!distain

Well, it’s been quite the time since I last listened to a decent synth - pop band reminiscent of the good/old 80s.So i ask Alexander Braun and Manfred Thomaser a few questions about !distain.

-First things first: Share with SubX a few words on the band’s history, and additionally, are you satisfied with your progress so far?
Alexander: After 6 longplayers, a remix-album  and one best-of CD I am quite proud, but at the same time I feel that there is still more to come. I really would like to reach more people at concerts or radio with our music. And we have some plans to reach this aim!  For me it is a great thing to do and very good to see that our music touches people. So you have to expect some more from !distain in the future... take care!

-The good old 80s have been a musical point of reference to many, many people. And, naturally, I don’t strictly have in mind the synth–pop genre, but music overall. To my ears, “ON/ OFF” has been deeply influenced by the above mentioned decade. Do you believe your music is up to date? That it is accessible/ comprehensible to the youngest of audiences?
Manfred: We are happy to say that we do not have to think in terms like “is our music up to date”. If a band starts thinking about it the process has already started when you try to please the mainstream. And all we have to do is being satisfied with our music on our own. That’s a great gift. Up to this I think that all !distain releases have been influenced by the 80s because that decade influenced us heavily when we were growing up. We raised with bands like Depeche Mode, Erasure, Camouflage, Tears For Fears, Pet Shop Boys  as well as bands like the stranglers or Fields Of The Nephilim or Skinny Puppy.

-Where does inspiration fountain from, for you?
Alexander: First of all I just transform my feelings into notes and beats. I do not think, I just let it flow and in the end there is always something...then we have to decide if it is worth developing... It can also happen like this if we compose together, and the good thing is: the brain is not the boss, it is your heart!

-How do you, as a band, react to a favorable or bad review?
Manfred: It depends on what you can read between the lines. A review saying “this album is perfect” does not help if the journalist can’t explain or describe his point of view. Same if someone writes that a !distain album is not worth buying it without saying why. And this does happen from time to time. Reviews are very important for every band. And we feel better if we read positive ones of course. But we also have to accept that not everyone has been born to love !distain.

-Tell me about your live performances. What does it feel like, to be on stage? How do you deal with an indifferent crowd?
Alexander: It feels so great to be on stage, it was clear that I would say this. But for me it is all about energy. If you realize that in the course of the concert there is some kind of energy between us and the audience...this is really magic and you cannot compare it to anything else. It is not easy, if the crowd is indifferent, in this case I always see it as some kind of challenge to get them, to make them move a little bit to the beat...So far in the end it always worked!

-Time for a personal question: Manfred, how come you felt the need of making a personal album (Arsine Tibé – “good evening, the mountain said”)? Has there been any musical dispute between you and the rest of the band?
Manfred: No, there have never been disputes. When Alexander and I started to talk about composing/writing songs together in 2002 I was already working on “lounge noire” which was released as a bonus-disc with “Synthphony REMIXed: Vol. 8” in 2008. It has always been clear that everyone is free to work on side- or solo-projects. So, a year before “Vol. 8” Alexander and Remi Janotta had already released their Sonictune record.  And I moved on to work on the next Arsine Tibé longplayer (“good evening, the mountain said”) which features Alexander, Tania Murray and Seyhan on guest vocals.

-Finally, is being a musician enough to economically survive nowadays?
Alexander:It is possible as you see with musicians like Steve Naghavi or Peter Heppner, but my impression of the whole scene is that it gets more and more difficult. The reasons for this are known...

-Thank you very much for the interview. Would you like to add anything?
Alexander: Yes, we would love to visit your country, if anybody sees a chance for  !distain to play in Greece, just tell us! ;-)

Kostas Sotiriou