| RockHard Interview |
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A Life Divided Please don’t tell! A Life Divided seem to be an eternal insider’s tip. Our unheard of heroes are already putting out their second successful self-production with “Far.” Press and music colleagues rejoice. But the record companies are waving them aside. With “Far” the Bavarians treat us with a noble mixture of modern metal, epic, and electronic, in which one can hear Stabbing Westward, Vast, and Depeche Mode, among others. “If you want to know why we still have no deal yet, ask the ones at fault,” laughs singer Jürgen Plangger, without acting especially frustrated by the situation. “We had a few offers, but they were total shit. If they can’t offer us anything else than what we can already accomplish ourselves, then we don’t need to enslave ourselves to some label. Unfortunately many companies don’t want to take anymore risks.” Is A LIFE DIVIDED a risk then? “Apparently yes. We keep on hearing that we’re not a typical metal band and could appeal to completely different listeners, and what that means for a record company, having to invest more in us in order to make us famous. That’s not exactly easy these days.” Perhaps your mix of styles is more for the media and musicians. Even the latter aren’t sparing with praise. Oomph! are in favor of you going on tour with them, and the admittedly unnecessary Alphaville have said that your version of ‘Sounds Like a Melody’ (found on the debut “Virtualized”) is generally the best, so even ranking above the Guano Apes’ adaptation of ‘Big in Japan.’ But maybe the average listener finds you too particular. “I see it differently. We are extremely song-oriented and not a gambling progressive band. We’re actually very simply knit. You’re certainly right when you say that we have a multitude of details in our songs – be it diverse beats or keyboard arrangements.” The way you incorporate these elements into your pieces has a progressive aspect, on the other hand. “Of course in that sense it fits. We’re not such unbelievably good musicians as the popular progressive metal bands, but perhaps more forward-moving than many of these acts, who often just sound old. With us there’s everything from gothic rock to Depeche Mode ballades. We come from metal, but we’re very open. I like the Sugababes. But I don’t write that, hahaha!” |