Rockezine.com interview with Thorn.Eleven on May 03, 2004

with David Becker on May 03, 2004


		It took three years for Thorn.Eleven to release a follow up for Your well acclaimed debut album. Why did it take so long? We like to take the time we need. We`ve seen many bands forced to release a second album very quickly after a successful debut. This usually leads to an inferior follow up. Another thing is that the search for a new drummer took ages.
		Will you be able to top de debut? I hope so. Personally I like the album more than our debut, but we`ll have to wait and see what happens.
		A Different View is more rock than metal, where did this change come from? Well, it was sort of a natural progress within the band. After the first couple of songs were written the rock sound was obvious. I`m very happy with the turn to rock. The first album turned out to be a little too sterile in my opinion. A Different View represents us better.
		The new direction is also expressed in the great album cover. Who’s responsible for this cover? Well, the cover had to be simple and powerful. People have to know what to expect from the music by looking at the cover. Plain and simple, that says it all. A friend of ours designed the cover, he`s also responsible for our website.
		Beside the rock type approach, what is the biggest difference between the first album and A Different View? There`s no difference concerning the song writing. Usually one of us enters the studio with a good riff idea. This leads to a song, after which I start writing the lyrics. One difference is that the band has definitely grown as human beings as well as a collective. This leads to better song writing. We`ve been playing together for over seven years now and the turn to rock also lead to a focus on song writing. After seven years we developed a sound that suits us best.
		Is being original a big issue for Thorn.Eleven? No, not really. I don`t think that being original is that important. You will have to find your own style, but it`s hard to be innovating these days. Personally I don`t care about innovation as long as the sound is good. I don`t mind if they compare Thorn.Eleven with other grunge or rock bands.
		How is the promotion of the album going? I did a lot of interviews with the German press, and a couple with international magazines. We`re in a position where we are happy with every promotion we get.
		Are you mainly focusing on Germany? At the moment yes. It`s better to concentrate on our home country for the time being. We planned to release the album in Germany first and than after about two months in the rest of Europe. This just didn`t work out with the record company.
		What about touring? Well, touring depends on record sales. It`s hard to play any gigs outside of Germany. When we only sell, let`s say five records in The Netherlands, it`s no use playing a gig over there. In the past we only had the chance to play in the U.K.
		What happened to Bjorn Lucker? Our drummer and friend left the band. We checked about thirty drummers and finally found a new one. During the recording of the album however, things didn`t really turn out the way we hoped for. Bjorn left the band and we checked another fifty drummers and ended up with our first drummer! We`re delighted he`s back.
		There are two strange track titles on.... Let me guess: “4111” and the untitled track? The untitled track should have been a hidden track prior to the first track on the album. The idea was to acces the hidden track by re-winding the first one. This turned out to be technically difficult, so it ended up between songs four and six on the album. The fact that the song doesn`t have a title is because it has no lyrics. I leave “4111” up to your own imagination. First of all because the explanation is too stupid and second because it`s nice to hear what the listeners make of it.
		Please complete these sentences: Thorn.Eleven is different from all other bands because ... We`re actually no different at all.
		2004 is going to be a great year for Thorn.Eleven because... We finally managed to record an album the way we always wanted to Record an album and I hope we`ll record an album in the future that is even more like what we want. Hopefully we get the chance to record another album.
pictures are taken from the bands website www.thorneleven.de (Geert Oldenmenger)