Te-Deum - The days to come will show!
Not too long ago I reviewed that latest album of Germany’s Te-Deum. I was pleasantly surprised so when I got the opportunity to ask a few question to the band I took it and you can read the result below.
Hey, how are you?
Please introduce yourself and your band to the ones not familiar with Te-Deum.
“Michael Schmitt (guitar) and Volker Funk (guitar) founded the band in 1994. After two complete line ups each playing a couple of years and each recording one CD, Dieter Ehret (bass), Joachim Fiebig (vocals), Thorben Kurz (keys) and Heiko Sogl (drums) fulfilled the current line up since 2002.
As you have to stand out of the mass and as every band chooses English band names, we decided to take a Latin band name and thought that ‘Te-Deum’ sounds great! ;-) As you can see hopefully, there was no intended link to the Christian respectively the original meaning of the term Te-Deum.”
What are the main influences for your music?
“Basically every kind of heavy and hard music from the classic to the current stuff. Among other things that is the reason why our songs vary greatly. Which directly leads to the problem of defining the style of our music, but let us get to this point later on.”
Just recently you released your latest album, Rearranged, how were the recording sessions?
“Most of the recording stuff we did in our own studio, so the sessions were quite relaxed. For winning the Drum Demo Listening Session contest, we were allowed to record two of our songs in the Stereo Planet Studios in Dortmund/Germany. This session was very nice and strengthened our friendship and our identity being this band.”
How do you guys come up with new material anyway? Does one particular person write everything or does everybody has his own influences?
“Michael Schmitt composes most of the music. During the rehearsals everybody brings in his own influences and ideas to complete the songs. Lyrics and vocal melodies are mostly done by Joachim Fiebig.”
How are the reactions to the album so far?
“Of course our fans are crazy about the stuff, but taking a look at the reviews that have been written there is some variance. Some like the range of our music, some don’t. Some think it’s too modern, some choose the opposite and criticize it as being too old fashioned. But overall most reviews mention us being fairly above the average and say our music is worth taking the time to listen to the tracks on our web page and deciding whether to buy the CD or not.”
How did you come up with the title for the album?
“As the members and the music were rearranged, we thought that this name would be a good title for the album to reflect the developments during the last years. Furthermore some of the lyrics deal with changes that occur and with the resulting need to assemble all experiences to one harmonic picture. And sometimes you’ll get into a situation that forces you to Rearrange your picture.”
Is there any special story behind the cover artwork?
“The cover artwork should echo the name of the album and the contents of the titles that we have recorded.”
So, now that you’ve released the album, what plans have been made for the nearby future?
”We would like to play as many festivals as possible in particular in the Netherlands
because we like the Dutch tulips so much. Just kidding about the tulips, but not kidding about our ambition to play in the Netherlands, because everyone of us has been in Holland more than once and we all like it very much, especially Amsterdam and as little hot tip the university city Leiden.
Another goal is to gain more popularity and reach more ears and minds, that’s why we aim to support some bigger bands.”
Imagine Te-Deum has become one of the biggest bands in Europe and you get the chance to pick two support bands for a world-tour, which bands would you choose? Why?
“Boysetsfire because every band member of our band loves their music and we are impressed and moved by their thoughts, attitudes and the devotion they express in their music.
Garden of Eden, as they are also a local band from our hometown Heidelberg/Germany, and as their guitarist founded together with Volker Funk the www.bignoisecommunity.de, and last but not least because they are good friends of ours.”
What goal would you like to achieve with your music?
“As said before we would like to reach as many people as possible, to get as many minds as possible to reflect themselves, their closer social network, as well as society on the whole.”
Since you guys consider yourselves a Nu Melodic Rock band, is this something you’ll follow the rest of your careers or can we expect Te-Deum to head into other directions as well?
“Although the suit of Nu Melodic Rock fits us very well, we still follow the motto “anything goes”. As said before the wide variety of influences leaves enough scope for experiments and developments so it is quite possible that change will happen, “but the days to come will show!” (‘Life Started’, Rearranged).”
Well, that was about it, anything left to say to the readers?
“We appreciate your interest in our music and are hopeful that it gets more popular in the Netherlands and that we get a chance to present ourselves personally on Dutch stages. So look forward to Te-Deum rocking the audience!”
“Thank you! Stay heavy!”
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