Zeromancer – 27-03-2010

Interview with: Kim & Alex
By: Nina Mende

After an amazing show we went backstage to do an interview with Zeromancer. Even though I would have loved to have the entire band we “only” had Kim and Alex. Before everyone got to sit down and got together Kim already started chatting right away, asking me if I speak Norwegian (because I said “Tusen Takk” to Lorry) and such. At that point we revealed that Lorry is quite fluent in German while Kim’s German is ok. I told him my Norwegian is just as bad as his German. Now Kim wanted to know where I’m living, so I explained it to him. Then he told me that two years ago Zeromancer had played in Wiesbaden with Project Pitchfork… Then we continued talking about Zeromancer being home in the weeks between the shows because ion the past few weeks they were only having weekend shows. Now Alex joined in and Kim continued asking me stuff. Now he asked me about my English and we found out that the singer of Diary Of Dreams also had loved in the USA. We discussed whether Slipknot were from Idaho or Iowa but they were from Iowa. But Nikki Sixx is from Idaho. By talking about that Alex told us that the guy who took the pictures for the “Death Of Romance” album knows Nikki SIxx because he lived in LA and since Nikki Sixx is interested in photography they somehow got together.

Zeromancer had played several shows with Unheilig on this tour already, so I wondered how their audience accepted Zeromancer. Alex and Kim agreed on the audience being great and accepting them well. Kim further told us that the audience in Norway is great for the headliner as well, but not always for the warm up, opening and support acts. Shows in Norway start very late and most people are still home by then and drink. Where as in Germany people are already waiting long before doors open and watch all bands and pay them all respect, not only to the headliner. Germans seem to want to get everything they can for their money’s value. So basically being a support act in Germany is kind of easy because you can be sure that there are people to watch you play. On this tour Zeromancer is also the only non-German band. It always is a tough job to be the opening act but somehow Zeromancer like it. Alex told us that it is somehow exciting to open, because you know there are people there already to see you play and it’s all up to them. The challenge is to find a suitable setlist that works and shows the band’s dynamic and in 35 minutes. Alex explained that the only problem so far was that the shows were so separate from each other. As mentioned before by Kim Alex now explained again that in the past weeks the shows have been weekend shows to the guys went home in between. Zeromancer prefers being on the road “in one piece” and not with such long breaks in between. It is hard to stay focused that way. They need to be on the road without days off and stay in their “tour bubble” which bursts when being home in between. But from now on this will change. As they saw the tour schedule for the first time it was all weekend shows only. But because Unheilig are very successful with their new album dates in between got added. They also have some own shows in between. So this means that Zeromancer won’t be home for the next 3 weeks, then be home for a week or so before they are gone again. The own headliner shows are not in Germany though, because here they are on tour with Unheilig. At that point Alex also mentioned that the venues got changed from a capacity of 1,500 to 3,000 till up to 6,000. The Norwegians hope to be back and tour in Germany with “Death Of Romance” in fall though. Festival season goes from May till September so this screws up any earlier club tour plans because people safe up a lot for the festivals. We also found that there is too many festivals and too much competition between them. We all hope this will even out in a few years. Alex told us here that they basically grew up at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. This festival changed a lot though, it became more aggressive whereas it used to be very cool and chilled where everybody helped each other. But times change. Zeromancer will play WGT and Blackfield as well as the biggest Norwegian festival Slottsfjell. Also they might play some open air shows in August.

The feedback to “Death Of Romance” was good so far. Alex said that they feel really close to this album (as they of course always do) but with this album they landed more on an alternative side, which they wanted to do as well. Because Zeromancer is a dynamic band which shows different sides with slow parts, dynamic parts, hard parts and so on, each fan has their favorite album. But personally Alex likes this one most. They changes the style completely compared to older stuff. Kim told us that this was exactly how they wanted it to be. They had an image in their minds and the final outcome was exactly like the image they had in minds before. That’s why this album is very special to them.

Zeromancer doesn’t follow the German market much because of several reasons (language, distance….). In Norway the album did not receive much press, maybe because of their past, maybe because they turned very alternative now – there are not many alternative bands in Norway – but what they have seen from German press, Italian and UK press is pretty good. The little press in Norway hurts a little bit though. But bringing it out on stage and play it live, getting all that aggression out feels good, in a good way, and it makes them happy. There was an article in Norway saying that Zeromancer is at its best when they have pressure and get critic. Maybe that is really what they need. They seem to like to struggle. Their fans are totally different, Kim explained. At Zeromancer headliner shows you can find so many different kinds of people, just as different from each other like Zeromancer’s music is. When Zeromaner come to Germany, they come as aliens but they have great booking and promotional companies here even though they are not close to them. In Norway they do all that themselves. In Norway they have their families and feel home, but in Germany they feel home as well, it’s a different kind of home. Alex explained that there is the bubble again.

I was wondering if they also plan doing stuff in the US. Kim told us that they did several US shows six years back. At the beginning of the tour they looked at the schedule and said they would never going to make but, but halfway through the tour it seemed like the easiest tour they have ever been on. After about 6 shows in a row you hit a sort of wall but when you get over the hill and are playing even better. That’s probably why American bands are such good life bands because they are constantly on the road and touring so much because the US is so huge with so many different cultures and everything…. They could be back any time but it costs a lot since Zeromancer is not one of these industrial bands that only has one guy pushing buttons on his mac and the other one is screaming distorted vocals into a mic. But they definitely want to be back some day. This is on their “To Do” list along with playing Russia, Australia and South America. They have press there and they have audience there so they definitely want to play there. It’s only a money issue that’s keeping them from doing that right now. With the changed booking agent many doors have opened though, so let’s see what will happen.

Zeromancer toured with Unheilig in 2002 before and they liked Zeromancer so Unheilig asked them to join. Zeromancer does not care whether being the first band or last one to play, they just want to be out there and play their music. Not many bands are like that anymore. Some have rockstar attitudes and all that. Not Unheilig, they are still like they used to be and appreciate music and their fans. Zeromancer also tries to be close to their fans from all over the world, try to reply to mails and talk to their fans after the shows and try to keep them close. Several Zeromancer fans are following the band to several shows and are very devoted. Nowadays through internet and all that it is so much easier to keep in touch. Fans are very important to Zeromancer, because without them they would not be where they are right now. Zeromancer also tries to communicate a lot with their fans during the shows on stage. That was also the reason why we had to end the interview here. Diary Of Dreams were done playing and Zeromancer went out for a signing session during change over.

Many thanks to Zeromancer for the great live show, many thanks to Lorry and Leo for the help to set up this interview and of course many thanks to Kim and Alex for their time and all their answers.

Links:
Zeromancer MySpace
Zeromancer Official