Trent D'Amour is an enigma. As the singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist and creative force behind the band Shadowmachine he has made a name for himself in the underground music scene ever since the release of the band's first single, "Amerika," which made it to 84,000 downloads on the digital music charts and whose video garnered moderate airplay on MTV2 and Much Music. Their second single, "The Saboteur," fared better, peaking at #26, almost making it into the top 20. The band recently completed a successful mini-tour, and their debut album "Machine Music" is expected to sell nicely. Still, Trent does not react very much to this fame. The up-and-coming star spends most of his time these days either in his apartment or with his girlfriend, fellow industrial songstress Vara Gallo. He stays out of the public eye, for the most part, and has refused to do any interviews - until now. As per his requirements to be able to give the interview, we've brought two gifts to his apartment - one is a small packet wrapped in cellophane (authors note: we plead the fifth) the other, slightly more legal gift is a bottle of absinthe. As the interview starts, D'Amour regards the bottle with a childish amusement.

Thanks for letting us do this.
I've always wanted to try absinthe. I heard you hallucinate.
Why don't you try some now?
Might as well.

D'Amour opens the bottle and takes a small sip, coughs a bit, then takes a larger drink.

I don't think you're supposed to drink it undiluted.
What are you, my mother?

The other gift is opened and a credit card is procured. clicking and snorting noises.

Ahh. Okay. I can do this.
Get something to mix with it.
What?
The absinthe. We don't want you to be too drunk for this interview.
You're the one that brought it. Fine. Here, I've got a bottle of water. I'll just use it as chase.
Why don't you give interviews?
Because I don't like being needled by a bunch of pricks that don't know shit from shinola when it comes to me.
Don't you think people would know more about you if you gave more interviews?
*grunts*

More clicking and snorting noises. There's a loud bang from next door, and D'Amour punches the wall a few times.

Crack addicts. Bunch of fucking loonies.What were we talking about?
People would know more about you if you gave more interviews.
What? I mean, everything about me is out there. The music. It's all about me.
That's a very cliche answer.
Life is very cliche.
Do you want to talk about Teresa Campbell?
About as much as I want to talk about anything else. Not really.
But you will?
I will. I just need some more absinthe. *sips, coughs* christ, that is fucking awful. There's wormwood in here, you know?
Teresa, Trent. We were talking about Teresa.
Yeah, sure, yeah. Over the course of the tour I got to know Teresa and I came to the conclusion that she wasn't a horrible person like everybody said she was. She had a bad habit of rubbing people the wrong way. Once she locked horns with Ada, though, that was the end. I mean, how the fuck can you fight against that? You get somebody like Ada against you, you're fucked. Pretty soon everybody was jumping on the "Teresa Campbell is a bad person" bandwagon. And most of them never even met her. How fair is that?
Not very.
Right. So yeah, I don't really have much to say other than she was actually a good person on the inside and that its a shame she went so young.
Right. Shadowmachine is set to play at Aphrodisiac later this month. Any feelings on that? You'll be playing with your girlfriend, won't you?
It's intimidating, seeing as it's going to be the biggest crowd we've ever played. Vara plays the day after us, I think. I mean, at least the space out the good acts so you can go for all three days.
Who are you looking forward to playing with, or even witnessing live in concert?
Definitely Vara. Blood of Wecz, they're legendary. That bald guy, Zander Gray, seems interesting enough. The Harlots, always been a fan of them, and maybe Mike Bear.
Any plans for post-aphrodisiac touring?
There's definitely going to be a larger scale tour in support of Machine Music. I'm currently in the process of putting together a new live band, seeing as with Teresa gone we don't have a key player. Once there's a secure lineup and we find some supporting acts, it'll be finalized.
You've been staying out of the spotlight ever since the tour ended. What have you been doing?
Potpourri. *laughs* I've been writing. I try to avoid all the "now that your famous I want to be your friend/fuckbuddy" type stuff. So I only hang around with people who actually know me.
Those people being?
Vara. Derrick and Gabe, sometimes. As much as I hate to admit it, they play a key part in Shadowmachine. It's not all me anymore. All of the new material - you can even glimpse some of it from Machine Music - is more organic. I need musicians like them to pull it off.
I heard you set a van on fire in Michigan.
Who told you that?
A little birdy. With a fro.
Fucking Derrick. Again, I plead the fifth.
Fair enough. Well, I think it's about time we left.
Yeah, go on, get the fuck out of here. *laughs*
Sure.
Thanks for the drugs, by the way.
Thanks for the interview.

Ada: I wanted her dead. I do not mind admitting that.

Ada: Just because I am Ada von Wannemaker does not mean I do not have the ability to feel rage. She was a bad, bitter, and hateful person, and the world is better off without people like that in it.

Trent: really? because in all my time of knowing Teresa, all she had to say about you was that she was sorry for what she did. And wishing that somebody was dead? Who's the bitter and hateful person now?

Trent: She does. But I don't know if you've ever had somebody say that it's a good thing one of your close friends died. It's pretty fucking infuriating.

Trent: She said sorry and she meant it. She's also dead. I'm not going to insult your wife out of respect for you, Erich. Maybe next time she'll choose not to speak about Teresa. Especially not anywhere around me - out of respect.

Trent: Thank you, Erich. I knew you had class. I also trust in your choice in women, so I'm not going to hold the things your wife said against her. Teresa's dead, and that's the end of that.

Trent: A straightedge baker girl? of course she couldn't relate to anybody - except maybe that straightedge death metal guy. This is the music industry. You have to be prepared to get a little filthy if you want to go anywhere.

Ada: Erich, do not apologize for me. I do not apologize for anything that I said. It is tragic that a young woman lost her life, yes, but is it tragic that Teresa lost her life? No. Not at all. Her apology was not out of feeling bad about it, her apology was because Erica Hess called her the "worst person in the world" in an interview, and she wanted to make herself look better. I am not the only celebrity to have issues with her. Just ask Vara Gallo, your own girlfriend, Trent! The attacks made on me was not a single occurance, I can assure you of that. And I very much doubt, Trent, that you would be defending her so adamantly if it had been you, or even Frauline Gallo, that she was talking about when she told them to kill themselves.

erich:i make no apologies for you,ada. you're a big girl,and can speak for yourself. i made apologies for me. honestly,the only one that knows why teresa apologized is teresa.

erica:i stand by my labeling of her as the worst person ever. who was the one who dropped ada off at the hospital? me. not even erich shared that moment with her. im sure ada could think of a zillion other people,other than her husband's ex wife,she'd want to take her to such a place. to make light of that,as teresa did is...is...just evil. though..trent does have a point,taking pleasure in her death is..it isnt right.