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Interviews // |
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Zurück zum Glück – via Ibiza, Bavaria, and Cologne??? Campino, how long did it take you this time to produce the new album? Campino: Including the very first sound, we have been working on this album since April 2003. This is very long indeed if you compare it to previous albums. We usually need a year, from the first chord to the last. But this time around, we had a few interruptions, and a lot of things happened, too. But I think we started relatively early because we sensed that it might not work out so smoothly this time. And that's exactly what happened. ??? What was it that came in your way? Campino: Well, from my personal point of view, the birth of my son in March was the most important factor. Such a birth is a wonderful present, but on the other hand it also means that your head is somewhere completely else. In the weeks that followed, I simply couldn't get down to writing any lyrics or thinking about our songs. Whether you want to or not, after such an experience your head is out of order for three months, when it comes to things happening outside of the family. ??? Where did you work in the course of these one and a half years? You spent some time in Spain for your previous album, "Auswärtsspiel".  Campino: For our first demo session, which lasted six weeks, we went to Ibiza once again. In the winter, there are lots of houses there for rent, and it's rather lonely. The atmosphere is really cool, because hardly anyone is on the island at that time of year, and you can go and drink a coffee by the beach. The problem is, it was a rather old house, and everything was kind of clammy. The heating system didn’t really work, and we spent most of the time in front of the open fire, tucked into warm sweaters from morning to night. But it was fun, too, it had a kind of boy-scout atmosphere. ??? Then where did you go? Campino: After a short break we went to Bavaria for the summer and stayed in the former clinic of Dr. Julius Hackethal, which was an amazing, strange building. The whole complex reminded me of the hotel in Stephen King’s film "Shining". Everyone not only had his own room, but his own hallway! And we always had to walk through the huge kitchens, which of course are out of order now. We were six people, us, the cook, in a huge sanatorium – that really was like the setting for a horror film! We stayed there for another four weeks.  ??? Is it really possible to make a neutral judgement about a track when you have heard it hundreds of times in the course of its evolution? Campino: Well, what I can do is analyse it quite unemotionally. But I cannot say anymore whether the track is good or bad, or whether we have managed to hit a special nerve. This you really cannot tell anymore when you have heard a song so many times. I simply don’t have the detachment that is needed. But I can still judge whether the bass is too loud compared to the guitar, or whether it should be even louder. Or I can still imagine that maybe the snare sound should have a little more echo. ??? Apart from the album taking a little bit longer than usual, what was special about the recordings for "Zurück zum Glück"? Campino: Every time you make a new record, things are different. This time, we had an advantage that nearly turned into a disadvantage for us. I.e., we had a lot of tracks done in a rather short time, or at least we had the outlines. For example, we knew quite early on which track could be the first single. That’s like a football team leading two-nil after the first half. It’s a great feeling, but it means that in the second half we were feeling too safe, and we closed up the rear. And due to this, the enemy followed up with a two-one and, to make things worse, hit the crossbar twice. That was a really uncomfortable situation. It meant we had to wait until the 90th minute to be absolutely sure we had scored our three points, and that was an unnecessary strain. ??? How long did you take in the final phase, when all of the tracks were completed in detail?  Campino: All of the work that was left to do after Ibiza and Munich we did in our rehearsal room in Düsseldorf or here in the studio, in Cologne. We started recording in April 2004. That worked really well, because it’s not the kind of work where I have to think that much. In other words, we collected demos and tracks for about one year and then worked them out in detail and finished them in another four to five months. And towards the end we were very fast, compared to how long we usually take. But a record is only really finished when the master has been sent to be copied in the press. ??? How are things looking now, in the 90th minute? Campino: It all depends on the mix now. You can have a lot of really great tracks on an album, but if they’re all slow ballads, the power simply gets lost. Or you’ve got a lot of really fast stuff, but if none of them has a good hook line or is exciting in any other way, it will be a record that doesn’t kick arse either. The idea is to find a wide range, offer something that keeps the tension, that is varied and at the same time to keep the energy flowing. That is what it’s all about. And it remains exciting until the very last day in the studio.  ??? Which are your last deeds before the whistle is blown to signal the end? Campino: Even today we haven’t decided with three or four tracks whether they should be on the album or not. After all, we have recorded more than 20 tracks. For example, one of them is called "Die Nummer eins von Flingern" (the number one of Flingern, a run-down district in Düsseldorf, which the band feels bonded to). It won’t be on the album, even though, to the local patriots, it’s the favourite of the whole production. I laughed about it, but the others didn’t think it was terribly funny. And we haven’t settled on the track listing, either. I keep fidgeting with that, taking the CDs home in various orders. And when I’m home, I try to figure out which transition is the smoothest, most homogenous. ??? Does the whole band decide which tracks will finally make it onto the new album? Campino: Yes, of course, everyone has a voice and there’s even the possibility of a veto. But that is only used in very serious cases. Breiti used it once, several years ago. It really means that a song has had it and will not be used. And that kind of hurts, you know. But usually, each one of us makes a list with his favourite top 15 tracks. And the track that has been judged worst by the majority is the one that might be dropped. We usually know rather early on which tracks we all like best. We hardly ever quarrel about more than three or four tracks. ??? You have already tested some tracks live on various festivals. Is that a kind of public trial, to see how a new song is accepted? Campino: If you have a track with a rather complex structure, it is logical that it won’t turn people’s heads when they hear it for the first time. But you shouldn’t make the mistake and give up on the track just because the audience wasn’t enthusiastic. But if you play something where you thought it might become an adequate track for live shows, and it doesn’t work at all, then you might have to think about re-working the track. We had very good reactions for our new song "Alles wird vorübergehen" (all things will pass), although it is really a very calm piece. And now we’re all excited to see whether the studio version will appeal to people, too, and whether we have managed to keep up the standard. ??? What role does Jon Caffery play in the studio, the producer who has worked with you for many years? Campino: Jon is the man we trust in when it comes to the general sound. And, just like ourselves, he has developed in the course of the years. His advantage is that he knows when to get more out of us and when we are simply finished. With his very calm ways, he knows how to keep the balance with us and how to keep us concentrated on the main issues and stay objective. Because, after all, we are five very different characters, and every single one of us has a little problem if his instrument or voice isn’t as loud as he had imagined it should be. And Jon is a genius at sensing and reacting when we’re even only slightly dissatisfied with a track. He tends to tackle the problem with this unobjective, purely emotional information. ??? The single "Friss oder stirb" came along a little bit tougher, whereas the new single "Ich bin die Sehnsucht in dir" is more laid back. What can we expect from the album, music-wise? Campino: Neither do we orientate ourselves according to our previous records, nor according to anything else. A new record for us is nowadays more something like a diary, showing what has been going on around us in the past few months. And this covers a whole range of different tracks. "Friss oder stirb" (eat or die) was not intended as a signpost, saying, from now on it’ll all be 1-2-3-4 kick it. "Sehnsucht" (yearning) might have more of a message than "Friss oder stirb", to me this has nothing to do with how loud or fast a song is. And I think we have managed to come up with some songs that hurt. ??? Could you give us one or the other example? Campino: "Die Behauptung" (the assertion) is a track that is quite underhand. It has rather classic music, but the lyrics are really sick, it’s a pain for the ears. The song is irritating and disturbing. When you hear it first, you are surprised and interested, but when you’ve heard it ten times, it’ll start to enervate you. It’s very catchy, rather an earwig, and really annoying. And yet, we are all convinced that it belongs on the album. Of course there are other tracks that are more smooth. I’m happy that we managed to tuck in a few faster songs towards the home stretch, because such songs, according to me, always belong on an album, too. ??? So we can expect a mixture of very diverse styles again? Campino: I’m not like the Ramones, who record 15 versions of the same track and put it on one album. That is an art in itself which we don’t master as well as the Ramones, who always managed to come up with five really good songs. We can try as we might, we will always be the Toten Hosen, and there are some significant characteristics. But if there is one thing you can count on, then it is that we will always try out a side line, do something in another direction, and it doesn’t always work out well, but sometimes it does. ??? Another difference to former recording sessions was that this time round you were filmed by a TV team, working on your program "Friss oder stirb" for MTV. Did that change anything for you? Campino: The television team really only came in during the final phase, when the outlines for the songs were already done. And we very quickly got used to the guys being around. Since they follow us 12 hours a day and tape our meetings, too, they already have their own opinions about some songs. They are so close to us that they have almost become members of Tote Hosen for this production. I can talk to the producer, Stefan Kloos, about a lot of things really well, because he now knows how it all works. It is a strange kind of approaching each other from both sides; they don’t pester us at all! ??? Were you satisfied with the first announcements for "Friss oder stirb"? Campino: Wherever you looked, people said MTV was doing a German version of the Osbourne show. But that’s complete bullshit. We’re not doing a home story. We’re just giving people the opportunity to have a more in-depth glimpse at the life of a rock band. And we want it to be universally applicable. In the ideal case, it shouldn’t really bother the people who watch whether they see Marius Müller Westernhagen (German rock star) talking to his lawyer or one of the Toten Hosen. This is not meant to prove what a pack of funny weirdos the Toten Hosen are. It’s just a part of it, one aspect, to show that we’re still having a ball, no matter whether we learn to play golf, riding horses, or parachuting. But if that were the only impression left after watching the program, it would not have been enough.
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