Question: What does the word love mean to you?

Sid: Love is pure magic, and like every magical power it contains both creative and destructive energies. Come to think about it, the most miserable periods in my life were always caused by the negative outcomes of love (i. e. broken relationships), but at the same time I'm aware that the most beautiful moments were also because of love. If wanting to experience love, one has to be strong enough to face both heaven and hell: The higher one rises, the deeper one falls! In order to avoid all that trouble, you'd have to stay mediocre - but despite of all that I've gone through, this would not be my cup of tea, anyway!

There's a wonderful song by Hazel O'Connor that goes: "If I had another chance, I would have the same romance with you and life, the happiness and the knife. If I had that time again I'd change it not another way..." - and I guess the same goes for me: I'll never regret to have loved, even if it always ended in tears. But there's no price to high for love, and if you do love, you have to accept the fact that it makes you very vulnerable, that it might even kill you. It's a question of all or nothing, I'm afraid. Edna St. Vincent Millay once wrote about this: "My candle burns at both ends, it will not last the night; but, ah, my foes, and oh, my friends, it gives a lovely light". Or, with Tennyson's words: "Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all".

To me, love is the most sincere and honest feeling, a divine power that can make us goddesses and gods, a feeling that is equiped with closeness, truth, respect and unconditional faith. I don't know if this is just an ideal that'll never become reality, but even if the quest for true love should be bound to fail: Wouldn't life be rather poor without this dream?

Question: What is your definition of true love?

Sid: That's difficult to explain: To me, love is like the most beautiful song ever heard, like dissolving in an endless sea of light and passion, having found what you've been looking for all your life, drowning in your lover's eyes, a blissful dream without end - but also being there whenever you're needed, always standing by your lover's side whatever may come, always being sincere and true to the one you're with etc. There are too many facets to true love than can be mentioned, I'm afraid.

Frage: Warum gibt es von euch eigentlich nur so wenige Interviews zu lesen? Redet ihr nicht gerne über euch und eure Musik, oder lese ich einfach nur die falschen Magazine? Welche Art von Interviews bevorzugt ihr generell - schriftliche, telefonische oder persönliche? Das gleiche gilt übrigens auch für Fotos - auf keiner eurer Veröffentlichungen gab es bisher welche, lediglich zur letzten CD gab es zu einigen Interviews eine Fotografie zu sehen. Eine Band wie Dead Can Dance z. B. argumentiert hier so, daß immer die Musik im Vordergrund stehen sollte und deshalb die Band bzw. die Personen unwichtig sind. Würdest Du ihnen zustimmen?

Sid: Fotos oder Interviews haben für mich nichts mit der eigentlichen Musik zu tun, sondern dienen lediglich der Schaffung eines Images, an dem sich wiederum die Hörerschaft orientiert, was eigentlich idiotisch ist, denn Musik sollte immer für sich selbst und losgelöst von allen sonstigen Faktoren sprechen.

Ich finde Interviews grundsätzlich dann interessant, wenn sie mich zum Nachdenken zwingen und ich nicht einfach irgendwelche Standardantworten abspulen muß. Wenn ich selbst dabei noch hinterfragt werde, um so besser! Persönliche Interviews sind mir diesbezüglich am liebsten, weil sich aus ihnen noch am ehesten ein Dialog entwickeln kann, doch an sich kommt es wirklich auf die Qualität der Fragen an und darauf, wie stark sich der Interviewer mit der Arbeit des Befragten beschäftigt hat.

Fotografien? Presse und Hörerschaft verlangen danach, mir selbst sind sie eher unwichtig, denn ich weiß ja, wie ich aussehe und - an dieser Stelle teile ich die Einstellung von Dead Can Dance - es lenkt u. U. von der Musik ab, weil durch jedes Bild sofort eine optische Kategorisierung durch den Betrachter vorgenommen wird. Daher versuche ich, die Cover von ANTICHRISIS so zu gestalten, daß sie nicht unbedingt Rückschlüsse auf die Musik zulassen und dennoch eine harmonische Einheit mit ihr bilden.

Näx: Ich persönlich gebe am liebsten persönliche, telefonische oder schriftliche Interviews, wobei letztere den einzigen Vorteil haben, daß ich sie beantworten kann, wann ich will. Auch wenn ich lieber Musik mache, rede ich auch darüber oder über mich. Wenn's die Menschen interessiert sollen sie ruhig zu Hauf losfragen und die Antworten abdrucken. Ich sperre mich nicht gegen Interviews oder Fotos und schon gar nicht mit dem Argument, daß die Musik im Vordergrund stehen sollte. Schließlich steht, vielmehr klingt Musik ja nicht nur für sich allein, sondern sie wird von Menschen vermittelt und hörbar gemacht, die dies aus einem bestimmten Grund und in einer bestimmten Stimmung und in einer Bestimmten Art tun. Möchte ein Hörer nicht nur wissen, daß eine Musik so klingt wie sie klingt, sondern auch, warum sie so klingt, so ist er auf Informationen über die Musiker und am besten auf Informationen von den Musikern selbst angewiesen. Solche Auskünfte erweitern das Verständis für die Musik um solche Aspekte, die sich gerade nicht durch den Klang alleine vermitteln lassen.

Question: Some individuals seem to find erotic literature and pornography (I'm talking about the legal stuff here, not snuff or paedophilia etc.) to be showing women as inferior, while others believe that it's a positive way of portraying the female body, making women more worth in a man's mind. What do you think about this?

Sid: As the term "pornography" has derived from the Greek term for "presentation of whores", it's quite obvious that pornography doesn't deal with respect for women. Pornography doesn't intend to show women as individuals or subjects, but as sexual objects of men.

Pornography is unable to portray the female body in a positive way, even in cases when it tries to hide its true aim under the cloak of "fine arts", because the standards defining the female body are made up - Surprise! Surprise! - by men: They define what or who is to be called "sexy", "beautiful" or "erotic" (although men talking 'bout eroticism is always a bit like a blind talking about colours!)....and after all men have decided that women always look best when being victims: Either victims of male fantasies of rape and violation, or "just" victimised by the way they have to expose and exhibit themselves in front of a camera.

Referring to sexuality itself, the majority of men are a bunch of ignorant creeps. Their only sensual interest seems to be reduced to some mindbogglingly obscure movements of their naughty bits, while their sexual stimulation seems to consist of goggling randy at some gynaecologically exposed parts of the female body. They don't see that sexuality is some kind of erotic "culture", which is much more than quick movements of the pelvis.

Pornography is nothing more than the product of the sick minds of those scruffy wallies we call "men", and it's jolly obvious that it was never meant to be for the sake of appreciation or adoration of women, but for degrading, abusing and exploiting them.

Question: I think I can easily say that "A Legacy Of Love" is a manifesto of love and friendship: do you think that people influenced by this album have changed their view on these issues or have perhaps discovered a new truth for themselves?

Sid: We've received lots of feedback to this album, and the reactions to it were quite peculiar: In the beginning, after the album's release, most people were puzzled and confused because they expected a gothic album similar to our debut, "Cantara Anachoreta”, so they were not at all prepared for the Folk Pop-experience of “A Legacy of Love”. But after a while they seemed to understand more and more the album's deeper meaning: Gothic Metal would have been a too limited musical diction to express all the feelings I wanted to manifest on that album. My ambition was to create an album that would outlast time, both in form and content, and I think we have achieved that goal: One can tell this easily by all the requests we receive for a re-release of "A Legacy of Love” (the album is meanwhile out of stock); seems a bit like if this album was too far ahead of its time and that just now people become aware of its emotional and musical value (and I'm sure it'll be exactly the same with "Perfume")... Many people were touched and moved by "A Legacy of Love", because this album reflects the most primary human experiences of love and loss in an almost painful yet simultaneously beautiful way: Maybe one of its main effects was that it made people realize that they were not alone: No matter if you're in love or if you'd just lost someone you've loved - when you got home at night, there was always this album to provide confirmation and bliss, or consolation and hope. I doubt that "A Legacy of Love" changed anybody's life, but it made them see things in a different way: It made them realize the beauty of love as well as the importance of holding on to one's dreams even if having to face drawbacks from time to time. In the end, that's what art of any kind is all about: to create the state of catharsis for the audience that makes people feel better instead of dragging them down.

Frage: Gebt ihr eigentlich gerne Interviews, oder seht ihr das nur als lästige Verpflichtung? Weshalb umgibt sich Antichrisis mit der Aura des Geheimnisvollen?

Sid: Wenn die Fragestellung interessant ist, beantworte ich Interviews durchaus gerne; werden dagegen nur die üblichen Standardfragen gestellt, ist es natürlich eher langweilig, weil man zum x-ten Male ein- und dieselben Statements von sich gibt. Ansonsten sind Interviews wahrscheinlich für jede(n) MusikerIn eine zweischneidige Angelegenheit, denn u. U. geht für die Beantwortung derselben sehr viel Zeit drauf, die man lieber für das eigentliche Musikmachen verwenden würde. Doch natürlich will man den eigenen Bekanntheitsgrad erhöhen, und somit gehören Interviews zum täglichen Brot in der Musikbranche - dementsprechend sollte man sich entsprechend Mühe damit geben.

Ich habe eigentlich nie beabsichtigt, Antichrisis mit der Aura des "Geheimnisvollen" zu umgeben: Mir geht es lediglich darum, meine Musik nicht über irgendein festgelegtes Image zu verkaufen, sondern jede Art von Assoziation zuzulassen. Ich möchte vermeiden, daß Antichrisis in irgendeine Schublade gesteckt wird...

Question: With your sort of pagan influenced view of the world, how do you see love and life as opposed to war and death?

Sid: Death belongs to the natural cycle of love and life, whereas war is a destructive force made up by sick human minds. According to my point of view, death is not the end, but the transition to another level of existance. Love is the ultimate source of everything, a power that brings growth, splendidness and fruitfulness. As long as love exists, there is always hope and faith and beauty... of course there's also a dark side of love, but this aspect only arises from disappointment and betrayal by humans; i. e. the lack of the pure energy of love - but I guess I've said enough about that darker side in some songs like "The Sea" or "The Farewell".

Näx: I like love more than war and death. Death is a part of the big game and I don't fear it. Just trying to be prepared.

Frage: Ehrlich gesagt hab ich mich mit dem Sprechgesang im dem Stück "Like the stars" schwer getan und fand das ganze eher deplatziert. Wie kam es dazu, waren die meisten Reaktionen ähnlich meiner oder gab es auch positive Stimmen? Findet ihr nicht, dass der Gesang eher nach einem Dancefloor-Act klingt?

Näx: Ich finde es nicht verwerflich, wenn zu grooviger Musik ein wenig gerappt wird. Long live Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five! Immerhin ist Rap die extremste Form, Sprache zu rhythmisieren, von Reinhard Mey's genialen Reimereien mal abgesehen. O.k., Antichrisis ist keine echte Gangsta Rap Crew, aber Tic Tac Toe ist das schliesslich auch nicht...

Sid: Ich kann mich für viele unterschiedliche Musikstile begeistern - es zählt nur, ob ein Song gut oder schlecht ist, und nicht, welcher musikalischer Stilmittel er sich bedient...und ich sehe mir tausendmal lieber einen guten Gig von Seeed an, als mir den xten Aufguss des immer gleichen, mittlerweile völlig zur leeren Pose erstarrten Gothic-Metal-Konzepts anzutun! "Like the Stars" ist nun mal ein Dancefloor-Song und verlangte daher auch nach dem Einsatz der entsprechenden Stilmittel. Wenn ich die Idee für einen Song habe, frage ich niemals danach, welche musikalischen Ausdrucksformen ich dabei zum Einsatz bringen darf und welche nicht - eine solche Form der Selbstzensur wäre der Tod meiner Musik!

Ich war zugegebenermassen zunächst selbst überrascht, als ich während der Vorproduktion feststellte, dass "Like the Stars" mit dem Sprechgesang in den Strophen am besten funktioniert, und ich stellte fest, dass es keine leichte Aufgabe ist, einen Text zu schreiben, der sich streng nach dem Diktat von Rhythmik, Versmaß und Reimschema zu richten hat. Im übrigen sind die meisten Leute, die "Perfume" bislang gehört haben, der Ansicht, dass wir "Like the Stars" unbedingt als Single hätten auskoppeln sollen.

Question: I have got a feeling that the cover of "Perfume" was prepared in a hurry: It looks so very poor and its content inside is also very modest. What sense does it make to put your lyrics at the Website only? Don't you think that a buyer deserves its printed version in the booklet?

Sid: Point taken. First: I'm a big fan of the cover artwork that Peter Saville and Martyn Atkins did in the early Eighties for Manchester-based label Factory Records, esp. for Joy Division. No naked female vampires or fake plastic skeletons or what else you have on your average contemporary goth-covers, but plain and straight, Bauhaus-inspired (not the band, but the famous school of arts in Dessau) artwork that didn't draw the listeners attention from the music. And as I do like that style a lot, I wanted to have something similar for "Perfume", and so we did the booklet-design together with Guido Meyer de Voltaire, who - even though he's always missing the deadline - did a great job. Whether you like it or not, the cover of "Perfume" was done with purpose and care - and most of all it does look neither "gothic" or "metal". Proper job.

Second: We didn't put the lyrics in the booklet due to objections of Napalm Records. They've had lots of problems with the rather thick booklet of "A Legacy of Love" that caused many complains by record dealers: Peasants browsing through the CDs in the store did take the booklet out and had to fiddle about like hell to get it back in the case again, most of the times in a very crinkled or even ripped condition.

So we had to find a way to let buyers have all the lyrics either wedged on 4 sides of a CD-booklet, which would have only been able with using a font not larger than 4 points and hence causing serious sight-damages to the innocent customer, or putting them on properly lay-outed and more easily readable pdf-files on our website, which allows even non-CD-purchasers to get hold of the lyrics. By the way, the download's for free; we do neither charge anything for it nor do we demand a voucher of purchase or any serial numbers for it, so I don't really understand why you're so upset about this - nowadays even people without internet-connection do at least know somebody who has a PC (or preferably a Mac) and a modem. But maybe that's another case of being "too modern" again... I only wished all Antichrisis-fans would be that worried and concerned about when it comes to loading illegal mp3-files of our albums up and down!

Question: Do you think Perfume has met the expectations of your audience? Will Antichrisis ever hit the airwaves of commercial radio station or do you consider yourself as being not "mainstream" enough...

Sid: To be honest, I don't care about our audience or its expectations very much: First of all, my music belongs to me and no one else - if other people like it as well, then this is just a lucky coincidence and not the main reason for my musical output. That's why I don't want to push Antichrisis in any way whatsoever: As a human being, I'm constantly developing, and these developments will cause effects on Antichrisis' music as well. At the moment our music is published by a record company - maybe one day we don't need record companies any more, but who cares? I got some recording devices at home, and I certainly won't stop writing and recording new stuff anyway, may it get published or not. I'm not in this business for fame or money...in the end, I'm just a songwriter who simply does what he has to do - although I think Antichrisis does provide a certain commercial appeal as well: Songs like “Goodbye to Jane”, “Our Last Show”, “Wasteland” or “Like the Stars” could - with some proper support - easily enter the charts, as they are both catchy and mainstream-compatible, though still maintaining that special Antichrisis-touch!

Question: So we've got the third album of Antichrisis. I have to tell you that while listening to this album for the first time I had a feeling that the album sounded too modern, that you drift towards pop music too dangerously. My feeling was for sure influenced by the fact that the songs form “Perfume” were easier and somehow nicer; they fell faster into your ear. But after listening to it few times you realize that it is the same band, only refreshened and more "cheerful" Do you agree?

Sid: First of all let me ask you a question: What kind of complete nonsense is this to evaluate music by criteria like "too modern" or "drift towards pop music too dangerously"? Do these terms say anything about the actual QUALITY of music? No, not at all - it's just the sort of pseudo-know-it-all-terminology used by people who have stopped listening to music with their heart but trying to analyze it with their so called brains instead! Either you like a song or not, either you find it awful of great - but trying to evaluate music with terms like being "too modern" is nothing else but a sure sign of utter backwardness! When Richard Wagner first hit the scene back in 1841 with his opera "The Flying Dutchman", critics laughed at him, calling his music "too modern" as well - guess who's the laughing stock now?

But anyway: As you've already found out, "Perfume" may sound different from "A Legacy of Love", but it's still Antichrisis - even if it's another side of the same band! We just used a different form of musical expression, as we do consider repetition as dead boring - we're musicians, not parrots!

"Perfume" has become a very powerful and vital record: Whereas "A Legacy of Love" was the perfect soundtrack for a cold autumn's evening with candlelight, "Perfume" is meant for dancing, preferably in a crowded and sweaty discotheque... maybe that's the more cheerful side of Antichrisis you're referring to.

Frage: Mir fällt auf, dass die Songs auf "Perfume" weniger melancholisch ausgefallen sind als noch auf "Legacy of Love", was auch sicher mit der damals doch schweren Materie des Trennens zusammenhing. Hatte das Werk für euch die gewünschte katalytische Wirkung? Daher der etwas beschwingtere Klang des neuen Albums?

Sid: Die Arbeit an einem Album kann zwar helfen, die eigenen Gefühle zum Ausdruck zu bringen, so wie dies schon bei "A Legacy of Love" und "Cantara Anachoreta" der Fall war, doch die eigentliche Katharsis setzt erst mit dem nötigen zeitlichen Abstand ein: Manche Verarbeitungsprozesse brauchen eben ihre Zeit! Somit hatten die beiden ersten Antichrisis-Alben eine Art Tagebuch-Funktion: Ich dokumentierte mit den Songs meine eigenen Gefühle, um ihnen so Gestalt zu verleihen.

"Perfume" ist allerdings definitiv das erste Antichrisis-Album, auf dem ich als Songwriter keine Vergangenheitsbewältigung leisten musste, sondern mich völlig auf das Hier und Jetzt konzentrieren konnte - daher auch die kraftvollere und zuversichtlichere Grundstimmung des Albums. Darüber hinaus war es mir wichtig, Antichrisis auch einmal von einer anderen Seite zu zeigen, die in der Vergangenheit zu kurz kam: Nämlich als eine Band, die durchaus zu grooven versteht und deren Songs zum Tanzen geeignet sind.

Question: Sid, you were born in 1962: What makes you continue in the fields of music after all these years. Perhaps music is such a large part of yourself and your life that you simply couldn't live without it?

Sid: Yes, music is one of the most essential gists in my life - it's like a prayer to me, a divine gift of the Goddess allowing me to express my feelings, my visions and dreams that would otherwise be unutterable...

Music is so much more than just a hobby to me: It's the rhythm of my life, and I always feel like a dancer between the worlds when performing my songs.

I do not think that music is a matter of age: It only depends on how devoted you are. If it's just a pastime, then you'll lay down your guitar as soon as you've settled down and other things have become more important. But if you're a passionate musician, nothing will stop you from expressing your emotions through melodies, harmonies and rhythms.

Of course my musical taste has changed through all these years: Although I still listen to that old school of '77 Brit-Punk (Those were the days... sigh!), I'm nowadays also listening to classical stuff, Irish Folk, TripHop, Country & Western and Reggae (just to name a few): As long as it is a "good" song, I don't care about any musical styles...