Exclusive interview with Berlin based band Bonaparte
Bonaparte: The Madness Circus is
here.
Exclusive interview with Berlin based band
Bonaparte
By Betina Brandi
I had one of those days when I wondered which band could be like my soulmate? Well, wohoo, Bonaparte is my answer, it has a frenetic lovely sound mixed with a circus, urban and party lyrics.
Thanks to my friends in Berlin (of course Germany) Ana and Christophe I heard this band. The first single I heard was Anti Anti, and immediately fell in love, because the sound is so sincere and full of beats, its almost what I have in my mind, its almost how we talk in ordinary life in a fantasy of a circus.
When I decided to make the interview I felt like teenager, all excited and speaking fast, you know how you feel in that kind of situation. I asked the Emperador for the interview and the Emperador Bonaparte so glorious and glowing accepted this interview, yes people, I almost scream but I swallow and my chest started to hurt, but anyways I want to introduce to Monsieur Bonaparte.
Hallo, Monseiur, thank you so much for the interview it is a big honor for me, like it is a big honor to introduce you all your fellow fans from North America, and the new ones that are going to join.
When did it start the madness of BONAPARTE, who was the big head who made the concept?
That was in summer of 2006 and ah, of course that was El Emperador, the emperor, the mighty dictator of endless joy and fun: Me! Bonaparte! there wasn’t so much of a concept though, it was much more intuitive. Or if you want, the concept was to let things happen, to let yourself go and to create something that was full of energy, something powerful and sensual at the same time.
Why the name BONAPARTE is linked with Napoleon?
Obviously this is a question we’ve been asked many times before. But to be honest, I really don’t remember… somebody somewhere said “Ah! A little Napoleon!” and then when i was driving around Europe in 2006 in my little red 60ies rally car writing these songs that were sort of new and different it just turned out to be the “BONAPARTE” period. I got a first gig offer in September 2006 from Berlin and i said “yes!” but didn’t know what my band would be called so i just said “write down BONAPARTE!”. I guess that was it. Something like that. In the end, it’s just a name. A few months after when touring New Zealand I found out that there was a double meaning to it “boner party”… ah… and then i was stupid enough to call the first album “too much”! Haha.
How many members are in the band, what do they do? I know everyone is from different places of the world, how did you meet? and when did they decide to make the band? How long have you all known each other?
Guess there are different levels. There is a hard core of people that are with us most of the time or working at the homebase in Berlin, and then there is a vast group of friends and artists that join us for certain shows or recordings. Basically I am the one who never misses a show. I write and record the music in the studio and I swing my whip to make everything else happen. My brother designs all the artwork for CDs and t-shirts. Then there are the musicians who play with us live. They change from time to time, but the one who’s been with me for most of the shows is Carlos from Mexico. Then there are dancers, the hard core of them are called “the diva squad”, and then there are many others that we pick up along the way or that we lose along the way.
What genre of music do you consider your work to be?
Difficult to say as I tend to draw from everything I hear around me and everything I make up in my head, I try to steal all the best things I find and mix them up into something new. Terms I have read when people wrote about my music are “attention deficit disorder music” other “electro-trash-punk”. You can say there is an energy from punk, a song form from pop, a beat from swing, a rhythm from techno, a craziness from novelty, a freedom from jazz and the fun of folk music. You can say many things but I’d rather see you dance now.
What inspired you to make music together?
Some people are born to water plants, others to make yummi burritos and yet other ones to bang on drums and pluck guitar strings. It is what we do. It is who we express what we cannot express otherwise. It is the playground where our characters can manifest, where we can push our boundaries, where we can communicate. The music is just the sport or language or whatever you may call it that we chose. But the inspiration is much global. Inspiration comes from everything. Inspiration is hidden in time, in every day, every time you meet someone, you read, hear, see something. The interesting thing is to process these things into songs. First songs for the recording, and then songs for the stage. That are again two different stories. Once a song is released on an album, you have to dismantle it and reconstruct it and find its live energy, who to play it with a 4 piece band.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?
I write the songs. To me songwriting is a very important but pretty solitary process, as opposed to playing music in a band, which is a group process. But I am extremely passionate about writing songs. It is my first love next to certain moments live on stage. I like to lock myself up in the studio and write the lyrics, drum beats, bass-lines, guitar-licks, little pieces of information, little melodies and hooks, then repeat them, stack them, intertwined them until they become cute little musical monsters and develop the energy I was after in the first place. It’s like a boy messing around with tons of blocks of wood trying to build a castle. I am always after a certain feeling, an expression, an energy. Of course, the topics do change over time. I change as a person, my surroundings change and so do the things I write about, the things I love and the things I criticize. I try to keep the Bonaparte songs both funny yet pointing out certain things, criticizing something yet creating a comic situation. Some people refer to the lyrics as being Dada, of course being Swiss myself I love the Dada movement but I never really thought of Bonaparte lyrics as being Dada, i think they are actually very specific.
Now that the second album named “ My Horse like you” is coming out what can you tell us about the album?Could you briefly describe the music-making process? What´s the differences of the last album with this one? What the name of the single of the album?
The first album basically was a collection of my early demos of Bonaparte, the songs I recorded in my old factory floor in Kreuzberg, Berlin. We packaged the first few hundred CDs ourselves, then eventually we released it on CD and vinyl on a small German label. On the first album I mainly used a few sounds to create most of the songs, while on the new record I incorporated a broader variety of sounds. It was still based around a fender jazzmaster guitar from the sixties, a korg MS20 from the 80ies along with some other analog keyboards and a drum machine. But this time I knew I was actually making an album. So I recorded some live music that I chopped up at home. So you can find lots of live-drums being smuggled in there and of course a baroque orchestra for the opening overture and some more animals making sounds in between. And still a lot of distortion. And both albums were recorded at home, so I guess they are connected in some ways yes. The first single in Germany was “computer in love” and the second one was “boycott everything”, but a single doesn’t really means anything, it is just the song that radios might play on air, but I never think it makes these songs in any way superior to all the other songs on an album.
Who created the cover album design?
I love that question. I don’t think anybody has every asked me about the artwork design of BONAPARTE. Well, that is my brother. The great Cannonman. He also dances on stage, the guy with the moustache and the helmet. He’s a great art designer, I really love his work and i think it plays an important role in Bonaparte. I couldn’t really imagine anyone else doing it for us. We actually also spend a lot of time and love creating the artworks, creating record covers is one of the greatest things to do after the music is in the can.
Who made the costumes? They are so ridiculous Georges but away Monsieur Bonaparte i want bite your wolf ear. (sorry, that’s can be my erotic dream). Can i do it one day of this if i come to see you in a concert? Sure I will do!
Well, you can certainly try to bite the wolf’s ear. But don’t forget, it is a wolf you are messing with. (Betina: sounds naughty) the costumes have many different backgrounds. Some we make ourselves, some we design with people and friends in Berlin, some we steal in far away places, some we buy and sometimes people even send us things or make stuff for us. I love to go dig in cellars, on attics and on markets when traveling to discover old garments. Then something gets lost or its stolen and we have to come up with something new again. Sometimes we also come up with some items that we sell in our online store www.etrapanob.com, like the hoodies with the ears or the circus shirts and animal hats.
Where have you performed? Do you have any upcoming shows? Do You have upcoming shows in Latin America ?
Have many upcoming shows. We play as often as we somehow can. if possible over 100 shows a year. Maybe one year we can play 900 shows, one in the morning, one for lunch and one for dinner – every day. hui! Anyway, you can always find de dates on www.bonaparte.cc
What’s the ultimate direction for your band? Do you want made a big circus with all the fans and making dance with Bonaparte music? Or just want fame and fortune?
Of course we just want to become incredibly rich and then stop making music forever and buy lots of cattle and start the Bonaparte farm in Argentina, haha. I don’t think there is any ultimate direction, things just go on. You can only stay flexible, try out new things, keep the ship on the water. Everything must change and we slowly morph along. Maybe one day we say it is enough and we start something completely different, for now we just do what feels right. To develop new music, find new angles to do things, write more songs, travel new countries play more shows. It would be great to be traveling like a real nostalgic circus one day though. Who knows what we do next…
Where we can listen the new single of Bonaparte? Do you have a website with sample of the new album or old one, For the Computer lovers, do you have some follow stuff, like twitter or facebook where people can be in touch with the band?
Of course, people can follow us on www.myspace.com/bonaparte or www.facebook.com/bonaparte or twitter as well www.twitter.com/etrapanob. And for the old-school people we have some sort of website too: www.bonaparte.cc it is pretty easy to follow us actually. there are millions of videos online, I have no idea where they all come from but there seems to be a youtube video of every show we ever played. Kind of scary actually, sometimes one can believe that people film more of the show on their mobile devices than they actually see while they are there. Whenever I can I try to grab the mobile phones of the people in the first row with my mouth and pretend to eat it. That leaves them shocked for a minute, but instead of becoming Cyclopes people have three eyes nowadays. The good thing about Bonaparte is, people have to dance so hard and so much, they are quite busy during the whole show.
Any last words?
We hope to be visiting Canada and South America very soon! Invite us! We will come. And don’t forget, a horse without a jockey is still a horse, but a jockey without a horse is only a man. Oyé! Bonaparte made it in Europe; create in Berlin, with the eccentric madness and a circus who follow him to everywhere he goes. Is now in tour, so people who is in Europe and want to be a part of the craziness of a great band. Do it for your soul, go and go to see them and be part of the circus of Bonaparte. How they cannot do it, just hear the music and be part of this.
Thanks a lot of Monsieur Bonaparte for the interview, he is a nice and cool emperador and also for make my erotic dream came true (well until I will see him on live I will bite a wolf ear, yeei). Thank you so much and sticky kiss for him and for everyone who read it.
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