mind.in.a.box

When you created 'Retro', what where your inspiration? It's quite a step from the mind.in.a.box we are used to hear.
- "I was thinking about some old computer game classics like Last Ninja, Madness, Skate or Die and in general about this great time I had. I started to make music on computers with 11 or 12 years and for me this music from this old computer was electronic music. My brain was programmed with these old tunes. For me this beeps and blubbs were sounding better than anything else and composers like Rob Hubbard, Chris Hülsbeck or Reyn Ouwehand were my music gods. I wanted to give them something back. It's my tribute to them."

What and who is the driving force behind mind.in.a.box?
- "Markus and I started mind.in.a.box together in 2002 or so. We are friends since childhood and we always started some crazy projects like Parsec, a big freeware space shooter for example. Markus is writing all the miab lyrics and I make the production, music, vocals. In general the driving force behind mind.in.a.box is I."

Are you working on anything new that you can tell us about?
- "The next miab album is nearly finished. At the moment we are looking for a new label out there. I'm a bit lazy with this kind of stuff. Always when I have time for something I prefer to make music, or work on some other stuff than writing emails to labels or so. I know that this helps not a lot. Some weeks ago I started a new side-project called THYX. Have a look at http://www.thyxmusic.com . For this project I spend most of my time right now because for the next miab album is only less to do."

This might be a bit off topic , but can you tell me about the collaboration between yourself and Massiv in Mensch?
- "Daniel was a fan from our music and we came in contact. I made some vocals for his song "Supermassive Gravity". I enjoyed working with him. Finally we met us during our tour with Front Line Assembly. He is a very nice guy."

How does it feel to have being able to expand into playing live?
- "It's weird. All the years it was unbelievable for me to go on stage. I mean this project is called mind.in.a.box and this name came not from nowhere. It was and is a very honest, straightforward project. Some people are starting music projects to go on the stage. We definitely not. During the years I have changed myself and I think it was a very positive thing for me. Now it's still crazy for me to play live but I can handle it."

Are you touring right now or are you planning one?
- "We just finished our first tour with Front Line Assembly last year. This year I think we will play only on some bigger festivals."

And last question is, what has changed with mind.in.a.box, in any way?
- "We have changed in some areas but it's hard to explain. I'm very bad with words. For me the new music sounds more powerful, more bombastic. I like bombast. A lot of people say "Less is more" in music. I don't think so. This people only can't mix a lot of tracks together. I think more is more!"