Project CONCUBINE

Fuck Daddy – Project Concubine

Well. This is different! 80s retro synth bass that you feel it in your belly through your headphones. The vocals are part rap, part sung, over a sparse beat that’s analogue in feel, but not quite. The thing I like about this track and indeed about Project Concubine is that they have no rules when it comes to making music, it’s not set out in a verse chorus verse chorus, it just follows its own path. You could put strings on there, or pad it out or add more to it but the sparsity makes the track. It’s the kind of thing you could listen to late at night, eyes closed, with the lights off.

They describe their music as electric, energetic and raw. That works for me. I’d say the same. It makes me want to explore the darker side of EDM a bit more as an artist, something I haven’t done in a very long time, and indeed if you like your music with that kind of energy then this will be perfect for you.

More please! - PlatinumMind

“We are the New Posh” – A chat in London with fashion muse and scandal model Jera Diarc

words Elina May

We talk to fashion muse and scandal model Jera Diarc about his band Project CONCUBINE, future plans, the upcoming wave and fashion.

Jera Diarc is known as fashion model, fashion muse and for sure the scandals he caused. Whether it was the most spectacular quote of termination in history of the fashion industry, when he overshadowed the entire fashion week 2015 with a banner that read “Please Kill Angela Merkel…Not” that he hoisted on the catwalk ; where it is still not clear to this day, whether it was an art performance, political activism, a fun event, or it ended up being staged, as the subject of Rick Owen’s show “Activism and male aggression “, which no one else knew then the closest designer team; his arrest in London after a gig with his band Project CONCUBINE because a couple had sex on their stage, or when a toddler accidentally fired a bobby gun that was part of one of his installations during an art exhibition.

But regardless of his role as fashion muse and of his scandals, Jera Diarc is primarily one, an extraordinary artist, and outstanding musician.
jera DiarcJera Diarc with artist, musician and band member Hanja Martes

The live performances, music videos, the stage presence and the sound of his band “Project CONCUBINE” are unique and to date an absolute insider tip.

If you love electronic, solid vocals, gently radicalism, impressive music videos mixed with an astonishing sense of style and fashion. You shouldn’t miss it.

Jera, first a personal question. You are more known for scandalising and according to people who tried to describe you as a person or as a character; they had all one in common, that you are lovely and friendly person, but at the same time absolutely unpredictable, means no one was really surprised about your arrest in London for example.

What a shame, I really love to surprise people. A pianist, I worked with, went to India a while ago to find Gods. We haven’t heard from him since. If he came back, arm in arm with Shiva. And Shiva would become the new Queen of England, would that be a scandal actually, or just funny?

I don t know. Maybe scary?

Yeah, maybe. Changings can be scary sometimes.

But what do you think, when people describing you like that?

That they are talking about someone I would love to hook up with. Honestly, I don’t mind. It’s about to be good to each other first of all, isn’t it? And as long that’s the case, things like that shouldn’t bother. But back to your question. I am doing my best not to think.
jera DiarcJera Diarc

You are still in touch with the fashion world

Yes for sure. I found friends there and I’m interested in the fashion world generally. It’s so unreal, bizarre and beautiful. So irrelevant and relevant at the same time..

Who is your favourite designer?

I like Mihara Yasuhiro’s style. He’s a really cool person and one of my favourite designers. And for sure Raf Simons. His shows are so exaggeratedly spectacular.
jera artJera Diarc with artist, musician and band member Hanja Martes

Let s talk about your songs, the music of Project CONCUBINE, I listened to, are remarkable and unique in sound and style. Tell me more about it.

Thank you so much. It’s lovely what you said. To be honest, I don’t even like it that much to talk about it.

But that’s what the interview is about.

Yes I know.

And you agreed. (I had to laugh)

I Yes, because I like you. It flattered me, and I was really excited about it. But it’s like talking about why do you love something. I had no idea what to say. But that’s for sure. You are an astonishing person. And a kind of hot.

Thank s a lot. Are you hitting on me?

Not at all. Just an innocent compliment.
jera artJera Diarc

What is your inspiration, how do you write your songs from where is it coming from?

I can’t specify what my inspiration is. I mean this live is so weird sometimes, so lovely and so unpredictable. For me, it’s about power, passion, love and anger.

Anger can be something sacred.

Anger about what exactly?

Such as people with blind obedience to authority. They are like parents who once taught you to speak; only to tell you shortly afterwards you should shut up, if you are questioning them or their masters. If you are exposed to people or situations like that and becomes aware of it, grows anger. This kind of anger is the awakened awareness to be powerless, and at the same time the weapon that frees one from powerlessness. “No, you shut up now. Revolution, baby.”

The songs are just flying by. Grabbing us, shaking us, until they are finished. It’s like being obsessed. But I think it’s like that. Writing songs.
jera DiarcJera Diarc with artist, musician and band member Hanja Martes

Is it for your band members the same. Like being obsessed?

Project CONCUBINE is not a band like a band. Project CONCUBINE is a state of mind.

About your lyrics, which stand out very much. Such as “sitting waiting masturbating, studying empty books and praying” Or that you are calling for riots or in your song “Celebrate” : “Burn your house forget your habits, kill your will and just forget it.” Can you tell us something about your lyrics?

I don’t think that I would call for riots. Although I think, that riots can be a beautiful love declaration. Like a symphony, a painting or a masterpiece of art. Or maybe sometimes the only way, that is someone listening to you. Mhm, maybe I would call for riots.

Lyrics and song are one unit. I’ m not separating it. When I’m writing the lyrics, I shouldn’t think about it. My part is rather to understand what the song is telling me and to write it down. If it would be just about my will, the song wouldn’t be that, what the song should be.

The lyrics of “Celebrate” started simply as a bar situation. And lead to an invitation to the ivory tower. I like this kind of journey.

In terms of advertising on the internet, you are more reluctant. Where does that come from?

I was never thinking about that. I don’t know. The world out there is quite more exciting. Maybe we are just not good at marketing. (Laughs)

What are your future plans with Project CONCUBINE?

We gonna publish our first EP soon. “Club of Concubine”. Or did you mean by future plans something like conquering the world? We already have that.

We are a part of an upcoming wave. We are the New Posh.

Thanks a lot for the interview Jera

Project CONCUBINE published recently their first commercial single “I’m Addictive”.

A dark and funky, electronic pop piece of music. Which, despite its complexity, impresses with its simplicity.

A small glimpse into Project CONCUBINE’s musical world, but an impressive one.

A great love song which makes highly addictive.

https://projectconcubine.bandcamp.com/track/im-addictive

Have a listen to some more Project CONCUBINE tracks

I highly recommend their videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2435jErqQvsae_GFd6T3Hw - Flux Magazine

The London-based band Project CONCUBINE have a new single released on 26th May 2021. Fuck Daddy builds on the gauntlet they threw down with previous single I’m addictive. Vocalist and fashion muse Jera Diarc has a style that is semi-spoken and slightly wailing like a more Gothic Mark E Smith in a dance with Bright Eyes. Against his almost monotonic delivery, Hanja Martes supplies a deliciously unstable deep register drone and cool electro-ambient beat with breaks applied in all the right places, hinting at Front Line Assembly in a jam with Hot Chip. Fuck Daddy underlines their intention to mix things up and ask questions of the current alternative and electronic music scenes. They call their style ‘the new posh’ while their pronouncements are styled as ‘the voice of the ivory tower’. Remember this is a band who announced themselves to the London music scene by being arrested at their first show when a couple had live sex on stage. Project CONCUBINE are not here to mess around or do anything in a half-hearted way. This new single is dark, unsettling but energetic and engaging too. - @skopemag

Del Osei-Owusu interviews Project CONCUBINE…

What’s the story behind Project CONCUBINE?

JERA: I was asked “What are you doing at the moment?” and I said spontaneously “I am involved in a music project called Project CONCUBINE.” Without the project having existed in advance or maybe it did. And that was it. I became a member of Project CONCUBINE. It was like a call. The state of mind, the Ivory Tower. Alright what next? Songs… Videos…Stage…..

HANJA: We fell from the sky to the earth. And here we are.

JERA: Exactly.

Describe your sound in three words?

HANJA: Electric, Energetic,

JERA: …Raw.

You are on a very short list of bands to be arrested at your first gig. Quite a label. On a scale of 1-10 how rock’n’roll did you feel after that?

HANJA: No comment.

JERA: I wasn’t aware of it. That’s funny. Is this something to be proud of? Okay, it is somehow really cool. I don’t know. Something in between, multiplied with two…minus…I am innocent. Plus rckNrll 4 life.

Your sound is unique in that it has no rules, how does a writing session begin for you?

JERA: Thank you. “No rules” — never heard that before about our songs. I like that. First rule… I have to get rid of myself… getting rid of myself means… just doing it. The head is full of ideas… thoughts impressions whatever… forget it… just do it. With that comes the easiness and the joy to listen to the song, to do what the song wants… and not what I want. Surrender.

Fuck Daddy is dark, both in music and lyrics how was it written?

JERA: The story behind Fuck Daddy was written before the song, or the idea for it existed. The song itself, honestly, just happened. Lyrics, structures were immediately clear. The drive behind it, explained itself. I just had to follow it. This was one of the surrender moments. It was just the question do we start the second chorus… with the ‘dropped queen’, or with the ‘gilt frame’? And I knew this song needs a female voice as well. The roots of it are dark and that shines still through. At the end it’s a dance song. “Give me my shiny shoes.” Shiny darkness. Here we go.

It’s different in sound to I’m Addictive, but dark nonetheless. What were the challenges that you faced in recording these songs?

HANJA: I mean we had no studio. And we were moving between three different places, during this time. Collecting video material, collecting sound ideas, meeting people.

JERA: When we recorded I’m Addictive, we were living in a kind of artist house. Painters, writers, musicians, film makers, and some freaks and lost souls. Name it. And it was a kind of squat. Or let’s put it this way. It was a squat. And there was this really crazy person, a painter, living in that house as well. And on regular occasions she was freaking out. You never knew when, you never knew why. 6 am. Midnight? Tea-time. It could’ve been everything. The sun. The rain. Paranoia. Hysteria. Anger. Joy. I don’t want to go into too many details. She was a really pretty girl and basically a nice person, an absolute magnet for lost male souls who were addicted to her. The song was written before we meet her. Ironically, if you are listening to the lyrics there are some similarities although I’m Addictive is about something different. It’s maybe a bit more romantic. The challenge was to keep the focus.

Jera you are also involved in the fashion world, how did you get started with that?

JERA: Somehow it was just a spontaneous idea. As a teenager, I was hanging around with some friends in this bar, Sandbox Booze, and there were these two women and a dude, came to us and asked me if I am a fashion model. So my friends were mocking me like “Damn… he is not a model…”, made some jokes out of it and so on. One of the women gave me their business card… which I lost, but this idea stuck in my mind “Yeah, why not? I’ll be a part of the fashion world. Basically I am already there. They just don’t know yet.” A few months later I found myself with an army of wild boys in Paris during the fashion weeks. A teenage idea, which became reality.

What are you listening to at the moment?

JERA: I’m absolutely in love with Mock & Toof’s Farewell To Wendo, a bit to Puscifer’s Condition Of My Parole, a bit to Soap & Skin. Vacant Lots, White Hills…

HANJA: TDA from Montreal….

JERA: Swing and Jazz as background music sometimes. There’s no particular artist, song or album I am listening to constantly at the moment.

HANJA: Like we did with Condition Of My Parole or David Lynch’s The Big Dream. These two albums are fantastic, but what makes them really great is the entire artwork of the artists behind of it. Especially David Lynch’s. You can listen to a song and think “Great. I love this” But for this “Wow” Moment, it needs more than “just” a good song for me.

JERA: I think Hyper Pop has got a lot of potential. And sometimes the biggest sound can be no sound at all.

What are you looking forward to next?

JERA: Continuing recording. Visiting gigs. Being back on stage.

HANJA: Space-control to mind-set. We love to turn things up and down. So be at our show. - Fresh On The Net