I know you play live with Pro Patria... so how do you work things. Is it just you for the studio side and do you use the same band all the �me for concerts, or is it more of a collec�ve of friends? And do you have to think of the live side when crea�ng a song in the studio? Pro Patria’s had a very mixed composi�on over �me, especially during the early years and at one �me we’ve even had a female singer for a short while. I guess that I’m the only constant and nowadays it’s just me crea�ng the music and lyrics and doing produc�on and mastering. When the band returned to the scene three years ago a�er an invita�on to play at the well-known Familientreffen Fes�val, it was just me on stage, hopping from the frontstage mic to a keyboard on the side and back. It didn’t really work out very well, to my opinion, so I started looking for assistance. When I then got invited to play at the gigan�c W-Fes�val, I eventually found two Facebook friends willing to help me out: Sebas�en Blondwülf (Wülf 7) on keys and Jérémie Venganza (Super Dragon Punch) on percussion. It was a bit of a risk because the W-Fes�val was the most important gig Pro Patria had ever played and… we had never actually met un�l the a�ernoon we all arrived at the fes�val’s back stage. Strangely enough, there was a sparkle of magic between the three of us and it turned out to be the best Pro Patria gig ever, and there have been quite a few. Therefore I hope that my two buddies will be willing to con�nue their assistance in the years to come because it feels really good having them next to me on stage and I also hope that they feel the same about it. Of course, every �me I create a song I already imagine what it must be like doing it live, although it’s certainly not a prerequisite. Some of the songs I’mmost fond of from a musical perspec�ve, such as “The Insignificance of Time” or “Death of a Friend”, probably won’t work out well on stage, but I don’t care. My main mo�va�on is to try to create something beau�ful, something that’s musically interes�ng and may even be called art. Well, let me emphasise the word “try”. If people like it, than that’s a bonus and if they go berserk whilst we’re playing it live then I’ve achieved everything I’ve ever wanted. Next year will be 30 years since your first Pro Patria demos (sorry if that makes you feel old). Obviously technology has changed a lot since then, as has life in general... especially now. How do you look back upon those �mes… and will you marking the occasion by maybe doing a tape release in 2021? Or even a re-issue of Spasma�cae? Actually, we recorded our very first demo tape in November 1988 already, so it’s almost thirty-two years. :-)
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