Interestingly enough, Whitehouse has actually become respected in certain art circles... Check this out:
"Prix Ars Electronica 2003 year book - extract
(honorable mention précis)
Bird Seed has been regarded by many critics as Whitehouse's most mature, diverse and complex release to date. Still containing Whitehouse's unadulterated lyrics, and ironic swipes at the misfortunate, this recording finds the band at a far more intellectually sophisticated and psychologically interrogative stage in its career, particularly in terms of how the lyrics attempt to grapple with the culturally stigmatized therapy and self-help culture. Much of this has been attributed to the departure of former band member Peter Sotos and the shrinkage of the group to a duo of William Bennett / Philip Best. Musically, things have equally changed for the group, credited with having pioneered what became known in the 1990s as "power electronics". With Bird Seed, Whitehouse have found not only new lyrical insight and sophistication, but musical innovation that is in keeping with their career achievements thus far.
+++++++++++++++
(regarding the jury's deliberations)
The UK group Whitehouse are still too extreme to find a majority on this jury panel 20 years after their first appearance. They have shifted from the paradigm of being an ambivalent "80s industrial" band towards a contemporary-sounding digital blast. They focus their issues more precisely than ever. Obvious, but not obvious enough, Whitehouse are one of the few collectives to twist political issues explicitly with their extreme and controversial works. Addressing the topics of power, media, violence, abuse and fetish, Whitehouse have caused the heavist debate amongst our committee. The voyeuristic aspect of their work struck some of us as choreographed provocation and others as disgusting theatrics. But the very fact of the panel's polarization over the kind of abhorrence, rejections and fascination their music and message conveys raised the discourse to grant them, with our divided passions, a disputed place in the final honorable mentions. Their unrelenting live spectacles and savage sound-works are an inexorable testament to a brute strength. Let the outrage continue!"
Whitehouse have often said they're not racist, nazis, or right wing. Those rumors seem to stem from an article William Bennett wrote for "Force Mental" magazine back in the 80's that was meant to be a parody of facism but was taken seriously (it was called "The Struggle For a New Musical Culture").
As for their philosophy, here are choice extracts from certain interviews presented in a chronological order:
(1982)
Q: What are your aims musically?
William Bennett: "Musically, the aim is to translate as much mental violence and power into music as possible. If people were honest with themselves, they would know that we deliver the goods they really want."
Q: What are your motivations in focusing on the blacker aspects of existence?
WB: Our motivation? The "darker" side of people is fundamentally the more interesting; it inflames the imagination more and affects one's senses profoundly and vividly." (he goes on to talk about his admiration for Nietzche and how "the man who chooses the path of evil has proved that he is the most civilized". In this same interview Bennett expressed a positive reaction to Charles Manson, Gilles de Reis, Adolf Hitler, Marquis De Sade, Leni Riefenstahl, Aleister Crowley, and the National Front).
(1983)
(1984)
Q: Is there any particular message you want to get across, like social commentary or...?
WB: No, not at all. I mean our whole philosophy is not work, it's just really pleasure for ourselves, and anybody else who likes it, well it's just a bonus to them... No, I don't really care, I mean I don't believe in God or anything like that, so, if anybody else doesn't care for what we do it doesn't bother me in the slightest.
* * * *
(in regards to Nazism and Fascism
WB: We're not facists... some of the material uses it's imagery because I find it attractive. For myself, I'm primarily interested in violence, sadism, and a libertine philosophy where pleasure should be obtained at any price.
* * * *
WB: The Whitehouse music isn't trying to communicate anything as far as to people... what people get out of it is up to them. I play that sort of music because I enjoy that kind of music, it gives me great pleasure to perform live or do it in the studio or even to listen to the records. People may get a similiar thing out of it, but there's no message. The only philosophy I follow regards to this is pleasure, there's no compromise, and if people don't like it fine.
(1985)
Q: Do you despise humanity? And if so, why do you promote this hatred through records and shows? Isn't the ultimate message murder and self-destruction?
WB: I'm not sure that anybody could imagine that we hate humanity, and I could say that with all seriousness. We've not campaigned for any political charge on grounds of coservatism or otherwise. However unusual the manifestos appear, we love life and all that nature goes with it. Pleasure is the operative word.
(1991)
Q: Whitehouse often comes up against rejection. How do you cope with that?
WB: I've never made records to provoke people. The records are for Whitehouse fans and not for people who don't like them.
Q: Are they meant for people who take your lyrics seriously?
WB: I don't want to give orders through my music. If people like them, that's ok, but they're a very select audience.
Q: If you sing about sex, violence and perversion, is the music specifically aimed at people who enjoy this and practice it themselves? Do you make music for the perverted?
WB: No, not at all. The music isn't governed by whether the listener is violent or not. The most violent audience I've ever encountered were country fans in America, that really scared me.... It's certainly much more dangerous to go to a normal disco then to go to a punk concert. Our songs don't explicitly ask the listener to do anything. But if someone likes violent sex then it's obvious our music will be a turn-on for them... The sort of violence I'm talking about is personal, intimate violence that satisfies lust.
Q: Don't you think that, because of album titles like "Buchenwald" there's a danger of Whitehouse being seen as a fascist group?
WB: Oh, there are enough other groups who present such a strong image. I've never expressed any political opinion. So I don't think Adolf Hitler would have been a Whitehouse fan, I can't imagine him playing a song like "My Cock's On Fire" at home. I'm convinced that in a fascist state Whitehouse would be the first to be put up against the wall and shot, so it's really impossible to understand us as that.
(1992)
Q: Is hatred a primary motivation behind what Whitehouse do?
WB: hatred of what? Only hatred of the conventional.
* * * *
Q: How would you describe Whitehouse and their sound? What sort of feelings and emotions are you trying to convey/obtain with the music and lyrics?
WB: Extreme power electronics, passion, power, excitement, melancholy, joy, uncontrollable madness during lust.
Q: Whitehouse often seem to be viewed as offensive. Is this a deliberate intention?
WB: If we're offensive, it's because people are offended. If people are offended they're not going to like our music.
* * * *
(2000)
(in regard to contemporary noise music
'Noise' music? Very low, I'm afraid. The old longhaired prog rock fans who make the so-called Japanese noise are dead. I think they were always living on borrowed time. That genre totally depended on the then Western interest in exotic Japanese counterculture that was fashionable in the late 80s when it all started. Things like Japanese pornography especially bondage, oriental schoolgirls, the new wave of video games, manga and anime etc, the alternative aesthetic that Japan offers. A Masonna or Violent Onsen Geisha or whatnot CD with their, you know, 'obis' … Obis? Yeah, you know the cute little outer covers on the spine with the names in Japanese. I think that's what they're called. Well, and the at times exquisite, even sexy, presentation must look fantastic on any coffee table when heavy metal fans or the like come round to tea. I guess nobody can fail to be impressed with your 100 CD 'Merzbox' with the free 'Merzposter', 'Merzbook', 'Merzmobile' or whatever etc. (luckily it doesn't really matter that your 'Merzrom' or other discs won't play properly) - but then you must think 'what about the music?'. I'm asked about the difference between Whitehouse and all these 'noise' bands. Aside from my own subjective and personal judgments, the one fundamental difference is that people actually listen to Whitehouse. I defy many of these Japnoise fans to look me in the eye and really tell me they regularly listen to that music. Most of them are rock and rollers. Where's the content? The use of extreme sounds and noise can be very powerful utilised as a tool but not as a means in itself other than as I said as a sort of 'coffee table' statement.
* * * *
WB: I mean, and this is coming from an absolute hardcore fundamental atheist, but there are moments within the music where you reach an element of spirituality. It's reaching some sort of higher level, it just makes you want to clench your fists and grit your teeth, it creates an incredible excitement. Without sounding too corny, it really comes from the heart. A lot goes into it. These lyrics take a lot out of me, a lot of people probably think that this music is just someone flicking a button-it's not like that at all. Those songs actually evolve over a couple of years. It's a painstaking process.
(2001)
V: The music of Whitehouse could possibly be misconstrued as languishing in misanthropy and violence, you do indeed investigate the extremes of experience, would you say there was an aspect of humanity or human civilization that angers or disturbs you?
WB: I tend to take humanity as it comes, there seems to me little point in getting upset about human agendas and moralities. People waste entire lifetimes on such issues and, if they get old, cannot then come to terms with their own overwhelming sense of nihilism. I don't see humanity as being anything other than animals like all the rest. Perhaps one interesting characteristic humans have is that of a deep awareness of our own mortality which ultimately affects our behaviour both as individuals and as communities.
(2002)
Q: Some new topics of interest were evident with Cruise - is there anything new this time around?
A: Well, without going into too much detail, and in my permanent obsessive quest for moments of inspiration I've been devouring various aspects of art, hypnotherapy, self-help, women's magazines, the mythology of Christianity - I'm becoming quite an authority in this field now! - plus the usual twisted diet of foreign-language books and films and all the other usual fixations.
(2003)
'Bird Seed' is undoubtedly a very difficult album - I don't see people being able to: fall in love with it immediately. It demands the listeners: put a lot of work into understanding it - yet the rewards are potentially huge, if not life-changing for the unwary. This is the real work, this contains emotional content that I never dreamed could be expressed in this way. While recording it, it became obvious that we'd fully have to: expect those simply looking for immediate visceral thrills to be disappointed. It's quite interesting to see so many of the early doubters of 'Cruise' now beginning to appreciate that album...
the wider personal reactions we elicit are undoubtedly an integral aspect of the art itself. It's designed to create intense reactions, and is thus extremely revealing - in this way, we look into a mirror reflecting our own, occasionally troubled, souls.
* * * *
(from the band's FAQ page
xiii. Are Whitehouse misogynist?
The lyrics of certain songs (in addition to some of the writings of Peter Sotos) have led certain people to the view that the group is misogynist. Judging by the high percentages of females at recent Whitehouse live actions it might seem odd to reach this assumption. William Bennett: "I don't think I'm a misogynist, although I can understand why people might question that. Certainly, the accusations are going to be much more intense after the release of the new album (Cruise). There are a set of much more complex emotional functions involved with these songs and I've never felt that simple hatred was one of them."
A very interesting recent Whitehouse interview can be found here:
http://forcefedrapture.com/william%20bennett%20interview.htm |
