ETERNAL LIFE
The Alice Cooper Interview
eclipsed author Michael Lorant has interviewed Alice Cooper nine times over the last three decades. These included telephone calls, but also conversations in which people sat opposite each other. In addition, there are several so-called Meet and Greet meetings on the fringes of concerts. The last time he met the veteran shock rocker was in Essen in April during the "Rock meets Classic" concert series.
IQ
The discovery of slowness
London, early May. IQ have just returned from some highly acclaimed concert visits to mainland Europe (see box). Shortly before the show for the release of "The Road Of Bones" at Islington Assembly Hall, eclipsed spoke with guitarist Mike Holmes about self-criticism, perfection and serial killers.
ANATHEMA
Searching for light and pure beauty
The first impression is deceptive: At first, an anathema's current release "Distant Satellites" seems like a continuation of the celebrated, commercially successful predecessor "Weather Systems". After all, the band also recorded the record with Norwegian producer Christer-André Cederberg in his Oslo studio, Steven Wilson mixed two songs again, and Dave Stewart is again responsible for the wonderful orchestral arrangements. Everything's the same, so it seems.
ECLIPSED ON TOUR
Pink Floyd in Mongolian
Pink Floyd and Mongolia - this word combination has something similar to, say, Prog and Genghis Khan. In the seventies and eighties, the discos of the same name ("Hey Leute, ho Leute") delivered the opposite of filigree or even psychedelic music.
EELS
Tell me who I am
Mark Oliver Everett alias E is and remains a strange oddball. In his songs he finds the most poetic pictures for every situation in life, on stage he gives the babbling ramp sow. If you sit face to face with him, however, he pushes around as if he were ashamed of everything he does.
SWANS
The Marathon Man
Swans were always gloomy and heavy, ignoring all mainstream and alternative trends. Their last album "The Seer" might have been hard to digest in its power, the new recording "To Be Kind" follows again the more transparent sound aesthetics of albums of the early nineties like "Love Of Life".
Rock photography: Jürgen Spachmann
The Aschaffenburg photographer Jürgen Spachmann uses his camera to get musicians like Steve Hackett, Mike Portnoy, Fish or Beth Hart extremely close to the skin. It's the only way he can get behind her mask, he says.
LED ZEPPELIN
Stratosphonic Skirt
51°28'31N 0°14'27"W/51.4752°N 0.2407°W - Coordinates that make the heart of every rock fan beat faster. Behind it is 117 Church Road in London's Barnes district, the address of a legendary studio that has been writing rock history for forty years and was named in the same breath as Abbey Road until it closed in 2009.
EPITAPH
Creative power failure
Their career began at the end of 1969 in the cellar of the trendy Dortmund music club "Fantasio", where they had their rehearsal room. While they were preparing for future tasks there, upstairs in the club there were star troops like Yes, Black Sabbath or Colosseum. The star of Epitaph should not shine as brightly as that of its English colleagues.
The song with the bell - the British band ARCHIVE remains true to itself by reinventing itself
There have been many attempts to describe the music of the London band archives. But with every record the band around Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths punished all their genre archivists with lies. They never wanted to commit. However, the new album "Axiom" now has a completely new quality. The CD consists of a single long piece that leaves behind all the coordinates of pop or rock.
Going to California - After Black Country Communion Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham now bet on CALIFORNIA BREED
Two brothers in spirit found themselves in exile in California: the English Glenn Hughes (ex-Trapeze, ex-Deep Purple) and Jason Bonham.
The guitarist YASI HOFER from Ulm follows in the footsteps of guitar gods
. She learned her guitar craft at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule and the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston. On her debut album "Yasi", which caused a stir in the guitar scene a few months ago, she translated her skills, at least in instrumental terms, into grandiose songs.
Behind the delicate piano and guitar ballads of BROKEN TWIN there is a strong woman
. The Dane Majke Voss Romme is always surprised by who she is compared to. Woman at the piano - Tori Amos is the influence, isn't he? "In fact, for example, I first heard about her from music journalists. I don't know much about her, but I like what she does."
