Dero Goi
Make Orwell Fiction Again

03.12.2024

Whatever Dero Goi have done in the past four years, comes as a surprise for many and a shock for quite a few. Quitting German industrial metal trailblazers Oomph! after they released a number one hit album, venturing into synth pop, becoming a born again Christian, or playing shows in isolated post-pandemic Russia – the man keeps on pulling wild cards off his sleeve. His latest tricks are “1984”, a mammoth solo album of about two dozen songs, and a new string of shows in Russia, which are happening already this week (December 6-8). We reached out to the man to speak about both of them, and you are welcome to read on to find out more, even though there’s one question that unfortunately never got asked – what makes Dero so brave to play by no rules but his own?

It is widely believed that people these day have a very short attention span. But you are coming up with an album of 16 songs, or even 23 songs in the deluxe edition. Why did you decide to have all of them out at the same time instead of breaking them into two parts and releasing them with a year in between, for example?

Because I’m fighting idiocracy. (everybody laughs) I’m against this development that the attention span narrows down more and more. I don’t want that. I still believe in art, and I believe there’s still searchers out there who wanna find answers to their questions or wanna listen to musicians who speak out musically what they cannot put out in words. I’m there for those souls who are on that path, who wanna find a way out of this dark matrix.

What will we hear on the seven songs that are on the deluxe version only? Why are these particular songs not on the regular edition?

Wow, that’s a good question, because as an artist, you are somehow in love with all of your songs. All of them are your babies. But we wanted to have an artbook, a special edition with a 60-page booklet and this extraordinary artwork, so I decided to spare seven more songs for those people who want to, let’s say, invest in a more extended product. As an artist you must cater to the people who want to have an ordinary CD, you have to deliver a CD, even though there are less and less people who want to have this physical CD. And then I decided to have a double album, because vinyl is like an object for collectors, and we wanted to have this artbook, because in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and all over Europe these artbooks are a really good thing. People appreciate that very much, and I wanted to make it more interesting to them with adding seven more songs.

Do I understand correctly that there is going to be a localized Russian version of the album?

Yeah, Soyuz Music has agreed on releasing the official 16-track album digitally, which is a good thing.

Did you record everything on “1984” on your own, or did you have any collaborators?

All the songwriting, all the lyrics, all the instruments – I did it myself, because I was limited to my computer and my keyboard during the pandemic times, when there were these lockdowns (laughs), social distancing, and I was like, “OK, what am I doing right now? I’m an artist, so why not reflect these dystopian, Orwellian times musically with the things that I have?” I had my home studio, my computer, and my keyboard, so I thought, why not try to compose the way I started being a musician in the mid-80s. And I decided, “Yeah, it’s a good combination. The world is turning more and more into this novel by George Orwell, “1984”, and you’re doing the kind of synth pop that you did when you were a teenager – why not combine both aspects: the music you grew up with, like Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Eurythmics, Visage, The Sisters Of Mercy and so on, and what you see happening all over the world?” Very soon I composed a couple of songs that were going in this direction musically and thematically. I was thinking, “Yeah, that sounds legit”, so I continued, and during the first lockdown I wrote about 40 or 50 songs. I was working on my own, and I was working very fast, and I had so many impressions from the world that I didn’t lack any input. It’s still my duty and my goal as an artist to reflect the world as I see it and to put the finger where it hurts the most, even though it feels shocking to some people who’d rather stick their heads in the sand and rather run away from an inconvenient truth. I was saying, “No, I’m an artist, I have to really do that, I have to reflect the world as I see it right now”. This is how “1984” was born in a way.

In Oomph! you wrote songs in German and in English, but mostly in German. Why did you switch to English on the solo record?

It was clear pretty soon that I would leave Oomph!, because it accumulated over the last few years with disagreements, political positions, economic positions, positions concerning society and so on. We fought too much, it wasn’t healthy anymore. To me it’s a miracle that this band lasted in its original formation for such a long time, because we’re such different characters. But it was just not healthy anymore for everyone who was involved, so the three of us decided to walk different paths. I was thinking, “If you’re working on your own now for your solo project, what will you do? Will you just copy what you did with Oomph! or do you feel different now, are you a different person now, because you have developed, you have found Christ, you’re a believer now, you’re not anti-god anymore?” Of course, I wanted to reflect my changes musically, otherwise I would be a liar. I always try to be as honest as possible in my music. Yeah, there were these changes, and I felt very comfortable and natural to create first ideas in English. In that period of time I was watching many foreign shows, or documentaries, or even networks, which were broadcast in English, so it felt very natural. Many headlines or first ideas came to my mind in English, so I said, “Why not develop these ideas further in English too?” It’s a new project, and I didn’t want to copy myself, I didn’t want to sound repetitive. I knew that Oomph! would continue with a new singer, because I allowed them to do so. As a founding member of the band I had the right to forbid this, but they wanted to continue, and I said, “Why not? If you want to, I’m the last person who says no to that”. And that’s a good thing. We didn’t split in a war, we were kind of fine at the end, and no one is spiteful or toxic against the other ones. I hope that they are happy now continuing the band with the new singer, and I’m absolutely happy with my decision. I don’t regret anything, and it still feels right.

Back in 2010 Oomph! had an album of English remakes called “Truth or Dare”. How did the public accept it? I’m bringing up this topic because languages are a really big thing for the rock and gothic audience here in Russia…

To many of the people it was like, “OK, probably they brought it out to make non-German-speaking public understand the topics of the German songs better”. As you said, we did not create new songs in English, we just transformed the most well-known Oomph! songs into English. Some of the people back then were saying, “Thank you, now I can understand your songs better due to the fact that you translated them. I’d rather stick to original German versions, but I’m happy that you gave us the chance to get to know your songs better via the translations”. Some of them said, “Some songs even sound better in English”. Well, there’s these and these people so you cannot say. People tend to get used to things, so of course, if you’re used to know a certain band singing in German, then you stick with the original language, I think this is natural. But then again, as a solo artist, I didn’t want to repeat myself, I didn’t want to copy myself. You know, I’ve done so many different things, I started pretty electronically, then I did rock/metal/Neue Deutsche Haerte stuff, I even did my side project What About Bill?, which is kind of like jazz/swing, and now I have this synth pop/electronic project. I love versatility as an artist. Sometimes I ask myself when I listen to solo projects of other artists, “Why do they even do this solo project, because it sounds exactly the same as their original band?” If you do a solo project, or a side project, or a new project, it should sound new in my humble opinion. But most of the bands just repeat themselves, and as an artist I find it a bit boring or uninteresting, but I know that listeners think differently about this. They want their favorite bands to remain the same over decades. (laughs) It’s kind of like religion to them.

A long of people hear the 80s vibes in your solo music, and you have just told me that you were inspired by such bands as Depeche Mode and Soft Cell. Would you agree that the 80s were the best times for music?

I wouldn’t say “the best times”, but maybe “the most interesting times”, because technically there was a big change. The world had been listening to hard rock and metal for such a long time, and then there was this new dimension with analogue synthesizers and so on, and they became available to many people. Yeah, this was a new dimension that opened for the whole music scene, and it triggered a big contrast: AC/DC vs. Kraftwerk, for example, or Iron Maiden vs. Depeche Mode. You couldn’t have a bigger gap, a bigger contrast, and I love contrasts! That was really fresh back then, and of course, all the fashion was linked with that – the new romantics, even post punk, wearing all back, with big make-up, hairspray, weird haircuts; this was a real contrast to typical metal freaks with long hair and leather and jeans. And politically it was also very interesting, because the end of the 80s were the Glasnost and Perestroika times, when the Iron Curtain fell, and the world grew together again after such a long period of the Cold War. It was in many ways a very interesting and a very versatile period of time with many changes, that is why it was so imprinting, and it’s still so relevant to many people – due to the fact that there were so many changes in that decade.

Speaking about the album title, it is quite clear why you decided to call it “1984” because of so many parallels with Orwell’s book that we see. But if I look at the tracklist, I see other, let’s say, strong contenders for the album title. So why “1984” after all?

On the one hand, as I said before, I was very limited during the pandemic times – I started writing music on synthesizers and keyboards, with computers and drum machines. Of course, it reminded me of the mid-80s, when I grew up and started being a musician, when I was 14-15 years old, this was about 1984-1985. So, there were these musical connections. On the other hand, I had these connections, as I saw that the world was developing so fast towards an “alien-nightmare”-kind dystopian thriller. So I said, “Yeah, that’s the best combination: to have these musical aspects from the 80s and this Orwellian thing that you reflect in your lyrics”. “1984” is the perfect headline for this album.

But in contract to Orwell and other dystopian writers, there is light at the end of the tunnel in my songs. I know that the best happy end in the world waits for those who accept the true living god Jesus Christ. And it’s not about religion, it’s not about the institution of church, it’s about the true relationship with the living god. And I experienced that; I was depressed and suicidal for almost 35 years in my life, because I mixed everything, I wasn’t into the Bible at all, I had my prejudices, I thought that was a fairytale book and so on. But I realized that the world is weird, it’s not perfect, and so broken and imperfect are human beings. I asked myself the big questions: where do I come from? Where do I go to? What’s the reason for living at all? Do I really believe that nothing created everything randomly from nothing? No, I wasn’t an atheist, I was an agnostic, I didn’t know, but I kept on searching, and that was my big advantage. I knew that something severe was going on here, and that we’re not in the original state of being anymore. I couldn’t believe that nothing created everything, because that’s ridiculous. When I look at a pot, I know there’s a potter; when I look at a painting, I know there’s a painter, even though I don’t see the painter or the potter. I don’t take a look into the pot and say, “No, there’s no potter inside the pot, so I doubt there’s a potter who made this pot”. This is ridiculous, I simply know that via logic I can find out that when I’m facing a creation there must be a creator. When I’m facing a building, I know there must be a builder. When I see a car, I know there must be a manufacturer who did this. I realized at a certain period of time that I do believe in an intelligent designer, because the whole universe is dominated by information and intelligence. We have unchangeable absolute information within all natural law, and it doesn’t change randomly. The law of gravity is absolute, you will be confronted with it if you jump out of a plane without a parachute. (laughs) And if there is natural law that is unchangeable, there must be a law-giver.

The next step when I do believe in an intelligent designer - who is it then? Is it Buddha, Krishna, Vishnu, the Flying Spagghetti Monster, or the God of the Bible, which is the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit in trinity? I really dived into that topic, and soon I found out that it must be the God of the Bible. On the one hand, the whole creation reflects his trinity, because the whole universe is dominated by “three in one”. My God is three in one – Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And then you have time, space and matter, or length, width and height – three in one. Even time is past, present and future, three in one. This made me think, “OK, if god is three in one, and his creation is three in one, because he created this creation after his image, this sounds plausible to me”.

The next step was: is the Bible reliable? I studied the Bible a lot, and I do think that it’s historically accurate, because all the people and all the places mentioned there are real, it’s not a fairytale or illusion. We have coins with Pontius Pilate, we have scrolls with Antiochus Epithanes, or stone plates with Ceasar Augustus’ ornament or King David’s. All the people mentioned in the Bible were really existing and are historically verified, and the same is true for places. Is there Bethlehem? Of course, it’s not fictional. Is there the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, Damascus, Jerusalem and so on? Yeah, these are really existing places.

No, it’s not a fairytale book. Do I believe it came from God and was just written down by men? And I do believe that because it gives reliable prophecies, and only god who is out of space, time and matter knows the future, because he looks at it and knows everything, he’s all-knowing. I do believe that the Bible is reliable and everything you see right now happening all over the world is predicted in the Bible, in the Revelation. I can recommend anyone: read the Bible, get in contact with God. God wants relationship. He does not want dead rituals, you don’t need to talk to a priest or whatever; God wants relationship. If you truly want to get to know God, then pray to Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the key to the Father, and in Jesus Christ God became a human being to pay for your sins that you can never pay for yourself. I knew that I was guilty in a certain period in my life due to a severe personal crisis, and I wanted to get to know God, and I asked God to reveal himself to me, and he revealed himself to me in Jesus Christ. Now I have got rid of depression, of my suicidal thoughts, of my trauma and so on.

I just can recommend to people: search, so that you might find, and the truth will set you free. I cannot make you believe, and no one could make me believe, because true faith comes from the inside, never from the outside. I don’t believe in religion, I don’t believe in the institution of church, because they have twisted so many things, and if you read the Bible you will soon find that many things that religion claims to be true are not even mentioned in the Bible, so they contradict the Bible in many ways. I don’t believe in religion, I believe in the Bible, I believe in Jesus Christ as the one true living god who died for my sins and rose on the third day, because he loves me so much that he does not want me to end up in hell for all eternity. I got in contact with Christ, and, well, I’m absolutely secure and sure that when I die tomorrow, I’m with my lord and savior and creator. And that’s the best thing. I could have never imaged all those years that it would happen to me, but it happened to me, so there’s light at the end of the tunnel, as I said before. That’s what my songs are telling the people. Yeah, the world is fallen, it’s imperfect, it’s dominated by evil, but God himself, Jesus Chris, will come back to judge this world, because it needs divine judgement. I’m guilty and everyone else is guilty, there’s no one who’s without any sin, so we need a savior, and Jesus offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice, and if we accept him, we won’t be judged because the judgement was already on him, even my personal judgement, so that I can be free.

I found this very logical and very coherent from the beginning to the end, but everyone needs to find out himself. I mean, I don’t have enough faith to believe that nothing created everything. This sounds ridiculous to me.

What kind of setlist have you prepared for your Russian tour that will happen already this week? Promoters say you will also play Oomph! material – is that correct?

Well, there’s gonna be some surprises at the end of the show, because I’m gonna be supported by Natalie Defekt_Kids, a Russian pianist. Yeah, I’m still able and willing to play some Oomph! songs from the past. It’s not that I wouldn’t play any song due to my belief in Jesus Christ, there are still some songs that I appreciate and I can play without any hesitation. So yeah, there are gonna be some surprises at the end of the show. Looking forward to that!

Two years ago you and Natalie did a whole set in Russia together. Have you considered recording and releasing that set? I attended your show in Moscow, and it was something really special…

That’s a good idea! I think we could sort out 15-16 songs which could match pretty well to her playing, and I could really imagine releasing a piano and voice CD. Definitely, why not?

What are your plans beyond Russian shows? I tried finding some information about more shows, in Europe maybe, but there is nothing on the Internet about it. What are you going to do next year then?

Fortunately, I have composed… I don’t know, 70 or 80 songs. That means that I can release two more albums at least. I could, on the one hand, produce another album and put it out as soon as possible, I would like to do that, and of course, as an artist you are always interested in playing your material live on stage. So yeah, I’m looking forward to have some club shows here and there. That said, of course, let’s see what else I can do. I’m not limited to being an artist or a musician, so there are more doors to open, hopefully.

Dero Goi on the Internet: https://www.derogoi.com/

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview

Interview by Roman Patrashov
Photos courtesy of Soyuz Music
December 2, 2024
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