Interview:2004-Interview Enrico Chiarparin

Interview done by internet, directed by Vince, September 2004

Hello Enrico ! Before all, can you introduce yourself ? What is your job, what kind of studies did you do ?

Hi Vince ! Well Im Italian, but Ive been living in New York for the past 8 years (96). Ive been interested in arts all my life going to art school at the beginning, and then following classes of Architecture, industrial design and then fashion !!!

How did you meet Douglas P. ? Were you a dark folk fan before ?

Ive always love some kind of music coming from UK (from early 80) One day (I think in 86/87) at a record store, a friend of mine (a graphic designer always researching for great album covers) showed me 2 albums, Nada! and The World That Summer, and I felt in love with them just looking at the covers !!! From that day Death In June became my passion !!! I started corresponding with Doug later in 1988 and I think I met him later in early 90s at some concerts in Europe Italy, France and England.

How did you work you with Douglas ? Did he came with all the ideas ?

After I discovered Death In June, I think almost immediately I started drawing things like sketches, graphics, oil painting and collages inspired by the music of Death In June One day I decided to send some copies to Doug and everything started Almost all the drawings are just the result of my interpretation of his music (like the inner sleeve of the album But, What Ends, or in the cover of the album Die Schuldigen Und Der Nebel), but in some cases like for example in the Cathedral Of Tears Picture Disc, Ive only shown to him few sketches with the idea of 2 masks facing each other and then he made his suggestions to add some wards of the Cathedral song etc etc

Can you describe briefly your work on each of the picture discs ? NADA ! (1992) BROWN BOOK (1996) WALL OF SACRIFICE (2001) NOT GUILTY AND PROUD (2002)

The Brown Book drawing is absolutely the first been realized for Death In June back in 1988. They are all realized with the same technique that consist in the realization of thousand of backgrounds with an old technique very similar to the one used by the old masters in Venice to marbelize the paper (my is by far more toxic !!!). After that I let the background effects inspire me and dictate to me which type of images I should use ! The Not Guilty And Proud is my favourite.

What Death In June period / album / song do you prefer ?

For love I would say all ! When I start to make a list this is very difficult for me to stop ! Ahahah : But the list start with : Runes & Men Break The Black Ice Come Before Christ And Murder Love Torture By Roses To Drown A Rose But, What Ends When The Symbols Shatter ? Death Is The Martyr Of Beauty Giddy Giddy Carousel 13 Years Of Carrion Rose Clouds Of Holocaust Kameradschaft Smashed To Bits (In The Peace Of Night) Leopard Flowers (is a masterpiece !) And of course All Pigs Must Die !!!

Did you went to Death In June or other dark folk shows through the years ? What is your impression on the dark folk scene ? Did you like it, or did you prefer other kind of music ?

I went to many Death In June shows in the past, especially when I was living in Europe and at a few of them here in NYC. I saw a lot of the Current 93 / Death In June period, Death In June / Boyd, Sol Invictus, Rose McDowall etc I like the music of the groups I mentioned, plus Der Blutharsch, Forseti, Of The Wand Of The Moon, Les Joyaux De La Princesse, Blood Axis, Nurse With Wound, Coil but I also like some classical music, some jazz, some swing Everything from 30s and 40s  For what concern the dark folk scene Well, I think that some groups are great ! The originals like I love to call them ! But there are a lot of wanna be not so originals, not so necessary, that dont bring anything new to the scene you know what I mean !

Did you work on other musical projects ? Do you have other projects with Douglas ?

The only other musical/art projects which I was involved in were for Sol Invictus in Let Us Prey CD, The Blade CD, The Death Of The West CD, The Killing Tide CD and for Current 93 on Emblems With Doug we are talking about a possibility to publish a book with artwork, but nothing really is been defined yet ! Will see

Tor Lundvall, the illustrator of some Sol Invictus albums, (ex- Death in June Tony Wakeford) decided to make an instrumental album with Tony. Are you interested in the future by producing your own music (maybe are you already a musician) ?

Let the musicians do the musicians, please ! For the love of art and the good music !

Are you into WWII history and fetishism out of it ?

Im obsessed with WWI history ! For what concern fetishism so, so

Thanks to Enrico, a great master artist !