Interview with:
Elisabeth Pawelke
Niel Mitra
Rüdiger Maul
Oliver Satyr
Fiona Rüggeberg
Backstage at the Triganda fair we set up a table and some chairs for the interview with Faun. One band member, Fiona, wasn't able to attend the interview. After the show she went to the hotel with her one year old son. She did allow me to interview her through e-mail. This interview is added below the main interview.
How did Faun came to be? How did you start where did you meet?
How did Faun came to be? How did you start where did you meet?
Elisabeth (Lisa): "I met Oliver at the concert from Schandmaul, that's also a German band, and he played together with Birgit from Schandmaul. So he was at the concert this was where I met him and then we played music together. After that we and an other friend of mine played together. Then he invited me to a rehearsal, so it was right so it was the beginning for me".
Niel: "Well I think it was about two years later together with Fiona, the bagpipe player of our band. I was deep into electronic music actually and she was listening to medieval music and well I was like listening to the (medieval) sound a little bit before. And I had no project to do and she asked me do you want to make electronic beats for Faun. I said, well quite interesting, yes!"
Rüdiger: "I met Oliver when I was performing with another medieval group at that time and I wanted to stop. So then I joined Faun."
At this time the interview was stopped because the input was to low. We thought I wouldn't be able to hear the interview on the minidisk. So I had to start over again. After a short technical break and some chatter with band members from Omnia I was able to continue.
Do you write the songs yourself or are they really medieval songs?
Lisa: "We've got two different programs and in one program we play old melodies and with old lyrics and in the other program, that we performed today,' the electronic program', we take for example old lyrics and make the music ourselves and just transport them through time (laughing)."
Lisa: "We played together two songs, the first one was an old Gaelic song and it's traditional we learned it to Omnia and the other one was an old lyric from Finland (I hope) Ollie knows better, maybe you talk to him. We learned it from them, they made the music, took the lyrics and made the music but maybe you can talk to him, ask him because he knows where it is exactly taken from".
Oliver: "We didn't learn them, the songs more came in a way." Where did you get the text then, off the songs?
Oliver: "The songs we played today with Omnia for example, we made a gig of four or five pieces. There were mostly traditional one's I think, old Gaelic lyrics and there were old Finish lyrics. Sitting at Steve's home for example and having a jam session and afterwards we were singing just nonsense lyrics and making nice melodies and then we thought: "ok we need a text for it". The same evening we were listening to a cd of some Finish singers and they were singing this traditional text and we were thinking, perfect text, and perfect song. And it was happening in one night so it was sure that it was meant to be one piece of music. So that's how things evolve."
What kind of music do you like personally besides medieval music?
Oliver: "We were driving in the car, one month ago, to a concert, and we couldn't, decide what music to listen to because the whole band was sitting in the van. I think at Massive Attack we all agreed. The Mezzanine of Massive Attack was ok (laughing)."
What's your personal favourite music?
Oliver: "Ahh there's too much. I listen to a lot of music I really like the very very silent folk stuff like Nick Drake or Alista Roberts, like songwriters things. Yeah it's really good".
Rüdiger: "Oh oh, my god (laughing), many music, I prefer percussion music, from Persia, at the moment."
Neil: "I was for a long time deep into ambient music. At the moment I like stuff like: Nine Inch Nails, I work on the radio so I listen to almost all kinds of music, and listen to independent music which is not top 40 so also ethnic music or lot's of industrial music." Lisa: "Epica and Heather Nova, no just kidding (Lot's of laughter, Edwin (our photographer) had whispered these names into her ear). It depends one day I'll hear lot's of world music and old music on one day I'll just hear new metal and stuff like massive attack and yeah the opera's. I think this enriches.... Well you know (and I did)."
What did you listen to when you were younger because I don't think you've been listening too medieval music... And before I finish my question...
Lisa: "Heather Nova, Allanis Morissette, every woman singing and also really different styles."
And what style did you listen too that you are now ashamed off?
Lisa: "Ahh noooo not me (laughing). I'm sure there are a lot. I have to think..."
Rüdiger: "Kiss and salsa, I'm ashamed of that."
Lisa: "I'm not ashamed of anything." Oliver: "My first single, it was scratched so I bought it again, it band Genkis Kkahn. It's really bad but on the same way it's really great, you know. I should listen to it again I haven't listened to it for ages."
Lisa: "I know something... I do I have a cd from Bryan Adams an Rod Steward and they sing the three musketeers (laughing)." With what non folk band would you like to perform for once? Or work together with?
Everybody: "Björk, Aphex Twin...."
Where do you get your instruments from? Because they are very specific instruments.
Lisa: "I am playing the hurdy-gurdy, and I got it from Austria. There's a hurdy-gurdy maker and so I heard of him and he really makes them really good."
So it was especially made for you?
Lisa: "No it was not especially made for me but now, in spring time, I'll get a new one and it's especially made for me."
Niel: "It is ten years old, some Japanese people made it (laughing) it's a very rare instrument."
Rudi: "Well a very good friend of mine, is a drum maker and he makes them just for me so I can order special drums. Some of my instruments are rare, you get them from Brazil or Egypt, you can not buy them in music shops it's just the mainstream thing you get. All the time I'm looking for new drums and special drums, so I have to travel to get them."
Oliver: "For me it's most important to know the instrument maker in a way. Because the instruments of course can not be bought in a normal shop I play for example bouzouki, Irish lute, the Celtic harp or nickel harp or a Swedish key fiddle and it's most important to know the instrument maker because they can be very very difficult to build. Because it's not like a guitar that sounds like a guitar, it's completely different. I mostly talk to the instrument maker, I want have this and this and this, it's best. And it's also nice, because you can have a birds head on you lute because your into birds in this year." What do you think of this event, how do you like it?
Lisa: "I think it's cool, everything I could see today, wasn't much, but I like it."
Niel: "Actually we jumped out of the car brought our stuff here and went on stage. I didn't see too much. But it's quite interesting. I've not seen such a big fair in Germany actually, only Wave Gothic Treffen, that's one. But it's quite nice and nice people. The pc market nearby, the pc discount, is very interesting too. No no, cut this please (laughing)."
What do you think of the audience here?
Rüdiger: "Very nice, I went to four in Wave Gothic Treffen in Leipzig (Germany) but this is my second one here in the Netherlands and I think its very nice. It's cool. The toilet is 25ct's that's not so good and the coffee is also not so good (lot's of laughter). All the other things are very nice."
Rüdiger: "Very nice, I went to four in Wave Gothic Treffen in Leipzig (Germany) but this is my second one here in the Netherlands and I think its very nice. It's cool. The toilet is 25ct's that's not so good and the coffee is also not so good (lot's of laughter). All the other things are very nice."
Niel: "We've really got to repeat we love the audience in the Netherlands, it's really cool to play here (yes absolutely, Rüdiger adds) we love that."
What's the difference with other audiences then?
Lisa: "They are really enthusiastic, realy!"
Niel: "They're smiling, and having a party, you really see they're having a party there and well most of the time in Germany it's also like that, but it could also take a little bit longer, and so it's quite nice."
What was your most memorable moment of 2004, until now?
Oliver: "It's a very difficult question."
Lisa: "For me it was a really interesting experience that we played on the Feuertanz festival (big festival in Germany). I never played for such a crowd. Standing there and seeing this crowd was really an experience to me, being there with the power and the energy. And what am I getting and what am I giving to them, that was really fine."
Niel: "Ok there was one time I was really shocked. And the point was well, it's very personal, because I'm living in an artist community of 300 people in Munich, it's called the Domachstrasse and we got thrown out now, it was one of the most free places in Munich and there are not lot's of free places. And the federal government of Germany is throwing us out for no reason. So this message was really bad for us and we are still fighting."
Niel: "Ok there was one time I was really shocked. And the point was well, it's very personal, because I'm living in an artist community of 300 people in Munich, it's called the Domachstrasse and we got thrown out now, it was one of the most free places in Munich and there are not lot's of free places. And the federal government of Germany is throwing us out for no reason. So this message was really bad for us and we are still fighting."
Oliver: "Folkwoods festival it was very nice and relaxed."
Rüdiger: "One of the nicest gigs this year." And summer darkness, was that ok?
Oliver: "Also great but at Summer Darkness I had a free day on Sunday at the Folkwood festival and I really liked it. Also last year I made a holiday there because I really like the small and easy festival. Because I am very often in the gothic scene but this folk scene on a nice summer weekend it's really beautiful, it's being a real hippie again."
Have you ever heard of the Elf Fantasy fair here?
Rüdiger: "We have heard about it, but we haven't been there yet, no time."
At that time Faun could already inform us that they would play at the festival in 2005, we are happy to be able to let you know now that it's official.
Do you have a last message, or something you want to say?
Niel: (impersonates a frog)
Lisa is laughing and Oliver reads out a verse from his book in German.
Rudi: "Das Ree hübt hoch das ree hübt weit, waarom auch nicht, es had der Zeit."
Niel, you don't need and interview you need a massage??
Niel: "so my last message is: I don't need an interview I need a massage (lots of laughter)".
After thanking them for this interview the exhausted members of Faun went to their hotel to get a good night sleep. They deserved it.
In the week following the Triganda fair I emailed Fiona my questions and she emailed me her answers.
How did you become a member of Faun?
Fiona: "One day I met Oliver in a nightclub we ended up drinking vodka. A few weeks later we did our first session. Without many words, we started to play, we played for one hour and gently ended in the same moment. I felt this was something special. It was the beginning of our musical journey five years ago which is now called Faun. It just had to be like this, I guess".
Why is the band called after this mystical beast?
Fiona: "We love the forest in which he live and, the nature which he protects and we are very fond of fertility for which also he stands. Did you know he's a musician too?"
Do you all have jobs besides Faun?
Fiona: "The work with Faun doesn't appear like a "job" to me. My child is my first matter, the spare time I spend creating music and do some orgastuff that comes along behind the scenes of a band".
You have your child with you on tour. How do you handle this? Is the father of your child with you on tour as well?
Fiona: "I and my son always travel by train, so he can move and play, while the rest of the band travels by car. Sometimes my boyfriend comes with us, sometimes a babysitter-friend. Usually it all works out well, although we have to improvise a lot. Sometimes it is exhausting to be on stage till late and get up at 6.30 in the morning. But I am very glad to be able to do my thing and having my little one with me all the time. He gets me down to earth after a big show. He reminds me that being a Goth or some other strange type of character is not the natural state in which we enter the world. And, that playing is the best thing to do".
Do you have an idea how touring with your child will change in the future?
Fiona: "I think, next year it'll be possible for him to stay at home a few times".
Fiona: "One day I met Oliver in a nightclub we ended up drinking vodka. A few weeks later we did our first session. Without many words, we started to play, we played for one hour and gently ended in the same moment. I felt this was something special. It was the beginning of our musical journey five years ago which is now called Faun. It just had to be like this, I guess".
Why is the band called after this mystical beast?
Fiona: "We love the forest in which he live and, the nature which he protects and we are very fond of fertility for which also he stands. Did you know he's a musician too?"
Do you all have jobs besides Faun?
Fiona: "The work with Faun doesn't appear like a "job" to me. My child is my first matter, the spare time I spend creating music and do some orgastuff that comes along behind the scenes of a band".
You have your child with you on tour. How do you handle this? Is the father of your child with you on tour as well?
Fiona: "I and my son always travel by train, so he can move and play, while the rest of the band travels by car. Sometimes my boyfriend comes with us, sometimes a babysitter-friend. Usually it all works out well, although we have to improvise a lot. Sometimes it is exhausting to be on stage till late and get up at 6.30 in the morning. But I am very glad to be able to do my thing and having my little one with me all the time. He gets me down to earth after a big show. He reminds me that being a Goth or some other strange type of character is not the natural state in which we enter the world. And, that playing is the best thing to do".
Do you have an idea how touring with your child will change in the future?
Fiona: "I think, next year it'll be possible for him to stay at home a few times".
We would like to thank Faun for their kind cooperation
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