Collection of Q&A's with thanks to the American fanclub The Jet Set Society

Time to depart
Set out on automatic control
Follow the light right into the screen
Separated we are
Each of us
On our way to Alphaville...

About the alphaville mailing list:
"I'm a member of this list because I'm fascinated by the thoughts and ideas of the other members.
I like the atmosphere of communication and the way people keep company with each other."

"Roll Away The Stone is a cover-version I did in 90/91. 
It´s the original by Mott The Hoople that derives from 1973. 
If somebody would have told me at that time that I´d become a musician myself one day, 
I would have only laughed."

"Arrangementwise, "Traumtaenzer" is a complete rip off from "Waves". 
The whole rhythm-structure derives from the Blancmange-song."

"´73 was the dawning of "Glam Rock". God, we had parties!"

In response to a question about E. Sooter:
"Eric & Co were founders/members of the unbelievable "Boom Operators", one of the most 
impressive Berlin avantgarde-underground bands during the late eighties. 
I admired them heavily for their daring musical experiments and the wondrous fact, that their 
music still sounded....pop (...sometimes).

An almost impossible balancing act.
Well, it was impossible since they disappeared after four or so years. 
I was blown away by the original version of "Peace"(On Earth). 
I was blown away by the personality of Eric, the singer/lyricist of the band (isn´t it him I mention
 in "Headlines"??; ...I hope). I have never understood what these lyrics really meant, but in the
 very moment of the song, when everything culminates in the first chorusline "peace!!!" I simply
 "understood". "

"When we recorded the vocals for "Today" one night, there was this heavy thunderstorm outside.
We opened the doors of the studio, put a mike outside in the rain and taped the thundering 
sounds of the heavy weather parallel to my vocal performance. The studio got flooded. 
But worst of all: I fucked up my favorite Neumann for that."

"I value all the different voices on the (alphaville) list, each and every one. 
And I value the incredible variety concerning points of view, taste, imagination, artistic capabilities
, differences. Please stay different cause that is the only way to enjoy life (even if it´s painful 
sometimes)."

"From the very beginning, when I arranged the song with Rainer, "Faith" happened to be a reggae.
Even earlier, when I dreamt it, it was a reggae. Why this is so I don´t know. 
When we remixed "Faith" in London, the result was reggae again. 
Some songs are what they are, nothing more or less. They never allow to change their style, 
no matter how hard you try. "Faith" is a "given song", a present. I didn´t invent it myself. 
As I said, I dreamt it, some damn rasta played it in my dreams. 
If you read the first verse carefully, you get the whole story."

“May I, as one of the eldery fans, remind you, that the Beatles´ "White Album" carries a song 
called "Revolution No.9". 
There is also a Jimi Hendrix song featured on the Easy Rider Soundtrack called "If Six Was Nine"

J. F. Nelson (der allerletzte passagier)”
Red Rose – 69:
“Those of you, who are interested in solving this, should take a very close look at the single 
sleeve of "Red Rose" (which can be also found at the Moonbase discography). 
The basic aspect of 69 can be clearly seen here:
 "mesle pesle", "upside down", "arriba & abacho", "drunter & drüber", "dáksa & fybùsja",. ..
"69" is just one of the many concepts that acctually can illuminate the content of this song. 
Others would be "Blue Sunshine", "New Jerusalem", "End of time" or "Teenangel", as well as 
the line "do what you will".
Illuminate? Yes! But of course only in combination with a conscientious enquiry at first.
The trace does exist (just like each and every AV song has its own).
Detect it in here and follow that spoor ...
J. F. Nelson”

"1) If you´re a true artist, in the very moment you´re creating your art, you just love what you do, 
no matter what kind of bullshit it is.
2) If you´re a true artist, you don´t care what other people do think of your creations. 
And even if they´re right, they´re wrong.
3) If you´re a true artist, you´re not looking for certainties to keep but for convictions to throw 
away. Unfortunately, even if you become a really true artist by following bravely the above rules, 
it doesn´t mean that you´re a GOOD artist. It´s by far more likely that you´re a very BAD artist. 
And that´s simply because:
4) True artists should never follow any rules but theirs.

Do as you will.
Via Sola Haec Ducit Ad Astra"

About MIRACLE HEALING, august 2001:
"Miracle Healing" is my dedication to Alphaville´s fans. It is, if you want, the title track of 
"Dreamscapes", the headline of the whole project. It talks about my relationship to each one of 
you. That´s why I´ve chosen "dear friend" and not "dear friends". 
Whoever of you may listen to it shall know that I am speaking to him or her and only to him or 
her. I can´t wait to play this song together with you. I´m thinking of you and I hope that you´re 
alright.”

"We were in the middle of the production of another thingy called "The Breathtaking Blue" which
 was intended to be the next websong for September, when I got Outsider´s and Mark´s poems
 from the list and changed my plans. I think fom then on "Zoo" was done within about 5 days."

"....stars ARE cosmic jelly doughnuts!"

About "On The Beach":
"As much as I hate to explain Alphaville songs I have to say that most interpretations of this
 song hit the nail right down on its head. If not all (...minus 1!). It seems to be the best understood
song of all Alphaville songs ever. Fantastic! And that´s probably because OTB is the result/the
reaction/the instant moment of a morphology in time and space (the www? the nervous system??)
 that connected (and still connects) all of us with each other. I had only been triggered. 
I was only your voice. That´s how I understand the term 'dreamscape'. 
That´s where we all shall meet."

"The lyrics of FY alone consist out of many film-references (titles, lines). 
At the time they seemed to be suitable to underline the "immortality factor" of the song."
"You, the listeners, readers, watchers do the interpretations! 
What you receive from the artist is nothing but a toy.
Play with it IF YOU LIKE IT and you probably discover something that counts in your life."
"I think that the past is teaching us wise and precious lessons. 
The book of history is written in blood and tears and it would be a waste if we would refuse to 
read its pages carefully and learn from them."

About the day the Berlin Wall came down:
"..as far as I remember I shared a bottle of Veuve Cliquot on the top of the wall with some friends
 that very night."

About CrazyShow:
"There were a couple of other songs which didn´t make it on the album for several reasons:
Ace - lyrics not finished.
Always You - computer crash
Skywriting - lost interest
Dear Miss Fortune - got lost
Song 4 No1 But Myself - too stupid
When Rabbit Howls - too long
Mother Noia (she´s so cold) - too cold
Sleeping In A Whale - too sleepy
Escalator - too painful
Bigger Than Elvis - too too"

"When I first met Bernhard in 1980 we both wouldn't have believed that this moment would be the
very beginning of a 23 years long-lasting creative, artistic cooperation. 
And I must agree with Bernhard, though indeed we had tensions as usual in such a long 
relationships, the good memories prevail by far and are the ones I will bear in remembrance."
"I hope to turn all these very special positive energies into fantastic songs."

.".thanks to all of you who support the idea of alphaville with your initiatives, contributions, ideas
and love.

Crystal regards,

Marian Gold"