COLLECTION 2 - AVANT-GARDE

And I’d play for them and they’d tell me more stories.
Or they’d say that it was great or that I sucked and
so I knew where I was at, haha...
I also tried “normal” teachers, that I would go see
once a week. My first piano teacher was an old lady
in our village who was into classical music, it was terrible
and my last piano teacher I had as a teenager
in town eventually shot himself, so I never had another
one. With guitar there were different guys. One
I would always see in the hotel when he was traveling
through town and the classes usually moved to the
hotel bar quite fast. My favorite one lived in a farmhouse
outside of town.
I later found out that he actually was a doctor, but
when you are young, you only see the adventurous
cool part you like about someone and you blow that
up to 200% and that inspires you to become like
them. I think I was very lucky that older people always
took the time to pass on their knowledge when I was
just a little fart interested in music.
I really was fortunate to have met many legends of
music history, people who I could hang around with
and copy what they were doing in the studio, and
then eventually create my own ways of how I produce
or write music. But eventually you go into a bubble
and just experiment yourself. In the end it’s all about
learning from others and the history of art but then
translating it into a language that works for you. Your
own accent within the language.
You are going to release the third Bonaparte
album, but you’ve been doing many other musical
projects.
Do you feel that there was an evolution in
your creativity or inspiration?
I am a bit of a chameleon - or a bitch. Depending on
how you look at it. Since I love, love, love so many
different types of music.
I basically just move to a place and then I react to
what is happening there. So my music is always an
answer or a mirror to the surroundings of the moment.
It gives me an angle to write and create and
have some sort of a communication with the listener.
It is somewhat reactional in that sense. And I live for
the moment to perform live. That is my number one
drug. Playing music live.
Of course there is constant evolution. Also because
it is different when you are an artist creating while
trying to find a place in the universe and defining who
you are as a person or whether you create trying to
get a full club of neo-hippies on LSD to go crazy or
wheater you have to feed a family with whatever you
are doing.
It goes through stages of what you are interested in,
in the process of creating art on one hand, and what
the purpose of your job actually is on the other.
KALTBLUT
57
Is there another art than music that particularly
feeds your creativity?
I like the paintings of you and Marianne, yes! I have an
original Marianne hanging in my toilet at home - best
place for art! Of course i like visual arts, paintings,
photography. Not only but also rather classic stuff.
Picasso and Klee are called masters for a reason.
Touring sometimes lets you discover artists. Either
you meet them backstage or you have time to go to
the museum. We went to an exhibition at the LACMA
in Los Angeles while on tour in the US for an exhibition
of surrealist painters from Mexico and the US,
and we discovered a woman called Remedios Varo
who is pretty amazing. I also like the art of putting
word after word after word to create stories. Writing.
Reading.
What’s on your desk at the moment?
I thought you’d never ask. I love desks... It is a bit of
an old school thing, but a nice desk facing the room...
it’s great.
At home there is a pile of CDs I want to listen through.
I get lots of music sent and I usually say: I will listen
to every work at least once - even if I don’t like it.
Yes, that’s is a bit optimistic, because the pile does
not get smaller. There is a photo of my beloved ones
of course. Then there is a piece of wood with a squirrel
on it, a big ceramic bust of napoleon bonaparte
facing the door (if you name your band bonaparte,
that’s what people bring you as a present), a few
books, a secret old brass-box, an omnichord (one of
my favorite instruments) and an old 1920ies readinglamp.
Unfortunately there is also a pile of papers that
remind me of the real world, too.
You can follow his work here:
www.bonaparte.cc
http://youtu.be/FW4N8vhqexM
www.facebook.com/bonaparte