Rotersand

You have and had allot of gigs and your E.P. 'Merging Oceans' have done very well. What are your comments about this and do you feel allot of pressure now when you are about to release your first full-length album?
- "We are surprised of the success of 'Merging Oceans'. It's our first production as Rotersand and we never expected to perform so well in alternative DJ-Charts all over Europe. We are self-confident enough to know that the whole E.P. is quiet a good thing, especially for a first release, but we thought that 'Merging Oceans' is to calm to be a club-smasher. So we feel happy that we've earned so much respect. Of course it forces our motivation to release a solid full-length album."

When is your album going to be released and what can we expect from it?
- "We think we will finish it in September 2003, so it will be released round November. Those who like the style of the "Merging Oceans E.P." will like this too, for sure. We took care not to create a compilation of tracks; our challenge was to make an album which is hear able from start to end without being boring on the one hand and without being too arty or conceptional on the other. It will be mixed without pauses between the tracks to underline the organic feel we felt while creating the tracks and as a reference to club character of our stuff."

Tell us more about yourselves, not as the band Rotersand, rather more about who the persons behind Rotersand are.
- "Rotersand are three guys; Rasc - Maybe he could be called the soul of Rotersand. As member of The Fair Sex, he has been part of the scene more than a decade. So he mainly influences the style and characteristics of the tracks with his unique voice and of course with his impressive presence on stage. Gun - Seems to be the head of the band. As a studied musician, multi-instrumentalist and experienced producer he knows how to optimize songs in questions of composition, arrangement and so on. And he mainly writes the lyrics. Krischan - Is the head of Rotersand. I've been active for nearly a decade in the techno and dance scene as DJ and producer. We produce the stuff at my "Studio 600" and I try to give our songs a modern and state-of-the-art rhythmic structure, sound design and production."

Who would you say influences you and what influences do you have for your lyrics?
- "Beside the usual references out of the Industrial, EBM, Gothic genre like Fad Gadget and Front 242, we listen to a lot of the older Detroit styled Techno stuff as produced from Kenny Larkin, Derrick May and Robert Hood or now this guy called Aril Brikha (Isn't he from Sweden?), I like this special kind of spiritual and melancholic atmosphere in this more minimalistic and mainly loop based tracks, but also we like the roughness and political appeal of early 80's electronic music of bands like Der Plan, Pyrolator, Joy Division/early New Order and more experimental tracks from e.g. Pole, Basic Channel, Norken or Oval. Each of us listens to a wide range of different music styles and genres and then we use these styles as inspiration for our specific mixture; not as blueprint for imitations. Our lyrics are often an excerpt out of the conversation between the band members and reflect the way we see specific situations, state of minds or circumstances in our society and interpret them. We try not to work with a lot of these pathetic phrases. We tell little stories and paint lyrical snapshots."

How would you describe your music and your live performances?
- "We don't like to categorize our music. It's the job of journalists and the magazines to say us what our music sounds like or is like. We don't feel stuck to any of these brands. Sure, its electronic music, and logically our live-concept give regards to that fact. We will realize this when we start to present the album. On stage we try to integrate the identities and strengths of each one of us. The great show-capability of Rasc as front-man and singer, the ability of Gun to play several music instruments in a excellent way and the competence of Krischan in manipulating sounds and performing on a mixing desk. If the stage is large enough we three stand side by side, no one in the back, no one as classic front-man; music and technique are equal weighted. It's our way to transfer club music to a concert stage. If you like to think of the live-set-up of Underworld, it's not that far."

How does Endless Records help promote Rotersand? Will you be playing in Sweden or in Scandinavia?
- "If someone out there in Scandinavia would like to hear us play live, we will be there as fast as we could. To be honest, maybe after the release of our album."

Beside Rotersand, do you do music in some other forms or in other bands?
- "Rasc is active member of The Fair Sex. I do some engineering and mastering jobs for other bands like [:SITD:], Plastic and some remixes, esp. with The Fair Sex for Project-X's "Lies 2k2". From time to time I release more techno-electro styled stuff, but actually Rotersand is our main project and we are quiet sure that it will be in the future, because we have an immense joy while working together on Rotersand."

Any last words to our readers?
- "Be open minded. Listen to as much different music-styles and bands as you can and (promotion) visit www.rotersand.net"


This interview was made 2003 and initially published on Neurozine.com