Links to original articles in Swedish: http://www.slavestate.se/?e=2834 http://www.slavestate.se/?e=2835
Unzucht Interview 2015
Unzucht Interview 2015
German Industrial band
Unzucht celebrated their five year anniversary this year. They marked the date
with two special shows in Hameln and Goslar where it all started. I managed to
get to talk with the guys before their first ever gig in London. Their drummer,
Toby Fuhrmann, is also their manager and has his fingers in many pies, such as
working for Rammstein, but he always seems to miss their UK tours, so it was
his first time there as well.
-
We are playing
here today because our tour manager knows the promoters. It was him that asked
them if they thought it would be cool with a new band, says Toby. They’ve
treated us so well and through them we have already got new contacts. One DJ
from Sheffield wants us to play in his club. Next time we come here, we can
play in more places than just London.
When it comes to rock music
the UK and the USA are considered the most influential countries. Which one do you think is the most
important?
-
I think it’s
50/50, says the singer Daniel Schulz. We are mostly inspired by the US but also
by classic British bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones….
-
…and of course
Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, interrupts Toby.
The night before, when they
and their support band Death Valley High arrived, they walked over the famous
crossing at Abbey Road like the Beatles did.
-
It gave me
goosebumps when I crossed over, says Schulz. But it was too cold to be
barefoot.
-
You should have
done it naked with just a “Cock sock” like Red Hot Chili Peppers, adds Toby.
-
He he, Red Hot
Chili Beatles, continues Schulz. People applauded when we crossed. They didn’t
have a clue of who we were but they must have thought we seemed cool.
That was the only touristy
thing they managed to do in London because they partied too much on their tour
bus. With them on the tour they have the American dance-punk band Death Valley
High, which is a bit of an unusual choice for a German goth band.
-
I knew of them
before because I am a big Deftones fan, explains Toby. Through them I
discovered other bands from Sacramento like Will Haven and Tin Shed with the
former singer of DVH. They started a while back when MySpace was still “The
Thing”. You could have songs on your profile page and I had DVH’s theme song on
it. I think it was 2008 so it’s fun that several years later we are touring
together. They are great guys and we hit it off immediately.
On their latest album, “Venus
Luzifer” they have a striking picture of a beautiful woman covered in blood
with devil horns on the cover. Are they
trying to tell us that women are a bit evil?
-
No, not at all,
assures Toby. Even though it is an interesting interpretation. It’s more about
opposites! Venus on the one hand who is good and loving. Lucifer on the other,
who is evil and hateful. Even so they are both names for the morning star! Two
different words for the same thing. The difference is what time in history you
refer to.
-
That’s right,
continues Schulz. Because Lucifer, Luce in Latin, means light. Two different
words for the same thing. He was the angel of light, the light-bringer, before
he fell into darkness. It was totally Toby’s idea.
-
Yeah, and then we
talked to the designer about it, says Toby. He came up with a few different
suggestions and really liked the idea of having a woman on the cover. We don’t
have a woman in the band so it’s perfect to have one on the cover. We are
really happy that we got to work with Stefan Heilemann. He recently made the
pictures for Till Lindemann’s side project with Peter Tägtgren from
Pain/Hypocrisy.
All
of the band are involved in the complete creative process. Schulz for instance
is credited as the script-writer for their video “Unendlich”.
-
No, we did it
together, says Schulz. I wrote down the idea and our friend Christian Baer who
makes all our videos added a few suggestions for locations. We got together
with the designer and also the model, Missy Queen. It was her first video,
before that she had only done photographic work. They made a very expensive and
beautiful dress just for her. The whole concept took a week to plan, three days
to film and two weeks to edit with a lot of quick cuts.
The band have established
themselves with the frequent use of social media. On their Facebook page, they
frequently post funny mini-films of their adventures on and off stage, called
The Gothic Internet.
-
It’s Alex Blaschke
our bassist that edits them and posts them, says Toby. One day we might cut
together the best bits and put them on a DVD but it would be problematic
because we have too much material. We do one for almost every show and we can’t
save them all.
Schulz is also using social
media as an outlet for his political views. He is keeping it separate from
Unzucht since they are not a political band. However, if you read between the
lines you can find some hidden meanings. Sometimes he feels that he has to
write something so he has worked together with German punkbands like, Das
Frivole Burgfräulein and protest singers like Joachim Witt. For his solo
project, Der Schulz, he also writes political lyrics like “Die Wahren Azis Seid
Ihr Da Oben”, “The real asocials are up there at the top”.
-
Many people are
angry at the government and then they follow the wrong kind of leaders,
explains Schulz. They think no one understands what they feel so it’s my
responsibility to write about it.
Most of the lyrics on the
last album were written when Schulz walked the Pilgrimage route, Camino de
Santiago, last summer.
The route is over a hundred
miles long and leads to Santiago de Compostela in Spain where the remains of St
James are supposedly buried.
-
First of all it’s
because my mother comes from Galicia, says Schulz. I grew up with this way of
life and I like to walk and be out in nature. It’s not about religion but to
clean the air and reset the body. A good opposite to the Rock ‘n’ Roll
lifestyle.
The lyrics are quite
philosophical and the pilgrimage has also inspired other people like the author
Paulo Coelho.
-
His book about it
is very different, adds Schulz. A completely different perspective with a
secret society. Very unique and I really like it.
How did they manage to record an album so quickly
while their vocalist was wandering around in the mountains?
-
We started with
the pre-production , says Toby. Me and Alex (Bass) lived in the rehearsal rooms
for three weeks. Our guitarist Daniel DeClercq who also does the electronics
was in front of the computer the whole time. We puzzled it all together when
Daniel came back.
-
As soon as we finished
the Rosenkreuzer tour we started to write the material for the next album,
continues Schulz. When I left Germany for the pilgrimage I already knew we had
a cool record. The basics and the electronics were there and we had the ideas
for the lyrics as well. All I needed to do was to finish them while I was on my
way.
The band have been very busy
the last three years and managed to release a new album every winter. Because
of Unzucht taking up all their time some of their side projects have fallen
behind. Toby wrote a book called, “Ich Träg Ein Massengrab Im Herzen”. He has
been working on a sequel for the last two years. It will be published and he is
almost done with it but at the moment Unzucht is taking priority. The same goes
for Daniel Schulz’s “Der Schulz” project even though he has managed to squeeze
a few shows in between the Unzucht ones. Eventually he will also try to make
another album under that name.
It’s progressively getting
more difficult to try and establish yourself in a music business that relies
mostly on commercial manufactured pop or cheap gimmicks and shock effects. Toby
says they would never betray their ideals and do something controversial just
to sell albums.
-
That’s not what
we are about, explains Toby. Basically we are just a rock band and I think
people are starting to appreciate that more now we have been going for a while.
You won’t understand it until you listen to our music. What makes us a bit more
unique is the mix between the two Daniels. It sets us apart from the others and
thanks to that, many people go and see us live and they usually say: Wow, cool!
Half-breeds
It’s the combination of heavy,
melodic and electronic that makes them stand out and the band themselves are
also mixed. Daniel Schulz is half Spanish/German and Daniel DeClercq
Belgian/German.
-
We are all half-breeds,
laughs Schulz. I think it will come a time when we don’t think about which country
we are from because it’s not interesting. Ok, Rammstein did it 100%.
-
I do like their approach
of not taking things too seriously, adds Toby. The music is serious but they
can still laugh at themselves. The problem nowadays is that a lot of people
can’t do that. Take for example the thing that happened in Paris when the
magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked. You should be able to joke about everything.
Censorship and political correctness is something we don’t agree with. What is actually
wrong? It’s just a matter of taste! If you want to see a splatter film like
“Cannibal Holocaust” you should be able to do that. Some say that it’s not good
to see people being murdered on the screen but if you don’t like it, you don’t
have to watch it!
-
I don’t think people
should judge others on what they want to watch or listen to, says Schulz. There
is no point in censorship! In the countries where they have banned porn, you
can see that it’s them that watch most of it illegally on the net. In Austria
it’s allowed to show almost anything in films, not like here in Germany where
they are worried that you won’t be able to handle violence on the screen. If
that is true they would have more criminality than us but it’s the opposite.
When I was in Canada I was surprised that you couldn’t buy alcohol in regular
shops and that the liquor stores closed around 8pm. People were still drinking!
It’s like with everything, the more forbidden it is, the more interesting it
gets.
He was obviously never in
Sweden! The London gig was a success and the band have just released an EP
Schweigen/Seelenblind in August. They keep going from strength to strength and
I think we will see a lot more of them.
Photos: Axel Jusse, Ronny Zeisberg and live Maria Bergman
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