{"id":5708,"date":"2023-12-11T17:19:31","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T22:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=5708"},"modified":"2025-05-03T10:59:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T15:59:53","slug":"the-mk-ultra-interview-lucia-cifarelli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=5708","title":{"rendered":"The MK ULTRA Interview: Lucia Cifarelli"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Interview by John Wisniewski<\/strong> for MK ULTRA Magazine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best known for her work with industrial band KMFDM. She was formerly the vocalist for the band Drill and also performed in KMFDM offshoots MDFMK, KGC, and Schwein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cifarelli got her start recording in studios in New York, eventually forming her own band, Drill, along with future Black Label Society bass guitarist John DeServio. Drill released one self-titled album, spawning two music videos and getting a third song featured in the movie Empire Records. Later in 1995, Drill opened for Stabbing Westward’s Wither, Blister, Burn, and Peel Tour. The band broke up shortly after the end of the tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cifarelli joined the KMFDM-hiatus band MDFMK in 2000. The project lasted for one self-titled album. In 2001, Cifarelli and Sascha Konietzko worked on the supergroup Schwein and its albums Schweinstein and the subsequent remix album Son of Schweinstein. After the MDFMK project was discontinued, Cifarelli was asked to return as a member of KMFDM. She has been a member of the band since 2002’s Attak. She’s recorded two solo albums, From the Land of Volcanos. One single off the album, “I Will”, appeared on the American Pie 2 soundtrack. Cifarelli performed on the band KGC’s 2006 album Dirty Bomb. She released her newest solo album I Am Eye July 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n

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John Wisniewski: Lucia, when did you join Drill, the first band that you were in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucia Cifarelli: I actually formed Drill, with Dan Harnett, a guitar player who I met through the classified Ads in a NY paper called The Village Voice. I believe we met in the early 90\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JW: How did you join KMFDM? When did you meet Sacha Konietzko?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LC: I met Sascha long before joining MDFMK & later KMFDM, When he did a remix for my band DRILL for the movie \u201cEmpire Records\u201d(1995). It was for a song called \u201cWhat You Are\u201d. Later in 98\u2019 or 99\u2019 he reached out to me when he and Tim Skold were looking for a female vocalist\/songwriter for their project MDFMK. Joining KMFDM was a natural progression from there<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JW: Any favorite industrial bands?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LC: Young Gods,, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Sister Machine Gun<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JW: You have also worked with Sascha Konietzko<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LC: Yes, I am currently working with him now, on the latest KMFDM release \u201cLet Go\u201d, scheduled for release February 2.2.2024. I\u2019ve co-written every KMFDM album with him since Attak in 2002<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JW: On the band Schwein. What was that experience like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LC: I collaborated with Sascha Konietzko and Raymond Watts on a couple of tracks that we recorded in London, and then Sascha and Raymond finished the project in Japan with the band Buck Tick. That\u2019s pretty much the long and short of my involvement in that project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JW: What was it like recording your Solo album?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LC: I\u2019ve recorded two solo albums actually. The first is called \u201cFrom The Land Of Volcano\u2019s\u201d which I released 18 years ago. Then theres \u201cI Am Eye\u201d which was released in 2021. They were two totally different experiences. My first solo album was recorded in London with producer Ian Stanley (formerly of Tears For Fears), and \u201cI Am Eye\u201d was recorded with Sascha Konietzko in our home studio. We wrote and recorded \u201cI Am Eye\u201d during the first COVID lockdown, when the world had come to a screeching halt and the KMFDM tour we were scheduled to do with MINISTRY was cancelled. It was a magical experience actually. It was the first time I was the origin point of the music. Because for the greater part of my career I\u2019ve focused on lyrics and melodies in the collaborative process, this was a creative leap for me. I\u2019m actually in the early stages of recording my next solo album, which I\u2019ve already written. I just need to organize how to fund it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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