Going on stage…
the intro is rolling, the audience is roaring, and the adrenaline is pumping.
I really need to be careful not to sing
too loud or too high, because I get so excited!
The show is… audience and band, and we are going to make this night together.
So the sound of that roaring audience and to meet them for the first time
is one of the best feelings in the world.
I always really liked music,
and so when a school High School musical came,
that was for me the moment
to be there and join.
I didn't know that I could sing.
I just really enjoyed the music in the idea of it.
Yeah, for me it really was my older cousin back then with a band.
At one point, we were invited to their rehearsal place, with his band.
They would ask us if we wished them to play a specific song.
And we asked for ‘Painkiller’ by Judas Priest; and my cousin pulled that
drumming to drumming intro.
And that was a significant moment for me.
It was the coolest thing I have ever heard. And at that point I knew:
“ I have to do that,
whatever it takes!”
For me, there was never any ultimate goal when I started.
You know…that I want to work as a drummer or play in big shows.
I just liked to play.
And then now, touring as much as we do,
you learn along the way how you keep it up basically, you know.
And it’s all the boring answers-
it is workout, sleep and keeping your body in shape,
if you want to do this 200 or something (give or take) shows a year basically.
It is the whole body that needs to be in on keeping this area here healthy,
so I have to run with the same routines- working out, eating healthy, sleeping,
so the whole ‘sex, drugs and Rock'n'Roll’
idea of rock artists going around the world,
at least for the both of us and the majority in our band,
it does not really work that way, because you cannot keep it up.
It is very
important to come home and feel relaxed.
And for the both of us it is important to come home to a place where it is calm.
As it is a big, big contrast to big shows,
usually big cities…lots of traveling, hectic, lots of everything…
And we come home and it is silent,
so nature is nearby.
At the same time we're both not the people who like to sit down,
so it's wonderful to come back to a place where there's always something to do.
Interaction with animals… there is nothing like it.
It is very relaxing.
I completely agree,
and I think… unawarely we kind of built ourselves a castle
that we never have to leave. Because you can also get those of the big city, or whatever.
I can really enjoy that as well,
but I am a countryside boy
in the end. That is where I feel the most at home- with nature.
I can really speak for
myself that nothing charges my battery better than being out in nature.
It brings me closer to myself… how I actually feel, how I actually think.
It brings out a silence. And that doesn't come in five minutes.
Like, “Ah, I took some deep breaths and see beautiful trees, and now I feel great.”
You need some time to get into this deeper inner mode.
That silence is… I call it a ‘twittering monkey’. The constant to-do lists…
‘Oh, I need to think of that!”,
and things that happened, conversations that already have passed.
There are always things in your head.
They all need to calm down, like calm snow.
And after a while, the silence is giving space for other thoughts
and that’s where for me the inspiration starts to come.
Typical day off at home. Yeah,
first things first…getting everybody fed. So, it’s get out and feed the zoo.
That’s the first thing that happens.
We are going to relax and hang, and drink the coffee a little bit longer.
Take our time, and take our time for each other.
I think, the more time you spend away from home,
the more valuable time at home actually becomes.
The time we really have as a family together
is extra, extra valued. For sure!
To make sure we use that to the max.
Yeah, And do a lot, you know. We are always out doing something.
Yeah.
If it is not riding 4-wheelers in the woods or BBQing with friends,
and… Yeah, that’s it pretty much…