I. Hello Lemongrass, nice to meet you. Could you first tell us where you live and what were the conditions to leading you making music?
Hi Daxxel ! Many thanks for getting in touch and for the opportunity to be a part of your nice blog.
We (that's my brother Daniel and me) live in the countryside of North-West Germany. We have been living and working together for a whole decade and are running a lot of projects together. Besides Lemongrass we are also known as “Weathertunes”, “Jasmon” and “Beach Hoppers” and we have founded our own label “Lemongrassmusic” in 2005.
Music has always been a part of my live – during my childhood we had two pianos in our parents' house and we were 3 boys making music together very often. In my teenage years I started playing the drums and soon were involved in some band projects, played on small and big stages and gave drum lessons to younger guys. During those years I was totally into Jazz and Jazz-Rock and participated in numberless band projects.
Later I have started producing electronic music – I bought my first equipment – an Atari ST and a Kurzweil sampler, a huge mixer and professional speakers, etc. It still took some more years before I discovered my passion for drum'n'bass, breakbeats and ambient and lounge music.
II. Where comes your inspiration from, I mean this sweetest way to vibrate on your tracks?
My inspiration mainly comes from nature – from the sun, from my surroundings, from the sea and the quietness of the places I like to stay. Of course it also comes from the musicians that I work with – the singers and instrumentalists.
III. What do you think of the major industries of these times?
Honestly I have no thoughts about it....
IV. How do you work?
We work mainly with computers – Logic Audio, soft-synths, various plug-ins, sound libraries, and live instruments such as synthesizers, guitars, rhodes piano and vocals of course. The way a new song is created is always different – there is no rule to it and to describe the many-folded possibilities would blast this interview I think.... :-)
V. Preparing an album, is it difficult?
Yes – it's always a long process and can take from 1 year up to 3 years. We use to work on various projects at the same time so it sometimes takes quite a while to filter and bundle the songs that go well together. It usually takes 3-5 days for me to produce one track – during these days I listen to it at least a hundred times. Then compiling an album takes another weeks and months time – so in the end I have listened to all songs contained on a new album for many hundred times. I think you can imagine that I absolutely need the silence of a quite place in nature in the meantime :-)
VI. Why have you chosen to create your own label?
We have created our own label to become more independent on the one hand. It was always a dream of mine to run a label – and after many years of being signed to other record labels it was a logical process for me to do it. On the other hand we wanted to create a platform for the music of other artists who create wonderful music in the spirit of Lemongrass – so we have called the label “Lemongrassmusic”. By the way – a few months ago we have founded a sub-label named “Tiger Grass Records” - to be able to present a wider range of electronic music styles. Now – after 5 years of running the label “Lemongrassmusic” we are surrounded by a wonderful “label-family” - artists from all over the planet – and each one presenting a unique spirit and an individual expression of “warm and positive” electronic music. Regarding our label logo – a sun with 23 sun-beams – we would like to express the many facettes of modern electronic music which can not be categorized clearly, covering styles like Ambient, Lounge, Chillout, Nu Jazz, Deep House, Downbeat, Breakbeats, Soul, Spoken Word Poetry, Film Music, Disco, and many others.
VII. How is the nightlife in Germany?
Well – at our place nightlife is very silent – just hearing the singing of nightingales.... :-) Going to the cities it seems to be like everywhere else....
VIII. Something to tell us about the evolution of new technologies?
Using all these technologies of nowadays I often experience them as true blessings which allow us to do the kind of music and business that we do. We collaborate with many musicians worldwide only through the internet ! On the other hand I don't even know how all these machines do really work – so I am definitely dependent of those who know. But that's OK of course :-)
IX. What are your current projects?
I have just finished the new Lemongrass EP “Ambient Land 2” which will be released in December. Furtherly we are working on the new WEATHERTUNES album, of course on the next LEMONGRASS longplayer album (which will be 100% instrumental again) and on “The Remix Sessions Vol.2” - the follow-up of the successful release from early 2010. We do a lot of remixes every year – and we had the idea to combine them to an album... Also this is another expression of the wonderful network within our label family.
X. Are you closed to other genres in electronic music?
Basically I am open to many styles and I like cross-overs – the main point for me is always a certain kind of “warmth” and “soulfulness” which can be found in some genres more than in others. I think there is no basic rule for it – it always depends on the result.
XI. … A piece of word in French?
Liberté, égalité et amitié :-)
