Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 03:00 PM by Nikos Nakos
From the first moment I came across Föllakzoid I felt my spirit and my soul lost in the seas of the band’s electronic music and started touching the void. The incredible communicability of their music and the quality of their experimentations as well, rank them as one of the hottest names in psychedelic music. On the occasion of their visit to our country, I exchanged a few words with their synth player Alfredo Thiermann in order to know them / know better!
Hello there, lads! Welcome to Metal Invader! Nice to have you with us! To begin with, I’d like you to give us a chance to know you better. When and how were Föllakzoid born? Whose idea was it and what were your initial goals?
We were born out of a soul abduction that took place in a small rehearsal room in Santiago late 2007. We gathered our energies and were possessed by an unknown force that has been guiding us ever since. We had no goals, and we are not sure we understand it like this now. It feels more like a duty.
You’ve become a worldwide psych-pop / Krautrock / call-it-whatever-you-like sensation and your fanbase is constantly widening. Did you ever anticipate this level of success? How do you feel about the fact that you’re speaking to people’s minds and hearts with your music?
We are grateful to be able to expand our souls and melt with the people around the world, it’s a truly beautiful sensation and fills our hearts with cristic energy that drives us into the unknown.
Listening to your discography, one can understand that your earlier works are much heavier, with many progressive / experimental elements, as opposed to your newer stuff (i.e. “III”) which are much more ambient, electronic, minimal. Should we consider this as Föllakzoid’s natural progress or did you figure that you need to expand your musical language to keep things interesting? (of course, could be both, hehe!)
We believe Föllakzoid’s language has to do – as we have realized through time- with depuration. With the idea of filling the space with an ethereal void. Our mission is to fulfill that purpose with the fewer elements we can. So yes, the transition into longer yet more minimalistic structures of monochord or atonal repetition elements brought us naturally closer to electronic music.
I’ve read somewhere that an inextricable feature of Föllakzoid is improvisation. It sounds natural, considering the genre you’ve chosen to serve. Is improvisation a part of your live performances as well? I mean, do you for example change the structures or the rhythms of tracks during your gigs according to your mood or the vibe of the crowd?
As mentioned in your question we serve this energy, and it has a language of its own, so yes, concerts sometimes change their length, or speed. I guess it’s correct to refer to it as “improvisation” although for us it doesn’t feel like that at all -even if the structures of the tracks change. We are lifelong friends with Diego and Juan, and when we play music we achieve the most telekinetic empathy in our relations, so it’s basically like talking in a hidden tongue with your brothers. The way we move musically is basically about respect, first, not to speak when someone else is, second, really listen what he is saying, and third, always remember we are all listening together a wider voice, which we serve 😉
In your last release (“III”) you collaborated with the German electronic legend Atom TM for the synth parts of your compositions. How did this happen? Tell us a few things about the whole process, the recordings, etc!
I’ve known ATOM TM’s work since I was a teenager in Santiago and always considered him as a true pioneer in his area. I believe it was in our second tour that we played after him in a festival – where he was performing the HD album- and completely blew our minds away.
After recording III, along with Sacred Bones we were looking for a producer maybe to work on the album, but realized nobody really match the profile so we decided to proceed ourselves.
Around that time I went to an ATOM TM concert in Santiago, and after buying his records, his manager approached me and told me had listen to our album in NY and without knowing we were Chileans he really dug it and wanted to work with us. So it was super-synchronic.
The process was truly enlightening, sort of like going to a shrink, where you have to built a relation of understanding the abstract with a person you haven’t met before. Wouldn’t know how to describe it, but is more of a soul conversation when it happens. I’m still learning a lot of the experience to have worked with him and super excited about a duo show we will be presenting together in Oct, Madrid 2016
What’s Föllakzoid’s next step? Have you figured out what you’ll do next?
The same but wider and with less elements.
In a few days you’ll be visiting Greece once again! How does it feel to be so far away from home? Are you as excited as we are about your performances here?
Definitely super excited! Our cultures are super distant, yet we share a romantic origin, a way to understand the arts and live life. That makes us feel like home in a way!
What have you prepared for us? What should we expect?
A collective trance experience where we will all be a part of a wider energy that will exorcise demons in dark light.
Alright! That’s all from me for the time being! Thank you for this interview!
