Herbert Grönemeyer (66) holds the world up to a mirror in his new album “Das ist los” and tries to spread optimism despite all the calamities.

What reaction do you think is indicated?
I believe that time is running out and a lot of people need to wake up. We have languished very well in our comfort for a long time, but now the situation is so alarming that we have to realise that in many ways we can no longer continue in this way. So it is only legitimate to make demands and want changes.

What gives you reason to be optimistic?
If there is something positive to be taken from all the crises in recent years, it is that they have increased our awareness and made us so sensitive that certain things touch us more than before. It’s no longer so easy for us to quickly push things to the back of our mind

What are you thinking about?
The situation in Iran, which is actually far away and yet very present. Now that we have the images from the Ukraine conflict in front of our eyes every day, we can also imagine much more vividly how cruel the civil war in Syria was.

Hasn’t the climate crisis been somewhat forgotten due to the Ukraine war and the shortage of raw materials?
No, oddly enough it hasn’t, although there is a reflex that you can’t deal with everything all the time. It’s true that you need a break from time to time. However, the pandemic and inflation have made some things more visible, such as the fact that 13 million people in Germany are affected by poverty, i.e. one in six. For this reason, I founded a group with some friends with the intention of dealing with this topic.

How did the title song «Das ist los» come about?
My Welsh producer Alex Silva still speaks German relatively poorly, despite the fact that he has lived in Berlin for twenty years. That’s because he’s very charming and that’s why most people talk to him in English. When I call him and ask what’s going on with him, he always says, «Das ist, was ist los.» A translation of the phrase «That’s what’s happening.» He recorded
it himself, sings along too and contributed this guitar sound. From this we recorded this song in a studio in Sweden, in which we rattled off names and keywords at a rapid pace.

Do you want to add some lightness to the album with this number reminiscent of «Da Da Da»?
That’s right, the song is reminiscent of Trio and is musically a mixture of New German Wave and rock ‘n’ roll as well as a pastiche of the whole information frenzy. Like «Männer», where I am still seriously asked whether this song was about male psychology, «Das ist los» is above all a fun thing.

What does the dancing that appears in several songs mean to you?
For me it’s a way to forget. If you dance for an hour or two – or longer if you’re up to it – you have the chance to clear your head even at times like these. And since, as everyone knows, I’m also a great dancer on stage, I like to sing about it. Sometimes the word sneaks into the lyrics almost unnoticed, as in «Baby, you wanna dance» in «Herzhaft». I’ve already sung the line in the English version of «Bananen-Texte» and couldn’t find a suitable translation. It always sounded square.

Have you ever had any inhibitions when dancing?
No, never! When I was a teenager I often went to France and also played in bars there. Then the French taught me their rock ‘n’ roll, which they danced two-handedly and with incredible twists, spins and throws. When I demonstrated it at parties in Germany, I impressed people enormously. At the beginning of the 1970s, people not only went to a party every Saturday, but also stopped by at least two or three parties. Later – much to the chagrin of my bodyguards – for a while I went to techno parties after the concerts and danced to lower my adrenaline level.

Your dance moves on stage sometimes attract smiles …
Satirists Wiglaf Droste and Bela B. from Die Ärzte even made fun of me in a song: «Grönemeyer kann nicht tanzen». They had been at a concert in the 1980s, wondered who this guy was who danced so strangely and thought I was going to be really upset about the song, but I thought it was funny. People from the Ruhr area know no shame in this regard, since we are not considered to be very German in general and especially because of our funny language!

You never had a theme with your singing style, did you?
No, I’m completely uninhibited in this respect too, because it’s my personal expression. It always got on my nerves when producers wanted to tinker with my way of singing, even though I told them my role model was Bob Dylan, they didn’t understand a word of it. I said to myself: I sing like I sing and I kiss like I kiss. There are no judges either.

«Genie» is an invitation to dream big. Have you always done this or only due to a certain experience?
I felt early on that you have to be part of the action. I got recognition, for example, when I sang a song at my mother’s coffee morning and played my ukulele.

You sing about women not only as lovers, but also as heroines and rescuers. Are they the greatest hope left to mankind?

Their courage and energy are much needed at the moment, because the fight for equality and equal rights is far from over. With their female intelligence and way of thinking, but also their radicalism and militancy, which you can see in Iran right now, where the women are making an impression with their incredible courage and bravery despite death threats, they could succeed in getting the crises of this world under control.

How did the rather unusual love songs on this record come about?
The line «Manchmal left der Tau sich auf mich» in «Tau» describes the melancholy when you feel uneasy about being so happy because this feeling is almost too beautiful to last. «Tonne Blei» is about a selfish and obsessive relationship. «Urverlust» puts into words the pain you feel when, looking back, you realise that you made mistakes in the past that caused your life to take the wrong direction.

At 66, do you often take time out between record productions and tours, for example to holiday at your apartment in Celerina?
No, I could think about taking things a little easier, but I’m very restless and always creating new tasks for myself because otherwise I’m afraid I’ll stand still. In addition to theatre and music, I used to do sports. I still enjoy that, but then I had such a cough in Celerina that I just couldn’t make a sound.

Before a tour, you probably shouldn’t have been allowed to ski anyway for insurance reasons …
Exactly, because of this and because it is good fitness training, I actually wanted to do cross-country skiing. However, because of the cold I had I could only go for walks and enjoy the fresh air.

Fotocredits: Victor Pattyn

An interview with the Italian composer

The Italian pianist and composer, Ludovico Einaudi (66), is the most streamed classic artist of all time. He fills auditoria and temples of pop with his music, which is partly of a meditative to lounge nature. ADAM THE MAGAZINE talked to him about the origins of his new album «Underwater».

Your music has a healing effect on our pandemic-troubled souls. We should be able to get «Underwater» on prescription …
Yes … (smiles), put it this way: there is an actual connection between this music and the situation we find ourselves in. The first pieces were written two years ago. I had just come back from giving concerts in Australia and Singapore, when the first signs of COVID-19 appeared in China, but no one thought yet that this virus could also come to us. Then it exploded here in northern Italy as well and the lockdown came. I actually only wanted to spend a week in our house in the mountains, but then the week turned into several months.

How did you spend this time?
It was as if all activities in the world had been stopped. I had never experienced this before, nobody had ever experienced it. If we factor out all the suffering, which many people experienced, the sudden tranquility and silence had a positive effect as well. There were almost no airplanes in the sky, air pollution was reduced and the fish returned to the lagoon in Venice. It was as if nature wanted to tell us to take everything a bit easier and not to stress the planet as much.

And did you obey?
During those days on which I had no responsibilities I began to sense the freedom and felt almost like a teenager, living one day at a time and only doing what I loved. I went for walks, then sat down at the piano, composed, recorded pieces … Everything ran smoothly, without pressure, without a defined objective. I actually did not want to make a new album.

But then?
I was doing everything out of pleasure and delight because I had unrestricted time. As no one knew when the pandemic would end I had the feeling of infinity. I began to write down several ideas on paper. I became particularly fond of the pieces because this music came to me without me having to look for it. Then I noticed that I wanted to share it with others.

«Underwater» is your first solo piano album in 20 years…
Yes, however I did not realize that in the beginning, as other albums include individual solo piano pieces. I love returning to this pure form, to the dialogue between pianist and instrument, which is both giving and taking. You influence the piano with your breathing and movement, the piano answers with the sound, which leads again to the pianist’s breathing. It is almost like playing the didgeridoo! (laughs)

What was the inspiration for the album title?
«Underwater» is synonymous with the sound that is not present in our everyday lives, in which the world pulsates and moves, but from a sphere in which everything is more round and muted. Under water you hear your own breathing, your pulse, and you perceive yourself differently.

What does the swan on the cover symbolize?
In ancient Greece it was a symbol for beauty and grace. Apollo, the God of poetry and music, considered the swan to be sacred. The swan also stands for depth and reminds you to follow your instinct – the flow of life.

Is it true that you took the photo yourself?
Yes, since I was 14 years-old photography, in particular with films, has been a great passion of mine. I have a small camera collection and love to take photos when I’m out walking or on tour. My concerts often begin with projections of pictures that I have taken.

How do your compositions develop?
The initial ideas come from improvisations, from an irrational rhapsodic impulse. Then I play the individual parts again and again, revise them, and sometimes write the notes by hand in my exercise books. The repetitive process slowly shapes the form of the pieces, until I am happy with them. After this first phase of stabilization other variations may appear when performing in front of an audience, which change the composition only for the evening or permanently. Interestingly, I never know when recording an album which pieces I will like to play most in the long run and which will be more popular. It varies extremely.

How would you describe your music philosophy?
I like it at concerts, also my own, when there is a certain detachment from the original recordings and an unenforced intensity. As if the music is playing by itself and is being driven by a constant energy. To be able to express all emotions that are important to me, joy, strength, melancholy and sorrow, I have to be able to immerse myself in the music and find inner peace, which I do not always manage.

Your music also inspires because you allow a lot of space for personal thoughts. What effect does it have, when you hear your recordings yourself?
I recognize the strengths and weaknesses immediately and think about whether I was able to express what I wanted.
I identify with the sound and sense whether this sound is speaking and conveying its full potential to the public. Of course, everyone is free to hear what they want to hear, but it is important to me that it is coherent.

What does it mean to you to be the most streamed, classical musician of all time?
I do not think about figures too much. However, the fact that an increasing number of people are listening to my music is an additional motivation to consistently improve my work and only to do it with complete conviction. The success does not change any part of my passion, objectives that I follow or the evaluation of my work. I am extremely critical of my own work and do not settle for anything but the best.

Ludovico Einaudi was born on 23 November, 1955 in Turin into an influential family. One grandfather was the Italian President, the other a composer and conductor, his father a publisher. Ludovico learned to play the piano at an early age, went to the conservatory and then began to write stage and film soundtracks and to present minimalistic solo piano programs, inspired by Philip Glass and Erik Satie. His most famous sound track is the music of the blockbuster «Intouchables». His current album «Underwater» (Universal Music) contains twelve meditative piano instrumental pieces.

Photos Copyrights: Ray Tarantino / Universal Music

“It is extremely cool here.” Clueso checking in at “Hotel California”

Pop Star Clueso (41), who became famous to the broader public through his collaboratin with Udo Lindenberg and Die Fantastischen Vier, on his James Bond “Album”, formatting his hard disk, his view of Zurich and his affinity for chilling in the bath.

You refer to «Album» as the result of your ambition to create your own James Bond. Which actor was your favourite, before you arrived?
(Laughs) What I meant with that statement was that I wanted to make a musical Blockbuster, which – like a Bond film – provided something for every taste. I still think Sean Connery is the coolest of all Bonds. Roger Moore was also cool, but he always had a touch of the granddad «fondling» the girls. In the old Bond films there were also other things that would be seen as no-gos today.
«Flugmodus» and «37 Grad im Paradies», the first songs on the album, elevate the listener. «Hotel California», like the Eagles title of the same name, deals more with the dark side of the American dream.

Which are the action scenes and which the love scenes on «Album»?
I have to think about that one … «Leider Berlin» and «Flugmodus» provide the action. We just finished playing the largest live concert in Germany, 7000 people were there. Without masks. The 2G rule or the 3G rule? I never know which one is which. (Laughs) In any case I noticed there that the public go crazy for the songs. The love scenes begin with «Sehnsucht …». I think it is beautiful story when we can generate a feeling chatting on a App, although all senses are removed. But that’s how we fall in love in 2021. The most intense moment is «Alles zu seiner Zeit». I wrote the song myself but cannot say when it happened or how. I only needed twenty minutes to write the lyrics.

A lot of hits are written quickly …
That’s a fable but it is true! Afterwards I looked at the wall and thought: «Cool that I was there!» (Grins) Now when I sing that song, the public are all ears. I love that. It is the only elegiac ballad on the album. I think about the question «What would be if …», because in my profession I get to meet so many people. Any one of them could become my friend or girlfriend.

«Flugmodus» and «37 Grad im Paradies», the first songs on the album, elevate the listener. «Hotel California», like the Eagles title of the same name, deals more with the dark side of the American dream.
It corresponds to what I have experienced in the music business since I was 19 and got a record deal. I have been offered everything that exists in the line of narcotics and stimulants, also from people who probably thought:«Now I’m going to get Clüsen wasted!» (Laughs) Fortunately as a child I found tablets and ate them. Afterwards I felt so awful that I stayed away from everything, except for smoking pot and drinking alcohol. Now and then I have even planned to reformat the hard drive. But otherwise I have always kept myself in check.

Anything else could cost you your career, or more.
In principle, however, I find both fascinating: When someone burns out like Jim Morrison and when someone is in complete harmony with himself like Sting. In Los Angeles I came into the studio where twenty rappers were hanging out in the vocal booths and forty cough mixture bottles were on the table. The guys were barely able to respond. The song is mainly about the fact that, if you are hurting, for example at the end of a relationship, you need a little distraction. Then you check in at «Hotel California».

In «Punkt und Komma» you realise from a distance that your love story at home has reached the final chapter. In «Alles zu seiner Zeit» you sing that you have never written a love story that ends well». How do you deal with that?
I am on the road a lot and my first love is music. That is difficult for a start. But I understand that people are incredibly interested in what is happening in my private life. However, I try to protect it. I do not talk a lot about it, I prefer to process it in my songs. The best are mostly autobiographical, because personal narratives touch you the deepest. I also find relationships that do not work more interesting. When I’m making music I am extremely fond of melancholy!

You are giving a concert in the Volkshaus on 31st January 2022. How well do you know Zurich?
A little. I still have to be driven around. I gave my first concerts in Kaufleuten. We were very torn because we were such an alternative clique and had to come to terms with the trendy types from Zurich. Then we were shown the club scene, which surprised us Thuringians a little. That must have been 15 years ago at least. It is extremely cool here and at the end of my promotional tour I have arranged to extend my stay by two or three days so I can go for some walks at the lake. I need that as the past few months have been flat out.

How do you spend your free time otherwise?
When I see a bath in my hotel room, I have to get into it. Even in the morning! Then I switch on the old series such as «Star Trek»; I don’t even have to watch just enjoy the mood, or I play music. I also love to go into the sauna. I even had one built in the studio, because it’s embarrassing when people recognize me and shout «Cello». Or I take my guitar and drone on a bit. For nobody. Music gets lost in noth-
ing. Playing is pure relaxation.

Fotos: Sony Music

For more or less forty years the meticulous studio perfectionist Boris Blank and the ingenious improvisation bohemian Dieter Meier have been guaranteeing electronic soundscapes with charm and charisma. Both Yello characters spoke with ADAM The Magazine about their first concerts, the collapse of capitalism and their current album “Point”.

You call your current album “Point”(full stop) – and not “Comma”. Are you making a full stop behind Yello’s career after 41 years?
Dieter Meier: No, I see it as The Point of Yello. Like a headlight, focused on Yello.
Boris Blank: Or The Point of no return. We have arrived at a point from which we can no longer return. It always goes forward.

How did you come up with the idea of “Point”?
Blank: We always have dozens of ideas for an album title. The selection is an extremely difficult process. It shouldn’t sound stupid and has to have a certain swing. Dieter called me from Buenos Aires and asked: “Boris, are you busy? I have a title for the album: Point Yello” (clicking his fingers). And I said: “That’s it. That’s the beat.” There are hot spots, middle points and meeting points – and now there is also the Yello point.

Is this unity typical for Yello?
Meier: We discuss a lot, but we are not mavericks, simply eager to find a consensus. In everything! Otherwise we could not have done what we do, for forty years.
Blank: If there is any friction, we use our experience to alleviate the situation early on. Ultimately we always agree on something that is amazing, that we both enjoy. It was like that in the old days, but maybe now we have also mellowed a little with age.

Is the clear division of responsibility in Yello an advantage?
Meier: It is the only way it can work. Boris loves to fiddle about in the studio for years and to work on fifty sound pictures at the same time. I have a lot of other things going on so I don’t have any problem with not hearing from him for maybe three and a half years. (smirks)

“Point” is the first album since Yello gave concerts. Did the live experience inspire you?
Blank: Not in any way! As Dieter already said I have dozens of half-finished pieces. They have been waiting for a long time to be animated or resurrected.

But you are supposed to have said that you would have given concerts earlier if you had known how much fun it is?
Blank: We gave the concerts now because we thought that we had to do it as long as we are still young. Yello is a young live band. We still have a lot to do. Maybe even a proper tour, not with small instruments on the stage, but offering an audiovisual 360 degree all-round experience. A lot of people said you don’t need to have that many musicians on the stage. It was enough if you are there. But I didn’t want a fake tour premiere like the Pet Shop Boys offered, with Chris Lowe pretending to play music on his laptop. The people should experience our brass players. I could also imagine other concepts.

That sounds very analytical and controlled. What emotions did you experience?
Blank: It took a very long time until Dieter was able to motivate a hermit like me to come out of his shell and dare to get up on –>
the stage. I feared that we might be pretending to be something we weren’t. At the first concert my knees were still trembling but then I sensed how good Dieter felt on the stage and how the people
liked us. I was extremely impressed by this positive energy.
Meier: When I used to go on the stage with my band Out of Chaos, the name said it all. At that time I had a lot more freedom. I could sing the chorus twice and the musicians reacted accordingly. In the case of Yello it’s all measured down to the tenth of a second. You cannot improvise, nothing is spontaneous. It has a certain allure, but I hope that we can be more spontaneous on the next tour. The Yellofier, the fantastic App that Boris invented which even makes it possible for laypeople to compose fascinating pieces, also inspires us.

“Way Down” sounds unusually relaxed, with swing and funky at the same time …
Blank: Yes, the electro-reggae really has a lot of influences. I’m not sure why. When I sent Dieter the demo version, he thought we would only have to record his vocals as my voice alone is too weak. The texts are completely Dadaistic. What’s that line again? “Bring that beef back home”?
Meier: What are you singing there? “Bring that beat back home!”(they’re having fun)

The shimmering, hypnotic counterpart is “Insane”. A hymn to craziness?
(Both of them say that they don’t know which of the twelve songs I’m referring to)
Blank: Dieter doesn’t know what he is singing either. He has a wonderful way of describing it: “Inspiration comes to me and when the song has been recorded it leaves me again.”

How important are the yearning for true love and hot eroticism as the driving force for your musical works?
Meier: Where do you see eroticism?
In “Hot Pan” …
Blank: Ok.
Meier: Interesting. I never saw it like that
Blank: Do you have a psychiatrist? (they laugh)

The song has a pulsating rhythm and you sing about “hardcore” and “shakin’ my body upside down”. Is my imagination really overexagerrating?
Blank: Not at all. Sometimes the critics write – I don’t know, whether it’s women – what an erotic voice Dieter has. Someone even wrote you could get pregnant listening to his voice.
Meier: Is that true???

Did you never make music to impress a woman?
Meier: No, no, no! That was never our impetus and we also never had groupies

Do you want to take more time in the future to do things together with your partners?
Meier: I don’t. I develop things with other people, but I have endless time. Whatever I do, agriculturally or oenologically, is my pleasure. Therefore I don’t experience stress. And my wife has handed over the responsibility for her company enSoie to our three daughters and retreated almost entirely into her private life.

Would you, as a musical visionary, also venture a prognosis, at which “Point” of Corona we currently find ourselves and where the development will lead us?
Meier: I am convinced that the world – when the problem has been solved on a medical level, and that doesn’t seem to be sorcery – will revolve just like before. And that would not necessarily be a good thing. The capitalist madness will continue.
Blank: I hope not!
Meier: Neither do I, but the only purpose of the system is the profitability of assets. The combustion of oils and coals has severe consequences, the contamination of the seas and the reckless handling of animals. Then there are the billions of debt that the states have accumulated. A total collapse is imminent. But the system will only change when we cannot breathe any longer.

Yello was founded in 1979 by the avant-garde linguistic artist Dieter Meier (vocals) and the techno pioneers Boris Blank and Carlos Péron (synthesizer). The single “Bostich” gave the Zurich band a club hit even in New York. They began their most successful period as a duet with the fourth album “Stella” and the releases “Desire” and “Vicious Games”. At the end of the 80s they released their goose bump ballad “The Rhythm Divine” with guest singer, Shirley Bassey, and the iconographic “The Race”. Yello only began to give concerts in 2016 as the sound tinkerer, Blank, doubted for a long time that his music could be reproduced adequately live. The current album “Point” bears the unmistakable signature of both techno legends. The songs are unconventional and the sound is brilliant.

Photos Copyrights: Universal Music

Seven‘s love of his wife Zahra and his seven-year-old son has not suffered due to his success in Germany. «I perform three times more than I used to and usually don’t come home after concerts, but I devote three days completely to my family if I have been away for five», says the singer, who broaches subjects such as transcendence («Zeit», feat. Thomas D), military tanks («Die Menschen sind wir», feat. Kool Savas) and pain («Thank You Pain») on his new album. «Today we are always in mode: We look good, are happy, healthy, sporty, in love, successful and ultra-busy», explains Seven. «I feel we should just once say thank you to pain, because it forces us to change something in our lives, to progress.»

Photos Copyrights: Sven Germann

No one has had more influence on the European single charts in the last ten years than David Guetta. We met up with the enthusiastic House-DJ and music producer in Berlin, who didn’t let the divorce war from ex-wife Cathy slow down his continuous series of hits such as “Dangerous”, “Lovers Of The Sun” and the UEFA Euro 2016 hymn “This One’s For You”. On 19th October he’ll be appearing in the Zurich Hallenstadion.

The official UEFA Euro 2016 hymn “This One’s For You” and the spectacular performances at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and at the opening and closing ceremonies have still not satisfied David Guetta’s hunger for success in 2016. Now, just in time for his autumn tour, which will take him to Las Vegas, Ibiza and Zurich, he has given the Charles & Eddie soul classic “Would I Lie To You”from 1992 a modern sound guise. The electronic beats have – typical Guetta – not robbed the analogue soul from the song. That can also be attributed to his choice of singers – in this case Chris Willis, with whom he began his rise in 2002 from mere disc jockey to popstar DJ.
After him and Sia, he has discovered another talent on his current album “Listen” in Sam Martin. “Before we went into the studio together, I only knew the songs that he had written with Maroon 5, but not his voice”, according to the 48 year old Parisian. “When I heard it for the first time, I was totally shocked, because it is unbelievably good. I was blown away, especially by the high notes!”

When Guetta began to make his first vinyl mixes at the age of thirteen and then three years later started working as a DJ, House was still a subculture and it was inconceivable that someone could become famous through this music genre. “My parents said that my choice of profession wasn’t an actual job but an absolute catastrophe!”, he recalls with a laugh.

The rebellious son thought it was totally cool how Club-DJs at pirate radios played their funk albums and developed the new mainstream from the combination with electronic music and hip-hop, with which he, Avicii and Calvin Harris dominate today’s charts. Even if “Forbes” estimation of his annual income at 30 million dollars is only approximately correct, his parents must have stopped worrying about how their son is going to fare by this stage. The separation and divorce battle after 24 years of marriage has however been a painful reminder that money isn’t everything. “I experienced some of the saddest moments of my life. But I don’t want to complain, primarily because the years before consisted of partying in sexy surroundings.”

To distract himself Guetta made new songs and worked as a DJ again in classy clubs and gigantic arenas. “As soon as I am on the stage, I forget everything – even myself”, he explained and admitted that that could also be dangerous. “But I don’t take drugs, don’t drink and don’t smoke. The music and the energy of the fans intoxicate me and send me into a delirium. The feeling of sharing a unique moment with the crowd and being one with them, is something very special!”

Photos Copyrights: Warner Music