Interview DEL FUME January 2009:

When and why did you choose the band-name “Del Fume” What does it mean?

I used to have a band called “Perfume” as a teenager, but the name seemed too specific for a musical project. Then, in the nineties, I became a big fan of the electronic pioneer “Aphex Twin” who has a song called “Delphium”. That’s when things got started.

Can you describe the origin of the “Del Fume” a little bit?

Here’s a funny story to this. My sister, who is six years older than me, told me some weeks ago that she has decided to burn her diaries. Before she did, she read them again and found an anecdote from when I must have been 9 or 10 years old. At that time I was learning to play the piano and I had to practise every piece 5 times, or I could not go out and play soccer with my friends. One day my sister was in the kitchen with my mother and they heard me play. The first time I played a song I played it very loud, the next 4 times I played it rather quietly. They thought that I don’t want them to hear me play. The next day I told my sister that I have been recording the first take and playing it back from tape the next 4 times. Since I had a really bad microphone and stereo, I guess I had to play it full sound. – I didn’t remember that story and it made me laugh when my sister told me. So my affinity towards recording showed itself in childhood.

When I was about 13 years old,I took two tape-recorders to make my first recordings with overdubs. At the same time I had a keyboard on which I could program beats and use as a sequencer.
As a teenager, I started to record all sorts of demos on 4-track. Ambient tracks, rock songs, hiphop-tracks – any kind of music I liked listening to. Later on, I wrote and produced music for movies, commercials and exhibitions. However, throughout the years I came to focus more on small guitar-based songs with lyrics. When I finished my album “Amor&Psyche”, I asked some friends to join me for a band. So here we are: the tracks are mostly recorded by myself, the live-perfomance is more rock-based, with loud drums and crunchy guitars.

What are your musical influences and which heroes do you look up to? Do you have some “role models”?

I started listening to the Beatles when I was a child. As a teenager I was listening to all sorts of music. Rock, Jazz, Chansons, Film scores – and I still do. But as a musician, I concentrate on songs that are catchy but still have a dark or twisted side to it. I love bands that experiment with different sounds: Radiohead, Grand National, Depeche Mode. But I also adore these Singer-Songwriters who tell a story with just voice and guitar, like Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley or Bonnie “Prince” Billy. I often get touched by a simple chord, a voice, or a specific phrase of words.

Is your homeland Switzerland somewhat reflected in your music?

I think it is impossible to create something new without the own background. The place you grow up is always part of who you are and is therefor always part of the writing process. But Switzerland is a very small country and its tradition of good music is limited. In general, it’s a very nice and protected country that doesn’t give you a lot of reasons for rebellion - so you have to get your kicks by yourself and find inspiration from the international music scene. It’s not much fun listening to a song about a sad boy in a rich country. As teenagers, we tried to sound like American or British bands. In Berlin, where I used to live, it’s the enormous size of the city with all its consequences: getting lost in your own neighbourhood, the constant change of surroundings and buildings. You can find inspiration lying in the streets. In Zurich and Winterthur, where I grew up, there’s a pretty big music scene with all sorts of bands, Djs and artists and there are a lot of possibilities to play gigs. But as far as traditional Swiss music is concerned, the inspiration I take out of that is very limited. I hate yodelling, that’s for sure.

How would you describe your music?

It’s hard to put a name-tag on the genre of my songs. Most of the tracks are based on guitar and voice, but I try to produce them as individually as possible. Some songs were written as tiny reminders and grew into huge and pompous hymns. Others I wrote as loud and noisy monsters and I managed to record them as fragments, just before they faded away.

How did it come to the new album “Amor & Psyche”?
What was the key idea? Can you describe a little bit the story?

4 years ago my long-time girlfriend left me and I started to become obsessed with recording all these songs that I’ve written for her. During the recording process I wrote new songs that were dealing with the concequences of my loss. So on the album “Amor&Psyche”, there are songs about love and lust, combined with songs about loss. The title reflects these two categories of songs: there are these love-songs that try to worship the feeling of love and being loved – and there are songs with a dark side to it. I recorded more than 20 songs, from which I picked the 13 I felt work best for the album.

How do you want to develop your music in the future?

I’ve written some new tracks that are more out-going. The songs on “Amor&Psyche” are dark and introverted, trying to unfold the inner feelings of sadness and joy, trying to find the reason behind things and states of mind, which was exactly what I was going through. My new tracks are less about myself. They’re more body and soul. They’re about going out and making the best out of everything. However, as a musician I focus more on the essential parts of the songs. Which instrument pushes the chorus and what can I leave away  in order to achieve more. It’s about getting a stronger effect with less instruments and chords.

All in all what can we expect from Del Fume in the near future? (new album, live touring, etc. …)

Right now I’m writing songs for a new album. I already have 25 demo-tracks which will need a lot of studio-work. Also, I’m playing concerts in Switzerland, some with “Del Fume” the band, others in a smaller line-up, only with a friend and fellow producer, where we try to adapt the songs from “Amor&Psyche” and reduce them to what’s really necessary. The reduction to only two musicians is very difficult but nevertheless a great experience: you get to the core of the song.