Wolfsheim
Interview by Craig Harvey

When I learned that I was going to do a face-to-face interview with the members of Wolfsheim, I actually was a little nervous. However, after meeting both Peter and Markus, I realized that they were far more nervous about performing here in the States for the very first time, than I had been about doing this interview. Peter informed me that their guitarist and drummer had still not arrived because of problems with customs, so that was another situation that they had no control over. I tried my best to assure them that after seeing the crowd gathering around the venue, even if the other two band members did not make it for some reason, they would still receive a warm welcome. The interview went very well, and I was very happy to find out that we (Movement) were the very first American magazine to do an interview with Wolfsheim. Here for your reading pleasure is the conversation I had with both Peter and Markus.

This is your first US tour right?
Yes, and first English interview.

You guys get labeled as a synth pop band...how would you label yourself?
Synth pop? That's not necessarily the way to describe it. That's really a thing that ...it's impossible to compare our music with guitars and bass.

As far as the songs themselves...who does the music... who does the lyrics...do you guys share responsibility?
Markus does the music and after that I (Peter) try to make lyrics. Sometimes it's German, sometimes it's English. It's determined by the music.

(To Peter) You've made quite a few guest appearances with a lot of bands... Umbra Et Imago, Schiller, WItt, Goethes Erben...You're pretty busy. How do you find time to do all this?
I just do the side projects if I have time. When I have no time because I am working with Wolfsheim, I do no side projects. So if it's the right time and if it's the right music, I do it. It does not interfere.

(To Peter) Is there anybody that you'd like to work with that you haven't worked with so far?
It's not a question with whom I want to work with, it's a question of what we do. And if it's someone who's doing something completely different from what we do...I find it kind of interesting to do that so I don't want to say there's anyone I don't want to work with but I want to say that there are a lot of things I won't do.

(To Markus) You did a project with Care Company and they did the one CD, In The Flow. Are you guys working on material for a new album?
We're working at it.

Did you tour with Care Company for that CD?
Three weeks in Germany and promoting for radio stations.

When you initially released Casting Shadows, there was a contest for a remix...who won that?
It wasn't really a contest...it was something the fans did themselves. They did it together on a webpage, I think with other remixes...it wasn't our contest. It was very interesting, I think.

Did you guys hear any of the remixes?
There were one or two guys who made remixes and posted on our Internet so we could hear them.

(To Peter) You corroborated with Mozart from Umbra Et Imago. How did that come about?
We're friends... we met at the first Wolfsheim and became friends and so from time to time we work together.

When you guys played Woodstage in Germany, I noticed that your live setup now included a guitar player and drummer. What made the change from going from just the two of you to more of a band?
I think it has a lot to do with the music...it was a lot of fun to work with other musicians onstage and we've worked a lot with other musicians but never on stage...that's quite a different thing, I think.

Would you say that Spectators was the album that really got you noticed in the United States or was maybe your biggest album?
That happened a lot after Spectators here in the US and Germany also, well first of all Germany, then in the US.

As far as Europe goes... do you guys make the charts over there?
We are on the charts in Germany...we were number four, it was fantastic. It's absolutely great. I think that happened a lot with the reunion of the two Germanies in '89, because a lot of people of different ages who like this music wanted to hear this music because they couldn't hear it all their life and that made it kind of different. First it was just the young people who had this music, and after that it was a wide variety of ages of people hearing this music and that did a lot...the audience has changed over the last several years.

I think the charts in Europe are much different from here. It's so much more open minded there.
It's a bigger market [in the U.S.], it's more complicated. It's a smaller market in Germany. What has happened in the last years...we don't know why it happened...

How do you feel people downloading free music?
Germany has had really big problems with that because of less sales. That's really a problem in Germany and it's sometimes hard to see that because you've put so much work into what you are doing and a lot of your heart and time...

Downloading on the Internet...they like it for two or three weeks and play it in the CD player all the time and then they don't want to buy because they don't have the money and can just download... that's sometimes hard to hear because it's sad...it's a sad thing because we put a lot of work...we put a lot of our heart into it...

How do you feel about the state of electronic music in general...Do you think it will stay popular in the future?
It is...not only in Germany but in Europe in general... I think here also, yes...

Do you think that perhaps some of the popularity is the House and Techno scene brought a lot of the electronic music more to the forefront?
Definitely.

(To Markus) Since you do the majority of music writing, have you investigated any of the software programs?
Since five months... only software, no hardware, only midi controller (Access Virus) and laptop on stage.

Thanks for taking the time... we wish you the best.

more info at www.wolfsheim.de