Strange Encounters of the Swiss Kind
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38 HEAVY METAL R. Giger is a man easi- ly misunderstood. Dressed in black, with his intense fascina- tion with bones and skulls, he's been accused of practicing black magic and witchcraft. He's been dubbed this generation's Alei hen Chris Stein and ster Crowley. or worse. To Debbie Harry first came to Heavy many, he seems like unleashed Metal with these photographs, we voodoo hell. And in Switzerland, all were overwhelmed by the re- his home, he's known among sults of their collaboration with journalists as "Horror Rex." Giger. Giger, of course, was al- Yet, like his many fantasy-art ready a highly esteemed contribu- contemporaries, he is merely at- tor to the magazine and had long tracted to the imagery. As with been considered not only a mega- Nazi imagery, which has histor- star in the field but almost in a ically had its magnetic appeal. class of his own. Debbie and there's a sense of the pagan and Chris not only suited the general forbidden to his work as well. musical tastes already represent- The clandestine has always at- ed within the pages of HM, but tracted people, just as the for- had proven their credentials as- bidden fruit has. The same goes purveyors of fantasy. (They have for Giger and his powerful work. just completed the musical score He goes beyond the convention- for the upcoming animated film al; he takes things further than Drats.) So, when these photos most of us do. landed on the desk here, we all When the movie Alien first ap- said, "Sure, but how?" Well, it peared, it was Giger's designs was decided that nobody except that stirred up all the pseudo- Debbie and Chris themselves sonsationalist bullshit. Giger be- could speak of their experience came internationally notorious with and observations about as Alien, and the Alien's images Giger, his success, and the effect became banned. Theaters in En- of his art. So, the forum has been gland even offered special treat turned over to them (with a little ment for Alien shock. The full- bit of help from me). sized Alien, face hugger, and baby Alien that burst out of the -BB man's stomach were all "too" n Stei s Chri y b s Photograph From left to right: Giger and Debbie Harry in metal face masks; another style of body and face make- up: Debbie with sarcophagus: the members of the cast all together. pdf created by www.littlegiger.com HEAVY METAL 39 strong. (Giger even scared him- pop material rather than the get- So, when the decision faced random images and shapes that self one night when he went to down-and-boogie stuff which us to do the album cover, a occur), suggested the atmo- brush his teeth and ran into his was popular then. We did the phone call was made, arrange- sphere inside. n Alien model in the dark.) opposite of what was current, ments were discussed, and Walking into his house, one Stei When KooKoo came out, and we've never stopped trying Giger was on the job. From a sees that it's totally his environ- s there was the same intense re- to do the unexpected. head shot by English photo- ment, from the burning frankin- Chri y action. "Did you hear about your Giger also plays with oppo- grapher Brian Aris, Giger did cense on. It's like stepping into a b cover being banned by British sites; that's the essence of his four massive airbrushed paint- world completely black and s Rail?" asked an English journal- work. In a philosophy called aes- ings (two have never before white. It seems to be a huge ist during a phone interview thetic realism, the use of oppo- been seen and will be in his next collection of opposites—both while we were in Switzerland. sites makes things in art and life book), all of his own design. But cluttered and orderly at the Photograph That was the first we heard of challenging. What is beautiful that was only the beginning. We same time. He's the perfect the reaction. Then another Brit- and horrible, appealing and decided he would direct the pro- counterbalance to the typical ish station banned the cover frightening, whatever draws you motional video made from two staunchly conservative citizen of from television. The explana- in and repels, biological and or- songs off the album—and he Zurich. As he jokingly told us tion: it was too disturbing. ganic—in Giger's own vision— chose them. later, "Until I was on television We knew the cover would is all related. Even in music When we landed in Zurich to my neighbors regarded me with cause reaction, but maybe were production it's the same com- do the taping, we didn't even extreme suspicion. Afterwards, overconfident, even naive, to bination of opposites, of working know whether Giger, his wife, it was all right." believe it would simply be taken with machines to produce the or- Mia, and his manager, Ueli From the foyer at the en- as art. It was a risk we were ganic sounds of music. Steinly, would be there. But trance, either the stairs, country willing to take. Ever since we met Giger at they were, in their customary kitchen, or dining room con- Risk taking was something we the Hansen Gallery in New York colors: Giger and wife in black, fronts you. But the dining room have been familiar with. We nearly two years ago, we've and Steinly—to add the opposite is the temple—a shrine for were very conscious of what thought of working together. —all in white. It set the stage for Giger's art, with huge floor-to- was involved. It is a matter of Similar loves for science fiction, our visit to Giger's hometown. ceiling paintings and objects Gi- having style more than anything skulls, and pagan archetypes Giger lives in a quiet section of gerian. In the middle sits a black else, something Giger under- forged an automatic union. We Zurich, in a couple of modest, dining table, biomechanically de- stands and possesses as well. remembered his posters in the simple houses—the semide- signed with a marble-slab cen- When we began doing what late sixties when he was the first tached kind that one often sees terpiece inlaid with a gold penta- we're doing, we didn't think in European psychedelic-poster in England. He bought and com- gram. And atop that sits a black terms of new wave; we thought artist. Then we knew of him as bined two of them to create both candelabrum with Christ figures of having a sense of style. Hav- the artist of Alien. And we found a home and a studio. Outside upside down and right side up ing style meant not walking with out that Giger began listening to was quiet as in the rest of the (that's pagan). the crowd but being either a bit us while working on Alien in En- neighborhood. Only his garden, Giger is an industrial design- forward or behind it. When we gland. Our ascendance paral- wild with untrimmed shrubbery er, which is very apparent to you started out we were called a nos- leled his as we simultaneously (growth which he has purposely the moment you step into his talgia act because we did sixties became aware of each other. maintained because he likes the home. Even something as alien- From left to right: Giger stands menacing in his own "Passage- way"—part of the temple used in Now I Know You Know; (top) Debbie in cover makeup with Giger; (bottom) sarcophagus and needles used in Backfired; Debbie looking perfectly Morticia-fied with a black wig and bone-colored chair designed by Giger; Giger's ebony version (one was bought by Debbie and Chris); "Are you boys from around here?" asks Ms. Harry. worked into it are the serene and went to England together after haunting eyes of his dead girl the taping. He seemed a little friend, who can be seen almost bemused and caught off guard symbolically peering from the with all the fans and star treat- passageway, out of which Deb- ment we encountered. We kid- looking as his chairs is structur- fired questions at us to work out bie—looking like a Martian ded him a bit in our brash, curt, ally sound. The Alien creature— concepts he had in mind. And whore—comes dancing. But the but not disrespectful American with its McLuhanesque quality compulsive man that he is, he video can hardly capture the way—but he soon got used to it. of being the machine as an ex- was always supercritical of him- true, massive sense of propor- He gave interviews and learned tension of the organic—makes self, forever meticulous and tion to Giger's work. to "enjoy." And as we found out sense biologically. The face hug- careful to get what he wanted. In the two weeks we stayed in later, we might even have ger, with its air sacs, isn't just The shooting didn't take long Switzerland we not only saw helped to inspire his next book, a decorative. Giger's work has a at all, only four days, in fact. In Giger at work, but also at play. series of paintings of New York. subconscious effect: it engen- Backfired, they had to reshoot His manager is something of an No other city inspires him as ders the fear of being turned into the explosions of the sarcophagi entrepreneur and owns both a much; no wonder, with the metal.