Daniel Robert Epstein: How involved were you with putting together this DVD?
Anton Corbijn: I made the selection of my videos that I thought were relevant. I used only a third of my videos. I’m the old guy doing because I started doing videos in 1983.
DRE: I spoke to Julian Temple and he stopped doing music videos a long time ago. It was interesting because in the 80’s it was more about the band. Don’t you think?
AC: Well, maybe. [laughs] I’m not a big Julian Temple fan.
DRE: Why is that?
AC: For me, it has nothing to do with the music. It’s still one-dimensional. I think the best video leaves all that open. But he did some good things for punk.
DRE: How did you choose the videos that you directed?
AC: I basically waited for people to send me stuff because I never aimed to become a video director. So people send me stuff and I listen to it. If it’s fun, I listen to more of the band. Sometimes I can’t come up with a good idea, so that’s the end of that one. Sometimes there’s one I am sure will work for me but then I don’t have ideas. That’s also strange.
DRE: Is it possible to be experimental once you get to the set of a music video?
AC: I think you need some idea. You need to build four minutes or whatever it is. With a still photograph, sure, that’s exactly how I work.
DRE: On your website, I saw some of your photos but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of crossover in terms of how your videos and pictures look.
AC: I think photographs are more emotional sometimes. It’s very personal when you meet someone and take their portrait. With videos there’s more of me creeping in. Although I think my latest photography is more conceptual because of my work in videos. With videos, it’s based on the song and the song tells you something about the band. I always have a little story.
DRE: The band you worked the most with was Depeche Mode, what did they bring out of you and vice versa?
AC: Because I’ve done them so often, I don’t know. I never liked them as a little kid. I always said no to them. But then I connected with Depeche Mode especially with Dave [Gahan]. I connect with people who put everything into what they’re making. Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley. That’s the only way I can connect. I can’t connect with superficial people. In 1986 Depeche Mode offered me a video and the only reason I said yes was because it would have to be done in America and I’d never done a video in America. I thought of something but it was so low budget, there was no money for a cameraman. That turned out to be a positive thing, because it became me using the camera myself.

I used the movie camera more like a still camera which was a very good thing. But Dave [Gahan] was great at it. When I make my scripts, I know what he can do.
DRE: In the Nirvana video there was a Ku Klux Klan member and there was one in the Joy Division video as well.
AC: Yeah, but I think it’s an American association. In the video for Joy Division it’s monks. But yes there is a Ku Klux Klan member in the Nirvana video.
DRE: As a fan you must have been excited to direct Joy Division.
AC: Absolutely, it was where I wanted to go to when I heard that music. That whole post-punk thing. It
was a very exciting time the late 70s. The Clash did London Calling, Joy Division so it was all great bands.
DRE: You started off photographing mostly musicians.
AC: Only musicians. All the 70’s and 80’s it was only musicians. It was after that that I started to photograph many more artists in different disciplines like painters, directors and actors.
I didn’t study photography. I was a music fan and I just used the camera to get close to the music. It had nothing to do with photography. It became about photography after a while. For me the musicians were a natural subject matter.
DRE: Were you ever in a band?
AC: No, my only claim to fame was that I did some drumming with Depeche Mode on TV. That was good.
DRE: How do you pick the videos you do now?
AC: I still say no to everything. I sort have stopped doing music videos, but people keep sending me things. I say no to everything but friends. If I know people really well, then.
DRE: But you did The Killers video.
AC: The Killers was the only recent video I’ve done.
DRE: What do you think of these other guys who’s DVD sets just came out?
AC: Oh, they’re terrible [laughs]. Terribly good. They’re more about perfection than I am. I’m not about perfection.
DRE: Have you ever tried?
AC: No, I strive for it but somewhere along the line I do something that keeps it from being perfect. I think my videos say more about me sometimes, more about my world.
DRE: I read that you had a bit of a lonely childhood.
AC: I was born in a little village but it’s part of my character to be lonely. But I never had a lonely childhood in a certain sense. I had a brother who was a year younger. It was both of us on a farm.
DRE: What kind of music do you listen to?
AC: At the moment I am great supporter of a band from Montreal called Arcade Fire.
DRE: Do you have any interest in doing movies?
AC: Well, I’m supposed to do one this year called Control about Ian Curtis.
DRE: Is that a go?
AC: It’s been on the shelf. If anybody wants to send me the spare cash…
DRE: Is there a script?
AC: Yeah.
DRE: Does it start when he was young?
AC: No, just the last few years of his life.
DRE: What made you say, it’s time to do this?
AC: Joy Division is a personal thing. I think I can bring something to the project that’s different. I think it wont look like Hollywood. It wont be as abstract as the Atmosphere video.
DRE: What else is on the DVD set?
AC: The making of the U2 videos. Some projects I did for Depeche Mode and Captain Beefheart. There’s a documentary on me, which is quite long at 40 minutes. My first ever video from 19883.
DRE: Are there videos you just don’t like?
AC: I put some videos on there for historical records. I put my very first video on there because no one has ever seen it. It was a German band. I’m not saying it’s the best video but it’s the first video and that’s the reason it’s on there.
DRE: What’s a regular day for you out there in London?
AC: I’m not always in London. I don’t have a studio. I go to where the people are. It’s important to meet people in their environments. So I go to where the people are rather than have the people come to me. So I’m always on the road. I don’t drink, even coffee.
DRE: Did I see you dressed up as Freddy Mercury on your website?
AC: That project had to do with where I’m from and my upbringing and stuff and I associate with musicians. So that’s part of it. I did this project where I’m dressed up as deceased musicians like Hendrix and Freddie Mercury.

by Daniel Robert Epstein