Ayuma and me are back from our holidays in Cornwall: unfortunately we had to return much earlier than planned due to the fact that yours truly had managed to get hold of an awful inflammation on his foot which made further walkings on the Coast Path definitely impossible: such calamities surely never happened to me when I was younger — bugger!

Nevertheless we would like to thank all the kind people that we’ve met on our short but nevertheless wonderful journey — especially Rob Lloyd & his wife Teresa from Boscastle as well as Mrs. Watson who runs the lovely St. Christopher’s B&B (next to the Napoleon Inn, which is a highly recommendable pub in this little village with its outstanding coastline and the amazing Museum of Witchcraft).

Nevertheless we’re using our remaining days of vacation to work sedulously on new tracks -- and so Ayuma and me managed to finish “Walking With Angels” which you’ll hopefully be enjoying: it’s another lighthearted piece of pop music by your heretofore rather sepulchral gloomsters!

As all you keen readers of Antichrisis’ blog might have already noticed, releasing a new album is a very unsteady operation these days: plans for releasing “The Legacy remains” went down the drain when Reartone Records called it a day a few years ago, and now that Tunguska Records also kicked the bucket it seems that Antichrisis’ scheduled album releases do stand just the same chance as a mayfly in a thunderstorm.

But as so many of you out there have requested an album, Ayuma and me were asking ourselves how we could accomplish an album release on sensible terms.

One good thing is that we wouldn’t need a studio as we’re able to record and produce all our songs at home -- and even if our technical standards might not come close to those of let’s say Bob Rock or Rick Rubin, we’re still achieving something that doesn’t sound too bad for an autodidactic independent production.

Now getting these self-produced tracks on CD is a different story: compact disc manufacturing and printing of booklets ain’t something that I’d call dirt cheap, but thanks to the blessings of the Internet it is nowadays within the bounds of possibility to distribute a downloadable version of an album on decent conditions.

So we decided to release a download-only version of the new Antichrisis album by the beginning of next year: you’ll get all tracks in highest possible quality (i. e. without any bit-rate reduction just as you’d expect it from any standard CD) as well as specially designed artwork (front cover and back cover) - and it goes without saying that all this will be reasonably priced.

All that’s left for you to do then is buying the album, download its tracks and artwork, burn the songs on CD (if desired), print the cover and off you go: a brand new Antichrisis album, directly acquired from the artists without being charged for any kind of intermediate trade or stock-keeping: of course we’ll keep you informed about further details concerning track list, release date, pricing and source of supply on this blog.

This also means that availability for free downloads of Antichrisis’ songs from SoundCloud will be stopped by 23 October 2011. Of course you will still be able to listen to all tracks in full length via streaming audio, but with the forthcoming release of the new album we’ll have to draw the line somewhere eventually.

But enough of that for now: we’re hoping that you’ll like the idea of a self-distributed downloadable Antichrisis-album, and in the meantime Ayuma and me hope that you’re going to enjoy our new track “Creatures of a Jade Lagoon” that we’ve just uploaded to the music section of this website.

By the way: thanks to Rüdiger Abend there is now some live footage from Antichrisis’ performance at the Markthalle Hamburg in 1999. Of course not the best audio quality, but nevertheless a nice remembrance of Antichrisis’ first stage appearance ever (although with a completely different line-up than today): Watch it on the video section on this Website or on YouTube.

A few days ago we received a sad email by our label Tunguska Records: unfortunately Tunguska had to close down due to the fact that it’s almost impossible these days for a small ambitious independent record company with low budget but much better taste in music to make ends meet.

This means that there won’t be any new Antichrisis album for now, which is a shame as our collaboration with Tunguska Records was a really pleasant experience -- hence we’re wishing Julia Dobberstein all the best for her future plans!

Good news is that this drawback won’t stop Antichrisis in any way: we’re going to release all the songs that were planned for the aforementioned album on our website within the next few months and we will also carry on with continuously writing and producing new songs, because in the end Ayuma and me are in it for the music and not for business purposes.

As long as we’re still loving, dancing and dreaming, there will also be new songs!

I often receive mails asking me about the equipment I’m using for creating Antichrisis’ tracks, so I thought I’d better answer that question here and now for anyone who might need some recommendation concerning musical equipment.

Me and Ayuma are both working on iMacs, and while Ayuma’s recording her vocals in Garageband I’m completely addicted to Logic Studio as my favourite digital audio workstation instead.

When creating a track I usually start with the drums - and for me there’s no better software for creating awesome sounding drums than Toontrack’s Superior Drummer: easy to use, great sounding kits and lots of expansion packs and producer presets for all kind of purposes. If more “non-natural” sounding drum sounds are required I’m always turning to Spectrasonics’ Stylus RMX which offers an almost insane flexibility and gazillions of stirring drums and percussions.

There are two different ways for creating bass tracks for Antichrisis: Either I’m playing my good old balky Vantage Avenger 4-string bass through IK Multimedia’s Ampeg SVX amp simulation or I’m using Spectrasonics’ magnificent bass module Trilian via MIDI-keyboard instead.

When it comes to guitars, I’m usually using our Takamines for acoustic sounds and my Epiphone Tom Delonge model for that certain electric twang. Again I’m playing those guitars through another amp simulation by IK Multimedia called Amplitube 3 which I prefer over Native Instrument’s Guitar Rig 4 Pro especially when it comes to crunchy and distorted guitar sounds.

But let’s move on to the keyboards: I’m using a plain simple MIDI-keyboard by M-Audio as my master-keyboard and I’m preferring the following plug-ins for creating great and outstanding arpeggios, leads, pads and all other kinds of strange noises:

Omnisphere by Spectrasonics and Alchemy by Camel Audio are definitely my favourite workhorses as they provide lots of inspiration, clean user interfaces and mind-blowing sound quality - but M-Tron Pro and Virtual String Machine by GForce as well as Miroslav Philharmonik by IK Multimedia are also providing great additional sounds.

So all that’s left is sound processing itself: For these purposes I’m always coming back to IK Multimedia’s T-Racks for engineering and mastering, and if it comes to FX I’m quite often making use of Uhbik and Toontrack’s EZmix, but Logic’s own implemented FX-section is also highly recommendable.

But always keep in mind that it’s not the equipment that counts but your own creativity and skills instead!

We’ve just finished two new Antichrisis tracks: Find them here - and while you’re listening to them don’t forget to vote for your favourite Antichrisis song in this sidebar as well as for the title of Antichrisis’ forthcoming album (just scroll down on this page to the preceeding blog entry where you’ll find the album title poll).

Just finished mixing and mastering “Adrenalin” which can be downloaded for free here. It’s the very last song that I’ve produced in our old tenancy in Zirndorf, because we’ll be moving to Renzenhof next week. This means also that I don’t know yet when we’re going to be connected to the internet again (dealing with german Telekom in such cases is never exactly what one would call a pleasant user experience), so there possibly won’t be any news from Antichrisis for quite some time. But as soon as we’ve sorted everything out we’ll be working on new tracks again.

In the meantime we hope you’re going to enjoy “Adrenalin” as much as we did when we were working on that song - and we also hope to be back on the track real soon!

By the way: New Antichrisis Interviews at www.hardharderheavy.de (in German only, also includes a very profound review of A Legacy of Love Mark II) and at www.lagrosseradio.com (in French only).

Awesome news: Antichrisis’ renowned demo “Missa Depositum Custodi” is finally available for free download at Tunguska’s website (and coincidentally you can also order the re-issue of “Cantara Anachoreta” - remastered by Harris Johns - there). Once you have registered you’ll be able to download all tracks of the original demo tape as well as some unreleased tracks from these early years for free from Tunguska’s website. Don’t miss it!

A few months ago Holger Warschkow of Dark Feather asked me for a contribution to his zine’s 10th anniversary edition, and I was more than glad to agree to provide a remix of “Crossing The Line” that I was working on at that time.

Maybe a lot of you might think something like “Duh - does the world really need another dispensable remix? Aren’t remixes just a bad case of flogging a dead horse with making some extra money from an already released song?” - and of course I can’t completely deny that attitude.

But there’s something else about remixes: In the older days (yes, I was born in the sixties, so I should know all about those good ol’ times!) a band recorded a song on tape and once it had been mixed and produced that song could not been altered any more - it was on tape, it was done, and the only thing you could do was a bit of remastering when you felt the need for it.

But these days are gone: Nowadays with all those hard disc recording-prospects there is no such thing like a “finished” track any more. Thanks to your software sequencer’s total recall-capabilities one can work on a project, finish it - and re-open it again 12 months later with all the proper settings just for adding an idea for a new guitar line. And me, I surely love that kind operation method.

Besides, since I’ve released the first version of “Crossing The Line” I couldn’t help but notice that this track needed a more powerful Techno beat to make it work - maybe there are some things that you’ll only find out after having “lived” with a song for a couple of weeks.

Anyway, that’s the reason why I picked up “Crossing The Line” again and revised it for Dark Feather No. 10 (by the way: you can still get the entire double-album here): the groove’s emphasis is now focused completely on danceability and there’s also a more aggressive midsection as well as additional vocals by Ayuma. You may download or listen to “Crossing The Line (Dark Feather Remix)” here. Enjoy!

Just uploaded a new song called “No Going Back”: Some of you may remember this track because its demo version appeared on this website long time ago. “No Going Back” was written during the time I wrote lots of other stuff for “The Legacy Remains” (i. e. the album that never was), but I wasn’t really satisfied with the original version.

But when Ayuma started singing that song I instantly knew that we were working on the real thing. I also noticed that my primal scintillation of recording “No Going Back” as a plain vanilla ballad without any drums and bass was a flop, as the song seemed to lack the sparkling brilliance that is now added by the rhythm section (thanks to Toontrack’s Superior Drummer and Spectrasonic’s Trilian).

I’m really proud of this version because Ayuma’s vocals bear that special kind of melancholy airiness that emphasizes the overall feeling of that song: the battle is over and you have lost - and there’s absolutely no way of ever going back. But at the same time this means that there’s no more burden on your shoulder: though you’ve been bereaved of something that once was so precious to you, you are now free from a situation that was only causing pain in the end. Let your tears flow for the past, but the future’s promise lies already ahead and it’s sounding like a sparkling waterfall from afar.

Maybe this is one of Antichrisis’ most catchy tracks so far - but don’t get fooled by the song’s overall easiness: still a deep sense of valediction is lurking under its surface.

Although I’m pretty occupied with watching the Football World Cup in South Africa these days, I’ve anyway found the time to upload a new Antichrisis track called “The Point of No Return” (click here to listen or download).

This song has seen quite a few transformations since I’ve written it sometime in 2002; at first it was called “The Way”, but I could never get my head around finishing it - until I played the demo version of that song to Ayuma last January: As soon as she heard the track she was instantly hooked to it - and after rehearsing a couple of times she came up with those great vocal lines you’re now hearing on that recording. Besides, “The Point Of No Return” contains also great performances by Frank J. Hennig and Näx, so thanks a lot for your contribution, guys!

But after I had finished mixing the 78 tracks that “The Point of No Return” consists of I swore to myself that I would never be recording as many tracks for just one song again - possibly!

Holger Warschkow has just released the jubilee edition of Dark Feather No. 10, including a previously unreleased version of “Crossing The Line”, specially remixed for this anniversary edition.

Dark Feather No. 10 comes as double CD and contains besides Antichrisis’ “Crossing The Line (Dark Feather Remix)”
also tracks by 7 Seals, A.Stray, Alexa, Alter Vocalis Ego, Apo Velation, At Daggers Drawn, Avatar, Avataria, Black Chameleon, Die Votion, Embercrow, End Of The Road, Ferment, Frozen Memory, Mirrored In Secrecy, My Lucina, Nion, Osiris T., Plastic Autumn, Shade Of Shambles, Stealing The Bride, Stormgarde, Summer’s End, Tharsys, The Exploding Boy, Via Obscura, Wort-Ton and Your Favourite Nightmare.

As this double CD is sold for 6,50 in Germany and 8,50 € within Europe (including postage and packing), it’s definitely a bargain - so don’t hesitate to contact Holger at Dark Feather to get hold of your copy of this really awesome sampler.

Find also Holger’s short interview with Antichrisis (in German only) here: This time not only Sid is answering Holger’s questions, but also Antichrisis’ female vocalist Ayuma.

Tunguska Records has re-released the eagerly sought-after debut feature "Cantara Anachoreta" including special bonus track "Beautiful Wolves" that didn't make it on the original release on account of playing time limitations back then.

So Tunguska Records proudly presents "Cantara Anachoreta" by Antichrisis not only as a double album (Yes, "Beautiful Wolves" is really that long!), but also remastered by legendary engineer and producer Harris Johns (Kreator, Voivod, Sodom, Einstuerzende Neubauten), glamourizing the album with delightful depth and tremendous warmth.

In addition to that the album's artwork got revised from scratch and now contains superb and exquisite illustrations by one of Germany's most talented and groundbreaking cover artists, making this new edition also interesting for those who already own the original release of 1997.

As this album is distributed by Twilight, international availability should be no problem. For further information see Tunguska’s website.

American journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson once wrote: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side” and he was probably right: so many people involved in the music biz are just in it for the wrong reasons, be it money, megalomania, fame, egomania or just because they simply don’t know how to cope with an ordinary life.

But sometimes one runs into people who are in it for exactly the right reasons: because they love music, because they get really excited when listening to a great new track by a completely unknown artist, because they don’t care at all about the charts but are more likely to search the unchartered depths of the world wide web instead for something new that nobody else might have heard of, and they love to share their findings with the world because they are absolutely convinced that the rest of mankind should listen to good music instead of all that piddling Top Ten drivel.

Such a guy is Holger Warschkow of Dark Feather: he puts so much effort and lifeblood into his Underground-Zine just because he believes in what he is doing and the bands he is supporting. And although Dark Feather’s subject is Gothic and Metal, Holger’s own musical taste goes far beyond these brands — and I’m sure that Hunter S. Thompson would have found much nicer words to characterise the music business if more people like Holger were involved.

Because of all that I decided to submit a previously unreleased Antichrisis song to Holger’s newest edition of his zine/sampler Dark Feather No. 9 called “The Point Of No Return”, featuring Ayuma on vocals as well as guest appearances by Frank Hennig and Näx. “The Point Of No Return” is Antichrisis’ latest track with a playing time of more than 9 minutes — and what else is there to say about that song as well as Antichrisis’ future plans can be read in the corresponding interview (which is in German only).

If you should be interested in purchasing that terribly recommendable sampler (containing 12 more remarkable bands apart from Antichrisis) just follow the instructions on http://www.darkfeather.net if you’re from Germany or send an email to contact@darkfeather.net if you’re from anywhere else in the world, because the CD-sampler itself is only 1,95 € (that’s definitely a bargain if I ever saw one!), but postage and packing may vary depending on what part of the world the CD has to be sent to.

And more good news are on the way — just wait until the 14th of May!

Question: Many gothic metal bands have used female vocals very well but also in excess nowadays. How do you feel about it? What is the main difference between a female and a male musician to you?

Sid : Yes, it seems that the Nightwish-syndrome has taken over the gothic metal-scene, quite often in order to disguise the male singer's incapacity, but that point doesn't concern us at all: I am a pretty good vocalist myself, but I like the idea of integrating a female voice because of the different colour that this vocals provide to the big picture of Antichrisis.

This doesn't necessarily mean that I'd prefer the male voice being responsible for the aggressive or powerful parts of the music whereas the female singer does all the soft and lyrical bits - this kind of stereotype is much too predictable and boring, hence I'm simply avoiding this mode of operation.

The difference between a male and a female musician? I don't see any difference in general because in my book musicianship doesn't depend on sexual categories, just on artistic ones - and if it comes to singing, it's merely reduced to the fact that there are not that many men able to sing soprano, whereas women hardly reach the pitch level of the bass.

Question: Which are the main feelings you want to transport through your music? Would it be melancholy or beauty - or both?

Sid: The main idea behind Antichrisis is that music and lyrics as an undividable entity should be a reflection of my soul, a mirror of my dreams, my visions, my desires and my emotions. Hence this music is of very personal and intimate matter, for it reveals my inner self completely.

Melancholy and beauty are both part of my world of emotions, as well as love and hate, sadness and joy, fear and hope, strength and weakness, desire and lust, depression and confidence... it would be impossible to list all the emotional states I am or have been going through, but nevertheless they're all reflected in my songs - and that's exactly what I want to transmit to the listener: The heart and soul of me, my emotions with all their shades and nothing else.

Question: Have you ever played live? I would be really interested in your gigs which must be a great experience. Another band I know once mentioned that their dream would be to play in an ancient church. Have you ever thought similarly about this as well?

Sid : We have actually been playing live when touring Europe (Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands) together with Tristania, The Sins of thy Beloved, Siebenbürgen and Trail of Tears in spring 1999, but it wasn't exactly a satisfying experience for us: poor organisation, lack of essential equipment, bad promotion and other unpleasant circumstances made this some kind of "Tour de Force" - 19 gigs within 3 weeks without a day off, surrounded by a horde of permanently drunken Scandinavians wasn't that much fun! Anyway, we tried to make the best out of it and act as professional as possible (quite tricky if you haven't the chance to do soundchecks!), so we could at least prove the audience that Antichrisis is also a splendid live-act! Unfortunately Naex couldn't be with us on that tour, as he had to pass his exams at that time, so the tour-band included just me, Dragonfly, Brown Jenkin on Guitar, a mad session drummer and our japanese friend Roland on Keyboards and Sequencer.

Nevertheless I do enjoy live performances, although I'd prefer an old pagan temple to a Christian building for an Antichrisis-gig - as long as there are enough sockets somewhere: Otherwise it'd be a rather "unplugged" experience (which wouldn't mean a serious problem to Antichrisis either, as we're capable of doing an acoustic set as well).

Question: In which ways have you succeeded in mixing acoustic and electric music?

Sid: When I wrote the songs for "Cantara Anachoreta" and "A Legacy of Love", I usually started with evolving the basic chords on acoustic guitar, but for "Perfume" things were different, because of its emphasis on electronic sounds and grooves. I started with just some basic rhythms and bass lines when working on the "Perfume"-material, which was a modified way of creating and arranging songs. causing the tracks to develop in another musical direction than those of "A Legacy of Love", which was just what I wanted.

Personally, I don't see any reason for drawing a parting line between electronic and acoustic instruments: They both have their advantages, and they're both wonderful tools for creating the musical soundscapes of Antichrisis.

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: 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...

Question: Naex, you're using traditional instruments such as uileann pipes and bodhran. Are you dedicated to folk music?

Näx: Yes, I can`t deny that I am dedicated to folk music, especially to the traditional Irish music. Sometimes I think that I'm even addicted to it.

When I got into contact with Antichrisis it became apparent that the sound of the Irish uilleann pipes would perfectly fit into Sid's music, so we started off to experiment with this mixture.

Beside of this musical aspect it is really interesting for me to play traditional instruments and music in a non-traditional context. I would like to make the traditional music and the uilleann pipes become known to people who have no special interest in this stuff. Everybody knows what the Great Highland Pipes sound and look like, only a bunch of people know that there are regional forms of bagpipes like the galician Gaita or Boehmischer and Maehrischer Bock in Germany, which may sound a bit crude sometimes. But there is another sound which is well known by films like "Braveheart", "Rob Roy", "Titanic" or musicals like "Riverdance" or "Lord of the Dance", and nobody knows which instrument creates this sound. They only know that non of the average bagpipes sound like this, but also no saxophone, clarinet or oboe. Perhaps a keyboard? Beside of making music with Antichrisis I want to show people that there is an bagpipe-instrument, which is held in high regard in Ireland and amongst folk fans, but which still can be discovered by the worldwide rockpopmetaltechnopunkgrungegothic- andwossisname-audience.

Question: When did your interest in music start? And how was your musical development?

Sid: My first-time acquaintance with music started with listening to Roy Orbison (him of the sunglasses and the angelic voice) on the good old valve radio (those were the days!), subsequently superseded by Glam-Rock-protuberances like T. Rex, Gary Glitter. Slade, Sweet and The Kursaal Flyers. But shortly after my 14th. birthday, being on holiday somewhere in the outback of Bavaria (no rude comments, please!), some blessed DJ player "God save the Queen" by the later-to-be-awful Sex Pistols (them of the plugged bass-player) on the wireless , and from that very moment I turned into a punk (or a monster in my poor mother's humble opinion) without being kissed by your obligatory princess. Blimey, it was just my luck being a punk in a little quaint village that seemed to be bogged down somewhere between the Palaeozoic and the Precambrian era on the evolutionary scale!

As entering upon a punk career meant getting utterly fucked up almost every night, I thought I'd do myself a favour if I went into that Dark Wave/Gothic-business instead, which to everyone's surprise served me pretty well during the next 5 years: The likes of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Theatre of Hate, Christian Death (them of the good-looking singer!), Throbbing Gristle (them of the grotty singer) or Cindytalk weren't exactly what one would call a boisterous bunch, but after all they made me give up drinking.

A couple of years later I accidentally realized that Irish Folk could be even more melancholic and depressing than any Cure-album, and by getting myself an acoustic guitar, I turned out to be a neo-hippie long before Tracy Chapman or The Walkabouts were invented - and I also found out that buskin' is a hard way of making some extra money.

After one wicked weekend (we're talking about the golden age of every weekend being amazingly wicked) I was feeling kind of sentimental and put on the dead-gorgeous "Pretty Vacant"-single by the later-to-be-unnecessarily-reunified Sex Pistols, but unfortunately the record player (that popular stone-age device for listening to music before CD-players were invented) was on 33 1/3 rpm instead of the much more suitable 45 rpm - and that bungling of mine suddenly turned into pure enlightenment: Punk did sound so much more annoying if played at lower speed! But a few months later I had to find out that some creeps had nicked this brilliant invention of mine and called it "Doom Metal" - you just can't trust anybody!

To cut a long story short: Some time in the Nineties I thought it would sound quite nice throwing all my musical preferences in the big boiling cauldron and seasoning the strange dish with a strong dash of pop music - and that's how Antichrisis got on the menu!

Question: In which ways have you succeeded in mixing your obviously various background influences to such a wonderful and unique sound?

Sid: I do listen to a large variety of different musical styles, be it Punk, Folk, Metal, Classical music, Dark Wave, Country & Western, Reggae, TripHop a. s. o., and one can learn a lot just by listening carefully to different styles - hence theres a multitude of influences reflected in Antichrisis, which makes it quite impossible to describe Antichrisis’ sound without ending up with a slightly dumb expression like Celtic- Folk-Doom-Black-Gothic-Britpop-Dark- Wave-Grunge-Ballad- Metal or something stupid like that. Antichrisis can't be described in musical terms except with adjectives like unique, refreshing or thrilling. I mean there are bands that do sound like Joy Division, bands that sound like Massive Attack or bands that sound like The Pogues - but there's only one band being able to come up with a compound of all these and many more musical ingredients while still creating its very own musical vision - and that's Antichrisis!

I don't bloody care about artistic limitations: inspiration comes in any shape it likes, and it'd be a shame trying to restrict it to just one kind of musical expressiveness - if a song comes to me as a folk ballad, I'll translate it exactly that way into music; if it comes to me as a piece of gloomy doom metal, I'll have to let it happen that way! Musical limitation means standstill to an artists creativity.

Take "Forever I Ride" for example, where you'll find at least four different musical patterns within one song: It starts like an up-tempo folk-song introducing a medieval brass band in the bridge, then turns into a stirring metal-refrain, followed by a bewitching atmospheric ballad with fairy-like vocals, when suddenly a ravishing black metal-part with a powerful female lead and wistful Irish bagpipes emerges a.s.o. - there are bands who would make at least 3 complete albums out of the ideas that I've put into just one song!

All ideas for the songs of Antichrisis derive from the spiritual world, hence this music shows such large variety: Spiritual inspiration doesn't care about boundaries of musical style; it comes in any shape it likes and I am nothing more but an interpreter in the literal meaning of the word.

I do not actually create songs: They come to me like dreams or visions any time they want, they are prodigies of inspiration and that is why I actually cannot plan or propose anything - it's like sitting by a river-bank, watching the petals, leaves, boughs or other things floating by while picking up the most remarkable ones. To me it's a sacred act of inspiration, a gift of the Goddess, and I am most grateful being able to transform this divine inspiration into words and tunes. The songs do seem to create themselves as they go along, both musically and lyrically. All that's left for me to do is giving them a certain shape like a gardener trimming a tree.

Question: What do you think about this folk/celtic renaissance in today's rock scene?

Sid: Well, I appreciate this a lot, because in my opinion it's a most exciting event to re-discover the musical roots of our European heritage and combining them with contemporary music. By the way: It's great to see that nowadays Celtic Folk seems to get the esteem at least that this soulful and heart-touching music always deserved!

Näx: For me it's interesting to see that every 20 years there is a revival of Celtic music. This proves that this music is quite vivid and also adaptable to other musical styles. I admire those musicians who have a huge background of folk music and who are now able to unite their instruments/voices with non-folklorical music, entering new spheres for folk music and rock, pop, classic or whatsoever. A positive effect on this popular mixture is that listeners become aware of musical styles beyond their favourite music.

Question: When listening to your vocal performances, I can detect a certain passion and also an ability of acting in different characters. It seems that you're identifying yourself with each song. What do you think is the quality of a good singer? And don't you think that many young bands of today's scene do not feel real passion for what they're doing?

Sid: Being a good singer requires the ability to re-live the situation of the song you're singing: Song and singer have to melt into one, the song's story has to become part of the vocalist's emotional world. This is only possible if the lyrics do reflect your feelings and experiences - then singing a song can become something similar to playing the leading role in a drama: Like every good actor you have to become another character, reveal other facets of the human soul. A good singer is always able to immerse into a world of its own when singing a song.

A musician - just like every proper artist - has to be a visionaire; if not, his art would be nothing more than mere craftsmanship. Many young bands seem to care more about meeting an audience's expectation or copying their idols instead of developing their own musical language - that's not vision, but a frame without a picture! All that matters is musical inspiration, the artist's vision - and not image or outfit!

Question: What causes your fascination of Celtic music or folk stuff in general. Don't you wanna pick up some german folk influences?

Sid: Well, there's nothing wrong with German folk music (by the way: The Celts have settled and lived in Germany, hence there are also traces of Celtic folklore to be found in our musical heritage!) and if I had the hang of it I surely would assimilate those musical traditions of my native country (and there are bands around here who are doing suchlike stuff like f. e. Zupfgeigenhansel, Biermoesl Blosn, Alpinkatzen or Hans Söllner and many more), but somehow I seem to be connected to and deeply rooted in English/Celtic culture. It's something I can't explain logically - it's just that every time I'm setting foot on English soil, it feels like sort of homecoming; like I had been living there for ages, and it also never occurs to me as if I was a foreigner there: Everything about England seems so damn familiar to me!

The same goes for Celtic folk music: If I listen to an English or Irish folk song it seems to me as if a voice from afar would be answering the yearning call of my soul...it just makes my heart dance! But there's absolutely no reasonable explanation for this kind of fascination - maybe it's a matter of the heart like falling in love with someone.

Näx: Whenever I listen to music, I usually judge it by the following three measures: Does the music touch me? Is the music composed intelligently? Are the Instruments well played?

Celtic Music touches me inside and the musical part of my soul is addicted to this Celtic stuff. Now, there is one point that is really fascinating to me: The enormous diversity of a music which is passed on just by listening and learning. When you try to understand this music, to play or to analyse it, then you start to think about who composed these complex songs or tunes. When were they composed? Who played this tune which you are playing at this moment before, and who danced, cried or loved to it? And which rules make a tune last over centuries? Then you feel that this music has a deep peacefull power inside which can fill your veins if only you let it. Other people may have these feelings with other kinds of music, but most of them have never experienced the mysterious fascination of traditional music. In addition traditional music does not depend on written notes or recordings in general, in contrary to classical or rock-, pop- or metal-music. This makes traditional music so resistent against fast moving trends. Although reality sometimes proves the opposite (as in Germany), traditional music has a touch of immortality.

It is sad that there is no widespread german traditional music any more. Traditional music is still alive in some regions where regional culture is maintained. But the biggest part of this music became a victim of the success of classical music. When classical music became modern in Germany, people lost interest in their own traditional music and so it died.

Question: Do you still believe that your music - or just music in general - might change the cruel world or people?

Sid: No, not at all: The only thing or person that I can change is myself - and working on or performing the music of Antichrisis always causes vast changes within myself; it's like communicating with my deeper self, like encountering my ancient soul's wisdom!

People may be influenced to a certain extent by Antichrisis music (or music in general), they may even find themselves reflected in my or anybody else's songs, but my songs are not meant to change anyone and it's also not in my power to cause such effects! People can only change themselves if they have the will and the ability to do so, and sometimes certain songs may enhance social awareness or can be sort of guidelines... but nothing more!

Näx: Neither literature, drama, music nor other arts are able to change the cruelty in the world or cruel people. This can only be tried (unsuccessfully) by a strong community of upright people. These upright people may find recreation and power in arts, but art itself changes nothing.

Question: Will I make you laugh if I said that you have a possibility to become as good and well known as MIKE OLDFIELD or CLANNAD? Of course in the future...

Sid: No, you won't...although I think it's a bit tricky to compare a young band like Antichrisis with renown and established acts like Mike Oldfield or Clannad (By the way: Mike Oldfield's "Voyager" is one of my favourite albums - highly recommendable!), because they've already proved their firmness and continousness throughout the years, whereas time has to tell if Antichrisis will achieve the same capability - but I'm quite confident, anyway...

Näx: Well, I personally think that it is nearly impossible to reach Clannad's standard, but be assured that we're working on it.

Question: Were you born as a gifted musician or how did you manage to play so many instruments?

Sid: I wouldn't say I'm gifted - I've never learned to play any instrument properly, and I'm not at all a "good" musician if it comes to technical skills: All I know is how to hold a guitar (pointed end in the air, right?) and how to play a few basic chords - that's it. My so called talent lies in writing and arranging songs so that they sound as if one had to be pretty smart to perform them...

Question: According to you, what distinguishes you from the average gothic-metal stereotype?

Sid: The mere fact that Antichrisis ain't a gothic metal band! Like a painter uses a multitude of colours to create a landscape, I'm using different musical ingredients to form the soundscape of Antichrisis - and Gothic or Metal are just two shades of a thousand and one musical colours of my palette...

Antichrisis can only be categorized by emotional values, not by any assignments of musical styles!