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Interview with Diorama


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Hello, Diorama. You are just straight after an amazing show. What are your impressions?

Torben Wendt. Yes. Or maybe no. It depends! You know, it was a very-very long way to get here. We drove about nine and half hours. Three of us because we come from south-western part of Germany - we drove here by car. And Felix - 14 hours to go by plane because he wasn't picked up at the airport.

Felix Marc: Wrocław airport is a place to be, to stay also

T. So it was a kind of a hassle to even to be able to be here. Then all went by very quickly. I mean, it's like most of the times in Poland - great audience, really good atmosphere and we were able to enjoy ourselves, we feel at home here and this is a special place here at the festival - I think it's the second time we play here. So it's always good to be here, it's always good to play in Poland.

F. Gig went by very fast. I can't remember that I was playing hit an hour ago.

T. I would like you to post the question to the audience because we had fun at stage, we had a good time really. We all agree that it was a nice show for us and we just can hope that audience will agree.

I was curious when we can expect the new album to appear and the next tour.

T. Well the next album is already under construction. We hope to be ready by the end of the year, beginning of the next year - so that it's gonna be released in the first half of 2012. One of our first targets would actually of course be Poland. We had show in Poznan one or two years ago, then Warsaw and it's always been great here. So we'll definitely make sure that we'll present our new album here as well.

Do you already have a concept for the album? Like it's going to be triangles this time?

F.
No but I think these umbrellas are very inspiring!

T. We went from cubes and we are actually talking about this topic because it's quite annoying to transport the cubes all the time all around the world. So we have to make up a concept that's a little bit easier to handle.

Maybe umbrellas, maybe footballs!

F.
We're collecting the ideas. We can say that probably at the end of September we have a brain-storming event - the band brain-storming event - when we will think about the concept. So it’s open now. But you can send your proposals also to the band.

Your fans?

F. Yeah!

What does the process of recording the album look like? I mean what's the first element of the creation process?

T. The first element is usually some sort of musical framework - a beat, a musical pattern, a certain melody. If it all runs well and the lyrics are popping up in the similar time, that we just have to make sure that it fits together and then everything is added on the top which is a long process. But there is no such thing as a recipe for a perfect song or for a hit. We are not planning music, it just comes into existence. Sometimes it takes us one evening to create a new song, sometimes it takes us two years - so it's really a different process. I prefer the songs that take us one evening because it's less work. As I said there's no such thing as a recipe, some songs are just written by myself and produced by myself, some songs are written by the whole band and everybody has a very important influence on the song. Felix is also contributing a lot of material for the final result. It's a patchwork, we try to use all the strength we have and all the abilities we have to combine them and then make sure that something meaningful would come into existence.

Is there a song that you will never ever play live?

T.
Yes. There are quite a few songs that we will never ever play live because they just don't fit into presenting context. I could make you an example - the songs as "Beamer", instrumental songs that will just bore people.

Why don't you play what your fans call them hit songs live – such as "All That Matters" or "Golden Boy"?

T. We always have to make a selection. And there is always a lot of people who are left with their own wishes. And we can't fulfill all of them. We really try, we always try to make sure that we’ll bring over the songs or most special songs to the set-list to have a change, not to always play the same, to have variety. Almost every show people have talked to us later "Why did you play this song? Why didn't you play that song?". You can't really satisfy everybody. Especially at the festival when you are doomed to play more entertaining, more up-tempo songs. Just in order not to pour the shit out on the audience.

Are you going to release a live DVD?

T.
There have been plans to do so and plans are still out there!

F. We put it back on the agenda. The result has to be good. So far we have made some recordings which are not satisfactory to the end. But it would be nice if we do.

T. The place for the recordings might be Serbia, Belgrade which is a really good place for us to play.

There is a next thing that I wanted to ask you about - is there any particular place where you would like to play a concert?

T.
I think for ourselves it's more enjoyable to play clubshows as compared to festivals because we can really offer the whole variety of different stylistics, directions that we represent. In the festivals as I said you are doomed to play more easy-going hits and the up-tempo numbers. I tend to enjoy clubshows more. Obviously there are certain places where people really like us - from my perspective Poland is one of these countries, Serbia as well, of course Russia - Eastern Europe, Germany. Whyever. Greece, Spain, Mexico.. Australia.. Japan, Fiji, Argentina! They are always worth highlights. It's not that we travel into places and we are sure that it's gonna be a major success, it's always a fight.

And are there any other bands or other forms of art that inspire you or influence your music?

Marquess (M). My personal favourites are progressive rock bands but I also listen to some funk and soul stuff which is getting me groovy on stage. That's important because there are many patterns I play which are really coming from funk and soul and this is something which I like privately. There are no particularly bands which are very known. Porcupine Tree, for example, is one of my favourites currently but there are several other bands inspiring us.

F. The interesting fact about our band is that everybody has a different musical background to come. Classical piano education - monsieur Wendt, rock, pop, club and techno - the combination makes, probably interesting, the result why Diorama has so many different aspects. And I think this is something that people will probably feel more live than on CD.. on CD we are eluded... by ads - no flame life but patterns instead so you would probably expect Purcupine Tree aka Diorama.

M. We are not only coming from electronic music. Our variety is coming from everywhere I think. We are not only focused on one scene. I think that's our recipe.

Sash Fiddler (S): This is important I think because we don't want to limit ourselves. This is the main point I think. Music is what you feel and if I feel anything I don't want to limit myself.

And what about the emotions? Which emotions are most difficult for you to express?

T. Fun. Probably. Diorama has a very melancholic attitude, sad attitude, aggressive attitude maybe, an angry attitude. It's not that we are not fun-oriented I mean, we are really also very much into nonsense and stuff but if we take the music of Diorama seriously - it's more about the negative spectrum of emotions. So we are not really able to reflect happy moods - you know, sunshine, flowers - on stage. Within our music it's more profound, it's more about depths, abysses in us, the insanities. So I would say happy feelings are not really over-represented in our music.

And what does Diorama dream about?

T.
Do you mean in terms of our development or career, or our personal dreams or nightmares?

Also. But more dreams than nightmares.

T:
We tend to think from chapter to chapter. What counts now is the next album, is the next year, is the next shows we're gonna play. And then we'll see where we’re ups trending. It's not that we have a master plan where we're gonna be in ten years.

F. That's probably why we're not getting anywhere..

T. Yeahhh, probably. We all studied something else. We all studied international business, economics - in the job-life we’re more in a management type of thinking, music-wise we are not absolutely. We are floating, just let things happen, this is the freedom that we really need. Let's see. I would lie if I said that I don't want to be rich and famous but if it doesn't happen - it's ok. We just try to be ourselves and stay honest to ourselves and be faithful to the things we came from.

Would you like to say a few words for the fans that attended your show today?

T. Few words... Okey.. Bicycle. Wall. Watch. Angle. Spider. Shoe. Umbrella. Smoke. Fish.

Thanks a lot for talking and we wish all the best to you!

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Translator: morrigan
Add date: 2012-09-16 / Interviews


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