technology was not as advanced as it is now. Now technology has moved on and is available easier, I can work here at home in my own studio in a small room. THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX has always been a band who uses technology, but much of what we do today would not have been technically possible 30 years ago.
RoD: Are you more happy with the songs now?
Rodney: Oh yes! One hundred percent more happy, yeah! And I am sure, everyone who liked the old album will love the new one, too!
RoD: So you could say that ‘Sex and Death’ was a typical THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX-album back then, and ‘Death & Sex’ is THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX today?
Rodney: Yes, absolutely!
RoD: Is it difficult to let go of a work and to publish it after having worked on it for a long time?
Rodney: Yes! I just finished mastering it a couple of days ago and I‘m still so close to it. I have heard it ten thousand times in the last months… and I always ask myself “is it really good enough… I don’t know… maybe…”. But I have to say, now I’m pretty happy with the album.
RoD: Now you’re in the mood - do you think about re-releasing another album?
Rodney: Yeah, we are already working on more re-recordings. As we are rehearsing for the tour and we play old classics, we also work on them, we develop new ideas to record them. That’s what you call in German “Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen” (To kill two birds with one stone)! (laughs) And I remastered our last album ‘The Plague’ as well to release it on CD.
RoD: As you mentioned the rehearsals - let’s talk about another great news: THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX signed with COP International Records and will be on tour - the “CX40 world tour”. There is a lot of music after more than 40 years… can you reveal anything of the planned setlist? How do you choose from so many songs what you play live?
Rodney: That’s the biggest problem. (laughs) We have so many songs for a show that lasts about 90 minutes. But we decide together what we play, and every show will be different. We won’t play the same setlist every time. Sometimes we change our mind during the sound-check and vary the setlist shortly before the concert. At the end of the tour it will be a totally different setlist than at the beginning.
RoD: Good for people who travel to see more than one show!
Rodney: Yeah, of course!
RoD: 40 years of THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX is the motto of the tour. What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you think back to the history of the band?
Rodney: I am happy that we can tour with the original line-up again. Not many bands can do that after 40 years, a lot of bands hate each other after such a long time. (laughs) They have fights in the dressing room and stuff. But we are still friends and we can work together and we do new things, that’s an important point that I associate with the band. And I remember that many people said “you will never last” and didn’t believe in us, and now that’s like a big “Fuck You” to them when we are on tour again 40 years later! And one more thing, we never wanted to became a cabaret-version of ourselves, playing the greatest hits again and again - we never wanted to do that. ‘The Plague’ was a new album with new songs after many years. So we showed that we’re not only coming back to be the old guys playing the same old things. We are still excited and vibrant.
RoD: What is the difference for you playing your own show, compared to a festival?
Rodney: On a festival you only have maybe 45 minutes, during this time we can only scratch the surface. When we play our own shows we have 90 minutes or more, that gives us more options. But obviously playing a festival is great because you have thousands of people in front of you. It feels amazing, a huge atmosphere. Smaller shows with a couple of hundred people are also great because there is a much more intimate feeling and a very personal connection between us and the audience. We are not a band who just performs in front of the people, we like to engage every single person. I don’t like to see the audience as a big faceless mass, I want to see the individual people and make a connection. And after the show, I’m still a the merch stand and talk to the fans. I try to talk to every single person who comes to our show. By the way, hat reminds me when I was asked to do a “Meet and Greet” after a show - you know, when people have to pay extra to meet the band. I was so confused about the thought to ask people to pay me to meet them? Hallo? What a stupid idea! When people buy tickets to see the show I say “thank you”!
RoD: You always keep in touch with your fans, via social media for example. Can you observe whether many new fans have joined, or is it more the old fan base?
Rodney: There are many new and younger fans! I remember a gig in London a few years ago, at least the half of the audience was under 25. Afterwards a young woman, maybe 20 years old, came to me and said “you’re the best new band I’ve ever seen”. (laughs) That shows we are still getting new fans all the time, and it’s exciting so see that more and more young people come to see us. Of course we have fans who are with us from the beginning, coming to the shows, buying every record. That’s weird somehow, but great, and I love it! But I don’t want to be just that old guy playing to a bunch of old guys.
RoD: When you are on stage - is it different now compared to the early times of THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX? Do you feel the same spirit - punk, mosh pit and all that - or do you think something changed?
Rodney: I think it’s my job as an entertainer, as a musician, to make sure that people get excited and enjoy it. Nobody pays money for a show to get bored. If you pay for a show you want to be excited, you want to jump around and dance, you want to be emotionally transported, you want to cry, laugh and feel all that. That’s my job to create that, to make that emotional connection.
RoD: Meanwhile you moved from London to L.A. Have you settled in well there?
Rodney: Yes, it’s great here! The sun is shining, it’s warm… I get fresh fruits from my garden in the morning. But yes, there are lots of crazy people here who want to vote for Donald Trump and so on, but you have negative and positive sides wherever you live.
RoD: Two years ago we talked about your last album ‘The Plague’ and the song ‘The Crown Lies Heavy On The King’. This song seems to become very actual again…
Rodney: Yes, that’s still completely current unfortunately…
RoD: Did you get new influences, new inspirations in your new home? Do you experience a different music scene there?
Rodney: Yes, I always got inspirations from every country I lived in. For example the song ‘Hotline To Elvis’ on ‘The Plague’ has an influence from America, from a widespread superstition here. I remember when I came to the states a long time ago, I was in the hotel with a jetlag, turned on the TV and there was this phone-number to call Elvis… that was about 1989. I had the idea for the song which I finished then about four years ago. Sometimes influences take that long! I lived all over the world, in England for example, in Ireland and in Germany, now in Los Angeles, and every country is different of course.
RoD: I think you are a very open-minded person when it comes to other countries and cultures…
Rodney: Yes, absolutely. I spent most of my life travelling all over the world. I love to get to know new countries.
RoD: Talking again about the upcoming tour which will lead you also to Germany. You lived in Hamburg and you speak German. What are you especially looking forward to, thinking about Germany?
Rodney: Germany has always been our biggest fan base. I know many people there, and it’s always nice to see the old fans again. And there are a lot of people I know via social media, so I’m looking forward to meeting many people. Of course I am looking forward to Hamburg, because I lived there - and Witten will be great, we are headliner at the festival “Dark Skies Over Witten”. I think we will play for 75 minutes, which is long for a festival It will be great!
RoD: Thank you very much for the interview - see you on tour!
Tour Dates (currently confirmed, more to come)
14/03/24 - Todmorden UK, The Golden Lion
16/03/24 - Gateshead UK, The Black Bull
17/03/24 - London UK, The Lower Third
21/03/24 - Charleroi BE, La Ruche Verriere
22/03/24 - Amsterdam NL, Q-Factory
23/03/24 - Witten DE, Dark Skies Festival
24/03/24 - Heerlen NL, Nieuwe Nor
25/03/24 - Hanover DE, LUX
26/03/24 - Krefeld DE, Kufa
29/03/24 - Hamburg DE, Logo
30/03/24 - Copenhagen DK, Lygten Station
31/03/24 - Berlin DE, Urban Spree
19/05/24 - Leipzig DE, House Leipzig (Wave Gothic Treffen)
20/05/24 - Munich DE, Ampere/Muffathalle
21/05/24 - Prague CZ, Akropolis Palace
22/05/24 - Vienna AT, Escape
24/05/24 - Frankfurt DE, Nachtleben
11/08/24 - Hildesheim DE, Mera Luna Festival
http://cassandracomplex.co.uk/
Pictures by Daniela Vorndran, Christina Z., Luc Luyten, Xavier Marquis and Greg Rolfes
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