"The Mission Is Terminated" says the austere looking postcards that are currently being distributed by the TG camp. The group, who've been around for some 6 years, have decided to call it a day. No great flourishing, controversial finale such as mass-suicide or something (the Press would have loved that!), just a simple termination.

I've always thought that TG's main attraction has been the electronic wizardry of Chris Carter. Forget about the controversy, the lyrics, the image; Chris Carter is the main-man behind the music of TG: the rhythms, synth and keyboard work, treatments and so on.

I went up to London in May to interview him, about 3 or 4 weeks before the official 'end' was announced.

So, after watching bits of the FA Cup Final, videos of TG and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (!), we popped up to his studio to discuss buts and pieces of TG's history, Chris's solo cassette and future projects.

Thanks go to Chris for sparing a whole afternoon and to Cosey (who shares their north London flat) for the delicious spaghetti bolognese!

The Interview, Saturday 9th May 1981.

D: David Elliot, C: Chris Carter

. . . When Chris left school he got involved with producing light shows set to his own synth music with a friend called John . . .

D: When did you meet up with Gen and Cosey?
C: I was doing this show, and we were beginning to wind the whole thing down cos it was getting a bit boring, and we did a show at a place called Bounds Green, in an old church. We invited lots of people along because it was going to be John's last show and Gen and Cosey came along because they knew John anyway. So we did the show, and afterwards we got talking and they said why don't you come along to the studio and bring some of your gear along.
D: What were they doing at the time?
C: They were doing mainly art performances with a group they had called 'Coum' . . . So anyway, I went along to Martello Street. They had a big old Farfisa there, and a drum kit. It was completely different then. In those days, when we first started, we all used to try out each other's equipment. Now we all stick to what we've got.
D: Where did Sleazy (Peter Christopherson) come from?
C: Sleazy had already met them a couple of months beforehand, and had been doing art performances with them. At first he didn't used to play on stage - he just used to mix things at the back of the hall. And he put tapes through the mixer and things like that.
D: So you were doing live gigs even at that time?
C: Yeah, the first gig we did was in '76 at the Air Gallery, which is an art gallery. It was a sort of cross-over thing, as the others were all into the 'art thing' then. Not many people came along, but it was OK - it was weird.
D: What sort of stuff were you doing? Was it like 'After Cease To Exist'?
C: Yeah, it was like that, but no rhythms or anything, Actually at that gig, we all changed over instruments at one point. I walked across stage and picked up Gen's bass and he started playing keyboards. . .
D: What stuff did you have then?
C: I had a really big synth I'd made myself. It didn't have much in it, but it was really big! And Gen had his bass guitar and Cosey here black guitar. And in those days we did our own P.A. which was enormous - not very loud, just BIG.
D: Did you plan what you were going to play?
C: We never used to at the beginning, but slowly, even then, songs started to emerge out of it all. We had one called 'Very Friendly' which had a kind of bass guitar riff, most of the rhythmic stuff was like that - based on guitar notes or tape loops. I think we must have played a couple of songs at our first gig. And then the next gig - the big one that started everything - was the ICA, with the exhibition and everything. It was still the arts/cross-over thing.
D: What was the reaction like to it?
C: Well, it was pretty weird. I mean there were thousands of people there including all the Press. It was a big scandal because it was next door to Buckingham Palace. There was even a cartoon of us in the 'Sunday Telegraph' of me, Gen and Cosey outside the ICA with the Queen lying on the floor and we've all got axes, pretending to chop her up!
D: Was it difficult getting gigs?
C: No, it's never been difficult getting gigs. That's the funny thing: we've never had to ask anyone for a gig, even then. We've always been offered gigs.
D: How did the album evolve out of that lot?
C: Well, we started doing a tape, 'The Best Of Vol 1'. It was a C90 and we did it just for friends, made up from bits we'd done in the studio when we very first started, and bits from the ICA and Air Gallery performances. And then we decided to do an album. It was basically just for us, for our own benefit. We had to borrow about £650 to do it.
D: How many did you press?
C: We only did 750. It was a very limited edition. If you ever see a copy, grab it, cos it's worth a fortune. I haven't even got a copy of it!
D: Did you sell them all pretty quickly?
C: Rough Trade took almost all of them straight away. And that's how Rough Trade got started. They never used to do that - they just used to be a record shop. And then they took all these and decided to start distribution. It got them on their feet. Eventually we gave the tapes to Fetish, and that started them. And that made enough money for us to pay back the money we borrowed to do the album in the first place. We had enough left over to go on to do 'United' which we hired a 4-track for. Gen and I went down to Martello Street to put the basic tracks down, and the others came down in the evening after they'd finished work, and we put the rest of the tracks down.
D: Is it Genesis who really brings in the controversy?
C: Yeah, I think so, because he's quite outspoken...
D: Are you mainly interested in the electronic music side, the rhythms and that sort of thing?
C: Yes. Most of the music, the rhythms and things have come from me, and I'm more interested in the music than the image, while Gen's more involved with the image and the philosophy behind it.
D: Do you set out to plan an image for the press...?
C: No, not really. I mean the only thing we ever sat down to actually plan were the two logos - the flash and the record logo. We didn't want it to be anything obviously political, just something that would stand out. And we hoped that eventually people would recognise them without the name.
D: Do you go along with the controversy side of it?
C: It's there, so there's nothing you can do about it. It doesn't worry me. I mean a lot of people bring it on themselves. They make something out of nothing.
D: Well, I suppose after things like the ICA performance...
C: That got blown out of all proportion. I think that people were very disappointed with the whole thing when they got there, cos they thought it was going to be some big sex show, and there was nothing there. It was just the papers that made up the story. The 'Evening News' was the worst one. They were running a story every day for about a week. It was ridiculous!
D: Well, I suppose it's free publicity.
C: This is it. It did get the name quite well known; for the wrong reasons probably.
D: Did you approach record companies at all?
C: No, they approach us; again, it's the same thing. Virgin was the first who were interested in us. At the time we weren't really interested, but they asked us to come along and see them, so we played them a tape. They obviously realised we weren't going to compromise or anything; they couldn't take us as we were. So we just thought we'd just go out and do it ourselves.
D: It was about the time of 'D.o.A' that things started to get, umm, 'big'?
C: Yeah, it's funny, you don't really think about it at the time. It's all just happening as you go along.
D: I remember 'D.o.A' getting pretty good reviews.
C: Yeah, even the NME gave it a good review (laughs)! Those were the days!
D: How did you come into contact with people like Monte Cazazza and The Leather Nun?
C: They just started writing to us, sending us tapes and things. Monte's been corresponding since the very beginning. But The Leather Nun just sent us a tape and started writing. We never release stuff that people ask us to release. We always approach people, people we like personally. The only mistake we made was with Thomas Leer and Robert Rental who turned out to be a couple of right burks! All they kept ringing up for was their royalty cheques and things.
D: Do you advertise much?
C: No. We did one full-page advert in Sounds. It was really expensive - about £650 I think. We're going to do another one soon, explain what's happening with the records and that we're going to carry on doing the cassettes. It's quite a lot of money but at the moment we can afford it; every year we have to spend a certain amount of money before December for tax reasons.
D: Was it your idea to do a solo cassette, or did Gen or someone suggest you do it?
C: I can't remember how it came about. I mean I've been doing tapes for years, recording loads of stuff - just ideas to play to the others and see what they thought of them as the basis for new songs. That's why some of them might sound a bit flat as they're originally supposed to have a vocal or a guitar or something over them.
D: Has it gone down well?
C: Well we've sold about 100 copies through the mail order, Gen had sent a load to Rough Trade in America without me knowing. And Geoff Travis went over there to sort out some business and he heard it over there and went over the moon about it! So when he got back to London he asked if I could do a record and a single for Rough Trade and would I do 200 cassettes for the Rough Trade shop.
D: And it was about this time that you decided to fold TG?
C: Yes. Sleazy said a few weeks ago, "We've used up all our ideas now; it's coming to the end of the road. We haven't got much more to say together, musically" (sob, sob! ED).
D: Have you thought about doing something completely different?
C: Well, only videos and so on. I think Gen and Sleazy will carry on doing this sort of thing.
D: And Cosey?
C: She'll probably stay with me and work on this album and so on.
D: If your Rough Trade album goes well, might you go on the road yourself?
C: Actually, Geoff asked me if I'd like to, but I'm not sure. I'd have to take all this lot (points to massive array of synths and assorted gubbins, ED). I don't know, we'll have to see...

FOOTNOTE
A few days after the interview, TG flew out to California to perform what turned out to be their last two gigs. Chris, in a subsequent letter, had this to say about the whole affair:
"Well, we arrived home safe and sound from the US. It all went fairly well. The gigs were pretty good - the last one was one our best. We got a lot of publicity concerning our projected split-up which caused a bit (a lot really) of tension between us all. Also, the weirdest thing happened - Gen went to Mexico one day and came back married to this girl he's known for a couple of months. Her name is Paula (she lives near Gen in Hackney) and Gen paid for her to come on the US trip with us. Everybody was totally surprised by the whole affair and this added to the weird atmosphere."

Couple of items of interest:
Did you know that David Brooks, often associated as the TG 'coordinator' and the man behind Industrial Records mail order, never in fact existed! He was a pseudonym for all four members of the group.
Also, did you know that Peter Christopherson (Sleazy) is one of the main-men behind Hipgnosis, the cover designers. Have a look on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" album credits....

Source: Neumusik 5, August 1981