Interview with Bonaparte band from Berlin

Παρουσιάζουμε με μεγάλη χαρά την αποκλειστική συνέντευξη που μας παραχώρησαν οι Bonaparte από το Βερολίνο. Η δημοφιλής μπάντα που στα 3 πρώτα της χρόνια παρουσίας στην μουσική σκηνή έχει καταφέρει ήδη να κερδίσει το ενδιαφέρον του κόσμου, τις πολύ καλές κριτικές από μουσικά sites και περιοδικά, κάποια ευρωπαϊκά βραβεία, αλλά και το προσωπικό της στοίχημα να δώσει μία άλλη πνοή σε αυτό που αποκαλείται indie σκηνή. Εδώ και καιρό βρίσκονται σε μεγάλη περιοδεία στην Ευρώπη, ενώ πρόσφατα κυκλοφόρησαν τον νέο τους δίσκο, My Horse Likes You. Δείτε πως απαντάει ο Ελβετός leader της μπάντας Tobias Jundt στις ερωτήσεις που του απηύθυνε ο Αριστοτέλης.

1. Can you tell me the story of Bonaparte, how you met, what made you form a band, your initial musical vision/ethos and where the name came from?

In 2006 Monsieur Bonaparte drove around Europe in an old red italian rally car from the 60ies with the number 21 on the doors and in the front. He was doing a race but being the only car in the rally he never arrived. Somehow he eventually got stuck in Barcelona and started writing music with a laptop and his guitar. Then the Bar25 in Berlin said "Why don't you come and play a gig here?!". And so Monsieur Bonaparte went to Berlin and never left. That is the beginning of Bonaparte!

So I guess the name comes from traveling the roads of europe, looking at maps trying to decide how to attack, how to win the battle of entertainment, how to create a music that is physical. I wanted to feel something. I wanted music that is both for the body and the soul, for the legs and the head and the heart. Something that is extreme, going to the fullest, if you think you gave all that you have, give more. Something that is not only on the edge but over the edge, therefor defining the boundaries again and again every night in the performance. Most of us actually met on stage. in the beginning I used to play alone, drive around berlin in my little red race car and play shows at raves and parties at people houses. sometime we played as a trio, then adding keyboards later forming a 4tet, which is still how the band is set-up musically for live shows - drums, guitar, bass, keys. Ιt all happened quite fast and natural that eventually we were some sort of a traveling circus, so I called these shows the "circus show". So there are different levels. There's the music I write and record at home, then there is the band that performs live, and then there's the whole entourage of people doing visual things - dancing, costumes, film, photography, etc.

2. Who are your major influences?
Huu.. this is so hard to say. First it depends whether you want to know my influences or the ones of other people in the group, and then it depends if it's influence that shaped Bonaparte or influences that were important to us in private. Let's say I love Serge Gainsbourg or Django Reinhardt. While the first probably has an influence somewhere in the lyrics, the later is hardly found in Bonaparte. We draw from many corners and also feeding off of from each other. Sometime it is just faint memories of things, like old fellini movies we'd watch as kids or pictures from old circus life in 1920. And then of course the time we are living in. In the end everything is about the "now" because that is all we've got to play with!

3. What's the sound of your new album "My Horse likes you"? What should we expect? What does the name stand for?

Well.. listen to it! Although it has a orchestral introduction and features my out-of-tune kitchen piano, I limited myself much more in the studio, choosing the legs of the sound-design: 1 guitar from the 60ies, a drum we recorded with some old equipment and then mashed it up, a korg ms-20 synth and then some other synth and the live bass. But as you can hear, it ended up being a wild ride through many styles and moods, we thought we'd end up with a pony but we finally had to ride a wild wild wild horse. So anyway, it is not me who has to describe the music of Bonaparte. It should be you. What is the sound of the new Bonaparte album?

4. Could you briefly describe the music-making process?

I carry a little book with me where I write down my ideas. When it's about time to record a new album I lock myself up in a little room and start combining these snippets of things that I found during the past year. It's combining what I feel at the moment with what I collected on the travels. Sometimes I do co-writes with friends, meeting at their house and not leaving until a song is written and recorded. That works pretty well, I guess because it's two people being involved, it becomes like playing a game, pingpong, sex, co-writing, a thing for two. But when I write alone it can be anything from "i hear this thing in my head.. it's perfect.. I need to record it now" and the song is done in an hour up to "i have a vision... let's try to figure that one out" and then it can take weeks, month sometimes years! Once I have recorded most of the stuff I start calling more people to record certain additional elements. Once an album is done and me and my brother finished the artwork, the big question is; What happens when we play these songs live. Somehow this is what it's all about, to play music live. To perform, to sweat, to battle, to interact with the band and the audience. And I sometimes think the whole process of recording an album is only to draw a little map of a song, the real life of songs happens live! You have to sing and perform with people for people, then the music can go to magic levels.

5. What do you do on your spare time outside the band?

I like to do anything that is very different from the band. Like that I have the most energy on stage. So I do things like knitting scarfs, reading books about animals, riding my horse - also talking to my horse a lot too! I am currently translating greek mythology into hardcore techno songs for children! That's a fun project.

6. What is your opinion about the current music scene?

I often wish I was born in a different time. But I guess that has nothing to do with the current music scene really. One of the interesting things is the way and the pace how new music is reaching an audience today. Everyone is connected. That creates a lot of energy. But it also makes it hard sometimes to focus on the stuff that is dear to us, the music that is really important to us as individuals. We have to make more choices, saying this I take in, this I leave out. And I think there are amazing things going on, some people have amazing production skills, combining styles.

Although I do miss certain elements that scenes of the past had, either because the recording standard was much simpler or simply because there was more emphasize on melody or lyrics or the feeling of the band as such. The energy of the moment. To hear that a performance and a recording is happening now. So to me, even though I love to get lost in old recordings, it's exciting to live in the now, to be part of the now. And one day we can look back at it an laugh our asses off saying "haha..look what we did back then in 2010.. haha..we thought that was a fat bass-drum.. haha..we tought 9 minutes was a long track.. haha..and we mixed in surround sound 5.1.. haha.." because eventually everything will be reconstructed by some kids from around the corner! And we 'll be sitting out on the porch in our wheelchairs listening to our oldschool radios playing these amaaazzziinnnggg fresh new beats. It will be fun!

7. Some bands you would recommend?

In Berlin, I'd recommend some of my friends because they are very passionate about their music and amazing musicians like Modeselektor, Sirius Mo, Susanna Berivan, Boysnoize, Housemeister. Then there are many great bands out there, but to be honest, especially when it comes down to "indie bands" I hardly know anything. I like to listen to older music a lot. Things that are different from what is hip now. Like old blues, or soundtracks of old movies, even of silent movies too.

Thank you for your time!

Thank you too. We want to come play in Greece! Ok? Make it happen! We want to play on all of the greek islands! Each and everyone of them... bum bum bum and hello from Berlin!