Uncategorized

The Roaring 420s interview

October 16, 2014

The Roaring 420s interview

The Roaring 420s are one of those bands you will listen and
re-check the recording date. Album is straight from the ’67 and has everything
we love about early psychedelic rock. Band is mixing surf rock with psychedelia
and the result is wonderful release that came out a few months ago on Stoned Karma Records titled What Is Psych? They truly nailed it. 60s, summer, California, sitar and girls, that like to party!
How was the band formed?
Martin Zerrenner (bass) and I have known each other for a
long time but it was in 2010 that he came up with the idea of forming a band
together. I think this was right after we met Lulu (drums). I guess, if it
wasn’t for her we would have probably ended up in an experimental poetry
project or something because this is what we have been doing at that time. We
did a lot of poetry shows together, sometimes arty stuff, exhibitions,
happenings. But when Lulu said she wanted a rock’n’roll band, it was cool as
well, it’s even better. Later Timo Eilert joined on guitar and Albrecht
Schumann played keys but only for a short time. Timo has left the group last
year and moved back to Hannover and Berk Gündogdu joined on guitar and
keyboard. Lately, Stefan Koutzev plays rhythm guitar and Berk takes care of the
keys.
© Doreen Siegmund
Were you in any other bands before?
We jumped on the bandwagon long time ago. Martin had a group
called XistY back in his hometown which he ended up playing in for 15 years. I
have another psychedelic rock’n’roll band called The Opium Theatre which I’m
playing in for ten years now. And Lulu used to drum in a folk rock duo called
Willa Mae. Berk and Stefan have also been working on other projects before.
Is there a certain creed behind the band?
I’d say there is but it’s hard to nail it. Of course we
share a set of beliefs and a vision of the band in the way we feel obliged to
it. Everyone wants to play shows, put out albums, create stuff that feels good.
We also hang out together a lot, go to the same parties, get fucked up, it’s
like a little family. We dig the same bands, same style of movies, books. After
a while you’ll find out that a good friendship can be way more worth than
playing skills.
How do you approach song writing? Can you please share a few
words about making your album, that would be great!
It’s actually a very classic approach of sitting down and
working things out. Sometimes there’s a jam that inspires a song, sometimes I
come up with the lyrics and then try to put it into shape. Sometimes drugs can
be helpful, sometimes not. I usually record everything and listen to it over
and over again to see how things work together. When we’ve recorded “What is
Psych?” we used our rehearsal room instead of a studio so that we were able to
work day and night. Most of the arrangements have been created in the process.
When the whole place was shut down and we had to move out, I took all the
equipment to my apartment and finished the guitar tracks there.
How would you describe the local music scene where you’re
currently located?
Vivid. Dresden is a good place for music of all kinds, there
are so many artists around. Psychedelic and stoner rock is a thing here but
electronic music is still huge as is hip hop. Some friends of ours run a string
of psych parties which also featured bands like X-Ray Harpoons, Magnificent
Brotherhood etc. I guess Dresden has a thing going on with rock music more than
many other cities.
You recently released a split with Mind Flowers
Yes! They came up with the idea of releasing a 7” split on
Levitation Records as they were putting out a bunch of singles at that time. We
met them in April when we’ve been to Copenhagen and they took us to Christiania
and showed us the mind flowers there. They’re pretty cool guys and I’m really
looking forward to their forthcoming album.
You are probably very excited about the upcoming tour? Where
all are you going?
It’s gonna be a looong trip this time. After a couple of
shows in Germany we’re going to head out to Belgium, then France, Switzerland
and Italy, then hop on a boat to Greece and from there back to Italy, Austria,
Slovenia, Slovakia and Czech Republic. All in all it’s 34 shows. I’m glad The
Blank Tapes are coming with us because they’re a cool band and people need to
know. And it’s going to be a nice travel party of seven people packed in this
nutshell of a bus. I bet after a week we’re going to smell like that but I read
in a magazine that it’s good for your skin.
In your dreams, who are you on tour with?
The Roaring 420s, we’re travelling in one of these
ridiculous sleeper busses and smoking cigars that we light up with the money we
make at the shows. We’re wearing insanely expensive Versace clothing with parts
ripped off to make it look ragged. We’d also have monkeys and cats for
entertainment and a fat lawyer with slicked-back hair who’s driving. Maybe my
mother would be there, too, because, y’know, it’s a dream…
To talk about influences would be too obvious, but maybe you
can tell us some less known albums you like?
The Strange Boys with “… and Girls Club” is one of my
favorites though you can basically take every album. We’ve played a beautiful
show with them in 2012 but unfortunately they disbanded quite shortly
thereafter. Ryan Sambol is still around making music and definitely worth
checking out. Like is Tim Presley aka White Fence: he lately put out a new
album called “For The Recently Found Innocent” which is also great. Then there
are a lot of underrated gems from the 60s like Kaleidoscope’s “Side Trips”, the
Dave-Axelrod-produced “Release of An Oath” that came out under the Electric
Prunes moniker, Ultimate Spinach’s self-titled debut, the collected works of
Italian composer Piero Umiliani (“Piero’s Pleasure”) etc etc…
Your album is released on vinyl and in these days when the
vinyl is coming back very fast. What’s your opinion about this format and do
you collect records?
I think it’s the opposite trend to these huge media
libraries people used to overload their hard drives with when they discovered
torrent. Vinyl forces you to choose what you hear and to consciously listen to
it. I think, this is because it’s not really a practical format. You can only
listen to it at home and you have to get up after every five or six songs to
flip the thing around. But it’s the best-looking medium of all. You wouldn’t
eat pulp that tastes like steak when you can have a real looking steak even if
it’s made out of pulp.
Thanks for taking your time. See you on tour. Last words are
yours.
Come to the shows, support your local record store and the
music scene and if someone says something isn’t good for the kids, then it’s
probably awesome.
Interview made by Klemen Breznikar/2014
© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2014
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *