Interview with Stephan Lill (Vanden Plas)

BANDS : Vanden Plas

Hello, Stephan, and thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. This is your first interwiev for Metalfan, so I thought we could talk a bit about the early ears of the band, before we focus on the new album, I hope you don’t mind.
First of all, the name. Why name your band after a car? It sounds cool, and it is quite unique, but how did you chose this name?
Stephan Lill: Our singer saw this name on the back of a Jaguar. he thought that this could also be a great name for a rockband, especially because it sounds so unique.

Your debut album, Colour Temple, was released in 1995, and revealed a promising young band, but I cannot think of it as a prog metal album. The scene was different back then, what place you were trying to acquire for Vanden Plas at that time?
Stephan Lill: At the beginning of the 90ies our music was a bit more commercial. After our first engagement for a musical-production (Jesus Christ Superstar), our style changed a bit because we included the way how musicals are written and arranged in our music. when we recorded Colour Temple, our music was a kind of mix between commercial and progressive music. but we already knew that the progressive side will be more interesting for us.

The second release, The God Thing, was highly praised by critics and following this success you were invited to open the shows for Dream Theater on their European tour. It was a big step for the band, only two years after the debut, what is the secret behind this great success?
Stephan Lill: We changed the record company just before we released The God Thing. They had some good connections, so we got the great chance to open for Dream Theater, which was the best what could happen to us. on the other side we were creating our own style with The God Thing, what helped a lot too.

How was the tour, how did you get along with the guys from Dream Theater, do you have any stories to tell?
Stephan Lill: The tour was great, the guys were very nice, and you don’t have enough space on your site for all the stories I have to tell. It was a big adventure and success in every way.

Far Off Grace was the most difficult to get into for me of all your albums. It offers great songs but they take some time to reveal themselves. Did your previous success create some pressure to write more complex, more progressive music for this album?
Stephan Lill: No. We just released the songs which we wrote at this time. things like that you can't plan. even if the songs seem to be very complex we play a lot of this tracks live, and they really kick ass on stage. but i can understand that this cd is not an easy listening-cd for everybody. in my opinion this is not a bad sign, it shows that all our cd's are slightly different.

Beyond Daylight seems to be the most complete and matured of your albums. To me it’s flawless, just one great song after another. Are you satisfied with the response you got for this album and with the place Vanden Plas occupies in the metal scene today?
Stephan Lill: I agree. Beyond Daylight shows Vanden Plas with all our trademarks. being satisfied with position? no, because we still have the wish to make the next step. and I hope Christ 0 will help to realize that. but we are proud about the things we already achieved and that we still have the chance to make music.

Let’s move on to Christ 0 then, your highly anticipated and yet unreleased new album. First of all, why did you chose and adventure novel, and why Alexandre Dumas?
Stephan Lill: We are already working on musical based on the novel of Alexandre Dumas. so we took the decision to use this cd already to introduce our concept about it. Andy took a different view on this story, so we are really looking forward to bring this story also on the theatre-stage.

The title, Christ 0, while it is obviously inspired by the main character’s name, it is spelled differently. Is there any religious reference to this title?
Stephan Lill: The title shall express that the main character acts in an really unchristian (=bad) way. this you will understand when you read all the lyrics.

Do the lyrics of the album stick closely to the novel, or are they a personal interpretation of the story?
Stephan Lill: As I already mentioned in one of the other questions it's based on that story, but it's not just a summary at all. there are for sure a lot of personal interpretation of the story.

How about the music, how many songs are there and what do they sound like? Any major changes that you want to warn us about?
Stephan Lill: The concept contents 9 songs. for sure we use the typical trademarks which are responsible for our style, but there are some new elements in our music, for example deep-tuned guitars, big orchestral-arrangements or a big classic choir (30 people). but there is nothing I have to warn you about, hahaha.

You had to postpone the release date because of some problems with the mixing. What did exactly happen?
Stephan Lill: It wasn't a big problem with the mix itself. we just missed the very tough planed time schedule for a few days, so it wasn't possible to release the cd end February. now the release is end of march, no problem.

Are you going to film a video for this album? I have not seen any video of Vanden Plas yet, didn’t you film any? Maybe you are planning on releasing a DVD?
Stephan Lill: We have the plan to make a live-DVD for a long time. Maybe we will have the chance to film a concert in the theater of our hometown. but i don't think we will make a video-clip. That doesn't make too much sense these days because it costs a lot of money and you can't be sure if it will be played on TV.

You always seemed to have a large fanbase in France, if I remember correctly the unplugged EP Accult was recorded during one of your shows in France. You even recorded a live cd in Paris, The Spirit of Live, and what a great live performance it brings out! And the crowd is very supportive. Why do you think you are so successful over there?
Stephan Lill: AcCult wasn't recorded at a live show in France. it's a regular studio-recorded cd. Regarding France: Since the release of Colour temple and our first live-shows there we had a very special relation to the french fans , but I don't know the real reason. it grew up somehow!

Everybody in the band seems to be involved in one or more side-projects. Why not do those projects as Vanden Plas?
Stephan Lill: Because these projects were started by other persons (for example Consortium Project, Section A, Missa Mercuria). at these project we are mostly involved as songwriter or just as musician. and these projects don't sound like Vanden Plas.

I always wondered about your album covers, what do they mean? They are not very easy to figure out. What do the sculptures on your first two albums represent and what does the cross-like shaped symbol stand for?
Stephan Lill: The sculptures show a man who breaks through a wall. If you turn it around and take a look from different views to it, you will discover that there are also other creatures included. the cross-like shaped symbol is our logo, somehow it represents Vanden Plas.

You seem to be big fans of you local football team, FC Kaiserslautern, you even recorded a song for the team. How often do you go to the stadium together with your band colleagues to watch the team play?
Stephan Lill: In the last years not often. First: because we don’t have the time. Second: they played so bad during the last years that it was no pleasure at all to watch them play.

In the end I’ve put together a quick quiz for you, I hope you’ll find it funny and have the time to answer it. Just chose one of the two:

Blue or orange Blue

Wine or beer Both of them

Sand or snow The mix of them

Scorpions or Accept Accept for sure

Lord of the Rings or The Matrix Lord of the Rings

George Bush Jr or Jacques Chirac None of them

Baguette or pretzel Baguette

Yngwie Malmsteen or Axel Rudy Pell Yngwie Malmsteen

Talk or listen Talk and listen

Autor: Klawz

Vezi galeriile trupelor: Vanden Plas

February 07, 2006 | 0 Comments | 7914 Views « BACK