ALVARÈZ PERÈZ: "Milovat Je Umírat" CD (Eigenvertrieb)

Aus den sogenannten "Europäischen Entwicklungsländern", insbesondere im Osteuropäischen Raum hat uns ja schon desöfteren das Blühen einer erfrischenden Gothic-Kultur mit ihren musikalischen Aushängeschildern verblüffen können. Heute machen wir mal einen Abstecher in die Tschechische Republik und finden mit der 1994 gegründeten Band ALVARÈZ PERÈZ ein weiteres Beispiel, daß durchaus noch Leben in den Adern fließt, in einem Jahrzehnte von falsch diktiertem Kommunismus und Korruption gebeutelten Land.

Ich würde ja was geben, wenn ich die Texte verstehen würde, aber bei der Musik von ALVARÈZ PERÈZ und speziell dem Gesang von der Sängerin Ellen Kosova und den wunderschönen Kompositionen von Jan Cupak gibt es keinen Zweifel, hier wird noch ohne mit Ellenbogen die Konkurrenz im eigenen Land überbieten zu müssen und ohne auf die Erfolge westlicher Szenegrößen schielen zu müssen, eine ehrliche Art von Musik gemacht.
Zwar macht sich in der aufnahmetechnischen Qualität die zu Verfügung stehenden Mittel deutlich bemerkbar (auf der Vorliegenden CD-R gibt es leider durch alle Songs ein unrhythmisch kratzendes Dropping-Geräusch) aber die Qualität der Songs und der bemerkenswerten Stimme von Frontfau Ellen kommt dennoch gebührend zum Tragen.

Songs zum Träumen, Songs zum Weinen,
im Vordergrund stehen Klavier, mal mehr oder weniger heftige Gitarren und eben eine schmeichelde Stimme in einer geheimnisvollen Sprache, die dem Ganzen einen Touch des Mystischen verleiht.
Fazit: Trotz technischer Fehler der vorliegenden Demo-CD, bescheinige ich dieser Band internationale Qualität in Sachen einfühlsamen dunklem Liedgutes!

Sir Ritchie für GOTHICWORLD


In Folge zitiere ich ein Interview der Band, nein nicht in ihrer Muttersprache sondern für alle in Englisch:

Why do you play gothic rock?
Jan: Why gothic rock? It was rather natural. People simply said we played gothic rock. What we play is not classic gothic music. We simply like the style of gothic music but it's all been rather a natural development for us.

When I heard your music I was thinking about a label for it and I came up with "gothic art-rock".
Jan: I don't think our music is artistic. We experiment with sound when we rehearse, but that's quite usual for other bands as well. We wanna express the mood. We use the sounds. That's what it is all about - creating sounds and moods. A particular song is a sort of a formation, a picture, and you need to create the music to make it a whole, to make it one expression. We do it all instinctively.

Is there any particular music influence?
Jan: No, if I like a particular song at the moment, the music I make resembles it. But you can't say that there is a particular influence. We listen to a wide range of music. I like for instance guitar rock, such Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins, and I also like electro music.

One of your songs is inspired by Robert Holstock's book Lavondyss.
Is the literary genre of fantasy connected with your music or is the song just a coincidence?
Jan: I like the writer because he writes what is in his soul. The book is not pure fantasy. It's something between fantasy and horror. We used to be influenced by fantasy literature a lot but now it's fading away. The lyrics are different now.

I personally think that the lyrics are very elaborate, they are near poems.
Ellen: It's been always like that. We've been proud of our lyrics.
Jan: Well yes, but very few people read the lyrics thoroughly.

When discussing the lyrics, what about Octavio Paz? You have a part of his poem on the booklet.
Jan: He's a great poet. His poetry's told on me. Once a friend of mine brought me one of his books and said: "Look, he writes just the same as you". He also incorporates the mood in his writing. But ... I write lyrics whereas he wrote poems. I like when the lyrics sound nice but I also like them clear. I hate when the meaning is hidden behind the words, when you play with words only to make it sound weird. Simply said, when the people read the lyrics, they may imagine something that they are able to translate.

What about your image? The Czech rock music scene is know for its saying that it doesn't matter what you look like but what you're able to play. What do they say to you?
Ellen: Of course, they tell us so, but we don't care about them. We do what we like. We do music that needs such dark image. But still, it is a way of life, for me it is not only pretending because I am in such a band.
Jan: When you enter the stage, you simply can't look like ... I don't know what. Gothic is like a theatre.
Ellen: Yeah. It's the atmosphere that matters.

Do you want to try your luck with your music in abroad?
Ellen: Certainly. We tried it and we were surprised by the warm acceptation.