How do you feel to finally get a domestic CD in North America for Girls Under Glass?
That's fine. I was waiting for that for 13 years now. It's a bit late because we've already released 10 CDs. But it's never too late for good music. So here we are. Enjoy it.
What's behind the name "Girls Under Glass"?
Sorry, I don't want to be arrogant, but there is practically NOTHING behind the name. It's just a floating sounding name.
Can you tell us a brief history of Girls Under Glass?
We founded february 86 as a three piece and we are still a three piece. I became singer after the first two albums "Humus" and "Flowers". Since then we have a straight line up. In the studio and also live we work with several guest-musicians to give our music a more open minded approach. We changed our music style a couple of times. When we felt aggressive we did an aggressive record. When I was in love and very balanced we did an balanced album with lots of love songs. GUG is the mirror of my life and my soul. We never think about what we are doing. We just do.
How would you describe "Girls Under Glass"?
Hm... you know what? I would say it's your job to describe the music. Work-share, you know? I do the music, you describe it. That's fair! Seriously: We don't stand for a certain sound. We are obviously 80's influenced (Gary Numan is my biggest personal influence I would say) and try to transport this sound and image to the end of the nineties. So there is still this feeling of melancholic synth music, also with a slight doomy atmosphere, but the melodies are definitely from the 80's and we use very modern equipment and production. Maybe you can compare it a bit to what Paradise Lost is doing in the moment. That is also the modern interpretaion of 80's music. They are obviously more into the Depeche Mode stuff while we got our influence by many different 80's bands, but the result is not too far from each other. On "Nightmares" you find songs from the last 13 years, so obviously this stuff sounds very different and just represents the band at a ceratin point of time. It's more like a introduction.
Did you choose the songs on the Cd compilation "Nightmares"?
No. Van Richter did. I would have choosen other stuff.
On "Nightmares", we clearly can heard the evolution of your sound... from a gothic/wave sound to a more electro/industrial sound; can you explain this evolution?
No sorry. I can't. I never thought about it, and we (the band) never discussed that. as I mentioned before: We just do music and try not to do the same thing ever and ever again.
Will you be touring in North America?
Unfortunately not in the near future. First of all we have to wait how GUG develops in the USA. When we then can make sure that nobody looses a fortune to get GUG to USA we can do it. Neither we nor Van Richter nor any local promoters or clubs wants to loose money. Apart from that I have lots of friends who toured in the USA and I am not very keen to be treated like an idiot. In Germany musicians are respected and can do their job under professional circumstances. In USA you can be lucky when you are not cheated and treated like an asshole.
Can we expect a new CD with new material for "Girls Under Glass"?
Yes, it's just out now only in Europe. It's called "Equilibrium" and I think (and mainly all the german media partners agree) it's one of our best albums ever. Apart from some exports to USA (sorry, Van Richter!) we hope that Van Richter can bring out this album in the near future on their own. It's definitely a big recommendation. Through Van Richetr we are planning to release a single with some mixes of Equilibrium stuff plus a brilliant coverversion of "Frozen". This should happen in the next 3 months. Watch out.
What is your main influences?
Life is my biggest influence.
What do you listen nowadays?
Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, Madonna. Tea Party, Filter, Massive Attack, Tindersticks, NIN, Julee Cruise, Tiamat, Cuba, Depeche Mode and still Gary Numan
What is the further projects for "Girls Under Glass"?
I just finished a new album as a guitar player of The Cassandra Complex. Apart from that we might start with working on new material beginning of next year. In Germany we play a couple of Festivals but don't do a proper tour.
Thanks alot for you time; a little word for the end of the millenium?
Sorry, I am already tired of this millenium shit. Is it really such a big thing? I am really lucky if the electronic evolution is under control in a couple of years. I start to become really afraid of the next millenium. I think things change too fast and things are getting out of control. That's not very funny. For me the millenium party will be definitely the most depressive new year party.
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