Hailing from Hamburg, Germany The Pleasures are a new breed of Glam Rock Heroes.  Mixing classic sounds with outrageous costumes this five piece really know how to put a bit of sparkle into your life. Wearing more glitter than even our dear editor, these guys will soon be heading over to the UK to wave their magic musical wands and put a smile on all our faces and a glint in our eyes.  Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great pleasure I give you ... THE PLEASURES!!!!  

MM - Would you like to give us a brief history on how the band came about, did you know each other before or did you advertise for like minded musicians?
LORD - Guten Abend! Well, our beloved Diva Dancette always dreamed about starting over with a real glam rock band, so after being pregnant with the idea of THE PLEASURES for years, he finally met me, the appropriate partner and antagonist. Oddly we have known each others for years before we understood that we were made for each other.  The first months and years we played with a different line up of band members, but together with Sensai, Neo and Razz we have finally found our real strength in being a destructive and harmful pink pentagram!!!

MM - Where does the bands name come from and what does it represent to you?  Can you remember any of the other names that were considered at the time? 
DANCETTE - The name was the first idea I had for this band. It means just everything: in our former bands we could not live out our inner dreams. We could not go in make up as now and so we all were looking for our kind PLEASURE!! With THE PLEASURES every dark and sinful dream turned true and now you can just let it out whatever it is: nasty, overloaded, sinful, charming, decadent, crazy, freedom of sexuality in every kind of way, loud, bizarre ... in short THE PLEASURES.

LORD - Other considered names like THE FUCKERS or THE PURPLE PENIS might be funny for 10 minutes, but that's it.

MM - How do you feel the bands sound has developed since you first started out?
LORD - It was a little trashy at the beginning, which was very important. We didn't think, we just did it. It definitely sounded as trashy as we felt at the time. After the first "Cuming Out" EP, the "Greatest Hits" album was us, finding the way we wanted to sound. We didn't care about the genre, again, we just did it. For the upcoming double album "Oh Yeah" we started thinking conceptually for the first time. We want to present and represent the two sides of glam rock: Fluffy-Ziggy'ish-70s-Glam and harsh and abrasive 80s power rock with a modern Rammstein-style flair. All in all you can say that the sound isn't that dirty anymore, there's more pop in it, but finally the songs have grown to something I'd listen to myself ;-)

MM - At what age did you become interested in being a performer and who/what inspired you to join a band?
LORD - I don't know. I have played on stages all my life. I just felt like it was a good thing to join a band. I never needed role models for the things I did.

DANCETTE - Oh it´s such long time ago. At age of 14 I played keyboards in a school rock band. The teacher saw that I had too much energy just standing behind the keyboards. Then I had to sing the backing vocals too ... After the band broke up I found a punk band which was looking for a “singer”. I could not sing but in a punk band there´s nothing wrong with that! These were my first days as a performer.

MM - The band will shortly be returning to the UK for another whirlwind tour before performing at the prestigious Trashstock 2007 festival, how did that come about?
LORD - It's all about our UK-tour manager Jaimz "Skull Hammer" Riot, that bastard of a mofo that took us to Nottingham last year. He loves it up his arse, and I will definitely bum him on the bus this time!!!

MM - What do you like best about touring - how do you rate the importance of being seen live and meeting fans whenever possible?
LORD - My favourite thing about touring is the stage performance itself. There's nothing in this world I'd love to do instead. Meeting fans is very important for us. We just highly respect what all of them do for us and did for us these last years. It sounds cheesy, but without them nothing of that would've ever happened. Honestly, I don't like talking that much, so most of the time I sit on some couch, trying to be as quiet as possible, but after a show I always get out and talk to everybody.

MM - How important is it to the band to be accessible to the fans, either face to face or via the internet?
LORD - Face to face isn't my thing, I don't chat and I don't have a webcam, but being accessible on MySpace is important. Each one of us is open to all questions, beside the bands profile we all have our own profiles and we're emailing fans every day. For bands like us, MySpace is the most important platform for communication.

MM - What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever been sent to you by an eager fan and have you ever had any scary stalker fan moments?
LORD - A used dildo.

DANCETTE - Sometimes people are following you in the streets of Hamburg shrieking and whistling or they wait in front of you house!

MM - The band are due to release their new album ‘Oh Yeah’ later this Summer.  Would you like to take us through the songs and perhaps share any stories behind them with our readers?
LORD - It's 24 songs, so I only will tell you SOME stories, not all of them ... There's on song "When We Gave Ourselves Over To Absolute Pleasure" where Dancette is singing about how he and me met and how we have finally seen that it must have been some kinda fate that brought us together.  "Agape" is a song I am sing, maybe one of the most important songs I have ever written. It's like a good-bye present for a girl I truly loved for years.

One of my favourites is definitely "Glitter Doesn't Sparkle Without Light". It says that you can be the most glamorous and sparkling, famous or infamous, wannabe or rockstar, but you'll be never able to shine without someone on your side that loves you and gives you strength. Unfortunately our drummer boy Razz just played one song on the entire record. The reason for that is that the time we've started recording, we didn't even know him, and our former drummer had already unofficially left the band and just played the last live shows.

MM - Will we get a chance to hear of any of these new songs in the setlist of your forthcoming UK tour?
DANCETTE - Oh yes of course you will!

MM - How does the song writing process work within the band?  Is it down to one particular person or do you all get involved?
DANCETTE - THE LORD and I write most of the songs.

LORD - But that's not a rule, the others are involved whenever they come along with ideas.

MM - What bands did you grow up listening to and how have they influenced the way you approach your music today?
DANCETTE - I listened as a very early teenager to CINDERELLA, ALICE COOPER, AEROSMITH and later to DAVID BOWIE and JOBRIATH. I don't really have any idols so I just write music like its in my heart.

MM - How long have you as an individual been performing and can you remember the first time you ever played to a live audience?
LORD - I must have be 7 years old, somewhere in school, with the cello.

DANCETTE - Oh yes. I was 14 and I played in the towns most wanted rock n' roll club in a little city near the Danish border. My best friends came with banners and supported me - so lovely! So I’ve been performing for 16 years.

MM - I would like to ask you some personal questions. What are your deepest fears and desires?
DANCETTE - Fear: Work too much without enjoying life and love. Desire: Work too much and enjoy life and love!

LORD - My deepest fear is to die unhappy. For now I would say I'd die with a smile in face.

MM - What’s the most ridiculous rumour you’ve heard about yourself?
LORD - That I got married on Friday the 13th of July 2007 in Berlin. That's ridiculous but true!!!

MM - Now for a couple of fun questions, you’re on your way to a festival and suddenly your plan crashes and you’re stranded on a desert island with just your band members for company.  Who are you going to eat first once the food runs out and why?
LORD - Myself cos I taste the best.

DANCETTE - No meat please ...

MM - Being in a rock band you’re bound to like a drink or two, so who’s the party animal of the band and what’s their poison?
DANCETTE - I love to party! I love to dance. It happens often that one of my band members have to catch me while I´m still dancing in the morning during the aftershow party. The poison is that I need lots of sleep, when I have not slept enough I just feel ill.

LORD - I don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs, don't dance and I don't party. But I am cute looking when I am sitting in a corner and trying to avoid talking!

MM - Thanks again for agreeing to take part in this interview, for making such flamboyantly delicious music and for bringing the glam and the gorgeous back into our lives. Best of luck with the new album and touring.  Finally is there anything else you’d like to say to all your fans out there?
DANCETTE - Thank you, man! See you on our tour!

LORD - I wanna thank you for those nice words! I am not the type for these last "you rock!" words ... So, maybe I am closing with something precious: Respect you mom and dad!

MM - We'd like to thank Dancette and Lord for taking the time out of their hectic pre-tour preparations to chat with us today.  The UK tour starts on the 15th August in London and peaks at the mighty Trashstock Festival in Nottingham on the 18th August.  This is one band you do not want to miss so do yourself a favour and check out the full tour listing on their websites - www.myspace.com/thepleasuresmusic or www.thepleasures.de .

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