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Sunday, 11 March 2007 |
If you are a fan of Deutsche Musik, then a band by the name of OOMPH! should be very familiar to you. Founded back in 1989 with 3 main members, Dero (vocals, drums), Crap (guitar, keyboards) and Flux (guitar, sampling). In the following 17 years, they have released 9 studio albums with their latest being GlaubeLiebeTod. Being one of the most popular Rock bands to ever emerge out of Germany they have been quoted by Rammstein as a source of inspiration to them. DeutscheMusik.net was able to catch Dero in the middle of his busy touring schedule to answer some questions we had prepared to throw at him.
You must be a very busy man at the moment with the release of GlaubeLiebeTod only a number of days ago. Now the first single off this album was ‘Gott is ein Popstar’ which you were recently banned from playing at the Echo awards. The song was also boycotted from many radio stations. With all the recent reaction to the controversial cartoons depicting religion as they did, were you expecting such a reaction to this song?
No, it´s still OOMPH! at it´s best! We´ve always been provoking; but not for it´s own case, there´s always been a background concerning our provocation. this time we criticised the hierarchical structures of church (which you can compare with those of fascism: "ein volk - ein führer") and we criticised popculture. for the "modern" information-society the new religion is tv and the talk- and casting-shows. their new god´s are the casting-clones. of course, we did expect a reaction...but we didn´t know before that German free-tv is Americanised completely now...they show sex and crime all around the clock and in a scandalous boulevard-style and on the other hand they want to pretend a new religious sensitivity like it is in the puritanic America. We’ve been boycotted and banned from "the echo" (which you can compare with the Brit awards) because RTL said that in context of the Mohammed-caricatures our song would hurt the religious feelings of their viewers. Well, they knew our song and our video, they invited us to play there, they planned our performance with us for about 2 weeks and then the said: "No you can´t play here anymore." that´s double-faced mentality!!! Most of the German music-press and musicians solidarised with us...Rammstein and Die ärzte said that the would not play on the echo this year because of that.
Do you think this was over the top?
Of course the song also reflect on the marketing aspects of the catholic church and the Vatican. "We are pope" titled the biggest German boulevard magazine last year as Ratzinger was elected for the pope. the biggest German youth magazine "BRAVO" brought a poster with Benedikt. the German youth day put it on the top. it was like a Michael Jackson concert! it was POP at it´s best! the pr-department of the Vatican did a proper job, indeed...the marketed a very old guy as a popstar...with a little help of TV!!! I think we’re not far away anymore from the vision of the genius book "FAHRENHEIT 451"...
Are you a Christian yourself? It’s obviously not a dig at the religion but the way in which a Religion is marketed like a product. I myself went to a Catholic School and this would have been an interesting topic to bring up to say the least. Is it a subject you talk about very much?
I’m an agnostic person, for me the question is more important than the answer.
Do you look at it now and think that this is some great publicity for the new album?
Well, nowadays nearly everyone is fixed on tv, so if you’ve been banned from the stations you’re kind of like not-existing for the masses...but I hope that there´s still enough people who want to think and decide themselves...we went from 0 to 5 in the German selling charts even though we’ve been boycotted nearly everywhere...
GlaubeLiebeTod is now your 9th studio album. What emotions do you go through when you release a new album now? Is it becoming easier for you or are you just as nervous now as you were when you first started?
I think men have always been trying to compensate their inability give birth to a real baby with music, politics, or with the invention of the atomic bomb...so for us it´s always been like giving birth to our own baby (WOW! the ninth!!!...so that means we are definitely not responsible for the lack of babies in our society...hahaha), and it´s also got to do with pain and blood, sweat and tears...but it remains just a bad copy of a real baby, of course...(wink)...but surely we tried to write our best album ever again...fortunately we are human beings who cannot be perfect, we only can learn from our mistakes.
The new album has one of your most simple cover designs. What are the reasons for this? Simple cover strong message? Never judge a book(or cd) by it’s cover?
We simply asked the three big questions of human life since there´s been consciousness and self-reflection: where do I come from, where do go, and what do I do in the middle of that...? Of course those questions are linked with faith or belief...if you are not an ignorant asshole you ask yourself sooner or later: do I believe in something or someone...do I believe in myself?...as a musician you have to believe in your music, for example...and you ask yourself: what does love mean to me??? do I love someone...do I love myself???...I think if you want to be a good and authentic musician you have to love what you do...and you ask yourself: what’s death to me??? I think in our "modern" "fun"-society death’s been negotiated and ignored nearly completely...it´s still a big taboo to talk about death so many people don’t even want to think about it while trying to look for the next big kick...it´s all only about the surface because the surface doesn’t hurt...but if you are courageous enough to break the surface you become hurt able and weak...but on the other hand it´s really strong to show your weakness also...and this is what we’ve always been doing in our music: we show that life is about many different emotions and if you wanna be an honest musician you have to also reflect them. there´s too many bands in my eyes who want to pretend that they are only aggressive and hard...they only deliver one feeling...they are so one-dimensional...but life and the whole universe is multi-dimensional and this is hat e wanna show with our music...we’re not afraid of not fitting in a certain cliché...I think that bands who never really develop and only copy themselves are liars...the go the commercial way because the say. well, people liked what we did, so let’s do it again...but real authentic music comes from yourself and not from the thought of what people could like the most...
GlaubeLiebeTod is available in 3 different versions, Basic, Standard and Premium. This is something new for you and the music world. Was this the bands idea and what do you hope to achieve with this?
Well, this is label policy...we’ve got nothing to do with that...we are happy being 100% free concerning our art. we still write, produce and mix our own stuff in our own studio...but, of course, we don’t have our own record-label...I think it´s nice to give the fans who go to the shop in the first two or three weeks a limited version with bonus tracks and t-shirt (like we did) but the other versions...well...music industry should lower their prices...that´s my way of thinking...and they should start with their own money...the musicians get the less bugs of the selling’s...
From the songs many had heard off ‘Gott ist ein Popstar’ it seems GlaubeLiebeTod will be a much heavier album than the previous. Are there influences from any previous albums used when you wrote this album?
Of course you’ve been influenced by everything that happens to you each single moment so each song reflects the momentary status quo of emotions and each album is a summary of that...we don’t plan to go in this or that direction with a new album, we simply let it happen in a natural and not forced way...fortunately we all three are composers and producers so the album becomes more like an emotional roller-coaster with ups and downs and not just a flat line...we’ve heard from many friends that the new stuff shows on the one hand our ancient roots of electronics body music of the late 80ies when we started with OOMPH! and it also reflects our development on the other hand...if it´s really like that, I’m pretty satisfied...
Did you have any specific ideas or anything you really wanted to do when you set out to write this album?
No...I only try to reflect my momentary status quo of emotions and thoughts as honestly as possible...
What tracks are your current favourites off this album?
I have no certain fave track...it depends on the mood which track I like more...and, of course, it differs from day to day...
How excited are you about playing this album live? Do you get the feeling it will be one of those albums that sound amazing live?
Well, I always have this feeling when we go on tour with a new album...it´s always very special to perform the songs live on stage which you worked on so hard, long and intensively...
There are no English lyric songs on GlaubeLiebeTod. Did you record any? There seems to be less and less with each album. Are you through with writing songs in English or did it just not fit in with this album?
Well, I didn´t want to force it artificially...it didn´t happen so I accepted it...maybe there will be again some tracks in English or in another language in the future...
What inspired you to use Erich Kästner's poem "Eine Frau Spricht im Schlaf" in the song on the new album? Does this poem have any special significance or meaning to you personally?
It simply touched my in a very deep way...I love poems...there´s so many people who say more within 4 sentences than other authors in one book with 1000 pages...I had some candidates but with this it worked out very well...I feel that the music that we created to this beautiful sentences is very close to the mood of the poem...
Any news on which songs will become the next single?
well, it semms that die schlinge will be the third single after das letzte streichholz
Unfortunately because of Dero's busy schedule, we had to cut the interview short. But a special thanks to Dero for managing to find the time to answer some questions rather than none at all.
Nick
www.deutschemusik.net
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