CH: Chris Harms          

CP: Chris Pohl          

BS: Bo Six       

 

CH: It’s us, Chris and Chris. It has since a long time been wished for, that we both should be together in an interview. We do it differently, we don‘t both get interviewed, we rather interview each other. Like the Ping Pong interview concept. And now it‘s my turn to ask the first question. Um...

CP: That would be cool...

 

0:43

CH: Where did you actually find the string musicians for your ensemble? Because I‘m currently also searching for some, of course I want them preferably to be from Hamburg. But where did you look?

CP: Um...here we are now on this theme. At first in Berlin and then I noticed, how difficult it is because…you only find few. In our case, Konrad plays with us already anyway in the “normal” shows and he‘s a classical musician. So when we now searched for someone for the classic or the acoustic tour, the only specification I told Konrad was that it should possibly be girls...preferably pretty musicians. That’s it. That was the plan. But then we realized, it doesn‘t work like this.

 

1:20

CH: You didn’t find pretty musicians?

CP: We did. But this is not the first cast. We tried many already. To be honest, it’s difficult. These classical musicians are usually on the road with an orchestra. They say „Sure, we’ll do this“, but then they say „Oh, I can‘t, because I now have another offer“. Then they were gone again. Then we had to start searching again. It was very difficult to find people with enough time and the intention for this thing.

CH: Particularly hard to coordinate such a big band with so many people.

CP: Um...yes. That was extreme. Now we have a more or less permanent cast, 2 of them from Berlin…. and others. Today we‘ve got completely other ones with us. It’s pretty difficult.

 

2:00

CH: The great thing with the studied classical musicians is, you give them the music sheets and it runs.

CP: That‘s the advantage. That‘s different with us. We try around and so...It will work. That‘s really the advantage. That‘s why they don‘t have to be from Berlin necessarily. You send them the notes and they will do it. We will have a rehearsal. And for this concert there was a big general rehearsal. We rented a club in Berlin and rehearsed. But it’s really hard, I never thought it‘s that difficult. Not the way it usually works.

CH: I‘m excited. Now this still lies ahead of me.

CP: Have fun. I hope you manage to assemble a good ensemble.

CH: Yes... if not, I will do it all alone by myself, as always.

 

*Bo Six laughs*

 

2:45

CP: Yes. That will also work...definitely. Now I have to ask a question …

CH: What did you always want to know from me?

CP: Why are you doing classical music now, like we do?

CH: Um...

BS: We have no other idea...

CH: Maybe you need to ask the question differently. I started with classical music. I think it‘s the same way you did it. The decisive idea was not „Oh, now Blutengel make classical music, let‘s do the same“, but the sparkling idea came from the „Gothic Meets Classic“. That feeling to stand there on stage, you know it yourself. When you stand there with tears in your eyes...that‘s it, I want to experience this again - in a smaller version. In the end that’s what it’s about. And of course Gared and I got a taste for it, when we were touring with you. When we realized, it also works in this dimension. Definitely very impressive. We have to choose smaller venues than you, because we haven‘t got as much audience as you have. But it will work. And I‘m looking forward to it.

 

3:42

CP: Good job. For a lot of people it‘s a bit uncommon, the “Gothic Meets Classic” I mean…you are more familiar with it in advance. You already play classical instruments, which is really cool. To us getting in touch with classical music was something completely new.

CH: It simply touches the people differently. It‘s like movie music. Think about it, if you take a romantic movie with normal Blutengel music, or with classic. It affects you in a completely different way. What I really want to know…I was thinking about it today. Do you remember, when we met for the first time?

 

4:17

CP: …*thinks*

CH: So I know where I saw you for the first time. But you didn‘t know me at this time. It was on the WGT 2007. You stood next to me in an elevator. And I was the singer of UnterART back then. But where we really got to know each other ... do you remember that?

CP: To be honest, I can‘t remember. We had longer contact later on when you played in the K17 in Berlin from time to time. But besides that....?

 

4:44

CH: I don‘t know at all anymore…

CP: Yes, sometimes you don‘t think about it. We know each other for a while now. Although, not really that long. But where we got to know each other in the first place...no idea.

CH: It has been some years. I don‘t know either...

CP: We don‘t know. Does someone know?

CH: Yes, maybe one of you knows.

CP: Yes, please write a Mail.

BS: Write it in the comment section..!

 

5:10

CP: Exactly! Now it’s my turn to ask something? Great... yes. Are you playing with LOTL exclusively now?

CH: Um… why? Do you want to do a project with me? That was my question now... no.  Um...

CP: No, because you already mentioned UnterART and you did a few more things.

CH: So, I have to say it this way, LOTL is for me like a homeport. Like Blutengel is for you, I think. You also work in Terminal Choice and the Lonely Soul Experience sometimes. I mean, you‘re also a „Tausendsassa“ (Jack of all trades / all-rounder). I could never say “now I work in LOTL exclusively”. Because I need that. I need this “musical infidelity”. I have to do it. I also would like to bring UnterART back to life, but there I was only one out of three and not just myself... that means...

 

5:54

CP: But are you on your own with LOTL?

CH: No, but with LOTL we have an existing band. And with UnterART it’s the problem that the two other ones do something different far out. It means, I can‘t bring it back to life that easily.

Um... do you know my German project Harms & Kapelle?

CP: Yes, sure!

CH: There we will have a second album. And what I really want to do, somehow...

(Oh... Hi Erk...)

 

6:17

CP: Pssst, you burst into the recording.

(Erk: Oh sorry, I am always interrupting)

CH: But we are doing an interview with Erk afterwards.

BS: Hi Fischi..!

CH: I would really like to do hard electro again.

CP: Really?

CH: Just because. One album, three shows on festivals, and that‘s it. Simply that. I’m starting a metalcore band with our drummer and our FOH technician Benny right now, called “Over the Jordan”. We produce just one album and never play a show. It will be finished soon. It’s really hardcore metal. *makes funny sounds*

 

6:59

CP: You automatically have the role of the singer and the writer?

CH: Um... yes, somehow, it happens somehow. There were bands, where I only played the guitar, but somehow... I don‘t need that necessarily. Sometimes I would be happy with fewer tasks. But somehow I always end up as the singer. Keyword “songs“, how is it with you? During the songwriting, I hear the songs in my mind all the time - and then they suddenly are there somehow. You are also a “many– song– writer“. Is there some kind of impact...“Wow, that‘s a song!” and you have to sit down. Or are you sitting on the computer and create?

CP: That differs. Sometimes there is a melody already in my head. It’s floating around somehow and you think „What is this? Do I know that? No, must be something new“. That happens, but not that often. Usually I‘m sitting in my studio, strum on my keyboard, and at least I know what I am planning to do. When you write an album, and think to yourself “Now I need a harder track“or something, you already know a bit which buttons you have to push, to do some faster stuff or something. Yes, that’s the way I write songs. And with the lyrics, they come to my mind everywhere. I don‘t know how it is with you... on the fly, or when you are on the way to somewhere. Standing at the traffic light with your car. Then you have that lyric idea, record it somehow.

 

8:24

CH: Sometimes when I‘m writing lyrics, I also note down, where I had that lyric idea. Because it’s sometimes really absurd. From A to B, don‘t know, on a toilet in Paris.

CP: That’s really cool.

CH: So you know it 10 years later. Sometimes I forget about it...

CP: Ok, no. I don‘t do that. Indeed its so, that my bathtub is my creative point. Because it’s the only place in the world, where I am relaxed a little bit. Where I can be alone, and where I don‘t bring my cellphone. Because my cellphone once fell in. That’s the place where I get the best Ideas for various things. There I also got the idea for the project I do now. So...

CH: „The lonely bathtub experience“…

CP: Yes... so to speak. Also when the head is absolutely clear. Usually you‘re always under pressure somehow. Do something, be in the studio, have your tasks you want to do or have to do, or whatever. But when you can relax, the songs come, the lyrics and other things.

 

9:25

CH: It also happens to me in such moments of peace. It’s when I’m kind of half asleep, when you fall in some sort of trance, before you sleep. And then I suddenly tear myself out. Meanwhile I can canalize this, because I notice when something like that happens. I somehow dream things. Then I force myself to get out of this and quickly take my voice recorder or cellphone. „Blah blah blah“, „ la la la“. Does this also happen to you? When the beginning of a kind of meditate state emerges. Really crazy, but nice.

CP: Whose turn is it?

CH: Yours!

CP: Mine? Do I have to ask you something again already? Alright. So you are the main songwriter at LOTL. With Blutengel it is relatively clear. I do everything. But you are a band. Does it happen, that one of your guitarists or your guitar- morons (Bo Six says “Heeey...!”) comes to you like „Hey, I have a great idea, is it possible to put this on the next album? Listen, listen! “

 

10:26

CH: Yes, I think for 75% it‘s like it is with you. And it really happens, I get an email with some riffs and rough layouts, “Listen, I have something for you“and if it fits for the album, I do something about it and I try if it works. Sometimes the things lay around and I need them 2 albums later or so. And meanwhile I love to work with colleagues from other bands. Or external songwriters, like Steve van Velvet, who already wrote songs for Falco. Like a Ping Pong songwriting. You send them a layout, and the work goes on. I like this very much... that I allow strangers’ ideas. More than before. I don‘t want to rotate like an old chicken on the takeaway in my own gravy but rather allow new ideas.

CP: Just like me...

CH: There are two really great people, whom I don‘t want to miss anymore, concerning songwriting. Steve Van Velvet and Rupert Keplinger who plays the bass for Eisbrecher. He also writes for Peter Maffay and for Oomph! He just writes really great songs with me.

 

11:42

CP: But when these are great songs, don‘t you think „Fuck, couldn’t I have done this myself? “ Or „Why did I not write this myself? “ It‘s like that, in my case.

CH: Yes, sure. You think „Fuck, why didn’t I get that idea myself? “ But then I think, that‘s a song, which thrill the masses, which moves the people and brings the band forward. Then I have to switch off my ego somehow. A good song is a good song. And it would be stupid to say, it‘s a good song, but it‘s not 100% from myself, but also from someone else. I throw it in the trash bin and try it by myself. No, there the band is more important than my ego. Although you think „Sad that I didn’t come by it by myself“. Often I think so, like with some of these Lady GaGa megahits „Why don‘t these things come to my mind? “

 

12:24

CP: I have never worked with someone else or implemented someone else’s idea.

CH: Do you want to try?

CP: Um... yes, sure. I don‘t know. Write a song for me. That would indeed be something, as I never did this before.

CH: I finish one to 50%. And then you either like it, or not.

BS: Every second note is missing and you may devise it.

CH: If you don‘t like it, I give it to... (Not understandable, who he names there)

 

12:54

CP: Well no, you can do that. I have also worked with Henning before. I wrote to the Unheilig producers and so on, they said “Write a song”, I wrote a song, but either there’s no reaction, because they had asked for it out of a mood or something. Or they didn’t take it seriously. I also had contact with other producers “Listen man, that’s Blutengel, here’s one song for you“, we worked together and mixed it, but then nothing emerged from it.

CH: I implemented every crazy idea so far, that’s our band concept. We do implement everything that comes to our mind, if it’s possible. So I will try it. Not tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow and not next month, but in late summer. I try it, and either you like it or not. And you have to tell me, bitter, evil and honest.

CP: I think, on one hand it would be interesting to do something like that, on the other hand I don‘t like these things. There are plenty of bands who say “We need a great hit single, write a hit single for us“.

CH: We‘re not like this either. We need to be involved.

 

13:54

CP: That’s the point. That’s something I haven‘t done before, and that I don‘t want to do. But partly maybe…or with an idea, to say “Hey, there is someone who understands Blutengel, that song is pretty cool“.

CH: I really sometimes have ideas, I hope you understand me right, that simply for LOTL would be too cheesy.

CP: Yes, sure.

CH: The “bitterness” is missing there, Blutengel is just kind of sweeter, concerning the “taste”...

BS: Now you screwed up.

CH: I hope you know what I mean.

CP: I know what you mean, sure. That’s logical.

BS: Nevertheless screwed up…

 

14:31

CH: I will try it. I think I have a last question for you and then we can release each other. You already have done many projects. This and that. With Lonely Soul Experience you made another dream come true, but is there something, that you absolutely want to do?

CP: Yes, there are some things. There are two things that I want to get them started soon. I don’t want to tell about the one idea. Maybe it will work out. And the other idea probably won‘t work anyway. No, I’m just playing around with the ideas, I want to do something, which is really mainstream and capable for the charts. I want to see, if I can compete. I won‘t do this thing alone. I would search for the right people with the know-how.

CH: *sings: „Atemlos, in die Schlacht“/ joke about Helene Fischer*

CP: Something like that. No, but I want to do something. It’s always the same. You make good music. I make good music, but it’s never mainstream. Which we don‘t want to, in a way. We are a little bit successful, I don‘t know. But something targeted, as many producers do, we write a song and it becomes a hit.

 

15:45

CH: As a producer or also as a performer?

CP: No, not necessarily as a performer. Just to be a part of it. To create a project. Today it’s unfortunately usual, that it’s not the artist behind it, who also performs. Just that typical team of the producer.

CH: Hey, are you in the mood for a hit–song (Schlager)?

CP: I‘m in the mood for everything, it doesn‘t matter what direction it goes. But I already have an idea, how I would do it.

CH: I would like to do traditional folk music. You can make a lot of money with it.

CP: Really? Yes, that’s right, but the drugs...

CH: Oh no, no way…

CP: No, I don‘t know. That’s too tricky. We‘re not cool enough for that. But the recent idea I came up with yesterday as we were here already, chilling, is that I want to do something which fits me better, in the style of „E Nomine“, a little darkish. With more coolness, more modern, trendy. I don‘t want to do something, with which I absolutely take the piss out of my fans, with a music style I don‘t even like.

 

16:42

CH: No, you have to feel it somehow.

CP: Some nice, electro music, which is cool, not too hard. This way, it can compete with the mainstream, with a little bit darkness inside. Whoever is the singer, or if there’s vocals at all, that’s something I’d like to take to a fucking mayor label, say, “Here, that‘s the next big hit“. Not just because of the money, just to see, if someone like me can compete with the charts stuff.

CH: Yes, because that’s the measure. Sure, fans of the dark music say “Hey, the music you do is way better than the whole mainstream stuff“. But there is anyhow a criterion for functionable songs beyond the dark scene. If you keep off the personal taste, the dark scene thought, and just evaluate the song, it would be also interesting for me to know if I can keep up with that. I mean, I’ve also been up to some things in the past. I have done some jamba sound now and then. Youthful sin, very successful. But I don’t want to tell you what it was. But to do something like that in big style, that would be cool.

 

17:51

CP: I just want to try it for fun. Also concerning the production technology. You hear such a song and think to yourself: “Man, that‘s pretty cool“. Hear the new Snoop Dog, not my music anyway, and I think it’s incredible what they are doing there. Like they produced it, the way they do it. There are songs with barely any in it. Unthinkable for me...with us it is “Put some more strings here, some more choir there...“

CH: like *sings: flick/ whistle* Hit!

CP: Yes, that’s awesome! I just want to do such fucking shit.

CH: If you have something in return, where you think it’s too bitter for Blutengel, tell me. I would like to listen to something from you, which you can‘t use for yourself.

 

18:36

CP: But I am not able to write something for a guitar band...

CH: That doesn‘t matter. Guitar is just a chord instrument.

CP: Yes, sure.

CH: I mean, a baseline is a baseline. And a basedrum is a basedrum. You can cover everything. A layout only needs to consist of chords and a voice. The rest doesn‘t matter.

CP: True that. La Bomba in our version also could have been from myself.

CH: It’s great. And the clubs play it back and forth.

CP: Finally the clubs play Blutengel, yes.

CH: Chris...

CP: Thank you.

CH: See you later.

CP: We see you, you maybe see us.

CH: Have fun with our old drummer…

CP: Oh yes, right.

CH: Bye.

 

19:33

CH to Bo: Now you have to say “Oh shit, I haven‘t filmed“.

BS: Fuck, I really haven‘t...

 

 

 

Translation: Christina Mey

Proofreading: Manuela Lütolf , Margit Güttersberger