KMFDM is an electronic music band in the industrial music genre and the brainchild of founding member Sascha Konietzko. KMFDM began in Paris in 1984 as a joint effort between Konietzko and German painter/multi-media performer Udo Sturm. The band relocated to Chicago in 1991 and then to Seattle in 1993. KMFDM began their relationship with Wax Trax! Records in 1988 when their album ''Don't Blow Your Top'' was licensed to the label. By 1990 they were signed to Wax Trax! Records and a part of the industrial music scene in Chicago that included Ministry, Front 242 and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. Sascha later temporarily returned to Chicago in 1995 to be near friend and president of Wax Trax! Records James Nash, who was dying of AIDS.KMFDM has toured and recorded with a number of additional musicians, including Bill Rieflin of Ministry, Nivek Ogre from Skinny Puppy, Raymond Watts of PIG, John DeSalvo of Chemlab, and spoken word artist Nicole Blackman.
Musical style
While recognized within the ranks of Ministry, Skinny Puppy, and later, Nine Inch Nails, as pioneers in introducing industrial music to mainstream audiences, Sascha Konietzko describes KMFDM's sound as "Ultra-Heavy Beat". KMFDM's earliest output is more accurately described as performance art, as Konietzko incorporated not only visuals but non-musical devices (i.e. chainsaws) as instruments. Their albums from the 1980s featured heavy sampling and studio manipulations, and the primary instruments used were synthesizers and drum machines. With the addition of guitarist GAnter Schulz, KMFDM shifted to a more "industrial metal" style, with heavy guitar riffs driving their sound. With the release of ''Angst'' in 1993, KMFDM were launched into the mainstream with their hit single "A Drug Against War". In spite of the band's "anti-MTV", "anti-mainstream" attitude, the video of "A Drug Against War" was circulated in heavy rotation on MTV and was even featured on the MTV cartoon Beavis & Butt-head.Since the release of 1989's ''UAIOE'', KMFDM's music has been a fusion of electronic and heavy metal, with elements of reggae, ska, and even rap. Many songs feature prominent backing vocals by female singers, notably Dorona Alberti, Cheryl Wilson, Jennifer Ginsberg, Abby Travis, and Lucia Cifarelli. Frequent KMFDM contributor Raymond Watts incorporates the style of his own musical project PIG, which features heavily gothic and orchestral music with macabre lyrics.After the band's three-year hiatus which ended in 2002, KMFDM adopted a more "traditional" rock sound, that is, recording and performing with a typical band lineuplead vocalist, lead and rhythm guitarist, bassist, and drummerwhile continuing to incorporate electronics and sampling.From KMFDM's incarnation, the band has been highly political. Their lyrics typically call for the rejection of and resistance to incompetent rule in capitalist society, as well as outrage over terrorism, violence, oppression, censorship, and most explicitly, war. Their songs often feature samples of news broadcasts and speeches by political leaders, usually in an expression of irony.KMFDM are not without a sense of humor, however. Nearly every album features a song where they are lampooning themselves, especially in the lyrics to "More & Faster", "Sucks", "Light", "Inane", and "Megalomaniac". Their knack for self-parody came to a head in 2003 with the song "Intro" from the album ''WWIII'', in which Konietzko takes a jab at each band memberincluding himselfwith a tongue-in-cheek and slightly irreverent verse.While Konietzko is rarely specific in naming his influences, he has cited both Bob Marley and Frank Zappa as inspiration, the latter being heavily referenced on the albums ''Don't Blow Your Top'' and ''UAIOE''.Recording, performance and fanbase
Since the beginning, KMFDM has been one of the hardest working industrial bands in the business. They have released at least one album or EP every year since 1986 and toured extensively for nearly every release. Even during their brief hiatus (1999-2002), Konietzko and other band members engaged in a number of side-projects (see below).The early albums were recorded in Hamburg, Germany. In 1988, KMFDM began working with the famous (yet now defunct) industrial label Wax Trax! Records and relocated to Chicago the following year. After reforming in 2002, KMFDM relocated to Seattle and worked with the Metropolis and Sanctuary record labels. In 2004, Konietzko started his own record label, aptly titled KMFDM Records.Previously confined to touring the United States and only portions of Europe and Japan, KMFDM embarked on a 2004 world tour in which they performed in Australia, Russia, Canada, and much of Europe in addition to the US.KMFDM has had a longstanding commitment to their fans, who have known to be equally loyal to the band. Konietzko and most KMFDM members both past and present often converse with fans via e-mail and chat rooms. The band tours seemingly non-stop, pausing briefly to record an album. At most concert venues, KMFDM typically mingles with the fans before and after the show to sign autographs, take photos, and answer questions. Konietzko and the band's representatives are constantly testing new ways for fans to interact directly with the band. In 2002, KMFDM launched the HORDE, an exclusive fanclub where members had the opportunity to attend a private meet-and-greet with the band before every show, as well as gaining access to members-only music and footage online. In 2004, they experimented with "FanKam", a project in which a member of the audience was selected to record that night's show with a handheld digital video camera. The project was highly successful and the resulting footage was incorporated into the 20th Anniversary World Tour DVD the following year.Etymology
KMFDM is an acronym for "Kein Mehrheit fAr die Mitleid" (See the official FAQ), which roughly means "no pity for the majority" in English. Sascha Konietzko has acknowledged that while "Kein Mitleid fAr die Mehrheit" is the correct German construction of the phrase (and even appears in this phrasing in the tongue-in-cheek lyrics to "Megalomaniac"), it is not what KMFDM stands for. "Kein Mehrheit FAr Die Mitleid" was shortened to KMFDM when Raymond Watts was unable to correctly pronounce the name.When the band first toured the US in 1991, the members began using alternate English meanings for their name to tease journalists who could not understand German. The most prominent and most widely repeated was "Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode", which is attributed to Shawn Joyce. After the release of ''Angst'', their label created a promotion, without the support of the band, where they encouraged fans to come up with 1,001 meanings for KMFDM. College radio DJs Kinslow and Smith of WKGC Florida won the contest with an entry of more than 1,200.The lyrics to the song "Light" reveal a possible alternate meaning: "Keiner macht fAr dich mehr", which translates to "No one does more for you".Copyright infringement controversy
The song "Liebesleid" from KMFDM's 1990 album ''NaAve'' contains an unlicensed sample of "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's ''Carmina Burana''. The band was threatened with legal action by Orff's publisher (Orff himself died in 1982), and the album was withdrawn from production in 1993. The following year, a new version of the album was released entitled ''NaAve/Hell to Go'', containing remixes of several songs, including the offending track. Consequently, the original release of ''NaAve'' has become highly collectable among KMFDM fans. KMFDM still occasionally performs the original version of "Liebesleid" in concert. Live versions, complete with the controversial sample, can be accessed on both the ''Beat x Beat x Beat'' and ''20th Anniversary World Tour 2004'' DVDs.Similarly, some listeners have suggested that the main guitar riff of the song "Godlike" (also from the ''NaAve'' album) is based on a riff from "Angel of Death" by thrash metal band Slayer. Unlike with "Liebesleid" however, KMFDM have experienced no legal ramifications with "Godlike".Columbine High School controversy
KMFDM became a scapegoat of sorts in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre (along with fellow musicians Marilyn Manson and Rammstein, and violent video games such as Doom). A backlash ensued when it was revealed that lyrics to KMFDM songs ("Power", "Son of a Gun", "Stray Bullet", "Waste") were posted on the website of shooter Eric Harris, and that the massacre coincidently occurred on the release date of the album ''Adios'' and the birthday of Adolf Hitler. The media was quick to jump on the apparent connection of the massacre to violent entertainment and Nazism. In response, Konietzko issue a statement the following day:''"First and foremost, KMFDM would like to express their deep and heartfelt sympathy for the parents, families and friends of the murdered and injured children in Littleton. We are sick and appalled, as is the rest of the nation, by what took place in Colorado yesterday."''''"KMFDM are an art formnot a political party. From the beginning, our music has been a statement against war, oppression, fascism and violence against others. While some of the former band members are German as reported in the media, none of us condone any Nazi beliefs whatsoever."''Break-up, MDFMK and reformation
KMFDM circa 2005; from left to right: Steve White, Lucia Cifarelli, Jules Hodgson, Andy Selway, Sascha Konietzko
