Since you came back from tour I start the interview about you the tour and your impressions. Was it successful? What about organization?
Tobi: Yes, it was very successful! Organization was top, you have to be flexible in different European countries, we were, so we didn't get problems. The audience was always great!
What do you mean "to be flexible in different countries"?
There are different kinds of language, talking, culture and temperaments; you have to be flexible in that way
What did you like most during the tour and what pissed you off?
The best were the friends we met and the cultural sites they showed us. We didn't like to come home ;))
Was it your first big tour or you have had "international" tours before?
It was our first with several concerts in different countries, we were in the Netherlands, Lisboa, too but not for more than 2 concerts.
You have visited 5 different countries. Am I right? Where do you think your best gig took place during the tour? And why do you think that gig was the best?
It's not possible to answer, the gigs were different, each brilliant in its own way. I liked the Montsиgur in South of France but there we had not to give a concert, we only visited this place, Chateuneuff de Nice was brilliant too.
I have seen photos from your tour and I remember that one of your gigs was in some kind of cave. Is that right? Could you tell me about that gig?
This was the first gig in Switzerland. It wasn't an official gig which we played there, we gave a concert in March this year in Switzerland, there we got to knew the organizers. Now they are good friends of us. We passed Switzerland on the way to Italy, so they invited us to stay for two days and to give a concert only for good friends there. It was a hot summer, no rain, so they decided to let us play in this beautiful caves, it was a very pleasant evening with great images for all of us.
And the last question about your tour. You have played solo or you had some support during the tour?
We had no support at all!
All was planned by ourselves, only our label "Nielozilla" gave support.
Pretty often German neofolk bands have problems with various "political" organizations. Did you have any conflicts with formations like ANTIFA during your tour?
Never!
So, you are a lucky one :) Have you EVER had problems with that? I have done quite a number of interviews with different neofolk bands and almost every band had some problems with freaky people like ANTIFA.
In Germany and the Netherlands we had lots of cruel trouble with these stupid people, but not in foreign European states! South European people are more pleasant and, in this way, more intelligent, than German and Netherlands people. In some states we had a quite mixed audience, we had communists in Italy and Spain, a lot of beautiful Bask-People in Gasteiz, different cultural people in every state, and there were no problems at all.
Not long ago I got a chance to listen to your Abyss EP. Frankly I was disappointed for the first time, but later I have found that I like EP better than your debut album and my first impression was wrong. Abyss sounds more mature and professional. To my ear it's a bit pessimistic... I hope you will continue to write bombastic songs in vein of your debut album in future. Will you?
I can't say anything about the future works of DIES NATALIS. I never did a recording with the intension that it would be most liked by the listeners. We did it for ourselves. Our new recording "Tristan" is the logical essence of "Abyss", it's very melancholic too. The recordings are much more professional than the "Abyss" (we changed the studio twice). Maybe the future DIES NATALIS works will be much more simple than the Abyss, only voices, guitar, piano. The work of DIES NATALIS has involved the audience who wants to listen to it several times, maybe they will get more, looking deeper. Contents are important. If the listeners don't like it... it doesn't matter, i can't stop the downward spiral and if i could... i wouldn't!
As I said, I had no chance to listen to your latest album. So, could you tell me a bit about it? Does the album have a concept? And what about title of the album - "Tristan"? Why did you choose such a name for the album?
The reason why i choose the name is my personal secret ;))) It is including a book with the story of "Tristan" in three languages.
Lets talk about you music. Do you feel that you have enough knowledge and skills to materialize all your ideas in your music? And what do you think about your early songs?
DIES NATALIS has ever been a thing in change, we improved from the first day more and more, we'll never come to an end. I wouldn't release the earlier releases in this way any more, they are full of stereotypes, cliches and so on. But that was our way in those times. We grew up with that, got more to know. Now we are not finished, but we have much more skills and knowledge for our work. The contents are now a sign for our own way. We wont cover ideas anymore!
Well-known Russian director Tarkovsky said, that "Art is a possibility to share your pain with others". May be my translation isn't perfect, but I hope you got my point. What is Art/your music for you? Why do you write music?
Tarkovsky was right i think. But i want to fit up the sentence from my sight. It is, definitely, the possibility to share your pain, but not with everyone. The metaphors are one skill to size the audience. We want to share, but not with everyone and not for each price! I see myself as a storyteller, I'm not a musician, i only want to tell stories, when I'm not able one day to do that through my music, it doesn't matter, then I'll do it in another way.
I continue my question. I guess your music is part of your soul and they have personal moments and may be sometimes they have pretty painful moments... is that hard to share those personal moments with people? And is that easy for you to expose those moments to people you don't even know?
Art is a strange thing. You share your thoughts only with people you want to share. In each kind of art there is a key which every artist puts in and, most of the time, do not realize how. It is the soul talking to the soul, a soul who doesn't speak the language of mine wont understand me, like in the real life...
How do you write music? Do you need special environment/ mood or like some others you create songs spontaneously?
Writing is a trade i ever thought is only possible in special moments, but that's definitely wrong... It's only a question of education, sympathy with all and observation of the world surrounding you... If you fill in and fill in more and more, the things goes trough you like water trough stones at some places it comes up like wells, it happens every time, no special moments needed...
How do you see your career in music? Or may be I should ask in different way - what is the ultimate goal for DN? Major label? Faces on covers of magazines... something else?
Nothing like that, maybe the Band doesn't exist from one day to another... Nobody knows. We are individualists, everybody has other goals to get. I have my own, from the first day to the last of DIES NATALIS it has ever been the same for me. I want only one person to understand, with "Tristan" i was very close to that goal, and a whispering of what I want to say went trough for the first time in my life. Now I'm ready for the storm...
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