Interview for Tranzmission TV

Welcome to the world of SPANKING MACHINE, 
Their music combines the message of inner freedom; self worth at first thought almost a oxymoron since they are the west coast’s premier fetish, s&m and b&d club band. 
As Mistress Kalimata so gracefully points out in this interview they all go hand in hand. 
Open your mind, put society and the fear of the unknown aside or just put their CD in and enjoy. 
You are entering the SPANKING zone:

Lord Spanky- Synth, programming, guitar
Mistress Victoria Kalimata – Vocals
Kiki – Bass


Tranzmission: When and where was spanking machine born?

MVK: On July 4 1997. We had grown thoroughly disgusted with the fodder corporate radio was pummeling our ears with, so we got together with a group of friends and decided to make our own music.

LS: One of the friends was renting a house that was once owned by a big family. There was this massive game room, which his roommate had outfitted with a PA, guitar amps, keyboards and drum machines for the purpose of jamming with his musician friends during parties. Little did he know that a fetish band would be born there. The house was located right in the middle of the most conservative part of Los Angeles. There were literally nuns living next door. One of our earliest songs was called, “The Neighbors Hate Our Fucking Guts”.


Tranzmission: Was Spanking Machine, the first name of the band?

MVK: The one and only.

LS: Yes. The initials were what really won us over.


Tranzmission: What influences does each member bring to the band?

MVK: I believe I bring a willingness to keep my head in reality, while keeping my feet planted firmly in fantasy

LS: Every member of the band has been going to clubs and concerts since their early teens. While we all have a common love of industrial music, we each bring additional elements into our sound. I’m also a DJ in the acid trance and hard house scenes. Victoria has diverse influences including DePeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, Nine Inch Nails and Concrete Blonde. Kiki is also an avid fan of Nine Inch Nails, along with Marilyn Manson.


Tranzmission: Any meaning or reason behind each of your stage names?

MVK: Yes, at least with mine there is. Victoria is my actual name - on my birth certificate - and I wanted to make sure I kept it because I wanted to remain myself instead of becoming a completely different individual. Mistress is a title, it indicates that I am dominant and that I willingly partake in the S&M portion of our band, in fact I’d say I was initially the driving force. One individual once accused the band of being sexist and exploitative to women, which I found preposterous considering I was always in charge of the female sexuality exuded on stage – I pick the dancers, the theme of the show and the outfits. This has always been an excellent way to express female sexuality that I feel is so repressed in society. Sure you can see a bikini clad girl washing a car or the running scenes on Baywatch every day on TV. But women are not coming up with those ideas and working to get them on tv, those are the male fantasies of tv producers and copywriters. You don't see a woman in latex shaving the face of a woman dressed as a man on Baywatch. I'm making a point, I'm not just providing masturbation material. With a name like Spanking Machine it would be so easy to just parade a bunch of naked girls around and spank their butts, that is all anyone expects anyway. But I agonize over every detail of the themes. Yes, it is provacative and meant to cause a reaction, but I'm not exploiting anyone. The female body is beautiful, So what? Needless to say, I don’t think that person gets it, if you know what I mean.
Kalimata is the goddess of pleasure and death. She is often depicted with severed heads and limbs hanging from her ashen body with her love Shiva at her feet adoring her every whim. I’ve always liked the idea of a powerful man bowing to the power of a woman. She is also a very maternal figure, very kind and loving. Just don’t get her mad.

LS: For myself, my name is a result of years in the club scene. If you’re around long enough, certain names just stick and then evolve into other names. If you play in a band, then your last name automatically becomes the name of your band. Then people shorten it, add things and before you know it, you’ve got a new identity.


Tranzmission: When crafting a song what process takes place? Are lyrics written for the sound, sound placed to lyrics?

LS: It works both ways. Sometimes lyrics will inspire music and sometimes the music will lend itself to certain words.


Tranzmission: Who writes?

LS: Mistress Victoria Kalimata writes the lyrics and melodies while I create the music. Kiki then adds rich rhythmic elements.


Tranzmission: Written as the group’s musical guru, are you pleased with the sound and where it may be going? 

MVK: I’m very happy with the songs we created for Simple Solutions to Perverted Problems. But we always like to challenge ourselves to be better. In the past, we would spend one day a week in the studio. Now, we only spend one day a week OUT of the studio. 

LS: The bar has been raised pretty high in our scene. If you listen to tracks like Beloved by VNV Nation and Until the end of the World by Apoptygma Berzerk, you hear amazing amounts of intensity. We want our next CD to be on that level. 


Tranzmission: When the group was first formed, was the idea to be a group that would challenge the boundaries of mainstream America?

LS: The boundaries of mainstream America are so strict and conservative that anyone who is creative or original is going to challenge them. The mainstream wants simple, happy songs, with unchallenging sounds, sung by superficial people. We just set out to do some music that we could get excited about.

MVK: Most “artists” today don’t write their own lyrics and music. They are products of institutions that want to make money, so they usually cater to the lowest common denominator. I really have no idea what most of the songs on the radio are trying to say, if anything. People are so used to being marketed to that I expect a bit of a backlash from our attitude, we are unapologetically exclusive. Anything innovative is going to challenge the status quo and piss off those people who can’t take change. Our goal is not to sell CDs in Wal-Mart. Someone who is going to be attracted to our music wouldn’t be caught dead in a Walmart unless they had no other alternative. I fully believe that there is a undercurrent of people who want to be spoken to directly and who like to be challenged and it is my goal to reach them. 


Tranzmission: If so why was fetish, BDSM the chosen path?

MVK: Ah yes. Personally I can’t stand it when something is feared for stupid reasons, especially something that is so fully ingrained in who we are as a species. There is such a stigma surrounding fetish and BDSM and I am determined to point out the real reason it isn’t more accepted – fear and immaturity. It isn’t for everybody, but when was the last time you had a Mistress come to your door trying to convince you to be her slave? Never. So there is nothing to be afraid of, you have to really want it to find it. I think people may feel guilty simply because they can’t let themselves want it.
Those who have allowed themselves this pleasure have created a very exclusive society built on respect, trust and consent. Proper BDSM does not condone acts that inflict the will of an individual onto anyone else without consent. Submission is a willing act of power exchange.
Everybody has a fetish. Some just won’t admit it because they are worried about being judged. Plus, we are dominated every single day. By bosses, spouses, children, parents, the government, the church…we can submit to their whims, or we can protest. If we follow rules laid out by society, then we are submitting to these regulations or ideals. 
I really don’t consent to paying my taxes, I really don’t consent to having to put my money in a bank, I didn’t consent to being forced to attend school – I have no choice if I want to live in this country and buy things and I don’t want to face the consequences of rebelling against those rules. With BDSM rebelling against rules is actually rewarded. I like that.


Tranzmission: OK tough one here…. Do the three of you live this lifestyle?

MVK: Let’s just say you can trust that we know what we are doing.


Tranzmission: Was it very “easy” to break into this “underground scene”?

LS: It’s relatively easy, especially in Los Angeles, to be the hot new thing. All it takes is a pretty face, a little exposed skin and copying a couple big songs – or being louder, more shocking and more brash than the next band. But you can only maintain yourself that way for so long.

MVK: People eventually figure out they’re being manipulated and turn their backs on you. There are countless bands that everyone thought were going to be the next rage. Then, a month later, they’re gone. If you want to make it a career and have longevity in the scene, you’ve got have something real to say.

LS: You’ve also got to be out there supporting the scene and immersing yourself in the culture so that you’re relevant to what people are feeling. It becomes the focus of your life. You have to realize that there are sacrifices when it comes to your time. When you’re not creating songs, practicing and working on the stage show, you’re in clubs promoting your act or standing outside clubs handing out flyers. At some point, you will find yourself in a position where you have no safety net. It’s either make it or go down in flames.


Tranzmission: First release of Homemakers Guide to Electric Sex, no information?
How has the sound of SM changed from that cd to the newest release? Simple Solutions to Perverted Problems.

LS: Homemaker’s Guide was essentially a demo. But we couldn’t just put out a plain looking CD. Victoria put a lot of work into making it look amazing. The sound was rough though. All instruments were recorded at the same time in a rented rehearsal studio. 

MVK: If you listen carefully to the CD, you can hear other bands playing in the background. Simple Solutions is our first fully produced CD. It began us on path of creating really sexy and danceable music. Our upcoming CD goes even farther down that path.


Tranzmission: How would you describe your music…I’ve read everything from dark electro, Goth to industrial, and a mix of everything in-between?

LS: Simple Solutions to Perverted Problems was a cross between gothic and industrial with some rock influences. Our upcoming CD is much more dance focused and brings together industrial and hard dance sounds.


Tranzmission: The written media and interviews around your music describe a feeling of breaking away from ones own society based views, and becoming empowered with your inner freedom of self expression. Why do you think the American society is that uptight as compared to say the European society, musically speaking?

MVK: There are a lot of open minded people in the U.S. Unfortunately, they don’t often get exposed to new ideas in music. Since all the radio stations, magazines, TV stations and now even a lot of web sites are owned by big companies, people tend to get force fed very unoriginal, highly contrived music. They may buy it, but that doesn’t mean it gets them excited.

LS: And in the club scene, where new music is traditionally born, there seems to be this trend to go backwards. As if everyone wants to return to the 80’s. But whenever the country goes through hard times, there is always a tendency to get nostalgic. Fortunately, it’s the hard times that often spawn new musical movements. We can see things starting to turn around. People in clubs are getting bored of the same music week after week. Some of the smarter DJs and promoters are starting to catch on.


Tranzmission: Your music seems to create a type of mood or ambience with your listeners. Do you enjoy creating a sense of liberation for your fans?

MVK: That’s really the whole reason we’re doing this. It an amazing feeling when you realize that you don’t have to let other people tell you who you are. That you are free to actually be the person you’ve always dreamed of becoming and nothing is stopping you except your own fear. We want to help as many people as possible experience that joy.

LS: DJ Keoki once said in an interview that his goal was to really give people a retreat from the abuse in the world, if only for a few hours. I think that’s our goal, too. We also want to help people realize that they don’t have to put up with being abused, that they really do have power over those who try to hurt them.


Tranzmission: What type of road blocks has SM encountered on its path of releasing inhibitions, sexual freedom, and showing people that they don’t have to be afraid of the inner self or thoughts? Examples….

LS: The main problem always comes down to the evil dollar. With the current economic crash people don’t have enough money to go to clubs as often or buy CDs. A lot of clubs have closed down or been forced to move to small spaces where they can’t have live bands.

MVK: The Los Angeles and West Hollywood city counsels have also be a thorn in our side. It seems every time we turn around another venue has been shut down because they want to make the area seem more “upscale” or “family friendly”. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve attended council meetings in order to try to point out that West Hollywood needs nightlife. But our logic seems to be falling on deaf ears, individual responsibility does not apply to clubs – promoters, venues and to some extent bands are blamed for the behavior of individuals who take bending the rules too far. One venue which has been in the same building for over 43 years is under extreme scrutiny for conducting regular business and is blamed for the acts of individuals disturbing nearby tenants that have lived in the area for six months. Don’t we pay the police to enforce the rules of society? How is a nightclub responsible for rowdy individuals? Why am I being punished for the acts of individuals? I’ve been clubbing since I was in grammar school. Why can’t I have the priviledge of attending adult events without worrying that some idiot is going to get the place shut down? I hate irrational behavior in a government.


Tranzmission: When playing a Fetish Ball, S&M club then play as you have as an opening act what changes in the stage show do you have to do? If any.

MVK: Our live show is different every time we play. We create a theme based on factors like the nature of the event, the time of year, the current political or cultural climate or a interesting movement in art or design. We don’t really tone the shows down, or make them more hardcore, for any event. We always do what we feel.


Tranzmission: Being termed a Fetish band, have you found that does put limitations on where you choose to play?

LS: It hasn’t really limited us as far as the gothic, industrial and electronic dance club scene. And we’ve never really had an interest in playing the mainstream rock clubs, mostly because our sound wouldn’t fit in and our fans wouldn’t be able to really dress up and have a good time there.

MVK: We always focus on the beauty and the liberation of fetish, instead of trying to shock audiences with things like bloodletting, watersports, penetration, etc. Our show is definitely erotic but always artful and tasteful. One could call it sexually sophisticated.


Tranzmission: Do you think you could have built a solid and large fan base as you have in the LA scene anywhere else other than say maybe New York? LA seems to be a little more open to all style and genres of music as compared to say Iowa. I also think that the s&m, b&d, fetish scene is of a larger status out here…

LS: The S&M scene, like the electronic music scene, is everywhere. It’s just a lot more visible and open in the big cities.

MVK: Every town we go to, no matter how small, we will run into a few people who will give us a knowing look. Then we’ll notice subtle clues – piercings, tattoos, collars – that let us know they’re into the scene. We have a lot fans in Georgia, Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Florida.


Tranzmission: Are there any plans on bringing SM to the east coast?

LS: That’s definitely our plan for this year. We now have a stage show that is more easily transportable. Also, our current band members like to travel much more than our old lineup. We played a lot of the big events on the West Coast last year and we’d like to introduce our show to some new crowds.


Tranzmission: The latest cd was released in 2001; it’s 2004 anything in the works for a new cd?

MVK: Oh yes. In our live show we now play more songs off our upcoming CD than our current one.

LS: We’ve gone much more down the industrial dance route, while incorporating the darkest ideas in hard dance music. So we’re really anxious to get it out there. We’ve started recording the synth parts on a Pro Tools TDM system with our producer, Robert “The Erektor” Wear. We may have to slow down our live performance schedule to get it done but I think everyone who likes the band will definitely appreciate the effort.


Tranzmission: Has the band ever played over seas?

MVK: Not yet. It’s a critical step that we need to make. Germany would definitely be our first stop. But currently such plans will have to wait until the next CD is done.


Tranzmission: If you could put together a tour with 3 bands including yourself who would they be?

LS: VNV Nation and Lab 4. Just having each band’s crowds mix would be incredible. It would be a lot of people who were into all the same things but had never walked into the same nightclub. A lot of interesting coupling would occur.