Hello everyone! Your friendly neighborhood psycho, Zeph, here. Ready to bring you yet another wonderful interview with an Amazing band! Out of the darkness and light I bring to  you, Tunes of Dawn!

 

 

 

Zeph:  How did you come up with the name of your band, Tunes Of Dawn? Who are the current

    members of the band?

 

Hagen: We wanted a name that fits to our music, not too happy, not too sad but a hint of melody in a struggle between darkness and light. Then again I guess the most important thing was to fill out the three letters T.O.D. which just means death in German being our personal little joke. Tunes Of Dawn includes the following delinquents: Hagen Schneevoigt – Vocals and Bass; Gunter Büchau – Keyboards; Martin Schorlemmer – Drums and Rene’ Gödde – Guitar.

 

 

Zeph:  When were Tunes Of Dawn formed and what inspired you to create the band?

 

Hagen: Well it all started quite some time ago when four people with lots of ambition (and of course brilliant talent, ha ha) tried to live out their musical talents in death-metal. After some years not without success and the usual changes in lineup, the leftover core decided to get into some more moderate tunes, as those of dawn. This is when the formation of today got together in End of 1999. Since then we have been doing a lot to develop what we think is a style that truly reflects us all and also the comedy that lies within so many of the tragedies on earth.

 

Zeph:  Tell us about your unique style of music and who are your major influences?

 

Hagen: I don’t think our style is unique in general but we’re always trying to add our special flavour to the different ones we make use of.

One interesting thing about Tunes Of Dawn is that we have quite different backgrounds that also reflect in our musical tastes and influences. Of course there is stuff we all like, but speaking of influences there is a great diversity. It would be ranging from Pink Floyd in arrangement, over John Lord of Deep Purple in playing style for Keys, pure old masters of Rock ‘n’ Roll as Chuck Berry or Elvis right into modern hard-core and metal for the drive. Even liking classical music as Beethoven or Schubert, only to name two, guess we are a bit of romantic-lovers, leaves a mark in what we like to create ourselves in music. This hasn’t changed much but the possibilities to integrate it in our music have become greater and greater as our sound grew closer and closer to where we are now. And this is definitely not the end. All of us still have a lot running in our head that wants to cross the goal line into the next song.

 

Zeph:  What sort of equipment do you use in the making of your music?

 

Hagen: Well I guess there is nothing special we use, just the normal, but good stuff like Gretsch Drums, Ensoniq & Yamaha Synthesizer, Line6 Amplifier, LTD, Gibson, Epiphone, Esh and Ibanez Guitars&Basses, Hartke Amplifier and Paiste & Meinl Cymbals. All the good old stuff you need for rock’n’Roll :o)

 

Zeph:  Does Tunes of Dawn play live? If so what are your favorite venues? If not then do you

     plan to do so in the future?

 

Hagen: We do play live indeed. But it can never be enough. No truthfully it is always a lot of fun to play live and have a great night with a great audience. All the stress is forgotten the moment you step on stage and the clear feeling is there: This is what it’s all about. We love to get into the basement and create new stuff and then work on it and juggle around with sound and content, but without playing live I think we would really dry out. Good musical evolution needs direct feedback. There is no special venue, at least it has to be fun for everyone.

 

 

Zeph:  What has been your biggest challenge with Tunes of Dawn thus far?

 

Hagen: It definitely has been a great challenge to get out our records and still is quite a one for the next. Finding our sound and developing it in the composing phase as well as in the recording process with some great support by our producer has been quite a piece of work, if very rewarding of course. While growing together everyone has also been growing in their personal abilities and ambitions. This is what makes us believe, that we are on a good way, the end of which is not to be seen.

 

Zeph:  What are some of the highlights of Tunes of Dawn and what are your goals for the

    future... such as where do you hope to be with Tunes of Dawn 5 years from now?

 

Hagen: Two really highlights were our Finland tours in August last year and April this year. And of course releasing the albums has been quite a highlighte every time. Also the appearances on the greater stages, were we plan to find us more often in the future leave a powerful impression. Not to forget though the great little gigs that burn themselves into memory, just by the great atmosphere surrounding the whole of these nights, as the first record release party in a club in Berlin. We sure hope to play some great festivals  within the next years, but we will never stop taking little ones, where you get that unique feeling of being one family with the crowd.

Having the next record in mind already, we of course plan not to stand still in creativity and keep on releasing our material into the cruel world of music business that it might find a save haven in the players of our beloved fans.

 

Zeph:  Are you currently working on or planning any new releases?

 

Hagen: At the moment we are working on new material for our next album, but we are not in a hurry, cause we have just released our latest album “Of Tragedies In The Morning & Solutions In The Evening” in may this year. But we won’t wait too long for the next one to come be released. We’re planning the next longplayer for next years fall.

 

 

Zeph:  What are your views on collaborations and do you have any collaborations coming up?

 

Hagen: Collaborations are very interesting, but it has to fit to the music. We had none until today and there are no plans for it right now. But we’ll see what happens in the near future.

 

Zeph:   How long have you been in the music industry and how has it changed over time?

 

Hagen: Our jump into the real music industry has not been so long ago. I would say it was with the release of our first album “How is this going to End?” in 2005. Therefore the changes have not been so major ones. One might say that downloading and especially making money with it has becaome more and more normal and I think that’s pretty cool just for everyone to have the possibility to choose. Working with small companies though we have not been so drastically affected by the changes that rumbled the majors around.

 

Zeph:  Where do you typically get your inspiration for songs?

 

Hagen: Of course from everydays life. You just have to look around and you will find stories to tell.

But at least we definitely fill our songs with personal words and feelings. Mostly not the happy ones, but when you take a closer look you will recognize the little smile in them here and there.

 

Zeph:  If there were one thing you could change about the music industry today what would it be?

 

Hagen: Maybe to give more chances, especially playtime to the little not so well known bands. But that would of course be very favorable for us, since we are one of them (yet haha). In general it is pretty hard to say. The industry is what it is. Showbiz is blending into musicbiz evrywhere and it has some good and some bad up to disgusting results. I guess we won’t really change it. I can just hope that a taste for good and rough music, this of course being the taste for Rock’n’Roll shall prevail and that we can be part of it.

 

 

 

 

Zeph:  How do you feel about the issue of people downloading music and sharing music on the

      internet?

 

Hagen: We think in general there is nothing bad about it. If there is a band or some music well liked in the net, I can only hope that there will always be those that approve of courtesy and fairness and want to reward those that created it. Of course there have been some major problems especially for the majors. On the other hands there always have been some copies, even if it was just tapes in the old days and the industry survives. Maybe, also concerning the question before, there should in general be more focus on the music than the industry. That could be a good start and would for what I believe make more people want to pay a fair price for the music that is given to them.

 

Zeph:  How is Tunes of Dawn being received by the public? Has the response been good?

 

Hagen: So far the response in Germany and some parts of Europe has been really good. Also the words we got on our records from fans as well as professionals are really nice. Some bad ones are of course always there. If the criticism is helpful we use it, if not we forget it. In the end we will always make the music we like. Of course things could be better. We are not really able to live solely of our music, which makes many creative and technical processes quite difficult. And, as I said, we can really not get enough of playing live, so more gigs are always appreciated. But we feel that we are on our way and the days will get better and better.

 

Zeph:  Have you ever played or do you have any plans to play the U.S.?

 

Hagen: No we have not played the U.S. yet and most unfortunate up to now there are no focussed plans. But it is of course such a great dream of ours to do so. So we’re looking for any support we can get to make it happen and try a lot to form connections in the states. We really believe that there are a lot of people over there that could and should love our music and we know we would love to play for them and have a great round of beautiful (and extremely wasted) parties.

 

Zeph:   Is there anyone special you would like to acknowledge, and anything you'd like to add?

 

Hagen: Well of course we want to give great thanx to everyone that has been, is or will be supporting us. As I said before, just to hang in the basement and be oh so creative doesn’t really satisfy and we have been and will be needing a lot of help and support to get where we want to. That is from the fans as well as from our managers, bookers, our label, producer and every friend that just pops up and helps us out in difficult times. We sure will not forget them in the good times to come.

 

Zeph:  Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview with me. It is very appreciated and I hope to speak with you again soon.

 

 

Be sure to visit Tunes of Dawn at:

www.myspace.com/tunesofdawnmusic

www.tunesofdawn.com

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