April: How, where and when did Sylvan get started?
Marco: Everything started in the year 1990 when guitarist
Kay Söhl and the two keyboarders Volker Söhl and Matthias Harder founded
a band called 'Temporal Temptation'. Since Matthias had some experience playing
the drums he agreed to take over the drums. The music of those times didn't
have much in common with Sylvan today. Most of the songs had German lyrics and
only the instrumental parts of some of the longer pieces might have displayed
a development towards ProgressiveRock.
Volker: In fall 1990 we changed our name to 'Chamäleon'. In the
following years the music developed further. The compositions became more complex
and solos became longer. The songs that were composed between 1992 and 1994
had a gloomy and aggressive tonality and we where very different from the more
rocky sounds of the previous years. In winter 1995 Marco Glühmann joined
the band.
1997 we changed our name from 'Chamäleon' to Sylvan.
During the preparation of our new album in Summer'99 Patrick Münster -
our former bass player - left the band in order to fulfil his own projects.
Spring 2000 brought another change, when bassist Sebastian Harnack officially
joined the band and completed the current line-up.
April:. From where did the name of the band come?
Marco: Sylvan has its roots in the Latin word 'silva', which means
nothing more than forest! 'Sylvan' is an English word and refers to the roman
god 'Silvanus' - the god of the forest, hunting and some other domains.
April: What bands and artists influenced each of you growing
up?
Sebastian: Of course there have been many musical influences in my
life. But I can tell you that, before I started playing the bass, there have
not been any bass players that influenced me to do so. This was a decision I
made due to the fact that my first band had yet needed a bass player. But let
us get back to those influences. One of my favourite bass players and songwriters
is Sting. I’ve always been a huge fan of The Police and of him. 
April: What about now? Who are you listening to these days?
Sebastian: I do adore Dream Theater! And their side project Liquid
Tension Experiment. I am so fascinated about the speed and the exactness regarding
the complexity of the songs. And, well, there are a few pop songs on the radio
that I like as well. But only a few... There is a local radio station here that
only plays 70s and 80s rock classics. Such as Alice Cooper’s “Poison”,
which is on the air at the moment, by the way. I know that all the other band
members hate me liking that 80s rock - but I do. I also have to mention Marcus
Miller, whose bass playing is really extraordinary.
April: What changes can we expect in “Xrayed”
since “Artificial Paradise”? How are they different? How are they
the same?
Sebastian: Actually I love the sound of „X-RAYED“very much.
It’s a very strong production; I would even say the production of “X-RAYED”
is yet better than the one from “Artificial Paradise”. I think the
sound itself is more powerful. But it also has this very emotional touch with
a melancholic effect. And there are two songs played with fretless bass, which
is of course a big difference to “Artificial Paradise”. And even
though it’s not composed as a concept album, it has this completeness
to it.
April: Most of Sylvan’s albums are 1-2 years apart.
How does an album for Sylvan usually start, progress, and end over that time
span?
Volker: The composing work usually starts quite late. This is due to
the fact, that - first of all - the current album has to be promoted, which
means that we play many live gigs and thus, in the first year after an album
has been published, usually do not have the time to start new musical projects
at all. After that year, we begin to develop new ideas. The “hot phase”
of composing and arranging starts about half a year before we go to the studio.
At the studio, we complete the whole thing within approximately 4-6 weeks. Then
it takes about 2-3 more months until publication.
April: Does the band’s creative process follow a certain
route, or does it change from CD to CD, or even from song to song?
Volker: Actually there is a kind of “over-all agreement”
for each new CD, which roughly deals with the style we choose or a certain atmosphere
we would like to create. This “over-all concept”, if you want to
call it that, changes from CD to CD. Single songs are then being - more or less
- subordinated to that concept.
Marco: The creative process ranges between spontaneous sessions and
more complex arrangements by a single musician himself. This depends on the
songs. But the characteristic and the details of a song are always created together.
Take for example ‘So much more’ or ‘Today’ – these
songs were created during a jamming session in Denmark just one month before
we went to the studio. ‘Given-used-forgotten’, as it is much more
complex, took a longer time to develop.
April: The English is quite good in Sylvan’s vocals.
Is English your native language?
Sebastian: This is quite an interesting question to ask a German
band that lives in Hamburg, Germany. Of course our native language isn’t
English... it’s Zimbabwe. ;-) Marco: As I am the singer
I first have to thank you for that statement – no, English is not my native
language. But I feel quite comfortable in arguing or expressing myself in this
language.
April: Most of the songs on “Artificial Paradise”
are about human emotions. Is there a thread that runs through “X-rayed”
as well?
Marco: ‘X-rayed’ takes the same thread as ‘Artificial
Paradise’ did before, but looks at it at a different angle. The lyrics
in ‘AP’ where more a view on society, with the different individual
characters in it – hidden and blurred behind our superficiality. The songs
on ‘X-rayed’ are more personal and describe emotionality in a different
way; it’s about people reacting or responding to some situation in a different
way. Expressing their emotions, their sadness, their emptiness or their loss
quite individually. It’s about the force – either negative or positive
– and the gift of emotions in our life.
April: Does Sylvan tour a lot? Have you ever played outside
Europe?
Sebastian: Oh yes, of course. We’ve had a lot of European
concerts. We played twice in France, travelled to Sweden, to Holland, the UK
etc. We even flew over the ocean to perform in Mexico. I love being on tour.
I love playing live gigs.
After our big CD release party in our hometown Hamburg, we start our “X-RAYED”
tour in Germany and I’m very much looking forward to those two weeks.
There is going to be a second part of the tour in autumn. And we are going to
play at festivals, of course.
April: What’s the largest audience you’ve played
to so far?
Marco: That must have been those almost 1,000 people at “Baja
Prog” in Mexico. And it’s followed by the “Eclipsed-Festival”
in Aschaffenburg, Germany, with 850 people. We played together with Porcupine
Tree that night.
April: Do you ever collaborate with other bands? Who would
you most like to write with, and/or tour with?
Marco: Collaborating with other bands is a bit difficult concerning
writing songs together, because all the bands we know are just doing their own
thing. But of course we do play concerts together with other bands. When we’re
invited by another band somewhere around Europe, it’s almost common to
invite them to our hometown in return. I would love to tour with a well-known
band like Spock’s Beard or even DT. And in my opinion there also lies
a big chance in playing with such great bands. For example at that festival
together with Porcupine Tree, many people loved our performance, even though
they hadn’t known us before. Playing with a well-known band gives you
as a band the chance to grow bigger yourself.
April: Finally where can fans buy your CDs, in or out of
Germany?
Marco: We are working together with Point-music in Germany,
Switzerland and Austria, but have many different distributors around the world.
In the States you can get our CD for example at www.pendragonusa.com
Sebastian: But if you’re not able to order our CDs in your record-shop,
just write to shop@sylvan.de
Sylvan's new CD is entitled X-Rayed and is available at http://sylvan.de
We would like to thank Nicole for setting it up and Marco Gluehmann, Sebastian Harnack, Volker Soehl for taking the time out to interview with us as they prepared for the release of their new CD X-Rayed.