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. Nevertheless, what the German formation delivered in the seventies in the areas of prog, hard rock and jazz was absolutely competitive. But in the middle of the eighties Epitaph went out of breath; the band broke up. 2001 then the comeback. Since then they have released three new studio albums and presented themselves live again and again. Cliff Jackson, founder, guitarist and singer of the band, tells where Epitaph are currently located.
eclipsed: How did the "Acoustic Sessions" and the collaboration with the violinist Tim Reese come about?
Cliff Jackson: In November 2012 we wanted to perform at a benefit concert in Hanover with a slightly larger line-up than usual. Tim Reese, with whom I also play in a trio, joined us, and we first practiced with two acoustic guitars, bass and violin in the dressing room. At the end we had twenty people in the room, and everyone said: Man, that sounds awesome. Why don't you make an acoustic album? So now we've done this.
eclipsed: But your trademark are actually the electric double lead guitars.
Jackson: You have to know that most epitaph tracks were written on acoustic guitars. Most of our songs also work great slimmed down to one or two guitar sounds. Twin guitar sounds are always just a bonus.
eclipsed: Do you approach an acoustic album differently and record it differently?
Jackson: Yes, I do. It's the instruments. We borrowed the best possible instruments from Martin Ace von Man especially for these recordings in order to achieve this transparent acoustic sound.
