Darkwell has recently issued their debut album Suspiria. This is the most astounding goth-metal debut I’m aware of and listening to it just got me really curious as to how it came about… and how it could have come about in only one year! This, combined with my curiosity to meet the man behind this little brainchild, Roland Wurzer, resulted in the following email based interview.

- Tobias


Did everything really happen as fast as is reported in your bio?

Yes that's true it happened that fast, but you have to take into consideration that Roman, Christian, Mortiz and me already played together for years and that some ideas for some songs are from 97 and so on, what is remarked in the bio is the story since we are sailing beneath the Darkwell flag and since Alexandra joined the band but also the predecessor of Darkwell (the band was called Sarcasm Syndrome) already had female vox.

Do you feel that you've achieved your original vision for Darkwell with Suspiria?

Yeah, nearly everything worked like it was planned (as far it is possible to plan something as musician), we are pleased with our label, and everything...

Lots of people are raving about Alexandra, how did you find her?

Really they are??? The story how we found her is quite simple. A good friend of us said, he knows a girl which has a fantastic voice, we decided to check that and as she started singing our tunes the decision was already made...

Does she have any male groupies?

Thousands... no, I don't think so, until now she refused all advances, but I think due to the fact the wrong guys had the balls to talk to a singer of a band. If the right boys would have done it I think the answer would be different *g*...

Does her rather youthful age ever cause any problems?

Nope until now everything is excellent, specially cause she loves playing music and being on stage. She is exploring a new world for her and that is very cool and with every concert we play she gets more professional in stage acting and so on...

Who do you most want to tour with?

Fields of the Nephilim would be cool, but would also appreciate it to tour wit Moonspell or Tiamat.

Is there any chance of a trip to the other side of the pond in the near future?

Hmmm, to confess the truth, I don't really know exactly, it depends if we get an offer to do so. If there is an offer it depends on the costs, cause often the organisers can't afford the plane ticket and we either. If this situation occurs it depends if the label supports us. But if there is an offer for a gig "on the other side of the pond" I'll do anything possible to make it happen.

Which do you write first, music or lyrics?

Hmmm that depends, I guess it's 50/50. I like both ways of composing.

Have you ever been kicked out of a bar? Why?

Several times....but not cause I'm an aggressive person, often simply because looking metal. Recently, we and some guys of Graveworm (an Italian band) entered a bar in Germany, we drank one beer, afterwards they kicked us out cause "they had to close the bar" (at 10 pm). No bar in Germany closes at 10 pm, they closed just to get rid of the metalheads and kicked out all other guests too. As we passed the bar 4 hours later it was open again.

If you had tons of money, what would you have done to better the music of Suspiria?

Hmm, I would have introduced a real string ensemble instead of using computer samples and perhaps spend one or two studio weeks on experimenting on effects, also I would have engaged a real good mastering studio. Last but not least we would have rented hotel rooms instead of sleeping in an unheated recording room. (Also no fun driving an hour to come to a gas station where you can take a shower.)

What is your favorite song to play live?

Hmm, don't know, it's cool playing Realms of Darkness, cause it has a cool groove. I also love playing The Salvation live, cause it is a bit more technical. Armageddon builds up an unique atmosphere.

Who is the maniac of the band? Why?

The maniac of Darkwell is Mathias our new guitarist, I think he worships chaos and alcohol. On the recent tour with Vintersorg, he started a drinking combat: Austria vs. Sweden. We played 11 shows, in the end we won 6:5, but only because of Mathias's drinking abilities.

You've been experiencing some vacillation in darkwell's line up; is it causing any problems?

Unfortunately yes, we have two new members. Mathias replaced Roman and Raphael replaced Chris. The reason for the change is that both are heavily engaged in their private lives (married and so on) that both hadn't enough time to continue in the band, but now the line up is stable...

Is Darkwell the number one priority for the current line-up or are other projects raising any problems?

Simply...Yes.

What do you feel is the ultimate goal of Darkwell?

Don't know, I'm afraid I can't answer that one, the only goal I think is making our music and transmitting emotions. Naturally if you transmit something, somebody must receive that and if that leads to commercial success it is Ok for us.

So far, you've only posted the lyrics to Armageddon. Do you have plans to reveal the rest on your website?

Yeah I think so... the only problem is that I connected the lyrics of Armageddon with a picture, I found on the net (The one an angel get's rid of her wings), so I need pictures for the other songs but I haven't found any until now. If someone has painted one or knows one just mail to: darkwellgothik@geocities.com !!!

Based on what I can hear and the lyrics posted on www.darkwell.org, you seem to be going after a lot of ethereal imagery, as is fitting with Alexandra's voice. How do you feel about bands that won't shut-up about falling in love with their own pain and agony?

It makes no sense falling in love with agony and pain. Both have a cause and that is what mankind should strive for, cause as soon you have discovered the reason for what's happening with you, you have material you can think about. But often an emotion is the cause, so you must eliminate what is disturbing you on the surface, so you have to search the "archemotion" and this one is what comes out of your emotional equilibrium. Dealing with the couterforce of all emotions and dealing with the resulting equilibrium is what Darkwell is about.

Who put on the best live show you've ever seen?

There are some: Slayer on the Clash of the Titans tour in the early nineties, Hypocrisy in Wacken 98 and Fields of the Nephilim on Mera Luna Festival in 00.

Is there anything else you would like to tell the fans?

Buy the CD!!! Not really... Hope to jump over the pond sometimes and then drink a beer with em.

Homepage: www.darkwell.org E-Mail: darkwellgothik@geocities.com