Interview with
Janosch Moldau - “The darkness in art isn’t always bad. It’s a way to resist the darkness inside of you.”
JANOSCH MOLDAU, a Dark-Pop artist from Germany, has long held a prominent place in the electronic dark scene. A person who plays such minor music in shaded clubs actually knows how to remain a positive person. So, for many years, Janosch managed to combine melancholy with the healing of the soul in his art. At the moment, he plans to release an EP. The other day we talked about this upcoming CD (it romantically comes with the spring), discussed his touring projects, problems in the music industry, future plans, his attitude toward fashion music and much more.
Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: Hi Janosch! I’m so happy to hear your voice, Janosch. Tell me, how are you?
Janosch: Hi. Oh my God… It’s tons of stuff in my life at the moment. My dad died; you know.
RoD: Oh, I’m so sorry!
Janosch: Yes. And it’s very sad because my daughter loved grandfather so much. This is a huge loss for us all. And with my work as a musician, it gets even much worse in the music business world and that what’s left of it. But I tried to go on. Luckily, I’m in good health, and I’m okay.
RoD: So, you’re saying it’s getting worse in the music business. Is it the result of the lockdown or another thing that makes it worse?
Janosch: The music business has always been a super bad place to be. But, of course, the pandemic and the lockdown played another part in bringing it down again. I guess it was very devastating for the music industry. But on the other side, I’m a lucky guy now… I will be touring with FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY. We will hit the road in May. I’m lucky they picked me up. (laughs) It’s going to be cool, I guess… I’m thankful that there is something people love about my songs, and to be honest I really don’t know what it is… At the moment FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY still are touring the US with GARY NUMAN and then they’ll pick me up in May in Frankfurt Airport to join them on their European tour leg. We will play shows in Bratislava, Prague, The Hague, Hamburg, Munich and many more…
RoD: Wow! This tour should be special.
Janosch: Yes, I hope so! This tour will be very different because it will be more like in my beginnings. Hendrik, my colleague, you know him, will only be there to check if everything is going well. He’s supposed to come only to the big shows. After the pandemic we try to work more frugal, I mean we will start it all more silently. We’ll save money, if I go alone on the bus and on stage… Also, the show will be very different from our former sets with DIE KRUPPS and all the other bands we toured with… I will play a very different set this time… This one will be more inhibited, but in a positive way and it will be my darkest live-set ever…
RoD: Tell me about your new EP ‘Aid and Abet’. How long you’ve been working on it?
Janosch: Okay. I haven’t got too much time for it… There’s another sad message. I’m getting divorced right now. But anyway, I’ve managed it all and anyhow I took my time to go back to Lugano as usual in order to prepare this EP. During the last year, I recorded everything, and now we do have six tracks. I had to fix it in eight months. I hope I’ve done it well! The lake view helped me to keep the focus on my work only. This EP is maybe a bit darker than my former releases. But the darkness in art isn’t always bad. It’s a way to resist the real darkness inside of you.
RoD: When will your EP be released?
Janosch: Soon, on May 26th! And the first single will be out on April 28. The single is called ‘This is my show’. On April 28 (or maybe earlier) we will also reveal a new music clip. When my EP will be out, I will be touring, I won’t be here at my office. (laughs) This is a really tough schedule now!
RoD: Do you still work with The Orchard/ Sony Music from NYC?
Janosch: Yes, we still have the same contracts. I’m happy that I can release my music via a major distribution channel. It’s available everywhere. A musician should focus on the creation of music and therefore it’s very important to gather reliable partners around you, for all the other work that has to be done too. And it’s tons of other work apart from the musical one. Believe me...
RoD: What should we do to make the music business better?
Janosch: Good question! You know, this is a big industry where a single person like you can’t change so much. It’s because of the majors like Spotify, iTunes, Apple and so on. The copyright/ collecting societies have to handle these issues and make deals with the big ones, so that the musicians get paid more for their songs. That’s nothing what you or I can do alone. I recently saw that I gained over 1,000,000 streams on Spotify, but it’s not that much money that I get out from it. The only thing that fans can change is to support the bands with their unique merchandise products, this is a way every band can get revenue or income from. And I think buying a CD plus buying the same CD as a digital download product too, is also a great thing to do!
RoD: Are people buying CD nowadays?
Janosch: Yes, I guess the CD won’t disappear completely. But it will become more a rare collector’s item, like vinyl already is. We will offer my new EP on CD too. It’s a cardboard sleeve with a four-sided booklet included, that contains the song lyrics and great photos of course. It’s a very limited edition, different from the editions we had in the past.
RoD: It seems to me, as a listener, that CDs and vinyl have better sound quality than a digital/ streaming version.
Janosch: Of course! Because all the online shops do have their own kind of “mastering” algorithms. And they just make the loudness correction for all of the material to reach the same perceived loudness in the end. And of course, this isn’t always a good thing. And when you listen to a CD, you get the music in the original mastered quality straight from the studio recording to your ears. I would be so happy if our fans would buy CDs more often. We as a band do not release an album or an EP very often. So, it isn’t really expensive to support us, and it’s the best support ever.
RoD: By the way, do you have CDs of your favourite bands to get into the story?
Janosch: Sure! It’s sort of a way to collect memories, to buy a CD from my favourite bands… that’s why I do have everything on CD and vinyl. I have all the dark-pop stuff. (laughs) I also have Daniel Miller’s Techno records from the end of 70s. I have the vinyl, which is a very expensive collector’s item now. I also collect all the CDs from Colin Vearncombe, the man who recorded ‘Wonderful Life’ with BLACK. After the world hit ‘Wonderful Life’, he just kept on creating, but a different, more acoustic music. I bought all his new stuff which isn’t “chart hit music” at all but great melancholy acoustic music. I bought it from him directly, from his own shop on the net. He wrote me a message on Facebook and thanked me for buying his CD. That was so great because he was my hero when I was young! As you can see, I buy the bands I love. I don’t care if they’re superstars or not. I just buy the music I love. And I don’t care if they’re famous or not. I just want to have it, to be a part of their musical history, like you’ve said.
RoD: Which album could you bring to Mars or another planet? Just one of yours?
Janosch: This is a great question! I would take… hmm... let me make a joke. I would take... of course, the ‘Sounds of the Universe’ by DEPECHE MODE. (laughs) That would fit on Mars or Jupiter perfectly, I guess.
RoD: Is it difficult for you to have a favourite band being a musician? Can you still enjoy music without analysing it too much?
Janosch: That’s a good question. I can tell you that I’m not listening so much to music anymore. Please, do not understand it in the wrong way! I love music, but I like to create it. I also enjoy the silence after the creation process. And if I listen to other bands or other records, I don’t mind the “little mistakes”. I don’t care about the question what could have been done better on this track. Because if I like a song, I’ll love it forever and I don’t care so much about its production. And even with my own tracks: sometimes I take the versions that aren’t the super perfect ones. And also with my vocals, I think I told you that during a former interview, I don’t choose the vocals that are the totally perfect ones. Indeed, I take the vocals that move me most. And I’ve started to listen less to music, so I really need tranquillity too in my life... But mostly I have to listen to my own music because of my work, and then I’m done, you know. And I think it’s good if you don’t listen too much to other music. When you’re a musician, you have to find your own sound anyway.
RoD: How do you think is music and fashion linked?
Janosch: Time brings all up at the right time. Even when I listen to the really popular tracks that my daughter listens to, some styles there are taken from the subculture or from underground tracks. I think it’s a rough and fast music business era nowadays and the music is perhaps like a fashion week show. It’s like just for one season. Just produce it, bring it out, just get it out fast and forget it fast, as well. As a musician it is important to open your eyes and ears to see what is going on in the world. And that will also affect how art or music or fashion is made. You should go out and adapt things or make your own things out from it. Yeah, create your own things out from all of these influences could maybe be the key to make a record last forever.
RoD: Are your relatives being fans of your music? Your daughter, for example, does she like your songs?
Janosch: Asking my family, to be honest, is not the best way to decide if your music is good enough. Because family members will always say: “this is so great my dear!” I would rather ask Hendrick, my manager, if it’s good or not. (laughs)
RoD: I think Hendrik is also like a member of your family.
Janosch: In a way. We are best friends ever! Yes. This is no secret.
RoD: Do you want your daughter to be a musician?
Janosch: Well, sometimes we record something in my studio. But I don’t want to force her into the music, because I think she should be able to do whatever she wants. And if she will do something totally different, I’d be happy, too. I would even be very happy if she does not want to become an artist or musician because it is so much pain often. I want to save her from this pain. Of course, I cannot save anyone...
RoD: So, you will be proud in any way?
Janosch: Sure! You’re right.
RoD: You’ve told me that you live at Lake Lugano right now, in Italy?
Janosch: Yes.
RoD: Does this region influence you when you are creating music?
Janosch: It’s near Milan and of course my music has a Mediterranean vibe. Meanwhile, my tracks are often very emotional but also have a metropolitan sound style that I try to combine with my sadness. The way of life in Italy is so sweet and sometimes sad. They have the same problems or even more problems than in the north of Europe, but they live a more positive life. Yes, and this is the secret of Italy. It’s very, very beautiful. And they have a lot of financial issues as well, but they’re not talking about it. Italians just go for dinner or lunch and they have a great time. Best wine, good food, despite of the fact, they have their problems, they live a very elegant lifestyle. And I hope my music is a bit elegant too. I think there is an Oriental and Occidental lifeline in my music. And it’s the border, between the West and the East and everything that melts in between, also with the region of the Black Sea where my dad comes from. It’s very melancholic overall.
RoD: So, your national roots have an influence on the music you play?
Janosch: I would say, yes, because I see myself as a traditional musician... maybe you’ll laugh now, but for me it’s folk music, isn’t it? I make music for the people. And I do have also my roots and that’s what you can hear within my music. So, this is obvious. On the backing vocals, for example, where you can hear this kind of Greek monk monastery phrases, and this comes of course from my roots. It’s something inside of you, and you can’t hide it. You know, yes, only with your brain you can! But with your heart - never. Many people do this, even musicians can create brain only music. For my part I try to create music from my soul. Other people would say, it’s a cool thing, if the music is just a construction. I’m not interested in phrases like these from producers: “leave it like that… Janosch, it works!” Yes, it works but without soul and humility… I would maybe have answered. That’s why it is not working for me. And further it’s not “cool” at all for me. Also, I don’t want to sound like DEPECHE MODE, for example, because I do have very different roots. I’ve never had a new romantic UK Pop band background and I think you can hear this.
RoD: You are going to tour in May together with the release of your EP, and you will release the new single in April. Do you have any creative plans?
Janosch: We will be releasing a second single, hopefully with a second music clip which we plan to shoot in Greece this summer, and then start touring in autumn again.
RoD: I wish you a pleasant tour and upcoming EP!
Janosch: Thank you! Take care.
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