Interview: Vaselyne - February 2024

Interview with

Yvette Winkler (vocals) and Frank Weyzig (guitar, bass guitar, synths and programming) from Vaselyne

VASELYNE is one of the most interesting and ethereal bands to emerge on the Darkwave scene in recent years. The Dutch band is the dream child of Yvette Winkler and Frank Weyzig - who between them have an impressive musical resume. They have both worked with many other musical projects - Frank is probably best known for his work with CLAN OF XYMOX which led to sessions on the famous John Peel Radio Show. He is also involved with many other musical projects: WHITE ROSE TRANSMISSION, STARGAZING PROJECT and BORN FOR BLISS.

Yvette was vocalist with SEA OF SOULS a band that she founded but has worked with many other artists. She had most recently been involved with producing and featuring on the Coitus Interruptus Productions tribute albums to JAPAN: ‘Still Life in Polaroids’ and A PERFECT CIRCLE: ’Sacred Geometry.’ VASELYNE released an EP: ‘Necromancer,’ in October - which rapidly climbed the indie charts. The official video for ‘Necromancer’ was released February 9th, and its beautiful but eerie theme immediately received positive responses. I caught up with Yvette and Frank, on a cold winter evening, on Zoom to chat about their music, Myspace and Italian opera

Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: Good evening, how are you?
Yvette: Good thanks, we are fed up with all this rain we keep getting!

RoD: So, you recently released a new EP: ‘Necromancer’. How is that going because when I wrote the review, you were climbing up the Indie charts.
Yvette: Yes, we are still in there, in the German charts. We had dropped a little but now we are climbing again.

RoD: How did you guys actually meet and how long have VASELYNE been together.
Yvette: It’s a long time. 2011 I think it was. We met on Myspace - the good old days! It was like the Facebook of the 90s. It was actually pretty good because all the spam and adverts and that you get on Facebook, you didn’t have. So, we met on there through… was it Pieter? (to Frank), I don’t even know!
Frank: Yeah!
Yvette: Yeah, I think it was through Pieter, also of CLAN OF XYMOX, I knew him before I knew Frank, I was already working with him (Pieter) and somehow, I stumbled onto Frank’s Myspace and I heard his music and I was like, “This is interesting, I can see this being a fit maybe.” So, I sent him a message, went to his house. He played me some music and gave me a demo for ‘Not to be Mine’ which became one of the first tracks on our first album and that’s how it first started! It somehow worked.
Frank: (laughing) Yeah! That’s what happened and we did it for a couple of years and then we didn’t do much until - when did it start to become serious again?
Yvette: Yes, a couple of years ago, when we worked on a compilation album with John Fryer, the producer who has worked with a lot of bands like HIM and COCTEAU TWINS. I knew him through a friend of mine and then he asked me if I wanted to sing on an album he was producing. I did this and then he asked if we both wanted to do a track as well, then we sort of started working again.
Frank: And I forgot to mention of course - the first period that we started working together, we did an album.
Yvette: We did an album and some EPs. The problem then, was that social media wasn’t really a thing and promotion was really difficult. We didn’t play many shows - well we played a few but couldn’t get more. There actually isn’t much of a scene around here, so it’s pretty difficult to get a show anywhere you know. England is much bigger, Germany’s much bigger, there are more alternative bands. Here it’s just… sincerely lacking. Also, the album didn’t sell that well because the label we had back then - this German label - didn’t do any promotion for the album, so we were kind of maybe a bit disappointed, I don’t know.
Frank: Yeah, we were involved in other projects as well, I guess. Then a couple of years later, it somehow started again as Yvette was saying…
Yvette: And then I met John Fryer and did that album and that was quite successful, because it had a lot of big names on it. Then we just naturally started working again. And then of course I met Christian Petke from COP International and it started snowballing.

RoD: You both have so many music projects between you.
Yvette: Well, that’s another thing of course, because Frank has his own band - which takes time as well - and now he has a second band, so there are like, three of them. Then I do guest vocals as well, so… and now I’m working on the tributes [albums], but it’s nice, because we get to step back and then come back to it. The ‘Necromancer’ track wasn’t supposed to be a VASELYNE song. He (Frank) wrote it together with someone from his band.
Frank: Well - in the end, I thought it was more suitable for VASELYNE. I don’t do anything live with those other bands, I tend to focus more on the things we are doing with VASELYNE, so I thought maybe we could use this song as the next track for our new album. That’s how it started to become our next single. We didn’t actually think it was going to be so well received as it has been.
Yvette: Yes so, it’s kind of different from what we normally do because it wasn’t meant to be a VASELYNE track. Now we made it a VASELYNE track! It was supposed to be a BORN FOR BLISS track! (laughs)
Frank: Yea, because usually, I don’t sing any VASELYNE songs.
Yvette: That one is quite successful at the moment - it gets a lot of plays.
Frank: But that’s the one time that we’re doing it that way.

RoD: So, BORN FOR BLISS is one of your other bands?
Frank: Right, but you know, we don’t play live with that band because we’re old people already.
All: Laugh.
Frank: And my drummer can’t play longer than fifteen minutes because he has problems with his wrists - and the bass player sort of a similar problem. So, we only do studio stuff.

RoD: I guess if you are in the studio, you can take a break, whereas you can’t really do that if you on stage.
Yvette: They are pretty well known in Germany - they have a pretty big following over there, on Spotify they get more plays than we do!
Frank: Yes, but I want to focus on VASELYNE…
Yvette: The main project is VASELYNE, but then we do stuff on the side as well. VASELYNE is our main focus, but I think that it’s nice to be able to work on other music as well, because you can get creative and look at other styles, which is good as well. It’s also nice meeting people. If you work with someone that’s more well-known than we are, then it helps with promotion and opens new doors.



RoD: That was actually going to be my next question: what keeps you motivated to keep writing and producing not just your own stuff, but other projects as well.
Frank: Well first of all you need to love music of course, but for me it’s my creative outlet. I also love doing it and that’s the most important thing. Then of course you need to work together with someone who clicks and that’s really working for both of us.
Yvette: Yes, I think especially, in the indie scene, if you don’t really love it, don’t do it - because it’s stressful as well. For me, because I do most of the promotion side of it, it takes so much time.  It can get annoying because I don’t like sitting on my phone until four in the morning talking to people in the States. (laughs). I like them, but I also need to sleep. You have to spend a lot of time talking to people and sending all these email lists and it doesn’t always really work. It’s a problem for everyone though, there are so many bands and it’s difficult to stand out. We think we have a very unique sound, but this can be a bit of a problem because people don’t know where to pigeonhole you. Is it folk? Is it New-Wave? Is it Post-Punk? Is it Prog-Rock? What is it? Then if you are going to play shows, where are you going to play and who with? So, all that is sometimes an issue, but I think lately, and over the last year especially, we seem to have gained some more interest. We’ve been on a few lists and a few “best of” records, which is always nice - especially when your peers vote for those lists - you know - other bands. We were second in the “Sounds and Shadows” charts last month - which is picked by other musicians. That is always nice, but for me, you have to really love it (making music), because it doesn’t pay the bills… well not for us anyway! It’s like a necessity though, it’s what I’ve been doing since I was fourteen or something like that. I don’t have any other skills (laughs). We’re both teachers as well, but this is… it’s like breathing… it’s a necessity and for me, writing lyrics is the way to let people know who I am. It’s telling my story and it’s always very personal. I think that you are born with the ability and the mind to do this.
Frank: And of course, it’s also important that even with all the years that I’ve been making music, I’m still evolving. I mean… as long as you think that your music is getting better…
Yvette: Which it is.
Frank: That gives you the push to continue doing it.
Yvette: And then also working with other people - that also helps, because it gives you a different insight. We have a specific way of working, we always do stuff the same way (laughs) and then you work with someone else and it’s like, “Oh - you do it like that?” That is interesting, because you think oh maybe this works as well. Maybe this is a good example - I have a big (vocal) register so I can sing really low or I can sing really high. In the beginning, low was my safety zone, so on the first album there was a lot of low vocals, but then over the years, we were like, maybe we should do one higher. Then I was like, maybe I can do another and another and so on. We work with all these quieter tracks where I do all these harmonies and that’s something that kind of grew as well - the layers of vocals. Then with the new single: ‘Necromancer’ it is so different to other tracks we did, so it’s just changing all the time, which keeps us interesting as well, because you don’t want to get stuck somewhere and sound like many other bands, and people going: “I think I heard this one before.” There are a lot of bands where I think, “Why are you making a new album, it sounds just like the last one. What’s the point?” You don’t want to get stuck somewhere, we may be old (laughs), but our brains are still creating new material. You also don’t want it to get boring.

RoD: Yvette, you mentioned singing since you were fourteen, do you have a classical singing background then?
Yvette: I actually started as a dancer… so I did ballet - I was in a couple of ballet groups and I did that for a couple of years, so I was used to being on stage as a dancer. Singing is something that I did at home with my sister and then one of my nieces used to sing in these talent shows. So, one time I went with her and she said: “Why don’t you sing a song?” Then I won (laughs) which is pretty funny and I thought, “This is kind of nice!” Then I had a tape act for a couple of years. I went around the country with a (backing) tape and I sang in discos. That’s how I made some extra money when I was sixteen. I did songs by SPANDAU BALLET, DURAN DURAN, SOFT CELL… it was in the 80’s. Back then I didn’t have any training as a singer, but when I was nineteen, I started playing in bands and realised that if I wanted to do this and keep my voice, maybe I should get some lessons. So, then I did have some classical training, I did this Italian opera training - maybe that’s one of the reasons why I do all this vibrato stuff, I don’t know, but I did have training for maybe two years or so. I already sang before I had the training, but it helps you keep your voice healthy.

RoD: What about you Frank? How did you get started in the music business?
Frank: Well, I don’t know, I didn’t have any intention of becoming a musician when I was younger.
Yvette: What did you want to become when you were younger then?
Frank: I didn’t want to become anything I guess, but then when I was a kid, I saw DAVID BOWIE on television and it changed my life completely. I realised then that I wanted to become just like these people on television. Then I started picking up a guitar and learning how to play and started to play in all these bands and doing cover songs, but my career really started booming when I started playing with CLAN OF XYMOX. Three times we toured in America; we had John Peel sessions. Then after a couple of years, I left the band because there were so many things going on with people in the band.
Yvette: And the rest is history history (laughs).
Frank: Then I started my own project BORN FOR BLISS and then a couple of years later, I met Yvette and that evolved as well. So, my skills… I like learning things, I just try things out, I never had any lessons or anything. Of course, if you are talking about a VASELYNE song or something like that, you have to learn composition, how to produce things and we help each other… to get to the level that we are at now. Also, what is important for me is not only to learn how to play an instrument, but how to work with different sounds and layer the sounds - like Yvette’s voice. That is very much layered within the music, but the music itself is also very layered. Some people say, “There is too much going on and they can’t listen to your music, but that’s how we do it, you know.”
Yvette: But it’s also because most bands within our genre - new-wave / kind of post-punkish bands, it’s like a guitar and a keyboard (laughs). So yeah, people say that what we do is complicated. We’ll have at least - how many tracks?
Frank: At least sixty-four, I think.
Yvette: Because I multitrack my vocals, so I sing my lead three times and all the backing vocals two times.
Frank: Sometimes even just for Yvette’s vocals, I use maybe twelve to fourteen different tracks that I mix. That’s giving her vocals a special sound… like an extra harmonising thing that’s going around the vocals, but without using all these gadgets to achieve that.
Yvette: No auto-tune! (laughs)
Frank: No auto-tune, everything is real… and that makes it sound… a little bit different, I think.



RoD: So, do you live close to each other? What is your creative process?
Yvette: No, we don’t live close to each other. This is the first time that Frank has come to my house. I used to live closer - like thirty minutes away from Amsterdam, but now I live an hour away from Amsterdam.
Frank: Well, how we work is… I write pieces of music and when I think, “Oh this is something that Yvette could maybe sing to,” I send her a little demo, then she’s listens to them, finds lyrics and does melody lines for the vocals. Then when we are both pleased about the progress.
Yvette: I sent him a little demo that I’ve recorded on my phone: “I think I’m gonna do this!” And then I go over to his studio in Amsterdam and we record. So, we don’t write together in the same room, but he sends me music and I send him ideas back, then he sends me a new version. (laughs). The same with mixing, because when Frank starts mixing, he sends it me to listen and then I just give him my notes and ideas - then he changes it. So, all this back-and-forth discussion can take a while, so it’s not like he mixes it and that’s it - done. It can take a lot of time recording an album because we are extremely critical. Also, we are both perfectionists so…
Frank: We are only releasing a song when we are both really pleased about it!
Yvette: Yeah, if one of says, “Nah!” then it’s not gonna happen! That being said, there will always be something to find on every track, so at some point you have to let it go or you will be there forever, you will always find something that you are not happy with. At some point it just has to be finished or else it’s going to take years (laughs). I don’t understand how some bands can just go in the studio and a week later they have an album.
Frank: But they have more members. The good thing about working with just the two of us, for me - is that I will never have to stand up against the bass player who is telling me that the bass is not loud enough - cos I’m doing all the instruments! I’m not suggesting that I wouldn’t like to work with other musicians, but VASELYNE with the two of us has evolved with just the two of us. We do sometimes ask people to play violin or some other instrument for a couple of tracks, but I’m always the one responsible for the mixing.

RoD: So, what advice would you give any new artists or bands who are starting out?
Yvette: I would say - because this is important to me - just stay true to your own vision. There is so much influence especially now with social media… then there is TikTok where everyone is - I don’t know - too many people trying to fit into some sort of formula, because of what is popular - either visually or the way they sound, because that is going to make you money. I would like some money (laughs), but I wouldn’t be happy to only have money and a product that wasn’t authentic. Also, you can easily get disappointed being a musician, so you would lack that strength. I think it would be really hard. You will probably be criticised a lot as well, so you need to believe in your own talent and your own vision. You will always be your own biggest supporter, so if you don’t believe in it, no-one else will either. You can always ask for tips, but don’t let others tell you what to do.
Frank: Well, I wouldn’t know what advice to give, I mean nowadays it’s so hard for Indie bands. In the 80s and the 90s there would be a special meaning to being in an indie band and you would be making new, progressive music. Back then, record companies would be interested in what you were doing. Right now, there are so many bands out there and there is so little support from any record label or whatever. The whole streaming thing is spoiling the music industry. It’s crazy to get 0.003 cents for the streaming of a song! It’s totally ridiculous and I don’t know how we let it get so far. So… it’s very difficult to keep your head above the water if you are making independent music. So, I will try to give advice to anyone who needs it, but like Yvette said - you have to be true to yourself and eventually if you are doing the right thing, then hopefully you will get some success.
Yvette: A couple of days ago there was a question on a forum where someone was asking, did anyone want to make a video for a track they did. They asked if there was a formula to make it appealing to ‘most people’ and I was like, “I think the song should reflect what it means to you, after all you wrote it, so… let the lyrics speak.  Let the music speak about what you think is right and if it’s creative, genuine and heartfelt, then it will appeal”. Will it appeal to everyone? Well, that’s not possible!

RoD: Well not even on the goth scene, the alternative scene, is one song going to appeal to every single person.
Yvette: It can get difficult sometimes on the goth scene, because everyone is just looking for bands that sound like THE SISTERS OF MERCY or THE CURE. Or they want a smoke machine and operatic vocals.

RoD: Yeah, it seemed that way in the 90s and I kind of switched off from listening to ‘goth’ bands because of this. I think there are some interesting projects coming out these days though.
Yvette: Well truth be told; I don’t think we are really a goth band but we do understand that that’s our audience because they like dark music. I would describe us as ‘dark music’ but we aren’t goth at all.

RoD: There are so many genres and sub-genres now. It’s not always easy to keep up!
Yvette: I don’t know - I saw the strangest… pastel goth, like what is that?

RoD: I think that all came from the anime and Japanese teen culture.
Yvette: Yeah, but what is the music that belongs to “pastel goth? I don’t know.”
Frank: Yeah, I too have a problem with being categorised as “goth” music because we are so much more than that.
Yvette: I tend to describe us as “folk-rock / indie…”
Frank: The interesting thing is that if you leave out most of the instruments and you only keep my acoustic guitars - especially when I’m picking, then it would be more Folk music than anything else.
Yvette: And the fun thing as well maybe is that… people ask us - or ask me - “Which is your favourite Darkwave / Post-Punk band?”  I don’t listen to Darkwave or Post-Punk very often. I like metal, I like R & B and Hip-Hop. I also love old 80s and 70s music - like DAVID BOWIE, PINK FLOYD.
Frank: Recently I started listening to old LED ZEPPELIN songs.
Yvette: Yeah, that is one of our influences.
Frank: But it’s not directly hearable on the things we’re doing.
Yvette: I don’t sit around listening to the SISTERS OF MERCY all day. I like quite different stuff like JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE or BRUNO MARS - I love BRUNO MARS. Also, I like really good R & B like THE WEEKEND, but people ask me if I want to play that stuff and I’m like, “No, I don’t want to play it, I just want to listen to it, what I play is quite different.” Then I also listen to bands like JAPAN.

RoD: I was listening to one of their first albums the other day and I could remember all the lyrics, but not the song titles!
Yvette: (laughs), Yes, I’m like that, I’m singing along and then I’m like, “What track is this again?” Interesting though, cos I’m doing a new tribute album - and we have Robert Dean who was the guitar player from Japan in the early days, doing a track as well. So, the big names are coming in… finally (laughs). That’s nice you know, people who you are very much influenced by - then all of a sudden you are talking to them - it’s just kind of weird! It’s nice though - especially when they turn out to be great people. Of course, when I worked with John (Fryer), that was interesting as well, because of course he worked with NINE INCH NAILS and people like that… he produced THE COCTEAU TWINS, DEPECHE MODE, XYMOX - he works with a lot of big names. I’m a big NINE INCH NAILS fan too, so when I worked with John, I was like, “I can’t believe that I’m working with the person that sat next to Trent Reznor!”



RoD: It’s interesting how you started talking about working with people who influenced you, because my next question was - who would you most like to play with - dead or alive?
Frank: DAVID BOWIE!
Yvette: I think for me, that’s a difficult one - but I would probably say DAVID SYLVIAN. But then DAVID BOWIE - yeah! It’s difficult cos I have so many people who I’m inspired by, I’m also a very big fan of Maynard from TOOL and then MARC ALMOND is the one that was actually the reason that I started music… so he’s always been very much an inspiration to me. It’s difficult to choose, but if I had to - I would probably say DAVID SYLVIAN because I believe he is one of the best singers.

RoD: Yeah, I agree and even when you listen to the very early stuff where his voice was quite raw and had the South London drawl, there were still moments during ‘Obscure Alternatives’ where you could see what he was going to become.
Yvette: Yeah, and the funny thing is - well, it’s actually pretty sad - he still thinks that he can’t sing! He never wanted to be the singer! I met his brother Steve Jansen recently when he played with EXIT NORTH. I would love it if he played drums with us one day - when we have money to pay him!
Frank: Also, I would have loved to play with Mick Ronson who was my favourite guitar player when I was learning to play the guitar.
Yvette: But then on the other side of this, I won’t work with someone who  has bigoted and racist views, just because it might enhance my career - there are many people like that - especially on the industrial scene. I don’t want to be famous perse - can you imagine walking down the street and everyone is coming up to you and annoying you!  I’m too old to be famous anyway (laughs).
Frank: You are never too old to be famous!
Yvette: Yeah, but then they will always find something from your past as well and do you want all these people looking into every aspect of your life? I have no secrets though, and I think as long as you haven’t done anything really bad like abusing people or whatever, then it doesn’t really matter. Also, it makes you relatable - the bad stuff that happens to you - like depression, other people say, “Well I had that same experience.” We understand each other.

RoD: I always like to lighten up the mood a little and put some fun questions in so… describe the band in three words:
Frank: Darkwave with a glow! Ok that’s one more word! (We’ll let you off, Frank).

RoD: So, what’s next? I gather you have a tour planned in Europe.
Yvette: Well, we’ve just had a meeting about this tour we are going on in March - with the CASSANDRA COMPLEX. We are doing a couple of shows opening for them. We just discussed the setlist because there are only two of us on stage, so we work with backing tracks… so we need to sort that out. All tracks need a video so we need to sort out the images. We were also thinking about doing a new cover for VASELYNE - maybe we want to incorporate that into the setlist for the mini tour. Besides all this, Frank is always writing so every time he has something, he just sends it to me and then slowly we are working on this album. No idea when this will be finished.
Frank: After we have finished touring in March, we can start looking at that more.
Yvette: Yes, we need to concentrate on the tour first and then we can start working on the album. We never set deadlines for albums or EPs, but the label likes us to set deadlines (laughs). They prefer it if you have something new every three months - new single or something like that… so maybe we will do a couple of singles in the next year, then maybe the album after that! I don’t really think you should rush stuff like that! If you have ideas and they are good then…we’ll see what happens. It’s not like we are gonna say, “It needs to be done in 2024!”
Frank: Sometimes it flows you know, sometimes I’ll send Yvette three or four very brief demo ideas - which sometimes she reacts immediately and it’s something we can work on and sometimes it takes some time. I have a lot of music already basically set up to be working on for our next album.
Yvette: Yeah, sometimes I need to think about it a bit and sometimes I know what to do immediately. Sometimes he sends me something and I’m like, “Yes!” and other times I’m like, “I’m not sure, I need to listen to this a couple of times.”
Frank: And it’s nothing special - it’s just one acoustic guitar or just a piano.
Yvette: It will just be a melody.
Frank: But for me, it’s easier to get the lyrics from Yvette and start laying down vocals, then build instruments around that idea.
Yvette: But I don’t write lyrics especially for a track - I just write lyrics… then he sends me these demos and I listen to the demo and I’m always looking through my book of lyrics - which is more like poetry, it’s not really lyrics - and I think “What do I feel? What is this music telling me? What fits with this music?” Then I just go through my book and I’m like, “Oh - maybe this!” Then I’ll just try the words and see if they fit, so I don’t go and write lyrics especially when he sends me something.
Frank: No but it’s great because then I get the lyrics back and I start building the instrumentation around that idea - also the lyrics and the mood that it creates. It really works that way for us.
Yvette: When he sends me acoustic guitar sometimes, I need to think about it for a bit and then other times, I immediately know what to do with it… it all depends on your mood a bit. Then sometimes I’m like, “Nah! I don’t feel it!” That can happen as well. Then he says, “I’ll use it for BORN FOR BLISS” (laughs) So we are not in a hurry. It’s not our main income - I would like it to be, but it’s not really a possibility - well not in the Netherlands anyway. That doesn’t mean that we don’t take this extremely seriously. It is a job but…
Frank: We only do what we like… it’s not because we want to make money out of it.
Yvette: We don’t do it because we need to - we do it because we want to.

RoD: Thank you so much for this interview

Concert Dates (with Cassandra Complex)
22 March 2024: Amsterdam, Netherlands - Q Factory
24 March 2024: Heerlan, Netherlands - Poppodium Nieuwe Nor
25 March 2024: Hannover, Germany - Lux club, Linden
26 March 2024: Krefeld, Germany - Kulturfabrik Krefeld
29 March 2024: Hamburg, Germany - LOGO
Website https://www.facebook.com/vaselynemusic/

Pictures by:
Vaselyne 1 by Patrice Hoerner
Vaselyne 2 by Maria Bodrug
Yvette by Yvette Winkler
Frank video still by Ahmed Al Amoudi