ASP Interview This interview with ASP took place November 13, 2007 at the Live Music Hall in Köln, Germany. Joki Gauthier interviewed ASP and Matze before the show and we want to thank them very much for taking the time to do this for us and also to Joki, well done!! :)

ASP: When Matze and I met, we had both played in different bands, and we had a little pause without music. We recognized that we couldn't live without it, so we started again.

Matze: The first time we did music together was because we were in 2 bands, and we made some concerts with both bands. We met and... it's hard to describe... maybe you know, we will have a CD called Horror Vacui in February. This is exactly the feeling, because it was a fear of the emptiness, doing nothing, and so we had to start this band. We had to make music again after experiencing this pause without music.

Joki: So I guess this title (Horror Vacui) is very fitting for the whole musical project.

ASP: For the past and the present, yes.

Joki: In 2001, you released a CD called Die Zusammenkunft, which was a collaboration with bands from the scene. What memories do you keep from it? Do you think it was a milestone in your career, that from that point you got more fans and recognition from all around?

ASP: It's very interesting to work with other musicians, but for us the most important is to make our own albums. Everything else is additional. It's nice to have it, but we wouldn't have done it for normal CDs. We don't want to have too much guest singing, but on our singles and EPs we try to make more collaborations.

Matze: When we play on festivals, we meet interesting people with who we'd like to work. We decided to make a special project for these collaborations. The name Die Zusammenkunft means The Gathering, and fits very well for a community working together.

Joki: You mean the Gothic community, or would you call it another way?

ASP: I think Gothic can be a word for it, or Black...

Joki: I'd like to talk about Gothic music. In Canada, we don't really have a Gothic scene. We would call it Metal, or Industrial... Here, there is this huge scene called Gothic, and what we call Gothic here in Germany, might be categorized as something different in Canada. How do you describe Gothic, is it a musical genre, is it a way of life, or something else?

ASP: To me, it's an attitude. But I don't know if my feelings about it, if my description of it would fit with other people's view of it. Germans are very good at making categories for everything, it makes it much easier. But when all these categories aren't there, I think there can be a much wider audience who can listen to your music.

Matze: I think the word Gothic for a musical scene was first used in the early eighties or late seventies in the UK. It was linked to eerie, horror literature. Today, what we call the Gothic scene has drifted from the traditional style and feelings, it's not exactly the same. Maybe Germany is the only country where we still say Gothic...

Joki: Do you think there's a genre of music which we can really call Gothic music, or do you think it's more many genres that are mixed?

ASP: It's mixed... it's too hard to answer. I think the music which we call Gothic changed a lot in the last 20 years, after it came out of the post-punk movement. Today, there's so many influences. That's why the visual thing is predominant, the clothes, etc.

Joki: Ok, I'll switch topics now as I would like to talk about mp3s and piracy. With the single Ich Will Brennen, you released an extra CD to burn a personal best of from ASP mp3s. Was it a statement, somehow?

Matze: It was a statement, but not about mp3s. It was because in Germany, the law was about to be changed; they were about to make it illegal to copy a CD for personal use. At this point, we thought they were going too far, and the extra CD fitted well with the theme "Ich Will Brennen" (I want to burn). But it's not about free mp3s or file sharing.

Joki: And what do you think of free mp3s and file sharing?

ASP: I have no final opinion. It makes it very hard for musicians to exist at the moment. As a matter of fact, there's much less CDs sold nowadays. This cuts the lower part of the music pyramid. The underground music is below, because these bands produce a small amount of copies of CDs. So if you cut the floor, only the major productions are left, and it makes it hard for small bands.

Joki: But do you feel like the underground bands have a better occasion to promote themselves with the Internet than they had before?

ASP: Sure, they do, but what's the next step? To be a musician means to live from your music. If you can't, then it's just a hobby, and you don't have the money to afford a studio, and the music instruments, and so on. That means, you could only be a musician, if you have rich parents. As we know, it's not always the rich people who are the best artists.

Matze: I think the first reaction to this phenomenon from us was to make big CD boxes with nice artworks, so that when you see it, you want to have it. It adds an extra to buying the CD. We also try to come up with concept albums... we had some problems with iTunes. There were snippets of 30 secs. or 1 min. of some short interlude tracks on the CD, but these tracks are part of the whole story. You can't just sell some of them at the same price as a full song. It is a sign of how we work. We don't think in the way of pop songs.

ASP: Sorry! The 3 minutes are over! *laughs*

Matze: We think more in a story way.

Joki: The Requiem is a good example of it, how did you have the idea to construct a song like the Requiem?

ASP: As a matter of fact, it was the first idea I had for the whole album. It was the big idea, to make a Requiem for the death of a person. What I wanted was to learn something about Mozart and the catholic Requiems. I learned a lot about it, and I wanted to rebuild its form with the lyrics.

Joki: It certainly was an original idea, and I personally think it's a huge highlight on the album, it stands out a lot. Into another topic now, I would like to know if you have the ambition to maybe have an international career, or to tour outside of Europe at some point?

ASP: It's a very interesting question... the first question is, is there a market, is there anybody out there not speaking German who could be interested?

Joki: I would think there is: Rammstein is a good example of it?

ASP: It's the ONLY example, everybody knows only about Rammstein...

Joki: What do you think of that, of Rammstein’s success?

Matze: Rammstein is a very creative band, but if Rammstein works in the USA, it doesn't mean that every German bands can. For ASP, the lyrics is the most important part because of the stories told. The question is, how much content will somebody get from a CD if he can't understand the lyrics? On the other side, I think the music works very well by itself...

Joki: Yeah, I think that only musically, ASP is strong enough to gain success, even without understanding the story.

ASP: It's a very expensive adventure to go outside of Germany. The world is very big... if you leave out Germany, there are many countries. There's some countries where we could play, because there's a lot of fans there. For example, we could play in Mexico or Moscow...

Joki: You played in the UK before, right?

ASP: Yes, we tried that.

Joki: How was it?

ASP: Nice.

Matze: Really nice. We'll try to do it again next year. All the Gothic scene originally comes from the UK. A lot changed since then. I think Germany has the biggest Gothic scene in the world at the moment, but I felt a little as if we were back in the eighties when we played in the UK. They do not know that there is such a variety of music, because most of it is German.

ASP: We've been very lucky to play there, and the audience was totally different. Sometimes Germans tend, as we said before, to make categories, but also to behave accordingly to these categories. I felt that in the UK it was much "cooler". They don't take themselves so seriously.

Joki: I guess it's fun for you to see a new kind of crowd at your concerts. Did you have good comments there?

ASP: Yes, sure... we had very good comments, but not a lot of comments. The Gothic scene there is very small.

Joki: In a previous interview, I remember seeing you saying you couldn't live from your music. Now, Requiembryo had some commercial success, more than the other albums at least. Can you now live from your music?

ASP: More or less... but yes, we make a living out of it.

Matze: Also with Requiembryo, you can see that the costs were much bigger than before.

ASP: There's a lot of money coming from Requiembryo, but only a very small part actually comes back to us. But we do our best, we try every day, every week, and so on, to make it even more successful, to ignore the bad comments.

Joki: Ok, I have prepared what I call a "Flash-quiz", short questions where I expect only short answers, just a few sentences. Some questions might be a bit funny but in the end it can be very interesting. First: Are you religious?

ASP: No.

Matze: No.

Joki: Atheist?

ASP: No.

Matze: Neither.

Joki: What would you say are your inspirations?

ASP: We don't have much time to listen to music.

Matze: Johann Sebastian Bach

ASP: I find more inspiration in literature.

Joki: What's your favourite artist at the moment?

ASP: My favourite artist in the last few years has been Loreena Mckennitt. I had the great luck to see her in Frankfurt, and it was the best concert I ever seen.

Joki: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think one can also see the influence of such Irish music in your songs?

ASP: Irish music has been part of my life since I was around 10, so it's not really artists like Loreena Mckennitt who influenced me in that direction, it's more the other way 'round. I discovered her because someone told me "Yeah, if you like that kind of folk stuff, try this one!". I tried, and I'm very happy about it.

Matze: I think the best band I have seen in the last years was some punk band from the USA. It was in a little room, and I totally forgot the name of the band" *laughs*

Joki: What's your favourite book?

Matze: My favourite book: The Apple logic reference guide. *everyone laughs*

Joki: Oh, so you work on Mac computers!

Matze: Yes, THIS is good information! *more laughs*

ASP: For me, it's very hard. One of my favourite ones is The Innkeeper's Song by Peter S. Beagle (check it out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451454146). Peter S. Beagle has also written The Last Unicorn.

Joki: What's your favourite movie?

ASP: My favourite movie has been, for the last 5-6 years, Crazy. It's a movie about an old band with very old members, who try to make a reunification. It's great *high five*.

Matze: I think the most influencial movie I saw is The Wall, by Pink Floyd. We talked about it some weeks ago, and I've seen it maybe 15 years ago or so, but the pictures and the music from it is something I will never forget.

Joki: What's your favourite meal?

ASP: I don't think you can translate it...

Joki: Oh, you can say it in German!

ASP: Matze? *laughs*

Matze: It depends on the cook! There's some restaurants where the meals are really good.

Joki: What's your opinion about drugs and / or alcohol?

ASP: ...can we go to the next question? *laughs* Don't take drugs!

Matze: We don't take any drugs. I'm a smoker of cigarettes, but no real hard stuff. Just girls...

ASP: Girls?

Matze: Yes... remember?

ASP: Hmmm, no...

Matze: In 1993...

Joki: Seems like a very important memory! *laughs*

Matze: *laughs* Nah, just coffee, and beer.

Joki: Alright end of Flash-quiz. For the next question, I'm quoting you: "Hässlich will ich für euch sein" (I want to be ugly to you). Most people try to change themselves to look good in the eyes of other people. You say the opposite, why?

ASP: Because I think we live in a world where we always want to buy something, all day long. Everybody tells you what to buy, what looks great, and what you should look like. That's why we want to say with this song: "I'd rather be ugly, than be beautiful in the way that everybody has to be, and everybody wants to be." If this is pretty, and you feel the opposite, then you must be ugly.

Joki: What do you think of the music industry nowadays? How could one make it better?

ASP: You mean, the major companies? The big businesses? I think there's no way these companies will learn anything from their mistakes, they will just die out.

Joki: You mean with the CD sales going down?

ASP: Not necessarily the CD sales... We don't have the problem that people don't like music anymore, we have the problem that people don't like bands anymore. The companies are responsible for all this plastic music made for charts. It all passes very fast, no major company has time to build up a band within years. That's their own method. Music fans like to have a favourite band over years, and not something you see one day on TV, and the next day they are gone because they sold one or two thousands less copies than last time. It's hard to tell... I have a very good example: I once read a book of Douglas Adams called Last Chance To See (check it out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345371984/), it's all about animals. Some animals, in order to exist, to save the whole race, have to do very strange things. There's this kind of bird, which has a very strange way of reproducing, because on the island where it lives, no predators are around, so the reproduction must be complicated in order to slow down the growth. And that's why the major companies will never ever learn anything, because they think "Ok, this bad trashy music we give people doesn't work, so let's try something REALLY trashy". And when this doesn't work, they try something even more trashy, even cheaper. They keep trying the same old wrong methods even harder.

Matze: I think they're not interested in good music. They're interested in profit. They can die, and I won't drop any tear for them.

Joki: Let's talk about Horror Vacui, which will be out in February. It mainly is a best of, but will you be re-recording your old songs?

Matze: Some of them.

Joki: And how will the release be done? From what I could understand, you somehow lost or quit your label?

ASP: No. The thing is, we don't have a contract anymore. We work together without a contract.

Joki: Ok, so your label will keep releasing albums for you anyway, but without a contract?

Matze: Yeah. We tried something, and we will see in a few years if it was a good decision to make it. But we wanted to make our whole relation with our label based on trust and understanding, all done by handshake, without a contract. They're working with us since the first day, and so it's an experiment we make together. It's ok for us, because we trust them... but don't let them know that! *laughs*

Joki: And you'll be releasing a video soon for the song Me. Is it already done?

ASP: No, it's not totally done yet. It will be done at the end of the year, because it's a very difficult thing to do, it's a stop-motion movie, with puppets. It will still take a few weeks before it's finished.

Joki: And do you like the result so far?

ASP & Matze: Yes!

Matze: Maybe you have seen the trailer for Horror Vacui. The pictures you can see there are from the video.

Joki: Me is a song from Aus Der Tiefe. Why did you choose to pick an old song to make your first video?

ASP: It's a cool song. For the release of Horror Vacui, we only have old songs, not much new material, and the mood fits for the story in the video, the feeling of the song. The good thing is that we can decide which song we want to use. Not anyone else decided what song it would be, not the label or anything. We wanted a song which is not too long, because it is extremely expensive to make such kind of movies. We've talked a little bit before choosing the song, we put our favourite short songs on the table and discussed it, and it's the one song which was left at the end. From the first moment we started talking about the songs, we thought in a very visual way...

Matze: When you listen to Requiembryo, you could imagine the whole thing as a movie.

ASP: In the end, we decided to make something completly different. We didn't want to put the exact pictures going with the story that are told in the song, because we found it too hard to fix the imagination so hard that the hearer's imagination is exempted. So we made a nice little story, and we hope that everything will go well.

Joki: I'm sure it'll be very good! Will it be released with Horror Vacui in February, or before?

ASP: It will be first released on DVD, as an extra for the limited edition of Horror Vacui. Then, we will release it everywhere else. Nowadays, an hour after Horror Vacui is in stores, it will already be on YouTube and so forth... So we want to release it in a way that makes it look a little better.

Matze: Not such a compressed video...we also want a legal download for it because it's better than YouTube. Everybody will have it for no money, but then it has to look good.

Joki: I saw that you seem to spend a lot of time online on the forums Die Zusammenkunft (check it out: http://www.die-zusammenkunft.com/). Is it always you answering in the posts of SCHWARZER SCHMETTERLING and Matze?

ASP and Matze: Yes.

Joki: Posting there, is it for you a way of marketing, or is it a hobby...?

ASP: No, it's not a hobby. I really dislike being on the net.

Matze: Again, the internet is both a blessing and a curse... It's a very nice thing to get information from, but there's a lot of discussions, a lot of talk...

ASP: We have the idea, not only on the web, that we have to work together with our fans and talk with them. For example, we also do once a year a meeting for the Die Zusammenkunft forum, where we just sit around, eat and drink. It's a BBQ. This way, it's not only on the web.

Joki: Thank you very much for this interview, I wish you a good luck with the concert tonight!

By: Joki Gauthier for DeutschMusikLand 11/07

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