I am the jacko and i am the leadsinger in kaizers orchestra the best orchestra in the world.
why is this kaizer orchestra? where do the nicknames come from?
the nicknames they come to you you its not something you come up yourself you have to earn your name. I got my name cause i looked like well i bought some new shades glasses like three or four years ago anhd they looked like...when I put them on I, I had a different haircut back then, I looked exactly like a terrorist, a known terrorist that they called the jacko. do you know him? No? it was in norway at the time and well thats how I got my name coz I looked like the jacko.
and how got killmaster, hellraizer and the omen to their names?
aell he was raising hell so much. he earned that name. and killmaster well he is the master of kill.
so is he dangerous?
yes he is dangerous
where the hell do you get all the oil barrels from?
I don’t know I think we are sponsored. I think they are just on stage every time we get there. I don’t know where they come from.
and how did you come up with the idea of having oil barrels on stage? its not really normal is it?
we saw it at another band using oil barrels in berlin. and we thought it would be a good idea.
was it the blue man group?
no it was actually a cover band called the seven dwarf ochestra.
another orchestra...
it was another orchestra but it was even bigger. they were like ten or eleven people on stage.
I heard that you used to play with a school orchestra kids together is that right? In norway.
no we...it was like two or three of us way back to school and we met the rest of the band when we studied in bergen when we were about twenty-three years old. that were we hoocked up formally with the band in bergen.
do you like it when people say that tom waits is a source or an influence to you or your music?
well we are fans of tom waits. he is phenomenal. he likes kaizers orchestra so we like eachother. he is been talking about kaizers orchestra quite a lot. so that cool.
on stage did you ever hurt yourself with those barrels and sticks and all that?
yeah in the beginning we hurt ourselves in the same places everytime we played. when you play on the oil barrels you can get injured here, on your right hip, because you hit yourself with the stick and you can cut your leg. we did that alot in the beginning buit then you learn.
alright the live dvd when will it come out and what will be on it?
i think it’s coming next year in next winter march maybe in 2006 and it‘s a full live performance from a concert in denmark from copenhagen because that one of our favourite places to be. it’s a great place and the audience is great too. and it’s not in norway. We wanted to do something outside of norway. and there is going to be much more on it. all the videos there is going to be a making of the album, making of the maestro album, which is coming out now in august. we filmed all the rehearsing of the last two years and the making in the studio. So ist like an half an hour film. and also we gonna make a small movie also a short film it’s sort of putting the band back together a bit like blues brothers you know? So it’s gonna be on the dvd. It’s going to be quite a big dvd with a lot of extra material so it’s going to be cool. also with abit of footage from the touring like travelling
the new album. I heard ist going to be funnier happier is that right? like the first one? back to the roots?
nah not really ist two steps ahead instaed of two steps back you know what we are doing on this album.
well I wanted to ask who is responsible for the visual show on the stage because its like very visual
its just the result of doing it so many times over the last few years so it was it just is. you just pick up things one time and then we just use it. it wasn’t like this from day one. It sort of developped through time.
and how is it for you playing with the gasmasks in germany is there any bad feedback?
i have never heard anything about it. i don’t think they look at it that way. this is different its funny. Its not real its just a show.
i wanted to know, martin luther you always have the picture of martin luther on the pump organ and everywhere why..?
we wanted to have a picture on the pump organ and we went to the second hand store to buy one and, this was before the first gig we did this along time ago and we didn’t have any money and we found a picture we loved but it was too expensive. It was of heinrich himmler. it was really good. a good picture. but we couldn’t afford it so we picked the one beside it and it was well it was this one of martin luther.
would you actually go around touring in germany with heinreich himmler on stage?
no it was just coincidence that we picked this e just wanted a picture. And we are glad its martin luther.
how is it to be such a big band now you started of small in pop scene and now your big in norway but not that big in germany how is it? why do you come to germany when you are so big in norway?
coz we are going to be big in germany also. You have to start somewhere to build it up.
so how is your german? Do you know any german?
haben sie in der bundesliga gespielt?
oh bundesliga? hansa rostock?
ja
It was the only east german football club and it actually went down. what do you think of that?
too bad for them. well now we are picking up the language today i ordered a kebap in a store in german.and no questions. Just got the kebap and ate it. happy. No question.
so did you arrive today?
we arrived two or three days ago in germany. we’ve been to berlin and hamburg.
so you like Greifswald you like the festival?
we’ve never been here before and this looks like a school. Its normally not the best venue for a rock and roll band. but it sounded okay on soundcheck and i think its gonna be nice.
how long have you been in the studio for?
one month. altogether.
do you like working in the studio or do you rather prefer the live experience?
well you don’t have too choose. you have to go in the studio to make the record.before you go on tour so you have to. you need the both. Well we tour all the time and of course its funny and its where you money and where you live from but its very nice to go and spend some time in the studio a little bit every year. its very different and you need the change
when you are on tour how do you get yourself the rest? get yourself some free time?
on tour?
yeah
normally we travel by nightliner and then its just well then you have a bed where you can close the carpet and then and that you rest in there.
and thats enough of rest when you tour all the time?
well we don’t tour all the time we do like a 150 shows a year. So you have 200 days at your home.
are you going to play „ompa til du dör“?
yeah
no changes planned or something?
we are not gonny play the new album yet its not out until augsut and we are not on tour right now. so its just one or two gigs we gonna do now.
you didn’t even put it up on your homepage
the songs? No this gig. the homepage is not working right now cause we are building a new one and its going to be up in a month or so.
what will be new about it?
the whole design and the contents. just make it better and update it.
is that right that you started of as a music teacher?
Iive never been a teacher but when i studeied i started to be a music teacher. i could still do this work when this doesn’t work.
anything you wanna tell the students of greifswald?
take a year off. and make good songs and become artists. everyone.
whats your favourite beer?
in norway we have just a few that i drink. hansa is the name thats the local beer in bergen.
do you like german beer?
yeah its okay but well you prefer your own beer. But in belgium and holland they have the duvel beer its really good its like the champagne version of beer.
one more question maybe what the nicest experience you had with the band? the most impressing experience? the greatest concert maybe or something else?
oh it must be the fact that we have succes outside of norway in europe in norwegian with this band. its because of the music and the live show. its not because of the lyrics cause noone understands it. and its not because of radio because we don’t get any radio here and its not because of the video on telly because we don’t have any in there and its not because of the label because we didn’t have any we just had the small label. So its just because of the live show and the people on stage performing and doing a good show. thats the most impressive thing about kaizers orchestra so far.
whats you new favourite album at the moment?
the new beck album
guero?
yeah
what do you like about it?
the diversity of it and there is always well its very creative music and the production. I am fan of beck and i like everything about it.
do you have a favourite track from the album?
yeah the song called scarecrow and the black tambourine.
if you had to chose one album to listen to for the rest of your life which album would it be?
well it would be the maestro album coming up in august
do you have favourite kaizer’s orchestra song?
right now its dieter meiers institution. a new song. Its a good song
will you play it tonight?
no. we will play another four or five songs from the album. not all of them
so its going to be a great show tonight?
yeah yeah. I think so. but its a long time since we played. we stopped touring to make the album. but yeah its going to be good a lot of energy.
thank
you for this interview