Interview with
Wonderboy (aka Tom Wunder, OVM01 - Voice, Synths, Drums) from LOVE?
The first time I met Wonderboy was in 2009 at a DEPECHE MODE concert. We were both waiting really close to the stage and started talking about the band, my clothes, my devotion to Martin Gore and the fact that me and my best friend needed someone to hold up our banner to the band when Mr Gore will appear on stage. Well, needless to say that Wonderboy did. At that point I had no clue he was a great musician, had an own band and a really pretty girl to produce music with him. Now his band LOVE? released their second album, which is a great mixture of 80s, synth pop feelings and a really fresh beat to dance to. Reflections of Darkness talked to him about the album ‘Electronically Yours’ and learned about talking calculators and the colour of his underwear.
Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: You’re making music with your band LOVE? since 1997. Why were you silent for such a long time?
Wonderboy: Well, we released ‘ Sounds for Lovers’, an EP, in 1997 which was followed by our debut album called ‘Unique’ one year later. Since that we never stopped writing or recording 
songs, we just stopped releasing them. There were fan requests in the past years answered by unofficial non-released tracks. So we were not that silent until we released ‘Electronically Yours’ this November.
RoD: What value does music have these days?
Wonderboy: The decay of music these days is quite remarkable. The industry ended up in MP3 piracy and a lot of labels are just dead now. This is really sad to see and we watched this process the past years and though all of this is hard to stand we decided that it’s time for a new album.
RoD: Are you still feeling as a newcomer band or is it all routine to you?
Wonderboy: We’re playing in bands for a long time. My wonderful band colleague Miss Violett as well as I. In church choirs, several school bands, drummer in a metal band and later home recording and gaining experiences with electronic music instruments. Sure, we’re making music for a long time but we’re not feeling old and so making tracks is still exciting.
RoD: What can we expect from ‘Electronically yours’?
Wonderboy: It is a concept album taking the listeners to a travel through the dark side of the 
80s. A lot of songs are made to dance and we used analogue equipment and cites of great artists for them. We moved on from ‘Unique’, which was more calm and produced by Heiko Maile of Camouflage, to music with more beats, sequencers and a calculator talking about his sexual preferences. ( laughs)
RoD: The video for ‘This City’ was filmed in Basildon [comment: home town of Depeche Mode]. Seems like we got some DEPECHE MODE fans here?
Wonderboy: When filming the clip for ‘This City’, DEPECHE MODE played in London, also there was this BAS 2013 event in Basildon with concerts of HEAVEN 17, TENEK and others. Later we met Robert Marlow there. And it was clear for us to have the house where Martin Gore lived in his teenage days in the video. He accomplished to move away from “his city”.
RoD: Why did you make a cover version of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘In your memory’?
Wonderboy: Because it is much more kicking than the A Side [Comment: People are People].
RoD: Where and when are you playing live next year?
Wonderboy: We just came out of the studio, where and when we will play live is what I’m not sure about now. But we definitely will.
RoD: Back to Depeche Mode. If you could say one thing to Dave Gahan and Martin Gore – what would this be?
Wonderboy: Start to love each other again and then retire.
RoD: What have you never been asked in an interview before?
Wonderboy: What colour is your underwear?
RoD: So what colour is your underwear?
Wonderboy: What underwear? (laughs)
Official website: http://www.love-questionmark.de
Facebook: www.facebook.com/love.questionmark
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/wonderboy242
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