It was 6:00 pm and the telephone rang! It was Monday, January 20, 2003. Tilo Wolff was on the phone and he called up in order to have an interview especially organized by Nuclear Blast. After a brief introduction, since I was very very nervous, we began the following interview:
I heard that “Echos” was inspired in the flooding in the Center of Europe occurred in August of the last year. Is this true?
TILO WOLFF: No, it is not. The album was already composed and we were in the middle of the production process when the flooding happened. And… to tell the truth, I’ve never written any kind of music with lyrics refering to tragedies that occurred to the people.
How much time did it take to record “Echos”?
TILO WOLFF: spent just five months.
Looking at the name of the songs, “Echos” appears to follow the same model of “Fassade” and “Elodia”, with a central theme divided in chapters. So, is this album telling us a story? What is that story about?
TILO WOLFF: In some way it is telling a story, but to say the truth it was not planned in that way. When we were on tour… well, I had to begin in another way…
It is like if I were constantly composing. I never sit down around there thinking of “well, how can I start to write”. There is a process in march, and during the tour of “Fassade” I did not have possibilities of composing, and when we came back, there were a lot of emotions and feelings next to arise the light. The process of writing this album was very… mmm… a kind of short and compact. The process lasted, I do not know, I think around four months or something like that. I wrote the complete album and I did not think of doing it complete from the beggining. I realized, one day, that we should go to the recording studios in order to record this album in the same status of purity in which [it] was conceived.
It was already fresh and the emotions were already there, and in the studio we did the songs so as to be conected between themselves, since all of them were of a specific period of time, from a… we can say… a sense and a feeling written. And they were connected in that sense each one… they tell us a kind of story about a searching for. It is like, when you begin to consider that we are a product of a culture you created, of the families, of the countries that you have been created, and all of these are also a product of things which appear in front of us in our lives.
These echos of the past that became us what we are now, today, in the present, and again, they are responsible of how will continue our life. What kind of decisions we make, how can we arrange our future life, everything is based on, everything we have learned until now. The echos of the past which bring us to the now, living in the standards of the present that again influence our future life. This is basically the topic of the entire album.
We know you are not going to go on tour this year, is it correct?
TILO WOLFF: Unfortunately, Yes, it is truth.
Can you tell us why? Is there any specific reason?
TILO WOLFF: Of course, absolutely! Because… we were constantly in composition or producing in the Studio, or playing alive on stage… since the last year we did not have any resting and.. to tell the truth, Anne Nurmi and I… need to take a breath after the long tour of Fassade, but as I told you before, when we came back we couldn’t have it. There were a lot of things to do! I had to write, compose, and now that we created this album, until now, we can finally take a brief rest. (laugh)
You will have almost all the year to rest a little. Are you planning to do something new as a video clip?
TILO WOLFF: We were preparing a video clip for the single “Durch Nacht und Flut”, and perhaps we will publish, in a near future, a kind of collection of videos, since as you know before we were publishing videos for our albums, but we were not publishing the videos for our last pair of albums, so that, we are going to create a colection of videos and a DVD for the future.
I’ve noticed that there is a small influence of electronic music in your works nowadays. Do you like the electronic music? Is there any electronic influence in the new album?
TILO WOLFF: Before all, I have to tell you that I like the electronic music since it was created in the 80s. Of course, bands like Depeche Mode and all the “New Romantic” music, and also I like some EBM productions. But I don’t like too much the new electronic music as the “Techno”.
You are using some colors in the cover art of this album. Why did you decide to do it?
TILO WOLFF: We always had two kinds of cover arts. The cover arts of the albums are painted black and white, while the cover arts of the singles that are also black and white, but sometimes showing colors or things like that. Now, we did this sesion of photography for the single “Durch Nacht und Flut” which means “Through the night and the oceans”, we did it on the shore of the ocean. We begin doing this session of photos there in the beach and slowly the ocean came and we took that photos for the single, in question.
They fit well with the music since the colored photografies catch the impresion of the songs, is energy, is that deep emotion in which the song is based on, but it is a photo without movement, but the color prints this kind of energy, this kind of discontinued reflexion of the situation in general. So, that was the reason why we decided to publish it in color.
Looking at the name and lyrics of some songs such as: “Requiem”, “Der Ketzer”, “Crucifix”, “Sanctus” and the notably new “Kyrie”, we can see a kind of connection with religious ideas. Why is this so frequent? Are you a religious person?
TILO WOLFF: I’ve, of course, been very inspired e influenced by religious music. I sang in the chorus of a church. That of course has a great worth for me, and influenced my entire life and until Lacrimosa, which is more connected with my interior life. Of course, there are feelings based on my religious beliefs, that later will be released in the music and lyrics.
Do you know anything about Brazil?
TILO WOLFF: To say the truth, I know a little. I know that its people has a very warm heart, well, at least I believe they are people very warm of heart. (laughter)
They are really! And possibly you can have people shouting during the concert here!
TILO WOLFF: That sounds good! (laughter)
Nuclear Blast is in charge of your albums here in Brazil by now, is this correct? Do you think that in this way it is better to promote your works here?
TILO WOLFF: The main reason is because Anne Nurmi and I had to decide if we were continuing with Hall of Sermon in the same way we did the last year, joining other bands, or focused more on the music, and we decided to be focused on Lacrimosa again, so, we decided also to license the album of Lacrimosa, the new one… to Nuclear Blast, in certain countries… so that, they can do all the marketing and distribution there, and in that way we can focused on the music, and on the market for which we work in Hall of Sermon, since there are many countries in which our albums are already published by it. It remains a lot of work to do, and we want to do it at the 100%. We cannot be in charge of all the work by ourselves.
When are you planning to begin the tour for “Echos”? It will be next year?
TILO WOLFF: Until this moment, we cannot plan anything. I do not know if we will be on tour next year or… I’d like it, because I sometimes miss to be on stage, but until now there are no plans done.
Talking about America… we know you have a big audience in Mexico. Do you have any idea of how many fans do you have here in Brazil?
TILO WOLFF: To tell the truth, I have no idea (laughs).
Well, I am on charge of doing this number very big! (laughs). What would you like to tell to your brazilian fans?
TILO WOLFF: I’d like to tell you something personal, because I want to thank you, and this incluyes Anne’s opinion, as well. We both want to thank you a lot for the effort you do for Lacrimosa; you… the great work you do, the support you give us. It is really incredible!
It is a pleasure for me to work for Lacrimosa. You can count with me in all of what is necessary to promote not only “Echos” but all your career, and the name of Lacrimosa here in Brazil. Thank you very much ! Anne is not here in Brazil, is here?
TILO WOLFF: No… In this moment she cannot offer any interview.
No problem! Give her a big hug. Ok?
TILO WOLFF: Of course, I’ll do it.
Well, I don’t want to cause you any inconvenience for more time. I wanted to thank you a lot for the opportunity you have given to the Lacrimosa’s Fan Club in Brazil, and I am sure that all the fans are going to be crazy for the information you have given me! You can count with me in all that you need!
TILO WOLFF: Very sweet of your part. Thanks a lot! Have a nice day!
Good-Bye.
January 2003, Lacrimosa Fan Club Brazil (no longer exists)
This interview was taken by Lu Wolff (Lourdes Azevedo) who was the president and the founder of the first fan club of Lacrimosa in Brazil.
The text of the interview was taken from lacrimosaforever.com
The original author’s parlance has been left intact.
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