"No
future, yes, but you have to something out of it"Marlene Marder über die schweizer Punkszene, Frauenbefreiungsbewegungen und Seefahrer Marlene Marder about Swiss punks, women liberation movement, and seafarersHow came originally punk to Switzerland? Is it right that a group of three Swiss drove to London in 1976, there they saw punk and from now on missionary bandied in Zurich? For sure, these three people were decisive. The axis line London-Zurich was very important. Urs Steiger, one of these three people, made e.g. the fanzine „No Fun“. From there the first scene arosed and then this was always growing. People were accordingly wandering around, which of course attracted attention in Zurich. They totally went through with that. How were the reactions on the streets? Were you gazed or were there hostilities? Some were fascinated and took part, others thought „what kind of fogies are these“. You can´t say been hostile, rather wounded. Punks in Switzerland were not so many like punks in England. This was rather a, in inverted commas, „society of fun“ and arose less from No-Future-Displeasure, this „we are unemployed, we are doing crappy.“ Besides British influences did American punk play a role? I listened to Ramones and Dickies or Patti Smith, when you add them to punk. Smith was important for me even before I played with Kleenex in 1978. But crucial was that what came from England. Just some weeks before the British BBC-Radio-DJ John Peel, who provided your breakthrough in England, said that his favourite Swiss band still are called Liliput. Did you knowingly differ from other Swiss punkbands? There was a musical difference: We really couldn´t play our instruments. The others mostly could do that better. But with the notorious three fingering I muddled through yet. It was simply like that that I thougth: I can do that, too. When the success came we were completely surprised. It began as punk in the circle of friends: we went on stage and played our four songs. Then the others went on stage and could play some more songs. This was a small circle, there was never the thought to professionally establish that. You were active in the women movement. Was punk a break with that or did your move to punk take place as a kind of smooth transition? It was called women liberation movement and with this in mind I had to cast off this movement. I wanted to do what was right for me. The women scene was pretty close and dungarees didn´t appeal to me that much. It was fresh and thrilling with the gals of Kleenex, there was no whining about unfairness and the patriachate. This didn´t interest me so much. There was an evening, when I was asked if I wanted to play in a women band, which wanted to play things between Joni Mitchell, Blues and Gospel. On the other hand there was Kleenex. I opted then for them. There is this Liliput-quotation, a stage announcement „We are not tomorrow´s Turks, we are today´s Liliput“. What was meant with that? No idea, at that time you spoke a lot, when the day was long. How was it? „We are not tomorrow´s Turks, we are today´s Liliput“. This is still an intelligent sentence. I saw this directed against the disillusioned spirit of end time, which was embodied at the beginning of the 80´s by bands like Joy Division and Fehlfarben. Yes, I always had problems with this whining. No Future, yes, but you have to do something. Did punk play a role for all the riots and demonstrations, which convulsed Zurich at the beginning of the 80´s? Oh well, this was a youth movement. But I don´t know how far this was related to punk. I don´t think that punk was the cause for the youth riots in the 80´s. But perhaps I am wrong, I´m no sociologist or ethnologist. But you witnessed this movement? I was present at that movement, but I wasn´t at the riots. I am totally afraid of rubber bullets and tear gas. I don´t throw stones. We gave concerts in the AJZ (Autonomous Youth Centre, meeting point of the movement, which was cleared by the police, annotation). When the Rote Fabrik opened we had there an exercise room. There I got involved, when it concerned the Kulturzentrum. Back to Kleenex/Liliput, to be more pricesly, to the unexpected success, which the band had in England. Did you feel understood by the British or were you rather perceived as an exotic Swiss girlband? We felt very well in England. There Rough Trade organized a tour and we were away with the women band The Raincoats and Spizz Energy. This was like a family, the same way of life and thinking. This was also new for The Raincoats and Spizz. There were no pecking order. At that time we were sometimes lower and sometimes higher in the Indie-Charts than Joy Division. You didn´t feel that much understood by the press. Referring to this there were some critical statements in your Kleenex/Liliput-biography. That was rather difficult (laughts). Partially we had real quarrel, because they projected onto us something, which wasn´t like that. Then the time came, when we dealt more seriously with everything. Some people from the press still perceived us as low-brow girlband and wrote stereotypical articels about that. On the other hand I learnt the whole history of Dada from the media. „Ah“, I thought, „you can also see it that way – interesting.“ This wonders me now, what you said about the non-existing reference to Dada. I heard, that Klaudia Schifferle in Zurich attended the art college and there she was taught by a disciple of Marcel Duchamp. Then there was the record cover, where you posed with costumes like the arch-dadaist Hugo Ball, which he wore on a famous photograph. Yes, Klaudia was at an art college. But then it was Peter Fischli and David Weiss, who designed the cover of „Eisiger Wind“, where we wore the carton costumes like Hugo Ball. For sure the boys had something in mind, me in person recognized that afterwards. How did punk influence your life after Kleenex/Liliput? Thus that I made music I ceased working as an employee and do things by my own. Despite some people declared me insane, I recently opened a store for maritime decorations and gifts in Rapperswil / Zurich – everything about seafaring. It turned out that I am from an old Dutch seafarer family. Already with Liliput we had the song „Die Matrosen“ (The Seamen, annotation) and two years ago I made a journey around the world with a freighter. Last year the journey was on a container ship to Shanghai and back. Before I did completely different things. From 1983 to ´94 I had a record store together with Urs Steiger and Julia Müller. There we additionally arranged concerts and called bands like Nick Cave, Mano Negra, Diamanda Galas, Siouxsie And The Banshees to Zurich. Then I made the booking in a jazz club. But after 20 years I was fed up with music and I studied further to a nature and environment specialist and then I helped WWF to stop deforisting the rainforest. After six years I was tired of this as well and now I have this store. The story with Liliput is an important part of my life, whom I wouldn´t miss. Does it still occur that you are adressed because of the Liliput story? For a long time I didn´t want to do anything with it. When I was inquired bz Jason Gross (Perfect Sound Forever), if they can release old Liliput songs, I said at first „No that´s water under the bridge, who is still interested in it“. When the record was released in the states by KRS (Kill Rock Stars) it was a success. I never thought that this is still up to date. It seems to me that there is a revival at the moment when there is even a punk congress. I still receive post from fans, people order my book. There is a new generation, which never have experienced that time. There are many books about punk, scientific essays or exhibitions... I have already seen myself in a museum. But then I think: okay, now you are in a museum, but when people have access then it´s good. Interview by Nils Michaelis. © Schmidt productions GmbH 2004 |
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