Lords Of Acid
an interview with Deborah Ostrega
4/28/2000
"I was doing my own TV music show in Belgium and once I was at a gothic festival and Praga was playing with his band Praga Khan," explains Deborah on how she met up with the band.
She says that in the past, Lords Of Acid have not been well known in their home country of Belgium, but that is now changing due to an appearance on television there. A Belgium TV crew was at the New York date of the recent tour.
"We had been talking about how at home, no one knew what we were doing," she says. "But because we had Belgium television at our New York show, everybody there is talking about us, because we're so controversial, because we are so explicit. We really work hard, so it's good to finally get the appreciation of people in our home country."
Excerpts from our conversation with Deborah:
Since Lords Of Acid have been around for a while and have lots of great songs, how do you choose what to include in your live sets?
Deborah: "It's what people are asking for. We're really in touch with our fans. First of all they were asking 'when are you coming, when are you coming?' Then they were asking 'will you do Rough Sex? Will you do Crab Louse?' So if the people are asking why we don't play something.... Those are the people who buy our CDs. I don't think we'd want to be singing our whole new album. We want them to hear the music and appreciate it, but we do a lot of the older songs, like 'Rough Sex' and 'I Sit On Acid' and 'Crab Louse' and 'Spank My Booty.' All the favorites, people like to hear those songs."
Other members of Lords of Acid have done side projects; do you have anything else going on musically?
Deborah: "At the moment, no, as we were so busy making the album and since November we've been preparing for the tour and this coming year. I think it was very smart of me not to do any other projects, because I need to focus myself on this thing very much."
What was it like stepping into the role of vocalist for Lords Of Acid?
Deborah: "When they asked me to be lead singer of Lords Of Acid, I said 'yeah, I want to do it.' I didn't know what I was saying yes to. I was not really listening to the lyrics, I was just 'hey, the music is good, I can move to it, no problem to sing it.' And then we started rehearsing and found out the lyrics, I was like 'oh!' When Praga gave me the lyrics, he was like 'I want to see her face.' and I looked at them and I was like 'wow ...wow ...wow'. I went home and started going over them, and at the end of the set list, I was so horny! And I was home by myself, so I was like 'hey, what should I do now?'
Was it difficult at all taking over, singing parts that had originally been done by someone else?
Deborah: "I had been in the studio, but then we had the first rehearsal with the band and suddenly for the first time ... we dimmed the lights and it was great, the strength between the musicians, between me and them. Suddenly, I thought 'what was I worrying about?' Just looking at those beautiful people, those beautiful men, who were on stage with me, it gave me a shot of adrenaline and energy, and such a sexy feeling. It's a part of myself that I didn't really find out until I met these guys'"
What is the musical climate like in Belgium right now?
Deborah: "There was New Beat, Praga Khan started with that, There's really two directions of music there. One, you have alternative, there you find the good techno music, the good DJ's, good rock stuff, and then you've got the commercial side. Typical Belgium house, people are going to these clubs just to dance and don't know what kind of music they hear. It's mostly the Belgian kind, and then there's the really Britney Spears-type stuff. These are the biggest sections, and you have a lot of the same stuff you have in America. You have to come to Belgium to learn about it! I can't explain it in 2 o 3 words"
Be sure to check out these other Lords Of Acid interviews!!
Praga Khan
Nikkie Van Lierop
©2001 Bob Gourley