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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!!!
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MM -
Naturally, the music comes first, but the visual performance
should not be under estimated. What can one expect from a live
Pleasures show?
DANCETTE -
Just listen to our actual single SOME LIKE IT ROCK: “I make
you watch before you hear make real life disappear!” Just
expect the most glamorous show with clothes like in the Rocky
Horror Show, fire works, flying guitars, screaming girls in
front of the stage, star jumps and glitter bombs and of course a
fucking hard glam rock sound!
LORD - It's a different show each time. We do not
perform, except some all time rituals, we just let it go.
Sometimes there's just glitter bombs and rock n’ roll, sometimes
it's pyro and artificial blood, sometimes broken noses. If
there's a big crowd, for sure some overhead-surfing guitar
solos. And of course hectares of naked skin and gallons of
sweat. Its just like sex, only better.
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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.
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MM -
The band has always had quite a striking image, all glamour and
borderline androgynous. Have you ever found this a double
edged sword in that some people will be attracted to the band
for your image rather than the music?
LORD - We didn't think about
that before. As we caught the first fans, we began to realize
that some of them are not interested in the music at all ...
some like the glitter, some like the style, some the naked boys
... and some like the music. I favour people that like all of
it!
You're right,
it's a double edged sword, but that's alright, with a sword like
this you can wreak havoc with EACH strike.
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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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