Girls Under Glass

by Martin Lazarte Castro

First of all I want you to introduce us the band with its history, line up, releases and all other necessery info.

1986 Girls Under Glass were founded by Thomas Lücke (singer), Hauke Harms (electronics & keyboards) and Zaphor aka Volker Zacharias (guitars) 1987 first record was recorded: HUMUS For this record Dr. Fluch joined the band and played the bass guitar. 1989 Girls Under Glass supported bands such as Fields Of The Nephilim, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and were just big stars in the german gothic-wave-scene. At this point of time the band was playing togther with two guest musicians (Marcel Zürcher, drummer of Abwärts, Schwansee, Shanghaid Guts) and Olaf O. (Bassplayer) 1989 FLOWERS (second album was recorded). Members: Thomas Lücke (vocals) Zaphor (guitars) Hauke Harms (keyboards), Axel Ermes (bassplayer). Axel joined the band and was integrated into the real band-line up. Axel and Zaphor played at this point of time parrallel in the german cult band CANCER BARRACK 1990 Axel and Zaphor left CANCER BARRACK and concentrated on the third GUG album. Main singer Thomas Lücke left the band and Zaphor take over the singers part. Rodney Orpheus of THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX produced the third GUG album called "Positive" and started a friendship with Zaphor. Zaphor joined in THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX studio and live-lineup and is still working together with Rodney these days. This year was really a year of changes and re-starts. PROJECT PITCHFORK were playing their first Gigs as support band for the Positive-tour. 1992 DARIUS the 4th album was recorded. This is the first record recorded with a real drummer (Marcus Giltes, ex PINK TURNS BLUE). As a new guitar player Girls Under Glass welcomed Raj Sen Gupta. 1993 CHRISTUS was recorded, also with Raj Sen Gupta plus Markus Giltjes. For the following tour Raj left the band and Girls Under Glass were working with Robert Wilcocks of SLEEPING DOGS WAKE & COBALT 60. 1995 CRYSTALS & STONES was recorded as a trio again (Zaphor, Axel, Hauke. The band recorded this record in their new own studio. Die Krupps did a remix of Die Zeit, which became another big club hit in Germany). For this record the band was touring with Robert Wilcocks again. Additional drums on tour were played by Tippi Agogo (musician from Vancouver and close friend to the Legendary Pink Dots and Skinny Puppy musicians-scene) 1997 FIREWALKER was recorded. The hardest record GUG did ever. Totally inspired by the american industrial metal & electro music scene such as NIN, KMFDM, Stabbing Westward, Gravity Kills etc. Girls asked ex KMFDM drummer Rudi Naomi to join the band for the tour. GUG toured together with Deathline Int´l, an german-american-electroact. 1999 The first ever U.S. release "Nightmares" on Van Richter Records. This was a hybred record with our biggest hits, out of print tracks and unreleased material. 2001 The "Frozen" record will be released in late August for america first then worldwide.

What do you think best describes Girls Under Glass, how can you describe your music?

We have our own signature sound that combines gothic, industrial synth pop and new wave along with metal influences. This diverese blend with Volker's vocals has created a band that sounds much different than most on the underground scene from the past, present or future.

Why do you think people should check Girls Under Glass out?

Because we are a great band that makes great music. Our songs are timeless in there sound. We hope people will be interested in checking us out who are tired of the same old guard from our genre of music. We think our lyrics speak to the emotions of most people and our songs are well crafted and composed. These are the best reasons to check out GUG.

What band influenced you most when you were younger? What influenced the musical direction of Girls Under Glass?

We were always big fans as well as a product of the synth wave movement of the 1980's that is why you see our cover versions of Simple Minds, and Gary Numan on oour records. Gary Numan himself loved our cover version of "Down in the Park" and has been a huge fan of the band ever since. Our musical direction has come from our personal experiences in life.

How is the promotion of Van Richter, are you totally satisfied with them, Do you know how many albums you sold? And where?

Yes they are doing a great job for us after years of toiling on German labels that did not support our records. All the exposure they have gotten us in the media has been great as well as muchly appreciated. There is a big difference being on an artist development label like Van Richter who treats each band as a priorty. They are here to build careers not just sell records. We know most of our sales have come from the states because of the label and distributor there.

What do you know of Peru or South America?

Of course we know of your country but not much of your scene. We would love to tour all of the Americas if any one could book the tour for us.

Are you planning to tour for the new album? Any US dates by chance?

We have been trying to get to the states for some time however it is very difficult to get tours there for foriegn bands. Only a small number of booking agents control that huge country. We know our label has tried in vein to make this happen. We try to be patient as we have waited tow decades anyway to get over the pond.

What is you're songwriting process like? How is the process of create a song?

Most of the lyrics are very personal. It's like a self-therapy for us. In the earlier years we were less concentrating on myself and therefore we reflected more social stuff. Every thing that pissed us of was written down on a paper and we used for the music. Nowadays we reflect more things that are in our heads, in our hearts. So lyrics become more personal. It can be about love, about loosing somebody, about inner-balance, about feelings, thoughts, experiences...anything...the mind is an unlimited creative pool.

Any future plan?

We are focusing on the "Frozen" record then the release of Equilibrium(with bonus cd) for the U.S. market. That is where our energy is right now. The Frozen cd title track is the Madonna cover song from Ray of Light. The record also has a mix from Brunno Kramm from Das Ich and the song Grey and Grey song on by Peter of Wolfsheim. This is a big fat record that hopefully the scene with embrace quickly.

Any last comment?

Please visit our webpage at http://www.vanrichter.net/gug.html for all the lastest Girls Under Glass information.


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