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Joined: March 04 2008
Location: Retirement Home
Status: Offline
Points: 3658
Topic: Mekong Delta Posted: May 26 2011 at 11:50
Mekong Delta is one of the most mythological and mysterious bands from the European metal scene. Well, probably also from the metal scene as a whole. They started out as a band where the real names was hidden (explained in the interview) and made some very mysterious albums, hidden behind some esoteric album covers. Their music is difficult to pinpoint too. Mekong Delta is not the usual metal band and their presence on ProgArchives is very much welcome. This is a band well worth checking out if you are symph prog, avant-garde, eclectic or metal fan.
As the first questions reveal, I have been following this band from afar. This interview is something I have wanted to do since for the last 20 years. I therefore jumped on the chance to interview them.
Your biography has been covered in your
ProgArchives profile so let's bypass the biography details.
I was a normal metal fan and avid fanzine reader back in those days
you released your first album and I remember you had to hide your
real names due to contractual issues with, correct me if I am wrong,
Noise Records and Aaarggh Records. Plese tell us more about this
issue. Did the record labels you needed to hide your real names from
ever find out ?
What was the Mekong Delta
musical ethos and concept from the very start ? Is this concept the
same as today's Mekong Delta ethos and concept ?
Please tell us more about your self titled debut
album from 1987 and how you got signed on Aaargh Records.
The
idea behind Mekong is still the same, high quality music which not
repeats itself all the
time and giving the listeners music where they could dive in and find
somethimg new even if they hear the album for 100 times.
If
I go back to the starting of Mekong ,that is a real funny story. I
got to know Jörg Michael and I noticed that he’s got a lot of
talent, so I started arranging various occasions for him to play
drums, I got him involved in various projects that I was working on,
so we were often together, and talked a lot about music. The thing is
that he was deeply into rock music, and I was into classical things
and stuff like for ex“ Yes “. We came up to discussing this, he
taught me something about rock, and I taught him something about
classic. One funny evening, I think it was late 1984 or early 1985,
he came in with a tape by a band that nobody knew at that time. Do
you know which band was that? Metallica ! He played the first song
from the tape to me, it was called “Fight Fire With Fire”, and
there was a rhythmical anomaly in it that’s not so common. He was
deeply impressed by that, and I also found it interesting – this
combination between punk and very fast rock. I said, “Of course, it
sounds good, but you can do it much more complicated and better.”
He looked at me and said, “OK, do it!” I said, “OK, why not?”
So I took my bass and in the evenings of the following days I
composed four songs within a week. Of course, they were not real
finished songs, more like ideas and riffs, but I played them to Jörg,
and he was so enthusiastic that he said, “Let’s go to the
rehearsal room, I have to play that.” This actally was the
rehearsal room of Avenger, where Peavy Wagner also was at that
moment, and we asked him to play the guitar to get a better idea of
how it would sound. We tried it together, and for them it was a bit
strange, because I put in some more abnormal rhythms than Metallica.
But Jörg is a really big talent, so he got it very fast. We played
these songs, and Jörg was again amazed by that, so he said, “You
must make a whole album of such stuff!” It’s he who is
responsible for the birth of Mekong Delta.
There
have been 2 reasons for the pseudonyms. The first, very simple one,
was that we all have been under contract with different companies,
and after they heared the stuff everyone says this has to come out
here. So to get rid of this problem we used Pseudonyms. The second
one is that I believed that nobody excpect german musicians to play
such things cause they all the time think that only american
musicians are able to do that. No german name, no discussion.
But
anyhow, people should anyway concentrate on the music, not on the
persons beyond.
The
name has direct contact to our 1st album, which deals with people in
extrem situations, for example war. So I tried to find a name which
was provocant and also stand for something extrem done by human, so I
choosed Mekong Delta. But I had to find out that historical knowledge
seems to be not very popular, most of the people do not know for what
this name stands – one of the hardest massacres in Vietnam. I am
quite happy that I did not go for the second name which stands on my
list „Höhe 13”, the first gas attack in history. Zardoz was an
other option, but was not choosen as I like to use something which
was more close to the real life.
The follow up album The Music Of Erich Zann from 1988 presented you
as an avant-garde metal band in the same vein as Celtic Frost and
their groundbreaking (and brilliant) Into The Pandemonium album.
Please tell us more about this album.
The idea behind was to
cretae an concept album that was quite different to those already
made. As I love Lovecraft, think he's a great writer of fantastic
literatur, much better as for example Poe, I got the idea to transfer
this tiny little story of Zann who tries to fight the evil with his
music to save our world into nowadays. Our whole story is a big
metaphor. If you read deeply into it, you will find a lot of
references to what is happening in our world today. Once again it was
Peavy who was handling the lyrics, I explained him the story and we
start to transpose it into the present time. While sitting together
with some beers, we decide which parts we could put into present
time, and in our story Erich Zann is fighting against the media, lies
and all this sh*t.
The follow up was The Principle Of Doubt from 1989. Please tell us
more about this album.
The
album based on fantasy book called “The Chronicles Of Thomas
Covenant The Unbeliever” written by Stephen Donaldson. I was deeply
impressed by this book, it was for me more fun than “The Lord Of
The Rings”. I also like “The Lord Of The Rings”, but that’s
at least too much to read. (laughs) I like the main idea behind “The
Chronicles…” very much – the protagonist, this Thomas Covenant,
lived a normal life as a writer, but was suddenly pushed in a
situation where everything was totally strange. He got leper, and
from that point on he was no longer accepted in a normal society. He
lost all his socialization, he was all alone, and he hurt himself.
You know, if you’ve got leper, it’s very dangerous if you hurt
yourself. He felt unconscious, and he saw a dream, but for the people
he met in the dream it was reality. He woke up in another country
where they don’t have leper any longer, so for him it was clear it
must be a dream. And he lived there like an a****le, he kicked
people’s asses off, because he thought, “It’s a dream, I can do
what I want.” Normally he would be the guy who would help these
people, he would offer them support, but he didn’t think he should,
because he thought it was a dream. It sounds totally crazy if you put
it through your head. It was a challenge for me to try getting this
concept written down in music.
This was followed the year after by Dances of Death (and Other
Walking Shadows). Please tell us more about this album.
The most complicate thing was the intellectual
work before starting the composing proccess. Should it be a normal
Rondo or should it be a kind of experimental Rondo what was not done
so far ? After the decision was clear (experimental Rondo ), the
first thing was to find a Ritornell – the theme which combines the
songs -, after this was done you simply had to find the Couplets –
in this case the songs – and than combine them that way that they
fit. The rest is simply experience in music.
1991 saw the release of your
live album Live At An Exhibition. Please tell us more about this
album.
The idea behind was to
recored an album just for the people who are interested in seeing
us live, but who were not able to comr to the concerts. It was
supposed to be sold at a low price, and we didn’t expect it to sell
much, because all the songs were already known, and I was sure that
all the people who liked us already had the original albums. It was
more like a bet, because a lot of critics said in the former times,
“You will not be able to play that live, are you?”
It was time for a new album in 1992 called Kaleidoscope. An album
which also includes a Genesis cover. Please tell us more about this
album.
There’s a trick behind
it, because the record is much more complicated than the other ones,
but you have to dive into it. The reason for me saying the thing you
mentioned is that I wanted everybody to listen to it and say, “OK,
it’s cool played thrash,” but if you really dive into it and
figure out what the bass is playing and how the other lines are
going, it’s as complicated as the other ones, if not more
complicated. It’s not as fast as the other ones, but what we
learned is that we could play fast, but every song’s got its own
tempo. I think this one is a really good album. The Genesis cover was
done as we all liked this song and were interrested if we would be
able to rplace all the synthies with guitar and bass, as you can hear
it worked fine.
1994 and 1996 saw the release of Visions Fugitives and Pictures At An
Exhibition. The latter one sounds familiar to those of us who love
Emerson, Lake & Palmer... Please tell us more about these two
albums.
What
I would like to do all the time was to create my own suite for group
and orchestra, and I was approaching it with every album. I view the
career of Mekong Delta as a pyramid: on the first album we came up
with the rhythm, on the second one with harmonies, on the third one
we dealt with melodies, on the fourth one we dealt with a rondo, and
on the fifth one we mixed everything. I was on my way to new borders,
and I felt that I was capable to make this suite. originally I wanted
to put only the suite on the CD, but it was too short, so we put four
more songs on it.
“ Pictures
…” was a personal dream. Through the years we all the time had
taken parts of Mussorgski and all the time I thought that it would be
a good idea to realise the whole piece. With the arrangment I already
started in 93 / 94, an this was done I thought that it was the right
time to have a try on recording that stuff.
There was a long silence from Mekong Delta and I was one of those
very surprised when your album Lurking Fear was released in 2007.
Please tell us more about the long hiatus, why you reformed the band
and this album.
It
was that way that I simply have to make a break to see where I stand,
furthermore I was a kind of burned out after “ Pictures………….”
– please keep in mind that the preperation alone of this album cost
2 years. It was like that I have to do something different to clear
up my mind how to continue. So I did some other things which I liked
– programming hard and software, reading a lot and so on.
Actually
it starts end of 2005 where I found what I was looking for, a
combination of all what I have done so far. Kind of melting all the
different aspects which have been done together. Suddenly it was
christal clear what I have searched for and from that monet on I
could write the new album in shortest time.
Earlier this year, you released
Wanderer On The Edge Of Time. Please tell us more about this album. How would you describe your musical journey and
developments from the self titled debut to Wanderer On The Edge Of
Time and how would you describe your music, for the benefit of those
who does not know your music ? How is your writing and creative
processes ?
Since
years I got the idea to continue the story of the Violinist
from “Dances...“.
What happened beyond the gates ?
For
me it is all the time the same. If I work concentrated on an album –
like I did with “Lurking” there are million of ideas.
Unfortunately not all work with the basic musical concept, but I
write them down. After the songs for “Lurking” had been finished
I liked to start with “Into the heart of Darkness”, but noticed
that the stuff is pretty complicate to realize musically. The themes
I got at that moment where cool, but did not fit the story. While
playing around I noticed that I found at least one really good main
theme and a lot of stuff in totally different moods – different
moods, that brought me to the point that this could be a good idea to
continue the story of the violin player, different places –
different stories – different emotions. After the formal factor
was clear to me – Rondo again – it was the time to work out what
he could see or visit. I wrote down a basic story for myself and then
I started to figure out which of the riffs could fit the line. After
some days the basics had been choosen and only the the flesh have to
be filled ( that’s what I thought ). Working more and more with the
material it became clear that this could musically be a step into
another direction, away from only using expressionistic harmonies up
to combine this with all the other kind of music I like. After some
weeks it was clear how to go into the ( for me ) right direction.
Using the extreme harmonies on the instrumental parts and to cover
and combine them with ( for Mekong ) new harmonies during the songs
with vocals. Furthermore it is msot important how the album is
composed – in my case: which instrument is the one used most, bass
or classical guitar and piano. The main lines for “WotEoT“ where
composed on guitar, “Lurking” is a 100% bass creation – this
could also be seen if you take a look at the older albums, “Dances..”
was bass while “Kaleidoscope” is guitar and “Zann” is a
mixture of both. The second – and main reason – is that the
expressionistic harmonies are not eternal, so the risk to repeat
oneself grows with each album. As “WotEoT” offers a bright
spectrum of emotions that our protagonist went through, it offers the
possibility to use a lot of different composing technics.
I
was willing to take this risk for that reason that – if accepted –
you can draw on unlimited resources concernig the way of composing.
If
I listen to the result now, several weeks after finishing the album,
it was the right decision for me.
On
the album you can find the extreme stuff as a lot new things as well.
I remember the West Germany
speed metal scene well. But as a fan, I did not know that Mekong
Delta had two members from Rage in it's midst. What is your memories
from this scene just before the reunification of Germany ?
That
time was a giant party..................
Are any of Mekong Delta's
members presently involved in any other bands and/or projects ?
Everyone
of us is a musician and its natural that you work on different
projects all
the
time.
What is your plans for this and
next year ? Any chance we will see you live on Wacken or on any other
festivals ?
I already was asked to play
on Wacken but I refused as the conditions to play there are a shame
an I do not like to beripped off. We already played several shows
this year in Europe an confirmed to play also this shows
June
18th – FranceClisson -Hellfest 2011
June
24th – Lithuania - VarniaiKilkim Žaibu festival
October
1st - The Netherlands Baarlo - ProgPower Europe
Furthermore
there is a plan to re release a new version of the “ Suite for
Group and
Orchestra“
together with the complete “5 Fragments for Group and Orchestra“
To wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this
interview ?
I would like to thank the fans who suppoerted
us all over the years.
Thank you to Ralf for this interview
(A dream has come true for me)
Their PA profile is here and their homepage's here
Joined: December 05 2007
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 2720
Posted: May 26 2011 at 13:54
Cheers for that! Ralf Hubert has made himself much too scarce in the past. I hope that Mekong Delta will give us many more releases in the future. Not a single dud amongst that discography, more than great stuff!! That information about Peavey Wagner was new to me though. I thought he was a bassist for Rage at the time. Never knew him as a guitarist.
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