The Fan Interview
Tim Holler: Could you imagine recording a song with other musicians /bands in the future? Especially with Peter Heppner?
De/Vision: Of course we can imagine to cooperate with other musicians in the future. The question is often the other way around, are fellow musicians willing to do something with us. I can’t say if there ever will be a collaboration with Peter Heppner, but I wouldn’t say no to that.
Tim Holler: Could you imagine ever taking part in the “Bundesvision Song Contest” or isn’t that your thing?
De/Vision: That’s a good question and we have thought about it repeatedly if we should participate. I personally like the idea of the “Bundesvision Song Contest” but unfortunately even this contest is controlled by the industry. Most of the performers have a contract with a major label. And most of the times the winner is appointed beforehand. The original idea to give a stage to unknown artists is mostly forgotten. Maybe we give it a try in the upcoming 25 years
Martin Hölscher: How was the band logo created?
De/Vision: The logo was designed in 1998 by our former graphic designer Dirk Rudolph. We had a different logo from 1988-1998 but as we changed to Wea Records we wanted to symbolize that a new chapter had begun. Also our old logo lacked the dynamic but I think we solved that pretty well. By the way, the new logo is a “D” and a “V”.
Nadja Be: Do you miss your “real” home? Do you go there often? Have you ever thought about what would have happened if you hadn’t moved to Berlin?
De/Vision: I don’t miss my old home that much. I quite like Berlin and I wouldn’t want to miss it. From time to time we go to Bensheim. Thomas more often than me. But we are both very happy to return to Berlin. Well what would have happened if we wouldn’t have moved to Berlin. Perhaps we would still be living in Hamburg, but we really never think about that. We live in the presence and we enjoy it.
Marcel Hofer, Sandra Hall: How about a live DVD? It’s time for that, don’t you think so? Maybe next year for your 25th anniversary?
De/Vision: A new live DVD is in the making. And with your support it sure will be great.
Pad Laserschwert: Why is the “electrician” Thomas Adam against mobile and communicative technics?
De/Vision: It’s not as if I reject this technic all together. I just decided that it don’t want to be accessible all the time (for all of you who don’t know it yet, I don’t own a mobile). If friends or colleagues want to tell me something , they can call my landline. If I’m on the go I don’t want to respond to any e-mails or sms. Most of the things that people write is complete rubbish after all. Besides you can see where that leads to. Everywhere you look are people completely occoupied with their mobiles instead of talking with each other. I once met a girl and went with her to a bar. It was completely impossible to have a proper conversation with her because every three minutes she got texted or called (and I really don’t’t exaggerate). And she instantly responded. After two hours (I don’t know how I managed this) I just went home. I’m no fan of facebook and twitter and all that stuff. I rather live in the real world.
Pad Laserschwert: Is there a certain moment from a concert that will be forever in your mind?
De/Vision: Our very first show in Moscow on the 04.10.2003 at the Roxy. The technic was a catastrophe but the atmosphere was overwhelming. This show stands symbol for a lot of unforgettable moments which we were allowed to experience.
Pad Laserschwert: What concert do you regret not going there?
De/Vision: Deftones/A perfect circle 29.09. 2003 in Berlin/Columbiahalle.
Urmel: Have you ever thought about playing songs on a concert that are voted from the fans?
De/Vision: We did such a voting before. Unfortunately it didn’t go so well so we don’t do it anymore.
Urmel: In 2001 you played a very popular unplugged concert. Will you do that again?
De/Vision: Of course we maybe do that again but at the moment we’re concentrating on other things. But we keep that idea in the back of our heads.
Sascha Novotny: Do you like Jean Michel Jarre? Are you influenced by his music? Because I can hear something of him in your music sometimes. Especially on “Subkutan”.
De/Vision: Jean Michel Jarre was one of my favourite musicians for long times. I don’t remember when that was, maybe 30 years ago. Surely something of his went to our music. (unconscious).
Mary Lou: At what age did you start doing music? And when did you decide to make music for a living?
De/Vision: Steffen started in 1987. At that time he started a small band with Stefan, Marcus and Jens. 1988 Thomas joined after Jens left the band to start De/Vision. 1990 we did things more professionally and from 1997 we made a living off of it.
Tim Holler: What musicians/bands are your favourite?
De/Vision: It’s quite difficult for me to pick someone because I like certain bands/musicians no matter what genre they are. I think multiple musicians are great and I can’t decide between them. As an example I like the Italian songwriter Angelo Branduardi and the band “Kraftwerk” and they couldn’t be more different. It’s impossible for me to tell who I like more and I can’t tell which genre I prefer. It depends on the mood I’m in as to what I’m listening to. Actually I listen everything from ABBA to Zappa. I love the BeeGees, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Bauhaus, Kiss, even Robbie Williams and I could name another thousand artists.
Cora Meisner: What has inspired you to the song “Binary Soldier”?
De/Vision: My youth, the 80ies and New Order.
Barbara Schneider: How was it to work with a kids choir for the song “bedbugs”? Have the kids revises beforehand? Or was it more spontaneous?
De/Vision: At first it was a bit of challenge to organize everything but after that it worked quite smoothly. We sent the demoversion and the lyrics to the choir master but they only rehearsed it once. On the day of recording we rehearsed it with the kids for 45 minutes. Steffen recorded everything and in the studio we adjusted the vocals to the playback.
Barbara Schneider: What was the best, craziest and quaintest gift that you ever got from a fan?
De/Vision: Well, the funniest thing I ever got was a matroschka. We were on our very first trip to Russia. That’s one of these dolls you can open up and there is a smaller doll inside it. But that was no normal matroschka but rather one that looks like me. So some artist handpainted it after some photos of De/Vision probably. The result looks great even got my tattoos right.
Jack Shepherd: What are your personal favourite songs? What songs are you really feel chuffed about?
De/Vision: Well, I actually have to answer the same as with the question 14. There are so many great songs that I can’t really pick one. But I can say that I like to stuff from the last 10 years more than the things we did before.
Katie Biene: Where do you get your inspiration?
De/Vision: On the loo (jokes aside). The day to day life is quite inspirirational for the music and the lyrics. You experience something funny, sad or anything and you think that you should write a song about it. Sometimes one single word is enough to create an idea or a story. If you have to write lyrics to a melody it is often that not every idea fits to the song. It happened a couple of time that I thought I had the perfect idea for the lyrics but no matter what I did, the lyrics didn’t fit to the song. In the end you just have to get inspired from the mood of a song.
Minzi Fischer: Who has the ideas for the videos? And would you ever consider unsing the ideas of fans to write a song?
De/Vision: Mostly all of the ideas are from the directors because they can ponde what is possible financially. Because we are bound to a certain budget. If we convert ideas of the fans depends on what they are and if we can realize that.
Martin Hölscher: How do you prefer to spend your time between the end of a tour and the new studio records?
De/Vision: Chill out and spend time with family and friends.
Barbara Schneider: Do you have a ritual when you finished a new album? For example to whom you play it first?
De/Vision: I put on my earphones and listen to the album over and over again. My girlfriend is the first person who is allowed to listen to the album (if she wants to).
Jack Shepherd: A question for Thomas: Do you write the lyrics in german or in english?
De/Vision: When I write a text I try to think in English. Of course it happens that I write something in german and translate it into English and it doesn’t rhyme. It doesn’t work if you translate a whole german text into English.
Carola Dib: Which song would you re-master completely different today? Or what song would you like to never listen to again?
De/Vision: There are several songs that I don’t like anymore. But I don’t think that belongs to the public because maybe there are fans who like those songs the best.
Martin Hölscher: What song that you quite liked in the studio version and you thought would rock the house, flopped on stage?
De/Vision: “When the world disappeared” is not exactly a “dance song” but we nevertheless thought that the audience would like it. But as we all know that didn’t work out so well.
we like to thank Steffen and Thomas for their kind support