Post by Administrator on Feb 3, 2009 14:58:32 GMT 1
In the light of the recent news here´s a short interview
with Vratyas concerning possible live shows.
You told me there´re news about Falkenbach playing live in a foreseeable future?
Well, nothing perfectly safe right now,
but maybe at least something some people could be interested in, I guess.
So, what can you tell us right now?
A while ago I had a couple of interesting conversations about this subject with
a booking agency. They contacted me and asked the usual questions, if there was
a chance to play live with Falkenbach etc. As I know the guy behind this company
a bit, we spoke about all the problematic aspects of this topic. For example there´s
no constant line-up, and most likely I am not going to find all the needed musicians
amongst my friends. Due to several reasons, not all of the guys who helped me out
during the recordings are able to play on stage with Falkenbach as well, you know.
It needs time to rehearse on your own, as well as it needs time to rehearse as a band
if we wanted to enter the stange, and not just once. Falkenbach doesn´t have a real
live experience as a band due to obvious reasons. To cut it short - for some of them
it would mean a big effort, and there´s probably no chance to get them all to the same
place for rehearsals and shows at the same time anymore.
All this means a live line-up had to be found. You´ve to keep in mind that playing live for
Falkenbach does not mean just 3 or 4 people on stage. Two guitars are a must, I guess,
some goes for the bass and drums. Furthermore there´re the synths, the accoustic guitar,
clean vocals, choirs and screams (often at the same time, so obviously not possible for
just one person) etc. If you want that many people to rehearse for Falkenbach, if you want
them to come to a place maybe hundret of kilometers away several times - you can imagine
the expenditures.
What happened you changed your mind?
I did not change my mind in the end, but this guy offered some fresh and interesting
ideas about how to find a line-up. Beside that he also endorsed my own ideas about
using hard-disc for playing live. It might be an acceptable way to have the keyboards
included that way, as well as some of the needed effects
like wind, waves etc. Everything else made Falkenbach by far too expensive.
And using hard-disc doesn´t mean a negative aspect to you?
Actually not. There´s still more than 90% played live on stage.
It doesn´t make sense for example to have someone playing the acoustic guitar
if it´s used only in 10% of the whole time. I´d love to play live with Falkenbach
with a whole orchester, but unfortunately it has to be payed. I´d love to have
musicians for every single instrument, even if it´s used in maybe just one song for
a couple of seconds, but it´s simply unaffordable.
It sounds like a compromise?!
Indeed. So far, I never had to make any compromises, neither about the
recordings at the studio, nor about interviews, signing a contract or whatsoever.
But if we´re talking about getting Falkenbach on stage, finding a compromise
is the only way the make this happen. In the end the compromise has to be as
little as possible, because the fact playing live simply is a compromise, and this
is one of the main reasons for why there´re no shows up to now.
What is the current situation about?
First of all, the guy behind that booking agency now checks the possible budgets.
We are talking about two more or less small live shows, and that means there´s
no endless money to spend for the line-up etc. Also the stuff for the hard-disc topic
has to be recorded at a studio. Quite alot of expenditures, and he has to check
if there´s just a chance to refinance the whole thing with just two smaller live shows.
He also now checks about one or two dozen musicians concerning the chance of beeing
part of this whole idea. After that, I´ll get in touch with them to decide on my own.
That means you´re still not talking about a tour?
Exactly. For the moment, it´s just the same old idea of playing the 1 or 2 small gigs.
Maybe I´ll love playing live that much, so I will play thousand of more shows afterwards.
But honestly spoken, this is not likely. There´re so many people asking me for a live
show with Falkenbach, and brushing all the problems aside for a moment, it would be
a great thing to give back something to those who supported everything behind Falkenbach
during all those years. A full tour is something totally different, and compared to those
1-2 small gigs such a tour is lightyears away.
Did you think about finding musicians on your own as well?
Sure I did, and I tried for quite a long time. I am glad to have had people like
Boltthorn, Hagalaz and Tyrann at least beeing part of the recordings. And those
I found on my own. But as I mentioned already, it´s impossible to use the same
line-up for playing live due to several reasons.
Apart from them, there might be one or two other guys I´m going to ask.
A number of bands replaced members by contests placed on their homepages.
With an application there´s a chance to become a part of those bands.
That´s no alternative to you?
To me personally it´s strange to find constant band members that way.
There´s nothing negative about it, I am just not used to it probably.
If there´s a need, maybe there´ll even be a chance to become a part
of that two-gig-lineup by sending a tape / mp3 however. But things like
that are far far in the future at the moment.
When can we expect a confirmation? What do you think?
Right now, the idea is to play those two small gigs at the end of 2009.
So, I guess a line-up has to be found during the upcomming 6 months.
If that line-up is 100% fixed, means also 100% financed, you can expect
those gigs to become real. Somewhen in summer 2009 you´ll get my news
latest. Here and then you´ll find updates concerning this topic here
at the forum. But keep in mind - nothing is sure yet.
Thank you for taking the time.