Torrie (T): So, actually it’s time to start, and today is a very special day.

André (A): Why? (laughs)

Sven (S): Is it? (laughs)

T: It is! Because it’s an honour for me to interview my favourite band ever…

(Sven laughs loudly)

A: Where is it?

T: …in my home country!

A: Your favourite band?

T: Right here! Opposite me.

S: Very nice (smiles)

T: So welcome back to Russia, guys, and hello to you both.

S: Yeah, hello.

A: Thank you!

T: Did you have time to do any sightseeing in St. Petersburg and Moscow?

S: Yeah, we had a little too much time actually, because the hotel wasn’t ready, when we arrived in Moscow… So… We’ve been to, um, the red place…

T: The Red Square.

S: Yeah, the Red Square, we actually wanted to go to Lenin…

A: «Mavzoley Lenina»!

S: Exactly!

(Torrie claps hands)

A: The only Russian, that’s all I know.

S: It was closed, and we wanted to go to this church; it was closed as well, and so we decided to have a coffee, then we were eating potatoes with potatoes…

T: Typical Russian food…

A: Typical Russian vegie menu!

S: It was nice, and then we… our hotel room was ready, and we first took a shower and had two hours of sleep.

T: This is nice.

A: Yeah, it was nice.

S: That was really good, especially because we couldn’t really shower after the show last night; that is not really nice.

T: Neither could we! So… nice. Actually, is it colder here than in Germany right now?

S: Yes, absolutely, yes. I don’t know how much, but I can check if you want…

T: No, you don’t have to.

S: But it’s colder. It’s even colder in Moscow than in St. Petersburg!

A: Yeah!

T: Colder than in Spain anyway…

S: Of course!

    

T: You’re touring this year to promote your latest album «Another Manic Episode», so I would like to ask a few questions on the album first. So.. If we look at the cover of the album, we can see the picture which already tells us something about, like, manic episodes of someone. How can you describe this picture and what image did you want to translate to the public?

S: Well, um… I think the image of the cover art is showing everything it has to show.

T: Like everything is exploding.

S: Yeah, like an exploding mind.

T: An exploding man (laughs)

S: I think that’s exactly what happens when you have a manic episode, you know (laughs)

T: Are there any more pictures of that series?

S: No. I just made this one, and it took a big amount of time to get it done this way…

T: Is it a kind of evolution of the cover artwork of Whiteout?

S: No! Not intentionally. (laughs) But of course it’s a little similar. But it wasn’t intentional.

T: I see. So, let’s go deeper into the album.

S: Oohhh… (laughs)

T: In one of the interviews you said that this album is NOT conceptual. But most people see is as conceptual indeed; it looks exacly like that. What makes you think it’s NOT conceptual?

S: Well, because it wasn’t planned! It wasn’t planned like that. It just happened. I think, a concept album is something when you… you know, when you have it in mind to write an album on one topic or theme. That wasn’t the case. It just happened that… you know, of course, when you write an album, it happens at certain time, you know, limited time, it was like a year. And of course, the things that you deal with in this time are present on the album, so… that’s all in all belongs together.

T: So again it was NOT intentional…

S: No-no-no! Nothing’s intentional!

(Andre laughs)

T: Everything is absolutely natural!

S: It’s just what happens! No, really. I think I couldn’t say «Okay, at the moment I’m interested in fish and now I’ll make an album about fish». I mean, this is ridiculous.

T: But now you’re interested in manic episodes, so you’re making an ablum about that, I guess (laughs)

S: I wasn’t, I wan’t really. I mean, the album title always is the last thing that comes to my mind. I was thinking so much about it. Usually I try to find some words in the lyrics, but I didn’t find anything that would be good for a title of the record. Then you have to… I mean, you’re so much… After the production you’re so much into this, into all this, into this work, that you… Ususally you should have some distance, but there is no distance…

T: Because you were working up to the latest moment…

S: Exactly. And so for me it’s really hard to find a word or a group of words… to say… what has to be said as a title.

(Sven looks at Andre and laughs)

T: Andre? Do you have manic episodes from time to time?

(Sven laughs again)

A: All my life is a manic episode!

T: On stage, for example?

A: Yeah! But it’s what the music sends to me. I can’t handle it. It happens. Isn’t it live manic episodes?

T: Be careful with your forehead tonight.

S: Yeah!

T: If we go into the lyrics, there’s a person who posesses some sociopathic, schizophrenic or manic mind. Who does this person usually talk to in the songs?

S: To everyone or to himself, or to good friends, or bad friends, or… to anyone, actually. Whoever has to…

T: Whoever is good for this position…

S: Yeah, or bad — it doesn’t really matter. Not everything has to be good in the end. But this is kind of complicated. When one feels things differently…

T: And the listener associates himself or herself with the person—

S: Yeah! This is the thing, that of course, I don’t know, if you’re identifying with a part of this album, you really have a big problem. (laughter)

T: Maybe it’s a way for somebody to cure?

S: I don’t think so. If you really have a serious psychic problem…

T: You wouldn’t probably be listening to this?

S: Yeah… You can feel maybe a little more understood, but I don’t think this could really help. I don’t know. Maybe it’s helpful… a little (grins)

T: Which song was the first to appear?

S: It was «Under Control» actually. That was also the first song that we played live already on this tour with Camouflage.

T:And which song was written the last?

S: I don’t really remember… I think it was… I don’t know. Because yeah, in the end… usually I’m working at the same time on, like, four songs. I mean, not necessarily! Usually I’m recording and recording, and then I have, like, four ideas, and then I start writing lyrics for those songs, and then I’m going deeper into… So I really don’t know.

T: I remember when you were working on «Reasons to Kill», you spent quite a lot of time getting one of the songs ready, I guess it was «Change the View». Did you have any problems like this with this album?

S: Maybe it’s the problem of my memory, but I don’t really remember that there was something… of course, it’s never been so hard (laughs) for me to finish the song like this one, «Change the View». But I also had one song… I think it was «If I Were You»… Yeah, «If I were You», that was also… It developed very much. (laughs) First there were these verses, they never really changed, but then I wrote a chorus for that and then I didn’t like it anymore; then I wrote this other part… which is still in the song, and I wanted to make it a chorus, but it didn’t work as a chorus, then I wrote another part…

T: Like a bridge?

S: Yeah, yeah, it’s just a bridge, and the chorus is finally the thing which is now there. (grins) This was a little complicated, but I think it was just a process that took me a little more time than it usually does.

T: So I can see, a song can change quite a lot.

S: Absolutely.

T: Does it happen to the texts as well?

S: When the music stays as it is… not very often, because I usually… no, not very often. Sometimes I feel that there’s a line that, you know, is not very good; then I also have friends in England who proofread my lyrics and they also suggest me sometimes things that they, you know, could say in a better way.

T: What do you find most difficult in songwriting?

S: In songwriting — nothing. No, it’s always a very exciting process for me. This is not difficult, it’s just great, just fun.

T: How about periods like post-production, mastering?

S: Yeah, this is what I find most difficult is mastering, because I’m so unsure all the time, you know, I have like so many different headphones, different speakers, and stuff, and I tend to listen to the master on as many sound systems as possible, like in a car with a CD system, in a car with a good system, I dunno, everywhere, and it should sound good everywhere. Of course it doesn’t. It does never. But I always try to compare to songs that I know they sound good. But it’s a very strange process, I really don’t like it. I like it when it’s done, and when I can say now it’s finished, it’s fine, and it sounds pretty much the same everywhere…

T: But I guess you wouldn’t like to delegate this to somebody else.

S: No, absolutely not. I did this before, and I was never really satisfied with the result, that’s why I decided to do it by myself. Since that I’m quite okay with everything.

A: That’s a good decision. It sounds very fett.

T: Andre, how about you? You also write songs. So what’s most difficult for you in songwriting and after that?

A: The mixing and the mastering, but I give it in strange hands. But songwriting is easy. It takes a long time, if I don’t have enough ideas. But when idea is there… then the lyrics… then it’s quick. It’s done.

T: Well, I hope you’re happy with the results most of the time.

A: With my songs? No, I’m never. It’s everytime I criticize my work. I’m my hardest critic. But it’s okay. It’s okay. It brings me forward. (grins)

S: And depresses all the time! (laughs)

T: But then depression becomes a new inspiration source, and then it happens again and again.

A: I’m over-inspirated! (laughs) That’s why I’m here.

T: Coming back to Sven… You have travelled a lot in the last few years, so I guess your life speed is now much faster than before, than it used to be…

S: No, I think it was always very very fast. Too fast for me actually.

T: I’ve noticed that you don’t have as many really slow-tempo songs as you used to have, so…

S: That’s correct now.

T: Maybe it is connected somehow?

S: No, nooo, I don’t think so. I just want to have as many fast songs on the album as possible (laughs) and in-between… Yeah, because, I mean, you know, um, this is so strange, because everybody sees me as the guy who always writes ballads. I dunno why actually.

T: Because they are really nice! (laughs)

S: Sure, I like doing that, but I don’t want an album full of ballads, because for me this is as boring as it would be if every song had the same tempo on the album. So I try to find a good mixture and I try to have more fast songs than slow songs, that’s all.

T: So I think this is the same reason for choosing so many energetic songs for the current setlist?

S: Yeah, I mean, of course live they are really fun. It’s always more fun to play, like, straightforward songs, I mean it’s both good, and also the ballads are really… people like it very much, even live. I don’t know. I think, the setlist is really nice. It’s not getting boring, I guess.

T: No, actually there are so many energetic, uplifting, you know, danceable songs…

S: Yeah, that’s also very exhausting for us!

T: And for the audience too!

S: Yeah, I know, I know!

T: Because, when you get pretty much tired, you expect a slow-tempo song to come, but it never comes, so you have to dance!

S: It does! It does, I mean, we have like the third or fourth song «Here I Stand» which is very low…

A: That’s good to play it. For me!

S: Yeah, for me too!

T: There has always been a bit of humour in Solar Fake.

S: Absolutely!

T: Well, starting with the funny merchandise back in the past, then lyric lines like «I’d have killed the neighbours kids for you» and then… what else? We have also video reports from club bathrooms… Thanks, Andre! (Sven laughs)

A: Me?

S: Yeah, he always takes a camera!

T: And then your cat invited everyone to the concert in Helsinki…

S: Yeah, I think it’s bad if you take yourself too serious, because we aren’t! I mean, we’re actually not serious. We’re not serious guys. I dunno. There’s no reason.. I mean, we know we’re entertaining, we’re not artists… I mean, when we are Solar Fake. (laughter) He’s an artist, he’s more an artist than I am.

T: Really?

S: For his paintings, and I… I don’t see myself as an artist. Doing Solar Fake is so much fun, that it would be so wrong if you see it as serious or… I mean, of course sometimes there are serious songs, of course. But I dunno, for me the fun is so much more important.

T: And the sense of humour really helps in life, doesn’t it?

S: Absolutely. I dunno, maybe it’s also because we’re getting more and more cynic (laughs) with the age, I dunno. But I think the lyrics on the last album are really developing in the direction that I really like. So I think I will push it a little further. (laughs)

T: And finally we have this video for «Under Control» which is absolutely hillarious together with the outtakes.

S: Also a good example for not taking yourself too serious.

T: How did you develop this idea of, like, killing each other in the video?

S: It was not my idea, no-no. It was the idea of the director and the victim. I’m working together with this artist, a graphic artist also, she also designed the cover, this exploding person. And she developed the story and more or less wrote the script and had everything in mind; she was more or less directing this. And I really loved the idea from the first moment, because I think this is… I don’t like videoclips where they say what is said in the lyrics. Because, I mean, it’s said in the lyrics, you don’t need the visual thing. But I think the humour of the lyrics of «Under Control» is exactly… it matches exactly what the video is saying. So… It’s just fun. (laughs)

T: There’s one more detail and the fans are interested… At the end of the video Sven picks up the girl and takes her somewhere, so… where exactly?

S: Where exactly? Just away, I just take her with me.

T: So the girl is not going to kill the driver?

S: You never know!

A: You will see on the next album. (laughter)

T: Let’s hope so! Andre, was it difficult to play in front of the camera?

A: No! I don’t know, had nothing problems with to do something stupid. Just killing in front of the camera. I don’t know why.

S: No, you really did a great job actually.

A: I don’t think about it.

T: «I’d have killed the neighbours’ girl for you»

(Sven laughs)

A: It’s okay for me.

T: Do you think you could work as an actor?

A: I would try! It’s ok, I don’t know, in a serious movie or something… I would try, yeah! It’s a lot of fun.

T: Then the question to the both of you: which do you enjoy more — directing or acting?

A: Acting.

S: Directing. Absolutely.

A: But I can’t direct… (laughter)

S: No, ablolutely, because I can’t act. Really, it’s not the thing for me. (laughter) That’s why it’s always good to be a singer, because I always know what to do and I don’t have to act which is quite good. I mean I can’t even walk in front of the camera. I can’t!

A: You’re a good singer, I’m a dancer. (laughter)

S: (quotes The Killers) «Are we human? Or are we dancer?»

      

T: Coming back to the songwriting. If you could turn back the time, would you change some of the songs that you have already written?

S: Do you mean Solar Fake or everything?

T: Solar Fake. Like, with a different arrangement, or different lyrics, or some parts sung differently…

S: No! No, no… No, not at all. If I would feel that way, I could do in the live version, we could make a different live verson. No, I really like the songs as they are. I really don’t feel the need to change the songs from the past. If I have something in mind, I would rather write a new song than change an old one. I mean, of course, people also… I think, when they come to a concert, they are not interested in new versions of old songs — I think, I don’t know! Seeing it from my point of view, when I go to a concert, and there is a band… because they are so bored of the old versions they’ve played like 10 or 20 years and then they change it so much that you hardly recognize the song anymore. I don’t like that very much. That’s why I think I just keep the old songs as they are and write new ones.

T: But I also noticed some really slight changes in vocal lines, but it works pretty good I think.

S: Yeah, this is when you play a song several times, then you have ideas and then you try to find some small things which could work better than the original one. It’s just small, small changes.

T: You both have been working together for a really long time. Have you ever been bored of performing the same songs again and again?

S: Oh yes. But not for Solar Fake.

A: The old Dreadful Shadows songs… I can’t play them anymore. They are good songs, but we played them so long after all, that I got bored.

S: Yeah. Same for me. I’m so done with that, really! (laughs)

T: I think, the champion of changes is «Hiding memories from the sun», because every time I hear it live from you, it changes so much, like, in the vocal performing…

S: Not intentionally as well!!! (laughter) Really, is it so?

T: Yes!

S: Then maybe I should listen to the record…

T: When you were performing it on the ship, it sounded pretty much differently from the album version.

A: The thing is why, it’s getting better?

S: It’s getting different!

A: Different?!

T: I think this is the song which always, like, evolves and develops.

S: This is strange, because I don’t feel that way. For me, I’m doing it exactly as on the album live… Honestly I haven’t heard the album version for a very long time. So maybe I should listen to that again. And I always forget the lyrics of this song, so maybe this is the reason! I dunno why, but I always forget. I have always the beginnings of the lines I have written on my pad, on my tablet PC, but in «Hiding memories from the sun» I always forget, you know, the final part!

T: Then you have to invent the lyrics on the go.

S: Maybe I develop!

(laughter)

T: Do you ever listen to the old material that you have ever written from all the previous projects?

S: Rarely, but sometimes. When I had to choose the songs for the Gothic Meets Classic thing, because I have to… I was asked to play also two songs of Zeraphine there.

T: Just two of them?..

S: Yeah, just two. I had to… I dunno, I went through some songs, and I found it quite nice to listen to the songs again, and also because we had, like, one concert last year I think, with Zeraphine at Amphi festival… and then also had to prepare and listen to the songs and… it’s good it’s fun to move back.

T: But I guess it feels different nowadays…

S: Yeah, it all… Sure, sure.

T: Yesterday after the concert I talked to some friends and they told me: Now we have seen Solar Fake live and we understand that Sven is really a 100% Solar Fake and not Zeraphine anymore, and not Dreadful Shadows anymore… It’s a 100% Solar Fake.

S: True!

T: True! (laughter) And for those who aren’t going to Gothic Meets Classic, could you reveal which songs you have chosen from Zeraphine?

S: I could, but.. ah, from Zeraphine, it’s «Die Wirklichkeit» and «Sterne sehen». I was thinking about lots of songs we’ve had, like, four or five albums…

T: Five.

S: …yeah. (laughs) But I thought I’ll go with the most wanted. We were also trying to arrange «Be My Rain», but it didn’t really work. Before we make a crappy version of the most famous song we decided to… or I decided, together with the guy who arranges the orchestra, we decided to go for these two songs.

T: Are you going to perform there together?

A: Yeah!

S: He will make some keyboard things, and there’s also the guitar player of Zeraphine, Norman, and Marcellus as a drummer… We’re all playing all songs, we don’t like limitations, that the Zeraphine guys only play the Zeraphine songs, they’ll also play Solar Fake songs.

T: Wonderful. Then, you’re doing quite a lot of remixing these days. Have you ever thought of remixing or, actually, covering any of the Zeraphine songs? Like you did with the Dreadful Shadows one.

S: I think I did… I’ve already made a remix… aaahh you mean for Solar Fake! No… erm… no. (laughs) I have made a remix, but it was for Zeraphine, but also electronic, for «Be My Rain», I think all the singles of mine…

T: But it’s been years since that…

S: Yeah, absolutely. No, no, I haven’t thought about that. It’s also a little tricky with the rights. I actually didn’t know that when I was making this cover-version of «Craving» (laughs) but it was the same record company we were on. The record company owns «Craving» and the old Solar Fake stuff, so this is not a big problem, but now it would be a problem, because Zeraphine was at a differect record company, and it’s not a problem to make a cover version, but I’m not allowed to do a cover version of myself, because this is kind of a tricky thing with the rights.

T: I see.

S: Because then I could, you know, just record the songs with a different record company in the same way and say it’s a cover version, and I could just re-record the album the old company has the rights to…

T: Gosh, this is so complicated.

S: Yeah, I think it’s not a good idea to do this!

T: Anyway!

A: It’s German…

S: Yeah, I think America is worse…

T: Then there was a cover-version which you did for the song by The Editors, «Papillon», but it was never released, not as a live, not as a studio version, never, like, we have never heard it in the studio version. But! When the Amphi festival made…

S: The trailer!

T: …made a trailer, there was—

S: I know! (laughs)

T: But you know, only a short piece of that, so… First the listeners were delighted, we got disappointed again, because it was just a piece…

S: The thing is, it was produced for… There was that… with Wave Gothic Treffen, a few years ago, there was always this first day…

T: Like electronic parties?

S: Yeah, yeah, like… The name of the party was Electronic All Stars where some singers did some cover versions. That was the only intense that I made this for. It was never planned for releasing as Solar Fake.

T: Undortunately!

S: But maybe we’ll do, we’ve played it on the boat, and it was funny.

T: Everyone loves this song and this version.

S: Maybe if we don’t have a better idea for a cover version for next album…

T: Well, we don’t mind if you make two.

S: I know! (laughs)

T: But I thought maybe there are some problems with the permission like you had with the Lana Del Ray song…

S: I don’t know! I think we will clear this first. But I mean you always have to send the verion to the owner of the rights. So first you have to produce it and the work is done. And they say no.

T: Andre, if you were choosing some songs to cover, which songs would you choose for Herzfeind or maybe Solar Fake? Which would be your choice?

A: I don’t like cover versions! (Sven laughs) When I make music I like to play my own songs.

T: Aha. Maybe you would like somebody to cover some Herzfeind song?

A: Yeah!

T: Solar Fake? Sorry, just kidding! (laughter)

A: No Solar Fake, no. We should mix it. But I think I would cover «Observer» or… this dubstep song…

S: From the new album?

A: Ne… (discusses it with Sven)

T: «Hate you more than my life»? There’s a bridge written in that way…

A: I don’t know the name… But anyway there are some great songs to cover.

T: Have you ever had an idea to sing together as a duet? Apart from live shows, like, I remember you singing together one of the cover versions at the acoustic show last year…

A: At a normal show it’s not possible for me to sing. It’s too breathtaking. Maybe we should do that. He used to sing, I used to dance for Solar Fake. We should do sing together.

T: I thought it might be a good idea because actually the both of you can sing.

A: It’s actually my problem. But it’s good. It’s good oh it is.

    

T: Sven, do you have any ideas, maybe song ideas, that you collect that do not fit with Solar Fake so far?

S: Yeah, I have had… When I was writing songs for «Another Manic Episode», I had some ideas which were better fit to… Actually I would, like, have two other projects in mind, but I don’t have time to make this. The one is a very poppy thing which I think I wouldn’t perform by myself. The other is a kind of electro-punky stuff. But basically I have more lyric ideas for electro-punk than I have musical ideas for that. I just put them aside and… when I’m bored one day, which I think will never happen (laughter) then I can think about it.

T: So it’s not the time yet for a new project.

S: Absolutely not, no-no-no. No! I think when you have or you feel the need to do something new, you’re bored with your old stuff. And I’m so NOT bored of Solar Fake! It’s always getting better and always getting bigger and everything is in such a good progress that, you know, even if it’s not intentional, I wouldn’t like to change anything or I wouldn’t like to defocus myself, so that’s why, absolutely no reason for that.

T: One of my friends told me yesterday that some of Ten After Dawn songs sound like as if they covered Solar Fake in the style of Diary of Dreams.

(laughter)

S: Well, yeah, why, yeah.

A: Your friends think a lot about it, no? (laughs)

T: Sure!

A: It’s a joke.

T: Actually my next question is connected to the fan audience. There are quite a lot of hardcore fans who have been following you since the Dreadful Shadows times… And also you belong to this part of Schwarze Szene devision, and you still perform at gothic festivals in Germany and Europe. But do you see Solar Fake as a part of the gothic subsulture anyhow? Because it sounds differently and you don’t look so much gothic nowadays.

S: No, no, sure. I think the gothic cutlure is so varying and has so many faces there — of course we’re a part of that. But I think, there are also a lot of people who have never connected to this but still like our music, so we’re not pushing ourselves into this, but of course we are a part of that, as many other bands which also don’t really sound gothic. There are so many bands of the same genre like VNV Nation, it’s just like trancy pop stuff they do. And of course it’s not very dark. Still it’s part of the scene. But I mean it’s really changed so much since the 90s, so much, I mean, almost completely.

T: Are there any expectations that you set on the people who come to your concerts?

S: No, they should just forget about conventions and just have fun. Or that’s maybe the only thing that counts to make the evening with us successful. Everybody has fun.

A: You should have fun as a spectator.

T: If the audience has fun, then the artists have fun!

A: Yeah!

S: Absolutely!

T: As for creativity, Andre is a painter. Do you think you could paint pictures or artworks for other artists for their album covers or artworks?

A: Maybe!

T: You can try!

A: I would try! But I don’t really see myself as a painter. (Sven laughs) I love to paint, but I don’t feel I’m a good painter.

T: But.. you can see there are quite a lot of people who like your paintings.

A: Yeah, that’s an honour for me!

T: Maybe you should try. Who knows maybe someday you will make a cover artwork for a Solar Fake album…

A: Erm…

(Torrie and Sven laugh out loud)

A: I think we should mix it. I don’t think it’s a good idea, but he has his stuff in mind, and we work too close, and we don’t have to bring the ideas together… I don’t think it’s a great idea.

S: I think it’s also a little complicated with me, because I think I’m not very easy to deal with. That’s why I’m doing everything myself.

T: Uncompromising…

S: Yeah, kind of, kind of. I understand that if you work together with an artist, then you get a piece of art, and you shouldn’t change it, but I always have to change it so that I like it. And I’m not able to paint, I can’t do that.

A: I don’t think it’s the right kind of artwork for Solar Fake.

S: I mean, of course, if I see a piece of art that I would say wow, this is exactly what I need, then it’s something different, but when I ask — it’s not about Andre — when I ask an artist and I explain, like, a few things and I would try to see something dark but also bright blablabla, stuff like that, and then I get an artwork back, based on this information, and I really… you know…

T: And «this is not what I wanted»!

S: Exactly! (laughter) What should I do then? That’s why I would never do this. I mean, if I see something that is already finished and I think this is exactly what I need, then it’s a different thing, but… yeah…

T: Andre has some more pieces of art on his body, and I’m talking about your tattoos!

A: My tattoos?

T: Yes! Can you tell us bit more about them?

A: There’s nothing to tell about them, it’s just tattoos.

T: Well, every tattoo has some story behind it.

A: Yeah, I like the one on my neck.

T: How many do you have?

A: Three. One is an accident, I was very young! It’s a kind of tribal, but it looks like a blue blurry something. Then I have a geisha on the right arm, and I was a big fan of the movie, «The Geisha», so I got the tattoo, and… I wouldn’t do it again. But I like the Buddha on my neck. I’m close to this Buddhist thing.

T: Do you think you could do any more tattoos?

A: Erm… no.

T: So that’s enough.

A: That’s enough for me, yeah. I tried to, but it’s not so…

(Sven laughs)

A: The whole worls is tattoed…

S: Except for me! (laughs)

T: Yes, how about you?

A: He’s clean!

S: Yeah, I’m completely clean. The only thing I could imagine, but I think it’s not a good idea, is to make a complete tattoo of the whole body with white. (laughter)

T: White?!

S: Yeah! Because it’s easy, because I’ve heard that the pieces where tattoo is, no hair is growing anymore which is very good, and you don’t shave all the time…

A: A white suit!

S: Yeah, and you don’t get brown in the sun. Would be perfect. Yeah… I have two problems. I could never decide for something, I’m not someone who makes decisions, this is really a big problem. And I don’t like the idea to have ink under my skin. I think this is really weird. I don’t want this.

T: How about piercing?

A: Yeah! Like!

T: You have you lip pierced… Sven has his ear pierced, so…

S: But this is just an earring. (laughter) You know. I like that!

T: Actually I myself had my ear pierced like a few months before, and I’m really enjoying it.

A: Did you do yourself?

T: No, I had it done by the master.

A: Ah, okay. I think you do it by yourself and you enjoy it. (Sven laughts) It’s pain!

T: Some people do it themselves, but…

I: I do. It’s dangerous, yeah.

S: Did you youself??

T: She’s a dangerous girl.

I: I know.

T: She is! Well, if I decide to pierce my secong ear, I will ask you.

I: No prob, you’re always welcome.

S: This was also done by a friend of mine. It was really really long ago. He was like the number one punk and he was a really fat guy back then. This part is very small, and he was like shivering because it was so small, and he had trouble with the needle. But he did it… quite good. It’s the same with tattoos, I like to see them, I like people who are tattoed, I like people who are pierced, but I wouldn’t do it to myself.

T: Keeping it natural.

S: Yeah, kind of. More or less… Not really, because I also don’t like body hair. This is natural, and I really.. boah, this is…

A: This is too much.

S: This is almost the worst thing.

T: I can’t help… Sorry, don’t look at me!

S: No, no! I mean, when you see like… Ah… No, let’s change it. (laughter) This is kind of dangerous. A dangerous field. (laughs)

T: Yeah, we’d better talk about creativity. (Sven laughs) Can enybody learn to be creative?

A: I don’t think so.

S: I don’t know. I think everybody can be creative. I don’t think there is anyone who is not creative or can’t be creative. Maybe it’s just not developed.

A: I think everybody is creative. You can’t be a human without being creative. I think about what’s best for me, in cooking or whatever.

S: Dressing!!

A: Yeah, dressing, make up… It’s always creative to do.

T: So just practice, practice is what is needed.

S: That’s true! Absolutely. If you don’t practise, you can’t do anything. With an instrument it’s just like a tool.

A: Most people are creative like us, but we are nerds! (Sven laughs) It’s good, we have to show it to everybody!

T: What is the worst thing about being a musician?

A: Waiting.

S: Waiting and no money. (Andre laughs) No money and waiting.

T: Then what is the best thing about being a musician?

S: All the rest!

A: Yeah! Travelling all the world… doing concerts… meeting people…

S: Feeling excited, feeling wanted, this is kind of nice. And also making new albums, writing new songs, it’s always really good. The only bad thing is yeah, waiting…

T: And being broke sometimes.

S: Being broke all the time.

A: (laughs) 80% of musicians are paying for trains, for hotel rooms, for dinner…

T: Well then, let’s hope being a musician will always be nice for you and especially tonight!

A: That’s the only thing we can.

T: Yes, so I’m going to wish you a great show tonight, and great audience, so thank you so much for your time!

A: Thank you for talking to us!

S: Thank you! For all the questions…

T: Actually as this is the second interview I have ever done with Solar Fake, let’s follow the tradition and this time again an air kiss for the both of you.

(Sven laughs)

A: Thank you!

T: Thank you so much.

S: Always welcome.