Anthony: Girls Under Glass is an interesting electro/industrial project. When was the band first formed?
1986 Girls Under Glass were founded by Thomas Lücke (singer), Hauke Harms (electronics & keyboards) and Zaphor aka Volker Zacharias (guitars)
Anthony: How many line up changes have you had? What is the current line up as of today?
There have only been afew in the early days of the band. You can check our biography at www.vanrichter.net/gug.html but the main line up of Volker, Axel and Hauke have been in place for over the past decade.
Anthony: How did you come up with your name?
It is basically a flow of words that has no meaning like clan of xymox. We thought is would be a cool name for a darkwave band
Anthony: When, and how did you get with Van Richter Records?
The label was in contact with us after being big fans of our side project called Trauma. We sent them demos of GUG and the rest is history. They released a seminal compilation called Nightmares that is still very popular especially with our version of the Halloween movie theme, then the Frozen EP and in final Equilibrium this year.
Anthony: How many albums do you have out now?
Sometimes too many to keep track - over twenty especially including all our side projects which again we list at www.vanrichter.net/gug.html . However many of the old titles have been long out of print or on labels that no longer are in business. We do appreciate that Van Richter still carries the flame for the genre for almost as long as the band
Anthony: What was it like to work with KMFDM?
It was in the 80's for a mix track called ten million dollars which was recently remastered for the Nightmares release that is still available. The band was really cool, talented and very professional. Even though the mix is old it still stands the test of time
Anthony: You have had a lot of success in eupore, do you think that the US fans will embrace you in the same way?
The markets and scenes are so different. In Europe there is a well established sub culture as well as underground touring scene. The US market is far more commerical and driven more by media. There are great US bands that no one hears about because in order to reach the fans you need to be a money marketing machine. Also we have a much more developed underground club scene which gives better exposure for indie music. We think the US fans will someday embrace us if when we can reach more of them
Anthony: In your opinion which is your best album, and why?
That is hard to say as we are proud of every song we record. We were very happy with the titles Van Richter has released since the late 90's as well as other labels. Every album has a different feel and sound because each band member was going though personal issues and experiences when we recorded them.
Anthony: Have you ran into anyone that has ripped your music off?
What do you mean? There are many people who have downloaded our tracks without paying for them. We wish the fans would pay the meager cost of a download instead of nicking it as this is our life blood. If no one pays for music it will no longer be made. Kids don't realize that when they don't pay for music it kills off artists.
Anthony: Who have been your major influences? Have you had a chance to work with any of them?
We are huge fans of Gary Numan who we met in the UK. We did a cover of his song Down in the Park which we sent him and he loved. This was the ultimate compliment from one of the pioneer's of electronic music. He still asked about GUG when he is on tour. The cover still lives on the album Nightmares released on Van Richter.
Anthony: What advice would you give a band just starting out?
Do it because you love to make music and not as a way to make money because you will be sadly disapopinted. This business is more challenging than ever to live on. Band's need to look at what they do as an expression of art and not a get rich quick scheme.
Anthony: Thanks for doing the interview, please inform the readers where they can get ahold of your music. Also add anything I may have missed.
The best place to buy our cds other than your local record store is online at www.vanrichter.net which keeps their three GUG releases in stock. Also if they only want downloads then Itunes is the best place to go. Thank you very much for the interview.
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