Earlier this month I had the privilege of interviewing an amazing German musician by the name of Olli Schulz. I was first introduced to his music a couple years ago, but that was before I began learning German, so I had little interest in German music altogether, and his name quickly disappeared from my radar. In fact, it wasn’t until after my first trip to Germany (May 2009) that I started regularly listening to German bands, most notably Kettcar and Hansen Band. And considering the latter isn’t even a “real” band, I don’t know how much that even counts.
In August of last year I began learning German, and as a result, began listening to German music more regularly, although I’m not certain if it was more because I enjoyed it or because I secretly hoped that through the process of osmosis of sorts, I’d absorb the nuances of the language and become better at it. Whatever it was, I set out to get my hands on as much German indie rock as possible, which eventually resulted in my first all-German mix, and this was around the time that I began getting into Schulz’s music.
As for our interview, it was interesting and enlightening and Schluz is quite the joker. I hadn’t really picked up on his sense of humour inherent in his music because I still don’t speak or comprehend on a level of fluency, but from our conversation, I was able to get a sense of just the kind of goofball he is. He’s also very straightforward and unapologetic and overall quite real. I figure he is the “what you see is what you get” kind of person, and that’s refreshing. He definitely had me in stitches when he was singing random lyrics in English that he’d made up on the fly, in order to illustrate how Germans sing what he considers “Bullshit English”. Hilarious. You can take a listen to hear a short excerpt of Schulz’s thoughts on that.
To read the article, go here.
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