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15.12.09
MARIAN REAGEERT OP OPKOMST PRAAG
DEAR FRIENDS OF ALPHAVILLE
I'd like to thank everybody who
attended the show on the 4th of December in Prague. It was a
wonderful and most moving experience for us to share the 25th
anniversary of the band together with you. You made a great event even
greater. To those who couldn't make it to Prague I offer my compliments
too. Your wishes and greetings which reached us over the last couple of
weeks were very touching and encouraging. We will carry on the flag and
will do our best to keep you all entertained.
Yours faithfully
Marian Gold
30.06.09
*** 25-JARIG BESTAAN FEEST IN PRAAG ***
Wanneer: 04 December 2009:
Waar:
Praag (Czech Republic) -
Palace Žofín, Prague
Slovanský ostrov 1
Praha 1 110 00
Tickets:
http://www.ticketpro.cz
1) CZK 1.150,- (appr. EUR 44,-) voor het concert (staanplaatsen)
2) CZK 1.950,- (appr. EUR 75,-) voor het concert (staanplaatsen) en afterparty met aanwezigheid van de bandleden, inclusief buffet en
drankjes (fris, bier, wijn)
Aanvang: 20u
07.09.09
'FOREVER YOUNG' RELEASED BY JAY-Z
Alphaville's klassieker "Forever Young"
is gecovered door
Jay-Z en zal worden uitgebracht op 11 september
op zijn nieuwe album "The
Blueprint 3".
19.05.09
NIEUWE DRUMMER
Hallo allemaal, Alphaville prijst zich gelukkig met
Jakob Kiersch als de nieuwe drummer.
Alphaville is druk aan het inspelen en oefenen in Berlijn voor de
aankomende concerten. Omdat hij een brilliant man is zal hij zeker weten
zijn aandeel hebben op het aankomende album. Alphaville verwelkomt Jakob
aan boord. Kijk voor meer info op:
http://jakob.kiersch.com/
MARIAN BEANTWOORDT
NOG MEER FAN-VRAGEN
Hieronder vindt je Marian Gold's antwoorden op de vragen van
Jan Schoenmakers, Viv,Mynx, via de
Alphaville Mailing List
Marian, if you read this: what do you personally think/feel about Joy
Division? And is "Apollo" some kind of a reference to Curtis, or are
the resemblances purely accidental?
jJan Schoenmaker
...I love this band! But no, there is no intentional reference to Ian
Curtis. In fact "Apollo" is an invitation to never give up.
Marian Gold
Hello,
my friends,
Do you have vacation, Marian?
Viv
...yea, in the studio. Sebastian Komor is back from Edmonton and will
stay in Berlin for some time. Martin will arrive the following week. At
present Seb and me are working on a song called "End Of Yesterday" which
is planned as the opener of the album. If that's the best song I don't
know, Vivi. There are about 25 demos in the final lap of the production
waiting to be finished. We do not intend to put more than 14 (max.!!)
on the album. To make a choice will be difficult 'coz they're all
fantastic. Here's some (working)-titles of those tracks you haven't
heard of so far:
Stroke Of Midnight, Eternally Yours, The Things I Didn't Do, The Things
We Got To Do, The Lions Never Die, Blood Red Door, Kalte Asche, Call Me
Down, The Voynich Chronicle and Blind Arrow, to name a few. The
projected album's title currently is "Catching Rays On Giant". Don't ask
me what it means. I know but will never tell :-)
We are pretty much on schedule with the production although we had a
major computer crash on monday and lost a whole song (the logic file
with lots of its audios), it was kind of devastating. But after we
rerecorded the song with some major changes in the arrangement, it
turned out to be even better than it was ever before and we're all
flying in high spirits again.
Love from Lunapark
Airman Gold
Interesting list of track names...some quite evocative titles! However,
the tracks "Now's Forever" and "Temple Girl", announced on the homepage
back in 2005, don't pop up...does this mean they are not on the
candidate's list anymore, or do you count them among the tracks we "have
already heard of so far"? "Now's Forever" is such a great title and I
have been curious how the song would be for three years now...
Jan Schoenmakers
Dear Jan,
"Now's Forever" changed to "The Things We Got To Do". - "Temple Girl" is
a monster-production, about 20 minutes long and consisting of more than
a hundred single tracks. A kind of album in its own right. It became too
big, too long and to complicated for this project. Maybe a future
"Dreamscape"-release.
Greetings from rainy Berlin
Marian Gold
Hiya, Marian! How are you? Got a question for ya:
What has (so far) been your best onstage experience?
What has been your worst onstage experience?
Hugs.........-Mynx
...one of my bests was a gig in Finland, where we performed open air
next to a lake around midnight on a summer festival way up north and the
midnight sun was rolling along the horizon. Amazing view!
A really bad one was a gig during summer 1997 or 98 (or 99???). After a
period of continuous touring I had serious voice problems and there were
still a couple of gigs to be done. I had no other choice but to take
cortisone, which is very effective in those situations. Unfortunately
one of its many side-effects is that it damages one's capacity for
remembering. So the floor of the stage was paved with countless
lyric-sheets. One night it started to rain simultaniously with the start
of the show and all my precious lyrics faded away in the rain. For the
next 90 minutes I had no other chance but to reinvent almost every lyric
of every song of that gig. It was a classic nightmare.
Marian Gold
Am in Lunapark at the mo. Today we start with a new song (Kalte Asche).
Production's going really well.
Sun!
Marian
Dear AlphaLand,
I was just re-listening to "The Singles Collection" Cd (1988) and was
wondering why it doesn't feature aVe's 3rd single: Sounds like a melody.
Any answers to my maybe trivial question?
Thank you in advance:-) ___Nicola___
Dear Nicola!
This is not a trivial question at all, though the answer is quite
simple:
"The Singles Collection" is an US release and SLAM has never been
released in the US!
Hope I could clarify this.
Best regards
Claudia (Moonbase)
".... (....)... Maybe, with their history of sometimes melancholic,
sometimes loving dreaminess, of exploring the depths of human nature, of
sharp psychological-philosophical observation and ready wit, together
with a sound feeling for music and its physical as well as intellectual
power, Alphaville can reclaim groove and romance without being shallow
and generic."
Jan
...a very accurate and precise definition of Alphaville indeed. I will
learn that by heart and herald it in upcoming interviews.
Thanx Jan
Marian Gold
(...) What is more relevant is the discourse on "romanticism", "romance"
and
"romantic", because it covers what we can expect from a "romantic"
album.
(...) Romance, Romanticism are a most intriguing mix of joy, hope,
animate
intensity, yearning, allurement, and almost meditative immersion,
melancholy, and a certain morbidness. (...) Looking at romanticism
in-depth,
many different AV-songs can be considered "romantic".
Dear Jan,
thanx for your aptly description of the term. I may add, that the
"romantic movement/Romanticism" plays an important role in 19th century
German literature (e. g. Novalis, Eichendorff, Hoelderlin,
brothers Grimm, just to name a few) and music (through giants like
Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Weber, Liszt and Wagner).
Romanticism proclaims a severe crack splitting our world into the
dominium of numbers and definition (the rational, limited
world) and the one of emotion, sentiment, fantasy and myth (the
so-called "infinite world of marvelousness"). The tension between these
two realms and the yearning for the latter is the main subject
of the "Romantics".
This mindset is also present in gothic English literature and in
Victorian painting. Funny that from that "old-fashioned" point of view
our modern, musical notion "New Romantics" receives a quite accurate
explication, isn't it :-)
Best wishes to all of you and thank you ALL for your contributions to
this list which for me is a true source of entertainment and
inspiration.
Marian Gold (just returned from London with lots of new sounds and
tracks and songs and greetings from Dave and Martin)
Dear Marian,
thanks a lot for this interesting post. Looking at your definition that
"Romanticism proclaims a severe crack splitting our world into the
dominium of
numbers and definition (the rational, limited world) and the one of
emotion, sentiment, fantasy and myth (the so-called
"infinite world of marvelousness"). The tension between these two realms
and the yearning for the latter is the main subject of the "Romantics"."
makes it even clearer to me that there is hardly any AV song that can
NOT be considered "romantic"...after all, this tension seems to me to be
the driving force behind Alphaville music and lyrics...the driving force
behind all interesting art.
Grüße aus Bremen, einen schönen Sonntag noch!
Jan
Btw.: I LOVE Eichendorf and Hölderlin, Beethoven and Schumann - and I
should probably add Rilke and Kästner (romantic in his own way...I am
thinking of a heartbreakingly beautiful, sad, ironic poem called "Kleines
Solo") as well as Chopin (my all-time favorite), Debussy, Satie, Krieg.
...after months of studio-work, I'll take a vacation on Sylt, an island
in
the Northern Sea. Weather can be quite rough there during this time of
the
year but that's only adding to an inspiriational atmosphere, it just
feels
even more as if you're out of this world and on another planet. Any
weather
is good weather up there, they say. I'll stay in a cosy little house
with a
fireplace, an interesting library and a view over the "Wattenmeer" and
I'm
looking very much forward to it.
Greetings from Lunapark
Marian Gold
"Today we started another production session in London in Dave's studio
(guitar-overdubs and vocals). The album should be ready for mixing by
mid
November. However, the final mix will not be done til negotiations with
record companies have been concluded.
MG"
...oh yeah, and it's goin' great. I am just right now sitting here with
the boys in Dave's studio recording real big fat synth monster lines and
weird guitar fx's. Cool stuff! And very romantic !!!:-)
Bless you all
Marian, Mart & Dave
Been wondering if there s gonna be another alphaville xmas song to enjoy
this year. But since it s rather un-alpha-like to do things twice, I
guess there won t be one. Unfortunately I missed the one last year or
was it two years ago even? (...)
Nicole Gutzer
...well, you might have
a chance to listen to it this season, hohoho...
Marian
Wow,
The new LWFAW (Love
Will Find A Way (2008 12 05 mxd))
demo is GREAT! I enjoyed it just as much as last years version and am
extremley greatful that this year the song is available for download.
Thank You so much Marian & Alphaville, you still "got it". Merry
Christmas to you all! I usually don't write to the group much but I read
every message post as soon as I receive it in my e-mail. I'm suprised at
some of the messages that were sent by other fans regarding LWFAW.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it seems as though alot of messages are
really criticizing the song? I know that here in America, It would seem
very rude to receive a x-mas gift from someone and then "review" or
mention your dislikes about it, Especially in a way that the giver would
find out. (seems like it would be a slap in the face) Alphaville didn't
have to give us anything & most bands
won't. QUIT BEIN SCROOGES! Tis the season for joy and happiness and I
found both the moment I saw the new song for Download! Merry Christmas
All!
Shaun
> ps.
I like the line ...we wish for things we ve wanted but not for things
we need....it s sung with a slightly rougher voice than the rest,
somewhat,
almost like with a sore throat (..).
...I recorded the vocals shortly before a concert in Tallin in December
last
year. I had had a couple of gigs already and my voice was quite rough.
We
plugged the master into the front desk and I sang the Leadvocal in front
of
an empty auditorium built for about 7000 or more. A kinda surreal
moment.
> Who is singing in the choir?
...we were really under pressure to get the song out before Christmas.
Rainer, Ingmar and me composed the music during a preproductional
session in
Febrary or March 2007 but I almost forgot about it. While on tour in
December I thought it would be a nice idea to release it as a Thank-You
to
our fans. I had only one verse for the song and while we were on our way
to
Tallin Martin wrote all the rest of the lyrics. Straight after the show
that
night I rushed back to the hotel, edited the vocals on my laptop and
sent
them to Rainer. He then recorded backing vocals for the big chorus,
using
his daughter Lisa and Ingmar. They tracked their own bv's a couple of
times,
so you hear lots of Lisas and a couple of Ingmars at the end of the
song. I
think the whole process was done within 4 days. And that was that.
Greetings from busy Lunapark
Marian (and Martin)
..thanx, Shaun. You're invited to the party !:-)
Marian Gold
PS
A happy third advent to all of you
MG
I
would just like to add..the name "Killers" comes from the "fake" name of
a music video by the one and only New Order. To say New Order had a bit
of influence on electronic music is a huge understatment :) I thought
it was a nice nod. But other than that i'm sure it's just a name ;)
RJ Smulsky
...that is really interesting, RJ! I also, like Elena, kinda disliked
the name, which was somehow irritating because I love their last two
albums. Now, in this new light I actually love it.
Thanks for making my relationship with the Killers less puzzling... And
strange, what knowledge can do, isn't it ;-)
Greetings from Berlin
Marian Gold
Hey guys,
I have a question about the song "Summer in Berlin" by Alphaville.
The lyrics are "The sound of the traffic / Is like a silent dream," but
it definitely sounds like Marian says something before "silent" in the
song. I wanna sing along with it, so I wanna know the word!
Does anybody know?
-Jack
Dear Jack!
Seems you have a very accurate hearing, don't you? :o)
Marian might repeat the "a" just like this: "...the sound of the traffic
is
like a..., a silent dream..."
but there is no "official" additional word sung.
Sunny regards from Moonbase!
Claudia
Dear folks,
I’d like to thank you for your kind birthday wishes. I received them all
with joy and gratitude and have had the most wonderful day. Though I am
very
busy with concerts and the current album production I do not miss a word
written at the mailing list. I hope to give you soon more good news
about
our activities.
Amitiés
Marian (just around your corner)
Vragen door Barnajka:
Dear Marian, I've been a big Alphaville fan for long time, you're my
"heart affair" :-). I have been at six your concerts, which always were
fantastic. I have some questions for you - can I start? :-)
1) Many famous singers and bands publishes their biography. That's why
I'd like to ask you if some book about you has been published or if
you're going to do it.
...I don't plan to do such a thing. Maybe in 20 years  On
the other hand, I am collecting material for a book on Alphaville. A
very vague project, though. No idea if it ever will be see the light of
day.
2)I wonder when is your new album available. I'm looking forward to!!!
...we are working on a new album and getting close to the end of
production. We hope to release it by the end of the year. Only thing I
can promise is that we will play stuff from it on the 16th of December
in Prague, where we will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the band.
3) Somewhere I read that you "studied" graphic school. I wonder what
branch or style you like most and if you nowadays have time for
painting.
...I am totally out of drawing and painting. I like contemporary
German painters and old school surrealists like Dali or Ernst or Tuebke.
4) At Dreamscapes you sing aso in French so I'd like to ask you how many
languages do you speak?
...I speak, besides my native tongue, English and a bit of French and
un pochino Italiano.
Much thanks for your answer, you're great! Liduska Bartova from Czech
republic
...Bye-bye
You're great too
Marian
Hello,
I thought I'd be a good guy and would point out the most important
things that Marian wrote yesterday during chat. You know, for those of
you who weren't there or were there but were too busy typing silly
questions to read Marian's answers.
1) There will be a new album! Yeah!!! This year! Or maybe next year. It
will have like 11 tracks. Maybe more. Maybe less. No Timbaland is
involved.
2) If there is still no record company willing to promote the new album
by the December, Marian is going to play all the tracks from it in
Prague. Timbaland would never do that for fans, so suck it, Mr.
Timbaland!
3) Marian wanted to place few of the new songs on Klangwelt, but lost
the password and cannot login. He is playing with the idea of finding
the password though.
4) After releasing the new album Marian is willing to promote it
anywhere possible (read: all over the world, it depends only on
promoteurs). However he was enigmatic enough not to answer some fans if
he is going to visit Spain, Canada, Spain, Mexico, Spain, Russia,
Romania, Russia, Mexico or even Spain. Or Mexico. Or Russia. No wonder
some fans left totally disappointed.
5) Marian has right now on his Ipod stuff that it's even hard to
pronounce. The Stooges, Jane Birkin, Julie Doiron and Fairfield Parlour
to name a few. No Timbaland though.
6) Marian tried to come off of his body (especially after reading some
of our questions, I guess) but with no success. However he promissed us
to train a lot and show us the trick in Prague. I bet Timbaland can't do
it anyway, so suck it, Mr. Timbaland!
7) On the new album there will be at least 4 songs that have the
potential for being hits. And all that without Timbaland being involved,
so suck it, Mr. Timbaland!
Marian did not admit he was devastated when one of his new songs leaked
into Internet and was used later on by The Killers, who released it
under title 'Human'. Classy guy! Still - it could have been a lot worse
if Timbaland layed his hands on it.
Alas, this is all I can remember right now. Don't blame me if I omitted
something important, I was too busy writing my stupid questions to read
Marian's answers!
Butman
ANDERE
LEUKE WEETJES VAN FANS
In a nutshell, alphaville.de was given an amazing re-design, a number of
great songs were put there to listen to, Marian stops in to say hi and
answer some questions periodically, work on the new album continues (I
think it's going to be called "Giants" but I could be
mistaken,) and there're rumors of another Atlantic Popes album as well.
The Outsider
Not sure about the context of the lyrics, but 'Red Tape' is usually used
for Bureaucracy. .. usually when there is too much of it. It originates
from the red tape that was used to tie up bundles of official government
files, so to get something official done, you would have to untie lot of
'red tape'! But of course, in the context of the song, it might means
something completely different! ;)
Bruce
Hi, I'm Greg Allen. I wrote the book,
Klaus Schulze: Electronic Music Legend about the German synth pioneer
whose path crossed with Alphaville's and Marian's so closely and rather
extensively. So, that time is documented fairly well in the book with
some interesting first hand information to Schulze fans and Alphaville
fans told by Marian.
I interviewed Marian via e-mail which appears in the book as one of the
feature interviews. There is one page on the collaboration between
Alphaville and Klaus Schulze and then a nearly four page interview with
a picture of Klaus and Marian working together in the studio (I really
like that pic!). Plus, I found Marian to be a really nice guy to deal
with.
So, here's a suggestion for the group. Of course, if economics allows
it, Iwould love that you would consider buying the book at
www.KlausSchulzeBook.com <http://www.klausschulzebook.com/>
. I would also
like to know from the fans of Alphaville that if I am going to purchase
one
Alphaville album (I have a gift card which will allow me to purchase
several
CD's), which album would it be and why? What makes it so good? I
commented
to Marian that I really liked his cameo in the Crime film movie and that
his
singing reminded me of Bryan Ferry a bit.
Thank you all Alphaville fans!
Greg
II just
discovered the movie "On The Beach" by Stanley Kramer (1959). It's a
dark, intense one dealing with the last days of humanity after a nuclear
holocaust. In the last scenes, people stand by the ocean, on beaches and
cliffs, facing that there is most likely no hope left.
Remembering the flash-animation that came with Alphaville's On The Beach
- Download 2001, I wonder if OTB is meant as a reference to (or at least
draws cues from) this movie. After all, the song induces a similar
mood...dark, intense, dramatic but never overstated - although I think
there may be somewhat more hope in the song (which, in my view, still is
the best song Alphaville has ever delivered).
Marian, maybe you can enlighten me here - is there an intended
connection between the movie and the song?
Frohe Ostern und liebe Grüße,
Jan
You might find the novel "On the Beach" (Nevil Shute, 1957), on which
the film was based, interesting reading as well.
Julianne Blain-Wattles
but for those wanting to know what “save tempelhof” might
be about, here my little context information.
Berlin has got three airports (tegel, schönefeld, tempelhof), and
maintaining all of them is too expensive, especially for a city close to
being broke (well, I guess they are beyond the border anyway :-)). The
most unprofitable one is tempelhof, only having very few starts and
landings per day, blablabla.
The problem is now, that tempelhof is of great historical value and that
is the reason for people not wanting it to be closed down (simplifying
things !). It was built in the early 20s (an impressive crescent like
building), being one of the first civil airports. After world war 2
berlin was divided into 4 sectors, the Soviet (which later became east-berlin),
the French, the British, and the American one (the latter three formed
west-berlin.....an westgerman enclave in the german democratic republic,
GDR, until the reunification of germany).
In 1948 the soviets forced some severe crisis, causing hard living
conditions for the westberlin inhabitants by not letting cargo of all
sorts (also food!) inside the Allies’ sector. Soviets wanted whole
berlin being under their control (well, to make it simple).
And now tempelhof comes into play :-). It became a lifeline for
thousands of people, as via this airport the Americans supplied food and
things for the westberlins. This Luftbrücke lasted some months till 1949
I think. The airplanes got
one killing you (during the ww2), became depended of you (after the
war), and the one being attacked became the helping hand. Airplanes,
that bombed the city, only 4/5 years later became guardian angels.
So berlin people have special memories with tempelhof, no matter if it’s
profitable or not. So when the news got public that the city is planning
to close it down (as too central, therefore too noisy for inhabitants of
this suburbs, too expensive, too old, too short lanes etc.) some
resistance wave built up slowly that ended in a public referendum at
last (well, actually it was no real petition for a referendum, not one
in the real sense). Btw, the mayor of the city (könig wowereit :-))
announced beforehand, that whatever this people’s vote will be, the
airport is gonna get closed. So much for democracy.
I guess alphaville’s point is clear by the title “save tempelhof”.
Unfortunately it didn’t help much cos the people’s poll went negative:
either they decided for “no” (a small majority only?!!?!) or too little
people used their right to vote. Don’t remember. My personal opinion is
prob not relevant or of any interest, so I shut up :-).... But closing
it down, doesn’t mean tearing it down, so what is the fuss about?
Nicki
Glad the explanation made sense.
Actually, Templehof was the airport I flew into when I saw Alphaville
in Berlin on their aniversary gig, so it it's kind of fitting there
is discussion going on about it!
Bruce.
For all gemini's maybe, or is it a letter to germiny, get kind of
confused the first time I listened to letter to Germany I really thought
it could be either letter to Germany or Gemini. I hope that all of us
have a special day on the 17th June too
Karla
Hi Vivi and everybody!
I've heard that the first AV concert was in Munster in 1983, and the
show had an audience of about 200 people (Av wasn't very famous so far).
Who told me it is a man from Canada that attended the concert.
After this, the next live show was in 1988, when Marian sung Big in
Japan and Island. But the first big concert was in 1992 or 1993, I think
in Turkey and many people attented it!
I'm not sure with these informations, so I ask someone to help me with
this 
Marian, you are a good story teller, so help us :)
Hugs form BR!
Hello!
It took me some time, but I'm sure you all agree it was worth the wait.
I did some really (I mean really) serious research and here is what I
found out about this mysterious and enigmatic project's title of
Marian... I mean Alphaville... I mean Marian... never mind. Here we go.
As you all know Marian likes to reveal only a part of the whole picture
in his music and lyrics so we can go nuts figuring out 'what the F'.
It's like showing us random letters from the whole sentences - you won't
guess what's up until you know the rest of letters that Marian buried in
his garden, next to his dead dolphin's body from good old times. Just to
hide the fact that all he does is singing of having sex with other
people while we all think he really means that peace on earth, Tempelhof
stuff and carrying my flag gibberish (yeah, right).
You know, Marian loves techno gadgets. He records this new album and
needed few thing for his home recording studio. So he decided to buy
some hi-tech studio console, but hell, its price was about 20.000 euro.
Then he launched ebay and found the same console for like 100$, which
seemed like a pretty good deal. Genuine, super duper shiny console right
from the Hongkong. Plus this one had a solar battery charger built in!
He thought about it the whole
afternoon (100$ is also quite an amount you know), then decided to buy
it.
The rest is history (well, almost). He received the package and inside
was that... er... that THING that you can see on the Moonbase's picture
with CATHING RAYS ON GIANT on. So what poor Marian could do better than
getting himself a few six packs of beer and drinking until his pissed
body reached the floor. The very next day he woke up and tried at least
making it work, so he took the solar charger outside and... this is the
whole secret.
CATCHING RAYS of sun for that damn charger ON a GIANT hangover Also, one
of the song's titles seemed to me mysterious and interesting, I mean The
Voynich Chronicle. I had no idea who that pal is (was), so did a little
research again. What I found is:
'Wilfried M. Voynich was American book dealer and collector.' It didn't
make any sense to me - what's so interesting in this guy? Why to
dedicate him a song? So I went further:
'Voynich discovered the most mysterious manuscript in the history of
mankind - written in completely unknown language and of unknown
origin.'Still - it didn't bell any ring. Alright, I went even further:
'The script consists of 235 pages and includes text and illustrations of
depicting plants, astrological diagrams, and... naked women.'Bingo! Of
course it would be much easier for Marian to buy himself a Playboy, but
getting excited watching girls from such a mysterious source is much
more like... alphavillish.
I hope you guys all feel awed and inspired, thank you
Yours sincerely
Olek
:-)))))))))) hi Olek! So good to hear from you after all
this time! And, my
goodness, you are so clever! How did you find out!
Marian
this could pass by beneath the rader but here it is
Alphaville tribute cd-single
August, 23rd will see the release of the cd-single "A Tribute To
Alphaville" via the Alphaville fan-club New Horizons (
www.alphaville.org ). The cd-single is limited to 100 copies worldwide.
You must be a member of New Horizons to order it: www.alphaville.org
You can listen to snippets from the single here:
http://www.krapplund.com/listen/
Tracklist:
1. Sounds Like A Melody (Chinese Theatre feat !distain)
2. Universal Daddy (Chinese Theatre feat Strangel)
3. Sounds Like A Melody - extended version (Chinese Theatre feat
!distain)
4. Universal Daddy - extended version (Chinese Theatre feat Strangel)
Oleg
Hello,
My memory totally rocks, however I can't remember who told that Marian
is working on a new record using Virus IT. Was it Sebastian's lovely
wife? Or maybe Mr. Gold himself? Never mind.
I'm just very curious what impact does it have on the production. For
those of you who don't know sqaut about it: it's a little box-like gizmo
that causes a jaw drop from any given musician. You plug it into
computer or keyboard or vacuum cleaner... nah, scratch the last one. The
point is - this totally messes in musicians' minds. Gary Numan, Trent
Reznor, Tweaker and many many more - they all admit that their last
records wouldn't be half as good without that thingy.
Sooo... Marian, stop watching that Internet porn sites instead of
recording the new material and tell us about your experience with this
Virus thing.
Thanks!
Olek
hey! i wonder no one mentioned thus far that just last night the new And
One album has been released and it features among others a brilliant
live version of Alphaville all-time classic "Big In Japan". This is
probably for die-hard Alphaville fans and the synthpopped rivetheads
audience as well.
More info at
http://www.outofline.de/shop_neu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=7829
Oleg
A
great event ** a new fan has born**
Thu Nov 27, 2008
Dear List!
even if some days in delay (one week exactly) i'm extremely proud to
announce the birth of my first daughter Giulia on 19.11.08. Since the
first days coming back home from the hospital she has immediately
started appreciating the AV music, expecially i'm putting on and on
Elegy and Return to paradise, great lullabies for my sweet creature.
With love
Alessandra Bertaggia
Italy
More than just one new Star!
28 November 2008
Hello List Friends!
With all the talk of Romanticism in recent posts I wasn't sure where to
fit my post in.... Thank you and Congrats to Alessandra for breaking
that up!
I too gave birth to a new Alphaville fan a few weeks ago, November
10,2008 to be exact.
We named her Arianna, and yes though the spelling is different, she is
named after the AV song Ariana! I must admit that from my teens when I
first was introduced to AV and heard the song, I loved the name and
vowed that if I have a daughter one day that Arianna will be her name.
Well my wish came true and I enjoy spending my sleepless nights singing
to her about how "maniacs rule the world."
Marian, you officially have a fan named after one of your songs!
Happy Holidays to All!
Monika
...thank you very much indeed Monika, that is truly a great compliment
for me and the band.
I send you and Alessandra my most sincere and cordial congratulations.
From Moscow with love
Marian Gold
I
was curious why Marian gave this name to himself and I researched the
origin of the names: Marian can be Polish, Czech or Romanian and means
bitter and another thing that I forgot now, and "Gold" Marian chose his
name because of a character of a book he read, am I right Marian?, the
man was named Goldberg, something like this... The name Marian comes
from Marianus. Btw, I love this name, it sounds very cool! Best to all,
Vivi
P.S.: Marian, recording new songs for us now?
What I´m waiting for is a Piano version of A Victory Of Love like the
piano version of Dance With Me, that would be so great. Thanks for the
show in Västerås Marian, a great performance, but a bit bad hall for a
concert.
Anyway I think you was in a great mood and had a great time on stage.
The laugh when you did enter the stage after the first break….with the
horn-cap, was unforgettable ;)
And for everyone that did miss the piano version of AVOL take a look
here :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRIhy76QLGM
Pure love, Thanks Marian and Co!!
Greetings to very one from Sweden!!!
/Krapplund
I
was at an interesting party last Thursday with musicians like Nikel
Pallat (Ton Steine Scherben), Gunnar Riedel (Trashmonkeys) and Claus
Fabian (ZK, Mimmis, Goldene Zitronen, etc.). There's been some talk
about the music business - and of course about the wild old times. Claus
told a funny anecdote about how the Forever Young punk-cover "Für immer
Punk" by the German punk band, "Die Goldenen Zitronen" ("the golden
lemons") came into being. He said they phoned Marian to ask him whether
they could cover FY. Marian alledgedly liked the idea of a punk cover
but insisted that they would only get the permission if he would
sing one stanza of the cover song and get some beer. According to Claus'
story, he arrived in Hamburg, emptied a couple of beer cans, sang his
part, took of again - and the result was one of the coolest (and fairly
successful) German punk songs.
I don't know if this is an entirely accurate rendition of this historic
happenstance, but it's for sure a fairly cool story.
Cheers to the punks,
Jan
Hey Alphaville,
congratulations to the new drummer! I am looking forward to
seeing/hearing him at my next AV-concert.
However, there is a thing that confused me about your announcement:
"Because he's a brilliant man he definitely will contribute his grooves
to the upcoming album."
From your previous messages, I thought recording was mostly finished for
the new album and you were in the midst (or rather close to the finish)
or producing it with Sebastian Komor. So what does this mean - are there
going to be new sessions and is the process going to start over again?
Or is it just that some samples / drum tracks from Jakob will be added?
And is Sebastian Komor still on board? We haven't heard from him (or
from the production in general) in quite a while!
Wondering,
Jan
I
don't see where all the impatience is coming from? Alphaville had
recorddeals in the past, but also then they took their time to bring out
an album and let no one rush them. And as far as hit potential is
concerned, that unfortunately has little to do with audience taste. Just
let the radiostations shove it down people's throats 15 times a day and
even crap will enter the charts and for that you need a record company.(
I hope the guys themselves have also some mixed feelings about this). I
can imagine though that if you're holding a true piece of art, that
you'd like some appreciation for it AND that it also pays the bills...
But let's face it: a jewel like Prostitute would never have seen the
light of day if it weren't for artistical integrity. And that means
taking your time to do things right. I really enjoy Alphaville's
concerts but I appreciate their hard labour that goes into their albums
even more. I'll just keep waiting. Well, basically it is 7 years ago
since the previous internet release: That is some time J. We heared many
new songs at the 20th anniversary party that won't be available on CD at
the 25th anniversary neither!
Basically, there WAS a recorddeal with a major label 2 years ago but it
didn't work out. Finally new songs got recorded after that but then
again they cannot be mixed and mastered because we have to wait AGAIN
for a major label to pick it up! That I cannot understand: No!
Recordcompanies are companies and interested in selling music. That
means that a band needs a big fanbase or hits, otherwise costs are
higher then benefits. I'm afraid
Alphaville nowadays doesn't have anything of this anymore: So why
waiting for this?
I think the problem is that everything has to be 'big' and
'international' with Alphaville, sometimes it is better to face reality
in order not to get disappointed. Klaus Schulze can release a cd almost
every year where he does everything himself on it, why can't Alphaville?
And another fact is that for 'artistical integrity' record companies are
not needed: They need hits and sales numbers so it they invest money it
will be basically to improve those sales numbers.
Peter
Delphia
I was just noticing on my calendar that AV played their
SLC shows 10 years ago starting today, July 15th when they played 6-7
songs at Greenstreet, the night before their big concert at the
fairgrounds coliseum.
It's strange to think that it's been 10 years. We still haven't had a new
album by AV since, but hopefully later this year. I'll be playing "Stark
Naked...." non-stop for the next few days.....
Steve
Thanks for reminding, dear Steve! Great time in SLC, indeed. Please
allow me to remind you on the other hand that there has been no new
album except "Stark Naked And Absolutely Live" (2000), "Forever Pop"
(2001), well, and if you were talking about new stuff there are
"Dreamscapes 9", "Dreamscapes 10", "Dreamscapes 11" and "Dreamscapes 12"
in 2003. Sorry, I just had to mention this.
:o))
With best regards
Claudia
Roberto Cavalli loves Alphaville (as written in New York Times)
Music is an essential source of inspiration for fashion,
and designers are always eager to either promote new bands or make old
favorites relevant once again. Straight after the recent spring 2010
men's-wear shows, we compiled a list of the latest runway favorites...
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/now-playing-runway-beats/#more-23779
Oleg
Wow...I'm going to have to check out this Roberto Cavalli
guy...SLAM *and* Dancing With Tears in My Eyes?? Trying to imagine the
catwalk....
And I'm glad to see the NYT had the good taste to display the cover of
the FY album at the top of the news story! VERY cool!! Thanks Oleg :)
Marie Reyes
Dear Listmembers,
a video of Alphaville's "Sounds Like A Melody" performance in
Saarbrücken on August 8th can be found here:
http://www.salue.de/aktionen2009/saarspektakel/video-sa.phtml
Best regards from Alphaville Moonbase
Claudia
Hello community!
II usually listen to www.absoluteradio.co.uk and today, a couple of
times, while away from the computer and the speakers, got to listen to
Alphaville's "Control" intro, but couldn't tell which ad it was for. I
was just glad somebody liked the song for it and wanted to share it with
people who loved Alphaville as much as I do!
Cheers!
Jorge
27.02.09
MARIAN BEANTWOORDT
FAN-VRAGEN
Hieronder vindt je Marian Gold's antwoorden op de vragen van
Jan Schoenmakers via de
Alphaville Mailing List
Jan:
I am wondering what Alphaville is
doing and if they are doing well? Hey, Marian, we haven't heard all that
much from you recently! I hope that's a good sign...you guys being
really busy in the studio so we can enjoy a new album soon...? I am
impatiently waiting for an update on how everything's proceeding.
Marian:
Yes, we're doin' well and all the
pieces seem to come together finally but not too late :-) Actually, I
think this is going to be a really great production. There were lots of
things we've always wanted to do and most of those suggestions now live
in the songs and add amazing colours to the music. When our last album "CrazyShow"
was a vast collection of raw ideas, a kind of screenshot into a
musician's mind, "Giant" will be a complete and totally accomplished
production, a take-it-or-leave-it thing, so to speak. And, yes, the
title of the the album is still the one you all know so well but, who
knows...
I reckon there will be a few snippets
of the music at our website soon. How much this will tell you of the new
album I don't know but I hope it'll be enough to enliven your curiosity.
Besides I expect that we manage to keep the bigger part of Giant in
secret until its release although we all know this is a difficult task
these days. In March I will spent some time again at Martin's studio in
London with the emphasis on keyboard-arrangements, instrumental solos
and backing vocals. There will be lots of bv's this time and generally
"Giant" will be far more complex concerning vocals then the last couple
of albums.
Jan:
Btw, there have been several other
projects in the pipeline over the last years that we haven't heard of
again. I am wondering what has happened to the Opera with Marian
singing/playing the envoy...(has there been a performance? Is there a
recording?)
Marian:
Yes, the title was "L'Invenzione
Degli Angeli", if I remember it right. Klaus Schulze, who wrote all the
the music for the opera, finished the mixes about three years ago.
Sounded damn great to me. But there seems to be no interest from the
side of the record company in releasing the stuff. Still I doubt the
last word has been spoken on this project.
Jan:
How are things for the Alice in
Wonderland musical?
Marian:
This is a kind of sad story because I
invested a lot of enthusiasm into that project and it was already
announced in the bill of fare of the Theatre Würzburg for 2006 (or
'07?). Unfortunately it was cancelled in the very last moment due to
budget restrictions. Since then Alice sleeps in some desk drawer at
Lunapark waiting to be resurrected from the dark. There's a tiny chance
she will be revived by a co-production of two theatres from two
different cities in Germany but that's very vague. Money's short these
days and theatres tend to invest in approved productions to keep the
risk as small as possible.
Jan:
What has happened to/is happening
with Sputnik Roadhouse...
Marian:
I had a talk with Klaus Schulze, the
other half of SR, just the other day and all I can tell you is that
something definitely IS happening :-). Will keep you updated.
Jan:
Are there any news on the
Alphaville-book. I would be very happy to hear how all those planets in
the AV-universe are doing!
Marian:
I wished I'd never spoken about "The
Book". Well, here's what I did so far: collected a huge amount of
interviews, unreleased photos, drawings, short stories, poems and diary
snippets, hoping to create something like a written and illustrated
version of "Dreamscapes". Then put everything in a big box with a
sticker on it saying "An Orbit Full Of Questions" and forgot about the
whole thing. Simply haven't found the time to date to work on this idea.
- Frankly, I never considered it important enough to give it any
priority on my time schedule.
And that's all for now from my side.
Oh, I nearly forgot! There will definitely be an
Anniversary-concert/party by the end of this year, presumably late
November-mid December. We're working on that and will let you know in
time the exact date.
Greetings from the island to you,
dear Jan, to the rest of the list-pack and to everybody out there. We
love you all very much.
Marian Gold
Dear Marian,
thanks a lot for this comprehensive reply - for the answers to questions
that have kept roaming my mind for quite some time.
It's a pity the Klaus Schulze opera has not been released yet - after
Tangerine Dreams' rather recent operaesque works, I am extremely curious
to hear Klaus' approach (which will probably differ to a great extent
from Edgar Froese's "Divine Comedy", looking at the very different roads
those two synthsound-masterminds have taken after their TD time
together).
It must be even more frustrating for you that the Alice-musical has been
put on (indefinite?) hold. However, looking at how spontaneous and
checkered the theater/musical world is at times, I guess we can still
hope for the best.
I can't wait to hear new music...so excited. Even more so as it sounds
like the album won't be out until fall (if not even later) - so some
appetizers to bridge the time gap would be sweeet (especially looking at
how Tempelhof has become one of my 2008 anthems...it's a new year, time
for a new anthem ).
Keep up the productive work...even though I may have to wait some more
time for "Giant", I am sure it will be worth it!
Take Care,
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