"You have to be eleven friends," they say in football. At Sportfreunde Stiller, however, it is enough if three pull together. But that is not always so easy. The trio therefore not only talks to ntv.de about their new album "Jeder nur ein X", but also about yesterday, today and tomorrow.
ntv.de: "Jeder nur ein X" is your first album in six years. The answer to the question of what you have done in the past six years is very simple, says the announcement: "lived". But how did you fill life?
Florian "Flo" Weber: We lived through it. (laughs) No, seriously: During the first three years, each of us dedicated our own projects, ideas and views. Of course, that was extremely individual and different.
Rüdiger "Rüde" Linhof: We were able to deal with what it means not to be a sports fan. For example, for me it was just about being myself - with the family and as a private person. First of all, it was really nice to make decisions independently without always looking at a bulging calendar. It gave me a certain sense of freedom to start projects as I felt like without having to think about going into the studio or going on a tour at the same time. But I couldn't easily find the fun I had in the band.
Why was that?
Linhof: It was simply a different life, in which things are often a bit more serious. Sometimes it's great to see what new ideas and projects are constantly emerging. But sometimes it's also sobering. In any case, I have gained respect for all people who are struggling in this life to survive in any way. In front of people who have a family and have to get everything taken care of.
You make no secret of the fact that the chemistry in the band wasn't really right six years ago. Were you at odds and did you need a break because of that?
Peter Brugger: Yes, I needed a break. But I wouldn't say we were really at odds. It was more of a weird mix: on the one hand, we were too careful with criticism and openness in the band. On the other hand, everyone insisted too much on their own point of view. So we ran into communication problems, cohesion suffered and there was a loss of energy. We lost the flow as a band.
When did you notice that?
Brugger: I think you already saw it on the last record "Sturm
Speaking of relationships, you formed the band as friends 27 years ago. Are you still friends or is this more of a professional affair these days?
Weber: We still have a very close friendly relationship. Definitive! However, I first had to learn that our relationship lives on from each other even during the break. At first I couldn't do anything with the time off, I was sad and frustrated. I am a person for whom something always has to be created and who constantly thinks that I have to take something into my hands. It was difficult for me to accept that someone couldn't keep up with the pace. I'm all the happier about the way we're sitting here as a band. The atmosphere is probably similar to that of 15 years ago, with a youthful spirit that pushes us forward...
How is that expressed?
Weber: After concerts, for example, we stand arm in arm again. I wouldn't say we're crying with happiness. (laughs) But emotionally we are already at the highest levels. In the meantime I dare to say: Without this break we might not exist as a band anymore. Yes, having a 27-year-old band is like having a relationship. Very intensive. But friendship also has to withstand depths. That's what she's there for.
How did it come about that you pulled yourself together again for "Everyone just an X". They say there was a lot of beer involved...
Linhof: Actually, it was cappuccino and apple spritzer in a café. When I sat down with the other two at a small table, this incredible and forgotten feeling of what it means to be a band came back. I didn't even need a beer for that...
Weber: My memory is a bit different. I've never had that feeling in the café. For me it was a rather oppressive situation. Only after we had all spoken quite clearly about our desperation and frustration did we come up with the idea of meeting up again in the rehearsal room.
And then?
Weber: In the rehearsal room we first took on an old song of ours. It sounded awful! But then, after the seventh or eighth bar, you could feel it: "Yes, that's us!" All three of us sat there afterwards, grinning. And I realized: "Hey, there's a band here. They've been on hiatus for a few years, but they're still important and you can achieve a lot with them. It would be a real shame if they didn't exist anymore." After the second song, thank God, we decided to try something new.
What can now be heard on the new album. When you hear the title "Everyone just an X" the first thing that springs to mind for many is Monthy Python and "Brian's Life"...
Brugger: That was of course the first inspiration on which Flo's suggestion was based - probably the 123rd suggestion in the search for an album title. (laughs) With Rüde and me, it also sparked off because it opens up so many perspectives. Of course there is this grandiose scene in this grandiose film. But the title also expresses how happy we can actually be to live in a democracy in which one can put one's cross in and have a say. Or how much we all actually have to bear right now - first the pandemic, now the war and all the worries and uncertainties about the consequences we are facing. At the same time, we all have only one cross with which to shoulder life. It may be broader or broader, but it's always just one. We were amazed at how much is actually in this one sentence.
How did you approach the new album musically?
Brugger: It was an interesting development process. We had Tobi Kuhn on board as producer. He has known us for ages and has already toured the stages of this republic with us with Miles and Monta. Tobi partially disassembled our demos and put them back together again. We discussed and tried out a lot, but with openness and a courageous spirit of discovery. We set out to find out how the sports fans can currently sound without repeating themselves. These creative sessions have been a real bliss during the pandemic.
You are still the nation's encouragement - with lyrics like "I don't give a fuck about bad times", "Uphill from now on" or "And we never stop ... forever ... be human and stay human". Very often something like the courage of despair resonates in your lyrics. Where does it come from?
Brugger: Right. We notice that too. (laughs)
Weber: We also want to counteract this, but it doesn't work. (laughs) In fact, when we're writing a song, we often think, "Let's just describe this broken state. Let's just look at what really sucks, then lies there and shit stays." And then the very last sentence keeps coming, tearing everything out again. Apparently we would rather be part of a solution than part of a problem. On the new album in particular there are also songs like "Wächter" or "Ibrahimovic" in which we deal with depression and anxiety more clearly than ever before.
Is the song "Wächter", which is about depression, autobiographical with regard to either of you?
Weber: The song is biographical, but not autobiographical. Rather, we learned that a friend had mental health problems. We were confused and shocked that we hadn't noticed. I wrote four lines at the time and we sent him a short message that we were helping him from the south. He was so happy that we were thinking of him that I couldn't get these four lines out of my head. This became the beginning of "Wächter", because the three of us agreed to dedicate a song to the topic.
You've also mentioned "Ibrahimovic" - by no means your first song related to football. I wonder what Roque Santa Cruz is up to now. Are you still in contact with him?
Brugger: No. The last time we had contact was when I met him in front of a hotel in Munich. We were both very happy about that. He was fine and told me that we were famous in Paraguay with our song. (laughs)
An evergreen like "A Compliment" of yours is probably still played today at countless weddings, engagement parties and the like. On the other hand, many younger fans can probably hardly do anything with Roque Santa Cruz. Don't you care if you record a song like "I, Roque"?
Linhof: Yes, we just do our thing. Of course it's nice when the people who come to our concerts connect with our songs, grow with them and find their connections to them. The songs become life companions. Some of them have managed to get a whole country to know them and celebrate them in a very beautiful way. Others are then only part of the Sportfreunde world. I think that's okay.
Each of your six albums that you have released since 2002 has been at the top of the German charts. How important is commercial success to you, even now with a view to "Everyone just an X"?
Weber: We're not made of Teflon - criticism doesn't simply roll off us. A lot of heart and soul goes into an album like this. We do what we love. To say that it doesn't matter at all whether two or two million people hear it would therefore be a lie. At the same time, it is not just a calling for us, but also a job. The better an album is received, the easier it is for each of us to support our families. That's why I would be happy if the album penetrates into these areas of the charts again.
Brugger: My feeling right now is: We're neither hyped nor screwed.
(general laughter)
Weber: That would be a good headline for this interview!
Absolutely.
Brugger: That's definitely a good feeling. We get requests for concerts and festivals. In the summer we played at "Rock am Ring" and people came and wanted to hear us. That was such an aha moment for me, when I realized: If that's the case, I'm just extremely grateful. Then I also believe that we can continue writing our story.
Especially after all the corona restrictions, people are all really in the mood for concerts again. Your first show after the break took place in Landshut and is said to have sold out in one minute and eleven seconds...
Linhof: Yes, it feels like life is starting all over again. Stepping out of the Nightliner, taking a quick look at the event hall and realizing that there were really people standing there was a really great feeling. Just to see that people meet again, jostle and sing a bit, makes it clear what was missing. This whole abstraction of encounters through zoom conferences does something to people. Just writing and often hating because you have so much frustration in your four walls in lockdown does something to society as a whole. We need the music and the culture that solidifies us as a society.
In your song "In the past" on "Jeder nur ein X" you sing: "Everything wasn't always better in the past". But you and I have not had to experience a pandemic and a war in Europe to date. Weren't some things better in the past?
Linhof: The war is only a little closer geographically. I don't want to downplay that. This is awful, awful, awful. But just in the last 30 years there was, for example, the war in Georgia, two Chechen wars, two Gulf wars, the Yugoslav war... Shit comes and goes. We just need an attitude towards it.
How should she look?
Linhof: It can only consist in democratic, free and liberal societies consistently strengthening and supporting one another. That one really strengthens solidary societies. Not letting people who have less money down. Paying attention to environmental issues. Paying attention to educational issues. That you learn to look ahead again. There were so many terrorist organizations in Europe in the 1970s. There was Hafenstrasse, Startbahn-West, Germany's nuclear armament, Wackersdorf... Hey, we had so much shit at the start. Always saying the world is going to end now - that doesn't help anyone. What we need is hope.
Weber: The song isn't a clumsy slogan, it's supposed to make you think. About looking ahead before you start ranting. You should see what you can take in hand to move forward. If I think about it carefully, I can only think of one thing that used to be really better: the lions (TSV 1860 Munich).
(general laughter)
Football is a good keyword: of course I can't help but ask you about the World Cup in Qatar. Do you watch them or do you have the heart to boycott them?
Brugger: I'm afraid I can't bring myself to do it. I'm just really into football... The fact that human rights issues are given so little attention here is of course terrible and an abomination. Still, I don't know if a boycott would be the solution.
Rather?
Brugger: It would be great if all the associations involved in this world association would position themselves and open their mouths to become a pioneer for a - in quotation marks - a better world with this wonderful thing football. There's really so much coal in there that they could tear a lot.
Now that the chemistry of the sports friends is right again and you're sitting here together as a band: Can we see each other for an interview in another six years? Or maybe even in ten?
Brugger: I think that's cool. Simply because it would be really exciting to experience us when we are really old.
Linhof: Well, we already look pretty grey.
Brugger: Right. But what is it like when your back slowly curls up? I would like to see that.
Volker Probst spoke to Peter Brugger, Rüdiger Linhof and Florian Weber from Sportfreunde Stiller
