Questioning Everything:

An Interview with Paul of PANZER DIVISION

Conducted by Flint from Manufacturing Dissent, published with S6K - Sektor 6 Kommunications

You recently became signed with KOM BLOK RECORDS, a part of Metropolis Distribution, after years of being self-produced. How is that working out for you? James Douglas is a great man to work with, he came out on tour with us and helped out a lot. I look forward to working with James and KOM BLOK for a very long time. Your next album, "Second Assault" is a double-disc set due sometime this spring. Care to give us any hints about what we can expect? The double-disc is going to be an extensive release. Not only will it contain the new material you have heard on the Crush America tour, it will also contain on the second disc. All of my previous albums on MP3 format, unreleased tracks, and some videos taken from various shows and some PANZER DIVISION music videos.

While it's very much keeping within PANZER DIVISION's image to carry your tour gear in ammo boxes, can you tell us about the gear you use in the studio and on tour? The home studio is my desktop, which runs FL Studio 5.01 XXL (producer's version), Cubase, and Sound Forge for software. I also use tons of VST's which would take too long to list. For hardware, I use my Korg MS2000, Yamaha DX200, Roland SP303, Behringer EuroMXB2000, M-Audio Firewire Audiophile, GameBoy Camera, and a home made optical theremin that I modded from an old radio. On the tour I left the desktop at home and took a laptop instead. I have worked with computers for 15 years, and I'm figuring I should focus on that in college: computers or audio engineering if possible. You also make use of some found sounds, like the Gameboy that was used for the "The Sum of All My Hate". Any other interesting found sounds you've been using? I really love utilizing the Gameboy Camera's onboard sequencer/drum machine. It brings me back to my childhood in the early 80's playing on the Nintendo. The optical theremin I made also makes a lot of nice crunchy noise. Do you find much support for your music in Delaware? Unfortunately not, the electronic music scene here is non-existent.

PANZER DIVISION is a solo act, but you did a remix of "Omaha Beach Landing" with Deceptik. Can we look forward to any more collaborations in the future? How did you feel about working closely with someone else? Justin of Deceptik is a good friend of mine, and I have had a good time working with him on both of our music projects. Whenever I get a chance, I love to work with other artists. The recent Crush America tour made a good working relationship with Adam X and Cenotype You may see something from us in the future as a collaboration. What would you say are the other musical influences on your work as PANZER DIVISION and why? Musically my influences have no boundaries. I go onto the net whenever i can to search out new music when my schedule lets me. I love music that forces you to think about what the artist was trying to get across, lyrically or just through the music. I cling closer to music with no lyrics, because it makes me drive deeper into the music to find it's meaning. Recently, I was able to spend some time with Eric of Monolith (ex-Klinik) and had the chance to talk to him about our style of music. Through our conversations, I was able to come to the conclusion that electronic music has the unique ability to make the human mind utilize it's imagination on a more grand scale. These distorted rhythms and clashing beats that we produce--although are not aurally pleasing at times to the normal ear--cause those of us with a more avant-garde mindset to enjoy it at a greater scale. In addition to acts like Fiendflug, Laibach and Converter, you list Der Blutharsch among your musical influences. How do you regard them in light of the rumors of their fascist sympathies? I like Der Blutharsch's music, the way they splice up vintage music and sync up beats. I heard some of their MP3s online, and picked up the albums that had the vintage music splices on them. I have never followed their political or personal beliefs, nor do I care what they believe. I just fancy the music, not the message. I like listening to old war marches sometimes, and sometimes those war marches were from the german army (circa WW2). I do not hold the beliefs of their fascist past, I just happen to like the compositions and the melodies used. Why the name PANZER DIVISION? I had chosen the name PANZER DIVISION, for my large interest in World War II. I wanted to choose a name/image that stood out and was powerful. The german armor units were the first thing that came to mind. Some people like to jump to conclusions and automatically stereotype that name with ulterior motives. I knew those questions would come up, yet I was willing to live with the consequences for the sake of my art. One of those questions that comes up is if you chose the name to promote neo-nazism? It is alright to ask these questions. You're the 5,845,945,479,933rd person to have asked me those same types of questions. I do not spread a message of hate or racism in any form. The people who voice their opinions on my site are of their own, unless you were to see me post something of that nature, or to see me publicly say otherwise. You can take it that i do not share the opinions of others. I have my own beliefs on life, religion and I am a good natured person. I'll tell you a personal story of mine, 1992 when I lived in North Carolina as a boy. I went to a public school there where we had to have see-through book-bags, and metal detectors to get into school. Bloods and Crips were predominant in this area and my school was primarily African American, and white kids were the minority. I can't tell you as many times as I was told that I was going to be beat up or killed for being a "punkass white motherfucka". It would have been really easy to have developed a hate complex at that point, but in a weird way I understood why they acted the way they did: partly because of the social culture at that time really glorified violence, and I believe we are inherent products of our environment. I think we are human sponges, we mimic and emulate each other. We have to "learn" everything we do (language, culture, etc). Ever seen any any neo-nazis at any of your shows? I have never noticed those types of people at my shows, again as I have said in the past. I do not spread a message of hate or racism. So, in turn, those types don't come out to my shows. Since I don't share their beliefs, I also in turn do not care for those types--but I will be civil with them, I am tolerant.

The goal of PANZER DIVISION is to flush out all of the ideologies of WAR and show them in their raw format. Why such a deep interest in war? As a young boy 1986-1991, I grew up in Germany, on an army base. I saw people who didn't have much, but were a happy people. We had some Russian kids come live with us as a student exchange program, and these kids had NOTHING (this was around the time their country was going through a lot of problems). These kids were just happy to be hanging out with American kids and eating "wonderful" meals as they stated. We played games, sports and had fun together. Forty years prior there was a major war going on in the spots that we were playing. The Americans, the Germans, and the Russians were killing each other on the very spot we were standing--then forty years later the Russians, the Americans, and the German kids are playing soccer on that same land. As I look back to my childhood, I see that particular time as a marvel. In 1990, I had to see my dad leave me for the first Gulf War. Every single night I had nightmares that he was dead. He was gone for almost a year. It was pretty horrific seeing the images of war and knowing my dad was there. He called us once every couple of weeks, to let us know he was alive. He came home after the WAR and he was a different person. WAR will change you forever, because you will see MAN as his most EXTREME. WAR is the most EXTREME limit of what man has created, and in that sense, with scientists saying that "energy can never be destroyed" can "war" ever be destroyed? I would like to think so, but as long as man exists--I don't think it will. You will hear many samples of war in my music emanating from today's war dating back to World War II, including 2 small Hitler samples. In my live show, the samples do not invocate hate or anything of that nature. They are merely there to bring forth a sense of "emotion". Regarding the Hitler samples, he was the most prominent image of WW2. When I hear his voice, i can hear an almost un-human form of evil emanating from his voice. So with that said, I am conveying the EVIL that MAN is capable. MEN with POWER are capable of various forms of evil. The quote "those who do not remember the past, are condemned to repeat it" is a message that I like to help include when describing my music. WAR is a horrible part of the fabric of man--billions have died over the course of man from WAR and for some reason the human race cannot look past armed combat to settle differences. I had a chance to live around the world, and WAR has been apart of my life for almost my entire life. Even though my music dosen't have a lot of lyrics. In my mind, I am trying to convey my life experiences through this music. In addition to your father being in the Gulf war, and living as a child on an army base in Germany; how else has war been apart of your life? I have been in the Army National Guard since 1998. I've spent the last two years on active duty. I will be done with the army at the end of next year. It was weird to wake up everyday carrying an M16, and now I am not. My MOS is 31R right now, it was 95B for the past two years. I'm looking to change over to 74B. I've working as an MP for the past two years on an airforce base in Delaware. It was a joint mission army and airforce. It is the first time ever that army and airforce MP/SF did same job together on a base. I joined for college money. It is a tough decision for most people. My father was a colonel in the army, and I lived my entire life on army bases. My family moved nine times. Never had friends as a kid, except for my brother. So joining the army out of high school wasn't a big ordeal for me. How do you feel about Bush and the war in Iraq? I joined the military BEFORE the George W. Bush administration. When I was in army tech school, elections were held: Bush vs Gore. Some military sergeants were coming around telling us to vote for Bush because Bush would give us a raise. I still didn't vote for him. I didn't care about the money. I liked Clinton's era, so I voted for Gore. Since the Bush administration came into power, I saw the military become a tool of right wing religious extremists and it sickens me. When this war first started, Bush used the word "crusade" in a message to the Iraqis. I'm figuring he never paid attention in high school about the christian crusades massacred thousands upon thousands of muslims. I can see what the government is doing, they are making Iraq into America's new launchpad for major offensives in the near future. I can't wait until i get my discharge papers. My brother is in the airforce wants out too. My brother and I were crushed when Kerry lost. Recently it looks like Washington is looking to crucify any soldier who is disobedient to make that news instead of the bodies coming home. Similarly, The prison abuse scandal was only to take the american media's focus off the death tolls at the moment. I'm also pretty sure that we have a puppet government, and there are other people really pulling the strings I really dislike governments and corporations. I see it that man is corrupt, so how can a government not be corrupt? Power corrupts, rich white men in power... uuuuggghhh... You have a LiveJournal. In addition to chronicling the music of PANZER DIVISION, the gear you use and tours, and appreciating other shows like Laibach; you also sometimes engage in a bit of political advocacy such as "Turn Your Back on Bush" Inauguration Protest, the FBI visits to people whose LiveJournals they don't like, the rising death toll in Iraq, equating the Bush administration with fascism, vote fraud, Fahrenheit 9/11. Has there been any negative reaction from your fans because of this? I wouldn't say I have had negative reaction from fans, but I have been criticized by others on forums like LiveJournal for stating my opinion on these things. I do not care about what they perceive of me, because I can only state how I feel, and I am passionate about my feelings on life and everything about it. You mentioned that you had your own beliefs on life and religion? I love ancient japanese culture, where the old wise men were the counsel of the village. Their culture had violence, but they understood humanity and how to properly co-exist. It almost makes me seriously look into buddhism. I am not religious, but their lifestyle is minimal and simplistic. I think an adherent pillar of Buddhism is mastering your life, knowing who you really are, your purpose in life. That doesn't really have to relate to religion, but to being ultimately happy throughout your life. I look at it as a religion tells you how you should live, and a philosophy is merely a reference of collected thoughts and reasonings. A person can develop their own ethics to life. I don't follow a religion, but I have an internal guideline on how I carry myself and act. Anything else you'd like to say or rant about? I'd like to thank you, Flint, for giving me the opportunity to let people into my mind and my feelings. I can only hope that this can clear up some of the questions people may have about me and my music.