The German threesome LILABUNGALOW aims for the highest of heights recently. They arose from the fruitful musical posse around the popular German songwriter CLUESO and even played the famous Montreux Jazz Festival in 2012. After that it’s become a little quiet around the band from Erfurt in the middle of Germany. Now silence is over as their new record Peace To Gold is ready to be released on February the 27th and it’s rumoured to be quite an interesting mixture of unsteady pop. Reason enough for us to ask these guys a few questions. Ladies and gentlemen, let us introduce you to LILABUNGALOW.
Lila is a common German word for ‘Violet.’ What does the colour mean to you?
The meaning of the color ‘lila’ or ‘violet’ isn’t the main focus of our band name, more important is the idea behind it. It is a color which is offensive and obsessive. For us it’s a concept against the daily routine which is often declared as ‘grey’. Our band name somehow symbolizes the idea of making something colorful which normally is inconspicuous. However, for making your life interesting it’s necessary to see it in very different ways, in that many ways that there are colors on our earth.
Describe your forthcoming new album ‘Peace To Gold’ in three words.
Colorful. Intensive. Different.
Would you rather be a dragon or have a dragon?
I think I’d rather like to have a dragon. It is definitely more intriguing and challenging to live with a mythical creature and share ones live with it instead of being a dragon, with the power to cause fear. That is not my idea of being human. In my opinion life should be about being ‘with each other’, not against each other. Being a dragon automatically means that someone is against you, like shown in every movie ever made about dragons.
You’re based in Erfurt in the east of Germany. Tell us a bit about the city.
Okay, I am not sure what you know about Erfurt. Usually when I meet people and tell them where I come from the first thing that comes to their minds is the shooting at the Gutenberg School 10 years ago. That is the one fact everybody knows about Erfurt. But Erfurt is so much more. Imagine a small town with about 200.000 residents. The oldest houses were built during the Middle Ages about 800 years ago and many of them are still intact and form the heart of the city.
If you live in a town like Erfurt, you’ll probably know everybody in about one year. The bar’s, clubs, people… . And especially if you make music you‘ll know everyone in the scene. It does not matter if they are playing, rock, pop, jazz, rap, electro. Sometimes it’s weird, but most of the time it feels good.
If you as a group could have an alternative job – what would it be?
Come to think of it, we all have alternative jobs already. Dave, our bass player, teaches how to play the drums. Patrick, our singer, is into the creative business and I am studying at the moment. So in a way it’s like we have two separate lives already.
The music and culture industry is currently about to redefine itself on many levels. Do you feel like being completely and utterly at the its mercy, or should things be seen as a chance for artists?
Since 10- 15 years the music business here is one in which it isn’t even possible to pay your rent if you would only rely on making music. Music in Germany is just a capital good. If the big labels see an opportunity to make money with you then you are interesting for them. So I think you have already heard some of our songs, I think you’ll agree: we are not that kind of band! Instead we have the chance to get our asses out of our chairs and take care of our music. Writing it. Playing it. Recording it. Finding dudes and dudettes who help us with our music videos, artworks, bookings and communications. I think the redefining of music industry is just the beginning of ‘homie business’ and crowdfundings.
What role play ‘hope’ and ‘passion’ in your life?
Hope in contrast is a concept that is no good for me. If we would only rely on hope we would not be so busy right now working on our new Album but instead ‘hope’ that it will be successful. But of course ‘hope’ also has a personal meaning for each of us.