Interviews

Captain Poon // Bloodlights

Am 16. November erscheint endlich das langersehnte Debütalbum von Gluecifer’s Captain Poon’s neuer Kapelle Bloodlights. Diesen willkommenen Anlass mal wieder mit ihm zu schwatzen, ließ ich mir natürlich nicht entgehen. Beim ersten Anlauf wollte mein Aufnahmegerät nicht so wie ich, und ist doch tatsächlich einfach mal so hängengeblieben, bevor es überhaupt losgehen konnte. Peinlich, peinlich. Aber dass es dann doch noch geklappt hat, könnt ihr im Folgenden nachlesen. (Das Album ist übrigens unbedingt kaufenswert!)

The new album is finally about to be released! Why did it take longer than planned?

I think it took a bit longer because we had to take care of a few things and we had a long dialogue with the record company and the whole thing fell through, the boss of that record company was just some flinky asshole. So it took a bit longer than we had been hoping for. But it’s just about to happen and it feels good to have the record on track. And it’s two or three months later, then we had been hoping for, so it’s not that bad.

Are you content with the result?

I’m really happy with it. I had a lot of time to figure out what I think about it and I’m still very happy with it. I think it carries the right energy from a band that’s doing their first record, which I think is kind of important, too. That you have some stuff going on there, that kind of proves this is the start of something.

Why did you chose to call it simply „Bloodlights“? I think there could be more creative titles.

It depends what you put into the title. I mean, what is a creative title? If you have a certain idea, a certain concept or whatever, of course you put that title into it, but this record has been so much about Bloodlights, and it’s the first record and I think it makes a lot of sense to work that name into people’s minds.

Which song means the most to you, and why?

I don’t know what means the most to me, I think I kinda look at the album as a whole thing, but I think a track like Addiction, that is about the happiness of being back and being able to do what you love doing, I think that’s an important track for the record.

Who sings together with you on Screwing yourself? And how did that come about?

That is a girl called Marte Wulff. I was just looking for a female singer to help me out on that song. We just talked to a few different ones and she was the one who came back and said „I would really love to do this and I think I can handle it“ That was a fun collaboration.

When can we expect you back in Germany? Are there any plans already?

I think the first shows are in the end of February.

And how long will it be?

It all depends. It may be that the tour goes on and on and on until next summer. But to begin it’s gonna be like 8 to 10 shows. We will try to go to all the places that we are welcome, you know. And in a country like Germany, there is a lot of really good places to play, so we will try to cover the country as good as we can.

I read somewhere that after the end of Gluecifer you had to start a new band right away, because you have never learned anything else and you need to make a living with your music. Is it already possible to make a living with Bloodlights, or are you still living from Gluecifer earnings?

I still have a little bit left of the Gluecifer earnings, but I spent most of it to get Bloodlights on track. I just hope and feel that it works out. I’m happy that I made this choice, to do things my own way, invest all this money into the record and don’t sit around and wait for anything. That’s the most important thing when you are a creative person, who is dependend on his own talent to make a living. I think it’s very important, that you don’t have to slow down and sit around and wait for people to respond and wait for the record industry to react and stuff like that. I just don’t give a fuck, I was like „I am forming a new band, I’m writing new songs. When the songs are done and the band is tight we go to the studio, …“ And if you think that way, I think the reward is somewhere out there. I do things my own way and it seems to work out. I am happy about that.

I know you’re good friends with Nicke from the Hellacopters. How do you feel about them breaking up?

I think it’s aways sad when a great Rock’n’Roll band splits up. The last time I saw the Hellacopters live, it was a little bit more than a year ago, I was like „Jesus Christ, these guys are really, really good“. Every band has ups and downs, sometimes a band gets a little bit boring, and you get a little bit too used to it, but when I saw them last summer I was like „This is so fucking amazing“ I told them, even I knew that it had been on his mind to maybe start thinking about other things or other projects, „Please keep this band together, because you are way to good to finish the whole thing“. But that doesn’t matter. He has been in this band, he has been the enginefor so many years, and at some point there can be a few things you get sick and tired of, or he needs to do something else. But it’s sad, cause it’s a great Rockband. That’s my main view upon it.

Why do you think there is so many scandinavian bands, that have been together for such a long time, splitting up in the last years (Hellacopters, Amulet, Gluecifer, Upstrokes, …).

I think every band has a certain limit. What keeps bands together for such a long time as we have? That is because we have such a great thing going. For many years it was possible to enjoy ourselves very much, you got your kicks, a few new things came up. You always have something, that can give you some sort of energy. But when you have been doing things for a long long time with the same people, you have been to many other places before, you know exactly what’s gonna happen. That can wear you out a little bit. For a lot of bands who can be able to keep it going for much longer, it’s very often the money, you know. For Gluecifer for instance, we could all make a living out of it, but if we had known, that if we would break up the band now, we will not be able to keep our houses, cars, boats, … you know all these luxury that goes for everyone who makes it on the commercial level, I think the whole thing would have been different. A lot of people keep together, because there is a lot of money involved. But that was not even an issue. We could make a living, but it wasn’t so that we were about to lose fortune by breaking up.

Lets’s get back to the album. You have one word to describe what each song is mainly about. Lets start with Where the stars don’t shine…