
Interview answered by Adrian Honegger
georock-zine.com
GEOROCK: Well, the band was
formed in 2007. Can you give us a short bio of the
band and what you've done so far?
ADRIAN: That is correct.
The band with the name Sahara Rain was born in 2007 but before that, Dave,
Boet and Bo did
already play together under a different band name. The band as you hear
it today finally formed mid 2008 when Ricci,
Levent and I finally joined the group. The album was released on 30th
January this year. In February we were supposed to
go on tour in Germany with Michael Bormann - unfortunately we did only
one show since Michael broke a rib and all shows were
cancelled. We will continue with the Germany tour in October and we are
very much looking forward touring with MB again.
We have also started our pre-recording for the new album which we are
going to record in January 2010 and to be release in
the first quarter of the same year. We have written so far 7 new songs!
At the end of August we will do some more shows in Switzerland.
GEOROCK: Too many bands that
come from Switzerland are mostly krokus wannabes. I
didn't hear any krokus influences in your music, I would say that it's
mostly in the vein of German hard rock acts like
Jaded Heart/Frontline etc. Which are your influences really?
ADRIAN: good question -
in fact, we all had different influences and
different musicians we really like to listen to. There are interests from
Classic to Jazz to Rock.
But.... Thank you for mentioning that we do not sound like Krokus - I
really loved (and still do) the Metal Rendez-vous album.
We really try to do our own style of Rock which you will hear even more
in the next album.
GEOROCK: There was a Swedish band called Sahara Rain back in the
90's. Do you
happen to know this band? Have you ever listened to their music?
ADRIAN: I never did listen
to them. Do we know them?
Not sure, Bo might have a contact to them via the internet.
GEOROCK: Michael Bormann did the production for the album. Was
that one of the
reasons that the album sounds like Jaded Heart?
ADRIAN: Could be that you hear his influences. I really must
listen one day to Jaded Heart to hear what you mean.
One of the many reasons why we do the pre-production recordings is to
keep developing the Sahara Rain style of Music.
I am sure you will hear this in the new album. Michael has done a fantastic
job with producing our first album
"Sand in your hands". He really worked his heart into it.
GEOROCK: My favourite tracks from the album are Black Gold and
The man you are.
Which are your favourite one(s)? Which one(s) do you enjoy mostly performing
live?
ADRIAN: In our last rehearsal we all agreed that we love the
new songs more!
Maybe because they are much heavier and faster but it could also be because
we have been playing the songs
form Sand in your hands for so long now that they have become a bit of
routine for us. But to answer your question
I like "Higher Sky", "Shadow", "With these hands" and "Blinded Eyes".
"Feels like" and "Black Gold" are the once we open
the show with and they have a good drive and great emotions.
GEOROCK: The cover of the album is kind of weird. Are there any
hidden messages in it and if yes what does it symbolize?
I also noticed that the reflection of the title has two more words. What
does it say?
ADRIAN: Hm, hidden messages? Not sure - at least we did not
have this in mind.
We tried to combine images with the songs and we also wanted to have a
nice booklet to the CD that shows a lot of aspects
of how we feel about Sahara Rain. Regarding the 2 additional words I think
I know what you mean; the album is
called Sand in your hands and on top of that, in mirror writing, it says
"Feels like sand in your hands".
So the 2 words are FEELS and LIKE. That is what we also sing in the first
song Feels Like - Feels like sand in your hands.
GEOROCK: Did you release the album with personal expenses?
Didn't you have any contract offers?
ADRIAN: Yes, the album is a self release. We have been receiving
offers but so far we did not agree on anything.
We are in contact with a large distributor for the next album.
GEOROCK: The bio of each member is impressive and this is a great
start for a band.
How far do you think Sahara Rain will go? What do you want to achieve?
ADRIAN: We really take it
serious. We have clear goals that we want to achieve and as you correctly
mentioned,
all of us have been playing Music for over 20 years. With such great experience
we feel very secure on stage as well as
for the song writing. There is nothing worse when playing live if you
can not relay on the band! With Sahara Rain we can
relay on each of us.
GEOROCK: How are the reviews you've received so far?
Are you satisfied with the outcome?
ADRIAN: In fact we are amazed. The funny thing is that we feel
that we sound better live than on the album! For example
I am playing Shadow, Centre of pain and Higher Sky with a acoustic Guitar.
That sounds much different to the album.
We have also been approached by people after the first and second show
who did not believe that we never played live
(as Sahara Rain) before! That was a fantastic compliment and showed us,
that our experiences pay out.
No, we are all flattened by the success of the album - and that is worldwide.
We never expected this!
GEOROCK: You surely have your
personal dreams as musicians.
Are there any bands that you want to be like?
ADRIAN: Perhaps not "want
to be like" rather - want to be there where they are (hahah).
GEOROCK: Besides music, are
there any other things you enjoy doing as much as music?
ADRIAN: Yes, I like to build
RC Airplane models. However I almost lost one of my finger on the left
hand 3 years ago
when the propeller caught it! That gave me the fright of my life! Never
saw that much blood and in the first moment I
was not sure if it was still attached to the hand. I had to learn to move
the finger again and could not play for 4 months!
Fortunately I have recovered fully again but need to keep doing exercises.
GEOROCK: You recently agreed for some live shows in Switzerland.
Are you going to be headliners?
If not, who else is going to be with you?
ADRIAN: In all Swiss shows we will be doing headliner. I think
there will be other bands in one concert we are playing in the
City of Thun. But for the rest we will not be supported.
GEOROCK: How is the writing of new songs going? I read that you
have 7 new songs ready to be recorded.
When should we expect something new from Sahara Rain? Will the sound be
in the same direction as the debut?
ADRIAN: The new album will be released early 2010. We will
keep our oriental influences.
The new songs will be faster and harder. There will also be touching ballades.
All in all: Sahara Rain has a concept of
how we want to sound and that can be heard in the first album and the
albums to come.
GEOROCK: Say whatever you want to our readers and to anyone who
might be interested in Sahara Rain's music.
ADRIAN: Thank you for taking
your time reading this interview which I really enjoyed doing.
We thank you all for your support and interest in Sahara Rain.