WECHSEL GARLAND

interview with Jeorg Follert (Germany)
by E*Rock
(also WUNDER, SAUCER, MOTEL, VISOR)
10/00
www.karaokekalk.com
www.tomlab.de
www.morrmusic.com

I first contacted Jeorg Follert as a fan of the Wunder album, which was very melodic, whispy, loop based songs that are easy to love for poppy warmth and child-like openness. Right after this interview the Wechsel Garland LP came out, which was also extremely pleasant, but quite different. It headed more towards the abstract and minimal. The melodies are almost ambient in their spaciousness, with less sampling and more live staccato instrumentation, but still retaining the same wistful mood.

I was hoping that you would call me today because today is one of my free days. Half of the time I have Iím working for a TV station and the other half (the little smaller half) I work on my music. The days I work at the station I just have half an hour to do something on the music, and afterwards I spend with my family. For two days, like Thursday and Friday, I have completely for music and today is one of those days. Not enough time.

What do you do for the TV station?

Iím doing graphic design. Itís called screen design. I do the packages for shows, you know, the opener and the closer for the shows. The little 20 seconds in front and behind the show. Itís like the packaging, or the identity for the show.

Do you do the lettering then and all that?

Actually itís two TV stations, but itís under one concern. It is called Viva 1 and 2. The station I work for more, they donít have any lettering. They have the same lettering for all the shows. Itís very strongly designed - whatís the word for it? Itís not very funny or something, it has a strength... But I would rather like to quit it today than tomorrow. I have more and more the feeling that Iím better doing music than deciding what looks good and doesnít look good. I have more parameters to decide in music than in graphics.

How old are you?

Iím 32.

And you live in Cologne?

Yes, for twenty years now. I wasnít not born here, but I was born in this area. First we were living in the country then my parents moved several times and then we were stuck here.

Do you like it then?

Itís okay. Most of the last years I thought it was the only place I could stay because the other cities in Germany I didnít like that much, or it was very difficult for me to stay in another city. Somehow I felt very uncomfortable most of the time when I was visiting people. But in the last two years I got friends in Hamburg and Berlin and now I could imagine living in another place too, and somehow thatís like getting out of prison. I think itís not important for me exactly where I live, I could live in other cities also I think. In the end Iím always living in my head, so...

Thatís good then.

Not always good, sometimes I wish I would be more outside of this small room. Itís like my handicap too because Iím not a good musician. I mean, I was doing music before I started to work on the computer. I had a band and was playing a little guitar and I loved lots of guitar music too. But I was never a brilliant musician or something. I was always trying and trying and was always disappointed that I didnít reach a point where I said, okay this is now good or unique or something. I was always very unlucky with what I was trying to do, but I think one reason was that I was so much a fan of other peopleís music that I was always trying to do something like the music I was loving so much. I never could get away from these heroes. Most of the time I was too close on my heroís stuff and not on my own idea. When I was listening to a new record, which I liked a lot I was, ìWow, I want to do something like that!î You know, because I wanted to have more of this... I think itís not a good way of doing music when you just try to do something you like a lot of other people. Itís difficult for me to explain. I think I was too much a fan. Itís not a bad thing to be a fan of music, itís great of course, but it stands a little in the way if you like to do something on your own. I didnít have the right distance.

Then I started to work a little on the computer and suddenly things like timing and technical things were not a problem any more. You could do it exactly like you want, like to put a tone or something and it gave me a little freedom for my ideas perhaps. For four or five years I was very much into breakbeat and drum and bass, stuff like that. Actually, it made me move to try to work with electronic equipment because I was so much. ìWow, how is this music made? I canít imagine how it is made.î So I started to try. But then the genre was more and more falling down and I didnít like it anymore, so I then suddenly had no more heroes to follow, you know. I still wanted to do music on my own, so there was the time I made the Wunder record... It was a time that I didnít have any special heroes, just music in itself was something to follow. I wanted to do music, but I didnít know exactly what to do, so I was trying around and I think it was the best thing that happened to me. I didnít have something special to follow, just my emotion or something...

So you didnít have any ideas in mind on how you wanted it to sound like beforehand, you just experimented?

I just experimented, sampled a lot and played around with these little loops and playing above the loops like I was a member of the band that I sampled. I felt like I was playing with my heroes. It was a new dimension. For example, I had a sample of the Bee Gees, making a little loop of this part and I tried to play above it, adding more melodies to it, so I felt like the fourth Bee Gee. I was playing with them, which was different thing than playing like them. It had some really euphoric moments to play with this together. It just worked so easily. This record just happened so easily, I didnít have to try and try again. It was so natural in a way, just playing. It was really surprising for me because when I was trying to do the drum and bass tracks it was much harder for me to find out what I liked there. There are some many rules in this genre. Does it kick? Does it rock? Itís very restrictive. To make music like that it was much more free and I could enjoy making music.

The Wunder record doesnít really fit into any specific genre.

Yeah, Iím happy about that somehow. In a lot of shops itís it sits in different categories. Iím always looking for it, where will it stand here? Placed in indie rock or experimental electronic or easy listening or whatever? Itís so funny. You find it everywhere or no where. Somehow itís disappointing for me right now to listen to genre music. Itís always like okay I know how this works...

Things can get too predictable, which is what happened to drum and bass for me.

It was reduced on the basis of function and then it was like house music. It was the snare drum and not the bass drum that kicks, but itís the same idea, itís the lowest form of functionality and then everyone says, ìOkay I know what drum and bass is. Itís took tack, took tack. [sings a break]î Thatís not what it was for me when I first heard it. It was the surprising moments, not the cool beat moments. It was not about coolness or whatever, it was more about being surprised about how much energy music could transport.

Did you ever have any formal music training?

My father was a piano teacher. He tried to teach me, but I think he wasnít very good at teaching. Perhaps he was a good musician, I donít know that actually, but most of the time itís not very easy to get taught by your parentsóespecially my parents. Later, when I was moving from home I tried to get guitar lessons a few times, but it was always like, ìNo, I donít want to play other peopleís music.î Thatís a funny point when I was trying to copy otherís style perhaps. But I never could get any fun out of playing other peopleís songs. So it wasnít easy for me to learn notes and stuff like that. It was boring me so much, or I was very lazy about learning. It wasnít very easy for me to learn stuff like that, so I never did it really. So of course my parents promised me that Iíd be very sad about that now. Now Iím wishing I could play piano or something because it always takes me hours. Last year I bought a Fender Rhodes piano after the Wunder record, where I just used the sample, now I have a real one. I like it so much that I was trying and trying to play on it, but of course itís not easy so it takes me hours to record something with it.

They have such a nice tone though.

Yes, incredible. I think I like all tones that are similar to it, like Camilla, because itís the same techniques in a way. Little metal sticks that you push with your thumb and itís really close to the technical part of the Fender Rhodes piano. It has also these little pick-ups in it that are knocked with a hammer or something like that. Itís the same way to create a tone, so itís funny that it sounds really similar.

Did the Wunder record take you very long to make?

No, actually not. I started close to Christmas, November or December... I think the longest time I took was when I was trying to master the songs by myself. The mastering took me very long because it was so difficult to bring the samples together with the program stuff. I was trying so hard to make it organic, but it was very difficult because of the frequency spectrum. Because the possibilities I had at the time were very limited, I just had a little pretty bad mixer. That took a long time, but not to do the songs, that happened very quickly like in three months. Thatís very quick for me because Iím slow in working.

Did you use a sampler or a computer?

I did it on a sampler, a Kurtzweil k-2000. Itís a fine workstation because it has a sampler and a synthesizer inside it and you can combine it very easily. Fine machine, but mostly now Iím just working on the computer. I donít use it much anymore.

And youíd worked with Karaoke Kalk before that record.

Yes, Iíd done two records before it, both on Karaoke Kalk. The first one was a 12 inch with two tracks. It was like my attempts in drum and bass. It was called Saucer. The second one I did together with my friend Jens, whoís releasing stuff as Kandis, Senking, and Fumble. We did one 12 inch record together called Motel EP. After this I did the Wunder record. In between I did two songs for Tomlab called Visor. It was a project of Jens, Tom and me.

What made you decide to use another name for the Wechsel Garland record?

Actually, I did decide this right after the Wunder record was done. I decided not to use this name again for two reasons; one because thereís a strange crossover band from Hamburg who has a copyright on that name. I didnít know this, but a journalist told me about them. The more important reason for me was that the meaning of the word was important. It was just like the title of the record, but I never took it as a pseudonym for me. It was just the name of this record. At that time I really felt strange to use it again, like the second Wunder - like the second ìmiracleî. The meaning is ìmiracleî. A second miracle somehow is strange. A miracle just happens once to you, not twice.

A lot of people were asking me that. In the last weeks I was thinking that, now thereís a record coming out [Wechsel Garland] but I also have a third record thatís coming out very quickly too. This one will be out on Karaoke Kalk again. I was thinking of how we can do this without disturbing the other release. The thing is that if you have a release now and three months later again, the press will not take too much notice of it. Thatís a sad thing about journalism. I think they really donít care too much for the issues, most of the time they just take care if they wrote about it first. So if they did it then theyíre not interested anymore, it seems like unfortunately. So unfortunately we should take care of this if we want to sell a few records. I was thinking about doing it under Wunder again, but itís still not possible because of this copyright thing... so I think we will keep the name Wechsel Garland. I mean I will keep the nameóI say we because the next record I did with a band.

Mostly I did it alone, but I have now something like a band because people were asking me to play live. I was thinking about how I could do it to be happier about it. At first I did it just with my laptop and that was a very disappointing experience for me because itís making the music smaller than how I feel about it. People donít see anything, just someone sitting in front of his computer and donít know exactly what he is doing. This is way too abstract for me. I think I am much more conservative about concerts. I like to see how people are playing instruments and try to get a relationship between the music and them and the people. So I was asking friends of mine to play with me together or trying to do the new songs together. Now I have a very nice little group of people, which I look forward very much to playing with live together.

The next record is much more like the Wunder record in the spirit of it and the way I did the songs. The [Wechsel Garland] record, which is coming out now, is much different. It isnít based very much on samples, itís much more programmed. There are some samples in it, but they donít have the importance that they did in the Wunder record. The next one here is much more samples again - but they are different also. It has two categories of songs. One is like the Wunder record where I have a sample and try to do something with it, and play, making layers above it. The other category is completely without samples, where I try to do complete my own songs. Itís a process record I think. It didnít reach an aim or something. Itís another step... for me.

Where did the name Wechsel Garland come from?

You know one thing Iím always curious about is if other musicians get the same questions about their name? One thing I could imagine is that most of the names of the artists are so common or normal, that nobody is asking about them. Or is everybody getting that question?

I donít usually ask everyone.

Are my ideas of names strange to the people, or weird so theyíre confused about, so Iím getting it always.

I didnít ask about Wunder, but Iím not familiar with either of the words in ìWechsel Garlandî. I donít know if itís just because Iím American...

Oh no, Germans ask me too. They always say, ìSo whatís the latest record called?î I say Wechsel Garland and they say, ìWhat!? what? what?î They do not understand it either. Wechsel is a German word, itís like ìchanging,î but I use it more like a first name.

Yeah, I thought it was a name the first time I saw it.

Thatís good if you got that feeling because thatís what I wanted; for it to be like a strange name. Garland, you know, I got that from Judy Garland. I saw a strange Finnish movie where there was a song on the radio sung by Judy Garland. I thought, ah, what a nice name. Garland. It gave me special feeling because when I was a kid I saw The Wizard of Oz and I liked it so much. Judy Garland always has a little glam on her name, so I thought Iíd take this as a little sample. Donít ask me about Wechsel how this happened, it just happened very quickly.

It just sounded good?

...to me it sounds good. I think most of the people think, ìwhat a stupid nameî. Perhaps it is, I donít know, but I have to use it now. No, I like it.

Mentioning movies also, I think the Wunder record has somewhat of a soundtrack quality to it.

What I was recently thinking about is that perhaps a lot of people do have this feeling because itís instrumental, but also because I donít use very obvious beats or something. Most music today is sorted in categories and is identified by beats. The beats are what make it special genres, like house beat, breakbeat, two step, or whatever. All the music is identified by their beats mostly. Thatís a strange thing and I canít use beats anymore that are well known. And so I try to ovoid it or it just doesnít happen... I donít really avoid them, I just canít use them, thatís a difference. Thatís why people get the soundtrack feeling because they are missing the beats, so there is nothing to identify. They just get this music and they canít put it in a special cupboard.

Is that your son that you sampled on the song ìNoitzís Kakaoî?

Yes, it is.

Did you use your Rhodes on the new album much?

Yes, lots of times. There are many real instruments on it now. There are real vocals too. She is coming from Spain and she has a beautiful voice. I am so happy to have met here, itís really great to work with her. Sheís the first female voice for years that I like a lot, and Iím so happy that I met her. My intention was never to do instrumental music, it was just the think that I could do because I didnít have someone with a nice voice. I always would have loved to sing. Sometimes I try, and usually I put it in the garbage. But her voice is really great and gives me lot of inspiration.

How did you meet her?

I met her through another guy that I play music with, Heiner Ebber. This guy I met one and a half years ago at a festival where he played with Felix Kubin (A-Musik) Heís friends with him, doing stuff together, and also doing his own stuff. Heís a very humorous guy doing very strange stories with music. I think itís really great. Heís also playing drums and thatís how I met him because he was playing for Felix Kubin. I saw him playing and thought, wow, this guy has something that really reminds me of a reggae groove. He can do it very well and I like reggae a lot. I ask him if itís possible that he likes reggae too and thatís how we met. He introduced me to lots of music and he has also a band with Claudia, who is the female vocalist. He once let her sing on a track and sent it to me as an MP3 file. I heard it and was like, ìOkay, thatís it. I want to work with her. Thatís incredible!î We had this invitation this year to Buenos Aires to play a concert. And I asked her to come with us, she came, and now we are a band. The fourth member is Jens, the Senking guy. Jens is playing the bass, sometimes also the melodica, or harmonica. Claudia is singing and Heiner is playing the drums or sometimes the Fender Rhodes. I try to play a little guitar and Rhodes.

Have you known Jens for a long time?

Yes, heís my longest friend. Iíve known him since I was in Cologne. We went to school together.

Who is it that runs Karaoke Kalk then?

His name is Thorsten [Lutz]. Iíve known him for lots of years now too. We did some parties together when I was DJing, which Iím not doing anymore (just sometimes). I was into drum and bass a lot and we did drum and bass parties together. Then he thought about starting his own label. I was introducing him to Jens because Jens was starting to do electronic music at that time and I thought it was good what he was doing.

Itís not easy because we are all very different characters, but yes, somehow it works still. Thorsten isnít into drum and bass anymore. He is a well-known techno DJ. Most of the stuff is straight bass drum stuff. Iím always wondering why heís bringing out the music heís bringing out because itís so different from what heís spinning.

What are you listening to these days?

Iím not listening to electronic music a lot. A lot of other music but not electronic anymore. For the last year Iíve listened to lots of Brazilian music which my friend Heiner introduced me to. It was a complete new cosmos for me to explore, so I spent a lot of time on that. There are so many other types of music to still find, and it seems like electronic is not as interesting to me. Iím always looking for the big emotion thing and I canít find it mostly in electronic music. I see lots of focused moments on very special things thatís closer to a scientistís work than a musicianís work. Iím more interested in music than science.

[end]