Solar Fake interview – We ask. Sven answers!

Sympathetic Sven Friedrich in an interview with Electrozombies

Why is the world doomed and stream­ing ser­vices always sug­gest crap? Sven Friedrich is a patient kid of the 80s and will answer these ques­tions among oth­ers about the new album 'You Win. Who Cares?'.

I'm grateful to have you guys for an interview. How are you?

Sven: "Oh, I'm ok, thanks. Quite exhausted after all this work and the release show we had last Friday ;-) But I'm really sorry for my late reply… it's just been too stress­ful recently…"

Congrats to your 5th studio album. Are you proud/happy of the final result?

Sven: "I'm nev­er much proud, but I'm very happy with the res­ult. The album rep­res­ents me 100%, it's exactly what I wanted to do and it turned out exactly the way I wanted it."

In 10 years this is already your 5th studio album besides some EPs and Live albums. 
What is your biggest motivation to handle this workload?

Sven: "Well, it's what I love the most. I love play­ing live and I love cre­at­ing new music, so it's not a bur­den at all, it's fun, most of the time."

Is there any particular change in the current production?

Sven: "Not really. I pro­duced the whole album in my stu­dio and I worked the way I always do. It's really easy if you don't depend on someone else, you can just work whenev­er you feel like it… It's truly great if you start song­writ­ing in your pro­duc­tion envir­on­ment and just devel­op the songs until they're finished."

What was the greatest or funniest moments while producing 'You Win. Who Cares?'?

Sven: "Oh, I don't know… Since I work alone there aren't many funny moments… The best moment was when I had the mas­ter­ing done and the 2nd best was when I had all the songs written ;-)"

The album title and artwork seem to be politically motivated? If so, please tell us about the theme and if you believe in a future for mankind?

Sven: "I actu­ally don't believe in a future for man­kind, I'm pretty sure we'll man­age to end human life on earth quite soon. Maybe that's a good chance for this beau­ti­ful planet. 

The album title is not only polit­ic­al. You can find situ­ations where these words fit every­where, even in the most trivi­al … like a red light, the queue in the super­mar­ket… and it goes up to polit­ic­al lead­ers who believe they have to play their child­ish games at the cost of every­one else."

Tell our audience in max. 3 sentences why they should buy 'You Win. Who Cares?'.

Sven: "In my opin­ion, it's the best Solar Fake album we've ever made. If you want to dance, to scream and to sing along, this album is for you. If you only like happy and unof­fend­ing lyr­ics, you should buy some­thing else."

What is the focus of your creative process: Music or lyrics first?

Sven: "I always write the music first, but I usu­ally write the vocal melod­ies at the same time. But to write the lyr­ics I need to feel the music. I'm not a poet, I need music to write words ;-)"

What are your personal favourite tracks on this album and why?

Sven: "I do love all the songs, of course. Otherwise, they wouldn't be on the album. I think "Invisible" is a bit out­stand­ing, music-wise. People seem to like 'Sick Of You" a lot, prob­ably because it was the first song released ;-)"

The setting: "The DJ in your favourite disco must urgently leave and he asks you to represent him". 
What does your spontaneous DJ set look like (List maximum 10 tracks)?

Sven: "Oh well, that def­in­itely depends on the audi­ence… But I'd try"

• Crystal Castles – Not In Love (Feat- Robert Smith)
• Combichrist – This Shit Will Fuck You Up
• Aesthetic Perfection – Inhuman
• Grendel – Soilbleed
• Iris – Don't Cry
• VNV Nation – Control  (Sven: "If noth­ing else works, hahaha")

What is the most valuable (limited edition) album in your collection?

Sven: "I have a vinyl single of The Cure "Close to me", released in the GDR, and I had Robert, Simon and Porl sign it when we had the chance to open for them with my band Zeraphine back in 2005… Think that's quite special ;-)"

What are your favourite, latest band/artist discoveries that you also would recommend to Electrozombies and its readers?

Sven: "I pretty much like "Adam Is A Girl", it's a Berlin based Electro Pop Duo, really cool."

With which band or artist would you like to record a song together?

Sven: "Oh, a lot! There are many artists I already worked with, but the list is still very long… Like Robert Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, Kim Wilde, Inga Humpe… there are many…"

What's your personal creative hotspot or the place that offers you the most ideas?

Sven: "Oh, I can write at any place where it's quiet. I get most of the music­al ideas when I walk with my dog or alone, cause then my mind is free of the daily stuff every­body needs to deal with… But I can also sit in my stu­dio and have good ideas… Just need to cut the inter­net con­nec­tion and shut down the phone ;-)"

What important life wisdom would you have given yourself 20 years ago?

Sven: "Just don't worry too much, it'll all be good ;-)"

Tell me a particularly good and a bad property of you.

Sven: "A good one might be that I'm very patient and I nev­er try to harm any anim­al. A bad one might be that I'm bored very eas­ily and that I don't take much interest in any­thing, which could be a res­ult of a quite excit­ing life…"

Which bands/artists were your musical idols as a kid?

Sven: "As a kid, I was a fan of Nik Kershaw, Lloyd Cole and Kim Wilde. But when I turned 12 or 13 I heard The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Smiths and stuff like that and I totally fell in love with that kind of music and I still love it!"

Do you listen to music rather casually or consciously, possibly connected with a ritual?

Sven: "No ritu­al, but when I listen to new music for the first time I really con­cen­trate on it. I always want to read the lyr­ics when I hear a song to get the full impres­sion. Well, when I like the song or the album I listen to it over and over again. When I don't like it first, I usu­ally give it more tries (see, I can be patient) and some­times I dis­cov­er real treas­ures… but some­times I don't…"

What media do you use to stay musically up to date?

Sven: "Usually Internet and yes, Electrozombies too! My stream­ing accounts always sug­gest crap… I don't know what they need all my data for when they only sug­gest such awful music… However, some­times friends tell me about new bands as well…"

Do you listen to music over speakers or headphones?

Sven: "Both, but most of the time I use headphones."

Your last words to our audience?

Sven: "I really hope you like our new album and maybe we'll see each oth­er on one of our upcom­ing shows, In 2018 we have shows in Germany, UK, Ukraine and Finland and next year starts with our German tour. Looking for­ward to see­ing you!"

Thank you very much for your pre­cious time to have this inter­view with us.