Well hello, Prager Handgriff are already like twenty years in the scene…
How would you describe this decade?
If you look back, it is actually quite a long time. But we did not recognize it. It seems to be, as if we started yesterday.
In fact, a lot has happened in those decades, the musicindustry for instance….
How can you beat this crisis, you think?
We do not know if we could beat the crisis. This is not our first aim. We just thought that the time has come to release a further album.
Maybe this question might be the perfect one for you….I mean Prager Handgriff was one of those bands who released cassettes by themselves and by building brick by brick, you ended up where you are now…
Do you think this can be possible in 2010?
Not in the same way. One the one hand it might be harder to get a record deal today. On the other hand a record deal is less important than in the old days. 20 years ago it was hard to reach an audience by releasing cassettes. Today you can use the internet as a helpful tool to distribute your music. So you can reach a rising audience and might become famous even without a record deal.
In all honesty, sometimes it feel like all those new young bands have no lust as all they want is immediate stardom….
We cannot answer this question, because we do not know any member of those new young bands personally.
Somewhere German bands like yours could profit from the highdays of Zillo, Sonic Seducer or Orkus whereas now they seem gone…or at least have no impact as they used to have.
Do you see that as a positive evolution?
The influence of those magazines especially in the 90’s was very high. Those magazines worked like a filter. We were not one of their “darlings”. They rather used to ignore us. So it was harder for us to reach our audience in Germany. Because of this we would say, it is a rather positive evolution.
You won’t mind for telling you that the music from Prager Handgriff is rather aggressive, does this reflect the persons you are not?
Our music reflects only special moods or feelings we were in. You will not find any person without aggressions. But we think our music seems to be aggressive only on the first sight.
Sometimes you are seen as part of the musical scene Neue Deutsche Härte, are you happy with that term yourself?
We already existed for several years when the term “Neue Deutsche Härte” was created. It is just a further label to categorize music. On the one hand our lyrics are in German and our music seems rather aggressive, so we might belong to this scene. On the other hand we do not use guitars, so we might not belong to this scene. So what?
Sometimes I think, apart from the language, that you are more sounding like American Wax Trax bands like Ministry or so…
Are Prager Handgriff popular over there?
We have an audience in North America. But our in audience in South America is much bigger. Especially in Brazil and Chile we have a lot fans. There existed a P.H.-fan-club in Brazil in the 90’s and the fan-club in Chile still existing.
Prager Handgriff are also not a band who are afraid to express their opinion about politics and so…do you think that is important in music or not?
It is always important to have a clear political opinion in any part of your life. There is no reason why we should leave out politics in our lyrics. We are also influenced by the German “anarcho-punk-scene” of the early 80’s. According to this we are not afraid to distribute our political –some people might call them left wing – opinions.
In all honesty, I adore EBM and so, but I am so tired of all those remixes.
If you buy a single these days you get the original plus 7 remixes or so…. What do you think of that?
We agree to your opinion. We have listened to any remix which sounds better than the original mix.
When I clicked on your website, I was directed to My Space, to be honest again…I hate all these My Spacepages.
Do you think yourself the invention of My Space has its positive merits for music?
It is just a tool to reach our audience. It is an easy way to distribute news and keep in contact to your fans. And we haven´t got enough time to built a new website so far, because recording a new album was more important.
I ask this to everybody : what’s your fave record of all time?
Volker: Echo and the Bunnymen – Ocean rain (Album)
Stefan: Paradise Lost - One Second
Please help me, what does Prager Handgriff actually mean?
?
You soon will be playing in Brugge, what can the audience expect from your show?
We will play some new songs from our new album which will be released in September. But we will also play our “all – time - favourites ”. Of course, we are looking forward to play in your country again.
Ever been to Brugge? Some say it’s the most beautiful city in the world!!!!
We have already played in Brugge in 1998 and what should we say – we love it.
Thank you very much for this!!!!!
Didier
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