Siamo riusciti a ottenere l'intervista con i Long Distance Calling, a risponderci è stato il bassista Jan Hoffmann. Ecco quel che ne è venuto fuori.
Hi guys, first of all sincere congratulations for such a good album!
In order to introduce LDC to our readers could you tell us something about the band's birth and history?
We band exists since spring 2006, so almost exactly three years now. Since then we released a demo EP (late 2006), our debut full length album "Satellite Bay" in late 2007 and a split EP with the Swiss band Leech in late 2008 on Viva Hate Records and now our new album "Avoid The Light" via Superball Music. So I think we are pretty fast. We are still the same five guys so the line-up never changed so far. Our drummer Janosch and guitar player Florian are also playing in the metal band Misery Speaks.
Where does the name Long Distance Calling come from?
When Reimut (ambience) and me went to Rock am Ring in 2006 we were waiting in front of the stage to see Tool. In the change-over break before the show, there was a video screen showing a video from the French band Phoenix. The song was called "Long Distance Call"… so we looked at each other and we knew that this is the perfect name for our band as we were still in search of a band name at that time. That's the whole true story.
When listening to the album one feels nearly lost at the dimensional scale of your music, so he/she wonders and tries to guess something about your musical background. Which are the bands that influenced you the most as musicians, and which are those who had the greatest impact on your sound and compositions?
There's a lot of bands who had and have an influence on us. For me personally it's bands such as A Perfect Circle, Tool and Deftones but there's a lot of other bands as well. Reimut is listening to a lot of electronic stuff, Dave prefers bands like Porcupine Tree and Jansoch and Flo are a lot into Rock and Metal in general, so we try to take the best of all worlds and try to mix it up to the LDC sound.
Your music is a sort of voyage through different sceneries, it's incredibly charming, it's prog, it's rock and in a way it's psychedelic… how do your song come to life?
Thanx a lot for the nice words! Indeed I think our songs are like little journeys to escape from the daily grind for a while. The songs are always brought to life in the rehearsal room while jamming together. There is no masterplan, we just keep it coming, let go and see what happens.
"Avoid The Light" is a multifaceted work but at the same time it sounds solid and well defined both in terms of production and intentions… how would you describe the album?
I think "Avoid The Light" is more of everything compared to the debut album. It's more rock, more riffs, more electronic, more prog and more diverse in general. This time we tried to step a little out of the "post-rock" circle. The album sounds very classic and modern at the same time.
In case there is one, which is the song that represents you the best and why?
For me, personally, it's the song "Apparitions". It contains everything we are doing with one song, from very quiet moments to "huge" melodies and some sort of atmospheric, almost dark "black metal" vibe. It's a very dynamic song which I really love.
Who is the mysterious "Stanley Milgram" quoted in one of the tracks? What or who did exactly inspire that song?
Stanley Milgram was a social scientist, he proved that everybody is somehow "connected" with each other through six persons. So this means, you and me know the same person somewhere via six people we know… that's crazy.
Where did the idea of making a nearly instrumental album come? And how did you decide to involve Jonas Renske and set up a collaboration with him?
Well, we just sent him an e-mail. We didn't really expect an answer and then he got back to us saying: "Let's do it, I like your music". That was amazing. I think "The Nearing Grave" is one of the best songs on the new album. His voice fits perfectly to our vibe. Thanx Jonas!
What about your live shows? Do you like playing live gigs or do you consider yourselves more as a studio band?
No, we play live shows and tours. I don't say we are a "touring band" in terms of being on the road most of the time but we are definitely not only a studio band. We love to play live! We are hitting the road in Germany and Switzerland in May and we just played two shows with our label mates from…Trail Of Dead in Holland and Belgium.
How has the rock scene changed in Germany in the latest years? Is there enough room for bands like yours and for those who like to experiment and search for new solutions, possibly far from the commercial field?
The last years were really good for German bands. There used to be a time with awesome German bands back in the 70s and 80s and then nothing for a long time. Now, people start again to realize that bands don't need to come from UK or the US to deliver a good album. Of course we are not a commercial band with songs between seven and twelve minutes but the fact that we were one of the first bands in Germany playing this kind of sound helped us a lot I think.
Thanks a lot for the interview. Spread the word!
Cheers,
Jan
