Martin Atkins has touched your life, whether you know it or not. You probably (shame on you if you don't) have at least a few CDs or vinyl LPs with his name on them.

1. Looking back at your early days with Invisible, did you ever foresee yourself where you're at now, with a catalog of over 200 releases and growing every day?

I remember during the recording of 'The Process' (Skinny Puppy's 1996 swansong album that Martin had a hand in during production in Malibu, California--GODSEND), I had 4 cds come out in one month - I think that might have been all we put out that year - and that felt really strange - to be doing SOOOO much. Last year we were involved with 65 releases - although - as Underground Inc - sometimes we are not as heavily involved in the recording/marketing of a cd as we used to be - especially if it is one of our distributed labels.

2. Invisible has seemingly morphed into Underground Inc.--a conglomerate of labels and artists with similar outlooks from all over the world. Please describe your aims and intents with this and how it came to be, and is Invisible, as an entity, still 'active'? If I understand correctly, is Underground Inc. a manufacturing and distribution 'arm' of Invisible?

Underground Inc is the umbrella - literally & figuratively for 12 labels now - including Invisible. Ui ENABLES these other labels to concentrate on their artistic goals while we help with all of the other issues regarding manufacturing and distribution. THERE hasn't seemed to be any shared/learned history within independent music - i think that all of the independents spend time FEELING like we are all in competition with each other - Ui is trying to direct everyone we are involved with towards the real struggles which are related to the size of the USA, the major labels, the insanity of trying to do any of this, etc. IF we can help a label like (say) Sleazebox with marketing or just one idea that means that they avoid making one of the many mistakes that I have already made five times - then they have brain space/time and maybe some extra $ to do something more exciting/stimulating with that resource.

3. Your time spent with Public Image, Killing Joke, and Ministry is fairly well-documented. Please tell a little about exactly what you got or achieved through these noteworthy and influential collaborations...

My 5 years with PiL was educational, and groovy as all hell -- American Bandstand, 10 or 11,000 kids at the Olympic Auditorium in LA - turning on the fire hoses......all kinds of experimentation in the studio - I think it was a massive education - we were very comfortable - and allowed the LUXURY - of writing and experimenting in some world class studios - FLOWERS OF ROMANCE was recorded at The Manor & The Town House where Phil Collins and Queen were also recording - so I have gained a knowledge of those rooms - that machinery that comes without a paranoia about what is and isn't ALLOWED in those facilities. Killing Joke was a great drumming experience for me - to learn so many of the original songs with Paul Ferguson's drumming made me a better drummer for sure - then (once again) experimenting in the studio and writing The 'Extremities' album and then adding in managerial duties/US touring co-ordination etc was a growing experience for me. The music was tremendous - what a catalog of HITS - they still sound great to me - Q101 - the commercial station here in Chicago played 'CHANGE' the other day - I called up to ask who had done the remix - it sounded so new and current - they told me it was the original version from 1981!!!!! Ministry, Nin, Murder inc, Pigface, Damage Manual, Skinny Puppy..........fuck.......read the book!

4. Through the years, you've gradually moved more and more into the production and remixing side of things. Please describe your thoughts on these processes and why you're attracted to them.

It's a natural progression for me to remove filters (people) that are in the chain of expression - to learn what's up then insert people back in. My initial reason for building my studio though was to just help to make more financial sense of the label - it just didn't make sense to have the huge bills going out all the time. Over time I started to do my own engineering and found that I would make huge radical changes - that in another studio environment would take hours - to persuade the engineeer to push things 'a little bit more a little bit more a little bit more.....etc.' so the results were really exciting to me. I also like the way my brain works these days - 'I Know that this piece of equipment is $5,000 and i should LOVE it - BUT i Like this other box that I found on ebay for $100!!' my studio has slowly grown with me so all of the clutter and electronica are understood - not intimidating in any way. Nowadays though - I'm not down there nearly as much as I would like - and I rarely get to lose myself in a song like Meg Lee Chin's 'Heavy Scene' or The Damage Manual ep.....- there is too much going on with the day to day business of the label(s).

5. As you have been widely considered one of the finest drummers around, with a unique and distinctive style, who do you consider your contemporaries (or your favorite) percussionists?

Errrrrrr, hadn't really thought about it - I REALLY like Danny Carey - he came out with Pigface for a couple of weeks - other than that I really don't pay any attention......

6. Do you go in the studio with the intentions of creating Pigface material, or do you piece things together while working independently with other musicians on other projects? Maybe a combination of both?

Yes - a combination of that plus other things going on around - professionally and socially and geographically........

7. You have worked alongside so many other influential and important musicians and artists through the years...do you find any particular collaboration or project more satisfying than others?

NOW - it is the combination of ALL of the elements - I LOVE the new Pigface cd but I like it MORE within our growing relationship with Caroline Distribution - with the huge tour we have coming up and everything firing on all cylinders - it takes all of these things to make it work.....it would be (and has been at times) horribly frustrating to make a record like 'Easy Listening' 0- and NOT have the machinery to distribute it....make it work and have the tour happen etc etc etc.

8. You've expressed that you felt that THE DAMAGE MANUAL's initial full-length was a little lacking...whereas the '1' EP was stronger as a whole. Care to discuss? Plans are set for more DAMAGE material?

The ep FREAKED Geordie and Wobble out. This I understand - I have been lucky enough to jump from Killing Joke to Ministry to NIN and stay pretty contemporary - there are some quite radical things on the label - (the) DHR-sounding Defragmentation for instance, (the) drum and bass of Mick Harris, etc. - SO Damage Manual made sense to me in a different way - W & Geordie just didn't get it and wanted to drag it back into some kind of 80's world music flabby overly-long un-focused 12" remix low end bullshit that has nothing to do with the short sharp kick in the face that it was intended to be. I was mixing for computer speakers and car radios, they wanted it to sound good on a stereo system that people don't own anymore.........I LEARNED so much during the aftershocks of that process.

9. You're about to go out on a major Pigface tour...your thoughts on the whole 'get a bunch of people together on a bus to live together for 5 weeks' lifestyle, and why you continue to look forward to it.

Errrrrr I'm not looking forwards to being away from my family and the office - and is not thrown together - rehearsals started yesterday and it was a blast - it'll be a great tour-- that's for sure. IT'S really important for me to be out there - seeing what is really going on and getting a chance to meet people - I'm always getting demos and re-learning what's up across the US - some clubs/scenes stay the same - others keep twisting and turning........AND cities keep changing too..........

10. It must be exciting to be able to work with this 'next' generation of electronic/rock/whatever musicians...and it gives many of them a sort of springboard/launching pad for their own material to have worked with you and Pigface. Any comments?

It's just really cool and re-invigorating to me - to have Keith Levene on the new cd is one thing - we haven't worked together for 20 years - BUT any idea of 80's comeback band is totally napalmed by the involvement of Fallon, Edsel etc. etc. FAN Fucking TASTIC - really fuelling for me personally - energising. Fallon was here for a few days and just fucking blew me away. Great to work with the guys from Godhead too.

11. 'Easy Listening' seems to be overall a tougher, more aggressive Pigface--a conscious reaction to your previous Pigface work on 'A New High In Low', or simply a by-product/result of who you were working with at the time?

By products of everything - Damage Manual backlash, who is on the cd/ state of mind etc. etc. all of those things.......

12. Your thoughts on the comparisons between the early days of Pigface versus now...

What comparisons? I haven't seen any. For me - Pigface is stronger and more exciting now than it ever was - sometimes it fuels me - sometimes it drains me - it's a weird relationship - sometimes it's like taking your kids to Disneyland - sometimes its RAW fucking ENERGY. It is always surprising to me.

[Thanx very much for Martin Atkins for his time and all of his music through the years.]

Visit Martin's Underground Inc site at: http://www.undergroundinc.com