[porkmarras]

DIRT. About this genetic terrorists thing. Could you tell me what it's all about?

COSEY. Well that is the chromosome of the criminal, the misfit. Everybody who they test out, people like Manson, famous criminals or famous politicians or whatever, they all have the same chromosome thing, it's the XY chromosome…



DIRT. And it's not quite right…

COSEY. No, well it is, but it just shows that wherever you meet that you meet somebody who's an individual and a strong individual, strong enough to become famous or whatever I suppose, but it's supposed to be the criminal one, or what they label as the criminal chromosome.



DIRT. What is the point behind lyrics like Slug Bait, if they're not to be taken just as sort of descriptions of an act, in as much as you could sing a song about washing up, and it would be a description of an act, is there any reason for lyrics like that being there?

COSEY. Well Slug Bait is a mixture of all different murders that have gone on, but that's mixed up with the Manson murders and also, where the hell was it, Rhodesia or somewhere, where people had gone in, the army or whoever had gone in and castrated a guy and made his wife eat his balls. No they made him eat his balls and made his wife watch and various things like that. The whole thing is around the fact that you could take like Charles Manson and what he did right, which was justified or it wasn't, nobody really knows the true story anymore because there have been too many versions, but he is put in a prison and is condemned for the rest of his life, he'll never get out, like Ian and Myra will never get out. Myra might but Ian won't, 'cause there's three people on the list never to come out and he's one of them…



DIRT. Who are the other two?

COSEY. A poisoner, I can't remember his name, very interesting him, and some other person. They're put away, really condemned never to come out and yet you hear of all these atrocities that go on and people say it's terrible, oh it's awful and all the rest of it, but none of those people ever suffer so much, because alright, say they get put in jail but the whole world doesn't know their name?
So when they come out they can just, they'll never forget it but they can at least have the chance. Gen just took it from a whole lot of different things that had happened and came together as being very much the same thing where when people get into mutilation and murder it always turns towards sex and things, which is a really sick thing. It's weird because when people kill or mutilate they're never content with physical injury it has to go as far as mental and emotional injury as well, like with rape and everything. Rape is a fucking awful thing whether it's a bloke being raped or a woman, 'cause it does stay with you for ever. It is really, really bad because you can't relate to people properly again, it's always in the back of your mind.



DIRT. You don't really provide the reasons behind doing stuff like Slug Bait, that you just let them speak for themselves and you don't sort of say "We're doing this because of so and so", and I can almost appreciate why you don't, but don't you think a lot of what you do is open to misinterpretation and don't you feel the need to explain it more?

COSEY. No, 'cause when we had performances we never used to explain them, because they were there, they were presented purely as we were at the time and what we did as how we were then and each person sat through it with us and saw what they saw, interpreted what they interpreted, each one is different. I'm not going to sit and tell them what they should have seen or what they should have felt and it's the same with the records. I mean if somebody wants to know what I interpret it as, I'll tell them but only after I've heard their interpretation, I won't tell them beforehand, 'cause people are very frightened to say anything unless someone else is going along with them. I don't mind if someone interprets it differently from me, or if they're upset by it I'll ask them why and then I'll work from there, then I don't mind telling them what it really means to me, 'cause at least I've got some idea of what it meant to them. Then I can try and justify why they should see it in a different light or maybe why I should see it in a different light. It's just a thing of feedback, of communication, if they can interpret it their way then it's a different thing again, it's just individuality.



DIRT. It's not leaving a lot to the listener, but it's almost like, how many people do you think really can interpret it in any sort of logical and thoughtful way. It's a very optimistic view of people that they can, presented with a bunch of information….

COSEY. But I'm not expecting people to be where I am, I'm really not. Like one guy said, his friend thought we were into the devil etc., that's one of the first steps you've got to write back and say we're not and try and explain exactly what you are, but you have to explain it in very basic terms because they're not up to taking it as it actually is at the time. There's a gradual increase of knowledge or whatever, of awareness that people go through, just in life, just having experienced twenty years of life you know, five years having lived away from home, they experience different things and they just come to terms with all sorts of different things that they're doing, but I don't see why I should make it easy for them, you can't pigeonhole things for people forever.