Interview with Distorted Reality by Kim Mercil
Introduction by Mike Ventarola www.mp3.com/stations/hiddensanctuary

The premier release of Distorted Reality has made its way to the US via Nilaihah Records. Many new found fans for the band were gleaned from their appearance on the Nilaiha compilation, "Resistor." Since then, there has been a growing demand for more of their music, and at long last it is here, making the wait certainly worth every minute.

This talented duo plumb the depths of heartbreak from anger down through the bittersweet. This is served up by the sultry vocals and lyrics of Martha Arce and the wonderful musicianship of Christian Kobusch .

The Cd clearly crosses all electro genre lines to offer fresh new hybrid sounds with potent lyrical delivery. Do seek this release out as it is a must have in the collection!

KM- Martha, you were formally the front woman for "Deep Red". What circumstances led to the breakup of this band?
Martha: Hmm, well I left the band in January '03 basically because it just wasn't working out for me.

KM- While on tour in Germany with "Deep Red" as the supporting act for "Project Pitchfork" you met "Christian Kobusch" after a concert. What was Christian doing there at this time?
Martha: He was just there to see the show. At the time he lived in Bielefeld which is not very far at all from Herford where we meet.
Christian: At that time I was recording demos and actually I needed a good vocalist.

KM- What ideas did you and Christian inchoately discuss upon your meeting?
Martha: We talked about the music that he was working on and I mentioned how it sounded really interesting to me and we decided to keep in touch. At that point he had not really started a band, so we kind of played with the idea.

KM- With the concrete desire to make your ideas authentic, "Distorted Reality" was fabricated. With the distance between yourself (Martha USA) and Christian (Germany), can you give us a breakdown of the creative and recording process of "The Fine Line Between Love and Hate"?
Martha: At first it took a long time to get things done but eventually we worked out a system. Christian and I clicked immediately which made it a lot easier. Somehow we were able to understand each others ideas no matter how ambiguous. We became friends and felt comfortable with each other very quickly. We were and still are able to freely express our ideas and understand each other. We use email for most of our communication. Christian would send me a piece of a song idea and I would give him my thoughts and ideas on it. We would go back and forth this way until we were happy with the overall structure and flow of the song. During that process I usually started to work on lyrics and the melody that I would sing. Christian would send me the instrumental tracks and I would go to the studio here in Miami to record the vocals.

KM- How did you go about acquiring production help from "Bruno Kramm" of "Das Ich" for your debut release?
Martha: We just asked him ;-)
Christian: And he agreed to produce this album with us.

KM- What encouraged you to sign with the European label "Accession Records" and the American label "Nilaihah Records"?
Christian: Well, we were looking for a label in Europe and later in the US and these two labels offered us a deal which sounded good to us. So we decided to sign up with them.

KM- The result of "Distorted Reality" signing to both labels is a European version and an American/Canadian version of "The Fine Line Between Love and Hate". In your honest opinion which do you prefer to listen to and why?
Martha: Probably the US version because it has more remixes.
Christian: I like both versions for what they are. The US version concentrates more on dancefloor tracks and remixes, so people who like that are fine with that release. It's like a remix album with contributions by great remixers. Also the US version contains 'the best of' the original release ;-)

KM- Both versions feature different remixes by such established bands as "Propaganda", "Sabotage QCQC" and "Noyce" (Euro version) and "Assemblage 23", "Forma Tadre", "Cut Rate Box" and "Null Device" (American version). Did you have a say in the pick of these bands or did your respected labels commission them?
Martha: Some were commissioned and some were picked by the band. Noyce was commissioned by Accession and Null Device was commissioned by Nilaihah. The others we picked by ourselves.

KM- Recently "Distorted Reality" performed at the "Wave Gotik Treffen" in Germany. How did the crowd react to your music?
Martha: The crowd was actually much bigger then I expected which was great. They seemed to be pretty responsive and there were several people that I could see that were singing along to some of the songs! That was astounding!

KM- I noticed that during your performance in Germany you were accompanied by guest musicians "Paul Keller" and "Sören Scholz". Do you plan on having multifarious artists at each of your shows?
Martha: If we can, we would love to continue playing live with Paul and Sören. They are great guys and I think the chemistry between the four of us works well! I look forward to playing live with them again.
Christian: Actually I can't think of better live musicians for Distorted Reality than Paul and Sören. They totally understood what we are doing and they make our songs live. No gig without them!

KM- I really enjoy listening to "The Fine Line Between Love and Hate" but my absolute beloved track is "Supercrush". Can you let me in on how you came up with the lyrics and music to this song?
Martha: The lyrics came from my anger and sense of loss about a relationship that from the beginning was very emotionally erratic. A love that could not be and selfish actions that brought joy and pain all at the same time. It came from a sense of utter frustration about the situation and the desire to express my sexuality and ability to utilize it.
Christian: There is no story on the music for this song. I wanted to record something dancy with breaky beats. I for sure succeeded on the breaky part, but is it still dancy? ;-)

KM- Who is it that maintains your incredibly informative web site www.distorted-reality.com?
Martha: Tilman Thederan, who happens to be a good friend of ours. He's the bomb! You can check out his website www.thederan.com