Interview with Denise Kylla (bass guitar) & Dennis J. Sennekamp (vocals, guitar) from Rabengott
After the successful debut ‘Love And Order’, RABENGOTT will release their second album ‘Sleepwalker’ on 11 April. A lot has happened in the meantime: A reshuffle in the band, lots of festival appearances and a new record label. I met Denise and Dennis over a pizza in Düsseldorf and they have a lot of news to share.
Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: Hello Denise, hello Dennis, nice to see you again! A lot has happened since your debut album ‘Love and Order’, which we talked about three years ago. First of all, two new members joined, but then there was another line-up change in the band very soon. What happened?
Dennis: Denise and I recorded the first album completely on our own. But then we soon had the first commitments for concerts and naturally wanted to perform the songs really well on stage. It was clear to me that I wanted to have a band around me again - I used to have a Rock band, and I also wanted more musicians on stage for our music. We then found our first new band members Pia and Benjamin via Instagram, and we performed together as a band for about a year. But as they also had their own projects, at some point it didn’t fit together anymore. So we decided to go our separate ways. At that time, we had already started working on our new album ‘Sleepwalker’ and confirmed further gigs, so we quickly needed new support. That wasn't easy at all! But then we were very lucky and found Julian, who is now part of RABENGOTT. We also got to know each other via Instagram and it was an immediate fit.
RoD: Has the change in the band also had an effect musically? What influence did Julian bring with him?
Dennis: Yes, definitely. First of all, Julian took everything to another technical level. And he plays the piano and synthesiser very well - that's a skill we didn't have in the band before. We are very happy to have a real pianist. It definitely brings in a whole new vibe.
Denise: And what you also have to say is that Julian is someone who enables a lot. He was keen to play the concerts from the very beginning, he wanted to get involved and provided so much input that we were more than pleasantly surprised! That really helped us move forward. For example, Julian played keyboards on ‘White Widow’, a song on the new album that I really like, after we actually thought the song was finished. And that took the song to another level! It was similar with ‘Sleepwalker’. We also thought the song was finished, and then Julian filled in the gaps and improved the song so much that we were incredibly happy.
Dennis: Julian has this talent, when he writes keyboard parts, it’s like filling in water in the gaps of the song. He manages to fill in every song just right at the end.
RoD: Was it a big change for you, after making the first album as a duo, to have someone else with you?
Dennis: Yes, definitely. At first it wasn’t so easy for me to let go of the musical sceptre and it's different to bring in other influences. But then it worked out wonderfully!
RoD: To what extent has your life changed since you really took off with RABENGOTT?
Denise: We always have to hold back all our holidays and reserve our days for gigs, which is obviously different. And we're now busy around the clock with RABENGOTT, there's always something to do. We had a long production phase for the album, it often went late into the night, we keep hearing inspirations from film music, for example, that we want to capture directly. Then we do all our designs ourselves, we're on social media every day, and all that alongside our regular jobs.
Dennis: When we spoke to you about our first album back then, everything was still kind of an idea and we had no real idea of how everything would turn out. And now everything is completely different! We look different, our music and the artwork has evolved, and that's so nice - it’s so worth putting all the work in!
RoD: How were the reactions to the first album?
Denise: Shortly after the release of the first songs, the first requests for festivals came in, which was great. The reactions to the song ‘Kinder der Nacht’ in particular were great. The reviews were also mostly positive.
Dennis: Some of the criticism came from the non-gothic scene, mostly because we don’t have a real drummer. My voice doesn’t suit everyone either, but of course that’s always a matter of taste... I don’t pretend, I don’t try to sound artificially deep or “goth”. I’m a Rock singer and that’s how I sing.
RoD: You are of course also very present on social media. And like every artist, you’ve had to put up with negative and pointless comments. How do you deal with that? Is it difficult to suddenly be in the public eye and be confronted with it?
Dennis: It bothered me a bit at first, I have quite a need for harmony. But now I’m relaxed because I realise that we’re challenging people’s emotions - and emotions are always worth something. It would be worse for me if they didn’t care about us. But I’m always surprised by negative comments, because we don’t have an offensive or controversial agenda, we’re not political or anything. Why do so many people get upset? Either someone likes our music or they don’t, but I find it strange that people have to comment on it like that. Nevertheless, I’m always happy when we’re mentioned, even negatively, better than not at all! (laughs)
RoD: But of course there is also a lot of positive feedback. How important is contact with fans via social media for you?
Denise: I always make an effort to answer as many comments as possible, as this often leads to interesting conversations. You can hear a bit about what people want in the setlists, for example. That’s very important these days - you’re no longer the superstar who’s somewhere far away and unreachable like you used to be, you have much more direct contact with the fans, you’re definitely more on an equal footing. So we show a lot of ourselves.
Dennis: It’s not just on social media, it’s also nice to get talking to people at concerts. You get to know so many people with interesting stories, many of the people who come to our concerts are musicians themselves, and it’s great to exchange ideas.
RoD: You’ve performed at a few festivals in the meantime. Which one do you particularly remember?
Denise: As a Cologne native, I’ve always been to the AMPHI Festival and always thought how nice it would be to perform there. In 2023 the time had come, we played there on the ship and were introduced by Dr. Mark Benecke! I’ve known him for ten years but didn’t want to ask him to host - but he came on the ship for us and he did such a great job announcing us that we went on stage with the best motivation boost we could have had! That was so nice for me, as I didn’t have much stage experience and was therefore super nervous - Mark really took the stress away from me. It was all perfect.
Dennis: The STELLA NOMINE festival also played a very important role, because so much happened through this festival! It was one of the first two shows we had confirmed, and at that early stage we only had two songs! (laughs). Then, of course, we had to get more songs out there quickly so that we could show something on stage! (laughs). The gig back then on an insanely hot day in August was great, and we got to know so many people that weekend and so many things came about for our future path. We got to know Stefan and Bruno from DAS ICH, Bruno saw us live on stage. A year later, we hosted STELLA NOMINE - and negotiated a contract with Bruno Kramm on his label Danse Macabre! So the history of RABENGOTT is characterised by the STELLA NOMINE festival for the first three years.
RoD: You’ve just told it - you’re now signed to Danse Macabre, Bruno Kramm’s label. How is that for you?
Denise: As a huge fan of DAS ICH, I was of course totally thrilled when I suddenly stood backstage in front of Bruno and Stefan after our performance at STELLA NOMINE and they both said how much they liked our performance. The situation left me speechless at first, and I’m not really used to that (laughs). That was a great moment. We then stayed in touch. When he asked us if we would like to come to his Label, that was of course great. It was also a bit of a shame, as we also liked being on our old label Eygennutz Records. But the label chief Bianca Stücker totally understood that we wanted to take this opportunity and supported us, she was happy for us and so it went smoothly and amicably. That was really great for us.
RoD: How would you describe the mood of the new album?
Denise: Julian is a real film fan, just like Dennis and I, he loves horror films. That has had an effect on the album - horror films are actually the common thread in it. You can tell that from the songs, from the whole vibe of the album. The video for ‘Sleepwalker’ also goes in this direction, of course. We shot the video in the Shadow Club in Leverkusen with great support from the team there. We also shot the videos for ‘Love Kills’ and another new song there. Many thanks for the great support at this point!
RoD: I grew up with vinyl LPs and I love listening to an album from the first to the last song and seeing it as a complete work of art. Of course, many songs are also listened to individually via the streaming portals, independently of the whole album, rather as part of a playlist. How do you see that?
Dennis: For me, there are two sides to it. On the one hand, it’s very convenient, I also stream a lot and listen to individual songs by individual artists. But of course, as an artist myself, I think about how I build up an album, about the order of the songs. I also grew up listening to records or cassettes in their entirety. But once you did that, you had your two or three favourite songs and then recorded them individually somewhere and only listened to those. I also collect vinyl records and I can see the romance behind them, but I realise that they end up in the cupboard and I rarely listen to them in full.
RoD: Will your album be available on vinyl?
Dennis: No, that has something to do with very high production costs. But it is available on CD, so you can physically hold the album in your hand.
RoD: That was a great start to 2025 for you... what’s next? Where can we see you live?
Denise: The first concert after the album release is Lucy-Fair’s Garden in May, then at the WGT in June and at the Burning Pants Festival in July. Then comes Schwarze Nacht Lauscha in September and Schockvember in November. There will be more, but we can’t reveal that yet!
RoD: Thank you very much for the interview!
Tour dates (more dates tba)
Lucy-Fair’s Garden, Busenwurth, 23-24 May 2025
Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Leipzig, 06.-09 June 2025
Burning-Pants-Festival, Hude, 03-06 July 2025
Black Night Lauscha, 06 September 2025
Schockvember, Remchingen, 15 November 2025
https://rabengott.bandcamp.com/
Pictures by Konrad Krebs
