How did you get into music?
Blaudzun: I grew up in a family where my mum and dad played lots of instruments and were in bands and stuff, making music all the time, so I grew up listening to music, playing music. There was a guitar in the house; there was a piano in the house… that was my way into music, yeah.
What does music mean to you?
Blaudzun: Oh that’s a big question. (thinks) I think that it’s one of the great art forms to express yourself, maybe the biggest. Most important to me. It’s a very personal way to express yourself, especially during singing. You don’t need lots of stuff to do it. We could sing, just the two of us now. So it’s a great art form.
Yeah, and it’s so international. I think it’s a language everybody understands.
Blaudzun: Yeah, absolutely!
When you create a song, what comes first – lyrics or melody?
Blaudzun: It depends, it depends… Sometimes I have some lines, sometimes I just start singing… it’s kind of gibberidge, like there’s no words but sounds. And then out of the sounds I create words. So sometimes you’ve got a line, sometimes blablabla and then it molds into words and rhymes. So it depends on the time and it depends on the mood. I always got my phone to write down some ideas or pick up some lines I hear people say. But I believe that melody’s the most important. If you have two or three words and you start working with the words instead of working with the melody, then the words become more important. And I believe melody always has to be leading. So forget the words, just stick to the melody and the words come up. It’s better to do it that way, I guess.
It’s like we just said: everybody understands the melody, not the words.
Blaudzun: Yeah, I think the melody should always be in control of words. Not the other way around. Otherwise I could be a poet. (smiles)
But I’m pretty sure you would be a good poet.
Blaudzun: Well, I don’t know.
Is it difficult to create the music just by yourself and then adapt it to stage with 9 other people?
Blaudzun: (laughs) It depends… I have a group of very talented people around me. If you got the right vision and you exactly know what you want then it’s not important how many people you have on stage, if it’s three or four or twenty. If you have the right ideas and you can tell people what’s on your mind then it’s easy to do it. But I’m talking about talented people of course! (laughs)
You seem to have a great team.
Blaudzun: It’s great! I really like to work on my own but it’s so great to make music with other people. That’s the best way to make music and to perform. But for me it’s very important… when I write songs and produce I really like to do it on my own to get the right ideas and to get the time. Not just to explain yourself all the time, that’s like a show-stopping in your creation, so… But when I’m ready to perform it and to play it live it’s great to have lots of people on stage.
It also seems like a lot of fun. I already saw you at Hurricane festival a few years ago what is a completely different concept from Reeperbahnfestival.
Blaudzun: Hurricane? That was like a very early morning show? With like thirty people in front of the stage? (laughs)
Yeah! I was one of them!
Blaudzun: Cool! I remember that! (laughs)
Do you prefer the big stage with thousands of people or the cozy club atmosphere here?
Blaudzun: Oh it depends… It’s really fun to play for a lot of people on big stages but I just started my tour and I could easily fill very big venues in Holland and Belgium but it was my wish to start up in tiny, very intimate places. So we did like four times in a very intimate place called the “EKKO” in Utrecht with a capacity of like 250 people. I really liked it because you can make eye contact with everybody in the audience. That’s what I love. Especially when you present some new songs it’s great to do that in a kind of intimate venue. But I’m really looking forward to the bigger stages as well. It’s a different ball game. I like it both.
Your new album comes out on 7th of October. What can we expect?
Blaudzun: Actually it’s like a part one. I’m working on a trilogy, how do you call it auf Deutsch? (in German)
Trilogie.
Blaudzun: (repeats the German word and laughs) So this is part one. I’m touring with part one and at the same time working on part two (laughs) and then… I think there will be a part three as well at the end of 2017. So part two will be released, I think early spring, March or something. And part one will be released on October 7th, yeah. But it’s not like three EPs, it’s like three full-length albums.
Wow, that’s quite a lot of work!
Blaudzun: Yeah it is. (laughs) I was a bit fed up with the idea of making a record and then doing promo on tour for two years and then after the tour you start working on a new record again. And when I thought about new songs I really wanted to do it both at the same time. Why not? It’s fun to tour and it’s great to visit all those countries and play venues and see and meet lots of people. But it’s also great to at the same time work on your ideas and just record them.
Because it’s fresh…?!
Blaudzun: Yeah, it’s fresh. Cause all we have is now. So why don’t we do it now? (laughs) It’s very different from the way I worked. It was more like a classical pop-music-industry-thing. Make a record, then tour another two or three years with it and make another record, then tour for another two years. Why? It’s boring… But it’s also exciting because I don’t know… Normally when you write a song you can put it away, just give it a little of time, it’s like an old bottle of wine. Well you put it away and after twelve years you open it and drink it. But this is more like Beaujolais. So you pick the grapes, put it in a bottle and drink it.
Yeah and it’s the sweeter one.
Blaudzun: The sweeter one, yeah. And it’s a risk that not every year is that good. (laughs) But that’s the fun of it.
Will there be a tour in Germany as well?
Blaudzun: Absolutely. We start off at the Rolling Stone Weekender, that’s around the corner, right? It’s the first festival we do, it’s an indoor festival. And then we start a tour, Berlin, Köln, München, Stuttgart, Dortmund…
Hamburg?
Blaudzun: Not this year anymore. Maybe next year.
Hannover, you have to come to Hannover! So I don’t have to drive that far.
Blaudzun: Yeah! Two years ago we played in Hannover. It’s like a venue near the railway. Outside of the city a little bit. You have to look on my website. I think we’re doing eight or nine shows in November in Germany.
You’re a big fan of cycling. Do you practice it yourself?
Blaudzun: (laughs) Yeah, that’s right. If I have time I do it a lot, yeah. It’s really fun to do. It’s good for your body, but it’s also good for your soul. Cycling is good for the soul. Sports in general, but it’s really nice to go out and just paddle along and… no music on your ears, just listen to your own breath and to the birds and just discover new roads and getting tired… and getting your ideas on the bike as well.
That sounds very poetic.
Blaudzun: It is really. It’s a really nice way to clear your head. But it’s also fun to see other boys and girls suffering on the bike in the Tour de France as well. That’s a really hard sport.
Which German words do you know?
Blaudzun: (in perfect German) Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch, aber… We had it in school but it’s really hard. I can order a beer on the Reeperbahn but… Well, I know a lot of words. Yesterday we talked about a grape and it’s a really nice word. I think you know it. It’s Gewürztraminer, you know that one?
Yeah!
Blaudzun: I love that word! I don’t know what it means but it’s a grape and Gewürztraminer is like wow… what a great word! (laughs) It’s a great language. Every time I go to Germany for promo stuff I’m like “I should learn German”. But I always forget and then I’m back in Germany again and am like “ohh..” but it’s fun.
What should / shouldn’t you do at a festival?
Blaudzun: I think as a visitor you should go from day one and have fun. No sleep, just party hard and not hold back.
We’re huge fans of mix tapes and playlists. Tell us your favourite songs for…
…lovesong?
Blaudzun: Joy Division – “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
…nightly car drive?
Blaudzun: Emmylou Harris – “Wrecking Ball”
…beach music?
Blaudzun: Umm… Jon Hopkins, the DJ producer.
…festival?
Blaudzun: N.E.R.D.
…heartache?
Blaudzun: Classical music, Schostakowitsch.
First record ever bought?
Blaudzun: (laughs) It was like a religious version of David Bowie, his name was Steve Taylor. He was like a duplicated David Bowie but he was a religious freak. But really nice record. It’s called “On The Fritz” and it’s a great song.
Inspiration / idols?
Blaudzun: There’s so much good music, so many good artists. I don’t know if it’s because I’m Dutch, but I’m really into Van Gogh, you know? The painter… I think two or three times a year I really must see his paintings, especially his last period when he worked in the Provence in France. So that’s a big inspiration for me.
Album of the year?
Blaudzun: “Jupiter” by Blaudzun (laughs) Part one! That’s MY album of the year.
Which song is on continuous loop in your current playlist?
Blaudzun: (checks his playlist on the mobile) Must be a song by Anderson .Paak. What’s the song? I have no internet connection here. But his latest album is great.
Is there a music genre that shouldn’t exist?
Blaudzun: No. If people love it, if people have the urge to make it, then it should be there, so… no worries.
Interview conducted by Maria
