Hello everyone, first of all congratulations on the successful production of your EP! Now that you can look back on the process of making the record, what does the SOLITARY-EP mean to you?

Martin Moser: The EP mainly represents the essence of all that we did and all that we as a band lived through in the past three years. It’s the road that we have taken, the diary of our whole musical development. That’s why the EP means so much to me; each song is linked with countless memories and feelings that are now saved for the future. Holding all of that in hands in the shape of a small silver disk is a very fulfilling experience.

Sebastian Luther:To me the EP first of all means that my dream of putting our own musical ideas on a record has come true. Each one of us five contributes different musical preferences and influences to the general concept of the band. And still we form one unity and that is reflected in the music. I’ve always had the wish to record a CD with the (in my opinion) best four musicians around and here it is! To make it short: To me the EP means SOLITARY!

Martin Moser: (lauging) “When I listen to the EP, only two words come to my mind: So litary”.

David Jäckle:The EP means in a twofold way a lot to me. On one hand the EP is musically seen as a summary of our work as Solitary. Every time that we advanced, a new song was created, just like a small milestone. That’s why it always took us so long to come up with a new song. We took our time, thus the songs are very different from each other. On the other hand the EP also stands as a symbol of our friendship throughout the years and looking back it has even strengthened it. Holding the EP in hands, I think of funny and of difficult situations that we had to face in the past in equal measure. It’s a great feeling to give the EP to somebody and think of what we have achieved in all that time.

Andreas Kesberg:Unfortunately the EP is only a small part of our work. There have always been more ideas that we could not realize. Solitary are now looking forward to a new era that will be difficult for us but certainly musically fertile. To me the EP is the starting signal to a new and more difficult hurdle race that we have to cope with. (laughing) I’m especially proud of the hidden messages subconsciously influencing the listeners that will soon serve us as a huge army of zombies. Thanks in advance to all you undead! “The album is about monsters and vampires”.
(Andy is punning on a non-fictional John Petrucci-quote on the “Systematic Chaos Making-of-DVD”)

How did you like working in the studio?

Martin Moser:All those long evenings in the studio were first and foremost… long. We settled for nothing until everything was recorded just like we imagined it to be. In return that meant of course never-ending work on the smallest details of the songs. Despite that we’ve had a great time in Werner’s cellar, this musician’s paradise on earth, where the law of time is suspended.

Markus Degenhardt:Working in the studio was certainly exhausting and time-consuming. Several times we were close to desperation. I remember things like the click-track for “The Last Remaining Light”, the attempts to achieve a suitable dirt track or the search for disappeared tracks. Then again the long evenings were always special events. We were supplied with food and drinks, thanks again to Werner and his wife! We laughed a lot and the best moments were those when someone came out of the recording room with a gentle smile on his face saying “finished” only to let himself fall behind the fully-equipped bar with the famous ice-cube-machine.

Sebastian Luther: Yes, it has been exhausting but we’ve had a nice and eventful time. Above all I’ve learned a lot concerning the recording process in general and recording songs accurately. I remember the day when we, just having finished the recordings, decided to do it all over again, but this time using THE CLICK. That was the pure horror but I think and I hope… no, I am sure that this was the right decision. Sometimes the hours we spent at the studio really gave me a hard time (laughing) , right, David??? The LRL solo for example… In the end the time that we invested was worth the effort and we did a good job. And furthermore I really enjoyed the ice-cube-machine as well.

David Jäckle:It wasn’t the first time we went to the studio but this time we definitely worked more professionally and maturely. Last year in October we started the recordings with the intention to record all the songs on only one weekend. We later on discarded that idea – that was probably the better decision. Spending time at the studio is really very relaxing for me because I can completely concentrate on what I like to do more than anything else: making music! Maybe some parts were not that easy to record but this is just part of the game. The studio-atmosphere and the longs hours of brain-eating click-track-programming often produce the funniest funny situations and the longest lists of bad sayings. All in all such a studio-session is, next to live gigs, for sure one of the best band-experiences.

During recordings a musician often has to face so far unknown problems. What obstacles did you encounter?

Andreas Kesberg: Well, we had to face a lot of things like measures that one has “always played like that”, computer programs that offer everything and more and then just reach out a lollipop, musical dogs, one’s own naivety and the replacement of four musicians by a penetrating, unfriendly click-track (laughing) . I refer to him as “CLICKORrrr”!
(Andy is punning on a modified quote from the tv-series “The Simpsons”)

Sebastian Luther: es, there have been several problems. The best example is the click-track for LRL. It actually took us some time to find a way to get this song into the computer. But finally we’ve always managed to break these walls and to correct the computer-failures. All in all I can say that the recordings have not been easy all the time but we’ve all gained experience, of course only positive experience (laughing) .

David Jäckle:For me the biggest difficulty was also the click-track. It wasn’t that hard to play to the click but it was very hard to deconstruct the song into small pieces without losing the view over the song as a whole. Apart from that the risk of spontaneous self-inflammation while programming the click-track is much higher than it usually already is! Besides it has not always been easy to find the right sound for my guitar. You come to studio with your own settings and then suddenly notice that everything sounds so different on tape.

Markus Degenhardt:I can only agree to that but I want to add one more problem: being at the studio, time goes by at a completely different pace than outside the basement. Planning time is simply impossible! We often painfully noticed how fast time was running when we needed so much of it. Then we had to fight with aggravating difficulties trying to find recording dates in the last weeks of the recordings. All those things have needled us a lot but in the end we’ve jumped over every hurdle.

The tracks on the EP here and there differ from each other quite a lot, does every one of you have a favourite song and if so, which one is that?

Sebastian Luther:Of course I like all the songs on the EP and our own songs in general. But I especially like the challenging and faster ones. Both of these aspects can best be experienced in LRL. Different moods, many nice shenanigans and catchy melodies, just very diversified.

Markus Degenhardt:The reason for the variety of the songs is mainly the fact that they were written in different phases of the band’s evolution. On the beginning there’s 'Of Death And Despair', the song that has practically led us out of our “The Limpets”-era and into SOLITARY. 'The Last Remaining Light' followed some time later and was written in a phase when we wanted to put technical and musical variety in our songs. The main idea behind 'Freedom of Speech' was not that variety aspect anymore but the intention to write a “round” song. So the EP really is a cross section displaying the development of SOLITARY in the last years. I don’t want to name a certain favourite song because I always favour the song we’re working at right now.

What’s behind the overdramatic-sounding track 'Freedom Of Speech'?

David Jäckle:FoS is about the increased need for information and communication that is typical for the modern human. That means everybody tries to tell everybody else anything in any way - mostly via internet – even if there is actually nothing interesting to tell. Every day situations are considered enormously interesting only because someone writes about them. Thus every day more and more information and “news” that are more or less important are being created and can’t be filtered by the single persons. At last information is only being consumed and one drifts into an addiction that is hard to leave behind.

Martin Moser:The main thing the internet is all about is communication. But there is so much trivial communication going on so that important messages just drown in the flood of blogs and feeds. People no longer talk to each other and listen to each other, they only tell. And everybody is free to tell whatever he or she likes. Everyone tells and nobody listens because we are overpowered by the sheer mass of information storming towards us every single day. So the great idea of Freedom of Speech for everyone is perverted into a culture of superficial monologues.

The EP-Cover obviously refers to the track 'The Last Remaining Light', what is that song about?

Martin Moser:Sunsets and the mood of the last sunbeams in the twilight are a subject that is very fascinating and compelling to me, just like the atmosphere in autumn when days are getting shorter and all that green colour and each of summer’s blossoms is slowly fading away. The lyrics of LRL draw an interesting analogy between these phenomena, focussing on the melancholic and nostalgic aspect. Although sunsets and wonderful autumn forests are incredibly beautiful they are only snap-shots in a process of declension. That’s what makes them beautiful and tragic at the same time. And as often there’s more to what we can see at first sight. The song is about farewell, about letting go and the fright of the loneliness that follows..

The EP-version of 'Of Death And Despair' is quite different from the one you used to play live. What is the reason for the changes?

David Jäckle:The changes developed through the years, most of them happened very spontaneously. Thus the joy of playing the song is kept alive and it sounds more interesting and fresh.

'Up To The Skies' is a significantly more atmospheric song, what do you link with it?

David Jäckle:I wrote this song on the basis of a daydream I’ve once had. To me it was important to arouse some kind of “hovering” and solemn mood in the listener, the state between sleeping and being awake. I don’t want to explain the content here but rather leave it to the listeners to find their own interpretation.

Is there any special group of people interested in music you want to address?

Sebastian Luther:I think among our songs is something for everybody who does not set any boundaries to his or her taste of music, especially in the rock and metal genre. Of course it’s not conventional rock or metal but rather music that is reaching forwards and constantly developing. It’s important for us that people occupy themselves with our songs and experience them in a conscious way.

David Jäckle:There is no special group of listeners we want to restrict to. The more people listen to our music and take to the songs the better. Our aim to affect people with our music should not be subordinated to that idea.

Who or what is the Maulentofant and what has he/it to do with it?

David Jäckle:The Maulentofant… you should not speak this name too loud. It is a legendary creature, mystic, praised and demonised in many poems and hard to undercut in its beauty. But to do justice to him it takes more than just a short answer… a whole website would be dignified though.

What are your plans for the near future?

Sebastian Luther: New songs - we’ve already written 1-2 new songs in the meantime, promoting the EP… yes, all over the world and gigs, gigs, gigs. All those points are fundamentally important to us. We especially need to play more live gigs to gain experience on stage. What I expect of the band’s future is a permanent and positive development in every way.