FMA 053: Hannes Markisch & Georg Cotta (Empty Handed)

Hannes Markisch & Georg Cotta (Empty Handed)

EMPTY HANDED…?

Mhmhmh…

I felt as if I had read that name way more often a couple of years ago. Recently, I had not heard so much about them and was quiet surprised that they gathered more than 10.000 Facebook-Likes.

Nonetheless, the shooting went pretty smoothly.

EMPTY HANDED are based in Leipzig. So I asked them after the video shooting what it is like to share the hometown with Impericon. I wondered in how far they may support bands from that area. But Hannes honestly replied that this coincidence hasn’t had any effect on his band. Still there is a vital music scene in and around Leipzig. Bands from that area that you should give a listen to - according to Hannes and Georg - are MILES& FEET and ANNISOKAY.

Furthermore, I ran into Markus of Sio Motion that day.

FMA 052: Tom Janssens & Jens Houbishpek (Escape)

Actually I didn’t intend to interview ESCAPE but as I waited outside and the bands I actually waited for got stuck at the airport I decided to it with them. To kill time and stock pile my interview roster.

All started outside the venue where Jens asked me if it’s okay to smoke weed in public in Germany. He went on telling me about the drug problem in his hometown of Tongeren, Belgium. Marijuana is cultivated in Belgium and then exported to the Netherlands. This trafficking route comes through Tongeren.

Further Jens told me that he once was supposed to fill in for xDavyx of xVICIOUSx.

Jens is also familiar with ASHES, another Belgium band you’ll sooner or later see at FMA.

Tom Janssens & Jens Houbishpek (Escape)

Not so funny fun fact 1:

We had to re-shoot the video interview again because while filming a weird elderly person loudly talked about PCs he used back in 1984.

Not so funny fun fact 2:

There was an anecdote why Jens chose “Houbishpek” as last name, which is not his real last name. It had something to do with bacon (in Dutch “spek”). But unfortunately I’ve forgotten it. I think it was about bands, breakfast and bacon…

FMA 051: Mario Prause & Mike Göde (Punishable Act)

Mario Prause & Mike Göde  (Punishable Act)

Do you remember my friend Bodo? The one organizing the cancer benefit? He called me a couple of weeks before his festival ad asked me if I wanted to do some interviews with bands that would play at Mosh gegen Krebs 4. Since I never look a gift horse in the mouth I replied “Yes.”

PUNISHABLE ACT was one of a few bands I asked for.

On festival day Bodo took me backstage and introduced me.

As I approached them they were about to hit back to Berlin since Mike’s parents were in the hospital at that time. But luckily, they still had that 15 minutes it would take to introduce my topic and shoot the video.

Afterwards, I expressed the life cycle I felt during the interview. PUNISHABLE ACT started as a band when I was only 3 years old. Now I’m here and they contributed to my project. Somehow surreal.

FMA 050: Rob Geriak & Kyle Naumek (Laid 2 Rest)

Rob Geriak & Kyle Naumek (Laid 2 Rest)

“Hey! Does anyone in here play in LAID 2 REST?”

“Yep! Everybody actually…”

“Are you interested in doing an interview with me?”

“Yeah, sure. Let’s do it!”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

...and up the stairs they walked.

(If you may wonder if this is all that there is to say about that interview, well, there is more to report, but sometimes things that happen at an interview stay in that moment….)

FMA 049: Arni (Radio Havanna)

I had seen RADIO HAVANNA years before I went to try to do an interview with them. They once supported ANTI FLAG. Yep, politically motivated and interested band still tour together these days.

Arni (Radio Havanna)

The interview went like this:

Questions asked.

Questions answered.

Faster than I could boil water for a bag of peppermint tea.

While I hung around the backstage area I had the unique chance to witness their preshow-ritual. They all gathered in a circle just like a sports team. I actually caught that on video but then decided to erase it since it just seemed a bit to personal and intimate to be released to the public. Especially without asking for permission beforehand.

What I liked about that evening was that the crowd was nicely mixed in regards of age. Young, old and everything in between. Unfortunately, I don’t see that very often at other shows respectively in other genres. #Core

FMA 048: Tim van Beek & Jurjen van Mourik (Wreckage)

Right opposite to the venue where I have shot most of my interviews is another tiny concert location. Never had I attended it before. I just knew that it holds a sleeping place for musicians as KMPFPSRT once told me. The ominous place you see in the video is exactly that sleeping place in the venue’s attic.

That’s where I sat down with Tim and Jurjen from WRECKAGE.

Tim van Beek & Jurjen van Mourik (Wreckage)

Before we started they asked me why I wanted to an interview with them since they consider themselves as a rather small band. Sincerely I replied that I do not care whether a band is famous or not. I simply liked to stock pile my “roster” of interviews and because Dutch and Belgian people speak English very well WRECKAGE seemed to be a good band to add.

At this stage of FMA I decided to record every band in English. No more special treatments for German bands. (Which, of course, did not work. LOL.)

FMA 047: Björn Wollny & Marco Müller (Blood By Dayz)

This will be one of the shorter FMAnecdotes:

Five bands played that afternoon.

A lot of different band members and people hung and lurched around the venue.

It took me some time to figure out who belongs to which band.

Occasionally, I wrongly linked faces to false bands.

I made it to BLOOD BY DAYZ though.

After a couple of bad beer influenced jokes and hyperactivity Björn and Marco nailed the video leaning against their van.

Afterwards I went home, copied and saved the videos, took the train to shoot three more interviews in another town.

Laura introduced me to ATHLETICS.

Atmospheric.

Björn Wollny & Marco Müller (Blood By Dayz)