‘Click Interview’ with Eisfabrik: ‘There’s Still A Lot Of Work To Reach The Next Goals’
German combo Eisfabrik was set up by singer Charly Barth-Ricklefs (‘Dr. Schnee’) and operator/producer Gerrit Thomas (‘Der Frost’; also involved with Funker Vogt ). The duo got completed on stage by Jan Bertram (Lost Area, Paragon) and René Dornbusch (Funker Vogt). The ‘icemen’ already released noticeable albums (mainly on NoCut/SPV) and has now unleashed their fifth opus “Kryothermalmusik Aus Der Eisfabrik” on RepoRecords. The songs are driven by ultra-danceable beats, elevating future-pop choruses and charismatic vocals on top. I asked a few questions about it to Gerrit Thomas.
(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)
Q: Eisfabrik is now active for several years, having released its first album in 2015. So what’s the balance sheet regarding aspects like albums, live shows and global evolution of the band & sound?
Gerrit: It‘s a straight process from the beginning to the present. Everything is very precisely coordinated and has always had a common thread and certain short-term goals. There had been no coincidences happening to Eisfabrik until now. So, ask me five years later for another balance sheet, I think I would tell you the same: We‘re not getting finished!
Q: The album got preceded by the EP “And Nothing Turns”, which was a rather surprising title song for being a kind of slow future-pop ballad. What made you chose this song as title track and tell us a bit more about the origin and ideas behind this song?
Gerrit: The EP is called “Rotationsausfall In Der Eisfabrik“ – “And Nothing Turns“ is just the most remixed song of this EP. So, both songs had very strong effects on all of us and it was easy to choose them for the first EP according to this release era.
“And Nothing Turns“ should show that Eisfabrik is also able to produce songs beside all the typical club stuff. And “White Sheet”, on the other hand, should be exactly that.
Q: What have been the main ideas and eventually references during the writing and recording of the new album “Kryothermalmusik Aus Der Eisfabrik”? What have been the main difficulties you encountered, eventually some songs, which didn’t work the way you wanted?
Gerrit: There had been only difficulties in the German songs we produced this time. They became extremely soft or a kind of silly or infantile. So, in the end we decided not to release them -never and anywhere! Everything else worked as we expected.
Q: You guys clearly like releasing video clips, but what’s the importance and impact of releasing clips today? What are the different stages to release a clip?
Gerrit: I think, nowadays you need a clip for presenting your actual work and to promote it. There are many platforms where you can publish your clips and do promotional ads like on Facebook, YouToube, SoundCloud or whatever. It really helps a band or a musician to get published.
Q: Gerrit, you definitely are a musician with a very own sound DNA; a very own touch you can directly recognize in the arrangements, the leads and the programming of the kicks. But what are the main differences for you composing new songs for Funker Vogt or Eisfabrik? Do you use different equipment, other tricks etc?
Gerrit: There are some secrets in the notation of the basic sequences and the drum sounds which are typical for Eisfabrik or Funker Vogt. I think you can hear them…lol.
Also there are some kinds of songs like “Gladiator“, “Bloodsucker“ or “Thor‘s Hammer“ which I wouldn‘t offer Charly to sing for Eisfabrik. They are only produced for shouters what Chris perfectly does.
Q: I always got the impression Eisfabrik ever started as a pure fun project with a crazy concept. What was it really all about and how did you see Eisfabrik evolving from album to album? And what’s the next step now?
Gerrit: Well, as I already said in the beginning of this interview, there is a certain process over the entire existing of Eisfabrik. And this will never end. For sure there are always some short-term goals. The last one for example was to enter the Official German Album Charts, the next one is to get a certain average number of ticket sales on our next tour. And so on and on. But you always have to do something for that and shouldn’t leave your aims! It’s really hard work…
Next step in order to get a bigger fan
base all over the world is to play more shows in other countries. So, there’s
still a lot of work to reach the next goals.
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