Interview with The Black Angels

I also had the great chance of interviewing Alex and Christian of The Black Angels on the same day.

Check out the interview here:

www.popzine.de

The Black Angels (December 12, Werkstatt Cologne)

BRMC European Tour 2008 Diary – Day 5: Groningen (24/06/08)

All of a sudden, the last day of our little tour has come. It means saying goodbye to Amsterdam, which I have really come to like these past two days, and saying hello to Groningen. Erm, which actually turns out to be more complicated than I imagined…
The train tickets we’ve bought and the printed information for our journey tell us to catch the train to Amersfoort and to change into the train to Groningen there. Time between arriving in Amersfoort and leaving again to Groningen according to schedule: six minutes. Luckily, the train actually arrives on time in Amersfoort. Of course, there’s no lift, so it means manhandling our suitcases up the endless-seeming stairs (and me with my huge, stuffed bird suitcase, congratulations…), crossing the bridge leading to the other track and manhandling the bloody suitcases down again. But, we do it in time and we still have four minutes till the train to Groningen departs, neehaaa! The announcement on the monitor says something like “Voor: Groningen, achter: Leeuwarden” and considering the fact that I actually did a Dutch course at university for three terms, I’m pretty sure this must mean something like “To Groningen over Leeuwarden”. Well… Seems like I was ill in the lesson our teacher told the little story about the Dutch preposition “achter”. As we find out approximately an hour later, when the lovely Dutch conductor asks for our tickets, it rather means “back, behind” and the back part of the train, into which we just jumped when the train arrived at the station, is going to Leeuwarden, while the front part of the train was detached some stations ago and is going to Groningen. Without us! Lost in translation, in a mix of Dutch and English, the conductor and I try to find out how to get our little group to Groningen in time. We’re supposed to get out at the next station, take the next train back to Meppel and from there to Groningen. In the right part of the train of course.
Thus, it means getting out at a little Dutch village called Steenwijk before we can continue our journey, experiencing strange Dutch animals making strange sounds. If the sun wasn’t shining I’d say being lost in this village that seems to consist of three houses and the one track train station would be scary. But, hey, let’s stay positive. This way you get to experience the Netherlands.
After this small detour we reach Groningen, however, although there’s not that much time for relaxing or even having a look at the surroundings now. It’s more down to taking a shower and getting ready for the last show tonight. We meet Mia in front of De Oosterpoort, head for some Mexican food and then back to the venue, which is a kind of cultural centre and has its concert hall hidden somewhere in the complex, so it’s no surprise there’s nobody out on the street. When it comes to the crowd, tonight resembles Frankfurt a bit. There are about twenty people when the doors open and it only gets fuller slowly, the main proportion of the audience consisting of middle aged, already slightly bald men, who seem to take this show as a means of reviving their old rock n roll days again. And this, unfortunately, is reflected in the spirit of the audience.
The Brothers Movement are there to open again tonight and although they are playing a great set again, there seems to be something like a “civility gap” between the stage and the audience. It’s the stage, us fans occupying the first row and then a gap of about two metres. Hm. People in Groningen seem to be a bit shy, maybe…
And this somehow also continues throughout the set of BRMC, the audience stays to be rather restrained and doesn’t get really warmed up, that’s at least the impression I have. Hardly understandable from my perspective, but that’s what happens. Anyhow, we try to let this not spoil our last evening on this tour and thus enjoy a set of:

666 Conducer
Berlin
Weapon Of Choice
Ain’t No Easy Way
Red Eyes And Tears
Six Barrel Shotgun
Stop
Salvation
Heart + Soul
Mercy
Shuffle Your Feet
River Styx
Need Some Air
American X
Punk Song

Pretend
Took Out A Loan
Steal A Ride
Spread Your Love

Another time the show starts off with a phenomenal 666 Conducer, another time Robert has to cheat by reading the additional lyrics of Six Barrel Shotgun from a note on the monitor, another time Salvation and Heart + Soul blow our minds, another time we clap along to Shuffle Your Feet and shake everything we’ve got to Steal A Ride. Robert introduces Mercy by saying that, as they had never played in Groningen before, this was a song to make friends, starts off and leaves us standing there, trying to deny ourselves the tears. Yes, we’re getting a bit emotional here on our last night of the tour. A final time we know the true promise of hearing Pretend and rock out to Punk Song and Spread Your Love. The only thing I’m missing tonight is Peter playing some acoustic songs and hearing All You Do Is Talk another time. But finally, even this show is over and thus, with the last accord of Spread Your Love, our BRMC tour comes to an end.
Unfortunately, there’s also no one of the band coming out to talk to the fans tonight, although all of us would have liked to say goodbye. There’s even no chance of sitting down and having a nice chat after the show as people are literally thrown out of the venue. Thus, there’s nothing else to do than to go and look for some shop that might sell something to eat, but even the McDonald’s is closed. Therefore we end up at a gas station, eating sandwiches and baguettes on the cold floor and I decide to buy a huge pot of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, which we share sisterly, in order to prevent upcoming post-show depressions. It’s a bit unspectacular, this end of our tour… But as I have said so many times before: we’re spoilt and probably expect too much.
All in all I have to say that these past two weeks have been phenomenal. I met so many lovely people, shared some great laughs, saw five spectacular shows and got the chance to interview Peter again, thus I think there is no reason for being sad. If one thing’s for sure, then that there will be a next BRMC tour to look forward to. A big Thank You to my sister Melanie, who made it possible for me to actually do this tour, and to Natascha and Kirsty, our companions on the road. We had such a great time. Let’s hope we’ll get the chance to do such a tour again soon, as we try and we try, but we can’t get enough…

BRMC European Tour 2008 Diary – Day 4: Amsterdam (23/06/08)

Yes, it’s approximately four hours sleep we get that night and early the next morning we’re off to the station in Düsseldorf to catch our 09:35 am train to Amsterdam. Cuddled into our seats of our cabin we try to compensate our lack of sleep, but anyhow there’s too much to talk about.
We arrive in our very fancy hotel (Hotel V Fredriksplein, highly recommendable) by midday, lay siege to our rooms, and then start with a nice, relaxed Sunday in Amsterdam before there will be rock n roll again tomorrow. We have something to eat, meet up with Claudia, make a beautiful boat trip through the “grachten” of Amsterdam and finish the day with eating pizza or pasta and having a drink at a snug bar with Claudia and Aileen. As the Paradiso is within reach of our hotels and the bars and restaurants at Leidseplein, we walk past the venue for about a dozen of times, every time phantasizing about what the show’s going to be like tomorrow.
The next morning we still want to see something of the city, but whereas shopping usually is one of my favourite things to do, even a H&M and an English book shop can’t get me into raptures today. People who know me will know: this IS a bad sign. My head is totally occupied by wondering about when Grant, the tour manager, is finally going to call me up and tell me when the interview is taking place. Yes, the interview. After I had the great chance of interviewing Peter on the last tour in November, this time I couldn’t resist but to ask for an interview appointment again and this is what you get: not being able to enjoy a shopping tour in Amsterdam with your friends because you keep looking at your mobile phone every five seconds and almost want to force it to ring by looking at it.
When we get back to Leidseplein for a snack I still don’t know anything about possible interviews to happen. After an hour of trying to call up Grant, going over the street to the Paradiso and looking if there’s someone to talk to but finding no one, we funnily enough run into Peter while we are looking for a supermarket and he can assure me that Grant might call me up any second and that the interview is definitely going to take place. About five minutes later I get the longingly expected call and all of a sudden life is good again.
Thus, it means getting to the Paradiso at six o’clock and me ending up with Peter in the basement for a nice chat about all kinds of different things, some of them having to do with mobile phones, silly country songs, boots and knee-high socks and not seeing daylight again for about an hour later, leaving my sister wondering about when I’m going to turn up again finally, as doors are supposed to open at seven but I still have her ticket in my handbag. But I get back in time, luckily being able to find my way out of the dungeon of the Paradiso again by following a red line on the floor. Inner tom-tom again.

You can find the interview on www.popzine.de, by the way.

At about seven doors open, this time letting quite an appropriate crowd of people flow in and enter the places in the front row. This night, however, we decide against standing at the front, because the stage is particularly high and as we’re quite short, it would rather mean to be watching the guys’ boots than the show for us if we stood there. And we want to avoid a stiff neck, of course. Therefore, we either gather at the top of some stairs at the side of the hall, next to a column and beneath the balcony, or on the balcony, where we can perfectly admire the beautiful scenery, mostly caused by the colourful glass panes the Paradiso has, because it used to be a church.
This time The Brothers Movement are finally around and they start off the evening with a great show. Whereas usually I can’t wait until the support is finally over, I’m actually sad their set is finished after half an hour and I would love to listen to them longer. It’s a pity they don’t have any CDs with them, I would have loved to get some of their older stuff when they still used to be Mainline. Anyway, one can be looking forward to their album coming out in fall then.
So, apart from the fact that I got to interview Peter that day, I have to say that this show is my Top 1 in the list of shows on this tour. Heart + Soul and Salvation are definitely some of the highlights this night, just as Peter playing a very new song we all have never heard before. Unfortunately, he either didn’t mention the title or I simply didn’t get it. Anyway, it’s acoustic, it’s beautiful and I really can’t wait until all these new songs already flying around are finally captured on a CD. Having spoken to Peter about extended versions of some of their songs during the interview, it’s great to hear two of those extended versions tonight, one of them being this very hot version of Six Barrel Shotgun to which they have added a very groovy part and Rob singing additional lyrics, which is almost unbearably great until it finally has its climax in the “Save yourself, cause I need some stimulation, baby!” Again, do they have a license for that?!
Finally, when they play All You Do Is Talk, I’m kind of happy that Peter fucks up the lyrics at some point, as this really prevents me from starting to cry because of the beauty of the moment. Wow.
This night in Amsterdam sees another outside set, although I have to say that at some points I really think people overdo it a bit. It’s great to listen to the guys playing, it’s great they are so lovely and have time for their fans, but when it comes to the bus driver complaining that people should get away from his bus, because they are squashed to it and he’s afraid that it will get damages and people almost just jump into the bus to be close to the guys, that really freaks me out. Please, a little bit of decency. Same goes with hords of people running after the guys, after they have called it a day and probably just want to go and relax a little. But, yeah, I know, it’s a fine line…
After all it’s great to see that everything around Leidseplein has become BRMC country with fans running around and getting to know people from all over the world. However, even in Amsterdam it’s kind of hard to find some kind of bar that’s open on a Monday night. Finally we’re successful, but after one Heineken we have to call it a day. Too much excitement for 24 hours. And there’s still Groningen to come tomorrow.

BRMC European Tour 2008 Diary – Day 3: Frankfurt (21/06/08)

After another exciting night in Essen I’m actually a bit relieved I get some days off of BRMC. At least concert-wise. It actually feels as if my brain is overstimulated and can’t really handle all the various impressions that have already rained down on us these few days. And of course these two shows went past too quickly. If only I could press the pause button on my mind and bask in certain moments forever. But, as we all know, tempus fugit. So after all it’s all down to trying to capture beautiful moments in your memory, sometimes by taking pictures, sometimes by just trying very hard not to let them slip away.
But, let’s be realistic, I don’t really get some days off of BRMC, and I can really forget about trying to get some uni stuff done or doing any demanding stuff that needs a certain amount of concentration. It’s uploading videos, photos, writing to people I’ve met at the recent shows and certain diary entries…
Thus, when Saturday morning comes, it doesn’t really feel as if there had been anything like a break. It’s packing the suitcase for five days now, and being a woman that can’t live without her own hairdryer and a certain amount of different clothes (I hear my mum’s voice in my head, going “You never know what the weather will be like.”) results in bringing along such a suitcase that only raises amused looks by my fellows. Well, I’m a bird, what can you do?
We meet up at a hotel in Düsseldorf, which we declare our base camp, and from there get into Kirsty’s car and drive to Frankfurt. Never having been to Frankfurt I can add another point to my inner list of advantages that touring through Europe for a band might bring, something like “Oh well, at least I now get to know some parts of my homecountry I’ve never seen before”. A fine excuse working here. It’s not as if we really get to see anything of Frankfurt though, it’s more about finding the way, which seems to be a hopeless case, thanks to that bloody directions of Map24, which somehow always manage to lead you completely into the wrong direction. Note to self: get a GPS system for Christmas.
Finally, thanks to our inner tom-toms, we reach the Batschkapp, however. It’s four in the afternoon, it’s 30 degrees, we’re all wearing far too warm clothes and there’s nothing going on. Time for some milkshakes in the ice café around the corner and back to the club at five. Still nothing going on. Hm. We’re pretty sure that doors open at six, so why are there no people queuing in front of the club yet? We decide to sit down on the stairs in front of the club and listen to the far-off snippets of the soundcheck that reach our ears. Interesting. Seems like there might be some new great songs coming up, or it’s just the guys jamming along. Either way, it sounds brilliant.
When doors actually open at six, there are about twenty people entering the club. Something’s really wrong here. Maybe it’s due to the fact that it’s a Saturday, maybe it’s because of the bad advertising of this show (some people only now have realized this show actually took place, no entry on the website whatsoever), maybe it’s because Frankfurt people always only come late to concerts. Whatever the cause is, the club only gets rudimentally full when the show starts at about seven. Yes, the “real” show starting at seven. Again, there is no The Brothers Movement playing tonight, looking back it seems as if something really went wrong with the information about these shows, websites of the venues announcing The Brothers Movement as support band but them not turning up before the show in Amsterdam. Hm…
So, the show. What can I say? Only the obvious. It’s perfect again. A kind of small club, a place in the front row, a diverse setlist with slight changes to the previous ones, but mainly sticking to the same framework, the band delivering the high quality we’re so used to now. Unfortunately I can’t find a setlist posted anywhere and having visited five shows all together I can’t remember too many details concerning it right now.
When the guys leave the stage before the encore, I get a bad feeling. It’s realizing that half of my shows on this tour are over now. But, nooooo, bad thoughts have to be pushed aside. Enjoy the moment. Right here, right now.
At nine, the show is over. Another fabulous two hours set, guys, thanks a lot. But what is this? The show’s over and the sun is still shining? We’ve all been wondering throughout the evening why the hell the band have to play something that feels like a matinée of a BRMC show and talking to Ryan, in his capacity as being the band’s merch man, can shed some light on this. It’s due to the fact that there’s a disco taking place later on. A DISCO! And a very bad one, as I have to realize when I get in there again to visit the local sanitary facilities. What a great management this club must have… Kicking out BRMC, their crew and their fans for a mediocre village disco…
But maybe there is also a good side to this. After the show there’s the possibility of sitting in a kind of beer garden, reflecting on past shows with friends, listening to Jo practicing her German and shouts of joy by people watching soccer, sometimes clanging through the warm summer night. Then Peter comes out, talks to some fans, and sits down on the floor, surrounded by people, playing the guitar and singing, letting other people play the guitar and sing as well, and just gives everybody a good time. The only thing missing here right now is the campfire. Lying back on his arms, shirt pulled up slightly and making tricks with the cigarette in his mouth while some other guy is playing his guitar, I’m on the verge of asking Peter if he actually has a licence for doing what he does. Sorry, it’s a woman writing here, just forget that last remark…
At about one o’clock in the morning we can finally break away from this scenery, after all we still have to manage a two-and a half-hours-drive home and it’s only thanks to Kirsty that we were actually able to stay that long. Thus, Kirsty drives us back to Düsseldorf safely and we try to get at least four hours of sleep before it’s time to catch the train to Amsterdam the following morning. Good night.

BRMC European Tour 2008 Diary - Day 2: ESSEN (16/06/08)

Well, where were we? Aaaah, yeah, waving the tourbus goodbye… All right. Getting back to the hotel, there is only one thing I want to do. Get my shoes off. Oh, and of course: get to bed. After all it seems we still have to get used to this unknown rock n roll lifestyle. The next day holds a relaxed programme for us, though, having a nice walk around Brussels, including Grand Place and Männeken Pis, I mean, we have to get some rest before rocking hard again the following day, don’t we? Anyway, angry-looking rainclouds and a suddenly following awful rainshower don’t leave us another choice but to set up camp in O’Reilley’s, an Irish pub just opposite the AB Club. Here we are, wallowing in sweet memories of the night before already. Then, train home, sleep and reset to rock n roll mode the next morning.

But before we finally get to show #2 on our BRMC tour list, let’s reflect on how I got to realizing BRMC would be playing in Essen. Let that savour. “BRMC playing in ESSEN!” People coming from the Ruhr-area will know what I’m talking about. We’re used to travelling at least to Cologne to see a band we like play. And then, of all the bands in the world, BRMC come to play a show in Essen. Well, why don’t they just come and play at my house then? No problem, I can get the furniture out easily. So one night, I had just fallen asleep, there’s my sister calling me up, going “Hey, d’you guess where BRMC will be playing?”. I just couldn’t believe it. Some time later, after I had fallen asleep again, I took a look at my mobile phone and had to make sure my sister had really called me up and I hadn’t sent a text to Natascha in a dream-like state. No, no dream, a real call. Okay, got to let that sink in.

And some months later (although it only feels like two weeks) the day has arrived. The familiar tourbus is parked in front of the Weststadthalle and lovely people I only met two days ago are already gathered sitting on the steps in the “Ruhrpott” sun. More and more I get the impression that BRMC gigs somehow resemble a kind of class reunion. The only difference being that you get people from all over the world and they all have the same passion. It’s a lovely thing.
There’s one aspect, however, that gets some of us a little bit worried. The European Soccer Championship is taking place at the moment and tonight Germany will be playing against Austria and trying to qualify for the quarter finals. Sooo, as Germany is a country that is crazy about soccer, which the cars hidden under German flags driving around seem to testify for us, there might be the chance that a lot of people had to decide between soccer and rock n roll and made the wrong choice. Our worries are without cause, however. By the by the venue gets fuller and fuller and those few who probably have stayed home or gone to a public screening to watch the match have no idea how wrong they are (left aside the fact that the match must have been quite boring as I got to hear later on – but, at least they made it to the quarter finals).

Stage time is 8:30 and almost on time the show’s about to begin. The first song is 666 Conducer again and this is the first and only aspect that disappoints me this evening. For the setlist is almost the same as in Brussels and thus doesn’t hold that many surprises for the ones who also saw the show there. After all, one could have guessed that there would be the possibility of it, considering the fact that Leah is still new and must have had quite a hard time to learn a huge amount of songs in such a short period of time anyway. But, and this is what makes all of that being critical stuff null and void again, Robert has a special treat for us. He plays Pretend! And he announces the song by explaining that he wants to give something special to the German audience, because they’ve always been very supportive. And being played on stage for the first time ever, as he tells us, is something really special. Thanks a lot, Mr. Been! I’m that flabbergasted, I even don’t dare to get my mobile phone out to record this special moment, I don’t want to miss a single second. As usual, Robert warns the audience that he’ll surely fuck up the song, and, also as always, that said he does. But who cares? It’s still astonishingly beautiful and people can’t do anything else but love this band.
Luckily, Mins dared to do a video.



All in all, the audience is a lot wilder than the Belgian one, jumping around, singing along and dancing, mostly during Punk Song, Spread Your Love and Six Barrel Shotgun. During that song I start thinking whether it was a good idea to be standing at the front. But only for a tiny second. Everything’s just perfect. After another energetic two hours set, the show finally ends with All You Do Is Talk again, but this time the background of the Weststadthalle, decorated with hundreds of tiny lamps and resembling a starry sky, adds even more beauty to it.
Here are some pics my friend Lisa (another happy soul that got more than convinced tonight) and I took.














Unfortunately, there’s no additional outside set for the fans tonight. But, as I said before, we’re spoilt. Let them have the rest they deserve. And let’s see what the other shows in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Groningen might bring.

BRMC European Tour 2008 Diary - Day 1: BRUSSELS (14/06/08)

It’s four o’clock on a Saturday morning and I’m already awake. This MUST be love. In order to make it to the venue in Brussels on time, my lovely companions (Kirsty, Natascha and Melanie) and I have decided to go for an early start. Being in Brussels at about eleven o’clock should do the trick. And referring to Kirsty’s and Natascha’s experiences with trains going to foreign countries, you can never leave early enough.
So here we go, heading from Dortmund to Cologne and from there to Brussels, full of excitement about the things to come. And first and foremost we’re wondering about what Leah, the drummer who’s on tour to fill in for Nick, is going to be like. Will the gig be fine? Or do we have to fear that our little tour is going to suffer from the band’s separation?
But what a night we should experience!
The first thing we’re confronted with (and I mean this literally) after an endless-seeming time in an uncomfortable windy and rainy Anspachlaan waiting for the doors to open is The Experimental Tropic Blues Band. Hmm. What exactly might be so ‘experimental’ or ‘tropical’ about them is a question that gets to be answered quite soon. They’re a three-piece, playing some kind of punked up fast blues and they are as lovely as to perform songs for us that include lyrics like “I’m a bad motherfucker” or parts of text referring to putting fingers up parts of bodies where they definitely don’t belong. At least if you ask me. Well, depends on the perspective, it seems… After all their seemingly testosterone-drenched performance leads to great amusement for the people around (not for Natascha, however, who has to endure a “Baby, I’m singing only for you”-attack by one of the singers) and has its highlight in, well, how may I call it…? An incident including a huge amount of saliva dripping from the microphone. People in the first row, get your umbrellas out!
Half an hour later it’s time for the real men (and now we also have to say women) to come out and play. Starting off with 666 Conducer they hit us with the intensity we’ve been longing to experience again for six months. Thank God they’re back! From the very first moment I have the impression they are feeling very well on stage tonight, Robert and even Peter reaching out for the end of the stage and being really close to the audience from time to time. Some people somehow don’t know how to behave and instead misuse the situation, one crazy chick behind me reaching out her hand, stroking Robert’s leg in areas that are definitely not to be touched without permission and screaming like a teenager on a Backstreet Boys concert. Helloooo? Is this a BRMC concert or The Chippendales?? Next thing she’s going to do is to get a note out and put it into his belt, or what? Anyway, she’ll learn her lesson tonight. Robert teaches her a lesson of decency by stepping back a bit and kicking her hand away. Don’t mess with the BRMC, lady!
Finally I conclude that our fears about Nick’s missing were totally unnecessary. Leah Shapiro does a really great job filling in for Nick and while I couldn’t imagine a woman playing in BRMC at the beginning, to be honest, I now learn to appreciate she’s there. There seems to be a connection between the three on stage that doesn’t need words. Thus, in a blissful state of total happiness, we’re being led through a set of

666 Conducer
Berlin
Weapon of Choice
Ain't No Easy Way
Stop
White Palms
Red Eyes And Tears
Awake
Six Barrel Shotgun
Heart & Soul
Fault Line
A Fine Way To Lose
Sympathetic Noose
Shuffle Your Feet
Howl
River Styx
American X
Whatever Happened To My Rock and Roll

ENCORE:
Took Out A Loan
Spread Your Love
Steal A Ride
All You Do Is Talk.

The set represents a varied mix of highlights from all the albums and playing two new songs, A Fine Way To Lose and River Styx, we are able to let our minds drift away into spheres of dreaming about a new album that might be coming up in some time. Getting ready to play Sympathetic Noose, Robert sits down on a monitor box in the middle of the stage, beginning to sing Jingle Bell Rock as he seems to remind himself of a kind of Father Christmas there. Happiness Faces all around. And the faces remain to be happy until the set ends in the beautiful All You Do Is Talk. Unfortunately, all gigs have to reach their end somehow. But being a fan of BRMC one has to realize that our lot is really spoilt. Or do you know any other band that always plays at least for two hours? However, my hopes of finally, finally, finally hearing 20 Hours live are somehow disappointed, but maybe one of the upcoming shows will hold a surprise for me…
So while I’m thinkinng “This couldn’t get any better.”, shortly after the end of the show Robert comes out and rushes out onto the street to play another 30 minutes set to the hard-boiled fans who didn’t have to leave early to catch a train or something like that. He tells us that he tries to avoid drinking by playing for us and starts off with Mercy, which originally was on the setlist but didn’t get played. Right into the middle of Mercy however, there’s this funny Belgian guy, who seems to long for an audience to listen to him, so Robert invites him to sing along with him and they do a kind of jam that results in pockets full of change for the Belgian guy. After a set of Mercy, Rifles, Chelsea Hotel, Visions of Johanna, I Am The Resurrection, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll and Not What You Wanted Robert finally calls it a day.












Thus, it’s Peter’s turn now. Appearing from somewhere, guitar at the ready, he walks off to the nearby tube station and almost all people remaining, like a flock of sheep, follow him downstairs. There our luck continues, we get to hear A Long Black Veil, Fault Line, Complicated Situation, Cool Water and even a brandnew song which Peter performs sitting on the floor.









After this further additional set the day is still not over yet and Peter gets to play some more songs with his fans in front of the bus, one guy is even as lucky as to be allowed to play Peter’s guitar and they perform Love Burns together.
Then, after hours full of joy in the presence of this wonderful band, it’s finally time for them and their lovely crew to depart to their next show in Switzerland at 2 o’clock in the morning. And seeing most of the remaining people waving them goodbye is really touching. I’m on the verge of getting a white handkerchief out and wave myself. See you in Essen.

Mando Diao Interview

And here goes another one: Our interview with Mando Diao from the beginning of March, when we were waiting desperately for the guys to turn up, because they hadn't been able to start with their plane in Munich due to storm warnings.
And hundreds of teenage girls freezing in a huge queue outside in the cold...
A very strange, stressful, but still interesting experience.

Enjoy!

Mando Diao Interview on www.popzine.de

More Interviews on www.popzine.de

Apart from the interview with Peter Hayes, I've also had the chance to participate in some more interviews, which can all be found at www.popzine.de.
Maximo Park
The Pipettes
The Sunshine Underground
The Rakes
Art Brut
Under The Influence Of Giants
Kaiser Chiefs
Björn Dixgård

Interview with Peter Hayes

Before BRMC rocked Hamburg they had played another show in Cologne and there I had the great opportunity to interview the, as I would put it, brilliant Peter Hayes.
Check out www.popzine.de to read the interview in full. (You have to scroll down to get the English version.)

BRMC Hamburg Markthalle 11/26/07

Well, here goes my very first post on my blog so I'd better be starting off with something rather splendid, right? Therefore, I've decided to post the pics that my sister and I took at the unbelievably wonderful show of the one and only Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in Hamburg last November. Enjoy!