Nachfolgender Artikel/Interview mit Thomas Elbern aus dem Jahr 1997 ist erhalten. Habe ihn auf der Seite von Escape With Romeo gefunden.
Escape With Romeo - Spiritual Pop
After leaving the legendary German band PINK TURNS BLUE, Thomas Elbern shows up with the debut-album of his new band ESCAPE WITH ROMEO in Summer 1989. From then on the band receives overwhelming reaction and brings several hits on the indies dancefloors. With the next release "Nothing lasts Forever"(ep),the group establishes itself as a reference on the wave scene and teases the German and Spanish charts.
At that time ESCAPE WITH ROME0 also start performing live and on the bill of several big festivals. 1992 sees the release of the second real fullength album "Autum On Venus" which will be promoted by an extensive tour through Germany and Spain. Some months later, the band intends to show a different face and publish an acoustic album logically entitled "Stripped" which will become a reference release for the fans. In between several club mixes featured on maxi's, comes the third cd "Next Stop Eternally" immediately followed by a best of compilation "Like Eyes In The Sunshine" summarising the evolution of ESCAPE WITH ROMEO from a darkwave sound to something much more melancholic and somewhat poppier as well. Since then workholic Thomas Elbern, agai nrecently released a brilliant album and is now finishing the productionwork of a live cd. Next to this he also put out several discs of his soloproject ELBERN with which he dares everything ESCAPE WITH ROMEO prevents him from doing as well as expressing himself in his native language German. It was hard for Sideline to get in touch with the busy mastermind Thomas Elbern, and we only managed to get a very fast chat to learn a bit more about this excellent and talented artist's current activities.
SL. Which was according to you the main event in your music career till today?
T. Well, one of the highlights in my socalled "career" was ... for sure our ESCAPE WITH ROMEO tour in Spain in 1993...
SL. How would you describe your music to someone having never heard any of your songs yet?
T. Hmm, I would describe them as spiritual pop music and for those people who still need labels on every music, let's say it's what people still call today "wave" music...
SL. Your music is hard to label I think. You are in a certain manner between electro wave and smooth goth, with some pop undertones ... ? What are your main influences for the music?
T. My influences vary all the time actually, because I listen to lots of different types of music. As a kids it was Dzvid Bowie, Pink Floyd and Neil Young. Then in the eighties there was all the new wave bands from joy Division to Psychedelic Furs. After that some indies bands like Leaetherface, Pixies and Thin White Rope. And today a lot of the smoother techno and ambient stuff ranging from Orbital to Biosphere. All this influences me a bit, apart from the fact that I also listen a lot to choirs and new classical music.
SL. And what about the texts?
T. The lyrics are the main point in my music! My texts are definitely worth to be read during listening to the music... And with both texts and music, several doors may be opened...
SL. The lyrics are all in English while with ELBERN, everything is written in German? Please explain us a bit the difference between borth projects and your respective intentions with both bands / projects?
T. Well, to explain you ELBERN is not very hard you know: the concept behind it is to use the German language to build up a different atmosphere than what I do with ESCAPE WITH ROMEO. My major musical influences for this project were the Schlager songs of the twenties and thirties. The new context are just the electronic sounds that were constructed around... You see, sort of Marlene Dietrich in a science fiction movie or so! Imagine!!!
SL. Which was your main aim when starting making music for the first time? And did you ever reach this goal so far?
T. My aim when starting music was to find another art of communication and expression... And, I'm still working on that actually...
SL. How is your band doing so far?
T. I'm working on new material due to be released by the second half of the year. Then we of course plan another tour in Germany.
SL. I have the impression, your popularity is essentially centred on Germany. Am I wrong?
T. If you got any ideas to change the situations please let me know then!
SL. "Blast Of Silence" is your latest album to date. Could you tell us more about its conten, its recording session and its meaning?
T. I must say that I nearly recorded "Blast Of Silence" on my own. The meaning of that album lies behind each song separately. It's very personal and electric at the same time…
SL. Is there anything you wanted me to ask that I forgot?
T. Where is god?
by TSF.
Blast of Silence
Title
01 Rescue Me
02 Wings
03 Dreamcatcher
04 The Furthest With The Least
05 Pornography
06 The Fall Of Your Empire
07 Lucifer's Rising
08 Last Day On Earth
09 The Visions Of The Holy Ghost
10 Face In The River
11 Eldorado
Genre: Electronic
Bitrate: 237 kBit/s (VBR)
Year: 1996
2 Kommentare:
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