scris de Catalin Rulea

Rooly

We had the pleasure of a Kissogram concert In Bucharest. On 23 of November you performed at Concept Store in Bucharest. On that occasion I met you and you also surprised me by coming to the indie performance of three local bands in The Loft. So, a German band is making contact with Romanian scene. Sebastian and Jonas, do you consider yourself part of Berlin music scene (as my first impression was that you look so East German) and if you do please tell us some things about this scene… your friends, gigs, underground scene or main stream scene…

Kissogram

To play a concert in Bucharest was really nice, we liked the people there and we felt, that there’s a movement in the city. The Orange Concept Store is maybe not the prettiest location in Bucharest, but it was a nice atmosphere though. The Loft was a great underground apartment-club which reminded me a little bit of the clubs in Berlin in the years after the wall came down. The bands were really good too. We are part of the Berlin music scene since summer 1999 and we have played many shows in these years. I think that the Berlin music scene is not as big as you might expect, there are just a few good and original bands, but there are many DJs, clubs and big discos.
The “underground”-flair that Berlin had some years ago is gone, but there are still many nice bars, cinemas, parties, exhibitions and stuff like that.

Rooly

That’s why there’s not a big difference between “underground” or the “main stream” anymore. Berlin is still a great city and you can live there on a relatively low budget, but many people are bored at the moment, because there is no movement, no new ideas and the “rough”, progressive Post-communism-atmosphere is gone. All taboos are broken, you can’t be a rebel in Berlin.

And about the Romanian scene, do you consider Romania an opportunity for your band, was it useful for you to perform in Bucharest, was it part of a Tour in Eastern Europe?

 

Kissogram

We really like to play in Eastern Europe; maybe we still have a emotional connection because we grew up in East Berlin. But Bucharest was not a part of a tour, we just flew there for one show (and of course we wanted to see the city and we wanted to know, what’s going on there). We didn’t see much, but I think that Bucharest has a very big potential to become an important cultural capital again, like it was in the beginning of the 20th century. We definitely want to come again (and maybe play together with a Romanian band).

Rooly

In an interview for Flasher you declared that it was more important for you to compose the song and less important the live performance. Starting from this point, can you develop a short theory about “live performance nowadays”… do you think something changed dramatically in the live act in the last 15 years?

Kissogram

The live performance is very important too, but only for a short period of time. The song can last much much longer. I don’t think that there were dramatic changes in the live performance within the last years. The only difference between today and 15 years ago is, that many more people go on stage with a laptop. Performing live has nothing to do with the ability and the skills of playing a musical instrument like a guitar or a synthesizer or drums. Everybody can make music and everybody can be in the spotlights, but I don’t think that is a negative development. But I’m little bit nostalgic in a way, I still like to see bands with a conventional line-up (guitar, drums, bass).

Rooly

And my last question is a funny question… :-), I remarked that at the concert in Bucharest people already knew a song from you and enjoyed it very much. “She’s an apple pie” has an interesting video and my funny question concerns the girl… who is she, is it her voice on the track, does she play guitar?

Kissogram

She is my ex-girlfriend and she sings in the song but she doesn’t play guitar.

Rooly

Dear Jonas and Sebastian, thank you very much for the interview and good luck in Copenhagen with your concert on 21 of December.

Kissogram

Thank you. Bis bald + viele Gruesse

Interview  with Kissogram (Berlin) by Catalin Rulea (The Pixels)
10.12.2007

http://www.kissogram.de
http://myspace.com/kissogram

Nici un comentariu | Print This Post | Email This Post