Kuntz, Andy (Abydos, Vanden Plas) (November 2004)

Inside The Walls Of Abydos - An Interview With Andy Kuntz

Andy Kuntz is a busy man, splitting time between his main band, Vanden Plas, his new project Abydos, and performing in Jesus Christ Superstar. In late September, Joshua Turner spoke with the busy Kuntz about all these projects and more.

Joshua Turner: Hi, I was looking forward to talking with you.

Andy Kuntz: I'm sorry I'm a bit late. [Actually, he was not that late] I'm delayed, uh, I had so many interviews that, you know, I'm on the phone.

JT: Okay, that's fine with me. I actually have a number of questions for you, so we should probably get started right away. I'm wondering to begin with, are you involved in any tours or concerts at this time?

AK: Um, at the moment not. Uh, I'm working on... in rehearsal for Jesus Christ Superstar. In a theater in Kaiserslautern, which is close to the air base Ramstein. So you know this better, it is ten kilometers here from Kaiserslautern. We are on the southwest of Germany and yes, um, it took nearly, uh, another four weeks then we've got Obregia. After that, we concentrate on... to produce the new album with Vanden Plas, my band, and, uh, hopefully we are ready and to come over in spring or summer next year to the US.

JT: Okay, now you recently just came out with a brand new album called Abydos .

AK: Yes.

JT: But before we get into that I want to ask you a few questions about Vanden Plas just to get some history, and I've always been wondering how did you come up with that name, Vanden Plas?

AK: Huh. That was really funny, you know; we had these school bands, uh, it's looking for a name that fit and it's not so easy. We went over twenty years ago to Frankfurt and ... we saw the, um, a car from a real nice designer called Vanden Plas. He designed in these days cars from Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, and other noble cars, and made them a bit more sporty and a bit more powerful and, uh, we liked the name so much that we decided to take this name and fortunately nobody asked for rights never and I think now twenty years after that it will also not happen. [I laugh]

JT: That is funny. Now you also brought up the fact that you are going to be in rehearsal for a new album with Vanden Plas. Can you tell me what we can expect in terms of that album? What that's going to be like?

AK: Um, I think it's going to be, uh, you know ... my base since [the last] fifteen years is also theater. It goes hand in hand with the work of Vanden Plas and, uh, I like very much musicals... um, not the commercial-only. I like very much stuff like Jekyll and Hyde, so I'm also a bit influenced by these things. You can expect the next Vanden Plas will be in... [will be] much more powerful from the guitars, much more back to the basics from the drums. We want to have a... like a rehearsal room drum sound, which is definitely powerful, but we want to go back to the basics in this case and, uh, you can expect also plenty of old keyboard sounds. Basically very much in front would be the piano, cause this is ... is a trademark also for musicals to have, a... good hook line ... from the piano.

And then ... at the moment we are working on the idea from Alexander Dumas, Monte Cristo. I think nowadays this story is also very interesting and, um, yeah... I brought him up and I came up with new ideas for this band, [a] basic idea for a new storyboard, which is much more modern and, uh, fits very much with the present.

JT: Wow. That sounds pretty cool and I recently just saw that movie and it's, it's a great concept.

AK: Yeah, of course. We liked it very much. We want also to bring out a musical, which is not the same music which we will bring out as, uh, [the] regular Vanden Plas CD. It will be more classical, more pop, uh, sort of commercial, a part of the scene.

JT: Okay. Also I was wondering, you've put together a very great band with Vanden Plas. I was wondering how did you guys meet each other? How did you meet your band mates?

AK: [he laughs] Um, they met me. [he laughs some more] I started the band twenty one years ago with Andreas Lill, our drummer. He saw me with my band. These days I had a punk band, uh, being into old stuff with German lyrics and... I didn't like the music so much, so, I was looking for band and yeah, he asked me to join the band with him. In these days, the band called Exodus and, uh, not this band, which is where I am, so we had also ... and then we come back to your first question. We had to change the name, so we decided [on] Vanden Plas, you know now why as I told you, and then, uh, Stephan, the guitar player joined the band three years later. After that, after him, Günter Werno [keyboards] came in the band fifteen years ago and since thirteen years we are in the same line-up with Torsten Reichert [bass].

JT: Okay. So going back to what I was originally talking about, I brought up this new album Abydos and that's a real exciting album. It's got themes that flow very well, the transitions are really smooth, and it's also balanced between the metal and the ballads and I think it is just a great album. I was just hoping you could explain what the title to this album means, The Little Boys Heavy Mental Shadow Opera About The Inhabitants Of His Diary. [we both laugh] What does that mean?

AK: It's really, it was really a joke of mine and, uh, the record company liked the joke so much that we decided to use it. Um, the point was that it is a project, you know, a project that a few other musicians... and, uh, we thought about how should be the name. We decided Abydos, okay; then the record company came up and said, uh, [do] we have a subtitle or something else, and, uh, then no, we don't have a subtitle[. We] want to have, uh, the band name Abydos and we don't want to have the name of the album [as] Abydos, and so they say, ah, it's not possible to, to have a... to have a name for this CD is much better and, uh, I want to shock them, you know, and so I put in everything which is inside of, of the meaning and the vibrations in this album... I put in everything in words in a long, long sentence cause I knew exactly they won't say, ah, leave it, you can have it as you want, name it Abydos and, uh, yeah, they came up and say eh, that's great [I laugh], so we use it. I find it very funny, but in the end it fits also very well with the concept I tried to, uh, transmit these feelings of the seventies and... I think also in these days in the seventies they had longer titles. They had not so many conventions, um, not so many rules how to produce an album, how to produce songs, and how to name a band ... um, yeah, it was much easier in these days, so I like also this name in the end.

JT: Okay, speaking of names, the name of the band is Abydos. I think I have an idea of where that name came from, but I'd like to hear it from you. How did you come up with the name Abydos?

AK: Abydos is an old temple and, um, it's an old, how can I say? In Abydos, 3,200 years ago, this is a, nowadays, it's a temple in Egypt, yeah? And, uh, they produced the first mystery games and, so, uh, it is also named the cradle of theater and, um, yeah, it has a historical background and also a story and it's a very mystical place... I've heard about it. Never I went there, but I will go there definitely I hope next year if there is a chance... this has a really historical background that 3,200 years there started the first mystery games, which, um, you know, you have to see. They play theater in these days when somebody's getting murdered, they murder him really, so I found it a very good idea for basis of a story also I created, and it fits also very well with my background in the theater and I also like the name, so there were many, uh, compliments coming together to use the name as a band name.

JT: Okay. Also I was wondering, it's a very great concept album.

AK: Thanks a lot.

JT: But I'm just trying to understand what the album's about. There are a lot of ideas flowing through this entire album and can you explain to me what this album is about? What the concept might be?

AK: Um, it's a very broad concept, but I'll try. Okay, um, it's a parable about lost dreams, basically, and about lost fears, and about fears, about lost dreams and about fears, uh, we have odd fears in ourselves, everybody has that, and, uh, on one hand it is a fiction, on the other hand based on historical background as I told you, which goes back, um, to over 3,000 years to this old mystical temple called Abydos and, ... bare this in mind, [it's] fiction... Green, a demi-god, a demon and he was ... and this is also fiction... in these days the first director of the oldest mystery games there, and mystery games as I said is the cradle of the source of theater, and, uh, with this medium he wants to start a holocaust in these days. Then a mighty sorcerer came up and damned him into Carthage and now, in my story, he tries to climb over the collective brain of mankind, um, through like the backside of our dreams into the reality and he must come over Fly. Fly is a little boy, he's a dreamer and, um, he, um, he lost his father as [did I], that's, um, also the biographical part and during these days he lost his father, he gets [a] very great gift. He could hear from this day on, um, everything in the world. Every tree, every ... the oscillation of the wind and he composes songs out of these tunes he heard and, um, these tunes, these melodies, are like a big protection shield against Green, trying to come out of, um, of this, um, this banishment. Fly's got also some helpers against Green, this demon, and, uh, this is, these are Strida, Llit, an extraterrestrial, Captain Bird is his name, and we also have a mystical narrator called Mito and you never know exactly if he is on the side of Fly or if he plays a double-game and wants to help this demon. So this other dimension, as I told you, in this story is an autobiographical element as I told you. I find this kind of mixture very explorative and interesting.

So, it's only that you've got a small idea of that, that it's based also on a theater piece I, during... I wrote the lyrics, I wrote for myself cause I find it very hard to express myself only in five minutes of the song, so I created myself plenty of subtext, um, beyond this story, so then I created out of this, out of a diary that I wrote after my father died. It's getting in the mixture, I created a dialogue and for the end I had a theater piece and after the theater piece was ready I saw, oh my god, the characters are changing a bit, so I have to find a solution and, uh, overlook the lyrics I already did. So, in the end, everything goes like a circle hand in hand.

JT: That helps a little bit. I'm also wondering who did you actually bring in to make this album. What guests helped you put this album together?

AK: Plenty of people. I must say the biggest part is on Stefan Glass who played nearly every instrument. He's a multi-instrumentalist and, uh, Michael Krauss, who came with the basic ideas three and a half years ago and introduced something like that. In the end it changed, it was not meant, uh, in the very beginning as a solo project for just for me. They came up with the demo. I liked it very much. I wanted to work with them, the record company they didn't like it, but I decided to work with the guys together, so, um, we recorded everything and put it in the end, uh, after we rearranged everything and to write new parts, wrote new melody lines. We put it in the end as a puzzle together and in the end we had on my solo album and these are the guys, which were working with me together the closest, Michael and Stefan. Also, for the base I needed a very good drummer. I took Andy, cause he did my, he did for me, he made me a special price for that and, um, then we decided to use also real orchestra music, so we put it together, a bass section and a string section, which was not that big and good friend of us to play the basics with real instruments and then we took a big orchestra library to fill up everything and it's not that expensive as to pay a whole orchestra, so that also together with two female voices, very nice and good friends of mine. You can hear in the end, Charlotte Baumann in the last song, uh, around 8 minutes 20, I think. She came up with a real nice ad-lib line, and, uh, we've got a big choir with us. The oldest choir in church music, they sung four, uh, four songs for us.

JT: I'm also looking at the titles to some of these tracks and they're very interesting names, but one of them pops out and it's "Green's Guidance For A Strategy Adventure Game." What does that mean?

AK: They're, you know, Green tries to, as I told you, tries to come. This is a demon and he tries to come out of his, um, of this banishment over the collective brain of mankind. He settles down in the brain of a guy from Sony whose creating the new Playstation 5 [I laugh] and, uh, over this game, he tries to come into our present, into our reality and, um, he's speaking ... about in this intro for "Wildflowersky," he's speaking, uh, what's going on, like when you put in a play disc maybe in the PS5, you also in the very beginning listen to how everything is working and, uh, who are the characters and so on. This is Green's guidance, sort of special strategy adventure game where he has the chance to come out in the present.

JT: Okay. So with Abydos, I mean, I really enjoyed the music. I just wanted to ask, is this something that fans can expect to hear in a live format at any point?

AK: Um, that could be... on stage on tour, it could be a problem. We know exactly that at the moment, the market is very, very worse, so, um, we know exactly we have to sell plenty of copies... that it makes sense for the record companies to, uh, bring up on tour.

As I told already, I wrote also theater piece and of course it makes sense, uh, plenty of directors, uh, basically three directors of big theaters are very interested in the story, also in the music and now they, um, so also the critics came up here in Germany, which are very, very good and, uh, they are interested to, to put it on stage in the theater and I think that makes also sense cause the characters they, uh, I don't know if you saw also the booklet, which is created from Li-wen Kuo. I sat with her and created all the characters I had in my head, uh, how to they had to look, and I think to put it on stage you have also to have these characters and also with these costumes and ... I think it would fit very well to the theater, so if I can sell it to a theater that would make a lot of sense.

JT: Are there any plans to tour or do any concerts in the near future with Vanden Plas?

AK: Of course, after the rehearsal is going to end with Jesus Christ Superstar, we have premier the 16th of October, we concentrate on that what I've said already, the new CD Vanden Plas. I think we want to book the studio at the beginning of next year and, uh, the new CD should come out May 2005. After that, we hopefully go more on tour. That makes sense now.

JT: Now just listening to your music, it is quite apparent that you have quite a range of talent and ideas and I just want to ask you, who would you say are your musical influences? Where do all these thoughts and ideas and influences come from?

AK: I think my influences, you never know exactly, but I think my influences come from the seventies, these songs of the seventies. I like the ... the way of thinking of the artists in these days, um, they have no, um, conventions, not, no, um, there were no... in radio, they have no, uh, problems to, to bring out the song for about seven, eight minutes. It could be in these days. I like the spirit, I like the spirit very much of these days, so I think my basic, um, group, you know, like bands like Styx, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Yes, and, um, when you listen closely to, to the albums, I think everybody can hear it. Sometimes we, we ... show them also very, very open, you know and, um, yeah, I like this music the most I think from the seventies.

JT: I'm also wondering, along the same lines, how do you actually go about writing your music. Could you explain to me what your songwriting process is like?

AK: Um, that's very different. The basic lines came, um, from Abydos from Stephan and from Michael,... the basic music also... and I finish stuff 'cause, uh, I'm much more a producer and I've got good ideas. I've got good melody hooks in my head and I know how to arrange, uh, somehow, so when somebody comes with a good basic idea of a song, I see pretty well if this song is worth to work on and, um, yeah, I'm more ... I think care about the finer things. We, we write songs, like maybe fifteen, we decide these ten songs are good. Very often I decide, uh, these songs are good and then we sit together and work ...yeah, the finer things and, uh, make it worth... to listen to the song in the end. That's, uh, and... if I find there's not really strong hook then I, I've got pretty much ideas to write also... hook lines and... For example, Abydos, uh, the song "Abydos" was not ready, you know. Uh, if you can remember maybe the song it's like in three pieces. It starts very, uh, orchestral and then it goes back to, to basic, you hear only a piano and it starts up and, and builds up again and in the end, you hear three flutes and when I heard, the song was written [in] like two minutes. The first two minutes were written and that was it. It was only like meant like an intro and I decided this could be a very strong song with, with a nice... if we have another riff in the end, so I composed the riff and in the end also these lines with the flute... that makes sense for me to work... to work like that.

JT: Okay, and when exactly did your involvement with music begin? How did you get into music and when did it start?

AK: I started like 25 years [ago] in a school band and I was working these days as a mowing machine technician. [he laughs] That was not really that what I, uh, wanted to do in the future and I decided to, um... a little after that I decided to, to [leave] this kind of job, I brought it to the end of it then. Then I started to, um, [work] in a bar as a cocktailer and this was a scene for, for theater people and I met a lot of theater people there, and, they asked me what I'm doing besides my job there and I say that I'm a singer in a band and a few of them asked me if they wanted to see a concert and, uh, I invited them, so one, one of them was the director of the theater. I didn't know that in these days and he asked me to, to play a small role, 15 years ago in the Rocky Horror Show, yeah? And then everything goes hand in hand. I have a big success and, uh, the roles getting bigger and bigger, so that, that was my theater thing and uh, besides that, uh Vanden Plas grows up and during Vanden Plas growing up and getting well-known all over the world, it was great for the theater in the end to take also the band, uh, and to play maybe Jesus Christ or, uh, Rocky Horror Show or Evita, so also the guys, uh, had the chance to, to join the theater. So in the end everything was hysterical and, uh, yeah, went hand in hand.

JT: Great. And how did you actually decide that you wanted to become a singer over, like, playing an instrument or something else?

All I wanted to be was a guitar player, but, uh, I have kind of stiff fingers and not really straight and, someday a guy showed up and said, uh, come on please leave the guitar playing. You're not fast enough. You don't play that good. I had good ideas for melodies, but, uh, I, it was really, it is a problem with my fingers and so, um, I did in these days background and, uh, we had two singers 25 years ago and then this guy said, hey, try, try to sing ... uh, try learning to sing and... I worked on my stuff, 'cause I was infected of this, uh, of this media music and ... I decided to be a singer then.

JT: And just to get an idea of your current musical tastes, what was the last CD that you purchased?

AK: Um, the last CD... the new Sting... um, I don't know the name, yeah? But definitely the last Sting album.

JT: Is that Sacred Love?

AK: Yup, exactly.

JT: I've got that one, too, and I like it a lot.

AK: I like it so much. I bought also the book Broken Music and it's very nice. [He's] a very deep man, I think.

JT: I've got that book as well. I just haven't gotten around to reading it. Maybe I should.

AK: It is very, very good, really. He's a very good writer also. Not just a good musician. Unbelievable. You have to read it. Find the time.

JT: I will... Now along the same lines, what's the last concert that you attended as a fan?

AK: Oh, ... good question, good question. Hmm. I'm too often in concerts and big festivals, so of course sometimes I'm also there and a band is playing, uh, and I'm a fan of this band, but, um, only to go to a concert because I wanted to see a band, that is nearly two, three years ago. I think Spock's Beard.

JT: Oh, really.

AK: Yeah, yeah. I think Spock's Beard, but it's three, three years ago, but you know after all we, we are playing so often you know, um, theater, with the band, festivals and, uh, I think, oh, more than 120 dates per year. So, when you've got free, you're writing on, on new stuff and, um, you don't... if it's not really close to, to the town, I don't drive, uh, too far to see a band 'cause I saw nearly every band in my life I ever want to see, but, uh, I was very interested in Spock's Beard. Two or three years ago I went there and I saw them and, uh, this was great, great concert.

JT: Okay. Now this is kind of a quirky question, but I'm wondering if you can recall any Spinal Tap moments during your tours or just along the way of creating music, if you can remember anytime that you had a Spinal Tap moment.

AK: [he pauses] Yes. [he laughs] Yeah, one thing I'm not sure about if I can tell it really, but, uh, a very funny thing. You know the band Tankard?

JT: Yeah

AK: This is a thing... um... it's very.... um... okay I'll tell it. We played two years [ago]... we played a concert with them, in Germany, Balingen Bang Your Head festival, and after that we were in the same hotel, um, and... we went to sleep in the morning, four, five o' clock very drunk and then there was only one room open and, uh, the singer of Tankard was sleeping there and ... while he was sleeping, I think he was also pretty drunk, uh, we made some funny photos of him.

JT: Oh wow.

AK: [he is laughing] And, uh, he never saw the photos, but, uh, I think someday, maybe he reads your article and, uh, he asks me about the photos, I will send them.

JT: Okay, I also have a few favorites that I'd like to ask. I'd like to start with, what would you say is your favorite band?

AK: My favorite band is... mmm, I must say cause it's, it's, of course, it must be a band, it must be a progressive rock band and, uh, the best album ever made in progressive rock is, uh, Images And Words, so I must say Dream Theater.

JT: Okay, so you'd also say your favorite album is Images And Words?

AK: Yeah, of course. The best album ever made. Yeah, exceptional.

JT: So it makes that easy. Just to talk about some non-music-related favorites, what would you say is your favorite movie?

AK: Um, my favorite movie is Gladiator.

JT: And what would you say is your favorite book?

AK: I told you already, Broken Music from Sting.

JT: Yeah, usually people have a hard time coming up with their answers, but you're very decisive on these... And then the quirkiest question of all and I like to ask it because it helps me identify with the artist. Do you have any pets?

AK: Uh, no. I don't have the time, um, and... you don't, you mean not an animal, you meant, you mean, not, uh, real pet, not an animal? What you mean with pets?

JT: Yeah, a pet, an animal like a dog or a cat.

AK: Ah, sure, not a toy?

JT: No. [I laugh]

AK: Good, okay, yeah, 'cause we say also pet for toy, you know, for petting toy.

JT: Oh.

AK: I don't mean sexual stuff.

JT: Oh man!

AK: Like a dog, but not really. No I don't have the time, that's the point, and not the place. Unfortunately, I like very much cats and also dogs.

JT: Okay. That just helps me identify with the artist cause I think that says a lot about a person. You know, also it seems nowadays artists don't have the time, but they do have an interest and that seems to be the common thread.

AK: It is really if you have a pet or you want to have a pet, you have to have also the time and you have to realize that you have to take care, you know, about... about a dog and, um, if you know exactly that you're over the... hundred days away from home who should take care about him? It's a pity ... I like it very much. I would, uh, I would have a pet and, uh, maybe, yeah, when I don't make music.

JT: Okay, and that's basically all the questions that I have, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to say whatever you like to your fans at this time. Is there anything you'd like to say to them?

AK: Yeah, two things... Uh, our keyboard player, he was on ProgPower V um... two weeks ago and he told me about it [and said] that it was great. He played for Kamelot and... we, uh, we talked about our memories of the States. We went with a new CD, we come straight head over to the States and played there. I want to say thanks to our fans over there and, uh, the other thing is, uh, is about the concert and the parable of this album Abydos. It's about visions and I think we should find a way back to our hopes and dreams that we lost in our childhood and I think this album can help a bit.

JT: Yeah, that's a great theme. I just want to say that you've put out some very great music. Abydos is an outstanding album. I'm also looking forward to, I'm getting excited about this Vanden Plas album that you're talking about, too. So, I look forward to hearing that and just good luck in the recording studio and just good luck on your future tours.

AK: Thank you very much.

JT: Yeah, and I hope to see you at some point.

AK: I must say something; I mean, maybe you hear it. I'm very tired, you know, I rehearsed six hours and, uh, this is my sixth, um, interview. Not that you think that I'm bored. I wanted to say that clearly.

JT: Oh no, I didn't get that impression.

AK: At the moment, it is really hard to concentrate. I think you can hear it maybe in the interview and I just want to make it clear that, uh, why it is.

JT: Okay.

Performances of Jesus Christ Superstar run on various dates between November 7 and December 30, 2004.

Discography:
Abydos: The Little Boy's Heavy Metal Shadow Opera About The Inhabitants Of His Diary (2004)