Deine Lakaien - Kasmodiah, Interview

KASMODIAH

SIDELINE magazine (Belgium) n°27.

an interview with the prince of darkness

by Séba Dolimont.

One of the most respected and acclaimed German band, Deine Lakaien, recently returned out of the blue with a new album entitled "Kasmodiah" on Sony/Columbia. If their latest album "Winter fish testosterone" was much more experimental and risky, this new opus is a pure return to the source for Deine Lakaien. They packed all their strongest assets in their little bag, locked themselves in their studio and wrote us their best album ever! Take "Dark Star", "Reincarnation" or yet "Love Me To The End" altogether, and you won't even equal the quality of this new album! This is a killer album featuring Alexander Veljanov at the top of his form, with his typical and so characteristic moving vocals, his unique way of expressing his lyrics... Ernst Horn managed once again to compose the perfect tunes for Alexander's emotions and both elements immediately enter in perfect symbiosis... Ernst Horn still mix dark electronics with classical parts and piano lines together with some more danceable rhythm structures. Side-Line had the chance to interview the voice of the band, Alexander, a very happy person (who recently became father of a little girl) who is maybe too often assimilated as "the prince of darkness"...

SL. Let's start straight into it with the new album... "Kasmodiah"... Why that name?

A. It is a name of one of the songs off the album, it's a female name in Macedonian. It was Ernst's idea because he loved so much that name, that title that we decided to call the album like that too! This names reflects the atmosphere of our music... But musically it's one of the "shiest" songs. It's more like an introverted song, it's no hit song, it's a little jewel on the album.

SL. That's true that this new album is featuring several hits I think! A come back to hits like "Dark Star" or what?

A. You know it's hard for me to say, i'm just too much in it you know. Maybe we concentrated again more on melodies. The previous album was much more strange, harsher... Maybe that's why you think that it's a sort of retro like you say.

SL. Do you think it's because Ernst is now freely experimenting with his solo-project that the experimental side from Deine Lakaien is slightly disappearing?

A. I don't think so. We always had our projects. It's something you can't explain! It happens! It just depends on the atmosphere... It's one of our big assets that we are able to write and create very good melodies with very intelligent harmonies. And I am no rock'n roll shouter, I have my own special style of singing.

SL. We often say that you are the dark soul of Deine Lakaien?

A. Maybe it's the image you know... He's the blond guy, I am the black guy! (laugh) I am the prince of darkness!!! In reality it is much more complicated than this! But i'm ok with that. You know, I am the singer I have to be the image of the band. The melancholy, the sadness, the dark beauty you know. And my voice fits to that. Every artist has an image, so I'm ok with it but that's just an image!! I'm just unhappy when the image they have of us is too narrow. I'm not only the prince of darkness and that's also why i have my solo-project. I don't want to be too cliché. I am interested in various kinds of music. But I don't want to be handicapped you know! We have to force the people. You see we have very melodic tracks, but we always try to show a new aspect of Deine Lakaien. For instance we have our first German song "Lass Mich" on this new album... It's a very untypical song for us. "Overpaid" as well! We always balanced experiments and the strengths we know we have, our mid-tempo slow ballads with strong vocals and classically influenced arrangements.

SL. How came that "Lass Mich" actually?

A. Well, Ernst played me the demo of the song and it reminded me of the early eighties. DAF and such bands. You see what I mean. It was so funny that I had to do it! So I thought of making a sort of ironic comment on the German singing electronic bands, these bands with short hair, muscles, etc. These S/M stuff and so. I think it's a nice joke!! We'll see whether people will like it or hate it?

SL. You mentioned "Overpaid"... When I listen to this song, it sounds like a real story you're watching and depicting?

A. It's not a real song cos I never write about myself in my lyrics. But there's some truth in it. Like the feeling of being musicians and getting success and money. Sometimes you get too much money for something you do. It's very ironical I think! It's somehow like watching a night club, sex and fun, some bad guys and drunk girls around. It's like a song from the devil watching party people. It reminds me a bit of Soft Cell and these non stop erotic cabarets... This kind of lyrics from the gutter.

SL. I think that several new songs on this cd deserve to be performed in a new acoustic tour?

A. I think that there'll be another acoustic tour but we don't know when. We like it very much to go with this very naked and emotional thing. It was such a great experience playing in front of 2000 people with only a piano and singing. I don't want to miss that again. We also would like to do that outside Germany now. I know that many people like our acoustic album cos it's different from everything.

SL. Do you think that signing to Sony/Columbia could help in this matter?

A. You know we did not leave Chrom records, our independent label. We just wanted to use the potential of a major to get more success in Europe and maybe America. It's also easier. You can spend more on video clips. And it's not so risky any more for us. Distribution is also better. It took a long time to convince us going to a major. First interests came in the early 90's. We did not loose any freedom and that was very important for us. We still work with Carl and Public Propaganda... And Sony were very proud they had signed us. We're a kind of cult band in Germany.

SL. I think it was also the first time the live members of Deine Lakaien contributed to the writing process of the album?

A. It's indeed the first album where our live members Michael Popp and Christian Komorowski play their instruments in the studio too. It's not a 100% electronic album, we had guitars, violins, medieval instruments, organs and harps. Ernst and I of course stay the heart of Deine Lakaien, but we have been playing with them for almost 10 years now! So we know each other so well! We played so often together! It was another logical step in our history...

SL. There is also the first single for Deine Lakaien? A. Yeah, "Return"... It's maybe the chance to show we have a certain pop appeal... We made a video clip for it too. And we hope to get charted and it will be a push for us? That's our first single, but we are not a single band, sure not. We don't have to enter top 10!!!

SL. Dream is a recurrent them in your lyrics... Would life be possible without dreams? A. Never! No!!! The last days were very exhausting because of a video shooting so I'm very down, and my last dreams were more like influenced by this shooting... But my regular dreams are far too personal to talk about them! (laugh) Sorry!!

SL. One song is called "Kiss The Future"... What is your own vision of the future actually.

A. Hmmm. I don't know? My private life changed in the last few years and I hope it will stay like it is now. I am a very happy person these days. Getting older means getting less anxious about the future, you get more relaxed. I have a little daughter now I have to care of, I have responsibilities, it's a different situation. You know I used to live like hanging out every night and making music and no money. Now it's different I have my two girls: my wife an my daughter! Music was always my whole life 100%. Nothing was more important and now it changed! And I feel better and work easier. One thing I'm afraid of now is going on tour...

SL. How much religion is important in your life?

A. I believe in a power. There are so many things you can't explain. It's important to get rid of all these ways you are surrounded with, these handies and computers, the traffic. It's very important to eat and drink the power of nature. The worst thing is that mankind does not respect nature as it should. Music is also something you cannot explain, it's like heaven's send. I hope that with my voice I can give some kind of power to other people, some comfort when they feel bad. Help people with my music...

SL. It's true you have such a special voice... Are you also singing in the shower?

A. (laughs) no never! Never!