FAULT FEATURED

The fusion of a classic piano, keyboard, drums and guitar set-up with two equally fine vocalists with exceptionally soulful “womanizer” voices is New Concept’s trademark. The result is electronic pop that’s going somewhere.

FAULT: What’s the story behind new concept?

.
We’re actually glad you put the question like that: We’re often asked why we’re called “new concept.” But let’s start with a quick rundown of who we are: “new concept.”. Style: Electro pop. Members: Oliver Keil, vocals, guitar. Uwe Loos, vocals. Marcel Gläser, keyboards. Been around since: 2000. LPs: “The Outer Gates”, “Wheel of love” and the EP “Stomp!”. Homebase: Chemnitz, Germany. Labels: “Strange Ways Records”/”Indigo” and “Esox Music”/”ALIVE! AG”. Once celebrated as a top underground and indie newcomer and signed to the king of indie labels in Germany, “Strange Ways Records” (“Wolfsheim”, “De/vision”), the band’s now following its own musical path. And now to the original question: when they hear our name, many people who don’t know us imagine that we’re a raw-food eating, experimentalist group of aesthetes in sandals trying to redefine music. The reality is that we try to use interesting (perhaps never heard before) sounds and combine electro pop with different styles. Nonetheless, accessibility and pop appeal are always top of the agenda! “Hmm, bands like that are ten a penny”, some of you will be thinking. But “new concept.” is also unique in that it has two equally represented singers, both with fantastic three octave voices. You could describe us better like this: the “Bee Gees” with two Barry Gibbs, but more modern, more electronic and not quite so annoying as those Australians.But that still hasn’t answered the original question has it. We don’t like talking about it but back in the very beginning we called ourselves “No Concept” – that was a really stupid band name…

.

FAULT: What’s the creative process when writing new material? Is it a collaborative effort?

.

In electronic music you have completely different approaches to composing. To be honest, it’s quite a lonely process for “new concept.”: there’s not just one creative mind, all the band members are songwriters. Each of us records our ideas and demos at home first of all, or even produces them to quite a high standard so that we only have to do the fine tuning in the studio. But that’s more the exception than the rule. It often happens that we completely rearrange songs once we get in the studio and add new harmonies and melodies. Everyone plays their part and helps create something completely different to the original idea. But there are also songs that have come out of jam sessions in our band room, such as “The greatest Lifetime” on the “Wheel of love” LP. Writing songs is not a problem for us, it takes much more time for us to get everything right, meaning that ultimately each individual’s ideas and input can be heard in the final product. We like it when electronic music sounds alive, when you’ve managed to bring the machine to life. Nothing is more tedious than artificial thumping beats.

.

FAULT: How do you prepare yourself before a live show?

.

To be honest we find playing live really stupid! There’s something clown-like about it. How bad has a person’s self-esteem got to be if they have to put themselves at the centre of a crowd and motivate the audience to think they’re great. If you want to understand what we mean by that exactly, just take a live concert and turn off the music…
For us it’s all about the process of creating music, that’s what we enjoy.
Nonetheless we had a phase where we also played live, we can remember how we rehearsed a lot of course, the tension right before the gig was at its highest though, as soon as we got on stage it was all relaxed and easy. We know of artists however for whom the tension before the show is so bad that they often have to vomit…

FAULT: Do you have a creative input when it comes to press shots?

.

Quite the opposite! The more we’re at the centre of attention the harder it is for us to write music. We believe a lot of artists feel that way – they don’t take themselves off to the middle of nowhere for nothing when they’re trying to make a new album in peace.
We also tried to document the process of creating a song once, from the first idea to the final master, but even that didn’t work. But then it didn’t work for the Beatles either.

FAULT: What is the most challenging aspect of being a musician?
.
A professional Tour de France cyclist who ended up trailing behind at the back of the field was once asked by a reporter if was hard doing the tour for three weeks. He basically replied that it depended on whether one wanted to win or not. And it’s kind of the same for a musician. It depends on what the goal is. In music you unfortunately have to make a distinction between commercial and musical success. If you want the former, the challenge is that you have to decide between what you would like to do musically and what is likely to sell better. Only a very few bands and musicians are that lucky that their listeners will eat out of the palm of their hands. If the commercial aspect doesn’t matter, the challenge is only to please yourself and we much prefer that.