COSTES
Interviews in english



INTERVIEW BY LISA CARVER FOR ROLLERDERBY 21
july 1997

- Lisa Carver : Jean-Louis? It's Lisa.
- Costes : Leeza! It's good you called! Where are you?
- Lisa Carver : America. Iwant to record a new CD and make a movie, and i thought maybe you'd like to come to do them with me.
- Costes : I want to! I can come in July; I was just writing you a letter. They charge me in court. On july 11 i go.
Lisa : What?!
- Costes : They say i incite murder. It's the first case in France like this, my case. They say i'm racist because of the CDs. you know i'm not. you know how we play with symbols-- They don' like that. They put shit in my life. they call concerts halls to cancell my shows, threats on the phone. But me, i accept to fight with those humanitarian fuckers. they pretend to help the black, the arab, but really, they want the power, to destroy. they are the fascists, not us. We are neo-something but i don't know what. We are new. I'm ready to go into politics, me. Because i have always to defend myself.
- Lisa : Who? Who reported you? How did it start?
- Costes : It started with a very nice old man, an anti-racist. He read my web site and sent a very polite e-mail, and i thought it was a joke. He said : "I don't like your opinions. It's not like my opinions. Please could you change your web page and change your songs?" Ireplied very polite. I said "Even myself i don't like these songs".
- Lisa : It's true! You hate your music!
- Costes : I'm full of shame. I explained i was just trying to take out of me every type of feeling. The subject of the CD was racism and sex mixed together. I told him "i can't change it because that's the way it came out of my brain. Anyway, in your brain it's just like in my brain. If you can understand it it's because you have it somewhere in your brain. We all have the same fantasms of violence. The difference is, not to act on them." The problem is, this guy was a very old, famous respected jewish man. The problem is, it's the type of guy who doesn't like to get a lesson from me. He called my internet provoder and asked him to stop my web. But the provider would not. you have to undrestand the way they discovered me is they type in the words "nigger" and "bicot" (the bad word for arab). It's kind of vicious! Can you imagine an old jewish student typing "nigger" all night? At three in the morning he types all the bad words. And, in like 1000 answers, ALL are in my site! All in one song! Because in this song i repeat "bicot" 1000 times.
- Lisa : what were your thinking when you recorded that?
- Costes : I wanted to do the worst possible CD, worst than the fascists, just to show them they are not so bad. I could be much worst. Because, if they look bad, like the worst possible man, then they are like god, like the devil. But, in reality, they are basic, middle people, stupid, with no ideas - even about torture. I can torture a fascist better than he can do. I can imagine very bad things. So i thought i could do a CD the worst and show the skinhead bands are just rock-n-roll, nothing special.
- Lisa : So did you explain that to the people who are suing you?
- Costes : Pft! you can explain them nothing. But after this good type jewish anti-racist organization this old man belonged to - Licra - came the bad one : the UEJF. They are the ones who attack me in court. You understand how it works? there is a good association, very polite. If you don't understand politeness, then the next day, another organization calls, the active type. These ones are not at all polite. And if you still don't understand, then there's a third association. They come to your house with guns. In three steps you can go from very nice gentlemen to guns. From the very left to the very right. but it's reality, eh? I don't joke. It's very real. this third organization, the police doesn't want to give their name. They are linked to the extreme right jewish organizations who want to remove all arabs from Israel. In France, they are supposed to be a security company. they provide bodyguards to highrank jewish people. they train, thet have guns, they are professionnal.
And i see you have troubles too. It's strange, eh? I read this newspaper with a picture of you on the front and the come back on this fascism again and again and agin on you. I was surprised because i know you. I know your light spirit, you joke spirit. But you act, eh? when the nationalists beat the arab stall-keeper in the subway, you were the only person to move. You, a small girl, and the men run away very fast from your attack! and now these humanitarians journalists give you lessons - do yu think they would move like you if they saw two strong men with pipes? And do you remember what you did at the Le Pen demonstration? Pfft, no one would do that. you are really crasy, i think! No, but if they caught us, they would kill us, eh? you risk your life, eh? We are lucky what you did made a riot and they were very busy beating everyone, otherwise we would be hurt for life, eh? those skinheads have knives, eh?
- Lisa : Remember i had a rolled up newspaper as my weapon? I thought i was gonna take on an army with a rolled up newspaper! I wonder why i got so mad that day, because normally demonstrations don't bother me. People can hate people if they want to.
- Costes : It's because they marched through the jewish neighborhood to yell at jews through the wondows. you got crasy mad because they scare people, insult people who try to eat dinner in their own kitchen.
- Lisa : Oh yeah, and then when they chased us and we hid in the industrial music shop, they didn't want to hide us! They wanted to give us to the skinheads!
- Costes : How did you get so many troubles with people thinking you are nazi.
- Lisa : Because of my ex-boyfriend with the bad reputation, and because you know how sometimes I say things just to shock and see what happens, find out what they really think. And now i'm paying for it : now there's stores and distributors that won't carry my books, places that won't let me have events there. especially San Francisco!
- Costes : you should sue. They destroy your livehood.
- Lisa : Eh, no one can destry me. Besides, why should they have to like me?, or carry my books? I believe in free-market economy. The problem is i think strangely. I don't think the normal way - left or right.
- Costes : Ah yes, you are right to think like that. And it's lucky, because if someone doesn't think like that, the extrem-right will very quickly be in control. Because if there is not a new way of thinking very fast, it's the old way that will come back. they don't understand that the thinking has to revolutionize, has to change. they call me fascist. they know i'm not, but they know i'm not like them, so they think i must be the ennemy. You know those hardcore anarchists who drink wine and are tough to fight the system? they just run away now, very fast. they tell me "it's your problem. Because of you, now we have problems". they refused to even give me the phone number of a lawyer. this is an organization that gets money from the state for freedom of speech. I just wanted advice, they refused. They said "Oh no, not you. Eveyone OK; a murderer OK. We like freedom of speech, but not for you". They think like my family thinks : that it's normal i go in court - they think i deserve it. so it's interesting to see that in fact all people are conservative. The leftists in their living-room, talking about revolution - when there is a very little problem, like with me, they run away very fast! But at the same time, they speak of the big revolution that would be really bad, very bloody!
- Lisa : Maybe they run away not because they are scared but because they they just don't like you.
- Costes : Yes, they don't like me for a long time. and now they say i get just what i deserve, and "now you pretend to be the Christ, you play the martyr!" In a way i'm happy this happened, for the fame, but it's bad in terms of money. I'm going to lose my apartment for sure. Lose my computer. they sue my web provider too. They ask $2000 for everyday the songs stay on line! And the next time they attack me, i go in jail. I can't postpone my court date, because they asked for an emergency court because they say i'm a danger for society. they pretend i'm the ideologist sending people to kill, like i'm the brain. that's what they say, eh?
- Lisa : So, are they gonna read your songs lyrics on court?
- Costes : Just imagine the judge has to listen to "Jap Jew" and to judge it about the yellow slug riding the white pet to fuck the black shit, and they try to analuse. They say, "We-e-ell..." that's what my lawyer said : "the problem with you is you're innocent, but you're fucked up. Totally fucked up. the judge is going to yell guilty because he feels so bad to read so many sex and race and stinky things". the problem is the problem of stinky. If they read about Arab shit and...oh they can't read anymore, eh? It's a real problem; they just could get mad at me, you know?
- Lisa : Yes. You're really gross!
- Costes : Gross, yes. Mainly it's a problem of cutting the cheese. I just now understand it all. I'm going to go to jail for cutting the cheese.

...continued soon...



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