Four men from East Westphalia of the best age meet by pure chance in Norway. Human chemistry fits right away. Musically, too, as she soon reveals. Back in their homeland they found the quartet Operation Cherrytree. Now the debut "Scum & Honey" is available. An album that rocks, that grunts, that groovs, that blues, a little bit of everyone, something good of everyone. eclipsed talked to singer Wyno, bassist Jansen and guitarist Sieks (only drummer CH had to fit) about the band, their formation and their album.
eclipsed: You will certainly be asked again and again about your genesis. Please give here a short overview of the events.
Jansen: The interesting thing about this is that we actually met near Oslo. I have to do professionally with accounting and thought at some point: "Does that have to be everything? All that petty cheating?" I was then in Norway with my T3-Bulli on the way, via Trelleborg, Sweden, to Oslo. Near Oslo I refuelled my car and somebody comes by and says to me: "Dude, you're from East Westphalia too." That was Wyno. He could tell from my MI license plate. One wonders how many East Westphalians are always on the move like this.
Wyno: It's a disease.
Jansen: It's really like that. For example, when you go to Timmendorfer Strand, I always think, "They all come from LIP, BI, MI, HF, GT." Anyway, we had met in Norway in June 2016.
Wyno: I just wanted to come out, clear my head. I didn't actually have a firm target. Out of a beer mood I then addressed the good Jansen. We drove then and drove, direction Hardangerfjord. Then the car didn't really want to go. Then we just drove to the next bigger town. That was Norheimsund. In the evening we went to a pub and there we met the other two: Sieks and CH.
Sieks: CH and I have been travelling together for 20 years. We do this kind of instrumental power stuff: drums and guitar. We were on our way back from the Bergen Festival where we had played. We were in the pub and met two other East Westphalians: Jansen and Wyno. The evening was spectacular. That's where we got together. That's where we found out: We have the same interests and it's humanly so great that we said, "We have to do something about that."
eclipsed: The chemistry between you was right immediately?
Jansen: We're not all the youngest anymore. If you come from a certain time, then you also have a feeling for what kind of music is made. We also had the huge advantage that Sieks and CH have been playing together for ages and had many things in the pipeline. They already had the basic tracks. Then you can develop it further. In December 2016 we already had ten tracks of the new album more or less finished.
Wyno: Mainly the songs are written by Sieks and CH. So this is legacy. We'd freshen it up for ourselves.
eclipsed: So Sieks and CH have been making music for a long time. What about Wyno and Jansen?
Jansen: I've been playing bass for 35 years.
Wyno: I come originally from the punk and hardcore scene. I was never really stuck there. At some point I didn't feel at home anymore, because I noticed that I had much more vocal potential, which I couldn't really live out there. I had some smaller blues projects in between. That was more fun and on a whim. Also the one or other TripHop project. Later, I didn't do anything. There was a hole. I had the feeling it just couldn't go on. I didn't force it then either and concentrated on other things in life, like going to work and earning money. Until I met the guys here, and then everything changed.
eclipsed: What was the first thing that sparked your interest: the musical or the human?
Wyno: Definitely the human thing. I'm not an easy character by nature. The other three are the calming influence in the band. I'm the restless, the impatient one who gets out of hand. I'm kind of the youngster in the band. The others are very indulgent with me and that does me good.
Sieks: I'll have to intervene again for a moment. Humanity comes first. You get to know each other. When you talk to each other and have fun, it fits. It was only in the course of the evening that it came out that all four of us made music.
Jansen: In principle, that was the central point. We all come from the same time and all have the same interest in rock music: the late-70ies, early-80ies, with a 90 touch. That's why it fits. I've been playing harder metal music for a long time. It was about how deep you can tune a bass? We don't need all that anymore. We are in a very normal tuning. Just like you've always done before and that's just awesome. It was all a good fit
eclipsed: Just the will to make a record is not enough. How did you organize all this after your return from Norway?
Jansen: From the past I had a rehearsal room at the A2. In August 2016 we met there. CH and Sieks have brought along their basic tracks. The great thing is that Wyno developed the melody and the lyrics directly on the basis of these basic structures. Everything you hear on the record is the result of Wyno singing. We met more often there. But because we don't live so close together, we do a lot about the exchange of digital tracks. The material that we have now put on the album was about 70 percent of the basic tracks already finished. But it's starting to happen again. In 2018 we will work on new material. Then we'll see how it develops.
eclipsed: Your songs seem pretty mature already. You immediately think it can't be the debut of a young band.
Wyno: I definitely agree with that. It's nice of you to say that. That's what other people keep noticing. It's exactly what we want. We all have a few years on our backs and some life experience. We know that it's not always like Route 66 to go straight ahead, but that there are a lot of curves. This is reflected accordingly in the songwriting. I still think there's more to it. I'm already looking forward to next year. We're having a little creative break right now. From 2018 we want to get back on the right track. New songwriting. I'm really dying for this.
Jansen: Our producer Björn Brodner also has a share in this. We gave him a completely free hand. He received the pre-production from us, which was traditionally recorded in the rehearsal room. We told him, "Listen to this. You're a rock guy. Look what you can do with it." That was a great process. We spent ten or twelve days in his studio in May 2017. He really had a big impact on some of the songs. He had ideas on how to do it differently.
Wyno: That must be clearly underlined. My firm conviction is that if you give artistic and cultural creators - including our designer Daniel Hofer and our producer - the freedom they need, just as we have given it to each other, then great things come out of it. That also requires a great deal of trust. We agreed pretty quickly that we could let it go and disregard our own vanity.
eclipsed: The album is rocky. It's hard sometimes, quiet sometimes. Did you consciously want to create such different moods?
Wyno: With hardness, you don't have to roar or be loud. Hardness can also be transported in calm tones. Violence, volume, calm and melancholy - if we manage to bring these things into harmony, then I am happy.
Sieks: This has arisen from the process. There are the songs or the ideas that CH and I had before. In the team with Wyno and Jansen we developed the song structures further. We had thought about how we would design it, how the songs would be structured. We're different about that, too. Across the garden. With the support of the producer we tickled the last one out. That was a great experience for all of us. The producer topped the whole thing again. Someone comes from outside again and we left him his creativity to get the best out of it. That was a stroke of luck for us.
Jansen: That was a key thing: if you really give creative people a free hand and tell them "We've put that at your disposal for now. Why don't you use your ideas to make something of it?" That was the producer's sound material. For the graphic artist it was the name of the band. Our band name is self-explanatory: When we were in Norway in June, it was cherry blossom time. This is so awesome. You wouldn't believe it. You always think: Norway, snow, cold. You can't even imagine what it looks like there at the end of May, beginning of June. From this, the graphic artist developed the artwork. Our photographer and video artist Danny Kötter is a very young guy. We went to him and we could choose his ideas just like on a buffet. Great thing.
Wyno: Of course I also have some influence on the songwriting. I'll take a step back, though. The boys serve me their ideas and I help myself like at the buffet. I then try to add the icing on the cake with my voice.
eclipsed: What are your lyrics about?
Wyno: There is a lot of personal in it, positive as well as negative. The song "Today" deals with the current uncertainties and fears of people regarding the future. Their own future or that of their children. There's some real resentment going on right now. We're not a political band. But as an artist you have to position yourself at some point and say "Up to here and no further". Against all the populism and fundamentalism that's coming up right now, you have to fight textually against it.
eclipsed: You meet more or less by chance in Norway. Everybody out of everyday life. A little like dropouts. Now you're back in life. Did the music help?
Jansen: If at some point you start making music together with others, which usually starts at a young age, then you don't want to miss it anymore. There are times when you get older and have family and job, then you set your priorities differently. Then you don't have time to make real music. But you have a latent feeling that you're missing something. Before last year's meeting, I must have stopped playing music for six or seven years. It's therapeutic to make music.
Wyno: For me personally, it's also like therapy. One does not only meet to make music somehow. You also meet because you like each other and want to spend a lot of time together. When you meet in the rehearsal room, not only music is the theme, but everyone tells you what their day was like. If one of them's weird, the others can feel it too. This is also reflected in the songwriting.
Sieks: Friendship goes beyond music. But the music connects even more.
eclipsed: What happens now? What are your plans?
Jansen: A new album is not planned yet, because the first one just came out. However, we are currently booking concert dates for March and April. It's gonna end with us only being able to play on weekends. That's a first step. Of course we are not on the road with the level of popularity like other bands who can play a complete tour. It's our turn with a little booking agency now. She's already landed her first dates.
Wyno: We are really proud of this album. And that's what we want to present live. That's the next thing on the agenda.
*Interview: Bernd Sievers
