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Interview with Vocuz - A band on the way to the top!
Hi and welcome to Lila's interview!
My Immortals, recently we had the pleasure of meeting the guys from Vocuz with some questions about their music, the band and their handling of the current situation. We got some amusing as well as exciting answers, which we didn't expect. You can read the result now:
A huge thanks at this point to: The guys from Vocuz and to Janawho made the whole thing possible!
LILA: The Corona crisis is omnipresent and is especially hard on the music industry with all its labels, bands, locations etc.. The Corona crisis also hit you hard and you had to cancel your tour. How did you cope with the unfamiliar situation and which album accompanied you through the crisis? Can you give our Immortals a "Lockdown Soundtrack" recommend?
FELIX: For us, of course, the whole thing was a slap in the face at first: no tour and not even rehearsals at the beginning. That's really hard for a young band like us. We tried using all kinds of online tools to rehearse with each other - at least guitar and vocals - but the delay that comes with that makes the whole thing not useful for us. The technology really isn't ready everywhere yet. Maybe when there's fiber optics everywhere soon or something.
But we also saw the opportunities and played at two online music festivals. We interpreted some of our songs in acoustic versions and got good feedback. But our heart still belongs to the hard guitars.
What we are happy about is that we now could and still can use the time excellently to work on our new record at full speed. We are so approximately in the "Overtime" of our songwriting and are about to start recording. The song selection is about halfway done, because there are a lot of tracks we have to choose from. We are really looking forward to the recordings and the result above all!
As for the Lockdown soundtrack: "Wonder what's next" from Chevelle is one of those albums that Micah always go. And with Fred runs "10,000 Days" from Tool up and down. I think you can choose one of them.
LILA: When I first heard about you guys, I searched the net for information and unfortunately found that I didn't find much about you. Now you have the chance to catch up: Who are you, how did you found yourselves and what do you want to achieve with your music?
FELIX: What? We can't imagine that! A challenge to all readers: Give VOCUZ on Google and show the guys and gals in the editorial department what you can find out about us. They'll certainly be happy to receive mail from you!
Jokes aside. We are basically three guys who found each other through the craziest ways. I actually wanted to play together with our guitarist Micha when I was still in tenth grade. At that time I found an ad of his old band on the net. The songs were just awesome that I applied there as a singer, but never became a part of the band. A few years later, by absolute coincidence, I found myself in his studio: an acquaintance took me there and I heard "that one song" that stuck in my head even then. Of course I recognized it directly and asked Micha if he didn't belong to this band that was advertising at that time. That's how our paths crossed. When my band broke up a few years later, we then founded VOCUZ. We found our drummer Fred a year later via an online platform. Funnily enough, he also made an approach to my old band - but that didn't work out either. Theoretically, we would have gotten together much earlier. It's pretty crazy how life plays out.
Some music magazines title our music as "Nu Rock". Rock is classified very differently in Germany than it is in the States, for example. If we tell people here that we make German rock, we are immediately pigeonholed as Neue Deutsche Härte, without people even bothering to listen to our record. We love the rock from America. Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach, Chevelle, Linkin Park. The bands of our youth inspire us and that's why we write songs with fat guitars, melodic vocals and driving beats. Only in German.
LILA: If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
FRED: Definitely the power to infect others with foresight. Simply to give people the ability to look beyond their own horizons. Too many important issues are pushed off by responsible people onto their successors, who then do the same and so on. In the series South Park there is a very popular superhero: „Captain Späte Einsicht“. He always tells you after a disaster what you could have done in advance to prevent the disaster. We would then probably be „Captain Weitsicht“ or „Captain hör auf die Wissenschaft“ or so that it does not come so far in the first place.
LILA: Last september you released your debut album "We need to talk" on the market. Tell me: Who would you like to talk to and what memories do you remember most from the whole process of working on the album?
VOCUZ: Hmm... Yes, there is someone very wonderful we would like to talk to: About a cooperation on our new album. But we can't reveal that yet!
The process of producing this album was really - long! We first produced an EP - all on our own - and went to many labels with it and got offers. Then we found out that there are a lot of rip-offs out there, and they're not very good. "good" are not so easy to find. Then we decided to expand the EP into a complete album and went into recording for another few months. The whole process took certainly two years and in the end we are very satisfied with the result and have then decided to found our own small label with our distributor in Hamburg, where then everything runs according to our ideas.
LILA: Imagine you had the opportunity to perform with any artist of your choice? Who would it be and what would you play?
MICHA: Each of us would probably have our very own favorite - from Madsen to Chevelle. Felix would be very happy to work here in Germany for a while for Papa Roach open or for the Dead pants. They are absolute heroes of his childhood, even if today their music has become a bit more commercial. Fred on the other hand would like to work with Madsen and celebrate a demolition party with them on stage. I think it would be really cool to play with Chevelle to rock out properly.
LILA: Your song "Outside Beautiful" stands out especially from the new disc and runs up and down in our editorial office. Tell us, what inspired you to write this song and what do you want to convey to the listener?
FELIX: I actually wrote the song three days after my breakup. That's why it's very autobiographical, of course. The concrete situation that I sing about in the song also took place partly in exactly the same way. It was another one of those songs that just flow out of me. Often I sit down in the morning with an idea and in the evening a first recording is ready, with everything that belongs to it - guitar, drums, bass, vocals. Sometimes that works out and that's always a great feeling. It really helps a lot in a situation like that to present your own feelings that way. Sometimes it also helps to simply say something that hasn't been said in order to process it better. The music gives you a new level on which it's much easier and goes deeper.
We hope to give people an outlet with this track who may not be able to express it so clearly themselves. If the song hits a certain vein, it can do a lot.
LILA: Where do you see yourselves in five years?
VOCUZ: Well best on tour in Germany with our heroes- Chevelle, Papa Roach or Madsen!
LILA: Finally, do you want to give a message to your fans?
VOCUZ: We are just damn thankful for everyone out there who listens to our music and is into these tracks, because they really come from the heart. And again and again there are questions how we would describe our style, because it's hard for our counterpart to classify it. Our songs should touch people. And for that you don't need a name of the musical direction. Who listens to the tracks, knows what is meant and feels what we want to bring across.
Until then, we look forward to seeing you at the next concert. In flesh and blood. And in color. Take care of yourselves, be nice to each other and take care!
Image source: Robin Selhorst
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