noize.cc dredg interview

[futuresmydesign]

http://ww.noize.cc/stories/main.php?p_id=6080

good interview (in German) + pictures :-)

[Volvox]

Thanks, I will have a look

yea, really nice interview; good for people, who don't know them.

really funny how Gavin and Drew complain about the European release of CWA!

Which color does the CD have "original"?

[Morpheus]

Re: noize.cc dredg interview

http://ww.noize.cc/stories/main.php?p_id=6080

good interview (in German) + pictures :-)

Cheers again Sandra! (i should use that sentence as a signature )


Nice interview. i like what i read.

[StalkIncubus2012]

If only 3 1/2 years of German class did anything... :?

[evasivetear]

my german is excellent...as long as i don't try to read it or speak it or think it.....

[futuresmydesign]

re: noize.cc dredg interview

hey there, you should know me by now ;-) just give me some time, ok?

actually, this interview answered one of the questions that otherwise I would have asked drew in the 'ask drew' section... nice, nice interview!

[penguinintheroom]

yeah, i have no idea what any of it says....blast language barriers!

[futuresmydesign]

re: noize.cc dredg interview

I will do the translation and post it as soon as I can, at least for the most important/interesting parts, ok? There is a lot to do at work currently, so it may take a while this time.

@ Morpheus:
>Cheers again Sandra! (i should use that sentence as a signature )
Wow, that sounds great!!! 8) :lol: An den Luxus könnte ich mich glatt gewöhnen!

[Morpheus]

re: noize.cc dredg interview

ists so genehm?

[StalkIncubus2012]

nach drei jahren deutsche klasse ich habe keine idee was du zwei gesagt....that's the best i can do...i knwo its way off but o well

Added after 1 minutes:

after trying a little harder:

and then you can win my heart?!...maybe? lol i dont know!

[noclevername]

Vielen Dank, sandra. Sie sind so nützlich, wie Sie reizend sind.


Hope that came out right.....

[futuresmydesign]

re: noize.cc dredg interview

Hey, you are so sweet, guys :-)

@StalkIncubus2012: Who wants to win my heart? Did I miss something? LOL!

@ Morpheus: Ja, so ist's recht ;-) very much to my liking, indeed.

@ noclevername: Thank you! :-)

so, enjoy!

Dredg in Interview
(July 16, 2005)

Munich, Backstage, June 28, 2005

3:00 pm. Finally, I can sit down together with dredg bassist Drew Roulette and singer Gavin Heyes and talk about the new album, art and music...



Interviewer: It is been quite a while since you have been in Germany… the last time was 2 years ago, I guess…
Drew: Yes, that’s true, it has been long ago... As far as I can remember, we only played 2 shows...

Interviewer: Yes, one of them was the VISIONS-Westend Festival. We were there, too, and saw you the night before at the Warm-Up Party.
Drew: Oh really? Yes, exactly, this was a great concert!
Gavin: I remember it, too.

Interviewer: What is the strange instrument all about that Gavin uses? Did you invent this yourself?
Drew: Oh no, it is a Slide-Guitar. It is used a lot in Country/Western-Music. Normally, you do not often get in touch with it, so don't worry if you do not know this instrument (laughs)

Interviewer: I found it very impressive how you hit it with a saw, back in Dortmund (German city)...
Gavin: Yes, it is always a lot of fun! And it certainly looks cool for the audience!

Interviewer: How are you new songs going live? How is the feed back?
Drew: It is fantastic. The new songs are great to play live and people react very positively on them. The album was released just yesterday here, right? I am curious how it will be tonight. This is the opening concert of our tour. The songs work better live than the ones of the old album, at least this is my impression. They are better live songs/for playing live, definitely.

Interviewer: The audience is looking forward to seeing you playing live again, after such a long time!
Drew: That is good. We are also glad to be here again. More people know us now. How many people will be here tonight? Do you have an idea?

Interviewer: I guess the show is sold out, so there will be around 800 people.
Drew: Wow, that is awesome!

Interviewer: All in all, you are still a newcomer band. Do you expect more publicity or commercial success with your new album?
Drew: First of all, we make music for ourselves. We do not expect any success. Having an attitude like this, you cannot make music that comes from your heart. Music should always be fun, and this is not always the case when you try too hard to be successful with your music.

Interviewer: Can you live on your music?
Drew: No, not yet. We have to do some other things beside.

Interviewer: In comparison with El Cielo, your new album CWA is much more direct, the listener has a way easier approach to it. The songs are no way as complicated and unaccessable. Do you think that a concept may arise from this, let's say, how some actors do it? Making an independend film, followed by a block buster and than making an independend film again. Could this be transferred to you as well?
(Both laugh)
Drew: I like that idea. But no, this is not our kind.
Gavin: we just wanted to do sth new again. None of us had any ambitions to make a second El Cielo. This is the whole idea behind 'change', our band symbol.

Interviewer: Some people accuse that you first have shown that you can do experimental stuff and now you are trying to make money with the new album.
Gavin: Sure, the new album is very different from our last one, I fully agree with that. But some of the songs could have been part of El Cielo and vice versa. The album as a whole works and all band members are very happy with it. We always make an album out of an intention and not out of calculation (commercial motivation).



Interviewer: Gavin, you also write the lyrics. If one reads them, there are always these symbolic descriptions and metaphors. Do you have these pictures in your mind when you write or do they appear right at that moment?
Gavin: Drew and I have painted for a very long time. I have expressed my feelings and thoughts with it since early childhood. Thus, I do really have a picture in my mind about things that I am concerned with. Then I try to express it with words and maybe, sometimes, a song text arises from this. When I write or paint, I feel this relief that I expressed what I was concerned with.

Interviewer: Do you sometimes feel like neglect or even to sacrifice your other passions, such as making films, painting, writing and so on?
Drew: No, we have a lot of spare time, actually.
Gavin: Currently, music is the best medium for us to express ourselves. Thus, we do not have the feeling of giving up something else for it. And, as Drew pointed out already, we have a lot of time. Especially on tour, when we sit in the bus or at the venue, before the interviews take place, or during the sound check.

Interviewer: You have been on tour for a long time now, and together as band. Almost like a family. Could you imagine working together with other artists and musicians, too?
Gavin: Yes, of course. I have made several things with other musicians.
(unfortunately, at that moment it gets very noisy in the background, so that the tape recording does not display Gavin's words, in which he mentions the names of the other musicians...)

Interviewer: When you are on stage, one gets the feeling that you are completely lost in yourself and in the world of your music. Do you feel this moment, too, or is it just the impression of the audience?
Drew: No, we certainly feel this connection to the audience. Our best shows are those, when the audience is really into it.
Gavin: It is a song-to-song-thing. Between the songs, I perceive everything and during the song, I am somewhere, somehow.
Drew: If people are just standing there and do not show any emotion, then it is cold for us as well and the shows gets worse. It really is an interplay.

Interviewer: At the Warm-Up-Party of the Westend Festival I have looked around during your concert, and I have seen many people crying, because the atmosphere was so touching, and there were some tears running down my face, too, because it was just too beautiful and the spirit was so catching.
Gavin: Really? Oh, this is an honour for us. Yes, this happens sometimes. This is a special moment for us as well. We are always very grateful for these moments and feed on them.

Interviewer: There is a text part in the title track of your new album „... I'm not your star / I'm not that beam of light/here to save your life...“ Is this a statement against the business or is it addressed to your fans, for whom you do not want to be icons or anything like that?
Gavin: It is both. The song is about expectations addressed to us. People always expect things from us that we do not want to fulfil. Expectations of how a singer should be or whatever. I only want to be myself and want to be allowed to it. I want to remain honest, also on stage, and not pretend being someone else.

Interviewer: How do you feel after a recording? Do you feel empty somehow, do you need a break after that?
Drew: We write new songs constantly. Songwriting is a continouing process for us, that never ends. We even have ideas for a next album.
Gavin: All the influences that we get during the tour concern us and we get new ideas from it easily, as well as inspirations.
Drew: You cannot say what comes first, the melody or the lyrics. This often happens simultanously. One of us has an idea for a melody and Gavin has some lyrics for it directly. The creativity in our heads is working constantly.

Interviewer: Do you have any plans for a DVD?
Drew: Yes, it is in process already. There will be many things from the time of the recording of CWA. Live recordings... let's see what will be on it.



Interviewer: There are 12 symbols on the back cover of CWA. Do they represent the songs?
Drew: Yes, exactly. Each symbol represents a song. The most appropriate illustration of each of the songs, if you wish.
Gavin: There is also a real painting for each song, which you can see at our website and which we sell at our concerts. We have taken each an element from these pictures for the back cover.

Interviewer: Which brings me back to your band symbol: it looks differently from album to album...
Drew: Yes, it is a Chinese sign for 'change', thus the different design on each album...

Interviewer: At „Ode to the Sun“ you sing „...repair this tattered skin“. Do you think that other people can help to solve one's problems or are they just transferred/given to someone else?
Gavin: No, definitely. People can be of great help if you are going to difficult times. People that you love can keep you grounded/strenghthen your back. We are trying to transport this through our music.


Interviewer: You are doing so successfully. The lyrics give the listener or the reader the impression that you understand them and that you know how they feel. Are you aware that you can be of help for your fans through your music? Or don't you want to take over this responsibility in this form and is it too much for you?
Drew: Music is something so pure and honest, in which I believe and have faith. I can imagine very well that many people feel the same and if our music helps someone, it is something very beautiful. Music can become sth like religion in some ways.
Gavin: I am not really aware of this effect. I write songs for myself, to get on with my world. I do not feel connected to people through my lyrics, but I think this is a question of consciuosness.

Interviewer: Did you ever take vocal lessions?
Gavin: Yes, I took maybe 6 hours during the recordings of El Cielo. I also visited a vocal coach a few times. I feel more sure/get more confidence when I can get more aware (???) of my voice by this (???? I did not know how to translate this, sorry...) There are some moments at „Leitmotif“ at which my voice gets louder or more aggressive, but I think that my singing voice fits me better and I do feel more comfortable with it.

Interviewer: With all the experience in this business, that you have gained, would you change anything if you could start again?
Drew: We should have a female violin player in our band. No, to be serious, I would not change anything.
Gavin: Me neither. All the things that happened so far have lead us being the ones that we are today.
Drew: I don't think that we were too lazy or have pracitced too little or did not take things serious enough. I also think that everything was and is good.

Interviewer: Tomorrow, you will have a day free. Do you know what you will be doing already?
Drew: We will spend the day in Cologne.
Gavin: Yes, getting new inspiration.
(Both laugh)

Interviewer: Is there anything more that you would say to your fans and to our readers?
Gavin: Yes, please. So, thank you very much for reading this and we thank you for your support during all this time.
Drew: Exactly. We would be glad to see you at our concerts. You Germans are always a great support and fantastic fans ( :-) thanks, man! ) We always enjoy coming here. Being here is always a great pleasure for us. We have met nice and funny people in Germany.

Interviewer: So you did not have any bad experiences with strange people here?
Drew: You can meet strange people everywhere.
Gavin: Do you remember the guy who thought that our tour manager was Ronny James Dio (DIO)?
(both burst out in laughter)
Drew: Yes, or the other guy who wanted to beat me up! I do not even remember why...

They fooled around for a while and as I laid my CWA CD on the table to get it signed by the guys, they were all excited:
Drew: Oh shit, look at that! Why is the CD blue here (=in Germany)? That does not fit to the green color at all!
Gavin: Wow! Why does it look differently here?
Drew: That's really crazy! That's ugly!
Gavin: They also misspelled the bonus track!
He takes the microphone and speaks very loudly into it:
It is called „THE UPLIFTING NEWS CHANNEL“ !!
Drew: Actually, the CD should be white and the symbols should be green. That really does look no good in the context of the rest...

As we took out several CTS concert tickets to get them signed for friends, they were fascinated by the huge size of the tickets, as there are only very small concert tickets in the USA. As we told them that there were 'real' concert tickets with band motives and so on in the past, they felt sorry for that, but they were still happy about the (really ugly) CTS tickets, even if we weren't anymore...

The concert at the evening was full of emotions, most beautiful moments, an euphoric audience and a hilarious band, that proved once more how amazingly emotional and catching their songs are, especially live. The new songs have been celebrated and acclaimed by the fans, as expected. After 90 minutes the spectacle was over and one went to the beer garden in the backstage area, where the dredg gentlemen had the one or the other beer and talked with their fans.
A beautiful evening came to an end and we went home some time later...

Interview: - Daniela Maier and Frederik Fischer -
Interview photos: - Daniela Maier -
Live photos: - Frank Wald -
Dredg photos: - Presserelease -
Drawing: - Gavin Hayes and Drew Roulette -

Great interview, isn't it? Have I promised too much?

Sandra

[evasivetear]

thank you for posting that, it was a great read

[futuresmydesign]

you're welcome :-)

[zah]

Thanks, Sandra.