Rockezine.com interview with Somnambul on Aug 22, 2002

with Ulricke Mücke and Kai Mekelburg on Aug 22, 2002

One of those beautiful moments during the Castle Party 2002 (click here to check out the Rockezine review of the Castle Party) came from the German trip-hop band SOMNAMBUL. The fact that they played earlier at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Germany as well shows that the music from this band seems to be related to the Gothic scene. The combination of the clear, emotional voice of Ulricke Mücke and the electronic effects from Kai Mekelburg should however inspire more people to listen to their music. Their gig at the Castle Party and WGT and the upcoming release of their album gave us reason enough to ask SOMNAMBUL some questions…
		Can you tell us more about the name SOMNAMBUL? I believe it has something to do with the moment between sleeping and waking up? Somnambul is Latin and means “sleepwalking”. We read this word once in a poem of Charles Baudelaire and then decided that this would be the right name for our kind of music. Like sleepwalking describes the state of mind in the gap between sleeping and the waking state, our music is also a mixture of dream visions and reality – soft and deep, perhaps taking you away on a journey into your mind...
		You’re inspired by acts like Portishead, Goldfrapp and Massive Attack, but you give your music its own direction. What do you consider to be typical SOMNAMBUL music? Somnambul was born out of the wish to create something timeless and beautiful, touching the soul of the audience. Typical for Somnambul is of course firstly the very special and expressive voice of Ulrike, coupled with the experimental sound worlds and beats of Kai. The combination of both defines the typical and distinctive sound of Somnambul. Also when you surely recognize parallels to bands like Portishead, Goldfrapp and Massive Attack (which are the ones we love most) – we created something special and independent with our first album. Concerning our performance there is also a big difference as the show takes place in a kind of theatre-atmosphere and is accompanied by video-visions, containing also an award-winning short film (produced by us, too).
		I’ve seen Portishead and Hooverphonic (a trip hop band from Belgium) a few times live and the big difference between you and them is that they have a band and you’re only playing with two members… Was this a conscious choice? Perhaps it was destiny.... In October 1998, Ulrike was searching for people making music like Portishead and advertising in a magazine for that. So we met and then started working together in Kai’s studio. First we made the music only for ourselves, very seriously, but without any further thoughts about concerts or record deals. Three years later we were suddenly “awoken” by facing our first concert and the question how to produce the music on stage. And we decided to keep the sincerity (to us and the audience) – the music is the product of two persons and those two persons should perform it... and we learned: it works!
		Your new album has been released, how are the reactions so far? Can you tell us something more about the album? Is your album also released through a record company or is it in your own management? In October 2002 our self-produced album will be released by our record label “Stars in the Dark”/EFA (Vielklang, Berlin) and the single will be released by Mercury Records before that. But until now our CD has been available only via our internet site and in some special shops in Germany. A lot of people also have bought our CD after the shows. The reactions, articles and reviews of the music magazines fortunately have always been very positive, which helped us to become more popular. The songs on our album (9 songs and 3 remixes) were written between November 1998 and February. Since the WGT 2001 we are working together with our booking agency InMove GmbH, Chemnitz, Germany, that is organizing the WGT and a lot of other events. Until now we can do the management things on our own, but this work sometimes is not very easy for us and is getting more day by day....
		You played at the Wave Gotik Treffen and the Castle Party in Poland. They are more Gothic oriented festivals (especially WGT) so it surprised me a bit to see you play on those festivals… Why did you play there?
		I believe you left a pretty good impression there, considering the reactions of the audience… For the WGT 2001 we have sent an application with a demo CD to the InMove GmbH. Some friends of ours were talking about this possibility (for their own band) and we decided to give it also a try – perhaps just to get the feeling of doing something... a first step... but definitely not believing in being chosen! And then we were chosen – out of 800 applications we were booked for the opening gala performance and for the open air concert in front of the “Völkerschlachtsdenkmal” with approximately 8000 visitors and a lot of very positive reactions. A newcomer cannot turn down such a chance, even though our music does not go 100% with the Gothic Scene (but it meets with their approval also). After the WGT everything came thick and fast for us and a lot of different concerts followed. This year on WGT 2002 we had our show in a movie theatre – also with great success. The Castle Party concert was booked by InMove and a good experience, too. We even learned that we are being played on a Polish radio station since a couple of months. But nevertheless, we decided to avoid too many “black concerts” and try to find our own, special audience – which should be a mixture of all kinds of people.
		I once saw Hooverphonic play (at Rock Werchter) with a complete choir. Also a dream for you? No, not at the moment. We are permanently working on our show, on the visuals and the ambience on stage – thinking in the lounge/theatre-direction. We are not looking for something grandiose, we prefer the soft tunes and want to let our music speak for itself.
		What is your future plan? Touring? Parallel to our CD release in October we will e.g. have some shows in German movie theatres with a book reading, our concert and the movie “Sleepy Hollow”. We are looking forward to that because of the special ambience you find in a movie theatre and the attractive combination of literature, movie and music – and also because we can show our video-visions in the theatre without any problems. Next year at the latest we will have a longer tour in order to promote our CD. For further and new dates please have also a look on our homepage: www.somnambul.de, where you will find more and always updated information. You can also order our album there and contact us for booking, questions etc.
		Something you always wanted to say, but never have been asked… A big “Thank You” to our families for supporting us the last months and just being there! Keep up with the latest news on: www.somnambul.de
		(Beautevil )