Band: Clan Of Xymox
Interview by: Nick
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- Farewell - TekNoir
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- The Best Of - TekNoir
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- Weak In My Knees - Eva
- Breaking Point - TekNoir
- Breaking Point - Nick
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With the new release 'Breaking point', Clan of Xymox released one of their best albums until now. Various styles within the Xymox sound, ballads like 'Eternally' and 'We never learn', but also dancefloor fillers like 'What's going on' and 'Weak in my knees' are featured on this cd. Right before the start of a new tour we talked to Clan of Xymox mastermind Ronny Moorings.
Earlier this year 'Weak in my knees' was released as single. Did you immediately had this song in mind as single release when you finished it?
“No. It was the first song I recorded after our previous cd 'Farewell' was released. When I finished the track I played it while I was working as dj at some parties and the response of the audience was very positive. The song wasn't announced as a new one by Clan of Xymox, but sure did well on the dancefloor. That's why I decided to release 'Weak in my knees' as single”
The new album 'Breaking point' offers a lot variety. Do you make a choice for material while working on a new album or not until the recordings are finished?
“The average time I'm working on an album is two years. Some things I record don't seem to fit or work out, so are left behind in the proces of making a new album. It's a period of recording and listening to what is created so far. Some bands take some months to write and record new material, but I prefer to take more time. In fact I'm busy all the while, touring and recording, so I started yet with writing for the next album and so we are always touring a lot and we release a new album each two years”
Never need a vacation?
“Touring with the band is kind of having vacation. For example, in a few weeks we go to Brasil and we will spent ten days over there, while playing just once, so there's a lot of time left to visit places and clubs. Personally I enjoy this kind of vacation a lot more than to go any place without also playing there”
With the years you created a familiar Clan of Xymox sound. Are you still inspired by other music too?
“Well, I also go and see a lot of bands and clubs. It makes no difference if you're starting a band or you're around for quite a while, you always get inspired by all that's around you and all you listen to. These influences integrate with your own personal taste and all the music you create, and so development continues”
In which way are you aware of all these influences around you?
“Most of the time you're subconscious of all that's inspiring you, but at the end you will always return to what's the essence of your own personal taste and way of working things out. It's like you keep on building on your preferences with all that comes along and like a good wine, it takes time. When I'm writing songs a lot of all impressions come out in a expressive way, both with music and lyrics. And I'm certainly not Utopian, so there's a lot that could be a influence”
Is it also your own oeuvre that works kind of an subconscious way when it's about inspiration?
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“I don't think it works that way. In the end you always stick to your personal taste and way of working things out and you stick to your own values and priorities and from that point you create things. The main inspiration is the part that's subconscious, all things you hear and see, all things going on”
Ronny Moorings (picture: Mojca)
Does the idea for a new song start with lyrics or music?
“Most of the lyrics follow to music I recorded, in a way that when I'm recording music I also sing along to create a melody for the vocals and so lyrics are created. While playing I pick up ideas for themes or situations to write about. In fact I create an atmosphere in where I'm able to write about a certain topic or situation”
But there has to be music first?
“It's comparable to the way people listen to a song and have references to certain people or circumstrances. Creating new material, it works for me the same way. At a certain point there is a picture of a situation or impression to write about and that's the proces I'm in while working on new material. Most personal on 'Breaking point' are 'Eternally', about being face to face again with someone you loved once, and makes you look back on a certain period in your life, all happening out of the blue, because someone who came to see you, while you had no idea this meeting was going to happen, or 'Weak in my knees' , which is about the disease of a friend”
The music leading to lyrics. Could it also work the other way around?
“Not for me, I guess. I could have written some lyrics, but to write music to that lyrics would be like to force the issue. For me it works that way that music and lyrics are excist equally to come to a better balanced result. When you work with a finished lyric and start to compose, it works that way that one is forced to be in harmony with the other and it doesn't work for me that way”
'Pandora's box' sounds like a soundtrack. Does the movie excist?
“For me it does. It pictures a woman who's desperate. On the bottom of Pandora's box there's hope to find and she tries to reach out for that piece of hope. But it's more the atmosphere of the music that tells the story, than that there's a certain message. The good thing of music is that each person could have his own idea when it's about the meaning of a song, which it's totally personal”
The recent tour will ofcourse feature some of the new material from 'Breaking point', but there's still room for some older works
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“Some songs we will keep in our set, because the audience expects to hear some classics coming around. It works for me the same way when I'm going to see the band, I have certain expectations of what I would like to hear. In this tour the new album is featered, but from each Clan of Xymox album there will be two songs played. Each concert should be a compilation of all that's been released, including some classics”
You're responsable for the writing and recording of Clan of Xymox albums. On stage you have a band playing with you. How do your bandmembers prepair for playing?
“First of all I present the new album, and then they got a mix of the new set in which I delete the parts they have to play, which I write down. In this way everyone can prepair for theirselves at home and we see each other at the soundcheck of the first show. It's a way of working I got used to since I started to handle live performances since the late eightees and it works for everyone involved. It's also nececairly to do it this way while we (Ronny and bass player Mojca) are living in Germany, while the rest of the band is in the Netherlands”
Clan of Xymox (from left: Mario, Agnes, Ronny, Denise and Mojca) Picture: Fabio Valiante
Through the years there has been a lot of changes in the recording possibilities. An advantage for those like you., who work alone?
“Certainly. Recording used to take more time in our early days, because you had to do a lot of recordings over and over again. With the years there are less restrictions and you don't have to pay a lot attention to all the techical stuff, which in fact disturbs the creative proces you're in. I prefer to focus on my ideas and not being an engineer all the while. Most of the instruments I use are in my computer, being virtual instruments which go along with guitar, bass and vocals to record, so I don't need a studio full of machines to record my songs, so recording has become more pleasant with the years”
You also work on the first dvd release by Clan of Xymox. What can be expected?
“The last two years we did some recordings on video. I made some videoclips in which are scenes from concerts and studiotakes as well, and also Mojca made some videoclips. The dvd will be a compilation of all that's going on for Clan of Xymox in the last years and we planned to shoot some of the coming concerts as well, so the dvd will show videoclips and some live performances. It were busy times, these last months, so there was not a lot of time left to work on the dvd, but we're planning to release it this year”
Clan of Xymox plays at Wave gotik treffen, M'Era Luna and Summer Darkness this summer. Before these festivals the band can be seen in the Netherlands, Arnhem (Goudvishal, 26 mei) and Groningen (Vera, 23 juni), as on many other locations in Europe as well.
Clan of Xymox
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