Nota: questo episodio risale a qualche anno fa, eravamo ancora nell’appartamento bunker al piano terra di un condominio gigante, quando mi venne diagnosticata un’allergia alla polvere pazzesca. Dato che all’epoca dormivamo su un materasso a pochi cm da terra l’allergologo si raccomandò di procurarci un letto più alto. Lo comprammo di seconda mano da una coppia di amici che stavano lasciando Vienna proprio in quei giorni.

Una mattina di un bel sabato autunnale in quel di Vienna, quindi, il Fidanzato Asburgico ed io ci accingiamo ad andare a prendere il letto Ikea di seconda mano da una coppia di amici che abitano in un’altro distretto, sempre piuttosto centrale, a circa un quarto d’ora di macchina da casa nostra.

Dato che non abbiamo un’automobile – ma probabilmente il letto non ci sarebbe nemmeno entrato – avevamo prenotato un piccolo furgone del car-sharing, il quale purtroppo non era parcheggiato dietro l’angolo come la Opel Astra che prendiamo ogni tanto. Lo siamo andati a ritirare a due fermate di metro e tre di tram di distanza. Easy peasy.

Dal parcheggio del car-sharing andiamo diretti nel 3. distretto dove il letto ci aspetta già smontato. Tempo dieci minuti ed è tutto nel furgone, dieci minuti dopo siamo di fronte al nostro portone nel distretto 7 e poco dopo è tutto scaricato. Fantastico.

Ammucchiamo tutto contro il muro appena dentro il portone di vetro che da sulla strada, tra la scala 1 e la scala 2. È un androne aperto sul lato opposto verso il cortile interno. Da qui si accede alle scale 1 e 2, e appena attraversato il cortile alle scale 3 e 4 (la nostra). Ciascuna è protetta da un ulteriore portone battente.

A questo punto rimane solo da riportare indietro il furgone e trascinare tutto in casa. Il Fidanzato Asburgico ed io ci dividiamo i compiti: lui riporta subito il furgone al parcheggio, non può stare qui parcheggiato sul passo carrabile mentre traffichiamo avanti e indietro e solo la sua patente è registrata col car-sharing. Nel frattempo io porto dentro pian piano il letto a pezzi, sono tutti gestibili per le mie braccia-stecchino. Solo la testiera è un pezzo unico troppo pesante.

“Bon, inizia a portare dentro tutto e lasciala per ultima, appena torno la spostiamo insieme”

Lui parte ed io inizio fare avanti e indietro, un lavoro se non estenuante sicuramente laborioso, attraverso il cortile, oltre la porta battente che non si lascia bloccare, e su per la mezza rampa di scale che porta al nostro appartamento. Quando manca più solo la testiera torna anche il Fidanzato Asburgico, che mi raggiunge in casa mentre poggio il penultimo pezzo.

“Sono appena passato c’é più solo la testiera, wow, sei già riuscita a portare tutto dentro da sola!”

Ci beviamo un bicchiere d’acqua insieme poi usciamo di nuovo. Gelo. La testiera del letto è sparita.

Maporcapaletta! Chi si ruba una testiera di letto scompagnata? Nei tre minuti tra quando è passato lui e quando siamo riusciti, poi? Sono subito andata a controllare che qualche condomino troppi ligio non l’avesse trascinata nel locale immondizia, la porta è proprio lì accanto a dove l’avevamo lasciata. No, la testiera è proprio stata rubata.

Il Fidanzato Asburgico reagisce asburgico. Scrollata di spalle.

“Uh che peccato. Dai rientriamo”

Io invece sono italianamente fuori di me dalla rabbia, altro che scrollata di spalle, io ho bisogno di vendetta! O perlomeno di azione.

“Ah no! Adesso suoniamo a tutte le porte di tutte le scale e chiediamo!”

“Whaat? Ma sei impazzita?”

“Dai, iniziamo qui dalla scala 2, quella con l’ingresso più vicino a dove stava la testiera!”

“Principessa, dai, sono più di cento appartamenti…”

“Non sono certo tutti a casa! Dobbiamo solo beccare i ladri o qualcuno che li ha visti!”

“Ma…”

Non lo ascolto nemmeno più e inizio a trascinarlo verso la scala 2.

Ci smezziamo il piano terra, lui bofonchiando suona a destra, io a sinistra. Apre solo una nonnina infastidita che non ne sa niente. Saliamo al primo piano, nessuno mi risponde dal lato sinistro. Mentre io già inizio a risalire le scale lui suona all’ultima porta. Gli apre una ragazza dall’aria incuriosita. Il palazzo è pieno di studenti e lei probabilmente ha sentito che stiamo suonando tutti i citofoni partendo dal basso.

“Scusa, siamo inquilini della scala 4, stavamo trasportando un letto smontato dall’androne a casa nostra ma ora manca l’ultimo pez…”

Il Fidanzato Asburgico ancora sta parlando che lei è già diventata tutta rossa. Farfuglia qualcosa. TAH-DAH, ecco la nostra ladra di mobili! Nel frattempo la raggiunge la coinquilina che capisce subito cosa sta succedendo. Lancia un’occhiata di fuoco all’amica poi insieme spariscono nel corridoio per riapparire pochi secondi dopo trascinando la nostra testiera del letto.

“Credevamo fosse da buttare, scusate!”

Io sghignazzando, lui basito, ci portiamo a casa la nostra testiera del letto. Sipario.

Epilogo: questa storiella è solo apparentemente insignificante. In realtà ha completamente stravolto il nostro equilibrio quando si tratta di decidere come reagire nelle più diverse situazioni. Gliela ricordo volentieri.

La direttiva anti virus per me più difficile da seguire non è l’isolamento sociale, non è la noia da reclusione, non è fare la spesa una volta a settimana, non è nemmeno la lontananza imposta dalla mia famiglia. La cosa più difficile in assoluto è (e mi vergono un po’ ad ammetterlo) non toccarmi continuamente la faccia.

Non mi ero mai resa conto di avere questo tic. Da qualche settimana ci faccio ovviamente caso e mi viene da mettermi le mani nei capelli.. oops! Sono incorreggibile. Dato che il cervello evidentemente non ce la fa a tenere sotto controllo questa cosa, sono dovuta intervenire più o meno come se avessi qui un bambino che non la smette di stropicciarsi gli occhi. Con restrizioni più o meno coercitive.

La mattina mi pettino i capelli in due lunghe treccine á la Greta e poi mi infilo un bel berretto di cotone. Il berretto ha una duplice funzione: quella puramente tecnica è di tenere lontani dal viso i capelli che ancora svolazzano intorno alle tempie; contemporaneamente il berretto fornisce un conforto psicologico di base. Consiglio caldamente a tutti di indossare un berretto fino alla fine della Ausgangsperre.

La sera prima di andare a letto tolgo gli elastici, avvoltolo i capelli e li infilo completamente nel berretto, anche se questa è più una procedura dettata da altri pericoli. Mentre dormo mi rigiro parecchio e da quando i miei capelli hanno superato le scapole il rischio di strangolarmi nel sonno è reale. Ma questa è un’altra storia.

Quando devo uscire aggiungo a treccine e berretto una mascherina di stoffa a coprire naso e bocca. Non mi da un’aria particolarmente dignitosa, dato che è di cotone colorato con sopra stampati dei bicchieri di vino rosso. Quella avevo ed è sempre meglio del cono di plastica trasparente fissato intorno al collo suggerito dal Fidanzato Asburgico, come un cane con i punti di sutura intorno al sedere.

(Le autorità qui ci stanno ripetendo allo sfinimento che le mascherine chirurgiche senza filtro o quelle fatte in casa non ci proteggono dal virus, dato che l’aerosol passa tranquillamente, ma al massimo raccolgono un po’ di sputacchi quando parliamo noi. Il rischio è di sentirsi più sicuri e fare cappellate, mentre l’unico vero vantaggio sarebbe proprio questa protezione dalle proprie zampacce sporche.)

Prima settimana di shutdown in terra asburgica. Ausgangssperre si chiama qui – coprifuoco – ma in tedesco fa più paura. La vita in clausura sta prendendo forma e se l’umore non sempre collabora almeno la logistica mi sta aiutando. Un appartamento spazioso, una terrazza da sistemare per la primavera, il supermercato di fronte al portone del palazzo. I patemi sono piuttosto in testa.

Il Fidanzato Asburgico lavora da casa, e aiuta a dare una struttura alle nostre giornate. Anche se nell’open space dove abitiamo significa che io mi devo muovere attenta e silenziosa come una spia. Dato che la sua postazione di telelavoro è proprio a ridosso della zona cucina, stiamo pian piano sviluppando una comunicazione non verbale ad hoc.

“Dura ancora molto questa teleconferenza? Dovrei iniziare a preparare il pranzo”

“Un paio di minuti e poi mi sposto in terrazzo”

“Ottimo, allora io nel frattempo appendo i panni ad asciugare”

Il tutto con lo sguardo, massimo un vago cenno con la mano. Tempo quest’estate e probabilmente saremo in grado di comunicare telepaticamente attraverso i muri.

Lui lavora, dunque, cosa faccio io? Una bella domanda. Sostanzialmente aspetto e osservo. Aspetto piccole e grandi cose, di sapere se il mio lavoro sopravviverà a questo sfascio, aspetto la telefonata pomeridiana con i miei genitori sottovuoto a Roma – sempre alla stessa ora che la quotidianità è importante. Aspetto il notiziario a reti unificate delle 19, aspetto che i semi di peperoncino inizino a germogliare. Ma soprattutto osservo. Ergo :

“Se non ricomincio a scrivere Sissi adesso non lo farò mai più”

Questo pensiero si è presentato spontaneo meno di dodici ore dopo la conferenza stampa del governo di venerdì scorso con le prime misure. L’ho accolto come andrebbe accolto ogni briciolino di positività in questo momento, a braccia aperte. E se devo trovare un lato positivo a tutta questa faccenda è che avrò davvero tanto tempo a disposizione.

Eppure sento che sto per sprecare un’occasione. Cosa risponderò a chi tra qualche mese mi chiederà “cosa hai fatto durante lo shutdown”? Che ho pulito a fondo la casa? Che ho fatto ordine nelle cartelle del computer? Che non ho una fogliolina secca nei vasi in terrazza manco a cercarla? Che ho messo in ordine scatoloni di documenti? Scusate, posso dire che due palle?! Ho tempo per questo ed altro! Io voglio una risposta leggendaria.

Voglio una ventata di nuovo, voglio creare un’energia positiva che mi sostenga, che mi consoli, che dia un senso a tutto questo.

Il primo giorno di clausura, prima ancora di cercare di mettere ordine nei miei pensieri, avevo scritto questa lista. Immagino l’abbiano fatto un po’ tutti.

• Ricominciare a scrivere Sissi che sono anni che pago dominio e webhost per niente
• Imparare a suonare quel povero ukulele appeso al muro
• Ricominciare a cucinare seriamente
• Mettere insieme tutti i progetti di cucito e farne una pagina web
• Imparare a disegnare

Dieci giorni dopo, tempo di bilanci:

Sissi
Sissi è di nuovo online. Grazie al Fidanzato Asburgico ci sono ancora quasi tutti i vecchi post, le foto, i commenti. Un sacco di link non funzionano più, pian piano rimetterò tutto a posto. Confesso di aver passato un sacco di tempo negli ultimi giorni rileggendo vecchi post. Questa idea del diario romanzato continua a piacermi un sacco e la prima lettrice di Sissi sono indubbiamente io!

Ukulele
Ah, l’ukulele! Temo che se non abbiamo talento per una cosa sia impossibile farsela piacere. Il mio povero ukulele è ancora lì appeso al muro con sopra lo stesso dito di polvere di sempre.

Cucinare
La cucina in passato è sempre stata una grandissima forma di intrattenimento, immaginavo quindi mi si riaccendesse il sacro fuoco della passione. Mi sbagliavo. Ho ricominciato a cucinare ma con uno spirito diverso, in pratica solo ricette collaudate e comfort food certificato. In cucina, mi sono resa conto, cerco conforto, non la sfida. Per quella ci sono i video di yoga su YouTube.

Il progetti di cucito
La macchina da cucire è spolverata, ho fatto un ordine pazzesco tra i materiali, scritto un paio di appunti e contattato l’amica temeraria con cui condividere questa avventura. Pronti, partenza, …

Disegnare
È dai tempi delle scuole medie che ho questo sogno nel cassetto. Probabilmente è stato nel cassetto talmente tanto a lungo che un po’ è rimasto attaccato ed è difficile tirarlo fuori. Non ho nemmeno iniziato a cercarmi tutorial, sigh.

L’altro giorno finalmente la temperatura è salita sopra i 15 gradi – il mio limite personale per uscir fuori a trafficare – e ho tirato fuori vaschette, terra e semini per iniziare il giardinaggio primaverile in terrazza. Ho seminato prezzemolo e basilico, broccoli, bietole, timo e maggiorana. Poi mi è venuto in mente che a dicembre mia madre mia aveva mandato altri semi per posta. Tra i quali i semi di cappero.

Ora, il cappero da queste parti è relativamente esotico, non l’ho mai visto in nessun vivaio o fiorista. Né i semi né la pianta. Solo al supermercato, da mangiare.

Mi erano giusto avanzate lì due vaschette per far germogliare i semi, di quelle pre-formate, 24 tazzine da riempire di terra col sottovaso per raccogliere l’acqua, e il coperchio trasparente. Ho immediatamente elaborato un piano che non esito a definire geniale: piantare tutte e 48 i pirottini con i suddetti semi, aspettare che le piantine crescano a sufficienza, trapiantarle in graziosissimi vasetti di vetro riciclati con un paio di graziosissimi sassetti sotto di drenaggio, appenderci delle graziosissime etichette con uno straccio di indicazioni, fotografarle super instagrammose, venderle online a 5€ l’una. Ci vorrà massimo un sacco di terra, i cartellini li ritaglio da cartoncini di recupero – mica devono essere tutti dello stesso colore. Nastrini e fili colorati ne ho scatole e scatole, sassolini ce ne trasciniamo due sacchi dal vecchio giardino ancora incartati. Vasetti sono piena.

Mentre elucubravo ha iniziato a fare freschino e sono rientrata. Ho raccontato al Fidanzato Asburgico la mia meravigliosa idea, e mentre parlavo gli ho anche fatto un bello schemino con tanto di hard-facts e business case sul ripiano bar della cucina. Lui è rimasto molto impressionato e ha insistito per fotografarlo e per aggiungerlo intero qui sotto, nonostante fosse realizzato in quel brutto Denglish. Denglish è l’acronimo di Deutsch e English, tedesco e inglese, ed è anche un po’ il nostro viziaccio, specie in forma scritta. Ci sono momenti poi, come ora, in cui lui ha tanti meeting in inglese e io magari sto leggendo un libro in inglese, e tocchiamo il fondo. Ma sto divagando.

Dicevo, questo piano fantastico, finalmente verificato bianco su nero, l’ho voluto battezzare Das Kapern-Imperium. Un bel nome, non c’è che dire, specialmente se stai pensando in Denglish e la traduzione italiana viene solo dopo: L’impero del cappero.

Ah, la madrelingua! Sempre così pregnante.

All’inizio di questa storia la suspense cresce un sacco e non si capisce bene se la storia finirà drammatica o comica. Volevo avvertire subito: comica.

Una domenica mattina troppo presto siamo stati svegliati di soprassalto dal campanello della porta. La porta d’ingresso del nostro appartamento viennese al piano terra della scala 4, cioè tre portoni battenti, due cortili interni e mezza rampa di scale dal portone della strada. Molto misterioso.

Mi sono alzata col pilota automatico, ho infilato una felpa e sono barcollata in ingresso. Mi sono trovata davanti la schiena del Fidanzato Asburgico – si era addormentato sul divano quindi era arrivato prima – che indietreggiava mentre richiudeva la porta.

Si è girato verso di me e ha fatto

C’è una donna nuda davanti alla porta.

Così, plain. Senza inflessione, senza sorpresa, senza umorismo. C’è una donna nuda davanti alla porta. Punto.

Mi sono riscossa un attimo dal mio dormiveglia. Lui nel frattempo si era fatto da parte e mi faceva strada verso il portone chiuso

È meglio se vedi tu.

Meccanicamente, ho aperto. Davanti alla porta c’era una donna nuda. Il mio cervello è andato in black-out, panico panico, oddio che faccio. Il mio istinto ha preso il sopravvento e, mentre elucubravo su come procedere, ha chiuso la porta.

Ricapitoliamo: davanti al nostro ingresso c’è una donna nuda che ha citofonato; le hanno aperto in rapida successione due sconosciuti; entrambi l’hanno guardata assonnati e le hanno richiuso la porta in faccia.

Ho riaperto la porta e, avendo già assorbito lo shock che era nuda, l’ho guardata meglio. Stava appoggiata allo stipite coi capelli lunghi scomposti e si copriva il viso con le mani, forse piangeva piano. Ho notato un po’ di sangue tra mani e bocca. Il sangue mi ha svegliata completamente.

Le ho detto di non preoccuparsi, sono corsa in bagno – lasciando la porta aperta – e l’ho avvolta in fretta in un accappatoio. Stava in piedi a fatica. Una volta sedute sul divano ho cercato di capire cosa le fosse successo. Non so cosa si fosse calata ma nel corso della mezz’ora seguente ha ricostruito una storia abbastanza confusa.

A quanto pare al quinto piano sopra di noi abita un tale Bernd. Sia lei che Bernd sono utenti di una pubblicizzatissima piattaforma online per incontri tra accademici di classe. Ieri sera sono usciti per la prima volta e sono finiti a casa di Bernd. Qui la storia si fa più confusa. Lei si è svegliata sul pianerottolo nuda, non ricorda perché e percome, forse ha battuto il mento sul corrimano di ferro mentre scendeva le scale bussando alle porta, forse no.

Non ricordava il proprio numero di cellulare – presumibilmente tuttora cinque piani più su – né il numero di telefono di alcun parente o amico. Tranne la mamma al paese natio, 400 km da Vienna. Seppur nel suo stato miserabile, abbiamo concordato che non era davvero il caso. Abbiamo cercato sua sorella su Facebook e le abbiamo mandato un messaggio con il mio numero di cellulare dal mio account (non si ricordava la password del suo). Ci ha messo un po’ a scriverlo dato che non aveva gli occhiali.

Il Fidanzato Asburgico, nel frattempo, si era fatto tappezzeria. Immagino fosse stritolato tra la consapevolezza che, con ‘sto maledetto elefante nella stanza dello stupro, un uomo non dovesse battere ciglio o emettere fiato; e la volontà di non lasciarmi sola con una sconosciuta sanguinante. Ha scelto la via dell’immobilità assoluta e si è fuso con lo sfondo nell’angolo più buio della stanza. Una soluzione molto elegante, devo ammettere.

Mandato il messaggio – era ancora parecchio presto – l’ho messa a letto accappatoio e tutto, e sono tornata in soggiorno. Ci siamo seduti sul divano ad aspettare la telefonata.

Per farla breve, la sorella è arrivata, le ho dato di che vestirsi e ringraziandoci profusamente sono partite alla caccia di occhiali, cellulari, Bernd, password e dignità perdute. Il sollievo era tutto nostro.

Epilogo

Un paio di giorni dopo mi è arrivato un sms. La donna nuda davanti alla porta ringraziava di cuore e chiedeva quando potesse riportarmi i vestiti. Immaginando l’imbarazzo le ho proposto la scelta tra venirsi a prendere sportivamente un caffè da noi, citofonare e lasciare al volo, o depositare al bancone del nostro caffè preferito dietro l’angolo. Ha scelto di essere magnifica e venire a raccontarci la storia vera di quella stramba mattina.

Lei e Bernd hanno bevuto troppo e sono semisvenuti nel letto dopo una notte di fuoco. Quando ha iniziato a fare giorno, la luce l’ha svegliata e tra sbornia o chissà cosa non ha riconosciuto né capito dove fosse ed è andata nel panico. È scappata in pianerottolo e ha iniziato a scendere cercando aiuto bussando a tutte le porte (e ha davvero pestato il mento sul corrimano). Poi succediamo noi. Poi la sorella l’ha portata a casa sua, e nel frattempo lei si è schiarita abbastanza da ricordare che no, non era stata violentata e la faccenda era piuttosto tutto un equivoco. Nel primo pomeriggio si è svegliato anche Bernd, sorpreso di essere solo. Ancora più sorpreso quando ha trovato i vestiti e gli occhiali della nostra donna nuda sparsi in camera da letto. Bernd l’ha chiamata sul cellulare, quello ha squilla dalla borsa sul divano. Le ha scritto su Facebook, su WatsApp, persino sulla pubblicizzatissima piattaforma online per incontri tra accademici di classe. Finalmente lei ha risposto, scambio di effetti personali, sorriso imbarazzato, sipario.

A noi di questa storia ci è venuto in tasca un buono per un brunch in un caffè chicchissimo nei paraggi. E un aneddoto che non ci stancheremo mai di raccontare sulla pubblicizzatissima piattaforma online per incontri tra accademici di classe. Ah, e un numero di telefono che ho salvato in memoria come Nome-donna-nuda.

Dovessi una volta aver bisogno di darmi alla macchia in fretta so chi chiamare.

Nota spazio-temporale: Questo post va online quando è stato scritto, il 25 marzo 2018. Prima o poi lo sposterò a una data più consona al diario, cioè novembre 2015.

Since its debut in 2006, the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany, has grown to become one of the most important meeting places for the music industry worldwide, and it boasts a broad spectrum of emerging artists.

This year TuneCore invited MASTERLIZER to the Reeperbahn Festival. We accepted with pleasure and had a legendary road-trip Vienna-Prague-Dresden-Berlin-Hamburg and back.

In Hamburg we finally met the TuneCore team. There is this thing with online companies: since everything seems to happen on a screen and on remote servers, one tends to forget there are real people behind it. It is always a little magical to finally meet in person the faces that have always been on video conferences or even just names on a computer screen.

We also met Scott Ackerman, CEO of TuneCore. He’s quite the customer care guru and in the past years he brought start-ups like eHarmony and Orbitz to success. At TuneCore he oversaw the growth in digital store partnerships and started the Artist Services marketplace as well as an Innovation Lab with a focus on product development. During his tenure, TuneCore has also opened new offices in Nashville and Boston and launched TuneCore Japan, TuneCore Canada and TuneCore Germany.

While chatting someone asked him if he’s a musician. To our surprise he answered a dry no. I was immediately intrigued, since I’m not a musician myself. I actually entered this business one year ago with a pretty naïve attitude and was under the impression to be an absolute rarity. I asked him for a few minutes of his time to ask him a couple of questions about this topic for the MASTERLIZER blog.

See, we normally focus more on artists and on music production, but I couldn’t miss the chance to investigate this aspect of the music business. What qualities does one need in order to work in it? Is it really necessary to be able to play any instruments? To have a deep understanding of music history? To know the music industry as deeply as their own pockets?

We met the next morning in The Reeperbahn Festival Lounge, a chic affaire full of super modern furniture, a lot of pomp and a little dark. Outside it was a beautiful fall morning, a tad windy, crisp air, sunny – one of those days it would simply be a pity not to sit outside. We wrapped ourselves in our coats and sat down to enjoy the possibly last sunrays of the season.

(In the picture above, fltr: Melita Balaski, Creative Director MASTERLIZER; Monica Mel, Editor MASTERLIZER; Maximilian Kamenar, CEO/Founder MASTERLIZER; Marie-Anne Robert, Vice President of International TuneCore; Ronny Steibl, New Business Development MASTERLIZER; Scott Ackerman, CEO TuneCore; Stine Mühle, Brand Manager Germany TuneCore)

I’ve heard you’re not a musician and that you don’t come from the music industry…

That’s correct! I didn’t originally, but I’ve been in it for 6 years now!

So you are now?!

[Laughs] Now I’m from the music industry!

But you’re not a musician?

No.

Do you play any instrument?

No.

Well, when I was a kid I played the trombone in the school band… and that was the beginning and the end of it!

Do you listen to a lot of music?

Oh yes! I have a passion for music, all genres.

All genres? Most people stick to a few artists and bands, maybe to one or two genres. Having a broad music interest is not that common…

Well, that’s our TuneCore core-team too. We have all genres, creators of all types of music.

Did you develop a taste for music after joining TuneCore?

No, I’ve always had a taste… when I was younger I did like Progressive music, bands like Genesis, Peter Gabriel. When I grew older I started to like Classical, New Age… then working for TuneCore and hearing all the new Indie bands – it’s great music, it’s fun to listen to!

The music industry is a place where many people try to turn their passion into a job… and it’s the same with other passions, or hobbies. I, for example, love to cook and I like to make my own clothes – I could try to monetize those! Ever tried the same with your passions/hobbies?

My hobbies today are… listening to music! And I do like to sail. But there’s not a career in that for me!

When I grew up my father was in aeronautics so I got to travel a lot – and I loved it. I even started my career in aeronautics, at American Airlines. And I really enjoyed it. Then I started to network for start-up companies, e-commerce companies, and I enjoyed that too.

I think for me, all the companies I’ve been working for are companies focusing on helping people. At TuneCore, we’re giving every independent artist a chance, everybody deserves an opportunity. We’re not sitting here deciding who’s good or who’s gonna be famous. That’s up to the artist. They give us their content, we give them tools to be creative. That’s exciting.

We’re looking for people who can bring in new ideas and look at things from different angles.

In the music industry most people either are musicians or come from the music industry. Is it possible for everybody to enter it transversally?

I don’t know if anybody could, but before TuneCore, in the airline industry, I learned a lot about operations and finance. And those pieces are all important in any business.

While every business focuses on different topics – music, travel – or dating! – the core pieces of running operations are always the same. Once you’ve learned the core of finance and business operations, I think you can get into any type of business. And I think that it’s easier to learn the business than the principles of finance or of operations.

Are there roles at TuneCore that must be covered by musicians or music experts?

As soon as you look more into managing resources, of course. Certain pieces of the industry need someone who shares the same path and feeling, of making music and trying to be successful, and having a side-job to make a living. Like A/R for example, it needs the knowledge of somebody that really understands – when they’re listening to music – how to be creative and help those artists become more successful. It’s a talent that you can’t just learn.

We have a mix of people, not everybody at TuneCore is from the music industry. And that helps, because we’re doing a lot of new things. If you come from the music industry and know how it works, you tend to repeat that. We’re not looking for that. We’re looking for people who can bring in new ideas and look at things from different angles.

Some roles, like finance – even marketing – you can have people from traditional industries, such as insurance and health-care. That’s what we’ve done. We have people from the music industry, people from the e-commerce world, people who have grown businesses, regardless of the industry.

Advantages and disadvantages of entering a business without knowing it by heart?

Advantages… you think differently! You don’t come with the same flaws of how you got used to doing it.

Disadvantages… [laughs] learning the industry! For me it was learning about how artists puts their content together, their metadata and how they deliver it to us… but those are all things you can learn over time.

Bringing in people with new ideas, outsiders of the industry, is a good thing. But you need people from the industry too. Because they have to tell you how it really works. It’s a great balance and it’s been very successful for us at TuneCore.

That’s the important piece, the passion.

Sometimes I have really great ideas because of my strange outsider angle, and sometimes, because of the same reason, I say stupid things too! I fall in the classic traps with both feet. Ever happened to you? Any anecdote?

Nothing specific, but for me the thing that I find challenging is when I’m sitting around with people that have been in the industry a long time… they like to name-drop…

Hey, do you know so-and-so? And so-and-so-and-so?!

…and I don’t know some of those people!

How do you react? Personally, sometimes, I simply pretend…

That’s not my personality, I don’t pretend! I just say

No, I don’t know those people.

(But some I do! [Laughs])

But seriously, I listen. There are some great people from the music industry who I can learn from. Any opportunity I can get to talk to them is rewarding for me.

We’re doing really well at TuneCore, I’m really happy with the staff that we have and I think we’ve proven that you don’t need everyone from the music industry.

Again, I think every industry has learned some good things, so if you can bring people in from different industries and learn their best practices it can only help you as a business.

At MASTERLIZER it’s the same! Our CTO, for example, is not from the music industry and his only music experience was playing the flute during elementary school. He had to learn a lot about signal processing, a little about music production, then he took off!

I think for us, everyone at TuneCore has a deep passion for music – we all love it! That is very helpful. I don’t know how happy I’d be as an employee of TuneCore if I didn’t like music.

Our team, I can tell, while they’re working they’re always listening to music. We play a lot of music, we invite our artists to come in and play in front of the team, share their successes…that’s very rewarding.

That’s the important piece, the passion.

Well, thank you for your time!

Thank you!

Epilogue:

Then we both look down at my smart-phone on the table as I switch off the recorder. At that exact moment a giant truck drives by and makes a huge noise. I thoughtlessly go

This recording will be a task, with all the wind and traffic noise!

I don’t know if he feels a tad guilty because he suggested we sit outside, or if he’s just nice like that, but he answers

Oh, if it doesn’t work call me, we can do it again!

Oh, don’t worry, we’re MASTERLIZER!!

Haha!

TuneCore Masterlizer Reeperbahn Festival 2016 TuneCore meet and greet at the Reeperbahn Festival 2016, fltr: Ronny Steibl (oh well, at least his ear), New Business Development MASTERLIZER; Scott Ackerman (back to the camera), TuneCore; Melita Balaski, Creative Director MASTERLIZER; Maximilian Kamenar, CEO/Founder MASTERLIZER, Stine Mühle, Brand Manager Germany TuneCore
(c) Marius Drews/TuneCore

Semplicemente da un paio di giorni ho rimesso mano al blog e massimo il fine settimana che viene conto di aver finito e di aver rimesso tutto a posto. Incredibile quanti danni facciano gli aggiornamenti automatici in due anni di inutilizzo.

Mi scuso di cuore, ero stra-convinta di aver disattivato la funzione newsletter, né il Fidanzato Asburgico né io le riceviamo. Bon, ho smanettato un altro po’ e spero la faccenda sia migliorata…

E io che credevo – tra un paio di giorni – di fare una gran sorpresa a tutti! >:-(

xxSissi

(Attention! It is self-explanatory that an interview with a punk band will contain a few dirty words.)

Before meeting Sick of it All I listened to a lot of their music, watched many music videos, some interviews and read almost everything about them available online. An image of the band’s people slowly started to form in my mind. I was expecting four middle-aged gentlemen (I’m only slightly younger than they are, after all), covered in head to toe tattoos, one (Pete Koller’s) dyed punk crest and a lot of black t-shirts. I was not disappointed.

Indeed, when I was introduced to the backstage area of Arena right before their Viennese concert, I found the four band members (plus a couple of unidentified tour crew members) sitting around a couch table looking exactly like I imagined, black t-shirts, tattoos, smiles and all. They all waved back at me over-enthusiastically. I was told I had to wait a couple of minutes since they had something to finish, then I could hijack front man Lou Koller for my interview.

Fun fact: How is it that musicians always have so much to do, but it always looks like they’re just hanging around and chilling?! 😛

While waiting I reflected on how Sick of it All is probably the punk-est band name I’ve ever heard. Really, for a subculture that is generally against any established industry and anything remotely mainstream, it can’t get any better than that. Will the people act accordingly?

Sick Of It All is an American hardcore band formed in 1986 in Queens, New York, USA. Brothers Lou and Pete Koller (vocals and lead guitar), Craig Setari (bass guitar) and Armand Majidi (drums) were all already involved in the New York hardcore scene of the 80s and 90s and proceeded to be a major part of it for the next thirty years. Up to today, actually.
Their major label debut in 1994 – Scratch the Surface – was received with critical acclaim, as well as the following Built to Last. In the next twenty years Sick of It All changed labels a couple of times and released a total of twelve studio albums, two live recordings, two compilations, two EPs, six singles and one documentary film.
Their last album – Last Act of Defiance – was released on September 2014. We’re waiting to see what they’ve prepared for the 30-year anniversary… 🙂

Sick of It All was never about good musicians getting together. We were friends that grew up together, and loved the same music.

We sat down in a tiny room, a couple of tables against the walls and two chairs in the middle, exactly the kind of setting one would expect in Arena: shabby shabby without any chic. We briefly joked that we were lucky to have, at least, one chair each!

Lou Koller: What was your name, Monica?

Monica, yes.

Lou.

(This is sooo cute! He’s introducing himself like I didn’t recognize him and didn’t come with the specific purpose of meeting him! <3 C’mon Monica – concentrate on the tattoos, this guy is an angry punk musician, not an old friend of yours!!)

Sorry for the freezing hands, I’m always freezing! 

I am from Global Rockstar, and most of the artists on our platform are either beginners or musicians that are already famous in their area or in their country, and are trying to do the jump internationally over the platform.

Yeah.

We do a number of activities but basically my point of view is always the career path. How did it happen and can we learn something to duplicate the path to success? I’m gonna ask a lot in this direction.

Ok!

And, I mean …

(Outside of the room we are sitting alone, people start chatting, shouting and, judging by the noise, moving around big pieces of furniture. We both turn to the door but Lou is quicker than me. He stands up and reaches for the door, which is actually closed. He opens it…)

Can you guys talk somewhere else?

(Lou closes the door again and realizes it’s not a real door, it’s more a saloon-like-affair, wide open at the top and at the bottom. He looks at me, puzzled)

The door is closed!!

It’s like in a high-school toilet!

(We both laugh)

I’m really amazed… founded 1986 and now we have 2016… it’s thirty years!!

Oh, yeah!

I think it’s fantastic!

So do we!

Did you imagine it when you started?

No, no. When we started it was just for fun. We were always into heavy rock and roll and stuff like that. And then we got into punk music and we found out there was a scene in New York City. And we started going to CBGBs. (NB if you don’t know CBGB, famous and infamous at the same time, click here and learn how legendary it was! Besides, it will make a lot more sense further on :-))

Our dream was

Ah, I just want to play CBGBs one day!

And that’s why we formed the band! To be part of the scene, and play…

And it was also the right place for that kind of music, right?

Yeah, it was the right place, right time, and it just started snowballing from there.

The first thing that I did when I heard that I’m going to meet Sick of It All was going on Wikipedia…

(Lou laughs… but, frankly, I don’t understand why. I love Wikipedia!!)

I noticed that, if there is enough history, Wikipedia makes small chapters out of it. For the Sick of It All entry it was first The beginnings – this one lasts up to Scratch the Surface. And then comes The Fat Wreck Records years and so on…

And I thought, in my head I do the same with my life! School, university, moving someplace. My chapters are before and after graduating, before and after Vienna, working corporate…

How do you look back at a thirty year career? You must have milestones. Like before and after this, before and after that. What are your chapters?

There’s so many! There was the very beginning. And then we finally made a demo tape and all that. And when we finally got to play CBGBs – we opened up for a couple of friends’ bands and we had a great reaction!

That was the first milestone?

Yeah. I think the biggest milestone then was when we headlined CBGBs! We finally were going to headline and we were like, wow!

I remember coming over the bridge from Queens to Manhattan in a friend’s car, with all our equipment piled in the car, going like

Man, I hope people show up.

And we turned the corner, and there’s a line of people down the street waiting to get in!! And this was never heard of back then. Nobody lined up to see a punk show or a hardcore matinee!

And we were like Oh my God and we got in, we did sound check and it was amazing! It was the first big milestone, you know?

Ha! So cute! It was the same route that you probably went back and forth many times. And this one time…

Yeah, we used to just go see shows there, it was so amazing!

And then… it was ‘92, the next big milestone. We had already had two albums out, I think – no! one album was out – and our label, that we were on in the United States, was bought by a big corporation, Sony.

They put out an EP with a bunch of live tracks here in Europe. And we got a call from Mark M.A.D. We never knew him, really, we met him once or twice at CBGBs when he came over. And he was

I want to bring you to Europe!

And we were like

Yeah, you want to bring us to Europe. Okaaay! Sure, sure, set up a tour, we’ll come.

(Mimes a dismissive gesture with his hand, like we’re never going to believe that!)

And we thought

This guy’s never going to do anything.

And then we got our tickets in the mail!! And we’re like

Oh! I guess we’re going to Europe!!

And that was the next big milestone, the first European tour. It really set us off on wanting to stay playing in a band. I mean – we loved it, we didn’t want to leave it, but we had jobs at home. And in the United States we could, like, play on the weekends…

You still had jobs at the time?! :-O

Oh yeah. All the way up until the… I’d say the late nineties, we all still had jobs. But that first European tour – we didn’t make money, but it was just… to come here and see people from different walks of life on the other side of the ocean that loved our music… whoa!

This is funny, because mostly I hear European bands that want to go to the U.S. – Oh, we’re going to tour in the U.S., it’s finally happening! It works also the other way around, then!

It’s the other way, yeah.

And then, that same year, we were the very first New York hardcore band to go to Japan!

And it was funny. A friend of ours brought us over, and we played this tiny club that held two hundred people for three nights. And they stuffed four hundred people in there every night and we were like

What is going on? This is insane!

That was the next big milestone that just made us keep playing.

That was worldwide then.

Yeah. It was fun. Then it kept going like that.

The next one was when we got signed to a major label. And everybody was like

Oh, they’re going to sell out, they’re on a major label!

Green Day was big at the time, and everyone was like Bleah!

And we just wrote probably the hardest record we ever could write, the heaviest record at the time. And that’s another milestone. Scratch the Surface was another milestone.

And… it’s just like that. You have these highs and lows.

Oh, tell me about the lows.

There was a lot of lows. It’s weird, again going back to the States, the climate changed. Like, we were touring, we did Scratch the Surface and it was very successful. Not hugely successful, but we did really good.

But there was this whole… coming from the punk, especially the hardcore scene, there was always this thing of you did it for the art, you didn’t want to make money at it.

And we got a lot of flack from people in our hometown for touring and making money. We’d go around the United States. If you didn’t play the squat and you played a club, half the crowd didn’t go.

So we were at a weird position. Those were the low points. You’d go to a town like in Kansas, where we would sell out, usually go play the squat and you have, like five hundred people there. And then the squat’s gone.

So we thought

Oh, we’re going to play Kansas, well there’s this bar down the street that has all ages shows, let’s go there!

(But) they won’t go. Because it’s in a bar. But there’s no other place to play, you know? It was just weird.

You kind of feel bad, because we still thought we were getting out the message and the attitude that we wanted, but some of the fans were thinking

Oh, no, you just want to be rock stars.

But it’s weird. Do I just play to the same people who know the message that we’re putting out? Or should we try to bring it to other people? I mean, we did it, we were the first hardcore band to go on full tours with metal bands. We would go with Exodus and we did some with…

Sepultura? 🙂

Sepultura! That was a great one! That was a funny story… Pete was working in the mailroom of Sepultura’s record label. And when they found out that the guy from Sick of It All was in the mailroom, they came in, Igor and Max (NB Igor and Max Cavalera, founders of Sepultura) and all the guys came in

We want to meet Pete, oh we love Sick of It All! We love you guys so much!!

They’re shaking Pete’s hand, and Pete goes

If you love us so much, take us on tour.

Then he turns around and goes back to work!

And then a month later

Hey, we want to take Sick of It All on tour!

It’s interesting this conflict with the fans, with some of your fans. I imagine it a very difficult balance.

Oh yeah, and it’s funny, because some of our hardcore fans that have that attitude will go and pay large amounts of money to see a metal band, or somebody else.

All these people I know, who are the most underground punk, go

Oh you shouldn’t charge twenty bucks for a T-shirt, even though it costs you fifteen dollars to make it!
But when King Diamond started touring again last year, they go to a show and pay thirty dollars for a shirt, thirty dollars for a ticket.

A friend of mine went to see that band Ghost, and she was like

Oh, and I got caught up in it, they were so good, I bought this Ghost rosary beads!

And I was like

How much did you pay for that?

Forty bucks.

Would you pay forty bucks for anything that said Sick of It All on it?

She goes

Oh, no way!!

Because we’re punk! Because you can’t do that! It’s such a double-edged sword.

It’s really the most difficult genre when it comes to that point of view.

Yeah. It sucks!!

(We both laugh)

And the thing is, we’ve always, always tried to keep it fair. From the beginning, if we made a T-shirt for five bucks we only sold it for ten. You know, we didn’t sell it for twenty-five or whatever. But that’s the problem with being in the hardcore punk scene…

…you have the hardcore fans!!

Hehe!

I saw an interview where you talked about how your fan base is mostly your generation, and it’s kind of difficult to grab the younger ones…

Oh, the younger audience, yeah.

Why?

I’m not sure. It’s weird for me, I don’t know if it’s the scene we come from, where it’s very generational. Because when I grew up and we started going to hardcore and punk shows, we all researched where it came from. And when we saw older bands were coming to town we were all like

Oh my God, we’ve got to go see these guys, they’re legendary!!

But it seems that as the years going on, the younger kids just wanted bands their age.

We played a show once in Virginia, and there were bands that sounded exactly like us. And they even said that Sick of It All was their main influence, and they were so proud to be on the same stage with us.

But when they finished playing their fans just left. They didn’t give a crap that we influenced all these bands and that we were their heroes…

They didn’t want to listen to the real stuff?!

Yeah, they didn’t care. Either that or they had to go home because it was their bedtime! I don’t know, they were so young. 😛

(Again I have to pinch me in the arm to stay focused… Sick of it All! Punk! Angry! Against everything! Bad, bad people!! Look at all those tattoos!)

I am curious because… I don’t buy a hundred percent this theory that they want to see only artists that are their age. Because when I was younger, I didn’t stick to teenager bands or twenty years old. But then again, when I was young, the way I consumed music was very different from today. I’m talking about attention span here. Like, I discovered Pink Floyd when I was thirteen…

Wow.

I would listened to something, discover a band, and what I would do next was go to a record store and  (I mime flipping through records with the tip of my fingers)…

Exactly!

And buy some of them, you know, blank! I didn’t know…

…how it was going to sound!

Exactly. I would go home and listen to them, and it was almost a religious thing. I would sit there and listen to them front and back, many times, and it took me months to digest that stuff.

I remember chewing the old Syd Barrett psychedelic stuff, and (I do an overwhelmed/disgusted face) it took me a very long time. And today’s kids, they hear something and they decide if they like it or not in twenty seconds!

I know! It’s crazy!

And if they like it, it lands on a playlist for a couple of weeks and then disappears.

They don’t have any physical attachment to it, they don’t have the experience of hunting it, you know. And like you said, half of the things they listen to

Oh, I can just get it as a ringtone!

Or whatever they do now. When my godson was younger, him and his friends, whatever the popular song was – bang! – they all had it as a ringtone on their phone. And then the next week he had another ringtone. And I go

What happened to the song from last week?

I don’t know, I like this one this week.

I understand liking different songs, but they don’t fall in love with the music. And I think, the pop that sells millions and millions of copies, it’s not going to stand the test of time.

The classic rock, or whatever you want to call it, you can put a Pink Floyd record on, and it’ll stand the test of time. Because it takes you somewhere. It says something to you. You know?

Do you think it’s possible to reverse this pattern?

I think it has to do a lot with the music industry. Just like everything, they just want to make money now. Instead of developing an artist or making art, they want to make money. And that’s why the music industry is failing. It’s the whole climate.

And again, I can only speak from the American perspective, but that’s the climate in America. They don’t care about – talking about the election (NB The US presidential elections) – nobody really cares about the issues, they just want to be backed, they’re all backed by these corporations that just want to keep the money machine going.

Can you tell me more about the thirty year anniversary? What’s coming up?

Oh, well, we recorded five brand new songs and we’re doing an EP. We’re putting together a photographic history, so we’re trying to make it as a book that comes with an EP, to have vinyl and digital download.

It was fun, we also brought our original bass player (NB Rich Cipriano, the very first bass player of the band) – ‘cause Craig joined in 1993, we’ve all grown up together, but Craig was in other bands at the time. And he wrote songs with us on the first album, so…

He’s joining back again?

No, no Craig is the one who’s playing with us now. The original guy, Richie, he left. But for the EP that we did we brought him in, and he played guitar, he’s a really good guitar. So it was all five of us in the studio playing together again.

I always like to ask about line-up changes… sometimes crazy stories are hidden there…

It’s funny…

Was it growing pains, or…?

No, it was weird, we had it right away! (NB the line-up)

We did one show where we had a different drummer and bass player, this kid Dave, and Mark on bass, they’re guys from the hardcore scene. They did one show and then they quit.

But Pete and me wanted to keep playing, so we got our friends Richie and Armand, and we clicked right away because we all grew up loving the same music. And that line-up was great up until about the end of 1992. Richie didn’t want to tour a lot, because he was having trouble with his girlfriend when he would leave for tour…

Hehe!

So he left the band, and Craig, who grew up with us too – he was in Agnostic Front, and Agnostic Front was splitting up at the time. So it was natural for him to just join us. He did the last Agnostic Front tour, had three days at home, and went right out on tour with Sick of It All!

It was the perfect match, we just gelled. And we’ve been together since.

Not even a tiny shake?

It’s funny… Armand left for a while! He only left for a tiny bit because he wanted to try…

I want a regular job and to do life like that!

And he ended up working at a record label, and that’s how… Mark M.A.D had called our record label and spoke to Armand, and Armand was like

Hey, this guy from Europe wants Sick of It All to go over there.

And I go

Cool!!

And he was like

Can I join the band again?

Only if you write the new record with us!!

OK!!

And that was it, he’s back in the band since.

Hahaha!

So it was great, yeah. The other guys we had, were guys from the scene. There’s an EP out called We Stand Alone and it has pictures of Pete, Armand, me and Richie. And then pictures with me, Pete, and there was a drummer named E.K. and a bass player named Eric. And that was the only thing we’ve ever done with those two guys. We did a couple of shows with them, they were nice guys and they were great musicians, but we didn’t gel.

Sick of It All was never about good musicians getting together. We were just friends that grew up together, and we loved the same kind of stuff, the same kind of music. We all met in high school because we were the only four people in high school that liked Motorhead. Nobody liked Motorhead.

You naturally bonded…

Metallica had just started then… I had a Metallica shirt, you know the old ones that said Metal Up Your Ass, just white lettering on a black shirt? People would look at me like it was fucking weird! And it was just the four of us. We were like

Oh shit, he likes Motorhead, these guys like Metallica!! Oh, bang!

Nobody knew those bands then.

So… let’s form a band?!!

Yeah! And then we started going to hardcore shows. And we all had long hair, and that was cool about going to hardcore back then – I think it’s back to it now – where you could come in looking however you want. You didn’t have to look a certain way.

We used to go to shows back there, we all had really long hair, there would be Goth kids, there would be skinheads, there would be punks – and everybody would be singing to Agnostic Front. It was great.
But then, after a while, that changed. Hardcore had an image and everybody tried to look like it. And they still do to a certain extent, everybody’s got to be covered in tattoos and shaved heads or whatever, I don’t know.

How much time of the last thirty years did you spend on tour?

Out of the thirty years, I’d say three quarters of it were a good amount of touring.

But when we all started having children – Armand had kids first, his kids are already teenagers going into their last year of high school and their first year of college. That was the first time it ever affected the band, where we were offered this really big tour, I remember. I forget what year it was, but No Effects (NB NOFX) was going to tour Europe and they wanted to do it with us.

We want Sick of It All, the biggest hardcore band at the time, and No Effects, the biggest punk band, and we’re going to tour together in Europe!

And then, all of a sudden, Armand goes

I can’t. My wife’s going to give birth to our baby at that time.

So we had to cancel that. That was the first time it affected us.

But then, as we got older, we don’t tour as many times. The thirty-year anniversary tour is when we’re doing a lot of touring this year.

(Again, I must stare at Lou’s tattooed arms and wonder… if he’d wear a long-sleeved shirt, I’d assume he’s some over-polite social worker instead of the front man of the angriest-sounding punk band ever!)

You’re on a tight schedule?

Yep, this is a three week run, then we go home for a week, then we go to California for almost two weeks of the west coast, and then we get home for a week, and then we fly home…

Home is still New York?

Yeah.

Queens?

No, I had to move. I actually moved to New Jersey. Craig still lives in Queens. But I moved to New Jersey because my wife’s job is in New Jersey and I could do what I do from wherever. But for her I moved to New Jersey. She owes me big time – leave Queens to move to New Jersey!!

Haha!

I’m just kidding.

The touring this year is going to be a lot. And we’re still booking stuff now. We were just talking about coming back and doing club shows in Belgium and Holland, which we haven’t done in a long time.
We’ve always done the Persistence Tour and then just big festivals, so we’re going to go back to do clubs.

That’s the main thing about this thirty anniversary, playing clubs. And a lot smaller clubs! It doesn’t always work, because we book ourselves in a small club and it sells out so fast they want us… like tonight…

They move you to a bigger venue?

Like to a bigger room, yeah.

Well, the Arena is perfect for you and your most hardcore fans!

Oh yeah, I like it

I don’t want my daughter to grow up in that kind of a society.

I’m about to say something a bit insolent… I don’t know if you’re going to like it…

Ok…

A hardcore punk band successful since thirty years… it’s a bit of a contradiction in itself! Like liquid ice or independent colony.

Yeah…

Because there is always a strong, protest message. How do you keep that spirit alive?

As you grow, there’s still a lot of things that haven’t changed. And even when you do get changed, you know the way society is, especially in the States. It goes from left to right every time. And there’s always somebody that is behind it all. It irks you, you know?

The protest part is that, when we see something wrong, we have to have a release for it. That’s what I’m trying to say.

Either when it’s personal or it’s something we see in society, that’s what keeps the energy and the anger going.

You give voice to something that you see happening?

Yes. Definitely.

Last summer, I was at the #RefugeesWelcome concert here in Vienna, for the refugees from Syria, and Toten Hosen played there. You know Toten Hosen?

Oh yeah!

Listening to them I realized that when they began, their message, their protest, was more like the voice of a specific social class…

Yeah, like…

…and now their message is somehow…

More general?

I don’t want to say general because that sounds a bit like superficial, but it’s more… world peace and refugees… at a higher level.

And I was wondering, is it because their point of view has changed? I mean, you meet different people now than thirty years ago…

Obviously.

…your environment is different.

Yeah.

Is it because of the point of view that you have now? You’re shooting higher?

Or is the world sicker now?

(Boy! I sound like my grandma!!)

It’s weird. When I was younger I thought the world was terrible. We had Reagan, we had all this stuff. But now, speaking from seeing what’s going on with the Syrian refugees here, and the protests that happen about it in the United States, and the climate in the United States… just look at the presidential candidates, they’re all crazy!

I think the world is sicker now, you know?!

Really? That easy!

It’s scary because I have a five-year-old daughter, I don’t want her to grow up in a sick place like that – where a man who’s spouting racial hatred as the cause of America’s problems (is a presidential candidate). Like

Oh, it’s because this race is coming into our country that America is not great anymore!

And at this rate, it’s not. I don’t want my daughter to grow up in that kind of a society.

After meeting Lou Koller I have only one question left in my mind… why is it that rockers, punk and heavy metal musicians are always so nice? Really, it looks like they’ve found an inner balance that many of us – including pop-musicians – can only dream of. My personal theory is, they channel all negativity into their music, shouting out all their anger and discontent on stage. And this has left them in a much calmer state of mind in everyday life, like after a big fight one always feels a tad exhausted but much better than before.

I presented my theory to Lou and he smiled a vague agreement. Maybe he was just implicitly responding to my implicit compliment. Who knows?

(Attention! A bit heavy on the four-words-side!)

I’m not a musician. Actually, I’m very untalented when it comes to music. This is probably the reason why I’m never much impressed when I meet famous artists, I do not compare their career to some imaginary future I could have had. What I’m interested in, is the person that hides behind the success.

Because somewhere, behind the lime lights, the charts, the headlines and the screaming fans, there is always going to be a person that gets up in the morning, has coffee, works, meets friends, eats dinner and goes to bed eventually.

Still, how does one prepare to interview someone who is simply legendary? Someone who’s been in the music business for 30 years, who’s defined a music genre, forged it almost from scratch? Imagine this someone is also known for not liking media exposure and for occasionally kicking out journalists after a few questions…

Tricky (born Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws) is the English record producer, vocalist, director, actor and musician that pioneered the trip hop style that rose to prominence in the UK during the 90s.

He began his career as a collaborator of Massive Attack before releasing his solo debut album, Maxinquaye, in 1995. He would proceed to release 11 more solo albums including the self-titled Adrian Thaws in 2014 and his latest Skilled Mechanics, released in January 2016.

He has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Martina Topley-Bird, Terry Hall, Björk, Gravediggaz, Grace Jones, Massive Attack and PJ Harvey.

If you call yourself a master of something, you stop learning.

I met Tricky about ten days ago, in the backstage area of WUK, right before his Viennese show.

I arrived at the venue late afternoon and was immediately picked up by Tricky’s tour manager who escorted me upstairs to the backstage area. And when I say upstairs I really mean it: the backstage at the WUK is like five flights of very high stairs above stage level! The tour manager complained a lot about it while we went up together.

I managed to trip twice climbing those stairs. Both times he got me mid-air and saved me from falling. So when I finally arrived at the top and was instantaneously introduced to Tricky, I was still a bit embarrassed from all the tripping. And quite out of breath.

We sat down in the kitchen, in front of each other across a table with a plastic cover. Now, Tricky is a tiny person, not short but with a light frame. He also has an ageless appearance – he smiled at me very friendly and when he does this he almost looks like a child. Sitting in front of him, with the table between us, I had this strange feeling I was not interviewing him, but examinating him! Like a teacher! I quietly changed seats so that we would be around the corner from each other. Muuuch better.

You live in Berlin? (pant-pant)

Tricky: Yeah. I moved there about eight months ago now.

It’s a short time. (pant)

Yeah, short but I really like it though.

Why Berlin? Because of the label, or… (I could finally breath normally again)

No, it’s not because the label, it’s just… the pace is good. It’s slow. My manager is actually German and he lives in Berlin – but I rarely… I don’t know anybody there. I got no friends there, nobody, but I’m all right like that.

I tried to move back to London, I lasted about six months. I just didn’t like it anymore.

I must confess, I love London – my best friend lives in London, so I go there every now and then. I’m always so happy when I go to London, and I’m always so happy when I come back…

Yeah, yeah. It’s a bit stressful, right?

Everything is… there is nothing you can do easily!

No, no. It’s all very difficult.

And Vienna is very cozy, so…

It’s beautiful, is what!

… the comparison with London is shocking.

It’s very nice that we came here after Prague. Because Prague is a party city. This is like… chilled out. It’s nice.

It’s just the surface. There is a lot of party here, but you have to know where.

No, I don’t mean there ain’t no party here. But it’s a more chilled vibe here than Prague’s – like, even in the daytime, it’s manic!

(Somewhere, outside of the kitchen, somebody starts making big noises. Tricky stands up and closes the door so that the noise won’t disturb my recording. This is the moment I start questioning the whole difficult-Tricky-thing in my head.)

You were born in Bristol, and…

Bristol, yeah.

And you were sucked into this Bristol-Sound-thing…

Yeah, my friend Whitley… like the song Boy (NB from the newest album Skilled Mechanics) – that’s like my life in three minutes. And that guy I’m talking about – Whitley – he’s in the video. That’s a guy I used to hustle with. We used to survive together, whether it was get a shit job or sell some shit weed, we always hustled together, me and Whitley.

Um, Bristol. Who influenced you? I mean, do you make the music that you make because of your beginnings, or…

No, see, this Bristol thing is bullshit, right? Bristol’s like any other city, there’s going to be good musicians there. It’s like Manchester in a way, a few artists blew up…

I actually asked Róisín Murphy about this, and she agreed that Madchester influenced the music she makes…

Portishead are not from Bristol! So that’s one that kills one myth of the Bristol scene, right? I made my first album Maxinquaye in London, I’d been living in London for a year and a half. So that kills that myth!

And Trip Hop… that’s another stupid name. It’s just a name, it’s a myth.

How do you define your music?

Um… work in progress! Work in progress – yeah, I’m still learning.

So you don’t allow any kind of label to stick to your music?

I’ve had the word genius used a lot with me, right? No. I’m still learning, I really am still learning.

That’s why I love it even more now than (when) I first started. To sit back. You can sit back at a keyboard and play anything. You just go miles away, and then you sample that and you play something else. Before you know it, you have a piece of music, and a lot of the times you can’t even remember how you did it.

It’s just… such a beautiful thing to be able to do. I don’t know what a genius is, but say a genius is someone who writes what’s in his head tonight and then goes and put it down in a few minutes… I don’t do that.

I’m playing like a child, like a child writes and draws. You know how a child draws? Sometimes I might start with just a kick drum (taps the table with his finger – just one finger). Look that up. Then, I try a bass note (some more one-finger tapping). All one fingered, all playing around. So I’m a work in progress. I’m a child.

What do you mean? If you put a tag, a description, on your music, then you limit yourself from the beginning?

A Tai Chi teacher told me years ago… I did Tai Chi for seven years with a guy called Master Cheng. He’s like a legend. He was seventy then, healthier than me, he could fight better than me!

I asked him once about black belts. I’m like…

Do you have belts?

And he said

Belts just hold up your trousers.

And I said

How long have you been a master?

He goes

No no no, I’m still learning.

And he is a master, right? And he still learns every time he teaches.

If you call yourself a master of something, you stop learning. So if I think I know (everything) and I stop learning, my music is not going to go anywhere.

I’ve did… I can’t even remember how many albums I’ve did!

(NB I’ve done my homework: it’s 12 studio albums over 21 years.)

I was going out with a girl in New York, after about my fourth album. We sat there, and she was listening to my music on headphones. She wasn’t a fan, she was my girlfriend, and she was just listening. And she goes…

It’s weird, all your albums could have been done by someone else. None of them sound the same.

I didn’t realize…

It’s a compliment!

I think it’s wicked. Because artists can’t do that.

Well, maybe only geniuses can do that! 😛

Yeah, that’s what they said, that’s right. But I didn’t try to do that. I didn’t even realize until she told me, I had no idea.

And I think that’s how I go through life. With no idea. And I just make it up as I go along.

I believe you have more freedom now, with your label…

Yeah. And more fun!

Which is the most important thing, probably! 🙂

I always have this funny feeling that artists are super happy when they first get signed, and after a couple of years they get equally super happy when they can finally drop the label…

Do you know what? I’ve been lucky! I was on Island (NB Island Records), right? My trouble was when he sold. The thing is, when people hear me complain about corporate companies… that’s now. Back in the days… Virgin was great back then…

What do you mean by back in the days? Early nineties?

Back when… I caught just that tail end of the music industry. So I was lucky enough, after me it ended.

Back then, when Polly Harvey (NB better known as PJ Harvey) used to release an album, you used to feel it before…

(whispers) Oh, Polly’s album…

You could feel the energy, you knew something was coming. It wasn’t just a business then.

Now it’s just totally about making money. Obviously, back then, they wanted to make money too, but you did it through… for instance, Chris Blackwell (NB founder of Island Records), Tom Waits, Bob Marley, U2… they never sold much on their first albums. Chris would wait two, three albums. Now, if you don’t have a hit single, you’re dropped!

On Island, I was very happy. But when he sold Island, and the dudes who took over it were on some corporate stuff. And then I ran away.

The underground scene, in my opinion, doesn’t exist anymore…

No, it’s over. That’s finished.

Nowadays, with the online market, as soon as one has a track ready they put it out on fifty platforms, immediately. It’s everywhere!

Yeah, there’s no such thing as underground now.

Do you think something like that could happen again? And where? Because now it’s not in the clubs, it’s not online, it’s not…

I’ll tell you what, right? With False Idols, for instance, I’m dropping an EP this summer, with underground artists. They really are underground because they can’t get nothing going from them. They’re just in certain situations.

So I think you can get a feel of it… this EP I’m doing to drop is fucking ridiculous. I got a band called Kiko King & creativemaze, it’s just ridiculous! And then I got another guy from Bristol who’s a rapper. He comes from my area. Then I got this guy called Cas, he’s a London artist.

And this Cas is very interesting, he’s quite a big artist but I met him through… he sent a tweet! I don’t tweet, but someone sent a tweet saying

Do you know this dude? He’s saying he’s coming to Bristol to do a show and he wants to hook up with you.

So I sent a message and the guy said to me

I thought I’d become the next Tricky.

Now that’s some big balls, right?

He told you to your face?! 🙂

Yeah, and I loved it. I loved it!

He’s a big artist now, and he’s never done an interview in his life. Never done one interview. And he’s so honest and pure.

He says things like… I say

That’s a wicked track I just heard of yours.

And he goes

With no Tricky there’s no Cas!

But then he’d also say

I’m the next Tricky.

It’s nice to see there are some artists who are thinking good, like Cas. He’s never done any interview, and he’s a big artist, never done one press. No one’s ever sat down and talked to him!

What do you mean, interviews are bad? 😛

No, no, I like interviews, personally! What I’m trying to say to you, for a young guy – and he’s in the urban scene – for a young guy to have that attitude is super smart. Because people don’t think like that anymore.

I go

I hate all this social media shit sometimes.

He goes

It’s fucked. When I was a kid and I listened to you, I couldn’t get in touch with you. I couldn’t send you a message. That’s fucked. People are too attainable now.

So he thinks in a very smart way.

There could be some underground, but it’s not underground as in it’s really underground. It’s more in the way you’re thinking.

A mentality?

Yeah. I think there won’t be really underground, but there will be guys like him, who think underground.

And like this EP I’m bringing out, it’s got an underground attitude.

But, as an underground artist, you have to find new paths, new ways to come out.

Yeah. Right, it’s your music. So underground used to be a way you put out your music, but now you have to make your music underground.

See what Cas does, even if it sold a million records you’d still have to call it underground. Because it’s different. And he’s not playing by any rules. What Kiko King & creativemaze do, they’re doing their own thing. So, in a way, it is underground.

Artists got a terrible habit – young artists of today got a terrible habit of following others. Second-hand emotions. You see these urban artists, when they’re doing all this… (mimes fake Hip Hop moves showing exaggerated sadness and pain). They did that for real, they went through that for real. She went through stuff!

These people see stuff, and they recreate second-hand emotions. But there are some people out there, like Kiko and creativemaze, and this Cas dude, and this guy from Bristol, who are, just… two of them are struggling. I mean struggling. All they know is music. They’re the real deal.

So there will be some underground, but not the way you put it out. What will make it underground is the sound of the music.

I have the feeling that there are two sides of your personality, two sides that are kind of fighting each other… the musician, performer and producer vs. the shy private person who doesn’t what to be exploited by the media…

So… (I take a deep breath before I say what I’m about to say…) I think you have the wrong job!!

(Tricky, who was fumbling with something in his hands and looking down in his lap, suddenly lifts his head and looks me in the eyes. I can tell he’s surprised. I don’t know yet if he’s surprised at my bravery or at my stupidity. He doesn’t answers immediately, pondering my words first)

…

I’ll tell you what… I’ve never seen it like this but you’re right! I do have the wrong job – I’m a very shy guy, very shy…

Do you remember the first time you went onstage? How did you feel?

Fucking scared! I was almost paralyzed.

There was this big concert, my first big big one, I played before PJ Harvey, it was a huge thing. I asked for all the lights to be switched off and had the show in complete darkness… and everybody went…

Genius!! Tricky’s such a genius, a show in the darkness!!

And I did it because I was scared. So what’s important is, you don’t tell them why…

Haha! This story is so cute!

I’m so naïve! After the concert I went back to my wardrobe and I was sitting there in the twilight (mimes sitting bored, with his hands hanging from his knees) wondering…

Is this what it’s all about?

(Mimes rocking his chair until it leans against the wall and his feet hang a bit from the seat, then looks around so that he seems even more lost and bored than before)

Then PJ Harvey came in and…

What the heck are you doing here, alone in the dark?

And I go

I don’t know what to do!

And she goes

Get out! Have a beer! Light up a joint! Chase some girls!!

(Mimes his face lightening with realization and quickly getting up from the chair!)

So you’re a bit naïve?!

Very naïve, yeah.

My grandmother said a really weird thing to me once, when I was about fifteen. I came out of my grandmother’s house, and she always used to watch me walk up the road. She would stand on the gate, in her apron, and she’d smoke a cigarette.

And she used to do a thing – she wouldn’t use an ashtray (he mimes grandmother ashing her cigarette in her hand) and then tuh (mimes Grandma spitting in her palm).

You know what your problem is, right?

and I go

What?

and she goes

You have a problem dealing with reality.

That was such a weird thing to say…

What did she mean?

That’s it! I never knew it!!

I don’t know what she means, but if I have a problem with reality, it goes into my music. I could be quite pessimistic, but my music is very hopeful. Because I feel like I have no boundaries on my music. I can make anything happen.

Hmm.

Yeah, I’ve always wondered what she meant. Freaked me out!

Would you like to know when I play your music at home?

Hmm…

When I clean the house!

Most people have sex to it. I always meet people who have babies or have sex to it. It’s weird. Maybe it’s people who have children (who) share this. Cleaning the house is easier.

(I realize now, this is much funnier in my head than in his head. Sigh.)

When I told people I’m going to meet Tricky tomorrow, many said Oh, poor you, it’ll be so difficult!

Oh, everybody says that.

Why do you have this reputation? Was I lucky today, or what?

I’ve got a bad reputation, totally. But really not deserved. I don’t care, it don’t matter to me, it means nothing.

For instance, I just did a press thing in Berlin. It was really weird, I didn’t know this guy, he comes in, and he was just a dick. Some artists will just go through it because it was a really big magazine. Some artists will go through it because they don’t want to have a bad relation, because it’s good business or whatever.

I just said to the guy from K7 (NB Tricky’s label)

Tell that fucking idiot to get out of here!

Not very diplomatic!

No. I’m not very good at being diplomatic!

I won’t even talk to him – and he can hear me, he’s standing there… then my manager talked to the press guy and he said

He’s known to be arrogant!

Why I get a bad rep is, if you’re a dick with me, instead of sitting through it, I fuck you off. I will just say…

Leave! I won’t talk to you!

That’s the reputation that goes around, it’s not the ones when I’m nice! The only time I’m difficult is if someone’s difficult with me. That’s it.

If you’re nice to me, I’m a super nice guy. I’m very chilled out. But everybody thinks I’m going to be… and my music as well! Everybody thinks I’m going to be all dark. And I’m really quite silly. I’m clumsy, I’m always joking around, I like getting into the maddest crazy things. There’s nothing dark and mysterious, I’m a very normal dude.

Do you know what I mean? I don’t go out, I don’t go out to clubs. I go for walks. I’ve got a mountain bike…

But you used to go to clubs?

Yeah, I used to. I go to clubs sometimes now, when I’m on tour, but I live a very boring life. People have a vision about how artists live…

Not boring, for sure!

People would think an artist lives a certain way. But I go to bed at eleven o’clock at night! I’m in bed at ten, watching fucking Netflix, YouTube, listening to music or whatever. Very simple. I like cooking, I like going to the supermarket, buying ingredients, walking around, choosing my food, cooking, and going to sleep. I’m a very normal person. Very.

A little bit crazy though. I can be a little bit crazy, yeah.

I even had a little statement prepared – just in case you were a dick to me! I have it written here…

What were you going to say?

(I pompously read from my scrap of paper) “You once said, about live shows, that it is supposed to be a two-way thing, so if the audience doesn’t give anything back, then the show can’t be good”.

And I wanted to say It is the same for interviews! Two-way!!

That would have been a good point!!

On some strange level I’m a bit pissed that I couldn’t use it. So thank you for letting me read it.

Then my time is over and Tricky asks if I’m happy with the material I have. I thoughtlessly go Umm… so he gives me his telephone number to follow up the next day while he will be sitting in a bus travelling to Italy.

Then we hugged good-bye. Yes, I hugged Tricky!!

So much for the difficult interview!! <3

Epilogue:

I was left with one little question mark in my head… why was Tricky pissed at Prague? After the interview I had a long chat with Tricky’s tour manager and understood better.

He told me that the concert in Prague, the day before Vienna, was packed. But the crowd was somehow lost in their artificial mood and more interested in partying by themselves than interacting with the show on stage. This is the reason why Tricky was a bit annoyed.

Funny, how we always think that the audience is the only one that reviews the show and marks it with a good or bad note. I realized that artists do the same, and maybe a concert that was outstanding for the spectators, was not thrilling at all for the artist. Or the other way around.

Well, Vienna was packed too, sold out! And the crowd was fantastic – two-way!!

(Attention! Some mild language here – just a dash.)

There is this thing with interviewing famous people. I mean, to arrange the meeting I interact via email with the management. Then I show up at the venue – usually in the backstage area the few hours before the concert – and proceed until I stand in front of a locked door.

This is the moment when I call the tour manager and she/he picks me up from behind said closed door. Then I wait a bit and maybe chat with whoever may be around. Besides the tour manager, all the others could be anybody. The ones that talk in a deep Viennese accent are probably employees of the venue, the others could be really anything – stage hands, tour crew members, even band members themselves in a good disguise!

Point is, until the moment the tour manager calls me and introduces me to the artist, I have only seen pictures of them. Even if I’ve seen them play live once or twice… I have the memory of a 200 meter view! If I’m not the very first one to interview them, I will probably be escorted to a room, and when I enter the room I meet the artist in person for the very first time.

Imagine you enter the interview room to meet The Chainsmokers, and three guys are standing there! It takes one or two seconds to decipher the faces and connect them to the pics you’ve seen on your computer screen. An embarrassing one to two seconds, sigh.

The Chainsmokers are an American DJ duo consisting of Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall.
Their 2014 single #Selfie reached No. 16 on the US charts and No. 11 on the UK charts while their 2015 single Roses reached No. 6 on the US charts.
On October 23, 2015, The Chainsmokers released their first EP titled Bouquet. The first single from their debut album, Don’t Let Me Down, was released on February 5, 2016. It features singer Daya.

(I was still in the doorframe, standing like a pumpkin, looking around – one, two, three… – wondering how this would go…)

Alex: I love your glasses!

(There they are! This is going great!!)

Thank you! What a cool way to start an interview – compliment the interviewer!!

(All laugh, maybe also because my glasses are bigger than Alex’s.)

I’m from Global Rockstar and our point of view is the up-and-coming artists, who are trying to make it…

Alex Pall: That’s cool.

(I fumble with my smartphone and start the recorder)

Drew Taggart: Do you want me to hold that? It might be better.

(Err… I’d feel better if my smartphone was laying safe on the table but, obviously, if Drew Taggart offers to hold your phone while being interviewed, you hand it over. I handed it over.)

Drew: Exactly.

Why music? Why, when, how did you decide that you want to make music for a living?!

Alex: I don’t want to speak for Drew, but I know we’re both involved in music our whole lives in different capacities. But I don’t think it was a clear occupation choice for either of us till four or five years ago, maybe… less for me.

It was always a passion, but it never really seemed like a viable career option. Like for real, you just go through life and you think that it’s not an option to do this, do those sort of things. And it got to a point where I was working a job that I wasn’t really passionate about, and the thing that I really enjoyed doing was DJing, and the music stuff side of that all.

I was lucky to meet Drew, who was working on the production side – he can tell you more about that in a minute – and we just decided that we would give it our all and not try to half-ass it and really focus and do everything we can…

CRASH!

(Drew dropped my smartphone on the floor. No kidding, it fell flat on the screen! Alex immediately bursts into laughter. Drew quickly picks it up and checks – the glass was intact – before allowing himself to laugh too. Only then did I join in. Without comment, I took my phone from Drew’s hands and put it flat on the table next to us. I didn’t really see myself telling my boss the story of how The Chainsmokers broke my phone and you should really pay for a new one…)

Alex: Yeah, and you know, it was just a… it was a great lucky time and I feel like if I’d waited one more year, or even earlier, it wouldn’t have gone the same way.

So for me, I’m lucky that I’m doing music now, but it was never like a viable option growing up.

Drew: Same. I mean, I went to school for music business and thought I wanted to be an agent. And then I thought I wanted to be a manager. But I would do extra-curricular things, like DJ, and I was promoting parties, and doing things that were kind of involved in the world that we’re in now.

And then I bought Ableton, the production program. After I went to Argentina, in high school, and heard David Guetta and Daft Punk, and all these artists that weren’t getting played in the United States at the time. And I was just so fascinated by the sounds and the music that I just bought the program!

And any free second I got I was on YouTube, trying to figure out how to make all those sounds that I was hearing. And I solely just did, I never thought it would be a career option until when I was finishing school, and my friends started to hear my music and were like…

This is actually good!

I was putting it on the Internet, and blogs were writing about it, but nothing like huge or anything.

Then I did an internship at Interscope Records – which is a big record label under Universal in Los Angeles – and they heard my music and were like…

Yo, we want you to be a management client!

And they would give me pop records to remix and work on.

And it just didn’t… feel right. But it definitely inspired me to not get another job, I was like…

I think there’s something here, with this music thing.

I remember I got paid three thousand dollars for a song I made, or something like that. And that was enough for me to decide…

OK, I’m going to give this two months of work.

And in those two months I met Alex!

Hey, I’ve got all these DJ shows in New York City, why don’t you come down here and we try to build this thing?!

At the time Chainsmokers didn’t have any music, they just were club DJs. I didn’t have any gigs, and my music really wasn’t that good. But it was something.

And between both of us, when we started working together, every day we just tried to get better and better and better. And find new sounds, and become better producers, and market our music differently. And that was about three and a half years ago.

A match made in heaven!

D: Honestly? Yeah!

The turning point was meeting each other?

D: Pretty much. And our manager as well, but… he doesn’t need to know that

(FYI the manager, Alan Alpert, was the third guy in the room, the one that took me two seconds to distinguish from Drew and Alex. We all turned to him, sitting in a corner, and he quietly waved back.)

It’s interesting, when you said you were putting your stuff online, because… coming from this platform for up-and-coming musicians, we hear endless complaining about the new digital era, and the revenues for the artists have vanished and blah blah…

But EDM is the revenge of the digital era! Would it have been different ten years ago? Twenty years ago?

Drew: Yeah – I think about this all the time! There’s a huge technological impact in that, you know? An impact that changes the game for everybody. So everyone complains that there’s no money in music… well, there’s money in music, trust me!

Where is it?

Drew: It has to be good music and artists have always had to write the best songs, have always had to figure out ways to get their stuff out there, get signed and be ambitious. And not be lazy about one aspect of it.

Or if they are going to be lazy about the marketing and promotion, hire someone that is really truly invested in it!

I think with today’s technology, between me buying Ableton and figuring out how to do everything – that you’d need a full studio to do ten years ago what you can do today just on my laptop! In my dorm room at college! This definitely says a lot… and now we’re touring around the world, talking to you in Vienna! Off of those songs!

It is nice to hear this freshness! That the digital era is an opportunity and not only an obstacle…

D: Yeah, we had a really clever marketing strategy in the beginning.

A: Yeah, we luckily… there’s a site called Hype Machine – is it German? Or Austrian?

D: It’s German. Must be German or Swedish…

A: But uh…

I’ll check that.

(Fun fact: Hype Machine is from Brooklyn, NY, USA!!)

Alex: Yeah. It’s a really great site to discover new artists and new music and stuff. We would go on there and look up other artists and songs that we liked, from lesser…

D: There’s a chart!

A: Yeah, through the chart. It’s a blog aggregator, they validated all of these blogs that they considered to be the best blogs on the Internet. And then they aggregate all the songs that those blogs are posting, and then based on how many blogs are posting one song, it goes into a chart. So the song’s trending.

D: We would pick ones that trended well – we always tend to like them, but generally the ones we like are always doing moderately, pretty well – and we would remix them.

The dance music was becoming so mainstream, kind of… not cheesy but it was very much, like… dull. And we figured out that, if we take these great, lesser-known indie artists that have really authentic vocals and stuff, and remix them in a Chainsmoker-y way… we would create our own lane – and kind of that’s what happened.

It was great, because you can’t… when you’re starting out… getting good vocals, getting the confidence and all that stuff is really hard. So we started by getting good vocals from these indie artists, and then the songs did really well… we kind of started building a repertoire.

And that was how it all started, really.

A: (Talks to Drew) We’ve got to do a how-we-made-it video! That would crush!!

D: (Answers Alex) Yeah, that’s a good blog, actually!!

(Realizing they’re ignoring me) Sorry – good idea!

Hehe. Nowadays glam rockers are almost extinct creatures… somehow DJs are the new rock stars. Do you agree? Do you feel a bit like rock stars?

A: There were for a second – I feel like hip-hop is now back at the forefront and there are some great bands out that are… and pop stars that are doing well! DJs as pop icons has never been a thing until now. But it is hard, you know, there are very few that have really crossed over now.

D: Yeah, there’s great giant DJs in Europe, you guys have the Axwell’s and Esco’s and guys like that are gigantic here. But in the U.S., I don’t know if people would freak out if they saw Axwell or Ingrosso on the street. Here they’re really celebrities.

But the same thing in the U.S. There are big DJs in the U.S. … like us!! (Both laugh) Like we’re really big in the U.S. and we’re trying to build an audience…

You get recognized a lot, I assume.

D: Yeah, more in the U.S., but here we’re building that audience. There’s only a few guys that have really transcended across the borders between continents. Calvin Harris, who is probably the biggest of everyone, dating the biggest pop stars with more successful records than anybody. But I think there’s a lot more failures than there are the Calvin Harris’s. We’ll see what happens.

I mean, for us, we’re becoming more performance than DJ, and I think that will help change the profile of how DJs at least were conceived. Because you always want to stand out, that’s the idea.

The fans and fame and getting recognized… is that what it’s all about, or is that the dark side of success? Do you enjoy it a hundred percent?

D: It’s, like, nice and awkward at the same time. Because…

Why awkward?

D: It’s just weird when you’re walking through a public place and… someone’s making a spectacle of you. Before you’d just be able to go somewhere, and now… I feel kind of uncomfortable with everyone else that’s staring at you, that doesn’t know who you are. I think that’s… weird?

But it is nice to be recognized, you know? And recognized for something that you do, that is your passion, that you do well enough that someone knows what you look like! That’s a good thing.

A: We don’t do it to be recognized, but it’s great when you are recognized for what you do.
Like a validation of your work?

A: Yeah, it’s nice to see that people are excited about the music that you make, and they’re really pumped to meet you.

D: When I was in college I would just listen to Kid Cudi, I would just listen to Pheonix. And these bands that I was just obsessed with. And then Avicii came along, and I would wait for Avicii to put out another song… I couldn’t wait for that!

I guess when someone come up and takes a picture of your, or tells you they love your music, that’s the only time I get the sense that…

Holy crap, maybe we’re that person for somebody else!

That they’re just waiting for another Chainsmokers song… which is crazy to think about! But that’s like my main motivation.

On your website there is an interesting sentence on you bio: They find the parts of things that people actually give a shit about. This is supposed to be your talent! How do you discover a talent like that?

A: Oh, bios!!  Bios are always really weird. I always wanted to delete it – how are we supposed to explain ourselves and our vision and what we’ve done and what we want to do in, like, a little couple (of) sentences?

But I think we have a really funny way of looking at the world, and we’re always questioning things and re-evaluating what we’re doing, and really pushing ourselves.

And we love pop culture! We don’t shy away from pop culture, or think that if you’re a pop star you’re lame. That’s all really interesting. We try to digest all of that and figure out a way to make it cool and put the Chainsmokers spin on it. Make it personal to us.

I don’t know if that really makes sense in that sentence that you read – how readily it applies – but we know that we don’t want to get caught up in the hype. We’re trying figure out our own lane, that people will be excited about.

Your first album is coming out this year?

A: Maybe. We don’t know. We did that EP, Bouquet, that just came out, and that wasn’t even necessarily planned. That was like…

Oh! We have five songs done…

Let’s put them together!

A: Let’s put them together! And I think that if you can make an album that people really are excited about, and want to listen to, and can take the time to enjoy each song… that’s amazing. That’s the type of artist we’ve been working towards since day one.

It’s just about the time of it. We’re not going to just make an album because you should make an album, because that’s what musicians do. We want people to pay attention to each song, we want the album to tell a story, and that’s what we’re working towards.

But we don’t know when that will necessarily be. I certainly feel like we’re getting closer to it everyday, and I think we have some songs that I would love to be a part of that.

But it’s just about when it feels right, not because the label wants it. Or that’s such an artist thing to say,

Oh, we’re working on our album…

Why? We don’t care, no one wants to hear an album from you!

(Drew laughs)

We want people to be pumped, you know what I mean? And be like…

Holy shit, we’re going to get twelve Chainsmokers songs!! This is going to be incredible and it’s all going to feel coming from the same place. And when I’m done listening to it, I want to feel like I know what these guys tried to accomplish with that.

So, we’ll see.

Listen, my time is over and I’m more or less happy… you know what happens now?!

D: What, a selfie?!

(We all laugh)

Shall we take a selfie together? I know it’s a bit tacky but I really do this with each interview… really!! How sick are you of people coming up to you …let me take a selfie?!

A: We don’t care, it’s only the people that genuinely believe that #Selfie was like a… a selfie thing! Because those are the people that really don’t give a shit about anything we’re trying to do. We’re just in front of them because we’ve been placed there, and they’re there for the same reason, so they don’t understand that… you know what I mean?

(I believe I understand what Alex means, people completely missing the satirical side of #Selfie…)

And then they make it awkward – it’s just like, you just didn’t listen!! You just don’t know what we’re trying to do at all!! Just take a fucking selfie and we’ll get out of your life.

Hehe, I’m about to get out of your life, let’s take the selfie!!

Both: Hahaha! No, no!

(Then we take the selfie you see above, Alex had the longest arms so he held the phone.)

Alex: Are you coming to the show?

Err… maybe I’m a bit past that age…

(We met mid afternoon at their hotel, so I don’t say this loud, but the show begins past midnight, I’m older than I look and my back doesn’t allow me to stand still for hours anymore… I’d probably be crushed before they even begin!)

Alex: What?! I’m already 30, if I can play the show you can certainly come! What are you? 25 top?!

(He pushed two VIP-tickets in my hands and I was already a bit gaga because of his 25 years guess, which is an underestimation by more than a decade…)

Oh, thank you!

(This, luckily, worked well both for the tickets and the compliment.)

Then we hugged good-bye and I left the room.

Epilogue:

On the tram on my way home I admired the tickets. They had a Willy-Wonka-quality, heavy and matte with a gold shimmer… definitely the most beautiful tickets I’ve ever held in my hands.

I called the only 18-years-old friend that I have. He’s also a musician, a guitarist, albeit more on the singer-songwriter side, all cerebral and jazzy and stuff. He happily took the tickets and went to the show with his girlfriend. The next morning he sent me the pic you see as cover and this:

“I’m not such a fan of EDM music, but The Chainsmokers did an awesome job. With their energy and their performance they captured me from the first song on. The crowd was crazy and everyone danced! I had a great night and I am a little fan of them now. Such cool guys!!”