Rockezine.com interview with Bloodflowerz on Jun 15, 2002

with Kirsten Zahn on Jun 15, 2002

With "Diabolic Angel" (see review elsewhere on this site) the German BloodflowerZ released their debut album this year. Although we missed the band touring as support of Subway To Sally, we found the time to ask some questions just before their gigs on several festivals (like M`era Luna for instance).
		Can you tell me more about the history of BLOODDFLOWERZ? The band hasn´t existed for long, we came together as Bloodflowerz a year and a half ago. We all played music in different bands for years and years and had lots of (good and bad) experiences. Some of us have played together before in one band for several years. So we found eachother, to make this kind of musical expression at a very fertile time of our lives. The constellation was good, the working also, and so we decided to go further with Bloodflowerz.
		Why did you decide to call your band BLOODFLOWERZ, with these strange signs? The writing of bloodflowerz is a kind of playing with words. The word-creation comes from The Cure, their last album was named Bloodflowers. Within these two words fascination and abyss, beauty and beast of life are combined. Bloodflowerz, blood and flowers, represent the everything seemingly different and contrasting.
		Flowers are the symbols of life and power, signs of the end of the winter. They are symbols of growth, energy and beauty, but also of death, dying, transition. Blood is life, the beginning and the end. It gives us the liquid to live. But it also stands for death and pain. Both words show the cycle of life and death and all the aspects inbetween. We should not be satisfied with one perspective, because when we want to look behind us and really understand what we are and what´s going on we need to integrate all light and dark parts.
		Can you tell me more about the lyrics on "Diabolic Angel"? In the lyrics I’m occupied with different things that come to my mind and heart. It is always very personal, but I try to express these feelings and thoughts in metaphors and pictures, because the soul speaks in pictures and symbols... I hope that the people, who listen to the songs and lyrics, find something they recognize themselves; that these words and expressions impress them in an emotional way, and maybe help them to find answers or just that they are not alone.
		I tell stories about dreams and visions, about who we are or could be, about our fears and pain, love and hate, confronting social problems and the lacking of spiritual consciousness of mankind... within the lyrics are black thoughts and frustration, but there is always the believe and trust that our longings will be satisfied and that it’s possible to live our dreams. There is always a dark side in us and a light side, we need to combine and unite them to be true and real. Light cannot exist without darkness and vice versa. We need to see ourselves as diabolic angels.
		You’ve played with a lot of different bands - like Anathema, Moonspell, In Extremo, Farmer Boys, etc. (and that without an album at that time). How did you manage to accomplish that? Of course we had great luck to be there at the right time and contact the right people. And also we played lots of live-shows and - there are always people who are looking for good bands.
		Was it good for your band to have these experiences? Why? Of course! We are so excited about playing. The tour with Subway to Sally was absolutely fantastic. Playing live is the orgasm of making music. It gives us the energy and strength to continue, to work hard on new songs. And it is so great to get in contact with people who like what we do, at concerts you can feel the energy and power which flows between people and band. The songs get another depth, the performance live means to live the songs with every part of your physical and psychological existence. The fire burns.
		It`s too easy to label your music as gothic or melancholic rock. How would you like to describe your music? We wanted to stay ourselves in the expression of our music, outfit, message... We never had the wish to be everybody’s darling or follow a special trend, we wanted to create our own style and world. Of course we are influenced by some bands and styles, but in the end bloodflowerz is a mixture of our personal individual favorites and emotions. We all have different roots and prefer also different bands. In our music we try to unite these different styles, emotions and powers.
		It can be very fertile to let yourself be inspired by other styles. We are all kids of the 80s, some prefer more the harder metal scene, some the darker emotional side of music. And so it is good to say melodic metal or something, everybody has their own words for it. But surely we are no typical gothic band and also no typical metalband. We have all these elements but don´t imprison ourselves in a category. It is so important to speak different musical languages to express all the feelings and meanings we want to put in our music.
		I saw that you are booked for the M`era Luna festival this year. That`s great news, isn`t it? Do you have more news about your tour? Do you only play in Germany, or are there other countries that you will visit? At the moment we don´t have real plans for playing outside of Germany, but we’re working on it and hope to visit some other European countries soon. We´re looking forward to M’era Luna, great festival and a fantastic line up - we will play with many bands we like very much, some of them we haven’t played with for years and it will be cool to play on the same stage!
		What does `Music to inflame the passion of our souls` mean to you? In every person there burns a passionate fire and this deep emotion is the reason to go on, forward, to have dreams and also the power to realize them. The passion is our existence. Without we are just a grey empty body. And music is a universal speech which transports signs and visions. Music can touch us deeper than anything, it can give us sense and everything we need to take a look inside of our souls. And these are also the last words for you:
		Keep the fire ablaze, take a look inside, be real and live your dreams!
Check www.bloodflowerz.de for more info about this band. (Beautevil )