CLOSTERKELLER
Interview with Anja Orthodox (vocals)
Q>>
Hello Anja! Congratulations with the great re-issued album (the English version
of "Graphite"). It sounds pretty good and I hope western fans will
appreciate it. Have you obtained lots of positive reactions so far ?
A>> Thank you very much! :-) Some reactions reached me and they are mostly
very positive and even more than just positive. :-) Unfortunately it so happened
that most reactions were sent to our label till now. But I have asked them recently
and they will send or forward to me every review! It is the first time we release
the album abroad and I still have to get oriented in the situation. ;-)
Q>> I was
astonished when I read your discography. You guys released so many CDs... How
come we never heard about you over here ? Is it because you recorded the previous
albums in Polish only?
A>> Yes, I think so. Besides we haven't thought about promotion outside.
It is maybe because we were just in such rapture with the adoration of our fans
in our own country. ;-))) But after all we weren't fortunate. All the time we
met mythomaniacs who promised a lot to us but did nothing. And I was afraid
of the English language. I speak so that I can communicate but singing is a
very different thing. Of course I mean singing on a good level with appropriate
accent and pronunciation. And the third fact: I am awfully lazy.
Q>> Can your
new English-speaking fans expect more re-releases in English ?
A>> I do not think so. I do not like looking back. But every new album
will be surely recorded in both versions at the same time. I met a fantastic
teacher who is able to prepare me and help with recording. So I stopped to be
so afraid. And... I do not know if I should talk about it... one of our old
albums has already been released in both versions. I'm thinking of our second
album "Blue" from 1991. But it is awful! I do not like it and I am
ashamed of it! These English versions are hopeless. The next album after "Blue"
- "Violet" - was also recorded in English but I was too ashamed to
release it. On our website www.anja.pl <http://www.anja.pl> you can find
some older songs in English. There are those better ones, of course.
Q>> I read
that you insisted on the fact that this is the best album you ever made. What's
so different compared with the other ones ? Usually musicians say so only about
their very latest release, so I'm curious...
A>> "Graphite" was the album I have always wanted to record
with Closterkeller. Exactly this climate and expression. It is the most mature
and homogeneous one. The most beautiful one. I was so convinced that we achieved
the musical peak of our possibilities that I even wanted to finish the activity
of the band. I said that Closterkeller is a completed picture that is only to
be hung on the wall! And I would have done it if there wasn't that clamor rising
amongst our fans. Also, that time when we played the concert with Clan of Xymox
even them, foreigners, started to explain me not to do it, so I said "pas!"
and I called my decision off. That's why I think this is our best album. After
the previous one I didn't wanted to dissolve Closterkeller. :-)
Q>> Most
of the melodies on "Graphite" are made of strong and catchy gimmicks.
How did you come up with them? Who's actually the main composer in Closterkeller?
A>> There's no method of creation in our band. The work on most songs
was collective. Everyone put some of his own ideas into the song and the final
effect arose this way. But we have never used any tricks. We have always done
everything only using our musical instinct. The guitarist and the bassist were
main composers, as well as me but I played a lesser part in the process of composing.
And then I have always put it all together and have established the final shape
and expression of the album. The texts, the so important part of the band, are
mine. At present after some changes in line-up the main composers are Freddie
(guitarist) and me. Freddie started to play with us when recording "Graphite"
but previously was a fan of Closterkeller and learned to play after Pawel. Over
4 years of playing at concerts made him into a perfectly suitable addition to
the climate.
Q>> Closterkeller
navigates between Goth, Rock and Metal. Are you never asked to be more into
one or another genre? (by your fans)
A>> Fortunately never! I think it proves just that our listeners have
open minds. And after all I am trying all the time to teach them this attitude
via all I say in media, at concerts, on the Internet and via private contacts
after concerts. Why should we limit ourselves to one kind of music? We play
what we feel in the moment we create it. So when we have a special climate we
create Gothic, if the fire burns inside us we play more Metal and if we miserably
fall in love we play the ballad. ;-) I think it would be boring and to me unbearable
to play in one climate all the time. I hate monotony in life as well as in music.
Q>> Your
latest "real" release is "Pastel", which was out in 2000.
Are you working on a new album now ? I imagine your Polish fans must be very
impatient to hear some new material !
A>> Oh yes! They are impatient! Very impatient! They even have started
to quarrel! :-) All the time they bomb me with mails about it! As a matter of
fact we haven't recorded anything new for a long time. A lot of details influenced
this fact; it's quite a long story... But idleness is over and the new album
should see the daylight in autumn. All of our studio album have colored titles.
This one will be black - "Nero". So the climate is easy to be predicted.
Recently I feel very black inside… Black as I have never felt before…
Q>> I downloaded
a couple of videos on your site and I noticed that you're an extremely expressive
singer even visually... People say you are a very charismatic person and I totally
agree. Now, you tell me, is that something you're born with or did you work
on it when you started the band ?
A>> I was educated to become a geneticist. And I was taught that "the
phenotype is a resultant of the genotype and the influence of the environment".
And that's the truth. I am sure there was something in me that I have inherited
from past generations. I do have in my family some personalities with exuberant
characters. After I had become a vocalist my own character got a possibility
to expand and I used it without reserve. In Closterkeller I am still myself.
Besides, it would be difficult to hide my own personality for 14 years! People
see and appreciate my authenticity and outspoken nature. For some of them I
am a real role model. It is something incredible! They trust me and believe
in me, really! Sometimes this belief in me is rather difficult to take because
I have to mind what I am doing and saying because I know that my every move
can be imitated by them. Sometimes I'd really like to behave crazily and do
stupid things... which I now have to hide. ;-))) And as for my scenic image
I just feel very comfortable on stage. I am a courageous and a self-confident
person. These are exactly the features most wanted for the frontman of a rock
group. And besides, I know what I want and I am able to be consequent. Of all
that, my charisma is made out - this charisma that is so appreciated, don't
you think so? There might even be some other things. But it is not for me to
comment and estimate these things.
Q>> Are you
going to play live in Europe soon ?
A>> Oh yes, of course. I mean, yes, we would like to, but as for now we
have no concrete plans. We are waiting for propositions. We have seen some swallows
in our sky but it is still too early to predict anything. A big event for us
was a concert at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig. But fortunately everything
came out fantastic; I saw that the audience was very impressed so the first
step has already been taken.
RNO