To celebrate the release of the new Combichrist album What the F@%# Is Wrong With You?, Beyond the Threshold has declared this week as “AndyWeek” (for Andy LaPlegua, the man behind the moniker). We’ll be discussing his musical history, discography and the new album itself. Fans will be sharing fond and humorous recollections and Andy will drop in for a quick interview in between tour dates.
To start things off, let’s get to know the guy a little bit:
Andy LaPlegua, born Ole Anders Olsen, was born in Fredrikstad, Norway, and was part of several different music scenes during the 90’s, dabbling in hip-hop (LAW), punk (My Right Choice and Fleshfire), industrial (Devils Into Crime), and hardcore/metal (Lash Out), often going by the alias Andy Speed. Trance and club music also caught his attention, particularly with the bands Plastic Life and Sector9.
In 1997, LaPlegua started a solo futurepop project called Icon of Coil, inviting former Sector9 band mate Sebastian Komor to be part of the live performance. Komor later became a full-time member when IoC’s first single, Shallow Nation, was released. 2000 brought the addition of Christian Lund and their first full-length album, Serenity is the Devil, which climbed to number one on the Deutsche Alternative Charts.
A couple albums later in 2003, LaPlegua added onto his musical personas once more, with a more aggressive alternative to IoC. With a few power noise/techno tracks originally slated under the name DRIVE, he later changed it to Combichrist (taken from a hardcore fanzine he made during the late 90’s) when the debut album, The Joy of Gunz was released. The EPs (one of which, Sex, Drogen und Industrial, spent seven weeks at number on in the DAC charts) and a very enthusiastic response to the powerful live shows that followed catapulted Combichrist’s popularity abroad.
Juggling two successfully growing projects, LaPlegua refused to remain idle and created Panzer AG in 2004, combining the dance flavor of IoC and the aggressive beats of Combichrist. This Is My Battlefield, a barrage of power noise/aggrotech, was often compared to the likes of Marilyn Manson and The Prodigy (to which LaPlegua disagrees). He also created yet a fourth musical face, (DJ) Scandy, to make a mark in the house/dance realm.
In all, to date, LaPlegua has released ten albums, twelve EPs, numerous remixes, and a scattering of compilations, guest appearances and production credits.
Websites:
Icon of Coil
Combichrist
Panzer AG
(DJ) Scandy
