Interview with Bolz-Bolz

Bolz-Bolz

Relevant Sites

Scape One
World Electric

Renowned worldwide for his Bolz Bolz project, and his label World Electric, Andreas Bolz has long been at the forefront of the European electro and techno scenes. From early releases for such labels as Force Inc, Formic and Electrocord, to more recent works on Spelunk, Serotonin, Feis, and his own imprint, he has produced music that is both distinctive and funky, with emphasis towards sub bass frequencies, analogue tones and subtle use of sampling.

Now on nearly his 60th release, his success and productivity is undeniable – his own label World Electric has so far produced 15 records, and he has many more releases in the pipeline for both this and other labels.

We are very proud to present – Bolz Bolz

11th-hour When did you first come across electronic music?

Bolz Bolz This was in the early ‘80’s when I put my focus on selecting Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Popol Vuh, and all those early experimental pioneers of the European electronic scene.

11th-hour What was your musical background previous to that?

Bolz Bolz Previous to that I was a bass player in a jazz context.

11th-hour What music / artists have provided you with your most important influences?

Bolz Bolz In my case there are more than one kind of musical influences. In the beginning of my early productions in the early ’90’s, it was Kraftwerk and the US electro formation ‘Nucleus’ which gave me that ‘kick’ to invest my money in electronic equipment.

When I changed my musical style to electro I remembered my love of the early ‘80s and its heroes like Egyptian Lover, Arthur Baker, Hashim, Cybotron and many more. They are the real creators of electro and influenced me in developing new school electro that I released as Third Electric on my first co-owned label, Electrocord.

11th-hour When did you begin producing your own music, and how did your first releases come about?

Bolz Bolz 1991 I started collaborations together with Mike Inc, Bionaut and Rootpowder. A couple of years we released on several labels like Force Inc, Adam& Eve etc…

The first release as Bolz Bolz came out in 1997 on Detroit’s Ersatz Audio label.

That was the time when Adam Lee Miller from Ersatz Audio (as ‘Artificial Material’) and ‘Third Electric’ (my collaboration with Rootpowder), had a live tour throughout Germany.

The connectivity between Adam and me was the decisive factor to release on Ersatz.

11th-hour How and when did you set up your label, World Electric?

Bolz Bolz My plan was to found a label which showed new forms of electro. So I produced at first a couple of Bolz Bolz tracks without copying any existing electro styles of the past. It came out a more hard and danceable electro style with crunchy analogue sounds.

11th-hour Do you feel that the label has given you more freedom of expression within your sound, and was this a factor in its inception?

Bolz Bolz Definitely, because all tracks I produced at this time were a product of my independence.

I never thought about doing my music to sell lots of records, I always did it to enjoy myself and afterwards I hoped to communicate with the audience, to give them a part of feeling free.

11th-hour When you started releasing as Bolz Bolz, your style shifted noticeably from techno to electro – what drove you to begin producing electro, and do you still create any techno?

Bolz Bolz Well, it wasn’t strictly my plan to produce more and more electro, but I had a lot of fun doing that electro style. I own a lot of analogue gear, and it is always the single sound creations on my synthesizers which gave me feeling to work out an electro track or a techno track. But as you can hear on my second album “Human Race” I placed mostly 4/4 tracks, but with my typical electro sound lines. I would never say, from this moment I will only produce electro or techno or experimental - I am open-minded!

11th-hour Do you think electro is becoming more of a driving force (again) in the music scene throughout Europe, and does this have any influence on the records you write?

Bolz Bolz I think electro has been a part of the entire underground scene for years and is established. There are ups and downs - at the moment it is growing in Europe and worldwide and I enjoy this development a lot, and hope this gives many artists the motivation to keep on producing in that style. I will keep on releasing electro from international artists.

11th-hour What other artists are you involved in creating music with?

Bolz Bolz As you can see on World Electric releases there are artists from all over the world.

11th-hour What equipment do you use to produce your music, and do you think that this has an important effect on your sound overall?

Bolz Bolz Mostly I use analogue sound systems. To create a song without using an analogue gear is definitely not the same, like using computer systems only. For finding powerful basslines and drumlines I always use my analogue machines. For recordings, mastering and cuttings I use a G3 computer. My favorite synth companies are Oberheim, Sequential Circuit, Roland, Arp, Clavia…

11th-hour As well as producing, do you ever perform your music live?

Bolz Bolz Yes, but not very often because of the way I am producing. To perform live with analogue systems means to accept that you always break some of your gear, and secondly it’s hard to replace my whole studio for one live act a month. But currently I am working on developing a Bolz Bolz live set with more modern and solid gear like the MPC 2000 XL Sampler.

11th-hour Would you agree that the music scene in Germany (particularly electronic music) is far more open-minded than most other places in the world?

Bolz Bolz I don’t think so, maybe in the past when techno music was born in the early 90’s. But nowadays there are a huge amount of upcoming artists all over the world that uses all kinds of gear to create new variations on electronic music. And especially in the electro style I find the most innovative stuff in the UK and the USA.

11th-hour How well do you feel your music has been received, both at home and throughout the world?

Bolz Bolz That is something which should better answered by international DJs or press. So far as I know my style of music is played in techno and electro-related clubs and radio stations, although the Bolz Bolz style doesn’t fall easy in a category.

11th-hour Do you feel it is important for you to have your music released, to have it appreciated?

Bolz Bolz When I put out releases it isn’t my only goal, being appreciated. My prime reason is to transport that intense feeling I had during processing every single track. To release music is like a non-verbal exchange of communication.

11th-hour Does your music reflect the surroundings you are in, your life on the whole – do you feel that environment has an important effect on music in general?

Bolz Bolz It’s less the surroundings I am in, more what is happening in a global context that has an effect on my music. In some cases I like to transport a political message of what makes me nervous in the business or just an announcement, advice to humanity to be more tolerant to minorities. But mostly I am influenced by that what I am hearing in my personally surroundings. That can be people I talk to, nature noises I hear or sound that I create on my analogue gear.

11th-hour Why do you do it?

Bolz Bolz Making music is firstly for my very own pleasure. When I start producing a new track it is like setting my feet on a new continent I never have been to.

11th-hour What plans do you have for the future, for both yourself and your label?

Bolz Bolz Currently I am working on my next Bolz Bolz album, which will come out in the beginning of 2003. Further I want to collaborate with other artists like I did in the past with the Kitbuilders on WE 004 or WE 015. To develop my label World Electric to a higher level with more new international artists to create a community of new innovative open minded electro musicians is my major plan.

Many thanks to Andreas for taking the time out to speak with us….