Sounds in South America - RBCN interview Apparat

by Paranoid, for Relevant BCN
After less than 2 years you came back to South America, and besides the gigs I know you toured for a while, did you enjoyed your stays?
Well, I was a bit sick of touring before I came. But I had some holiday in Mexico and traveled a bit through South America. I got totally recharged and had an amazing time. It’s always weird to see how many people care about what you do in an area where my music isn’t even really available in shops. Guess I got to thank the makers of the internet.

Which were your highlights of both trips?
When I came the first time for the festival I was pretty much on a band tour through SA. We played really cool places like Ecuador or Bolivia. Of course it was pretty rock and roll as well as it was the whole band in party mode. We discovered the nightlife of all these places. The second visit was way more mellow. I came from holiday, I was on my own, rented a car and drove to the countryside or went to Uruguay. But I had the same problem with both of my visits: still didn’t learn Spanish.

On your first visit you also gave workshops of production on the Goethe Institute, how was the experience?
That was pretty cool. I had no idea how to do this thing until they connected me with Paco -a Bolivian sound engineer with excellent English skills. We did the workshops together. When we did the second one I could have talked in Chinese to Paco, he already remembered everything and could have done the show by himself. The audience was really mixed, from interested beginners to professional musicians.

In Bolivia and Ecuador you played as Apparat Band at local theaters and then at Creamfields BA but with your raver side as Apparat, having played as Apparat Band at big festivals, how is the feeling and which are the differences in the experience of these different stages?
We did play quite a few festivals in Europe when "Walls" came out. But the concert is mostly mellow and at a festival people are often in party mode so it really matters where you play. A big stage during the night might not make much sense. I'll face the problem again next year when I'll be touring with my new album. Its really really quiet, barely beats. Its more something for theaters. And I think I'd rather not play some festivals instead of making depressing experiences like playing between two techno DJ's

On your second visit in BA you didn't play at a big festival and had the double of audience, did you expected this reaction?
Of course I was happy so many people showed up for a solo concert. Like I said in the beginning: there's not even a record distribution network for us in South America. I have the feeling that people there aren't dominated by music press who tells them whats cool. They search themselves and find everything they need on the web. Of course Moderat happened in the meantime between my two Buenos Aires gigs and that might have raised the popularity factor a bit as well. Lets see what happens if I come back with my band in 2011 or 12!

Great news about the DJ Kicks! What can you tell us about the process of making the mix?
I'm not really a DJ anymore so I approached this mix with some kind of a producer attitude. I still wanted it to sound like a real mix CD and not like a computer mash-up but just like I normally start with albums, I built a library of songs and sounds and started thinking about some kind of concept. Its not like I just mixed a mix-tape with two turntables at home.

Is this the only time we'll be listening to Apparat doing DJ set?
Probably. I thought this might be the only time I do a mix CD so it should be something eternal with all my favorite music and artists involved, but this idea turned out not practical in terms of making a fluid and entertaining mix. Its just hard to mix Steve Reich and Roxy Music! So I ended up with a lot of current music I just discovered. I found the idea to make a mix "that doesn't try too hard" way better in the end.

Listening to your music over the last years gives the impression that you're going more organic on your sounds, is that so? Do you prefer organic elements rather than samples or software-based sounds in music?
Definitely. I'm slightly bored by synthesizers & computers. I think acoustic sources for sound are far more interesting because they aren't perfect and clean. I like all the little "unwanted" noises you record when you put microphones in front of instruments. In recent times music became very clean and perfectly produced. That's so boring, it sounds like computer music. Even most of the "acoustic" music on the radio does. I don't like that anymore. My new record is only partially electronic, the computer is just an instrument.

Throughout your records we can feel an emotional content, both in melodies or lyrics, can you recognize an influence behind this aspect of your music?
I just think music should be emotional in any way, it can also be angry or happy but that's obviously not my thing. If a song doesn't appeal to you on an emotional level it becomes a background soundtrack, like most of the radio-pop. Of course there's a thin line because it's also not good to overload a song with feelings, it's gonna turn out pathetic.

It's great to hear that a new album is coming, is there something more you can tell us about it? Did you recorded it with your band or just by yourself?
During my stay in Mexico we set up a small studio, the whole band was there but in the end we didn't record that much. We ended up mostly writing stuff and collecting ideas, I had a lot of music when I came back to Berlin but somehow not much inspiration to work on it. Just a few months ago I slowly started working again. And even though we didn't really make the record in a classic band setup I think it's gonna sound like we did.

by Paranoid
source: Sound in S.A - RBCN interview APPARAT - rbcn - Be Creative Now!

nice interview!