Motorpsycho spends 2 weeks doing just interviews and photos in Germany in the fall of 1999. Another Stickman/http://vbh.idb.hist.no/mpsycho co-production!
On December 4th 1999, Motorpsycho flew to Hamburg to begin an 8-day interview tour through Germany, Holland & Belgium. 3000 driven kilometers and 60 interviews later they flew home again, satisfied but tired! All in all they hit Hamburg, Berlin, München, Frankfurt, Köln, Eindhoven, Amsterdam & Brussels.
The guys were accompanied by myself (Jeannette from Stickman Records) and a friend of mine named Hen-Suk who did the driving. The two of us also took the photos you will find here.
Saturday, 4/12: I picked the guys up from the airport in the early afternoon and drove them straight to their first appointment, a photo shooting. A radio journalist joined us there and interviewed the band after the photos were taken. From there we returned to the Stickman Ranch, where the afternoon was filled with journalists coming by or calling for telephone interviews. At about 19:00 we left to go to the Irish Pub down the street for excellent food, lots of beer and good conversation. We were joined by Carsten Sandkämper of Intro magazine, who soaked in about six hours of talk for his article. At the pub the owner/waiter eventually realized that he had a band giving an interview on his hands, so he decided to give us some extra entertainment by singing Beach Boys songs (in german of course), playing a flute, drum, generally making an ass of himself and bombarding Bent with Christmas presents (a Guiness witches hat, a Christmas tie, a bottle of mineral water and a roll of toilet paper!). Bent took it with alot of humor, I must admit.
Sunday, 5/12: After not nearly enough sleep, we left to go to the photo studio where Intro magazine had arranged a fashion shoot with Motorpsycho (I kid you not!). When asked a few months earlier, the guys found the idea of doing this so strange that they decided to go along with it, as long as they got to keep some of the clothes! So we arrived at the studio unsuspecting (and rather hungover) to find about twelve photographers, assistants, caterers, stylists, etc. busily preparing for the photo shoot. The guys were made up, given new hairstyles (Geb even got a haircut) and put into really outrageous clothes for eight hours. I can't wait to see these photos - one is going to be the cover for Intro magazine in February 2000. Snah particularly impressed the photographer and his assistants in his Austin-Powers-esque 60's suit, they were telling me he should become a model (!). When the photo shooting was finally over in the evening, we loaded up the van and drove the three hours to Berlin where Motorpsycho immediately dived into their hotel room to watch cable TV.
Monday, 6/12: Probably one of the roughest days of the week. Motorpsycho sat in the salon of the City Hotel in Berlin for almost twelve hours, giving one interview after another. Markus Wustmann, Motorpsycho's favorite photographer (he took the band photo on the inside cover of the Roadwork LP)showed up to take some more photos and Wieland Krämer, the band's german booking agent also stopped by the hotel to say hello and admire the new CD. By the way, if you look closely at some of the photos you just might spot the upcoming CD... Anyway, after a very long day we went out for a nice dinner and a few beers at a bar around the corner and then called it a day.
Tuesday, 7/12: Breakfast, check-out and then we were off on the long drive to München, which we managed in about six hours. When we got to the hotel we already had the first journalists waiting for us in the lobby. You got it, more interviews. We then went out for a nice italian dinner and got back to the hotel in time to meet with Elmar, the journalist for Hammer (used to be called Metal Hammer). After taking care of the official part of the interview, he then took us to a bar called "Substanz", where Motorpsycho drank "Schwarzbier" (it's horrible, believe me), watched soccer (Trondheim against ???. Trondheim lost), and played kicker. We left to go back to the hotel only after the bar closed for the night, so a short night...again!
Wednesday, 8/12: And once again a photo shooting first thing in the morning. Some hangovers were definitely involved here. Then it was back to the hotel lobby for a few last interviews and then a short drive to the "Musikwoche" magazine office on our way out of München. We drove as far as Frankfurt, where we stopped so the band could tape two interviews for the "Hessischer Rundfunk", a very big radio station for the central region of Germany as well as an interview for Superstar magazine. We stopped to admire an exhibit of old microphones in the front lobby (causing some drooling from the collectors-of-vintage-equipment among us)and then continued to Köln in order to finally get some sleep before another rough day!
Thursday, 9/12: Chris from C&D Promotion, the company taking care of most of the german promotion of "Let them Eat Cake" picked us up from the hotel in the morning and took us to his office. Snah spent most of the day on the phone giving long-distance interviews. Bent gave an interview for "Gitarre & Bass" magazine and was quite disappointed that the journalist had heard of almost none of the equipment that Motorpsycho uses (he actually said "Hi-what?"!!!). We made a short stop at VIVA where the guys were filmed for a Motorpsycho report that will be broadcast on 2Rock during the week of release of the album. Then after yet more interviews at the C&D office and ordering pizza, we drove to Eindhoven to spend the night there and to have a nice visit from Pieter Kloos at the hotel. At the border we got stopped by the police, who didn't quite know how to deal with an american, a korean, and three norwegians in a rented german bus in Holland. Finally they just laughed and sent us on our way.
Friday, 10/12: Got up fairly early once again and drove to Amsterdam, where the guys had their first appointment at noon in the café of the Winston Hotel. Since Lien, who takes care of Motorpsycho's promotion in Holland had everything well under control, Hen-Suk and I were able to drop the guys off and go shopping. Yes! The guys took turns giving the interviews there, so that each of them had some time to themselves to also do a bit of shopping. After the last interview we were picked up by some friends (Michel of 35007, Eva of Beaver and Tos who seems to play with everybody including the Earthlings? on their last European tour). They took us to an indonesian restaurant and then to their favorite bar. Another long night...
Saturday, 11/12: On the road again, this time to Brussels, where nobody feels like going. Everybody is tired...and tired of giving interviews! We get to Brussels just in time, check into the hotel and go to the Botanique where the interviews all happen. Another busy day talking and then we go for a rather melancholy last dinner at a restaurant down the street.
Sunday, 12/12: After breakfast everybody packs their things and it's off to the airport which we manage to find after getting lost only once. Goodbyes all around and they're off to Trondheim via Copenhagen and Hen-Suk and I start on the long drive back to Hamburg, already feeling sentimental about a stressful but very fun adventure!
