What changes have you seen over the past 14 years in the scene which you essentially helped create?
The scene is much much bigger and much more well organized. When we
started there were only very few clubs and there were practically
no labels for this kind of music that put out our kind of records. Most
bands had to found their own labels. The scene was totally independent
and tiny. Nowaydays the separation between indies and majors does not
count anymore. Anybody can release a chart hit these days and for the
majors all the alternative bands became more interesting than many
Schlager-bands or some other mainstream crap.
Clothing-wise there weren't so many changes. Of course Fetish-clothes are
more important thse days than they were in the 80's, but in the end there
are still many people who prefer the old traditional gothic-clothing
style. In Germany the fetish-scene is more into electro-industrial like
Wumpscut, Dive, In Slaughter Native, and harder EBM like Frontline
Assembly. This music, of course, doesn't have anything to do with Gothic
at all, so out of this gothic-tradtition there grew up many different
scenes and styles.
Girls Under Glass have also gone through a number of changes over the years. Which change do you think made GUG the group it is today? Which was the worst?
The heaviest change we had when our first singer Tom L|cke left the band
after the first two records. That was the time where we had to decide if
we split up or if we are going a new way. I decide to take the singer's
part and in the end we totally prefered our new sound, because it was
much more open minded, new and we were really creating our own thing over
the following years. Since then we just developed our style. We were
always open minded for new trends without becoming a trend-band. We
caught up influences like Techno or industrial without becoming a copy of
another band. We just integrated all this styles in our own view of our
band and I think that is the reason that makes GUG so interesting. People
and fans can grow up with the band and take part of our personal
progression. Every record sounds a bit different. Because this is also
part of our GUG mentality I can't say that I hate any of the records
although I sometimes think, that we had better and more creative years and
years where our output was not really the big thing.
We went a difficult way, so in the end it's okay when one or two records
are not as good as some others. At the point of time we made those records
we were all 100% behind them. And that is what counts.
You've all been involved with a lot of other bands such as Cancer Barrack and Cassandra Complex. Are any of you still involved with these projects? If so, what's your current involvement? What other side projects are you currently working on?
Cassandra Complex just finished a new album "Wetware" which is coming out in the states in September this year. Apart from GUG the main GUG-memebers are all involved in the dark-electro-project "Trauma". Cancer Barrack split up many years ago. Mainly that's it. Axel is doing live-sound for many other people such as VNV Nation, Covenant etc.
You recently released an anthology album entitled "Nightmares" on Van Richter. How long did it take to compile this release with all of the remixes and covers that were involved? Who's idea was it? Yours or the label's?
The material on Nightmare was just there! We didn't write new songs for this album except "Halloween", we just collected some rarities and combined them with strong songs from every period. In the end Van Richter decided about which songs they wanted to have on their label and had them all properly remastered. They now sound better than the original versions!
Are you currently working on an all new release? If so, when can we expect it to hit the market?
We start to work on a new album in summer this year. If and when this record comes out in the states depends on Van Richter. In the moment it looks like we will work together for another while because we are very satisfied with their work and it's good to have a label you can trust. So I think it is likely that Van Richter would like to release a new album. On the other hand this also always depends on contract sides we have with companies in Germany. Luckily in the moment we have label that gave us the rights for US, so that we were able to look for a label on our own. This situation can change over the years of course. Generally I think, after we released "Nightmares", which is a very good introduction of the band to the US-people, it would make sense to release other stuff as well. Herewith I would recommend a EP "Frozen" that is coming out in the next months exclusive on Van Richter.
Any tour plans in the works?
Not at all. This year we don't give any concerts. We want to concentrate on a new album.
Do you have any personal favorites as far as up and coming acts go?
In the moment I love Tea Party, Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, Tindersticks, Him, I still love Depeche Mode and Gary Numan and some other old stuff. There are not many really new bands on the market I can say that I like them a lot.
Aside from world domination, what's next for Girls Under Glass?
The domination of the universe!
Any Final Words?
Live long and prosper.
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