Full Transcript for Volker Bertelmann

your home and you work there. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:02.719 And I have I think I have better ideas in cloud when it's cloudy outside. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.120 Um I'm only happy when it rains. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:06.240 It reminds me of that song. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:07.360 Do you remember that tune? 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:09.360 Absolutely. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:14.240 Yeah, look, you know, I uh uh you know, I grew up in I lived in Germany as a teenager. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:20.719 I was born in Germany, my parents are German, and uh we couldn't Deutsch sprechen, just to hear here and there we're gonna throw in some German words. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.120 Um but I totally follow that, you know. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:37.919 Um as a songwriter myself, I always have to I like to uplift, you know, with with music, but that kind of mood that you get from the environment that you're in is very important. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:47.439 And uh Germany, especially I you know, I grew up in the northern in northern Germany in Hamburg, or as a teenager I lived there, and Hamburg weather was always gloomy. 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:51.520 You know, it was Berlin was always much nicer. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:55.759 Um and now I live in New York City, so it's a um a whole other thing. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:57.840 Weather systems here pass through very quickly. 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:03.199 You know, they don't sit, they don't wait, you know, they just kind of like they move out to the ocean. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.360 Um so I want to talk to you about your sound. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:13.199 It's um I I saw the movie Um All Quiet on the Western Front. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:14.719 Uh it won an Oscar. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:19.120 It was the German entry for the uh for the Academy Awards in 2022. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:19.920 Is that correct correct? 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:21.279 Yeah, that's correct, yeah. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:23.439 Um it's a fantastic movie. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:25.759 It's very dark uh for obvious reasons. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:27.360 It's set in the First World War. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:32.560 Um kind of a war of attrition between the French and the Germans. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:40.720 Um we're living in a similar time now when it comes to uh uh uh wars that are happening in in Europe. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:50.399 Um and the uh the music there's there's a very powerful for anyone that's seen the film, if you haven't, you should definitely see it. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:51.360 It's a great movie. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:52.879 The music's fantastic. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:05:02.639 Um there is a very powerful uh theme that gets reused throughout the film that relies on uh very few notes. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:07.920 And uh, you know, I always say like all you need is two da-da-da-da. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:09.360 You know, like you do two notes. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:20.560 You could do a lot with two notes if you

have a lot absolutely you do, you know, and and uh you use this synth sound that's very heavy and huge. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:29.759 And I'm I'm I'm trying to figure out before we start talking about your history as a rapper with the fantastic infia, which I definitely want to touch on. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:32.160 That sound, that synth sound. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:37.120 Where did you uh where do you think you you grabbed that? 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:41.600 Is that like go does that go back to you know, like a Georgio Marauder? 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.759 You know, do you listen to people like Daft Punk now? 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:50.079 I mean, I know I'm throwing a lot at you, but you know, where did you where did you get that? 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:51.839 Did you get it from a MOOC? 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:54.399 What did you experiment with to get these? 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:58.160 Well, first of all, I'm a big synthesizer fan. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:10.879 I was already when I was uh 11, I had my first MOOC synthesizer, and I was uh you know lying in my bed a lot of times when I was ill, and I was playing the MOOC synthesizer through a Leslie that was behind my bed. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:19.680 Leslie is a is a speaker just to just to you know, yeah, it's a big like a yes, it's a big speaker, but it has a rotation inside. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:37.040 And I I put uh I had a record player in my in my room where I where I live was living, and uh sometimes when I was sick, I was really just sitting in the in my bed with a MOOC synthesizer and put like Jeff Wayne War of the Worlds on and then just played and just played along. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:51.040 Um and I I loved actually you know working on on sounds and filters and trying to create new sounds, and even when I had fever, I really loved actually to be in a kind of different world. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:07:40.079 Um but the more the older I got and the more I got into film music and um obviously also in my own uh Haushka world, um I tried to figure out a way of not using electronics in the first place, but I wanted to create the electronic sounds with an analog instrument because doing that makes opens up a complete new field of an own character that was obviously with with synthesizers, you had already a world that was already in the 70s, in the 80s, a lot of people created sequencer sounds, and in that time the synthesizer was a very you know, like new instrument that was creating sounds that nobody heard, that nobody heard before. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:45.519 And that was for me a very interesting phase to hear that. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:08:26.000 But now when I was in the 90s, uh I had the feeling I need something else, and actually, funny enough, it was something to go retro in a way, to go into actually to the strings, play them myself, put material on it, and um, you know, to create in a way an electronic sound with material on strings using analog instruments in a different way, and the sound of all quiet to answer that question is actually a harmonium from my grand-grandmother that I actually yeah, that I played through uh um through a distortion and the martial amp and a big you know amplification. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:37.679 Um and because I wanted to use an instrument when I saw the film the first time, and I came back from Berlin from the screening on the way back, I said I need actually an instrument from that time. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:47.600 And um I remembered that in my in older in homes of older people of my grandparents, there was always a harmonium that I'm gonna do. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:53.360 Can you describe what a can you describe how a what a harmonium is and and and how it works, how it creates sound? 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:58.080 Well, a harmonium is a kind of pump organ, I think is another word for it for that. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:14.960 It's um uh uh instrument made out of wood with you know with pipes inside um that are, you know, you can actually create the sound by pressing pedals and create a like um an airstream inside of the uh of the instrument. 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:26.720 And then you can play it like a keyboard, you have registers like um like an organ, so you can you you can trigger certain flaps inside so that the air is going certain in certain ways. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:10:08.240 It was in a way used as a replacement for an organ in older, specifically in Christian homes, because it was used for accompanying uh like Bach chorals or in our homes, nearly every older couple or older family had a harmonium with different registers, and there was one, and actually one that I have has a double bass register, which means it creates an octave below the the one that I'm playing, and that makes actually the very low um the very low frequency uh in it, and uh that creates this kind of massive presstic bass uh underneath. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:26.240 And um what is nice about that is that it's um you know actually it has a connection to the film, and what I always loved with making film music was um to also find a you know like something that I can talk about. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:31.440 I mean, where I have a story that I can tell, where I'm actually it's not only me, yeah. 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:36.559 You know, I sit in the studio, I take an instrument, and I play a composition, and this is the music. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:46.720 I wanted to, in a way, describe the path that I was taking while I was creating the music, the ideas, uh, you know, the connection to it. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:11:13.759 And I did that already in my old in my uh younger uh band days, where I try to find to stick out of the let's say the normal average where you just know there are thousands and thousands of people out there who are trying to actually reach the surface, and uh you have to find somehow an idea that besides your ability creates an attention. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:35.200 Yeah,

and that that's I I think in a way worked with the I didn't choose the harmonium to create a story, but in the in the end, my search is in a way the only thing that is very individual because I'm searching in areas where others are not searching, and uh you know that makes it uh in a way an own story. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:36.720 That's very inspiring. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:40.799 And I I you know I I tell this I say the the same thing all the time. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:59.919 It's you you have to find ways to to uh stand out of the crowd and and create something that's unique and and different, and just a little bit different, doesn't have to be a lot different, but just has to be a little bit different than what what was done before, you know, because we're so used to hearing all of this all of these different sounds, and we've we're used to hearing them for a long time. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:03.600 So did you create that sound that was used in the film? 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.679 Did you have the sound ready? 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:09.519 Did you or did you did you create it for the film specifically? 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:10.320 No, I agree. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:17.919 I I actually had I experimented at some point when the harmonium was delivered to me because it was a it was a leftover. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:22.639 My somebody from my village called me and said uh from my parents' village, actually. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:26.720 Are you um are you interested in Kreutztal? 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:28.639 Yes in the Nordrhein-Westfalen. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:30.960 Yes, whatever that is in English, I don't know. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:39.200 Yeah, uh well, the the actually the smaller village of Kreutztal where I was born was called Ferndorf, which means distant village. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.679 Which I'm yeah, Ferndorf. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:44.080 That's such a German name for a city. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:45.840 Yeah, it's so literal. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:50.799 But it's so uh literal, but at the same time it's quite um romantic in a way. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:52.639 I was never thinking about that. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:13:01.840 Obviously, when you're a teenager, you just want to get out because you feel it's it's like so lonely and and yeah, you you didn't want to be that fan, you didn't want to be that far away. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:05.840 It's a faraway city, far away town is what it translates to. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:07.279 Yeah, yes, exactly. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:13.120 And so um somebody called me and said, Hey, do you want to have that harmonium? 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:15.919 And uh I said, uh well, I will have a look at it. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:21.679 And so I saw it and I was like, no, I wanna I want to keep it because it's also it was from my family. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:37.919 And then I we have in Düsseldorf one of the few guys that are restoring harmoniums and pump organs for orchestras because in Cuccini um uh operas there's uh you know uh harmoniums are used. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:48.799 Um and so in a way he's having a very big knowledge about classical instruments and bring them on uh you know on the best level they can they can get. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:14:04.799 So I brought it to him, and he was sending me always pictures where he was you know taking everything away, then he was building a new, you know, um I don't know what the the German word is blah blasebalk, but I'm not sure what the aim is. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:07.519 Yeah, like a pump, like an air pump of sorts, of sorts. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:14.000 Yeah, like an air pump, but it's it's made out of uh linen or out of uh uh like fabric that has to be cloth, yeah. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:21.919 Yeah, cloth that has to be that has to be tarred so that it's the the the air is not streaming through it. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:35.759 So I just saw these all these little steps in his in his work, and then um you know then it was staying in my in my studio, and at some point we just set up a microphone setting and just tried what we can do with it. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:55.519 So when I came back from Berlin, I had already like a sound in mind and obviously the microphone setting, but um I was not so sure if it's enough because it's quite a violent film, and you want to have something that is a little bit like a warhorn, but that sounds modern. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:05.600 But even doing that with a 19 an instrument from 1905 or 1910, uh was I was not so sure if that is possible. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:14.399 Um, but you know, by doing that, I think now I found a method of going looking into instruments from a totally different perspective. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:33.039 I'm searching sometimes medieval instruments and take them into put them into a delay or into a grain, um, you know, um granulate uh like a granular synthesizer or use them as you know as a source, but I'm changing the sound completely. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:41.759 But at the same time, you get all these kind of overtones of this medieval um instruments into it, and that makes it very interesting. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:53.200 It makes it even uh you know, may maybe sometimes sounding more like a modern synthesizer than a modern synthesizer, you know, because it's so uh it's so raw sometimes. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:54.639 It's it's very specific. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:00.879 Uh, can you talk a little bit about what microphones you used, what kind of microphones to to pick up the sound? 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:08.480 And then did you you you ran it, you said you ran it through uh some kind of processing or yeah, yeah. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:18.960 So I used I used in a way uh microphones, I uh used uh a Royer stereo SF12, um, and I used uh U67, a Neumann. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:19.840 Neumann. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:39.360 Yes, and I used also an M49, um which were like based behind the um Harmonium, but then

up in the front, I used a lot of DPA microphones that are very small, they are very miniature, and I used them and I put them inside of the harmonium. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:17:05.680 So I took the wire and I wired, I let the microphone go inside, and that's why the harmonium sounds like a pumped, you know, like you see you can hear the wind, you can hear the the mechanics of the harmonium, you hear all the like it sounds nearly like a ship, yeah, like a ship engine that makes sounds, and that's something that I really love because that creates also obviously a rhythm. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:36.160 But uh in the tradition of John Cage, it also takes sounds randomly, and you know, just something that happens accidentally is suddenly a part of a music piece, and you're like, oh, this I would have never thought about it, but now this is a part of it, and that makes the um that makes the whole let's say create creating process like an uh like an adventure, and I'm you know, I'm feeling always like after I've written something, I'm feeling not exhausted at all. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:41.839 I'm like more like a oh, I have to I don't have to sleep because I I want to continue. 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:52.319 I get very excited, and that's something something that I don't um I haven't lost since uh let's say since I started Haushka in 2000. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:58.000 There's an it's an endless, you know, um an endless fun, I would say. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:10.640 Yeah, see, this is why I wanted to talk to you because this is I I I imagined you being just very happy about the work that you get to do and and being in the creative space, which is also always my motivation, you know. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:24.000 There, I mean there are other motivations, you know, we have to you know pay the bills and and so forth, but but that if you stick to that as a musician, especially, if you stick to that original um uh motivation, I think it'll it it'll get you there. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:26.319 I like that you keep saying making sound. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:28.640 That's the title of the show, so thank you for that. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:29.279 You're welcome. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:31.200 But then you you're welcome, and thank you. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:40.160 And you brought up uh John Cage, who was one of the inventors of the uh um uh the prepare piano technique, right? 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:41.119 Didn't he use it? 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:47.200 Well, he was one of them the first protagonists that was uh famous or that was you know well known. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:57.039 I would say famous is maybe a different thing because when you go to America and you ask people on uh normally on the street, do you know who John Cage is? 00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:59.039 Not everyone knows knows him. 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:06.240 I think it's uh he is very well known in the avant-garde and in uh in the classical area, but he's all he was also a painter. 00:19:06.400 -->

00:19:25.279 He did a lot of um paintings that I I recently saw one at a friend's house, which is a really beautiful and um he was a very creative person, and um at the same time he was uh there's one interesting video that I saw the first time where I discovered him more that was. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:26.799 Where was he from? 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:27.440 Where was he from? 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:28.799 From from New York. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:35.440 Well, he uh he was living in New York um at least you know the last period of his time. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:38.960 I know that he uh he went a lot of times to Wesleyan University. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:40.640 Wesleyan, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:20:16.720 Yeah, and um but there's a there's a video on YouTube where that is called uh Water Walk, where he does a uh composition, you know, with let's say with a bathtub and vibrators and toasters and uh you know and uh a piano uh that is just uh like a little bit of a protagonist, and it's it's performed in an as in a um ladies not a quiz show in the afternoon with you know mostly housewives and you know um people at that time who might thought that he is uh totally obscure. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:34.000 But when I saw this video, I was I was actually thinking he's so brave in his way how he's creating things and how convinced he is about his way of thinking about music and I'm and not in a way that you feel like oh he's totally over it. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:53.279 He's it's really it gave it opened a lot of doors for my mind to understand that if I'm standing on a crossing in New York uh and just listening to the syncopated um wheels of the cars, um I'm suddenly hearing a rhythm and then I hear the bird singing a melody to it. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:09.599 So there's um there's a lot of music around us, and in a way to transfer that into instruments is not so easy because you always try to find a formula for the best song or for the let's say the hook, the best hook that sticks with you, you know. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:19.200 But um that is sometimes can get very um uh exhausting to find something that you know is in a way catchy. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:32.079 A lot of times I I wrote songs that I thought were catchy when I heard them later, I felt, yeah, the melody was great, but the arrangement and how the song in it in itself appeared was pretty flat. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:47.119 And I uh recognized that it's not all about the main melody, it also needs uh a fantastic production and it needs somebody who brings the song to life, or you know, also of course uh a score piece. 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:54.960 So I think I learned that but with you know prepared piano, I learned a lot about creating interesting soundscapes. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:55.920 Yeah. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.759 So so uh how do you go from being a rapper? 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:04.319 In a German in the Germ I have to look to just I just bring this up. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.319 So you had this okay, this is very interesting. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:10.880 So you had a a rap group called uh God's favorite dog. 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:11.680 Yes. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:12.319 Okay. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:17.440 And who were signed to Epic, which was in in the 90s, I guess, or 80s or 90s? 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.000 No, it was 90 90s, it was 94. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:21.279 Okay, wow. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:23.039 I was like, I was in, I was still in Hamburg. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.119 I was in uh high school in Hamburg. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:25.519 Yeah. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:28.880 Um, and you toured with the fantastic and fear. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:29.279 Yes. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:31.039 The Fantastic Four. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:39.039 And I just want to point out to uh Americans may not if people in Germany that will listen to this will know who that is. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:41.759 They were extremely famous at the time. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:47.759 They were huge because they were one of the first German rap groups to have commercial success. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:50.000 And and they just blew up. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:52.079 And they were they were a lot of fun. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:54.240 Like I remember they are still, they're still around. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:55.519 They're still around, right? 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:01.680 Yes, and they're still still, I would say, one of the most famous rap group uh in Germany. 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:03.440 And then I think are you still friendly with them? 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:04.720 Do you still in touch with those guys? 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:06.400 What were the name of those characters? 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.480 They had like they called they have different names. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:14.960 It was Smudo, Tomasti, uh, and um Andy Upsilon and Andy Upsilon. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:17.920 Yeah, and uh DJ Hausmark. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:19.119 Right, that's right. 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:31.599 Okay, so uh you know, if you want to talk a little bit about how you transition from being in a in a rap group, a German rap group, or did you did you rap in German or in English? 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:37.200 No, we rapped in English because I the the group was a um a duo in a way. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:43.119 It was me and my cousin, and my cousin was at that time studying in Richmond, Virginia. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:43.839 Oh wow. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:24:10.640 Uh at a VCU university, and um, but he was very uh prolific in terms of art, and then you know, um at that time when we started the band, we were deep into crossover and you know, nirvana and um you know all these bands, but at the same time we were massively into uh hip-hop, and we we loved actually the energy in that music, like the beats. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:17.839 We were not so heavy metal uh driven, but because it was for us a little bit too poor, or for me, it

was always a little too fast. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:25.039 I always loved it a little bit more around the let's say a hundred beats per minute or something like that, yeah. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:40.799 Or a little lower, and um uh and we tried to find a combination out of those uh elements, and uh we did one concert at the at a like a music fair in Germany called Popcom. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:43.039 Um I remember Popcom. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:48.000 Yes, and we were we get we got signed right after the first concert. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:25:05.680 I mean, I've never played, we never played a show before, and we just played this one show, we got signed, and four weeks later we were on a on a big German tour with one of the biggest hip-hop acts, and we had to we had to play in front of like a thousand, two thousand people. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:16.480 Uh you know, the the stage was so big we we were all also a little bit scared of how can we handle because we had to we could run from one side to the other. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:24.720 We could, you know, you actually to get a crowd of 2,000 people working, uh, you know, and then jumping, it's not so easy. 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:26.559 But uh, you know, we learned it. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:36.160 Uh I would say in a in a very quick time, we we learned to you know to make the crowds move and people you know were jumping when we started. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:37.759 We warmed up the the crowd. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.240 It was it was a wonderful journey. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:26:01.279 At the same time, I recognized already at that time that maybe that kind of touring and also me being one of the front people because I had I programmed all the synthesizers and everything in the back at just breastplay, and then I walked to the front and we were stage diving and uh you know have having a lot of fun. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:35.920 But at the same time, I felt like it's not really my kind of it's not me, it was something that I was living that was you know a great experience, but at the same time it was not my personality, and that's I think in in finding uh a career as a musician, but I think also in other uh jobs, um, it's very important that you find actually the source that makes you you, yeah, and that you also know that this is enough, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:58.720 And that you're not trying to be someone else uh or be in uh you know something because it's actually right now popular, that you have to um change the parameters and suddenly you are looking like like KISS or like uh you know, you have suddenly makeup on, big big uh high-heeled shoes, and you can't walk with that, you feel uncomfortable. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:13.200 So I had to find um in a way, over the years and years, I had to first of all learn what success means, um, what it does with people, and what uh what I don't want to have. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:19.599 Um I also went back after this big, let's say,

career period. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:33.279 I went back to a small music school in um you know near Düsseldorf where I was teaching um kids and old people, and uh where I was actually from an from a career. 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:34.319 What were you teaching? 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:36.160 Uh piano and keyboard. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:47.279 Yeah, and so I went into that school from a very high career point, into this, you know, suddenly into this, you would say maybe it's the uh the last exit. 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:54.079 So was it really a thing where you just decided, okay, this is not for me, and you said goodbye, guys. 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:55.039 It was great. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:56.880 I want to do something else. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:01.759 No, it was actually caused by a lot of things that were happening at the same time. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:13.200 We got dropped from the record company because they thought the second album, even though we had a three album deal, we got dropped, and uh they thought we don't have a hit. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:14.799 So that was one thing. 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:28.000 The other thing was the other thing was my cousin, my cousin went into a Buddhist monastery, um uh and he you know he decided to be a monk, and I decided to be um to start a family. 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:31.839 Yeah and so we both actually our life changed. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:35.440 The um the band was splitting up. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:39.920 We tried a little bit going onwards, but it felt like not really natural. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:42.640 And then the next thing was okay, what's next? 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:54.480 Okay, well, I have to earn money, and uh there's no money somewhere on my under my bed, so I have to work very simple, you know, in a music school. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:29:36.400 So I went I went to the music school and teaching was a very helpful thing for me because I learned also to be quite humble and not only to think about career and being pop star, and you know, that was one thing that I really loved, but at the same time it detached me totally from what life is all about, and it's not not about you know um the career itself, it's actually how you are living in the career, and if you're feeling okay with it, or if it's creating a lot of unhealthy turbulences around you. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:43.920 Um so I think the first round was for me important to learn what what can happen. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:52.799 And then I went back and uh went into the school, and I said after a while I was getting a little bit bored in the music school. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:30:05.599 Um I said to myself, I will the next thing if I start again with music, I don't want to have a singer because I I every time there's a singer, they the parameters are changing. 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:10.640 Looks have to be good, the vocals have to be right. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:24.880 Uh and uh so I change I said no singer, no three minutes and thirty radio edit, and no um no time restriction, whatever, no form restrictions, whatever. 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:39.359 The next thing I'm doing is completely free of form, and uh you know, any kind of thing that people tell you when they say you can't do this, or that's impossible. 00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:43.359 Uh like in your age, forget it, or things like that. 00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:46.400 All these uh sentences that you hear along the line. 00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:52.160 Yeah, um, I thought uh I skip them all and I just do what I really like. 00:30:52.319 --> 00:31:03.119 Um and I didn't know where it will lead me, but um you know after a while it was leading me into a worldwide tour as me. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:05.200 You know, as Haushka. 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:22.400 As Haushka, yeah, as a band, which was my band name because I wanted to create a like a name that is not as free from where you don't know is it a band, is it many people, is it a woman, is it a man? 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:27.920 So whenever you hear the name, you are not really sure um you know what you expect. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:31.680 Yeah, and so I think can you talk about how you picked that name? 00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:37.680 I is I actually picked the name because I was looking for East European uh names. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:52.880 I I looked at family names, um, and I wanted to be um I want it's it should uh I was looking specifically for East European names because I felt my music had a lot of the East European melancholy. 00:31:53.599 --> 00:32:24.559 Um I was actually thinking about um a uh a film that I saw where older people were dancing in Gorky Park in in Moscow and they were um they were dancing you know they in the in the coldest cold that you can imagine, like let's say minus 20, minus 25, and they met every week for um you know with a with a little radio or a ghetto blaster to to dance. 00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:25.599 Ghetto blaster. 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:29.359 Yeah, uh to to actually dance there with with each other. 00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:40.000 And what I really loved about that is that they were it was in a way it was so um lonely in a way because it was so so grim. 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:54.400 And but they were still warming each other in in their you know in their behavior, and I um I really loved that image as a as a thought where I felt maybe my music has something of that. 00:32:54.559 --> 00:33:12.880 There is something about life and death, it has it has something in there that actually deals with you know um with real emotions of time, I would say, the time that we have on earth um and what we are doing, uh what we are creating in that time. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:21.200 Um, and so I had the feeling that uh Eastern melancholy is maybe the right the right thing for me. 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:23.279 And that's where you found the name Hauschka. 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:30.400 It was it was a person, was it a person or it was a

it was a composer uh that was based in uh Vienna. 00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:41.039 I looked it up, it was Vincent's yeah, Vincent Hauschka, yes, and his um his uh family was coming from Czech. 00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:54.640 Uh I think from Prag, where the name was Harushka with an with R in the middle, and it changed by moving to Vienna, it was changed into a more German pronounced name. 00:33:54.880 --> 00:34:03.200 And so what I liked about that name was it was also uh it was very memorable, and um, so I I said this is my family. 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:17.360 And actually, funny enough, at some point uh somebody uh called me or wrote me from the family of Vincent Hauschka, like relatives, and they asked if I'm if we were uh related with each other, and so we had a we had a little chat. 00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:18.960 You you popped up. 00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:20.079 Yeah, exactly. 00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:20.800 That's cool. 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:23.039 Um that was very nice, you know. 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:24.559 That's a cool story. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:31.920 Um, I mean that uh this trajectory, you know, how you got from one place to another, it's so twisted. 00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:40.960 You know, like it's so there are so many side streets and you know, to get you back on this or to get you on that path that you that you ended up on. 00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:42.239 I can totally relate. 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:46.000 You know, the the the music industry it it just will do that. 00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:47.360 It will do that to you, you know. 00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:54.079 It'll it'll kick you off to the curb and then come back and look for you a little bit later. 00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:56.320 And and then you'll be like, no, that's okay. 00:34:56.400 --> 00:34:58.719 I'm a I've I've got my own car now, you know. 00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:00.079 Um I get it. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:11.039 It's um but finding that finding that rhythm, you know, the thing that that that moves you, that makes you happy, and uh uh is is so so so important. 00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:18.880 And it doesn't mean that you can't you know have a you know quote unquote rock star uh life or experience. 00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:24.960 You know, you just you can you have to you you have to uh work backwards in a way. 00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:37.280 You know, if you or or you know, if you if you say, okay, but the end goal is is X, um if you know what that is, that that will probably get you there. 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:43.760 But knowing what that is is really hard in the beginning when you're when you're trying to figure out what it is, you know. 00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:46.079 Oh, I like this, I like that, I want to be so and so. 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.320 I want to, you know, you were talking about high heels earlier. 00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:49.920 You know, I was talking, I was thinking about this. 00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:56.159 You know, you mentioned uh wearing heels or whatever, you know, like Prince was my hero, you know, as a team. 00:35:56.559 --> 00:36:00.400 When I discovered Prince, I thought, oh my god, I that's it, that's what I want to do. 00:36:00.559 --> 00:36:05.440 That's what, you know, but I'm not gonna run around and in in pump and do do the split. 00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:08.800 I mean, I tried and it was fun, but you know, I don't want to do that. 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:10.480 That's not who I am, you know. 00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:22.400 So you really you you have to it's okay to have your idols and connect with that and let them let the music speak to you and and flow through you, but what you end up doing may be something completely different. 00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:29.039 And uh it it's cool that you that we you were able to l really like trust that inner voice. 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:31.599 Can can you speak to that a little bit? 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:33.599 Like uh what pulled you there? 00:36:33.679 --> 00:36:35.039 Like what was that was it difficult? 00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:36.000 Was it disappointing? 00:36:36.159 --> 00:36:41.599 Did you go through phases of feeling confused and not knowing what was gonna happen? 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:43.599 No, absolutely, absolutely. 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:53.119 I mean, I was studying medicine for a while, um and uh you know I was um I studied economics, I was in everything quite okay. 00:36:53.280 --> 00:36:57.039 I saw I you know I could have uh finished it. 00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:18.239 Um but at the same time I was searching, um, and I was searching for something that um where the time that I'm spending on earth is somehow makes sense and rather than uh you know, because in the end, uh when you smelt it down, it's not so much time when you look when you let's say you have certain phases in your life. 00:37:18.480 --> 00:37:22.000 You want to make sure that this is something that is fulfilling. 00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:30.400 And uh and also that you have to incorporate the fact that maybe you totally misunderstand yourself. 00:37:30.480 --> 00:38:06.800 Um and a lot of times I would say a lot of including me, I was misunderstanding myself for quite a while because I was thinking that I'm someone else, uh, or that there's a not that there's a strength in me, that is a different thing, but uh to find actually the manifestation of that strength in the outer world is something that is not so easy um to figure out because uh in certain areas let's say your weaknesses are more uh coming to the forefront, and in other places your strengths are coming maybe too massively in the forefront. 00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:18.000 So to find that, and you know, by mentioning Prince, I think um why how do you get like Prince or how how do you become Prince? 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:28.960 That's obviously because you were raised and born in a place where this kind of music was made, um, the time, the band where he was a member of. 00:38:29.119 --> 00:38:36.880 I mean, all these the

the when you read the biography of him, you understand that he was the person that he was. 00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:50.320 And um in some places, specifically when you come out of an English-speaking country, uh you obviously have a much longer rock history and modern music history. 00:38:50.719 --> 00:39:08.719 We in Germany, for example, we have the classical music as a as one point, but we also have bands like Kraftwork or electronic music or techno that was helping a lot, um, let's say to get also a little bit of a German identity of music in a way, you know. 00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:22.079 Um, if you have that in your, let's say you live in Nashville and you do like you know, country music or song singer-songwriter music, that's a normal thing in your town. 00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:34.000 You know, the music is performed there as a it's not meant to be in the first place to be a hit factory, it's mainly just people appear and they sing songs. 00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:37.840 And these songs are telling stories, which is beautiful. 00:39:38.079 --> 00:39:44.639 And that same thing happens when you are going to Kenya and you record with Kenyan with a Kenyan choir. 00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:49.280 I I'll be in Kenya in uh in a few weeks a couple months or less than that, actually. 00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:50.239 Like yeah, yeah. 00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:54.239 Yeah, I recorded, I was in Nairobi for a while and recorded there. 00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:55.679 Ah yeah, yeah. 00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:56.320 Good. 00:39:56.480 --> 00:40:30.400 Yeah, so I I I actually was at the Goethe Institute in Nairobi and people were and they No, no, it's already there's a you can look in the internet, there's a concert of me in Nairobi that I did in the Goethe Institute, but at that time I was um also recording with artists from Nairobi, and actually artists that were not well popular, they were just driving to the Victoria Lake and brought a women choir to the to Nairobi, and we were just experimenting a little bit. 00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:42.079 And after a while, I felt like you know, the tradition how they are making music is so pure, yeah that it doesn't need me to actually play a prepared piano on top. 00:40:42.239 --> 00:41:02.320 It's actually so nice that they still have a culture of telling stories from village to village, or when somebody arrives and he's a good guy, then suddenly this person becomes a song and uh they sing about the the person that he's a gift to them, or you know, something like that. 00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:33.519 Which I really felt was so immediate and so nice that um when you come from a place where only religious music is like in Germany, in the place where I grew up, religious music was very authentic, but it was also already written 200 or or 150 years ago to find something that is actually me in the world now that is creating something that is me, yeah, and that maybe other people want to hear. 00:41:33.679 --> 00:41:38.400 That is a difficult very difficult task when you come from a certain area in the world. 00:41:38.559 --> 00:41:41.599 In other areas it's a little different. 00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:53.599 And so I learned from all these people a little bit of about myself, I would say, and um in the end I found a language that's uh where I felt like this is actually me. 00:41:53.760 --> 00:41:56.159 I'm I want to make music for yeah. 00:41:56.559 --> 00:42:09.440 Yeah, you'll have to uh um I'll I'll I'll I might hit you up for that, you know, because I have to go over there uh to deal with some family uh business, and uh I might hit you up and say, you know, if if you have any contacts over there, connect me, please. 00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:13.119 Um yeah, I mean I uh you know we grew up in Africa. 00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:19.360 Uh my dad worked for BASF, uh Ludwigshafen and Mannheim, which is where I was born. 00:42:19.440 --> 00:42:20.719 My family was born in Mannheim. 00:42:20.880 --> 00:42:21.920 Or I was born in Mannheim. 00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:24.639 Uh never we never lived there, but my mother's family is from there. 00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:33.440 But you know, he spent uh um many years and you know, we grew up there uh in in Africa because of uh because of his job. 00:42:33.599 --> 00:42:35.440 Uh my brother was actually born in Nairobi. 00:42:35.679 --> 00:42:40.159 I w uh I was born in Germany, but he my brother was born in uh in Nairobi in Kenya. 00:42:40.239 --> 00:42:44.960 And uh my sister was born in Johannesburg, and we lived in Johannesburg uh in South Africa after that. 00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:49.199 And and then I started going back there and making records and I got a record deal there. 00:42:49.280 --> 00:42:52.639 And you know, it happened in the weirdest of uh the strangest way. 00:42:52.880 --> 00:42:56.480 You know, that's that's what you we were talking about success earlier, you know. 00:42:56.559 --> 00:43:02.400 It um you you still have to put in an enormous effort uh into the work. 00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:12.400 You know, there is no um there really you have to put in 120 percent if you if you will, you know, and it but it has to be the right kind of channel, you know. 00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:18.079 And we we were talking about this earlier and how how it took you a while to figure out what that is. 00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:21.280 So did you did you figure it out by subtraction? 00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:25.599 Do you think by saying this isn't good, this isn't good, but this is? 00:43:26.800 --> 00:43:31.360 Well, I figured it out by maybe uh holding the things that are good to me. 00:43:33.119 --> 00:43:37.280 And i taking the things away that are not good for me. 00:43:37.440 --> 00:43:38.159 Or actually that were. 00:43:39.119 --> 00:43:39.760 How did you know? 00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:40.960 How did you know? 00:43:41.599 --> 00:43:53.519 Um because well, uh sometimes it took a couple of years to find out, for example, people around me that are uh an influence

that is not helping me in deciding positively. 00:43:53.679 --> 00:43:59.519 I try to find a way of uh getting rid of them in in the sense that I, you know. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:08.880 Find it a different way or a different side route, or sometimes I had a contract, I had to wait until the contract was over and then I moved onwards. 00:44:09.039 --> 00:44:18.480 But I felt already but I felt already, I felt already that this is not very good or that it's not leading to something. 00:44:18.559 --> 00:44:25.280 Um but you know, I also decided in the first place to go that way, so in a way I was a part of the whole thing. 00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:29.039 It was not like the world was doing something bad to me. 00:44:29.119 --> 00:44:39.760 It was I I was a part of choosing, you know, and obviously that's a big luxury that you have the choice of actually that you can choose. 00:44:40.079 --> 00:44:44.320 I mean, millions and millions of people can't choose at all. 00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:44.719 Yeah. 00:44:44.880 --> 00:45:00.880 And I was in a situation where um through my family, through my education, through the way in Germany everything was pretty um, you know, possible, at least in terms of education and moving onwards. 00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:02.639 That was very helpful. 00:45:02.719 --> 00:45:14.000 Um, and um, yeah, and by that I found I think slowly the elements and the way how I get um how I can spend my time fulfilled. 00:45:14.320 --> 00:45:25.039 I want to ask you about um a film that you scored that I saw uh kind of by accident, uh, but people were talking about it, and I loved this movie. 00:45:25.119 --> 00:45:25.920 It was excellent. 00:45:26.079 --> 00:45:28.320 It's Hitler das Rosa Kaninchen style. 00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:28.960 Mm-hmm. 00:45:29.119 --> 00:45:29.360 Okay. 00:45:29.920 --> 00:45:34.239 This movie is if if you if you haven't seen it, I'm trying to figure out. 00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:35.920 Let me see what the English title for that is. 00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:37.679 Or do you happen to know what it is? 00:45:38.079 --> 00:45:44.800 No, I I'm not really sure what the English, because it was mainly made, I think, for the German uh television. 00:45:45.440 --> 00:45:48.239 If you can look it up, folks, uh it's it's worth watching. 00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:49.679 It's a beautiful movie. 00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:55.280 And how did you get involved with that film and scoring the the soundtrack to it? 00:45:56.400 --> 00:45:59.360 Um it was actually yeah, yeah. 00:45:59.440 --> 00:46:03.199 It was actually um the the director called me. 00:46:03.760 --> 00:46:04.320 What's his name? 00:46:05.519 --> 00:46:06.800 It's uh her her. 00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:10.800 I have to um um I have to look it up. 00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:11.920 I'm I'll look it up. 00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:13.360 I'll look it up while you tell the story. 00:46:13.599 --> 00:46:13.920 Go ahead. 00:46:14.320 --> 00:46:15.119 Yeah, go ahead. 00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:38.880 Um

and she was um let me just quickly look her name before before we because uh it's quite it was it was a book, it was a book written by yeah, yeah, the book was uh yeah, but um she she's a very she actually also was uh winning an Oscar. 00:46:39.840 --> 00:46:41.599 Director, let's see who it is. 00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:44.239 Who it is, who it is, who it is. 00:46:45.119 --> 00:46:49.039 It is Carolina Link, Caroline Link, yes, sorry. 00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.000 I'm I totally I totally space nose. 00:46:52.400 --> 00:47:00.639 Carolina Link is she's a wonderful yeah, she's a wonderful director, and we Hitler stole the pink rabbit, it's a literal translation. 00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:03.119 Yeah, it's a great story. 00:47:03.440 --> 00:47:25.679 Yes, it is one a wonderful story, and I think um uh Carolina normally works with another composer, um and um he was actually occupied by uh a different project, and so Carolina asked me if I could imagine to work with her on that film, and that's how it went. 00:47:25.760 --> 00:47:27.519 Uh so we're gonna how did you know her? 00:47:27.599 --> 00:47:28.480 How did you know her already? 00:47:28.559 --> 00:47:29.760 Or how did she know you? 00:47:30.159 --> 00:47:33.679 Well, she just contacted me out of the uh you know out of the blue. 00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:34.800 I didn't I didn't know her. 00:47:34.880 --> 00:47:36.400 No, I didn't know her beforehand. 00:47:36.559 --> 00:47:47.840 Um her composer that she normally works with is Nikki Reiser, a very wonderful colleague from Zurich or from Switzerland. 00:47:47.920 --> 00:47:52.079 I'm I think he lives now in he doesn't live in Zurich, but he lives in Switzerland. 00:47:52.320 --> 00:47:56.639 Speaking of which, shout out to Tormod, Tormod Ringness, who puts you and I in touch. 00:47:56.960 --> 00:47:57.519 Yes, yes. 00:47:58.000 --> 00:47:59.119 I love this guy, hey? 00:47:59.199 --> 00:47:59.920 Oh my god. 00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:04.719 Nicest, nicest man, and so charming and very talented. 00:48:04.960 --> 00:48:13.360 Um he was on he was on the show, and uh and I think we got to talking about uh and I'm trying to remember what what episode that was. 00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:14.159 It was a while ago. 00:48:14.239 --> 00:48:14.800 It was a while ago. 00:48:15.039 --> 00:48:19.760 Well, I I worked with him on the episode 99, actually, it's not that long ago, episode 99, Tormud. 00:48:20.559 --> 00:48:29.519 But I worked with him on War Sailor, um which was in which was the Norwegian submission for the Oscars in the same year as All Quiet. 00:48:29.599 --> 00:48:39.039 So I had like the Norwegian contender and the German contender in uh you know in the in the palette, and Warsailor is a really wonderful film. 00:48:39.679 --> 00:48:52.719 And um, you know, actually in Norway I was I'm I was many times for touring, and um it's a I mean all this let's say all the Scandinavian countries are countries that I love going. 00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:59.440 They are they are for me uh I love the cold, as I said, and and the woods. 00:48:59.840 --> 00:49:01.039 Oh yeah, nature like that. 00:49:01.119 --> 00:49:02.800 It's wonderful, it's beautiful, quiet. 00:49:03.519 --> 00:49:20.239 And uh you can actually you have you have areas that are looking like uh let's say uh areas in you know in the place where I grew up where you have just uh deer running around, elks, you know, it's it's really uh wonderful. 00:49:20.559 --> 00:49:21.199 Yeah, yeah. 00:49:21.360 --> 00:49:24.159 So yeah, uh thanks to Ahmad for for making this happen. 00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:38.239 He uh he came to New York and I met him uh because he was at a screening for um for the film and he asked me for a favor to help them out with with uh some audio stuff uh for the film and uh for the screening. 00:49:38.559 --> 00:49:41.519 And uh um, you know, we just we just got on great. 00:49:41.599 --> 00:49:44.000 And he was just like, Oh yeah, yeah, fuck, he's a friend of mine. 00:49:44.079 --> 00:49:45.280 I'm like, I love that movie. 00:49:45.440 --> 00:49:46.480 Can we get it on? 00:49:46.719 --> 00:49:48.800 And he was like, Yeah, no problem, I'll write to him. 00:49:48.960 --> 00:49:53.280 So, you know, and then Nina, I got to thank Nina Dietrich um for the reschedule. 00:49:53.360 --> 00:49:56.880 You know, she's she was uh she was wonderful, really easy and wonderful to deal with. 00:49:57.280 --> 00:50:05.920 Um okay, so so you know, I want to I want to kind of uh uh try to come full circle because we don't have that much time left. 00:50:06.239 --> 00:50:14.159 But um, you know, this your story is amazing, and and to end up in Hollywood and winning an Oscar, you know, it's a it's a big deal. 00:50:14.239 --> 00:50:19.280 You know, a lot of people uh think about this as the tip of the mountain, you know. 00:50:19.360 --> 00:50:25.519 And I I was talking about this, I was doing a workshop, um, like a master class with uh my uh students. 00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:34.559 Um I I I have some uh voice students and I do produ uh I produce and um I did a workshop and I I talked about the mountain. 00:50:35.039 --> 00:50:40.480 And the tip of the mountain is based, you know, I mean like something like winning an Oscar is it's pretty high up there. 00:50:40.880 --> 00:50:48.880 And I talked about how do you, you know, the the toughest part is like getting on the mountain, finding a way that that you can climb up. 00:50:49.360 --> 00:50:52.480 It's like like a real mountain, literally, you know. 00:50:52.559 --> 00:51:03.199 I mean I I I use that that that that metaphor uh with with intent because there's no way to get to the top of the mountain, you know, unless you have a helicopter. 00:51:03.280 --> 00:51:05.360 And there are no shortcuts in this business. 00:51:05.440 --> 00:51:06.639 I truly believe that. 00:51:07.039 --> 00:51:14.400 You know, the the right things happen at the right time and you have to trust, but you also have to make the effort

and you have to find out where you're going. 00:51:14.480 --> 00:51:16.880 And you were talking about this and how you get up that mountain. 00:51:16.960 --> 00:51:19.119 Where where's the entrance to the mountain, you know? 00:51:19.519 --> 00:51:32.079 And you know, you found this entrance kind of by by by chance, you know, you're at a popcom and all of a sudden you've got a record deal and you're just thinking in front of, and you're realizing this is uh yes, I'm on it, but this is not the right that's not the right avenue for me. 00:51:32.480 --> 00:51:42.559 And um you completely make a a hard left turn and start experimenting with sounds and and and then you end up working as a composer. 00:51:42.800 --> 00:51:50.719 So the the musical elements of that, I mean let's take the sounds uh out of the picture for for just uh just a minute. 00:51:50.960 --> 00:51:59.840 Um as far as composers that you uh listened to, who do you think influenced you the most? 00:52:00.079 --> 00:52:09.039 I know, tough question, but and it's gonna be more than one, I'm sure, but how where where uh where do your musical sensibilities come from, you think? 00:52:10.239 --> 00:52:37.280 Well, I would say from the very first film where I actually felt film music is so enormous and so um touching, and you know, such a big part of the film were two guys that I also later met uh in 2017 at a at a like a SEL um three Oscar meeting in Los Angeles, that was um John Williams and Ennio Morricone. 00:52:37.760 --> 00:52:40.639 Oh my god, and these names. 00:52:41.039 --> 00:52:50.960 Yes, but these these two are in a way the the the two guys that were in my childhood the composers that I heard the the first films from. 00:52:51.199 --> 00:53:14.719 And what I what I love about um Ennio Morricone is that he has uh such a sense for like pure melodies that are just you know going into your heart and you just don't forget them, and they are just leaving you, they don't be in you know, in the first place like fake or epic, they're just sometimes one vocal. 00:53:15.360 --> 00:53:36.159 Let's you know, um uh that there are so many films that I've seen with him where actually I was the the the pictures of the film were burned into my brain that I couldn't forget them, even though maybe they were not, you know, they were great and there was a white landscape and somebody was riding on a horse. 00:53:36.400 --> 00:53:44.159 But the music was the music was actually just giving me the feeling like, oh man, I want to sit on that horse, you know. 00:53:44.320 --> 00:53:44.800 Yeah, wow. 00:53:44.960 --> 00:54:04.320 And so and the the other, and and John Williams was so virtuous that I was thinking the way how he's arranging something was for me also in a way opening the door to something that is classical, but it's also working in a modern context, which you didn't had at that time a lot. 00:54:04.400 --> 00:54:14.480 With you had sometimes you know rock bands trying to play Bach or you know, playing classical pieces in a way, you know, that was also quite exception. 00:54:14.559 --> 00:54:26.079 Was one band at that time they were playing like these, you know, kind of uh rock um uh variations of uh Emerson Lincoln Palmer. 00:54:26.719 --> 00:54:27.519 Yeah, exactly. 00:54:27.679 --> 00:54:44.079 A little bit like that, or you know, they were playing like these rock versions of Mozart, or which was in a way interesting, but at the same time, John Williams was uh some something else that was in a way you know his own music, obviously, and it sounded really beer to us. 00:54:44.320 --> 00:54:59.920 And then I would say later in the game, I was uh definitely influenced by guys like Ruchi Sakamoto, um as well as uh I I would say uh the one of the first scores that Johnny Greenwood was doing. 00:55:00.239 --> 00:55:10.400 Uh I really loved how I mean whenever the film came on, like There Will Be Blood, for example, when I heard that the first time, I was like, that's different. 00:55:10.559 --> 00:55:18.320 You know, that's a different, that's a complete different, and it does also connect with my let's say with the Haushka world. 00:55:18.400 --> 00:55:22.079 It has some, you know, some abstract elements in there. 00:55:22.320 --> 00:55:33.519 So I had the feeling, okay, it's not only tonal, very virtuous music, it's also not only music that has a melody that is memorable. 00:55:33.679 --> 00:55:41.519 There's also music that actually is very memorable because it has a fantastic sound or it finds elements that are catchy. 00:55:41.760 --> 00:55:46.239 Like in hip-hop tunes, the sample in the background, when it was a good one. 00:55:46.800 --> 00:55:52.000 You know, you don't you didn't need so much more when the the sample was catchy. 00:55:52.320 --> 00:55:53.199 That was it. 00:55:53.360 --> 00:55:53.679 Yeah. 00:55:53.920 --> 00:56:13.280 So yeah, so these guys I would say I would mention as very um along the way were influencing me um by saying to me, Tolka, move onwards, go go get you know, try to get uh you know a film or try to make music for it. 00:56:13.920 --> 00:56:16.400 I just watched uh Star Wars again. 00:56:17.039 --> 00:56:23.119 The three the first the first three, the original ones from the 70s or going into early 80s. 00:56:23.440 --> 00:56:30.639 And it was John Williams' music where I and I realized right. 00:56:31.760 --> 00:56:39.760 This is so, you know, and everything is analog recorded, it's a full orchestra, it's probably like London Symphony, I think, yeah, on those films. 00:56:40.079 --> 00:56:44.000 The way it's recorded, it just sounds fantastic, it holds up really well. 00:56:44.320 --> 00:56:47.840 And in some ways it's actually holds up better than the film itself. 00:56:48.079 --> 00:57:07.119 Sorry, you know, I'm sure there's some I'm gonna get some angry emails, but but the memory, you know, when I I mean you watch the films and you know, you yes, you have that memory of the of the of the

movies, but to me this time going back to them and watching those films again, the Star Wars films, I the music is John Williams' music, and there's so much of it. 00:57:07.280 --> 00:57:09.199 The themes in there are endless. 00:57:09.679 --> 00:57:13.039 He wrote so many themes into that, you know, into those films. 00:57:13.360 --> 00:57:22.480 Yeah, but I I would I would actually not uh you know what I would say is because then you know, for writing good film music, you need obviously a very good film. 00:57:22.719 --> 00:57:39.199 And in in that is in that case, I would say the director and the composer, they worked so hand in hand that um it's you you you need definitely a good story and a great idea to transport all these wonderful themes and ideas. 00:57:39.440 --> 00:57:46.320 And at the same time, I also think that he's uh an icon for specifically for that kind of music. 00:57:46.480 --> 00:58:07.119 And what um I think in our days at the moment, which I maybe analyze a little bit like that, maybe I'm wrong, but you know, the world our world is getting so loud and so busy, and so there's so much going on with noises, and every time we go into the city, uh let's say we see billboards, and you know, there's sound from everywhere. 00:58:07.360 --> 00:58:09.519 When we are in the car, we hear a sound. 00:58:09.760 --> 00:58:22.639 So the films in our days with explosions and all that, um they feel they they're not asking anymore for another layer of massive uh compositions. 00:58:22.800 --> 00:58:34.000 Like whenever you have like many things going on in one scene, I sometimes even re don't remember anymore what the music was like because it's so busy and so full. 00:58:34.320 --> 00:58:55.440 And so I think there's also a longing of reduced music in certain areas, like where music actually can come in when it's really necessary and it helps and it you know it transports something, but in other areas there's film very pure and the acting is fantastic, and you know, everything works in. 00:58:55.760 --> 00:59:01.599 I mean, honestly, when I get a film, I want to have a film that works without music. 00:59:02.400 --> 00:59:20.320 And then and then I can actually add things to it because I mean everybody who is there on the screen is a a uh a fantastic professional, and you know, and hopefully the conditions are so good that they could perform everything in the right place. 00:59:20.400 --> 00:59:40.880 And if the director is a great director, normally you get a film that is you would love to do right every little tone in let's say in every uh every 10 minutes you would love to just drop something in there and just say, hey, this is totally enough, you know, and you have to hold yourself back. 00:59:41.519 --> 00:59:42.480 Exactly, exactly. 00:59:42.719 --> 01:00:06.480 That's I think a different I feel a little bit that's the time has changed a little bit in that sense, but I mean at the same time, when you hear then the next sequels uh of um

you know of Star Wars or all the new ones, and uh you hear you see Indiana Jones and you see John Williams working again, uh this is bloody amazing. 01:00:06.639 --> 01:00:09.840 And I would say there's nobody, there's nobody like him. 01:00:10.320 --> 01:00:26.719 Um and that's why I'm um I'm so in I'm so inspired by this person because he's also in an age where you um where you feel like you know uh he's working forever and still still working. 01:00:26.800 --> 01:00:29.119 And that's you ever meet him? 01:00:29.599 --> 01:00:36.079 Yeah, I met him uh in uh 2022 at the uh you know because we were both nominated. 01:00:36.320 --> 01:00:37.039 Yeah, amazing. 01:00:37.199 --> 01:00:44.239 And we had a we had a longer I would say a longer um 10 minutes chat, and that was very nice. 01:00:44.719 --> 01:00:49.440 Yeah, I mean that's like when you meet, you know, I mean it's always not always good when you meet your heroes, you know. 01:00:49.519 --> 01:01:18.000 When I was at the Grammys with the project that I had a song on that was nominated in 2011, I met I met a lot of people, you know, and and uh it it it was amazing to be in that space, but it was a lot all at once, you know, and it it's kind of but getting back to what you were uh talking about earlier, and then we we gotta wrap it up, but um you know the problem I have with a lot of new content, music, you know, music and uh at movies, uh, is they don't ask any more questions or they don't ask enough questions. 01:01:18.239 --> 01:01:23.280 You know, we're not really brought to the table to to respond. 01:01:23.440 --> 01:01:34.079 We're we're brought to the table to be bombarded, you know, with with uh with sound or with with uh visual or just all of this information. 01:01:34.320 --> 01:01:45.920 So and I l I love that you that you talk about that, where we you know I I want to be I want to still when I write a song, when I put out a record, you know, I want to ask a question. 01:01:46.320 --> 01:01:49.440 And it's something I think really important to remember, isn't it? 01:01:50.400 --> 01:01:57.280 That you that you that you ask that you that you ask something of the listener rather than just giving it to them. 01:01:58.000 --> 01:01:59.280 Which is how how do you do that? 01:01:59.440 --> 01:02:00.639 By creating space, right? 01:02:00.800 --> 01:02:06.000 I mean by Yeah, but I would also say it starts with asking yourself. 01:02:06.239 --> 01:02:09.760 I mean, uh, you know, if you ask yourself what I'm what am I doing? 01:02:09.920 --> 01:02:16.480 I mean if you just just you know, oh I have the chance to do film music, just smear it all on. 01:02:16.719 --> 01:02:30.639 I mean, that's like uh that's not the you know, I would say uh somebody who is actually respecting the own work is actually trying to find the essence of you know of what is strong. 01:02:30.800 --> 01:02:34.159 And that means like you have to go through a catharsis every time. 01:02:34.320 --> 01:02:36.960 You have to

ask yourself, is that strong enough? 01:02:37.280 --> 01:02:53.199 And if people are saying, um, you know, with you the collaborators you're with saying, hey, this doesn't work, that doesn't shouldn't bring you down, that should actually motivate you in a way to get better, and you know, creating another way of solving it. 01:02:53.440 --> 01:03:09.679 It's a little bit first of all, it is very strong of emotions, this process, but it is also an analytic uh I'm I'm I'm a big fan of mathematics, and I think you know, finding a solution was always something that was for me very inspiring. 01:03:09.840 --> 01:03:27.360 So when I had a a mathematical problem in front of me, I tried to find different ways of solving it, you know, from all sorts of sides, and that helps you obviously to find variations of you understand the surroundings of the problem much better. 01:03:27.599 --> 01:03:49.920 And the more I'm doing that with you know with music and with composition and with anything I'm let's say I'm attached with in a very strong way, the better actually I feel in terms of trying to deliver the strongest output that I can deliver at that time. 01:03:50.639 --> 01:03:54.960 Um and I'm not getting depressed when I'm having obstacles in my way. 01:03:55.119 --> 01:04:04.000 I actually find a way around it and you know, or over above it, or incorporating the obstacle in in a sense. 01:04:04.159 --> 01:04:05.840 And I think that's important. 01:04:06.480 --> 01:04:10.320 I think that's a great note, no pun intended, to end on. 01:04:10.960 --> 01:04:12.480 It was great speaking with you. 01:04:12.639 --> 01:04:21.599 Uh you're a very insightful uh person, and uh I love your I love your music, so you know consider me a fan. 01:04:21.840 --> 01:04:23.519 And uh yeah, thank you for doing this. 01:04:23.599 --> 01:04:37.599 You know, I want to I want to finish off with uh uh uh telling, you know, asking you to to talk about maybe what you have coming up, if there's something interesting that that you have coming out soon and and how people can can find you on the interwebs. 01:04:38.639 --> 01:04:49.599 Well, I mean the the thing that uh actually was or the film that I uh released very soon was uh that will come out very soon is the film Conclave. 01:04:49.920 --> 01:04:50.559 Conclave. 01:04:51.119 --> 01:04:52.079 Conclave, yes. 01:04:52.159 --> 01:04:58.480 It was uh it had the premiere in Toronto Film Festival, and it will be released in November. 01:04:58.639 --> 01:05:02.000 Um I I I think even in the late October. 01:05:02.079 --> 01:05:16.320 I'm you know Can you talk a little bit but quickly about the film, what what it's about, and and the film is about the voting process uh of uh you know of the Pope, obviously, because it's conclave, but it's incorporating a like a thriller. 01:05:16.719 --> 01:05:20.320 Um it is incorporating a lot of questions about life. 01:05:20.559 --> 01:05:30.880 Um it's a very um you know, it has all things that you want from a good film in terms of filmmaking, um acting. 01:05:30.960 --> 01:05:32.800 Um it's it's a really wonderful film. 01:05:32.880 --> 01:05:35.920 I Isabella Rossellini is in it, one of my favorites. 01:05:36.239 --> 01:05:43.920 Yes, and Ralph Feinz is uh the main actor, and Stanley Tucci is also one of the actors, so it's a very nice setting. 01:05:44.159 --> 01:05:44.800 Great function. 01:05:45.199 --> 01:05:49.199 And they and they really performed wonderfully. 01:05:49.280 --> 01:06:04.079 Uh but besides that, um being a part of something like that makes me always happy, and uh, you know, um actually watching it with the with the audience and seeing how they react is something that always makes me satisfied. 01:06:04.159 --> 01:06:07.440 Like I'm stage diving, you know, just being a part of the audience. 01:06:08.079 --> 01:06:09.280 Oh it full circle. 01:06:09.360 --> 01:06:09.840 Here we go. 01:06:09.920 --> 01:06:10.480 We we got it. 01:06:10.639 --> 01:06:11.280 Yes, cool. 01:06:11.440 --> 01:06:15.440 So uh how can people find you on uh online, Volka? 01:06:15.840 --> 01:06:21.519 Well, they can go on my website, which is uh haushka-net.de. 01:06:25.199 --> 01:06:26.800 Yes, dash net.de. 01:06:27.039 --> 01:06:32.639 And there is some actually um my website is split it into hauschka and volker bertelman. 01:06:32.719 --> 01:06:43.679 Hauschka is more my performance uh name, and you can see where I'm performing, uh live concerts, and uh the other side is more about the film music. 01:06:44.320 --> 01:06:50.159 And on both sides I'm active, so there will be more records coming out, and there will be more excellent soundtracks. 01:06:50.559 --> 01:06:52.480 If you come to New York, let me know. 01:06:52.719 --> 01:06:53.119 I will. 01:06:53.440 --> 01:06:54.559 There's something screening. 01:06:54.639 --> 01:06:58.480 I I want to be there, and uh, you know, that I want to see Tormod again, too. 01:06:58.559 --> 01:06:59.599 I had so much fun with that guy. 01:06:59.679 --> 01:07:02.400 It was like so just loving to hang out with. 01:07:02.719 --> 01:07:04.480 And so are you, and thank you again. 01:07:04.559 --> 01:07:06.880 Um, just want to cut a couple of announcements, folks. 01:07:06.960 --> 01:07:13.840 I'm gonna be at the Island Hopper Songwriter Festival in Florida, uh, BMI sponsored festival next week. 01:07:14.079 --> 01:07:15.440 Several shows there. 01:07:15.679 --> 01:07:23.599 And then I have a uh a new single coming out with Rachel Flowers, that is that I wrote with Annie Haslam of the group Renaissance. 01:07:23.679 --> 01:07:24.239 You might know them. 01:07:24.320 --> 01:07:30.719 You might know the Renaissance, you've probably back in the day they built with like electric light orchestra. 01:07:30.880 --> 01:07:33.360 Then there's a whole progressive rock uh well. 01:07:33.519 --> 01:07:38.400 I mean the the name rings a bell, but I'm you know it's uh it's a long time ago. 01:07:38.719 --> 01:07:48.239 It's we wrote this song a long time ago, Annie and I, um several years ago, and uh uh she's she's doing one last tour with Renaissance this this fall. 01:07:48.480 --> 01:07:52.719 Um but uh uh Rachel Flowers uh came in on vocals on it, and it sounds fabulous. 01:07:52.800 --> 01:07:54.880 I can't wait for everybody to hear that. 01:07:55.119 --> 01:07:59.440 But uh again, thank you to my guest, Volker Battleman, aka Haushka. 01:07:59.920 --> 01:08:02.159 Check out his work, it's brilliant. 01:08:02.320 --> 01:08:03.119 You'll enjoy it. 01:08:03.280 --> 01:08:09.840 Anything that uh any movies that he's that he's done, um you're gonna you're gonna enjoy, I'm pretty sure. 01:08:10.079 --> 01:08:13.760 And uh we have a couple more people coming up here for the season. 01:08:13.840 --> 01:08:17.199 I've got I'm on a little break because I'm hitting the road for the next uh couple weeks. 01:08:17.279 --> 01:08:20.960 So we'll be back in October with some new episodes. 01:08:21.199 --> 01:08:24.319 Again, thank you, Coca, and uh thank you everybody for tuning in.