„I ate Frank Sinatra’s children” – Gruppentherapie mit The Blood Arm
02.07.2007
Sie tuckeln im Kleinbus quer durch Europa, schwärmen von den positiven Nebenerscheinungen der kürzlich erreichten Popularität. Wonach sie sich jedoch wirklich sehnen, ist ein bisschen Zocken auf der im Backstage-Bereich aufgebauten Nintendo Wii, welche schon The Rifles in ihren Bann zog. The Blood Arm sind eine außergewöhnliche Band.

Besonders in Interviews kommt dies zutage – man weiß nie, ob sie einen gerade ordentlich auf den Arm nehmen oder ob die Welt, in der sie geistig leben und schweben, ganz einfach so schräg ist. Unmittelbar nach ihrem jetzt schon legendären Auftritt beim State of the Heart nahm sich die gesamte Band Zeit, um für ein ebenso denkwürdiges Interview zu sorgen. Das Resultat ist eine halbe Stunde voll von sexuellen Verwirrungen, unangenehmen Erlebnissen mit anderen Bands, Albträumen und zehn Tage lang nicht gewechselter Unterwäsche – Willkommen in der Gruppentherapie Britishrock für paranoide Bands! Was jetzt folgt, ist das Protokoll einer teils völlig abstrusen Sitzung, welche vermutlich wenig zur Besserung beigetragen hat, aber umso lesenswerter ist.

I claim that I have seen quite a few concerts so far, but I’ve never seen anything like that before. Do you do all of the stuff you did tonight at each gig?

Zebastian: No, you can’t do that!

Nathaniel: Well, I try to change it every time to keep our performance interesting. Normally, new ideas come to my mind constantly – good things and bad things.

How much of all of that is spontaneous?

Nathaniel: Most of it, definitely.

Did you ever hurt yourself?

Nathaniel: Not really, I have to say. I guess I’m still waiting for the broken leg!

Dyan: But it’s not only him. This guy here [Zebastian] once climbed on a bar to get himself some beer during a show. He got hit on the head by something quite badly but played on like that to the end. Really scary!

Zachary: I was really worried about you.

Zebastian: Oh, thank you, darling!

Nathaniel: Not that worried!

Where did you experience the most outgoing audience? Is it possible to judge something like that?

Nathaniel: Hmm, I don’t think so.

Zachary: Tonight!

Nathaniel: Yeah, probably tonight! Definitely the most people on stage we ever had. Normally it’s harder to do that because of the security.

Zachary: Everybody seemed to be very easy-going…

Nathaniel: …I love that, you know. That’s the whole point of our show. We want people to feel good, feel free. There’s no barrier between us!

With an exceptional show like this, do you fear your music alone is not enough to convince people?

Nathaniel: I think you need both. Well, we want both. Isn’t everything important? All our songs, the arrangements, how the songs are ordered on the record, the record’s artwork – and the live show, of course. You can buy the record and don’t watch our gigs, that’s fine. But if you see us, you’ll enjoy both things.

Dyan: I’m sure that when you listen to the record at home it’s a different experience.

Zachary: But we want people to enjoy more than just the CD at home, that’s why.

Can you tell me something about your first record “Bomb romantics” because I think it wasn’t released here. What was the…

Dyan: It wasn’t released anywhere!

Zebastian: We sold about a thousand copies, everything organised on our own.

Nathaniel: Hopefully one day we’ll have a proper release to become incredibly famous.

Is that your aim?

Nathaniel: Aahm, yes! Well, our aim is to make records, make progress, to reach a wider audience.

Well, now some of your songs get quite a lot of airplay, but still we don’t know that much about you. So, what took you so long? What were the low points, the high points recently?

Nathaniel: We had no high points so far, it’s been all low points for us. But basically, since our album was released, we’ve been very fortunate. We’ve been able to tour Europe and the UK a lot. Thankfully, radios picked up our songs. And, more important, our live shows, of course. People… ask us out… on dates. Now, we’re like the popular girl in high school…

Dyan: …after a makeover.

Zebastian: Yeah, like, now she’s dyed her hair blond, everybody comes along, saying “heeey, what’s up?” That’s how we feel at the moment.

You toured with some exceptional bands like Maximo Park. How was it with them? Is there someone you especially liked?

[suddenly everyone’s totally quiet]

Ok, I see.

Zachary: I like all of them… I think.

Nathaniel: The only group… we don’t like… is… a thrash metal band called Powersurge. They are from L.A. too and we had to tour with them. Once, they forced me to vomit and eat that then. It’s like having sex with your own mother. They are our mortal enemy! They are like The Beatles to The Rolling Stones.

With one girl in a band the obvious question now would be to ask you [Dyan] how that feels. But I’m careful with that now after you [Nathaniel] talked on stage about him [Zachary] as the mother of your children. So…

Nathaniel: How is it to be the woman?

Dyan: Yeah, well… How is it?

Zachary: I… like to be androgynous. It’s interesting. So far, I experienced a lot of love and acceptance.

Nathaniel: [touching Zach’s belly] Isn’t it some kind of monster?

Zachary: Mmmh, yeah… can you feel it?

Ok… Let’s talk about your “Master of Ceremony”. I thought he did a really good job, he was funny and it was interesting to watch so many people suddenly approaching the stage. Some people asked me if he is the singer. So, how came this kind of invention into your mind?

Zebastian: It came into his mind, he kind of forced us to do that. Well, I have to say I can’t remember how that started.

Dyan: We should get rid of him!

Nathaniel: We’ve been dating him for five years and it’s like: “Ah, well, we’re not happy!”

Zebastian: But it’s comfortable!

Nathaniel: Yeah, it’s so comfortable. It’s like being married. I want a divorce, but I think I can’t get one.

So, maybe you should fresh up your marriage!

Zebastian: Yeah, exactly. We just bully him. We always say: ”Don’t talk so loud, don’t say this, don’t do that!”

My guess is that he’s kind of the secret fifth band member who isn’t able to play an instrument…

Nathaniel: …or would do anything.

Asking what the name of a band is about or where the ideas for it came from is such a boring thing but again, in your case, I just have to ask.

Nathaniel: Have you ever seen the film “Goodfellas”?

Of course.

Nathaniel: There’s this thing that when you cross some kind of border, when you kill someone for the first time – that’s “the blood arm”. What we do is, we kill the audience with our music. Then everybody’s in the mafia, the blood arm mafia!

Zachary: I don’t remember that thing.

Nathaniel: What?

Zachary: That whole thing, the idea for the name, that scene in the movie.

Dyan: Shall we watch it again? I think we should.

Do you see everything you do as one big thing, one piece of great entertainment – the artwork of your album, the subjects of your songs, the “Master of Ceremony”, things you do on and off stage?

Nathaniel: I don’t think about it like that. I mean our record is not concept record, it’s not “Jesus Christ Superstar”. After all, we want to do a rock’n’roll show. It is important to us that people who come to our shows have fun.

Dyan: And it’s different every night.

Nathaniel: It is different. Depends on how much this guy… [points on Zachary]

Zachary: …how much make-up you wear!

Nathaniel: Oh, am I still wearing it?

Yeah, what about the make-up? Any advice on styling?

Nathaniel: Don’t put it on! That’s the advice.

So, how come?

Nathaniel: Well, I have those brilliant ideas before we get on stage. Hey, let’s do some shots, or: hey, let’s put on… make-up! Doesn’t it look a little bit like the album cover?

Recently we interviewed a band, musically good but incredible arrogant. They didn’t talk much on stage, didn’t say “hello!”, “thank you” or “bye”. We asked them afterwards why that is and they argued that they do not feel like messiahs. For them it’s all about their music, they explained they don’t like this “come to me, my children!”-thing which they claimed Robbie Williams is doing. You walk right into the audience – what do you think about this attitude?

Nathaniel: I hate that attitude! That’s one of the reasons why I started a band. I can’t stand all those groups wearing sunglasses and holding their guitars like “oh, we’re so important, it’s a pleasure for you to see us”.

Dyan: A privilege!

Nathaniel: A privilege! And for me it’s like: wow! I’m excited, because this is the second time I’m in Austria and I’m amazed to see all those people here. So, I want to go out there, put on the best show, grab everybody, hug them and say “thank you!” I’m always happy to have everybody there.



Do you plan to go on for as long as possible? Can you imagine dying on stage or would you stop as soon as there’s no success?

Nathaniel: Well, at one point it gets pathetic. At the moment we’re making progress, we’re able to tour, people come to our shows, we have and album out and enjoy everything. So, I don’t think about stop everything. As long as people give us a lot of money for doing it, we’ll do it!

Dyan: And free drinks!

Nathaniel: And free drinks, of course!

Let’s talk about your hometown Los Angeles. I guess it’s pretty hard to describe such a huge, complex city in a few words, but how was it for you growing up there, how was or is the music scene?

[silence]

That says everything.

Nathaniel: No, it was great! There are many different influences and cultures there, sort of a melting pot. You get to know a lot of different people like artists or musicians, and many different things, like schools or food. It kind of stands for a bigger vision of the world, and hopefully that comes across in our music.

When I read something about L.A. or I talk to people about the city, everybody tells me that it’s kind of superficial, but that New York is the centre of all the interesting stuff going on. Is that true?

Nathaniel: No!

Dyan: No!

Nathaniel: The thing is that people think of Hollywood when they think of L.A. But there’s so much more apart from news such as “Paris Hilton is in jail”. But come to talk to New York it’s like “they have good pizza there and all these cool bands”. There are so many great bands from L.A. Slowly people seem to realize that there’s this powerful indie rock scene. But there are all types of music, so I think it’s time! We’re ready, Los Angeles! Can you hear us?

So would you feel offended if people that listen to your music for the first time think that you’re a new band from a supercool New York music scene?

Nathaniel: If they don’t know it, then I don’t expect them to. I mean, sometimes I listen to new stuff and think: wow, some cool new British stuff – oh, wait, it’s from… Kentucky. But we’re from L.A. – and we love it. Like the Randy Newman song, you know this one? [they all start to sing] “I love L.A., we love it!”

The opposite to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”…

Nathaniel: Exactly. I ate Frank Sinatra’s children.

Did you ever question your ability of handling your self-confidence?

Nathaniel: I think everybody else has a problem with my self-confidence, but not me!

Where are you actually coming from, where was your last gig?

Nathaniel: Paris! We drove 13 hours yesterday…

Dyan: … and five hours today!

No flights?

Nathaniel: No flights, a lot of driving. We watch a lot of movies…

Like “Goodfellas”?

Nathaniel: Yeah, well, you [Zachary] should watch it again!

Do you always know where you are and were you’re going next?

Nathaniel: Not always. But I know that we’re going to Zürich from here.

Do you maybe know some German words or expressions?

Nathaniel: What’s your name?

Thomas.

Nathaniel: Ich… liebe Thomas.

Oh, thank you.

Nathaniel: Damen and Herren.

Dyan: Bitte kommen sie näher!

Excellent! Maybe very useful for tonight, you never know! My last request: please tell me something you never told an interviewer before.

Zebastian: When we were playing Glastonbury, I was not feeling too well. I had to throw up which I did – but just into my mouth. I had to swallow everything again, but some stuff got out, on my guitar. At one point I had to turn the volume of my guitar down but I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to touch that part of the guitar, with the vomit on it.

Vomiting seems to have quite an important role in your life at the moment. First, there’s this band that forced you to throw up, now…

Zebastian: I was thinking on Powersurge when I threw up.

Dyan: I didn’t notice you threw up on stage? Why didn’t you tell us?

Maybe you should also think about the chemistry within your band because I’m actually the first person you talked about this unpleasant experience.

Dyan: I sometimes get nightmares at night. In hotels, I share a room with Zebastian. I suddenly start screaming and he tries to wake me up. I’m having horrible nightmares of not having fingers.

Zachary: Aahm… I’ve been wearing the same pants and underpants for the last ten days.

Dyan: That’s true.

Nathaniel: I hate [Kaiser Chiefs singer] Ricky Wilson! I eat him like roast chicken and them throw him up on Powersurge. I hate that guy! Hate him! Hate! Him!

Do you hate all of Kaiser Chiefs or just him personally?

Nathaniel: Personally.

Dyan: I don’t like the keyboard player either. What’s his name?

I think they call him Peanut.

Nathaniel: Oh, I hate him too.

I interviewed him last year.

Nathaniel: Was he cool?

Well, he was quite nice.

Nathaniel: Everybody’s nice on the surface. I pee on them. They’re “scheise”.

02.07.2007, 16:20 von T. Hochwarter