South Africa is in the middle of an industrial boom, what with the World Cup around the corner, so what better time to have Industrial-Futurepop pioneers VNV Nation back in the country for the third time?

With their unique brand of trance, synthpop and electronic body music going from strength to strength since the 1999 breakthrough album 'Empires', the Irish-English duo have also garnered a hardcore following for their frenetic live performances. VNV's songs are intricate multi-layered tapestries ? lyrics draw on philosophy, literature, art, politics and different forms of symbolism and and musically runs the gamut from dance to ballads and even the classical-inspired symphony.

Ebrahim Moolla spoke to affable vocalist Ronan Harris about Victory, Vengeance and Very Very loud synth beats and found a man as charismatic as his music.

How are you guys enjoying being in South Africa again?

Ronan Harris: It's our third visit but our first visit to Cape Town. We're loving it, having a great time.

How was the previous visit, playing three sell-out shows?

Ronan Harris: We only had a chance to play Pretoria, unfortunately we couldn?t get any other shows set up at the time but now that our reputation seems to have gotten a bit bigger, we have a chance to play in Cape Town. But last time the crowds were amazing, the reaction was incredible, so no complaints there.

Do you like performing live?

Ronan Harris: We absolutely love it. Last year we did nine months of solid touring and although we were completely exhausted at the end of it, it's just something we really love doing. We just enjoy being on the road, we enjoy having the chance to play shows. As long as we get some breaks where we can actually catch up on our sleep in between that would be good. We've just been to Australia, and it's from Australia to here. The thing is we don?t make any money off these smaller shows ? we're doing it for fun.

Can you remember your first live show?

Ronan Harris: Oh yes, I remember it. I was scared to death. We played in a nightclub in London and we played in the corner of the dancefloor and we were both completely scared going out but we turned it around and played everything good and the rest is history, you know.

Your image doesn?t exactly scream 'gods of EBM'.

Ronan Harris: To be honest our music comes from certain roots but we incorporate so many different styles of music you cant even categorise it. As far as how we are live we don?t really fit in with the typical image of a lot of bands on the scene ? maybe that's what sets us apart, maybe that's what people like, but we interact a lot with the crowd, we're very personable we are who we are ? the same people offstage as onstage. We try to give the kind of show that we would like to see if we were in the audience and we want to make sure that everyone's entertained and they get what they came for.

Tell me about your musical influences?

Ronan Harris: That's an impossible question to answer ? our influences are so varied and so vast that it would be impossible for me to say that anything is our main influence.

At the risk of pigeonholing you, in terms of an introduction to futurepop or EBM are there any albums you'd recommend?

Ronan Harris: Our albums 'Empires' and 'Judgement' would be the best ones for people to start with to get a good feel for our music. Because there's everything on those albums from uplifting dance style numbers to ballads, all kinds of different things. A lot of it is songs with lyrics and with very emotional content that people connect to personally. And you put all that together and that's all we are. We're an alternative band who mix a lot of different styles together, of course we play it electronically but we mix a lot of styles together and come up with what we have. And it touches people very personally and it makes them feel good and gives them a sense of hope in their lives ? that?s something we like to do for people.

VNV's motto is 'one should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret'. But both professionally and personally, do you have any regrets?

Ronan Harris: I try not to, but I'm human. I'm going to have regrets. I don?t like to say 'I should have' or 'I could have'. I prefer to say 'OK that's what I did, I'll live with it and make the best of it'. But what I mean by that phrase of "Certain bitter regret" is like people who hate other people for doing the things they themselves should have done. If you have a dream or an ambition in your life, you should at least attempt to achieve it, and even if you don?t succeed it will bring you to other places, other frames of mind and show you other perspectives on life and it might actually bring you to another goal you never suspected. But I do believe in at least attempting to achieve something and doing it with the best intentions and being the better person rather than sitting around and hating yourself for never doing it, for never getting off your arse. I don?t want to find myself at the age of 50 or 60 hating myself that I never did all the things that I wanted to do.

You are known for your lyricism. Can you take me through your typical songwriting process? Is it the music or words that come first?

Ronan Harris: Actually it's both. You know when you hear a song and you cant get it out of your head? It's like that in many ways, it?s quite a strange concept to explain to people. But I've been doing it for years ? songs automatically start playing my head and I just let them develop and it's usually music and lyrics all at the same time. Sometimes I'll be sitting in a room alone, I'll be jamming, just sitting there with a guitar or keyboards playing along and that's how I write my songs. It becomes a feeling, it flows. And then once I've got the basic idea, the basic vibe of the song, I develop it from there and add bits and pieces to it until it becomes a full song.

You're an English-Irish duo, can you tell me how that came about?

Ronan Harris: Yeah, a lot of people find that weird. I moved to London in 1988 and Mark Jackson, the English guy, was living down the street from me. We met up in the mid '90s, ended up just becoming friends and that's how we teamed up.

So have you toured Ireland?

Ronan Harris: Yes, I've played shows there ? it was a very strange experience. I never thought we'd ever ever play a show there but it was really weird because my whole family was there. They had no idea what I do, they couldn't imagine it. They'd seen maybe a video or something but they'd never seen it for real. And there's my mom and dad watching me playing a show in front of them. So yes, a very very very weird experience.

One last thing: what can South Africa expect from your shows?

Ronan Harris: Well, we give everything we can and if people give us back energy we give more and that's basically the way we work. We give everything we can to make sure people have a great show and that they really get what we've come to give them. We like to make sure we create a party so that everybody has a good time. That's the main thing.