QS: Who would you say are your biggest musical influences? Do you look at bands like Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode or anyone else?

CS: I don't know. I like all that stuff but I don't really think about that when we're making music. I'm more influenced by things like cinema and art, visual art or dance. I'm thinking more about those kind of things. This whole record, the whole staging, is more me reacting to working with The Wooster Group. I'm taking all those experiences from that production and basically bastardise it in my own weird version of a pop show. For instance with Hamlet, in the show that is currently touring North America, there are all these rolling mirrors so the whole stage has mirrors which are constantly moving around. One of my big parts in Hamlet was playing a wall. I didn't even realise that I took that moment and lifted it and extrapolated in an entire production of rolling walls. It's funny little things like that that influence me more than just synth pop.

QS: After a production like Hamlet, does that make you want to pursue more acting?

CS: I did experimental theatre for a decade before I rolled into music. That's where I started. That's also why I think of myself more as an actor than a singer. I never intended to have a traditional music career so by the time we got to Odyssey, all of a sudden I was dealing with all this major label stuff and I was like, I don't really want to be a popstar. It's a totally different job from being an artist. As an artist you get to work on your art. When you are a popstar you have to do promo and a lot of hoop jumping - that doesn't interest me. I needed to get away from this. I was pretending to be a superstar and this pretending was more exciting and interesting than getting into the real superstar obligations. This kind of sent me running back into the avant-garde.



QS: The US-tour that you are doing is the first proper US-tour in five years. How do you feel about that?

CS: Great! I was pissed that we worked on a record for two years and we only got to tour it in Europe for three months. We also took up a residency in Ibiza, which took up a whole lot of time, which was creatively a challenging experience to say the least. Making an experimental pop performance in a drug riddled resort island was not exactly where I thought my career was going to end up. I was wondering if I finally made it in to heaven or if I was really entering in the next level of hell. So after spinning an entire summer with hookers, hobos and strippers I was ready to hang out with some people who wanted to talk about Shakespeare. But we didn't have any tour support to tour that record in North America at all. We only did one show in New York when the show was put together and then the plug was pulled. At that point you could already see everything collapsing around us in major label music land.

QS: One of the main parts of Fischerspooner is the live performance. A mix of punk, pop, art and fashion. How important is the choreography in all this?

CS: Very. It's the whole reacting to and trying to push the clichés of showbiz. Singing and dancing is timeless.

QS: What about the costumes? Do you design them yourself or do you get designers to help out?

CS: Most of the time I'll come up with a core concept and then I will work together with one or more designers. I am always thrilled because I get to work with all these amazing people. When one of the designers have an idea or they did something that feels like a fit then we will also try to integrate it into the show. Right now, at the top of the show, I'm wearing a Jil Sander suit by Raf Simons which looks like it's made out of stone so it connects with this idea of the moon, a moonsuit. There's a way of making original stuff and then mixing it with existing stuff. It's all about art direction.

QS: You mentioned Raf Simons. Who would be your favourite designer?

CS: Oh boy. I have too many. I like Rik Owens, I love Raf Simons, ... Who else do I have in my wardrobe case right now? Ricardo Tisci from Givenchy is making stuff, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is doing some stuff with us now. Kim Jones made an amazingly beautiful collection for Dunhill. I always loved clothes. There is a lot of good stuff happening.

R.E.M. - Fascinating



Fischerspooner - Fascinating



QS: As an Itunes exclusive for the album you have released an REM song called Fascinating, an unused track for their 2001 album. How was that? Did you find it difficult?

CS: No It was pretty easy. Michael (Stipe) is an old friend. I can't remember how it came up but at one point he said, "I have this song that we didn't include on our record and I think it would be really perfect for you". And I was like, "Oh Ok". One day during recording I then mentioned to Jeff (Saltzman) that I knew Michael and that he had mentioned this song and Jeff was like, get it now! I think that he didn't really believe me at the time but I emailed Michael short after and within the hour I had the whole thing, the lyrics and mp3. Jeff's first impression after hearing the song was: "This song is incredible!". So we started working on it pretty quickly. Warren had to get his head around how we would do it and pumped the tempo up and changed all the instrumentation. I then started working on the melody, something that took me a while to get down. The song is a real challenge to sing but It came together nicely.

Continue reading: Is this heaven? Casey Spooner speaks