Nine Circles

Contents

Interview by Dennis Ohrt (Peek-A-Boo, Aug. 2011)

When you started Nine Circles, did you consider the band part of a scene or was it rather working on your own?
Well we were part of a group that all were making this new kind of noises, but yet we were standing alone.

Many English bands (The Cure, Joy Division, The Sound,...) had their first success outside England in the Netherlands, did those bands had an impact on Nine Circles?
Well The Cure was and is still my favourite but at that time I did not know them, that was later after I stopped making music and singing. There were some bands I knew and liked, like The Force Dimension, Smalts, De Fabriek, Genetic Factor, Van Kaye & Ignit, Fausto, but I don't think they had an impact on our music.

Was using just synths and drum machine (the lovely 4 sounds of the Boss DR-55) done on purpose or was it more a question of what stuff was around and affordable?
Well it was that we could not afford more, and we were happy to have the Yamaha CS-30 and Boss Dr. Rhythm.

Your first release was in 1982 on a compilation of Dutch VPRO radio, how did this happen?
A friend of us, Richard Zeilstra, was working at the Radio (SPLEEN). He had a program in which new groups had a chance to present themselves. He asked a lot of bands to send in a tape and he would pick some of the bands to be on a sampler, and so it happened that Nine Circles was on the "Radionome" LP aswell.

"Twinkling Stars" is probably your most famous song, can you tell us a bit more about it?
Well, I am very involved with stars and planets, in those days my life was so bad that I was wishing that a spaceship would come and take me away from all of it. I am still convinced that there is more than this life here on earth. :))

The song has recently appeared on the well-received "Cold Waves + Minimal Electronics Vol. 1" compilation, were you surprised even newspapers like "The Guardian" from England [Lidia was interviewed for a podcast] showed an interest in the band?
Well I was very surprised when my youngest son Patrick googled my name and told me that I was all over the internet. That was when I found out that my ex had released a CD, that there was a lot more out there and he forgot to tell me. ;(( Of course I am very surprised about everything that is happening time after time I wonder why people like this music so much...

The band split up after two years, did you ever try to form another group or was it a goodbye to the music scene for yourself back then?
When the love was gone, Nine Circles was gone as well. For 25 years I did not speak about or listen to my music simply because I did not have it. I did not talk about it, because I was thinking that this was a mistake and that nobody liked it.

You started playing live again in 2010, what can we expect from a Nine Circles concert these days and why didn't you play concerts back in the early eighties [Nine Circles just performed once for Dutch VPRO radio]?
Well you can expect the minimal sound like in the 80s, but of course there is a slight difference but we try to be as close as possible to the songs from back then.
In the 80's we did not have concerts because we split up at the wrong moment and because people did not understand us and were thinking that we were very strange people.

How has the live-setup and band changed for those gigs, as from what I read, Peter van Garderen cannot be part of Nine Circles in 2011?
Well the only thing that has changed is the keyboard player and the instruments. Peter Van Garderen has a different life and it happy like that, and I respect that. But he is in contact with me and is helping where he can to get all the sounds to me. So in a way he is part of it all, but he said I am free to publish what I want :))

Can we still hope for new Nine Circles material in the future and are you up for more concerts??
Well the concerts are still going:
July 30th: Frankfurt
September 17th: Lyon
November/December: Paris
(A list of our concerts can also be found on our website) And yes there is coming something but I can't talk about it yet.

In retrospect, do you regret not stocking a whole package of the "Radionome" compilation in 1982? It could have worked out as a nice extra pocket money these days seeing the prices on various internet-auction sites...
I never had a copy of that sampler. I even have never touched or seen it in real in my life. :-(

Was there ever a musical event or song that made it clear for you you have to become a musician yourself?
When I was a child my father taught me how to play the harmonica and from that time I wanted to make music by my own. I also wanted to play theatre, but I never had the chance to get anywhere with it, wrong karma I suppose.

As there are still so many almost undiscovered songs from the early minimal days, is there a song or band you can recommend that possibly not everyone has heard of?
Well a band like Genetic Factor, great music but not respected by anyone. :((

Lidia, thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions! I leave the last words to you, anything you want to say to our readers?
Well I want to say that I am glad to make music again, I want to thank Joa Saleina for her hard work within Nine Circles, she is a great musician.
I want to thank Martin Kleefeld for all his support and love. And last but not least some words to our fans: Thanks for visiting our concerts or listening to our music at home. Soon, very soon there will be more. :))

Interview by Alain Rodriguez (Vivante Records, June 2011)

What is your experience with music?
There's always been music in my life. Peter's mother used to sing old Dutch songs and my dad was a drummer and played a lot of Gypsy music on a fiddle.

Were you involved with music before you met Peter?
Yes and no, I was interested in a lot of things in the 80s. Theatre mostly.

How did you meet and how was the band formed?
We met in Melkweg in Amsterdam in 1980. The way the band was formed is a long story, but here it is:
First I met Jan Snijders who had a band called 'Genetic Factor' with Peter Van Garderen and Richard Zeilstra. We quickly fell in love but only for a short while. After I broke up with Jan, I moved with Peter, we became very close and we started to make music together. It fitted like a glove between us.
Then Genetic Factor split up. Each of the boys found a girlfriend and started making music with that girl, like Peter and I. We were all living together in the same house. So there were 3 bands in one house with 3 floors.
Richard Zeilstra had a job at the radio VPRO. His show was called 'Spleen'. He wanted to give New Wave bands a chance. Bands would send him tapes and the best bands would get the opportunity to play live at the radio and a chance to come on the LP 'RadioNome'.
So Peter and I, who were very much in love at that time, sent our tape to him and then it happened; we were the only ones from this house to be on the radio. Richard said our music was special, but we did not realize it. We had just started to make music together. Our live was about making love, getting out of bed to make music and getting back into bed again. I was very happy, I was doing all I had ever wanted.

What is the significance of the name "Nine Circles"?
It originates from "The Nine Circles of Hell" from Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy".

What was the music scene like in Amsterdam in the early 80s? Were you in contact with other bands at that time?
It was a small scene and everybody knew each other. We were in contact with "Van Kaye & Ignit", "Cargo Cultus", "The Actor", "Genetic Factor", "Stephen R. Emmer", "Einstein", "Rob Smit", "De Fabriek", "Nexda", "The Force Dimension", "Smalts". We talked about music, helped each other when we did not know something. We had nice evenings together, going to the same concerts. We were good friends in life, but still with a distance in music, everyone was making sure not to give anything away, they where afraid someone could steal a track and make a hit ;)) This is why we did not play music together.

Was there a place that you particularly liked to listen and dance to music?
We mostly met at the "Mazzo", a club for this kind of music and videos. I think it closed at some point, because of drugs problems. (It has re-opened since.)

How did you work together? Were you writing the lyrics and was Peter developing the electronics?
I wrote most of the texts before "Nine Circles" started. They were not originally intended to be song lyrics. I also wrote new lyrics for some songs we made. Whichever comes first, the music or the lyrics, there is no particular order. We developed and played music together.

Your lyrics convey a lot of emotions and seem to be very personal. How did you approach writing them? Where did you find your inspiration? How did you feel when you were singing?
I started to write when I was 15 years old. It was a way to face the situation I'd had to deal with since I was born, to cope with my feelings. I was angry at the world and at people for what they had done to me, to my life, since childhood. With some songs ?I still have to make sure I don't start crying on stage. My songs are like circles that don't have an end or a beginning, like life, everything is going on and on and on...

Do you remember the first song you wrote together?
The first song we wrote together was "The Rose". "The Rose" is me trying to survive, I don't want to say more about it.

The only songs that you released were your two cult tracks "Twinkling Stars" and "What's there left?" on the "Radionome" compilation. Why, did you choose these two songs? Please tell us more about these gems...
We did not pick the song, Richard Zeilstra chose it from all our songs, he was the one behind it.
"What's there left" is about me beeing very mad at the invasion of computers. At that time, people were loosing their job because of it, they were not able to pay the rent and ended on the streets. And during that same period, doctors told me that I could not have kids of my own, or maybe later, in another way.
"Twinkling Stars" is telling the story of me waiting for a spaceship to take me to the stars where no one could hurt me.

It seems that you also appear on the "Colonial Vipers" cassette came out in 1982 under "Nine Cirkles"...
Yes, indeed that's us in spite of the typo. I wrote the song about Peter and he insisted to sing it himself. But I didn't know about the Trumpett-Tape until 2009 (Same for the CD from 1996). I was only aware of the "Radionome" LP, though I never owned one. All this stuff, after that LP, has been released by Peter, without my knowledge, after our relationship (and with it "Nine Circles") broke.

What specific instruments and equipment did you use?
We had a Yamaha CS-30 Synth, a Dr. Rhythm DR-55 Drum Computer, a microphone and a stereo double cassette deck to record the tracks.

Your music doesn't seem to be really dancefloor oriented, there is something "hybrid" about it. Yet when I listen to it, I can't help dancing...
The intention was neither to make danceable music nor not to make danceable music. It just happens that most songs are danceable.

Is there a track that you particularly like? Why?
"Foolin'", because it says exactly what I feel about some people in my life. (Those people who fit the shoe, know who I mean.)

If I'm correct you only played live once. Why is that? How come you never played live again? It seems like you wrote enough songs within 2 years to have been able to play great gigs...
Yes, we did about 60 songs! But we never had a live show on stage, only one concert live at the radio when we recorded the Radionome LP and we split up shortly after it was released, so we only played once. When my relationship with Peter ended, my relationship with music ended also, I mean "was interrupted" for 25 years.

There is a love story behind Nine Circles, Peter and you were lovers. What can you say about creating something with someone you love?
Yes, we were very much in love, and I think our music carries this. As I said, our life consisted in making music, going to bed, having sex and then going back to making more music... that says enough ;))

How did Nine Circles come to an end?
Well I don't want to go into details but when love went, "Nine Circles" went with it.

How would you describe this period of your life today?
It was the best of my life, than it was shit for 25 years - I thought music was nothing and nobody cared about Nine Circles - but since one year ago this great feeling is back, it is like going back in time!

Indeed! you reformed the band with a new member, Johanna Saleina. How did you meet her and how did she come to join the band?
I was in in the "Zwischenfall" club in Bochum (Germany) when Johanna played with her projects "Delos" and "Plastik Berlin" there. I was thinking about how to come back with "Nine Circles" and had no idea how, until I heard Johanna playing Synths. I am really happy with her, she really has that Nine Circles feeling.

How are you going to keep the spirit of Nine Circles alive in this new project? I suppose that your inspirations changed from what they were...
I don't know, we are not doing anything special, either it is there or it is not. But the past is still present, we have a lot of material we can work with and we don't have to think about new songs...

Are you still using the same equipment?
Yes and no, I have a Boss DR-55 again, but I am still looking for a Yamaha CS-30, which is very expensive these days. So we're trying to replace it with other old (Roland SH-101, Korg MS-10, ...) and new (Roland SH-201, Korg Microkorg) instruments.

Do you want to give Nine Circles a new direction in terms of music or lyrics?
No there is no need to change for me or Johanna.

What do you listen to today?
Mostly old-school New Wave bands like "Joy Division", "A Blaze Colour", "Somnambulist & M. Bryo" and many more. And some new bands like "Xeno & Oaklander", "Martial Canterel", "Ben Bloodygrave", "Nina Belief" and "Sixth June".

Thank you for your time and the interview, any final thoughts to add?
I hope that there is someone who can help me get the "Radionome" sampler!

Interview by Patrick Marsman (Le Voyage, Oct. 2010)

You've just had your second performance ever, how did that go?
I think it went great! Johanna and me have really enjoyed the show, it was nice to see that people reacted on songs like "Twinkling Stars" and "What's There Left".

How do experience the performing for a crowd? Are you nervous before a gig?
The whole week before a gig I'm a bit nervous... but on the stage I'm not uptight anymore and just really enjoying it!

We hear from a lot of people that the music of Nine Circles really hits them, the lyrics of the songs are sung with such deep emotion in it. We've just experienced that by ourselves when we've heard you perform, goosebumps all over the place! From where did you got your inspiration when you wrote the songs from the Nine Circles? And how do you manage to still sing with so much emotion?
The lyrics are representing my life. I've started writing lyrics when I was fifteen years old. Besides that I was writing poems that I called "Barensweeën". I'm planning to publish all these poems in a book. When I sing I still remember the feeling I've got when I wrote the songs, these emotions you don't forget. Therefore I'm able to sing with so much emotion, because it's real. With certain songs I find it even hard to not bust down in tears.

Could you tell us something about the gear you use during the performance?
It are mainly old synthesizers. I'm not good in brand names and stuff like that. It's our goal to work again with old equipment from the early days, to maintain that real Nine Circles sound. As a present for my birthday I've got the DR55 Dr.Rhythm. At this moment i'm still searching for the Yamaha CS-30. This together with a micro delay, an analog delay and a double cd deck were the only things we used back then.

Which minimal synth acts from nowadays you like? And which ones from the past?
Nina Belief, Led Er Est, Ben Bloodygrave are my favorites, I also really like Xeno and Oaklander. From the past I especially like the music from the 80's, there is a certain atmosphere in this music that I can't find quickly in the music you hear now. Back in the 80's i've listened a lot to Joy Division, The Cure and even Frank Zappa.

Do you have any plans for the future?
I'm definitely keep performing with Nine Circles together with Johanna. If I hadn't found Johanna there would be no Nine Circles now! I'm really proud and happy that I have the luck to work with her, she's amazing. We're also planning to record new songs because there is so much material left from the 80's we didn't do anything with back then... I've also started a new band with Martin and Ritch called "Notstrom". With this band we're also gonna release a single!