You have just finished an album that is very unusual for you. What makes "Swan Songs" so special?

Usually we are dominated by deep guitars, a brute and loud arrangement and dirty electronics. It's not for nothing that we have one and a half drum sets on stage and work with baritone guitars that are more bass guitars than regular electric guitars. Since we played with a whole symphony orchestra at the Gothic meets Classic Festival 2013 in Leipzig, we have discovered the side of us, which has always been there, but always a minor, calm and orchestral side in a whole new intensity. So we decided to produce an album completely acoustically and classically with the support of a small chamber orchestra and then go on tour with it. It is not only a balance, but also an incredibly interesting broadening of our musical horizon.

 

How difficult was it for you to rewrite the old songs? And to compose the brand new ones in a classic way? Did you have any help with this?

That was not difficult at all, since classical music has been in our blood since childhood, as most of us have classical music education. Still, it was a challenge to manage to stay true to ourselves and not completely slip into a Disney soundtrack soundscape. The arrangements for the small orchestra were made with the help of two arrangers, both studied composers, led by our pianist Gared, who for the biggest part was creating the basic musical concept for this production.

 

All members of Lord of the Lost put a lot of value on the looks, going for make-up, cool clothes, nice photos. Why is it important for you to present the band like this?

It's very simple: we want to look how we sound and how we feel the music. It would feel completely wrong for us to present this type of music in the outfit of Sportfreunde Stiller (German Indie-Rock-Band, addition of the translator). When we dress and put on make-up for the show, something happens in and with us. This is our way of flipping the switch that needs to be flipped to do what we do. And beyond that, we just like to walk around like that.

 

You have a lot of tattoos. Which was your 1st one?

I got my first shot when I was 18, at the end of the 90s, ergo it was a tribal on the shoulder blade, which matched that era. The reason was profane; there was hardly an 18-year-old tattooed at the time and I just thought it was cool. It was the youthful urge to be different and more extreme than the rest, and it turned into an honest passion regardless of the need to be different. If I were 18 again today, I would start differently, with a concept and not simply collecting little pictures over the years. But I like my pictures. For me, they are like a colorful diary on my body that reminds me of certain stages of my life.

 

You also have one, let's call it a "tattoo challenge" with Germany's most famous criminal biologist Dr. Mark Benecke. What's it all about?

Oh man, that was an evening! In October 2014 we held an event called Rock-Talk together with the legendary Dr. Mark Benecke, who proudly wears a so-called blue banana, i.e. a dolphin tattoo. Weeks later on tour in Russia, our guitarist Bo told me that I had promised the doctor that evening that I would also get a blue banana tattoo until the next meeting with him. I couldn't remember it for ominous reasons ... but since I always keep my word, I booked ad hoc a tattoo artist for the next tour day in Helsinki, who tattooed my blue banana on my knee, backstage at the Tavastia Club right before the show. Now it's my turn to present a meaningless tattoo, which Sir Dr. will then please copy.

 

 

Chris: Makani, if you had children now, would there be something that might bother you extremely?

 

Makani: Before they are 18, they shouldn't have tattoos *laughs*. It’s hard to imagine that people who look like that would say this. But I know very well that a lot of crap gets tattooed at that young age.

 

Thomas: Barbie? 

 

Makani: Well, at such a young age you haven't experienced much yet and don't even know what makes you special or which path you will take. I also had this sometimes, went to the tattoo artist and absolutely wanted another tattoo. Then you flick through the presentations and then you get some shit done. For example, back then I always wanted to have Chinese symbols.

 

Chris: I also got shit tattooed when I was 18. I started with tribals, that was in 1998 - and it was cool then, because back then it wasn't about what I got tattooed. I just wanted to be tattooed. I always saw the motorcyclists with their tattoos on Sylt on vacation, messing around on their Harleys. And back then they just all had the tribals. I went to the tattoo artist and said: "I want such a tribal. Put it on the shoulder blade.", because then it is not so noticeable. Then maybe Mama will not see it. If I had known then that I would be completely tattooed, I would have thought of a real concept. But I still like it. As you said, Makani - it reminds you of a certain time, of a period in your life - and that's the only thing that counts - What about piercings?

 

Makani: I used to have a few, even quite a few. Through the lip, that was in. One on the right, one on the left, and one in the middle above, I had a medusa. I had four in my nose, on the sides and in my septum. I had started with an eyebrow piercing, in the very, very early stages. My mother said then "Here‘s your stuff, you can move in somewhere else if you don't take it out!" And then I took it out again.

 

Chris: I also had one in my labial frenulum -and found it in my mouth at some point. It just grew out somehow.

 

Makani: I had that too. I accidentally caught mine with a fork. That didn't hurt, it was just gone at some point.

 

Chris: Makani, you said earlier that getting a new tattoo is becoming more painful the older you get. Why is that?

 

Makani: I think that's because the body ages and the pain sensitivity increases. This is proven, the cells store the pain information: the more tattoos you have done, the more intense the pain becomes.

 

Chris: But for me it's more of a psychological thing. Now that I've gotten older and a bit wiser, I've found that I can control myself a lot when it comes to pain. I actually manage to go into a kind of trance during this time. I sort of fall asleep while getting a tattoo. I can almost sort of force myself to fall asleep then. 

 

Makani: Why can’t I have that, too? *laughs* 

 

Chris: I notice everything, but go into a kind of meditation and so I can really „switch it off“. I think, that with me the pain sensitivity is actually higher, but I am somehow able to handle it differently spiritually. Otherwise I would not be able to bear some things. 

 

Thomas: Do you have any famous tattoo artists who have tattooed you many times already or from whom you definitely want to get a tattoo again?

 

Makani: Of course, "famous" is always relative, depending on how well known people are. I have one from Paul Acker. I think that he is one of the best-known talents in the world who actually has a very high status in every country. I also have something from Benjamin Laukis, who is also one of my personal top 5. But most things are of course nothing so extraordinary, I had my first tattoo done 20 years ago. At that time there was no “world league” or “elite” like this at that time, and at that time there was no such quality, this distinctiveness of art. Sometimes I really think what the tattoo artists nowadays get under your skin is insane. Looking back 20 years, “tramp stamps” (lower back tattoos), tribals and other techniques were popular. It wasn't all that extreme and much less professional. 

 

Chris: I don't have any star- tattoo artist- tattoos on me. That’s not my kind of thing anyway, but I ended up in the tattoo studio in St Pauli, the oldest tattoo studio in Germany. Back then I just walked in there because I thought: "Cool, this is the oldest." I had seen something about Herbert Hoffmann on TV, though he has not been around for a long time. I just stuck to them. On tour I sometimes take random tattoo artists to take a little memory with me. I have so much to do with music, so I put all my energy into that. Makani, of course you have a different starting point because you do it professionally.

 

Makani: Yes, for me it's the other way around. I am really busy with the scene worldwide 24 hours a day. First of all, of course, because I am also a partner in our tattoo studio. That means we work with it all day. Additional to this is modelling in the area. This keeps me busy all the time and I get to see the further developments. This also gives me a fairly good overview and then I say to myself: "I would like something from this or that." If I particularly like something, I don't really care whether the tattoo artists are known or where they come from, because it’s their work that appeals to me at that moment.

 

Chris: I can just distinguish a rotary from a spraying machine, a red from a black color. Otherwise, I rely on my tattooist to know what he's doing. If I had the time, I would immerse myself in the topic, because I think it's really cool. I also tattooed myself for a while. Simply practiced on the leg. All of this is now covered up. I noticed relatively quickly: If you want to do it really well, it's nothing for a part-time job. Either you're a tattoo artist or not. I would have always been a musician who also tattooed a bit - and then you never become a good tattoo artist.

 

Makani: Right, that takes a lot of time, I also see it that way. There are enough people out there who do that and I think that it might be better, they would let it be. It is always sad that people who have zero talent, sit down with a clear conscience, take money from people, mess up their skin and then still sleep well in the evening.

 

Chris: There are many fan tattoos. People who have tattooed Lord of the Lost symbols. At some basement-village- tattoo artists: Much too small, in the wrong place, too deep, totally scarred, really "ouch". Sometimes I see fans at the concerts and think: "You'd better have gone to a good studio." Sometimes I send them to my tattoo parlor in Hamburg to have their tattoos „repaired“. I often get to hear: "Man, it would have been better if I had gone directly to a professional and paid more than 30 Euros“. I often find it so sad: the first tattoo on an 18 year old girl - and then all that remains is a fat, much too small band-tattoo-scar, this always makes me feel sorry for them. 

 

Makani: For you it is a huge compliment to be immortalized on someone‘s skin. You can't really bring more worship to a band. That's insane! In such a case, I find it particularly painful to see when it is not well done. But I've also many times met people who didn't care about it being done badly. 

 

Chris: It was the same with me when I was 18. I now have different expectations. I want a beautiful picture that looks good forever. 

 

Thomas: One of our editors once met the tattoo artist of Tommy Lee, the drummer of Mötley Crüe, in L.A. He was pretty drunk, was actually already with his head on the bar, but then said: "Come on, now my arm!" then something was tattooed right there. 

 

Chris: Yes, you should not do something like that. I also once got a tattoo when I was drunk.

 

Makani: Me too. We all have to go through it. 

 

Chris: If that was your only tattoo, it would be really stupid. But like this it is just a part of a big image. Meanwhile I cannot really answer the question, how many tattoos I actually have any more. Then I usually say: one. 

 

Makani: That’s also one of my “favorite” questions from reporters; “How many do you have and how much did that cost?”  That’s also a question that cannot really be answered, because I have been working in tattoo studios for years, had friends and acquaintances there, who did it for me for free – or for a much lower price. 

 

Chris: I also like the question: "I have 90 Euros. What can I get for this?" If I happen to have an afternoon off, I sometimes spend my time there in that before mentioned oldest tattoo studio. Often people come in and ask that. 

 

Thomas: Don’t they have any ideas? 

 

Chris: No, none at all.

 

Makani: Such people are more common than you would think. On the other hand there are many, who really LIVE it. Like the two of us maybe. It doesn't matter so much whether you deal with the whole thing or not. It’s about how you live it yourself.

 

 

Interview: Thomas Vogel