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UNA REVISTA IMAGINARIA

The13th

DEAD GUITARS | A.R. KANE

BANDAS TRIBUTO | FESTIVAL PLANCK | BRUJERÍA EN EL CINE

RANCHO RELAXO | IN CORP SANCTIS | MAL PASAR

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WE SHOULD SWIM INTO THE LIGHT

We have taken some time to do this interview. In October 2015, they have released the fourth album "Shelter". A new creature in the street, and several concerts, where they have played the new songs. We have much to update since our last interview. So we invite you to enjoy this new meeting with the German band, Dead Guitars.¡Gracias Diego! In fact we are a European band. Ralf & Kurt are from Germany, Hermann is from Helvetia (Swiss) Pete is from Scotland and I am from the Netherlands, but I have been living in Germany as well.

The album "Shelter" I hear it as the most optimistic album Dead Guitars. Do you see it that way? At the end of our lives we should swim into the light. If you look back upon the passing years it should feel good, if not… something went wrong. It’s lyrically an album that says….when you’re on the bottom… crawl back to the top (Adrian Borland) The opener (Heaven 7) starts with the question ‘how would you feel, if they kick in your wall, life would scream in your face…” there’s no re-ason to be here at all…” I always ask myself why do I deserve so much good in life while others suffer. Sometimes when I watch television I feel guilty, but on the other hand, I can only change the climate for the people around me. It’s a positive album but always dipped in melan-choly. Someone compared this album to The Smiths; “sounding so lo-

[ Interview with Carlo Van Putten of Dead Guitars by Diego Centurion.Translation: Rodrigo Debernardis ]

vely with words so deadly”

What factors have contributed to the climate of the album?Which factor didn’t? To write the lyrics, you have to walk into this world with open eyes and put facts into different perspectives. Every story has two sides and we the observers have to get the balance right, or wrong. All those doubts, fears, facts and situations are pulling words out of the mind. Musical wise the band worked this time more than ever as a band. We have got the “Airplanes-Album” band back together. It’s a very special constellation of friends, a bond. Only then good things can come out. Being close is the essence of everything that will work out fine. We respect and admire each other and we all know how to obtain the best out of ourselves. Maybe that is the reason why it sounds so tight.

How long have you taken to write the songs for the album?We took our time; I guess over a period of 3 years. We didn’t want to hurry and we really wanted a good combination of songs. Some songs we have already tried out live and we saw something happen with the audience. Heaven 7 is live an absolute killer song. People went into that one straight away. During some shows the audience asked for that particular song again when we came back on stage to do the encore.

I have followed for its canals and have been attenti-ve to his days recording. How was that process, how much has changed songs demos? Well demos are demos aren’t they, like a painter ma-king sketches first before he puts his colors in and finishes everything with the varnish. The essence stays with the potential of a song. Guess it worked out fine. There is so much to be noticed when you make an album. The track list, the sounds of each

song and the mood. The wrong track listing could ruin an album and no one would know why. An al-bum should be like a book, with a beginning, a mi-ddle part and a great ending.

They have been some songs that have not used for "Shelter"?Yes, some songs didn’t make it on the album, be-cause they weren’t strong enough. Every band will have that problem I suppose. When I was a fanatic collector of music (I still am ;-). I bought sometimes a cd with only B-sides and outtakes. I often was di-sappointed and I knew by then that there is a reason why these songs never made the album.

Now that you have already played the songs live, how the new songs are mixed with those of the other albums?I think our songs always fit together somehow. Ralf always knows how to combine them sound wise. Some songs of the new album we have already tried out live and we saw something happen with the audience.

"Half Light" has a Beatle atmosphere, What were your inspirations for these new songs?I fully agree and I will not deny it. It’s the domi-nant mellotron sound that you will find in the song “Strawberry fields forever”. Without any disrespect for the Beatles, I have always been a John Lennon fan. I loved St Pepper & the White album too, but I was more into the Doors and Led Zeppelin, not into the Beatles. But yes man they were clever and great! When the band played “Half Light” to me I didn’t even had a Beatles vibe, because the organ sound wasn’t there, that all happened later in the studio. I can live to be compared to these masters of music.

What song (if any) that has totally changed in the studio?None really. I mean every song will sound different

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live, but live we are always close to the album tracks and sounds.

Thinking about social networks and this "always active and present" with new publications or videos. Do you plan to release something new this year, an EP or something?Record companies can’t effort to bring out EP’s anymore. We have made no plans yet. We are happy at the moment with all the great reviews about “Shelter”. Amazing how many great lines have been written down about this album..

What are the plans for this 2016?To stay alive and play as much as they want us…..

Thanks for the kindness of always answering our questions.Thank you too for your time and questions Diego!

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Dead Guitars – Shelter (2015)

by Rodrigo Debernardis

Fourth work of the Dead Guitars (counting the LPs only),

-

To highlight above a very even tracklist, the song that opens

The Bunnymen's history (by framing it in some style).

Guitars, one of the best-known bands of the European in

die scene.

years, to this work returned to meet the five original mem

2007.

this great album.

UNA REVISTA IMAGINARIA

The13th