TRUAMA

BandTRAUMA
Interviewer: DJ INFECTIOUS UNEASE
Interviewee: VOLKER ZACHARIAS,HAUKE HARMS, AXEL ERMES
Date: 15.1.1998

Interview with Trauma

Webpage: http://girlsunderglass.ru/trauma.html

.When did you first begin as a band?

1993 when we decided to go into a harder direction with our main band Girls Under Glass, we found a second project that concentrated more on the electronic and dark side of music. Since then we made three albums ("Fractal 1 " , "Construct" produced by Peter Spilles of Project Pitchfork and the new one "Phase III"

You all have interesting backgrounds could you tell the readers out there what your backgrounds have been?

We are all involved in several kind of bands. Iam involved in Cassandra Complex as a guitarplayer for 8 years now. Apart from that we all play in Girls Under Glass, iam also singing for, Axel is livekeyboarder of Wolfsheim and has a Kraftwerk-inspired project "Nefkom" together with Wolfsheim-member Markus. I was also involved in the german allstar-project REC (feat. York of Love Like Blood, and Peter Spilles of Project Pitchfork). I also played guitar for Mindy Kumbaleks soloproject Still Silent. Mindy is known as Gothes Erben keyboard-player. So you these. It´s a big scene in germany we are deepley involved in. But Trauma and Girls Under Glass are definitely our main bands. Of course Cassandra Complex especially to me is as well super-important.

What do you all do when your not working in the band?

Axel leads the Barner Beach Studios that is owned by GUG. Iam working for a music-publisher and promotionagency, coordination marketing-& promotionactivities for alternativebands and Hauke is computerprogrammer in a big company.

What is the meaning behind the bands name?

We just wanted to express that this kind of music should be influencing and should be effective in a way that you can´t do anything against it than pressing the stop button. Okay, okay... the new record is much more easy and poppy but belive me, the first one was very dark stuff and there are certain songs that effected me in a way that I often had to cry while listzening to those songs, because they were so full of emotion. Short: It´s a band to listen to instead of dancing to.

What instruments do you all play and are there any particular instrument you enjoy the most?

No, mainly everybody of us is playing all instruments. Axel and I are mainly guitar-& bass-players but we also have a clou about electronic equipment. Hauke is definitely the best keyboardplayer of us and he´s doing main parts of production, mixing and programming.

What creative process do you go through when composing your music?

We just do music, this is creative enough isn´t it? The only process I see is developing a song until it´s ready. It can be done in 3 hours and somentimes it needs 2 weeks. We just work on a song until we are satisfied. Mostly we try things out by experimenting around with sounds to find out several directions of arrangements and production. Because we have our own studio we are financially not under such a big pressure. That means we have lots of time to try things out

What inspires you when you write your music?

Because we do music now for more than 13 years we are not inspired by something special. I think generally every musician is inspired by something he´s really into, even if he is sure about doing his very own thing. Even so called innovative bands just mix stuff together in a new or weird way, and even the Breakbeatscene was invented by sampling old James Brown grooves and play them twice as fast. Everything is sort of recycling what´s going on. But Trauma is not obviously inspired by other music like "we want to sound like... bla blah". We just like music and everybody of us likes different kinds of music and we don´t often talk about what we like at the moment. So every member brings his own creativity and impuls into the songwriting, and other members are working on that. And: There is so much music on the market that I listen to soooo many things that it is hard to figure out what influences me (I like Fear Factory, Death, Sepultura, Madonna, Massive Attack, Julee Cruise, Gary Numan (you find that influence definitely in Trauma), Depeche Mode (as well) lots of classical stuff, etc.

Many of your songs tell a story or a set of themes, how do you go about writing lyric, and what subject matter do you enjoy writing about.

Iam just inspired by my own music. I never write lyrics until a song is finished. Than I listen closely to the stuff and just try to visionary soemthing around the atmosphere and melodies and then very spontaneousley there come lkind of storys in mind a write about. Sometimes it´s just my imagination creating an own film, sometimes it´s a film I know.

To the readers who may have not heard much of your music how would you describe your sound?

melodic atmospheric dark-electro

What Albums have you produced and have you been on any compilations.

With Trauma we arer on a couple of compilations. Mostyl we are not informed hat´s going on by our record company, so sometimes it´s just pure luck that I have a compilation with a track in my hand. We produced Aurora Sutra, Catastrophe Ballet, and did lots of remixes and produced lots of demos for several bands

What was the inspiration behind the latest album?

We just wanted to do another record (normal for a musician, isn´t it?)

How long did it take to produce?

6 months from the first note to the last mix

What have you got planned for the next album? Will it be similar to other albums?

We don´t plan albums. When we feel that the right time is there we just start to work on it. We don´t have plans how it will sound like. I think it will be different but it really depends on our mood at that time.

Where have you toured, are you planning any up and coming tours.

We toured in germany together with Project Pitchfork, And One, Oomph and played a couple of festivals.

What gigs did you enjoy the most and what was the audience response.

I generally enjoy playing gigs. Some are better, some are worse.

What gigs did you not enjoy?

Playing in Leipzig in front of Project Pitchfork. The audience hated us so much that we had to stop the concert after 15 minutes. Otherwise they would have killed us!

Is there anything special incorporated within your performances?

Yeah, we care very much about lights and atmosphere. We have light pyramids and lots of special effects on stage. It´s simple but very
effective.

What are your future plans.

We will finish a new Girls Under Glass record in acouple of weeks, after that I will finish the new Cassandra Complex album, than I will have a break and then I will start to prepare the gigs for the open air saison.

Is there anything you would like to say to the readers out there?

I hope that you will have a chance to listen to our record. I absolutely don´t know if there is a chance to get our stuff in your country. And of course: I hope you like it. For super-goths I would advice you to listen to our very first record "Fractal 1". German fans told us that this record is a very intensive experience. If you are more into warm, nice-sounding electronicpop with a very melancholic atmosphere, influenced by 80s stuff like Gary Numan then go for our third and new record "Phase III". The second album is a slow variation of EBM music with more spacy, spheric sounds. It´s exactly in the middle of both records. Also worth while to listen to. Anyway... have a good time