Interview with
Florian Schäfer (vocals) of Noyce TM
Just recently NOYCE TM released with ‘Past:ique’ a look into their own past and granted musical insight into the early years of their career to fans and those who still want to become fans. We wanted to no more about the steps leading to that special release and furthermore could collect some background info for you when Florian answered our little catalogue of questions.
Reflections of Darkness (RoD): Tell us something about the particular incentive to release a collection like ‘Past:ique’ Was it something like giving insight into the band’s past and making “lost” songs” available again?
Florian Schäfer (Florian): There were a few reasons to do ‘Past:ique’, most importantly the fan’s constant demand for the old songs. One of the reasons for that was the quite successful tour we did with DIARY OF DREAMS that increased our popularity considerably, as well as the success of the ‘Un:Welt’ record. On the other hand it was a wish of ours to do a concise in the shape of a CD.
RoD: For the front cover you chose to revive an illustration of one of your earlier releases, ‘White Hypnotized Noise’. Why choosing that otherworldly mash up and what is the particular meaning behind the title ‘Past:ique’, apart from the obvious connotations to the past?
Florian: We chose to “revive” the cover for various reasons. In my opinion it’s one of our best front cover illustrations this far and it was a shame to me the ‘White Hypnotized Noise’ Ep was sold-out so quickly back then. I’ve been intrigued with sharks since I was a little boy and the otherworldly picture of sharks hovering across the lands always seemed completely ace to me. Wondering how people would react? Most likely as they do already with finning, meaning the removal and retention of shark fins and throwing the living shark back into the sea afterwards, as well as a systematic slaughter. 150 Mio are being killed that way every year. Extinction of the sharks would push the oceans’ ecologic system to the brink through an uncontrolled augmentation of their prey and a massive reduction of the photo plankton. This is getting even more interesting knowing that it is responsible for transforming 70% of the world’s carbon dioxide into oxygen. A real good reason to ensure protection of these animals and to give them a kind of platform in hopes more people are cultivating an interest in these animals and their safety.
RoD: What are you feeling when looking back on that particular era of your career? How are you feeling about the from a today’s point of view?
Florian: When we finalized the track listing it was quite astonishing to see how well everything fell into place, harmonically, with all those songs from completely different years. That might be due to us having just a little amount of songs you could compare. Take for instance ‘Panique – This World – Year03 – Inschallah’. Those songs could hardly be more different, but still people are willing to accept us doing different things. This is something unique; we created ourselves as we wouldn’t need to justify anything if we’d suddenly begin incorporating trumpets. Free and independent working with no one pressuring you to do another song, sounding like ‘This World’. The songs that eventually made the cut we wouldn’t do any different from a today’s perspective. I think the songs are on a high level and timeless with beautiful ideas and melodies in abundance. Just brilliant songs and yes I’d even say that if I had nothing to do with the band. But there are only two or three songs of the ‘White Room’ era we’d be doing differently today.
RoD: Are you already working on new material?
Florian: We just finished recording the first song for the upcoming album. As always it still lacks one or the other detail. Anyway, it was the song putting us back into the “mood loop” to write new songs and to produce our collected ideas. We’re not one of the fastest bands when it comes to releasing new records, but we’d like to maintain a certain level of quality and the mood just has to support that.
RoD: What about live performances in 2011?
Florian: Well, it’s not much yet but we’ve got a few gigs coming up: On 7th October we’re playing together with MELOTRON at Matrix in Bochum and already one day later at the “Benefiz for Kids” festival in Magdeburg (Really worth supporting). Elena Alice Fossi and Angelo Bergamini will be performing for the first time songs of all their projects like KIRLIAN CAMERA, SPECTRA*PARIS, STALINGGRAD etc. Furthermore RABIA SORDA, SHADOW MINDS, CHROM, BATTLE SCREAM, X-DIVIDE, WORT-TON will be performing at the festival. A good occasion to do a good thing with the ticket fees and to see a few great bands live.
RoD: Anything else, you’d like to add?
Florian: If you feel like it visit www.sharkproject.org and it’d be greatly appreciated we many people would attend this year’s “Benefiz for Kids” festival. Thanks for your interest in NOYCE TM
Promo pics by Thomas Buchta
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