Thursday 3 April 2014

In This Mode Q&A

Your name:
Andreas Kuepper.

Where are you from?
Tasmania, Australia.

Name of band:
In This Mode.

Who else is in your band?
Future members TBC.

How would you describe yourselves?
Electronica,  new wave, synthpop and dance would probably describe the genres but describing myself is more difficult. The music though I guess is an extension of who I am so what I write about is ... well to some extent anyway me. :) I guess that is what many artists write about when composing, themselves. Even if we write about external events or circumstances we are mostly writing from our perspective. I guess the best way to describe In This Mode is it's me bearing my soul to the world.

Who are your main influences musically?
Musical influences are probably to numerous to mention but heres some of it, some of the giants of electronic music, Gary Numan, John Foxx, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Ultravox, Visage, Human League, Tangerine Dream leading into The Shaman, The KLF, Front 242, Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, Sisters of Mercy, Orbital, Dead Can Dance and more recently Assemblage 23, VNV nation, and Royksopp just to name a few. Along the way lots of classical music found its way in there and a bit of Jazz as well. The list really is to long to list so I won’t but my thanks to any one who has ever provided musical inspiration. 

What do you hope to achieve in music?
This is a really good question.....I'd like to get the music out to as many people as possible, most importantly I guess is that it is heard and that it touches people and has a positive effect on them. That it gives them something they want in listening to it. As an artist I'd like to create a bridge between the audience and I that goes beyond personalities and connects us in a much deeper way. A more meaningful way to everyone involved. Music is a kind of Transcendent art form and so I would like to transcend the stuff that keeps me stuck in ways of living that aren't fulfilling through my music and I'd like everyone who hears it to have a similar experience. Om Namah Shivia!

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
The highlight so far (although there have been many) would have to be the release of the video for "Spiral" through SJE Records. Visually representing this track was really important to me because the idea for the song came to me while watching the Spiral arm of the Milky Way one night and I think there is a lot about the video that communicates some of the images that were running through my mind that night. 

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 
Hmmm that would be the moment I released a 12" single with a band back in the late 80's. The reason for it being a lowlight when it should have been a highlight is we tried to make a commercially viable track rather than what was really true for us, or at least me, I ended up not liking the record at all and almost felt embarrassed by it. To top it off we sold about 50 copies out of a run of 1000, I don t even know what happened to the other 950 copies :)

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
The song I'd pick would be "Spiral" The song I think epitomizes the impulse behind In This Mode. The song speaks about the existence of this form, the Spiral, which is inside of us in the form of our DNA and outside of us in many places including the shape of a galaxy. It connects us to everything else in the universe including each other, we really are one. 
You can read the blog I wrote on it at themusicblog.com.au/spiral-video

Where can we listen to it?



Where can we find out more about your music?
Website - www.inthismode.com

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