Interview Ascension Magazine
Issue 21
Issue 21, Summer 2009
Interview by Alex Daniele
Published with kind permission of Ascension Magazine
English version:
Italian version below
01. The Convent, White Rose Transmission, Twelve Drummers Drumming… Dead Guitars looks like a united force of different musicians and long-time rockers and wavers… This is the first time we host you in our pages and (probably) this is the first time you talk to an Italian magazine… If you don’t mind, it would be nice to introduce your new band telling us the reasons Dead Guitars formed…
Ralf: yeah. We had our experiences in our former bands. But we wanted to create something new when pete & carlo first met, just song writing with acoustic guitars. Dead guitars later developed to a more live line up.
Pete: It’s a pleasure for us to be interviewed by an Italian magazine for a change, thank you for your interest in the Dee Gees. We have fond memories of performing through Italy in February 2008 during The Mission tour, although the winter temperatures were sometimes freezing (especially in Rimini) we were welcomed most warmly by the crowds and we’ve made quite a few new friends there on the way. Hopefully we’ll be returning for a few gigs one day.
As Ralf mentioned we had started as an acoustic set-up… but to be honest I for one was quite worried to be playing the club circuits on an unplugged basis being a "new" band...like how do you keep the attention span of a crowd going for an hour or so with very delicate songs whereby you could hear a pin drop? So we decided to move toward a full band situation and be as loud or quiet as we want ; ) I really don’t regret that decision because out of that came a much bigger thing and I just really enjoy being engulfed by of a wall of sound. Having said that I really have a lot of respect for musicians who go on an acoustic tour because it’s so intimate and much more work...maybe one day...
Carlo: Hi ya, I love Italy...the country of good football, wonderful girls and the best food and my girlfriend says the best looking boys come from Italy ;-) No seriously, in the past I have been interviewed by several Italian magazines, but that was with The Convent & White Rose Transmission. Must have been 100 years ago ;-) The reason why Dead Guitars formed? Because sometimes during a lifetime you will meet people you have to meet, sooner or later. This was the right moment for a new love. The love for the music that we share together. We all couldn`t avoid it; we walked straight into the light of something that we never saw before. We met, rehearsed and fell in love with each other. I guess that’s what you hear in the music and what you see on stage. A band of brothers in love with the same music.
02. The music featured on "Flags" is even darker than your debut album...It’s something very melancholic, dark, desolated, something we cannot label "goth", "pop" or "darkwave" but, for sure, a very deep expression of dark feelings and emotions. Would you like to tell us what do you want to transmit with the music you wrote for "Flags"?
Ralf: production wise there are different approaches on every "FLAGS"-song. A mix of real song writing, jamming in the studio! Experimental stuff, material we recorded outside in the garden… inspiration from all directions with different flags. Even world music, ambient or just: "rock"...
Carlo: Well, it all came together as a flash, what I want to say is that life goes up and down sometimes. I’m not some sad soul who’s lost in the darkness, I’m melancholic, I write during the fall & the winter and in the summer I won’t write, I just lay in the sun :-). When we composed Flags it was fall & winter. I wrote most of the lyrics because I was so inspired by the music that the band created, some of the tracks were written while leaves were falling from the trees, the right mood to be moody :-) I’ve always been mellow as long as I can remember, but I’m not depressed. A lot of people mix that up. Melancholy has a desire, a sunbeam behind the grey clouds. If you really let our music in, you will feel that too. There’s hope at the end of the dark, long tunnel, raise the flags and celebrate life and love! :-)
03. What is the metaphor behind the title? Which "flags" do you mean?
ralf: one day I said to Rich Vernon (bass player of The Mission) that we should rather name it: "friends" :-) ... dead guitars members live in Russia, the Netherlands & Germany. Also we had guest performances on "FLAGS" recorded in brazil, Wales, Russia, Germany & the US. Most of the material got deeply inspired during our European-tour in 2008. but the main thing is that (our) music is a medium, a trip, a road movie of our lives & a map of our lifelines.
Carlo: Flags is a symbol for your nationality. After spending so many years in other countries I’m back in my home country the Netherlands. A lot of flags during the queen’s birthday though! J No, but we all want to be one big family in Europe, so we can support each other, but on the other hand we all want to be different and individual too. That was one part! The other coincidence was that while I wrote the lyrics I recognized that I often speak about phrases like "raise the flags" or red, white, blue (in Blue) - afterwards I realized that these are the colours of the Dutch flag too ... That was reason number two...and the last reason for Flags is because it’s significant for all the nationalities in our band. Scotland, Germany, Russia and Holland. Me? I’m an internationalist!! :-)
Sven-Olaf: Since I joined Dead Guitars as a bass player together with Patrick our drummer 2 years ago, I travel between Russia and Germany to join the band for studio and concerts. Living in two countries gives me a clear idea what means different nations and "flags" – somehow I now realized the advantages of living in Europe... For me, the metaphor "raise your flags" is not connected with any nations, I thought it is an invitation to show yourself – to express your feelings and show the colours of your soul to the outside world – "raise your flag!" But maybe it is just my wrong interpretation of Carlos poetic words...
04. In 2008 you toured with The Mission during their European "Farewell Tour" and... And I see you have now become friends with them in a way that Wayne, Mark and Rich contributed to some songs on your second album... Can you tell us how the things developed? And how did you originally get the job to support The Mission in Europe?
ralf: pete & I first met Wayne Hussey during our studio-time in London with 12DD in 1990. we had some hotel bar-parties & at that time there was a slight chance to join the mish when Simon Hinkler left the band. Wayne heard our debut album "airplanes" & loved it...
Pete: When I found out that The Mish were doing their final tour I immediately contacted them and asked if they were looking for a band to support them on it. In a matter of days we had signed the contract. We just thought that it would really fit nicely together and it did. It was great seeing them perform with a different set every night. Respect...they had rehearsed about 64 songs which they played off the cuff during the tour. It’s inevitable that during 20 gigs together The Mish & The Dee Gees got to know each other, had beers, laughs, shared compliments & phone numbers and in that way became a bit closer to one another.
Carlo: I met Wayne on tour, we were both busy performing and I am a drama queen on tour, a pain in the arse, a selfish egocentric bastard. Wayne is also quiet isolated on tour because he sleeps badly on the coach. He takes his sleeping tablets to get through. We didn’t have much contact at the start, later we got closer, but then the tour was at the end. I remember Wayne watching our sound check once and he told me that he loved our songs. That really was good to hear from Wayne, not saying many words at all... After the tour we got in contact again and when I asked him if he would like to do a duet on Isolation he replied..."I thought you’d never ask" :-) We met again in Germany and became quite close friends. I really liked the band, Mark, Rich and I went to the Coliseum in Roma, we had a great time, they always supported & encouraged us and it was as if we had known each other for ages.
04. Were The Mission some of your idols? Other artists influenced your approach to music?
ralf: maybe in the ‘80s? I definitely was into The Sisters & I’ve seen Sisterhood live in ‘86 supporting The Cult & had all Mish-lps up till "carved in sand".
Carlo: I had seen The Sisters of Mercy in 1984 in Hamburg and later Wayne formed the mission in 1986...I guess...I saw them with The Rose of Avalange in Hamburg . I really liked the first few albums, but no I’d never been a real fan but I liked them a lot. I lost the connection after Mask. I really liked them on our tour together! There are many bands I have been inspired by like Joy Division, Kraftwerk, The Doors, Tim Buckley, The Sound, The Chameleons and many more to mention.
05. Not for the fact that Wayne Hussey is singing with you but, in my opinion, I feel “Isolation” is like the manifesto of the album. I remember the first time I heard it live in Milan and I was impressed by the emotions transmitted by the song. Do you agree with my opinion ? What’s your mood the day you started to compose this song ? Which other songs from “Flags” you think can be pick up as your essence / manifesto ?
ralf: thank you. There are some big trax on FLAGS like: “silver cross river”, “isolation”, “goodbye” & specially for me “blue” which transports some deep emotions & memories. When we played “blue” live the first time I started to cry. Yeah, I always have to cry at a certain part. “watercolours” started when I was fiddling around with my son & it’s funny that this tune made it on the album...“raise your flags” is the essence...our families & friends are singing on that one & that’s the core...
Pete: Isolation is also one of my favourites. It started off as quite a rocky event whilst composing the instrumentals. In fact when we played the live version in Milan you may remember that after the quiet baladesque first half of the song it morphs into an up tempo rock version right through till the end. Once we’d recorded the ballad part in the studio we thought we could always add the rocky bit at the end at a later stage… but never really got around to doing that… mainly because after Carlo’s and Wayne’s vocals were recorded it just felt so right as the ballad it had become to be.
Carlo: I just love to hear Wayne ’s voice on that track, I can’t imagine a better duet for this track or someone else on it! I also love the fact that Wayne sings so passionately as if it was his song. It’s a fantastic combination. If I listen to it in my car I have a smile on my face and it really touches me time after time.
06. As I said the mood of “Flags” is very melancholic and dark but – surprise – you opened it with a very rocky track touching the wall of sound… Why? Did you want to shake the listener at the first bite?
ralf: ...maybe...? I think "Pristine" is the perfect album-opener. Most of the other trax are good final songs :-)
Sven-Olaf: Yes, it’s a good song to kick off the album, to shake the listener and maybe raise some attention - but for me also songs like "Slow down" or "Wild Life" rocks. Also during our concerts we try to create a dramaturgy – to move from up tempo songs to melancholy and moody pieces, back to rocking tracks ;-)
Carlo: I’m not good in choosing track lists. It’s good to let the band do that...but yes I guess it’s the best track to start with.
07. Carlo, in your musical career you had the chance to work with three artists (actually three of my personal musical heroes) like Adrian Borland, Mark Burgess and now Wayne Hussey… Would you like to tell me how it was to work with them and the main differences you saw in these three musicians / persons?
Carlo: Well, it all came together as well. I interviewed Mark in London for a small magazine, we became friends soon after. A year later we were travelling through Scotland by campervan. Later a friend of mine told Mark that I’m also into music, a year later he produced the first The Convent album. It’s great to work with Mark, he’s like my older brother, we’ve got a lot in common and we like each other’s music as well. Mark is one of my favourite singers of all times as well.
Adrian I met via the phone, when I asked for permission to cover “winning” of his band The Sound for a cover album. A year later Adrian supported The Convent on Tour. We made the first two White Rose Transmission albums together. Adrian also was one of my heroes as well. We became very close friends. And that still remains somehow...eternal.
08. I saw you are promoting the new album with some German dates. How is the tour going? Did you get some offer to play your music live out of your country? Or is there any chance to see you playing at some summer festival like M’Era Luna or Amphi Festival?
Pete: The live shows up to now have been really great and we’ll be off to the Netherlands next with a couple more shows in Germany after that. As I said earlier we’d really love to come over to Italy when and if we have a release there. There is talk about doing some shows in the UK as Flags has been released there since January, it’s being worked on as we speak.
Carlo: It’s hard to play on the festivals for a band like us. No major record deal, no financial support, few gigs! We would love to do more, off course, but who knows maybe one day a nice tour in your wonderful country! I love Italy and the crowd was great there.....
09. I thank you for the interview and I hope to see you soon in concert. To end the interview, traditional question, why don’t you tell us your plans for the future?
Sven-Olaf: For sure we now take care about our actual baby “Flags” and try to spread our message to the world outside – beside playing concerts and having interesting conversations with magazines and radios we try to build up our own mail order shop “www.schaffies-shop.de” to support the European distribution network of NEO / Sony music.
Ralf: we’ve already started to write new songs for the next album. Thx.
Carlo: We have to thank you for your interest and interesting questions. Future plans? I don’t know.. I will always write new lyrics and sing along to music that inspires me. I’m gonna raise some flags now and go downtown to meet some friends tonight :-)
Love & respect
Ascension Magazine @ MySpace
Original version (italian)
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