Featuring Michael From:Shadow-Minds Interview by Ruud Dreessen aka ebm-industrial.nl Date:07 May 2009
What and who are some of your influences in music?
Our music was mainly influenced by the mainstream of the Eighties. Especially the Synthie-influences of Bands like Depeche Mode and Front 242.
What are your top ten favorite EBM / Industrial Club Songs of all time?
This is not an easy question to answer. There are many songs which meet our gusto, but there aren’t any specific ones I could name.
Tell one secret about yourself or the band that you have never told to anyone?
There are no Secrets covering the Shadow-Minds.
So tell me a bit more about yourself, such as musical?
Well, I’m the Keyboarder and Songwriter of the Band. Lately I’ve been doing some of the studio work, due to Timo, our former Sound Engineer, leaving the Shadow-Minds on personal reasons.
How and why did you come about starting The Shadow Minds? what else inspires you to create?
I had the idea of founding the Shadow-Minds on a Festival which Mike, our singer before Charly, Timo and I visited together. Timo und I were already making music for a couple of years together, and Mike was a singer in another band. So after a couple of beers we all decided to bring the Shadow-Minds to life.
Let's talk about your debut albums "Simply Different" - 2005 and the numbers are Kedija Desert, Seelenschmerz, Soon Down?
Hmm, well that’s a long time ago. S-D was our Debut Album with Mike. In my personal opinion S-D was an early development stage, in which the band had to cope with the various tasks and different situations. Thinking about it, I would rate “Extend the Line” as our Debut Album.
Tell me why this title "Extend the Line"? Tell us a few words about the concept of this album?
ETL is supposed to express our musical development. As already mentioned earlier, is Extend the Line the first and definitely not the last album with our singer Charly. ETL is a very broad spread album from its influences and musical facets. For us, it was very important which builds a musical atmosphere starting with the first track and leaving it after the last. There is nothing missing on this Album for one who likes music from Synthie-Pop to melancholical EBM.
Tell me about te labels Nordlicht-Records?
N-R is our own Label with which we produced ETL together and our next Album will also be.
Tell me about Ultra Dark Radio?
Isn’t UDR an Online Radio, our am I mistaking?
What are your views on the current state of this electro scene in Germany. In terms of creativity and audiences? And the scene in other countries?
Basically is this Scene broadly spread over Germany. But the acceptance of new bands isn’t everywhere that enthusiastic as in regions like eastern Germany or the industrial region in the West. For example in Schleswig-Holstein, where we are from, it is almost impossible to get people to visit a concert. Festivals in the region Dithmarschen where even with the presence of popular bands like Colony 5 empty, which is a great pity. Therefor northern Germany is not the Number One address for concerts or festivals. We are really looking forward how it is going to be in other countries this year. We’ll be playing at the Moonlight-Festival in Italy, and we are really anxious about the turn out. This is an event which already brings a big smile on our faces.
You have very nice album and many many more tell me about lyrical compositions what you can tell about the done work? How does your music creation process work? How do you create a song?
The work on an Album is always very different. On some occasions the lyrics come first, on other ones we already got the song done first. It always depends on the mood we are in. The procedure of composing a song is very timetaking, because for us it is important that every Song is unique and something special.
Out of all of your albums, which album would you say is your favorite album? Why?
That’s easy. Definitely Extend the Line, because it expresses our individual and unique music style the best and is a lot more sophisticated than our first Simply Different.
Tell me more about all your singles Nemesis ?
Nemesis is partially a Club-Track which was accepted very positively. The song is very popular on our concerts. And Nemesis is still a fun track to play.
What is currently inspiring your material as an artist?
At the current moment we are working on our new Album. I spent 4 months in the United States to catch up some musical influences, which I definitely did, and will be reflected in the new tracks. But in the first line, we are inspired by personal experiences Charly and I lived through and which we express in our music. Therefor our songs are always something personal.
What ideas, movements and personalities would you say were crucial for the definition and development of The Shadow Minds as a creative entity?
Mainly everything which moves and touches us in our personal lives. As I already mentioned, personal experiences are a big part in the creation of our music, and many of our listeners understand our music.
If there was one thing you want people to know about your band what would that be?
That we exist. We want to reach as many people as possible with our music.
Tell me about 2008 the supported Blutengel in Berlins K17?
This was an awesome evening, the feed backs were outstanding. We decided to play songs from the at that time not yet released Album ETL. We were really excited how the audience was going to respond to our not yet released songs. Our opening song Breath broke the ice and weh ad great 45 minutes on stage. The audience in Berlin was awesome, really unbelievable and we were welcomed warmly.
How long have you been in the music industry and how has it changed over time? Now I have to ask,what's the inspiration for the The Shadow Minds story?.
Shadow-Minds exist since 2003 and the music has changed from then to now. We are still very eager to keep our style the way it is and not to fit in a mainstream frame. Stay by the roots. We won’t be the ones inventing the wheel all over again, but if ones listens to us, he or she will definitely hear the individual sound of the Shadow-Minds.
Please let us know about your upcoming plans, some new releases you like to confirm here
We will release the new Album towards the end of this year. We’ve planed some release concerts for around this release date. Bit for now, it is to early to talk facts about that, because we are still in the production phase of the Album. Parallel to that we are working on our new studio.
Last question Some final words to our readers to conclude this interview?
We would like to thank you Ruud for this great interview and we are really looking forward for the upcoming feed-back Visit us at www.myspace.com/shadowminds. You’ll find all important details and data to our music and concerts. We’ll se us in the future and best wishes to everyone.
NEVER STOP
Michael
[Musikvideo] Shadow-Minds - Nemesis
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