Christie had also been playing music with a band but found that he wanted to work with another musician that was into performance art, which led to collaboration with Marcus.

[2] The duo originally took the name "Die Warzau Synfony" as a reference to an orchestra composed of dissidents and Jews that played in Warsaw, Poland early in World War Two until, as the band put it, they were "censored to death.

[8] Contributors to the band at the time included Chris Vrenna and James Woolley (both members of Nine Inch Nails during the mid-1990s), and audio visual artist Burle Avant, who went on to co-create the MTV television series Amp.

Engine featured a much expanded list of contributors, including saxophonist Mars Williams, guitarist Louis Svitek, the Swans rhythm section of bassist Algis Kizys and Vinnie Signorelli, and Chris Randall of the band Sister Machine Gun (SMG).

[13] Despite a positive reception for Engine, the band's relationship with TVT went cold and left the members feeling cynical about record labels in general.

In 2009, Die Warzau made several songs – many from the recent Convenience and Vinyl 88 releases – available for remixing at RemixGalaxy.com The different musical elements (vocals, drums, bass, etc.)