Interkosmos is a psychedelic rock project founded in 2008 in Austria by Dave Schmidt, Bernhard Fasching, and Sergio Ceballos.

After a few concerts in Austria and Spain they went into a 12 years hiatus and played a show with Speck in 2021 in Vienna. In the same week they started recording a new album. The track on the latest split LP was recorded at the Space Farm Ahoi Festival (at Böllerbauer in upper Austria) in 2008, and finished by Sula Bassana with some minor synthesizer overdubs and mixing in 2022. Mastering by legendary Eroc. [Interview conducted July 6, 2023]

“The freedom of interpretation is what sets apart Interkosmos”

As you are active in several different projects, what makes Interkosmos special? What’s the main concept that sets it apart from your other projects?

Sergio Ceballos: I used to play with Mohama Saz, but what makes Interkosmos special are Bernie and Dave. I almost never saw them, but spending time with them is always so lovely. Playing with Interkosmos is quite exciting because we know more or less what we are going to do, but there is no path to drown, so, improvising with is a kind of free flight… and quite spacey! The freedom of interpretation is what sets apart Interkosmos, at least in my case.

Dave Schmidt: Yes, improvisation as usual. I guess the only project I’m in, with proper song structures, is my solo project.

Interkosmos | Live at Kramladen, Wien (2021) | Photo by Eva Krenner

Would you mind telling us if you approach the music making any differently? The project itself feels like you’re doing a lot of improvisation?

Sergio: Yes, we do a lot of improvisation, that was our biggest aim as we met for the first time in 2008.

How did you three first get to know each other?

Dave: When I moved to Austria in 2006 I met Bernhard at a festival where he played with his band The Blowing Lewinsky. We talked about making music together. In 2008 Miguel Navarro from Alone Records, a Spanish label I used to trade CDs, asked me if I knew musicians for a Spanish guitar player who moved to Austria. It was Sergio Ceballos of RIP KC (today playing in Mohama Saz and Melange) who was looking for a band. So Bernhard and I invited him for a jam session and we instantly recorded our first demo, which years later became our first vinyl, released as a double LP on Norwegian label Pancromatic Records. Sergio went back to Spain a few years later (and I moved back to Germany). So we went into a long hiatus.

Sergio: I first met Sula Bassana about 2007 through MySpace, at that time I played with RIP KC and we became fans of each other. Then I moved from Spain to Austria in 2008 and there we met in person to play. The first album is our first session, just the day we all three met together for the first time, if I’m not confused.

<a href="https://interkosmos-official.bandcamp.com/album/hypnotizer">Hypnotizer by Interkosmos</a>

What else are you currently working on in your other projects? Feel free to provide longer replies about everything that you’re involved in.

Dave: My main musical (live) thing is the new band I have for Sula Bassana, which always was my solo project and I almost never played live under that moniker. Except a few shows in early 2000s and a few in the last years, plus a one off band concert at Roadburn Festival in 2014. We just played the first two shows very successfully and enjoyed them a lot. We will play a lot of shows in the future for sure! It’s Kristina on bass and synth, Adrian on guitar and vocals, Franz on drums and me on guitar, organ/synth/mellotron and vocals. I’m still the driving force behind Zone Six, for more than 25 years. Now together with Bernhard (Pablo Carneval, Interkosmos, Electric Moon…) on drums and Manuel Wohlrab (Yanos) on guitar and me on bass and synth. We did some very powerful gigs this year and more concerts are on the bill. I also play in a new band called Die Raumpatrouille, but we only played one concert so far. It’s an impro-krautrock band featuring Ax Genrich (ex Guru Guru) on guitar, Conny Maly (Lava 303) on guitar, Steff Bollack on drums and me on bass. Also from time to time I make sound for Inés Schäfer, a great performer from Kassel. I also started playing improv concerts with Steffen Moddrow from Kassel on drums and Uli Sobotta on guitar, bass and horns. We will have our first show in Kassel on the 24th of June. Together with Inés Schäfer performing live to our sound. Steffen and I just played a live-kraut-impro in Frankfurt, together with Conny Maly. Members and guys from the Frankfurt based band The Imperial Mustard, which was a very nice flight. And on June 30th I will play an improv rock concert together with Lex Frumpy and Steffen Moddrow, supporting Elara Sunstreak Band who released on my label. Lex is the guitar player of Seedy Jeezus from Australia (and of course a friend of mine) who will spend some weeks in Europe touring and we will take the chance to meet and jam. We call the project after our first names: LS&D. Ah, and in June I played a handful of concerts in Portugal together with my soul brother Pedro Pestana (10.000 Russos, Talea Jacta, Tren Go Soundsystem) as Pestana/Bassana. We will do some loopy drones with guitars, pedals and a sampler.

How come there’s such a big gap between?

Dave: We live in three different countries, so it wasn’t easy to meet. Also all of us were super busy with work and life. But at one point we badly wanted to meet again, so we organized one week in Vienna to meet, play a concert (together with Speck!) and start recordings for a new album. Sadly 13 years passed between the recording sessions of the first album and the follow up.

Are you planning to release another album?

Dave: Yes, as soon as we finished our Vienna recordings. But it will take a while, we are all still very busy.

What else currently occupies your life?

Sergio: I have a hard and boring 40 hour office job and I play with Mohama Saz which is based in Madrid. We play at least two gigs per month in Spain and the rest of Europe, right now I’m flying to the Netherlands to play in Eindhoven and Groningen. It is quite hard to be “on the road” most of the weekends and being a 40 hour employee. In summer 2023 will be our second tour in California, where we are quite successful.

<a href="https://interkosmos-official.bandcamp.com/album/split-lp-with-speck">split LP with SPECK by Interkosmos</a>

Dave: I try to get back on stages after the pandemic, which is hard work. Seems people have forgotten my bands. And my label needs a lot of work, due to harder times for selling vinyl and CDs since the war on Ukraine started. I did some great releases this year so far (Reflector – ‘Echo Colonnade’ LP, Speck/Interkosmos – Split LP) and this week the new Tetrao Urogallus LP ‘Gulo Gulo’ and the new Permanent Clear Light LP ‘Right As Rain’ arrived. Due to very low sales I switched to 300 copies. Next release will be the first ever vinyl release of the debut album by Saturnia – ‘The Glitter Odd’. Followed by a new US band on my label: Landing, with the LP only release ‘Motionless I-VI’. Next albums I will send into the plant are: UK’s cult band Sun Dial with a brand new guitar-based album. Vienna based Dim Electrics with some nice trance-like neo-psych. Italian band Citrus Citrus with their great debut LP, and hopefully in autumn our new Zone Six album ‘Full Mental Jacket’.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

Sergio: Last week I discovered the soundtrack of a film called The Devil in Miss Jones (1973) and I fell completely in love. Last week I discovered an actual Italian band called Nu Genea, I liked everything I heard from them.

Dave: I’m just discovering Ivan The Tolerable and enjoy him a lot. Also the album ‘Introspectio’ by Mario Batcovic blew me away. Heliocentrics (especially the album ‘Infinity of Now’) is one of my new favourite bands. And the latest Archive album ‘Call To Arms & Angels’ kept me listening soooo much and still does! Great psychedelic album! The album ‘Promises’ by Floating Points with Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra is also a great discovery, as well as ‘Momentum’ by Misha Panfilov. And of course all the releases on my label Sulatron.