Girls Under Glass

Interview by Barbara Francone

We waited for this release for many months. What are the reasons of the delay?

Delay what delay are you speaking of? The record was finished in late 2000 and released in the Fall of 2001. We know there was allot of prepromotion on the record last year so it is good that this has been a highly anticipated release for the media like your magazine.

You already have two "best of", why did you decide to release yet another album with no real new compositions?

No I believe you are mistaken. The first german release you speak of was a mix of material some best of as well as old tracks. Nightmares was our first U.S. title ever and was a hybred of GUG classics, out of print songs as well as new and unreleased songs digitally remastered. Frozen is not an extention of this last record but an EP with the brand new Frozen track original remix of Wings by Bruno Kramm and afew out of print classic GUG tracks including the duet song Grey in Grey with Peter of Wolfsheim. So it is not 100% new material but and EP that represents the strongest GUG material to date.

I appreciate short albums, but don't you fear your fans will be disappointed by a 30 minutes cd?

No we prefer to give the fan 30 minutes of high quality music than 74 minutes of filler. Remember some of the strongest records ever released have been EP's. 30 minutes of very strong tracks in surely not a disappointment. Infact fans should be excited by this long awaited release. So far the overall response has been good.

Do you agree with the bio saying that "Frozen" it's like a more accessible NIN "Broken"? How did you choose "Frozen"? Why Madonna, and why this particular song?

Sure why not? We have been writing accessable industrial pop songs for the last decade in relative obscurity. We have done many cover versions over the years. This is the strongest Madonna song worth covering. We think even stronger than Bigod 20's Like a Prayer...remember that one?

Tell us about the collaborations in this album. How did they start, both with Bruno Kramm and with Peter Heppner?

We have known and worked with both artists for years. Hamburg Germany is a very close music community. Infact we were the ones that brought Wolfsheim to Strange Ways records where they became rich and famous. Of course we saw no money from that and infact we could not get any label deals outside of the G.A.S. until we left Strange Ways.

You changed a few record labels. How did you get along with Tilo Wolf's Hall Of Sermon, and how did you choose Van Richter then?

We were on Strange Ways for Germany but the problem was that they did not care about any markets outside of Germany. We did a one off for Nuclear Blast's Deathwish sub division. We decided to split territories and gave HOS an album for Europe and Van Richter the rest. Actually Van Richter contacted us after being a fan of our side project Trauma. We were excited to work with a label like Van Richter Records who were fans of the band first.

Your career started 15 years ago. what do you remember of those days?

Yes. We remember all the years, the changes made in the band and the albums recorded. We believe we have grown both as people and artists by these experiences.

What do you think of the modern goth scene?

We are not so excited because the scene is not so strong as when we first started. Sure there are still the clubs and festivals but the new comers don't share the same passion or dedication as we did when we started out.

Do you think that irony should be an essential feature of a "goth" band, or it's unimportant?

Not necessarily. But believing in yourself is most important as our song of the same name says.

What are the images that you think should couple to your music?

Images of Love, hate, passion, angst, fear and the range of human emotions as that is what we write about...the human condition. Of course there are the classic dark medevil images as well as gibson cyber images that people have associated with our music over the years

What do you like the most, and what do you totally dislike on tour and during the shows?

We are big fans of Gary Numan (you know we have covered his songs) and met him on tour which was a great honor. Of course we love playing for the fans. Ending the show is always something we dislike.

Do you want to say something to the italian fans

Yes we hope we can play some gigs in your country soon as well as have our cds in your shops. Until then please go to our website http://www.vanrichter.net/gug.html Thank you for the interview

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