Solar Fake
Most Personal Thing

17.02.2014

The subject of this interview is responsible for several projects, which are all very different, but all loved a lot by the European audience. Back in the 90s Sven Friedrich fronted Dreadful Shadows, which many gothic and darkwave fans still have fond memories of. In the early 2000s Sven introduced to the world a new band called Zeraphine, which soon found a lot of fans among gothic and alternative rock circles. Starting from 2007, Sven has also been doing Solar Fake, an electronic project that showcases new aspects of his creativity. We got in touch with Sven to discuss the latest Solar Fake album, “Reasons to Kill”, and the project’s upcoming shows in Russia, as well as to find out now so many musical personalities find their place in just one person.

How are you doing, are you busy?

Yes, I’m busy preparing the tour, ordering all the merchandize and rehearsing a little. So yeah, preparing…

Yeah, you’re coming to Russia with your shows quite soon. You’ve been here already – do you have any great experiences of our country to share?

I’ve been once to Moscow, we played at a festival. I think it was back in 2011 in December. Maybe it was 2012. Anyway, it’s not very long ago. And it was so amazing, we were welcomed so warmly by the audience! Great people, great audience, great responses to our show. And the people who hosted us showed us some sights, we were going by metro and we were seeing every place and everything in the center that is more or less like tourist stuff. I think I would like to see a little more, something like not very common things. (laughs) Maybe we have some time when we’re back in Moscow.

Are there any things that you find fascinating about Russia?

Ehm, I’m not really sure because I haven’t met so many Russian people yet. I’ve met a few and that’s always been connected with my music. I have Russian fan support and all these people are so great, they’re doing so much for me! They’re really working quite hard without having any profit from it. And I think maybe this is something that at least all the people I know who come from Russia have in common. When they like something, they are really into it and they really do something and try to help as much as they can. I think everyone I’ve met until now was really great, very special and very supportive. So I’m mostly impressed by the people. Yeah. That’s it. But I haven’t spent so much time in Russia yet, this will be my second visit, so I haven’t had enough chances to see a lot of things actually.

Well, they’re coming your way! Let’s discuss your latest Solar Fake album. The title is really thrilling and the first question that comes to everybody’s mind, I believe, is: What are your “reasons to kill”?

(laughs) Well, I think there are so many. (laughs) I think I’m basically disappointed by the human being itself because it’s destroying everything it likes and it’s destroying everything it needs for life, for a worthy life, you know. Especially when you become middle-aged, it’s extreme I think, everything is going to extremes. And there are a lot of… (laughs) It’s a little hard for me to explain it in English, actually. From different points of view there are so many different reasons to react or to act. And I think that’s what I mainly wanted to describe with the album title. It’s like if you have a different point of view, there are many different ways you could go. I think this is it.

Well, it feels like you’re talking about some kind of hidden anger. Do you consider yourself an aggressive person, by the way?

(laughs) No, not really! But sometimes I feel anger inside of me. When you feel helpless and you feel you have no power to change something. And these are the moments when there’s really rising rage inside of me. And I think last year when I wrote the album I had many of those moments, even on a personal level, not only on the global level. When I’m thinking about friends or former friends of mine, how they behave now or how they have changed, sometimes it just makes me angry. But I’m not really aggressive! (laughs)

Can you tell a bit about your writing process? Do you need any special time or special environment to write something, or can you do it anytime and anywhere?

Yeah, I’m usually getting my ideas in different situations, so I have to try to remember them until I’m at home or until I’m in the studio and until I can work on them. But usually I just sing the melodies that come to my mind into my telephone and record them, so I have a chance to remember. When I’m working on my songs, I just need time to do it. That’s the only thing I need. And when I’m writing lyrics, I just need to be completely on my own, so nothing should disturb me. I’m usually writing the lyrics very early in the morning. When I have like the basic idea, a theme maybe, or a headline, then I just get up very early, like at 4 or 5 o’clock, or at 6, and I work for a few hours in a row on the lyrics. Ten it’s fine usually. (laughs) Yeah, that’s it. But when I’m working on my music, I can do it any time of the day, there’s nothing I really need. I just need my equipment, that’s all. (laughs)

Are there any songs on the album that you personally prefer?

I’ve written them all on my own, so I really love them all. I don’t know. I think that the songs sound quite different, so… I don’t know. I like very much “The Pages”, the song I made the first video for. But I think I cannot really pick one song out because I like them all. That’s exactly what I wanna do, so… (laughs confusedly)

Do you listen to your own music in your free time?

Yeah… When the album is finished, I really enjoy listening to it without having a chance to change anything. Because I really have a problem with finishing something. (laughs) When I hear it I just think, “Ah, maybe in this part I should do something else, maybe I could add something or reduce a little”… And when the album is done and when it’s on the printing works, I really enjoy it to just listen to it knowing that’s the way it is and that’s fine, that’s okay. (laughs) I also hear it from a different point of view, and this is really interesting for me. So, in the end, it’s ‘yes’. (laughs)

What kind of music do you normally listen to apart from your own songs?

Oh… I like the British band Keane, for example. I like Placebo… I also like bands like Paradise Lost. And from the electronic scene I like bands like VNV Nation, and Covenant, and Apoptygma Berzerk, and Depeche Mode and stuff like that. I also like some harder stuff… I like quite a lot of different music. And I’m DJ-ing quite a lot in Germany, so I think I have quite a wide variety of music I listen to. (laughs)

You’ve done quite a lot of covers. How do you choose the songs you want to record? And aren’t you afraid to “spoil” them in a way? I mean, they are really famous songs and people know them well, so it can be a bit scary to provide your own version, don’t you think so?

Yeah, it’s always like… you never know. (laughs) I have fun doing it and I really enjoyed recording the covers I’ve made so far. So I’m not really afraid, but it’s always, yeah, a little strange. But I like it. I like taking one song that I like and trying to make it sound like it’s a Solar Fake song. This is what I’m trying to do and it’s always great fun. And of course it’s great fun live. For example for the new album we’ve made “One Step Closer” by Linkin Park, and it’s so great in the live environment, it’s so much fun to play this song. I like doing this and I’ve done it from the first album on, and I think I will keep doing it. (laughs) But I don’t know what will be the next song.

Are the songs you cover just the ones that you like, or is there any special approach to choosing them, like, for example, taking songs of different genres to see if you can adopt them to your genre?

Yeah, I usually prefer songs which are not of the same genre because I think it is really hard to make a good version of something that sounds just a little different. For the first album I made Radiohead’s “Creep” and it sounded different. Linkin Park is also a very different band. I think maybe “Such a Shame” (Talk Talk cover) is a little outstanding because it’s from the synthpop area and quite close to what we do… But basically I try to record something when the original is not from the same genre. This is the only thing that matters. But I only pick songs that I really like.

Is there going to be another Zeraphine record?

Ehm… Yeah, I hope so, but at the moment it’s a little complicated because the band members have… I think their priorities have changed a little bit. We are all quite old now and most of the guys have families and a normal dayjob. They have to care about their families. We’re very slow at the moment with writing songs and everything. But we have, I think, two concerts next year and we had four concerts last year, so I think maybe in the future we will try to do something together again. I hope so. (laughs)

Do you consider Solar Fake your main project?

Yeah, I think at the moment yes. And I think it will be, because for me it’s very easy to work on Solar Fake. I just depend on myself. (laughs) It’s hard to get five people together to work on something when every one of those has different things in mind. When you’re younger I think you can concentrate on your band and the band is everything, but when you grow older, your priorities may change. So it’s always hard when you’re trying to work on a song and nobody else has the time to go to the studio or to the rehearsal room or something, or just two of you have time – this is really frustrating. I think we have to find another way of working together. But we haven’t found it yet. Maybe we will. But this is why it’s much easier for me to work on Solar Fake, that’ why I’m just pushing this now.

With your projects you work both in the field of rock music and electro pop. Which one do you prefer, and do those genres somehow represent different sides of your personality?

Yeah, I think it’s very simple – I just like both. I like alternative rock and gothic rock and I like electronic music. But I think at the moment I like electronic music a little more. But these are my two favorite genres or directions that I like to work in. And both are representing my… I don’t know, “personality” or “musical personality”…

You said once that Solar Fake will never be a rock band. Why are you so strict about it? Are you against any kind of “mixture” of genres?

No, but actually when I started Zeraphine I wanted it to be an electronic project. Then I started adding guitars and drums and real bass. (laughs) And it just became a rock band. And I said that with Solar Fake I just don’t wanna do it again because I already have this rock band, I can play rock shows with them. I want Solar Fake to be a real electro project. I think this is what makes it special. When you go to shows of other electronic bands, you can see a drum set and guitars on stage… And this is good, but I don’t think that Solar Fake should have this. For me it feels ‘at home’ when it’s really pure electronics. I think I will try to keep it.

Does performing with Solar Fake feel different from performing with Zeraphine?

Yes, of course. We’re just two people on stage and so I have much more space to run and to jump there and to do things. (laughs) It’s really exhausting. Of course, this music is much more clubby, I would say. The people are dancing much more, and clapping their hands, and singing along. And the whole atmosphere of a Solar Fake show is really different, there’s much more interaction with the audience, I think. The atmosphere is really great. When we’re playing shows with Zeraphine, there’s also a little dancing, but people are listening more, they are more quiet, they’re just standing and listening and watching the show. And in a Solar Fake show people are jumping around like crazy. So this is really different. And I like it very much.

Which do you prefer: To work in the studio or to play live for your audience?

It depends. I cannot say that I prefer one thing because after a while in the studio I just wanna go out and play the new songs for the audience and have this interaction and have all this live feeling. And after that I just wanna make new songs. (laughs) So it’s always like up and down. When I’m on the road for a long time, I wanna go to the studio and make new songs and work on new material. And when I have this, I wanna try it. At the moment I really wanna play. (laughs)

Is there going to be another music video for this album? I think there were some rumors…

Yes, I’m just working on it. I’m actually already planning the third one. But it’s just in my mind at the moment. I hope I can finish working on the video until we start the tour, so that I have it in the beginning of the tour. I’m not really sure if I have it by then, but I’m pretty sure it will be finished until we come to Russia. I hope so. (laughs)

Do you always plan and work on your music videos yourself?

Yes, I’m doing all by myself. I was working with several companies together, but I have… I was working as a visual artist before, doing motion graphics and also doing camera and something like that, so I have found out that I can realize or visualize my ideas best if I do it by myself. I work with a very good colleague of mine, she’s helping me. We’re just a team of two and we do all the visualization and stuff. I think it’s the best way to let my ideas out.

You seem to be that kind of person who thinks that if you want something to be done right you should do it yourself. Don’t you sometimes feel like you’re a bit too much of a perfectionist?

Yeah, I think… Yeah. But I think I’m quite realistic about what I can do and what I can’t do. I leave things that I can’t do to others. It’s something like organizing shows, for example. Or organizing anything, I’m not really good at that. (laughs) And all the promotion stuff - I just leave it to the people who can do it. But in realizing my own ideas, I think I can do it by myself. I’m doing all the creative things about Solar Fake by myself.

It feels like you have something to do with abandoned places, as long as you participated in creating “You Hell Is Here” photobook and your “The Pages” video was filmed in a place like that. Do you find them atmospheric?

Yeah, I really love that. I think human imagination likes picturing how it could have looked like years ago, and this is really so fascinating to me. And I love this. There are so many websites about abandoned places and I’m always trying to find something new that hasn’t been filmed before. For the next video I’ve already found a very good location… But the only problem is that in these places you never have power supplies, and there’s no light, and it’s always really hard to film there because of the conditions. And usually you can’t find the owner and you have to shoot there without permission. So it’s always a bit strange… And for Zeraphine I made one clip for the song “Still”, and this was in an abandoned hospital. That was really strange and very good.

Yeah, places like that look really creepy…

Well, from time to time yes. But I usually go there in daylight. (laughs) Some of them are really creepy, I think, especially at night. I don’t know if you know this series “American Horror Story” (laughs) – so if you know it, you know what I mean, it’s like that sometimes.

Some say that English is the language of rock ’n’ roll, and I believe that German really fits some kind of dark electronics. But you seem to avoid writing Solar Fake lyrics in German. Why? Is it easier for you to write in English?

I was making German lyrics for Zeraphine quite a while ago. But at the moment there are so many bands in this sort of darkwave or dark rock genre that do German lyrics which are so bad that I really don’t have so much ambition to do the same. (laughs) I think that for me it’s much easier to express myself in English when I’m writing lyrics. I think English is more open, it has much more space for interpretation. And it really sounds better. I think it sounds more musical. At the moment I definitely prefer English lyrics.

You know, there is a special psychological effect: If we find something emotionally difficult to say, it’s easier to express that in a different language. For example, it’s much easier to say “I love you” in English than in your native language. Don’t you feel like by writing your lyrics in English you somehow keep the distance between your personal self and your personality as a musician?

I really don’t know. I think much more people would understand what I really wanna say if I say it in English. It’s not limited to the region where I come from. And I think I can be much more personal when I write the words in English. It’s easier for me to express what I want to say, I get better to the point when I say something in English than when I say the same thing in German. So I think for me it’s much more personal level. If I did this in German, I would try to find so many descriptions and ways not to say it so directly. (laughs) I think it would be much more encrypted than it is now. In English I don’t have to do it because the language has this encryption already.

How do you yourself identify your music? Are there any words in which you can describe it?

Ah… This is a really difficult question! (laughs) It’s really hard for me because I was working so intensely for the last months… For me, this music, especially what I’m doing now with Solar Fake, is my inside. This is what I feel, this is the personal 100% me. So this is the most personal thing that I could make. And so it’s very important to me. But I don’t take it too serious because I don’t take myself too serious. (laughs) I think Solar Fake, especially how it is now, is really a very good identification for myself. And to express it in words… Well, for me it’s just good electronic music. (laughs) That’s it.

Solar Fake on the Internet: http://www.solarfake.de

Special thanks to Julia Davydova (Kultprodukt) for arranging this interview

Ksenia Artamonova
January 16, 2014
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