Q: How did you come to the decision to make acoustic music?
A: As some may already know, I haven't just started making music in April 2008, but have been doing it for about 15 years. The last 9 years in Berlin were quite successful. I played with Lightkultur. When Lightkultur disbanded, I lost the desire to make music. I wanted to focus on other things. But somehow, I was always drawn back to music. Once a musician, always a musician.
I didn't want to be in a band anymore. When you do something alone, you don't have many options, either electronic music or acoustic music. 2008 was quite a hype regarding acoustic music, so I told myself that I would try something with the acoustic guitar. From the beginning, I tried to sell it as “punk rock acoustic.” Real stories, with a beginning, middle, and profound message are not really my thing. Punk rock acoustic is a good description of the style. That's how it came to be. A man and a guitar.
Q: Why do you consciously call your music “punk rock acoustic”?
A: I find the term singer-songwriter to be crap. Singer-songwriter is actually, even though it doesn't concern my and your generation anymore, quite disreputable. It's about protest songs against nuclear power plants and such. That's a red flag for many. I wanted to do my own thing in the acoustic realm. At some point, I wrote the song called “Punkrock Acoustic” and then decided to name my music just that. It's just pop music with a guitar and a bad singer. To give it character, I named it “punk rock acoustic.” I think that fits very well.
Q: Do you have punk rock roots?
A: Yes.. I grew up with a lot of pop and German rock-punk. Slime were my heroes in my youth! Today, I don't understand that anymore. My political views have changed quite a bit.
Q: Have you since said goodbye to punk? In the song “Punkrock Acoustic,” you also criticize the hanging around of punks a bit.
A: That wasn't meant at all. The lyrics themselves are not bad, but for me, it was difficult to connect verses and chorus. Moreover, I wanted to express what punk rock acoustic is. The easiest way was to pick up the story about the people who actually sit on the street with mohawks and studded belts, strumming some songs on their guitars. That's my definition of punk rock acoustic, although it's of course ambiguous because the lyrics only describe a certain image.
Q: In 2008, your first album “Üben für´s Debut” was released as a download album. How was the album received?
A: I was positively surprised. Even former band members expressed very positive opinions about my songs. It gradually gained more and more momentum. I promoted it more and more. The promotion was and is exclusively through MySpace, as I had and have no money for other things. Overall, there was little negative feedback. Most responses were positive. It was also interesting that someone wrote to me that he started a punk rock acoustic project because of my songs. That made me think. Such a role model function is completely new to me. I absolutely didn't expect that. Nor did I expect that my album would be downloaded so many times in a relatively short time. I wrote and recorded all the songs in one month. I told myself that I wanted to make a record, and I followed through. Most songs I wrote in half an hour and recorded in half an hour. I did that for a month.
Q: On your MySpace page, you can see that you played a lot, also many gigs outside. How did you manage to get so many performances so quickly?
A: I booked the first concerts myself. I looked classically at where others had played before. Then I contacted the venues, called them, and said that I would like to play there. I also offered them my entire album for download. That worked quite well. I also got a few concerts organized through friends.
Q: Many songs have a reference to Berlin. How is that received outside?
A: I have a song called “Ich komme aus Berlin.” It's rough. It talks about how people who don't come from Berlin are just from villages and have no idea about life. But it's not meant to be malicious, rather ironic. The lyrics are more directed against big cities like Hamburg, Cologne, or Munich. In northern Germany, people feel attacked by the lyrics, but in their own way, they still stay cool. In the Braunschweig, Salzgitter, and Hanover area, they understand it more. They celebrate the song and can live with it. It was quite surprising in Flensburg; I thought someone would come and hit me.
Q: Is there a plan to release the songs on a CD someday?
A: It's not planned. There will be no CD of “Üben für´s Debut.” When my next album comes out, “Üben für´s Debut” will also disappear.
Q: Which singer-songwriters have influenced you?
A: Funny van Dannen is in a certain way my role model. Musically, what I do is different, and I would never be able to do it like Funny, but for me, Funny is just a great singer-songwriter. I don't want to emulate him; I would never manage that anyway. I am “punk rock acoustic” and thus the first to really call my style that.
Q: With this style, you also give yourself a certain freedom.
A: That's true, but it always depends on the charm. You have to present the songs on stage. You can't just sit on a bar stool completely drunk and fall over during the gig. Especially not when people have paid for entry. However, people also know what to expect. They go to my concerts because they like the lyrics, want to sing along, and celebrate. There are always people who don't know the songs, but for oneself, for example, announcements eventually become boring. You always have to come up with something new to make the gig interesting for yourself and your fans.
Q: I would like to get a comment from you on all your titles from “Üben für´s Debut,” for example, why you wrote this or that song.
A: Should I answer that honestly?
Q: Do it as you wish, but honesty would be nice.
The first song is “Singen wie Fred Timm.”
A: That was the first song I wrote. Fred Timm is a singer-songwriter from Hamburg. He used to play with “Norbert & die Feiglinge.” Now he is a member of “Monsters auf Liedermaching.” I saw a video of him where you can tell that the guy can really sing well. That gave me the idea to promote Fred Timm a bit and at the same time express where I stand with this song. In the song, I explain that I can't do much, except drink, smoke, and talk nonsense.
Q: “Ich komme aus Berlin”
A: A clear statement about Berlin. An ex-girlfriend of mine is from Cologne. When we were together, I spent a lot of time in Cologne. I heard from many that I come from the East, basically from Russia, and have no idea at all. That totally surprised me. They live in a big city but act very rural.
As a second punk, the hatred that many Berliners have towards all the newcomers, like the Swabians, should be mentioned.
The highlight was that I once applied for something here in Berlin. They looked at me in disbelief when I said that I come from Berlin. They couldn't believe that someone sitting in front of them was born in Berlin. Completely absurd! These experiences inspired me to write the song.
Q: “Ich tanz keinen Pogo mehr”
A: A clear statement about the music. The song doesn't have much text but says everything that needs to be said. I still go to a lot of concerts, but basically, I don't fully stand behind the music anymore. I'm not a fan anymore. I'm just there, and because of that, I don't dance pogo anymore.
Q: “Punkrock Acoustic”
A: There's not much to say. The chorus was there; I had to add the rest.
I think it turned out well.
Q: “Gehe nach Hause, mein Freund”
A: The idea behind it is that I imagined what it's like when you have friends who have kids. In the past, we would say we would definitely hang out until 5:00 AM, but what is it like when you have kids? When maturity sets in?
The funny thing is that later I met someone who is going through the same thing. That's the singer-songwriter “Herr Binner.” He has a son who is seven years old.
You can never go out with him because he always has to take care of his son in the evening.
Q: “Dick genannt”
A: I've said that way too often to women, in places where it shouldn't have been said.
Q: “Geh kacken”
A: The song is a kind of chorus thing. The chorus was there, and I liked it so much that I wanted to use it further, but I also wanted to counter it with something. I tried to describe grievances. I think I didn't succeed that well because I don't have much to complain about.
Q: “Ein Stück Liebe”
A: I love this woman; there's nothing more to say about it.
Q: “Steffi und Nina”
A: I wanted to write a song about two girlfriends. It's a fictional song about two girlfriends. The song was created in 5 minutes.
Q: “Du nicht”
A: Says everything I wanted to say.
Q: “Flamingo”
A: The song was created at half past one at night. I was completely drunk but had the idea to make a song. Then I recorded it, and it was clear that it would also be on the album.
Q: “Nicht lieb”
A: This is originally a song from my old band “Lightkultur.” I already liked it quite a bit in its original form because of the message the song has. I was able to pick it up well, also with the punchline at the end. It turned out to be a classic singer-songwriter song.
Q: What did your former bandmates say about it?
A: I sent them the song and asked if I could release it like that.
That was immediately approved. So it was okay, and the song made it onto the album.
Q: “Alter VW Bus”
A: This is the saddest song I have. While writing, I had the Reinhard-Mey thought, should I sing about my toaster, should I sing about my vacuum cleaner? Then I thought of my VW bus. The melody is completely stolen from a singer-songwriter band called “Soda light.”
Q: “Sprichwörtlich”
A: I'm proud of this song. I really thought about proverbs. But I didn't get far; the song only had three verses and no chorus. Then I thought that at least I have to make a statement at the end.
Q: “Er schweigt weiter”
A: This is the most personal song on the album, and the people it is directed at know what's up. I hope so, but honestly, I don't believe it. They're not that intelligent.
Q: “Mein Tag”
A: I once lived with the woman to whom “Ein Stück Liebe” is also dedicated. The song was created during that time.
Q: “Bei Ernst”
A: In the pub “Bei Ernst” in Sprengelkiez in Berlin Wedding, the well-known singer-songwriter Rüdiger Bierhorst plays very often. He is also briefly mentioned in the text. Together with Funny van Dannen, he is the singer-songwriter who is a bit of my role model. I have seen many of his concerts at “Bei Ernst” and always enjoyed going there.
Q: As the last song, “Der Tag.”
A: This is a 5-minute piece. I somewhat hope that the song will become a festival hit, and when I camp at the “Force Attack” festival soon, someone in the neighboring tent plays this song at 8:00 AM, and the song runs up and down there.
Q: As a final question, how did you get into the singer-songwriter scene? And how do you feel about the Berlin singer-songwriters in particular?
A: Since I had been active in the Berlin punk and pop-punk scene for years before, it was clear to me from the beginning that I would do it alone. I wanted to start completely unburdened. Nowadays, I am on the guest list of the singer-songwriters whose concerts I used to attend. You are not good friends with everyone, but you know each other by now. The numbers of the most important people are all in my phone.
On THILO mit H's MySpace page, you can download “Üben für´s Debüt” and his two EPs. The next concerts are also listed there. I can only recommend checking out THILO. His songs are refreshing, funny, and ironic. The best I've heard in the acoustic realm in a long time.
