I play guitar, drums, synthesizer, organ, tape loops and electronics. I live in Auckland, New Zealand. I enjoy medieval and Renaissance music, Japanese traditional music, modernism, psychedelic music, electronic music 1950s-70s and rock and pop of the same era. I try to make my music available for free when I can. Yes I am some kind of communist.
I played drums in The Murdering Monsters and The Aesthetics. I co-founded and named The Futurians in 2001, and played on their first album "!Blastov!". I am currently in these two-piece bands: (1) Pouffe with Matthew Plunkett, (2) The Maltese Falcons with Duckling Monster of The Futurians, and (3) Olympus with Stefan Neville.
If you have any technical or aesthetic questions about my music please contact me, I'd be happy to talk about it.
Reviews
Read all known reviews of Kraus on yon PRESS page.
Interviews
For further information, I decided to conduct some interviews with myself. These are listed below. The titles refer to the original source of the questions.
- 1973 Melody Maker talks to
Leonard CohenKraus - 1973 Guitar Player talks to
Ritchie BlackmoreKraus - 1971 Melody Maker talks to
Syd BarrettKraus - 1964
BeatlesKraus Press Conference 1 - 1966
BeatlesKraus Press Conference 2
There's a real interview here.
FAQ
Nobody ever asks me a single question. But maybe these ones are keeping you awake at night:
What are the best Witcyst song or album names?
- unhinged commodore
- i mould u jelly o
- Learning to Say to Dr No
- Why Have You Do This
- Glass Foods/Blood Gargle
- Sun Dried Potatoes
- Vic2rian Hangover
- Caution: May Cause
- Dry Retching for the Stairs
Are you the drummer in the Futurians?
No. I played drums on their first album "!Blastov!", but that was in 2001. I think I did one show with them, at the Crown Hotel - a recording of it was released as "Live in 3D". The actual drummer of the Futurians, who has played on all their other albums, is Rocko Mandroid.
Is that you on the cover of "I Could Destroy You with a Single Thought"?
I wish! No, it is George Harrison of The Beatles. You can see the top of Ringo's head in the background.
When you say free album do you mean free as in free.
When I say of an album "contact Kraus for a free copy" I mean it is available free of charge - just email me your postal address and I will send it. If you want, you can send me something in return, that would be lovely. If you make music I would love to hear it. Or share some other music that you like, write a poem (eg. matt sent me this one-- Thanks Matt!), draw a picture or send junk or a letter, whatever you fancy. I encourage you to do that. But you definitely don't have to - it would be nice just to hear from you.
How come you use a Creative Commons license? Why not just have no license?
Well, thanks for asking. If I put a song on my page for download with no license specified, it would implicitly fall under normal copyright. So if you were to download it, then give someone a copy, you would be violating that copyright. I want you to be free to copy, share, and modify my work. By using a Creative Commons license I am giving you the right to do that.
Can I reissue one of your albums Kraus?
Yes, I would probably be very happy if you wanted to do that. Email me and we can discuss it. Please note: if an album or song is under a Creative Commons license, that doesn't mean that you will not be able to issue it commercially. You can, you just need my permission.
What do "LOL," "BTW," "ROFL," and all the other abbreviations I see in forum messages mean?
There are a number of abbreviations used in emails and online "speaking". The list below gives some of the more popular ones:
- LOL
- Lots of Love
- BTW
- Bid Thee good-morroW
- ROFL
- Really Oh For the Love of...
- AFAIK
- Am Frightened And have Injured Knee
- GDS
- Good Day, Sir
- FAQ
- Fuck