CASPER: I was just so tired and I should have taken a break and should have never gone directly to the studio to work on a new album.
In Spain you only did instrumentals?
Mhm…in Spain we wrote the songs “Hinterland”, La Rue Morgue, 20qm…all the songs that sound a bit lighter. Actually this made us announcing the album to the management and the label. All because it was so amazing there. “Ah let’s go to the pool. Ah let’s do barbecue. And then let’s record more great stuff.” We were so creative and worked so productive. And then suddenly “hey…I’m just so tired and I should have make a break and should have never go directly to the studio to work on a new album.” But now we’re sitting here haha.
But still I’m really relaxed now. I used to be very nervous when I was about to release something now I’m really happy and am really looking forward to give the songs to the people. And I’m very much looking forward to play these songs live. I’m also looking forward to getting feedback, whatever it may look like. The fact is that I’m very very very happy with the result, since I never had a vision like that, that I even brought to music almost 1:1.
When did you came up with that vision for the new CASPER album?
Well…rap music is rap music. I mean it’s not “only” rap music, but still it is rap music in a way that you work in parts. “Let’s do a part here, let’s do a part there.” With the “XOXO” album it was the very first time that I recorded an album from the scratch on and not just took a beat, rapped on it and knew what it will become. We wrote the entire music for it. I mean we had this rock feeling on it. But I learned on tour what things we should have focused on more and what not worked like it should have. So we modified the songs on tour, played some parts longer because then the crowd starts clapping.
And that’s were I started thinking. People obviously want me to release a “real” rap album, since they think that “Halbe Mille” is the best song I ever wrote…what I never really got haha. So people somehow expected that I now really will do a “real” rap album. I knew that I didn’t want to do the same thing like on “XOXO”, because I feel somehow finished with what I had in mind there. So somehow I really wanted to do a stadium album. If it is rock, pop, folk, doom, drone, step or gaze wasn’t interesting to me. I just wanted to release a stadium album. And suddenly there was Konstantin Gropper.
Think of bands like FLEETWOOD MAC or ARCADE FIRE. When they enter the stage they don’t have to animate the people, tell them that they should jump, clap or sing along. They just play their songs and the crowd just does it. And this always impressed me at ARCADE FIRE, OASIS or THE SHINS. I wanted to develop with writing refrains. Just think of “Don’t Look Back In Anger”…when this song starts literally everyone starts singing it. I mean it is amazing when people jump and sing at our shows – and they really do it. But I think the major league is when they do this without telling them that they should do it now. That’s what I wanted to reach. I wanted that everything happens just by the songs and that I don’t have to be the aerobic trainer with my 31 years haha.
How did the collaboration with Konstantin Gropper from GET WELL SOON came up?
Well…I knew him before. I’m a big fan of GET WELL SOON. When I did “XOXO” he was busy as hell and wasn’t able to work with me on the record. Actually I wanted that he produces “Alaska”. Imagine Konstantin Gropper would have made “Alaska”…wow. But hey…it still became awesome. But just imagine.
This time I told him “Konstantin, this time you will” and he told me that he would love to, but only if we do several things in a totally other way. He told me that my voice could be so much more and I could sing like TOM WAITS. In the end I sung way less than it was planned, but the courage to sing I totally got from Konstantin. We had more melodic rap parts and I was asking him “but who’ll sing this now?” and he was like “you”.