Mathias Grassow - In depth interview with music blog Pied Paper<\/strong>
PiedPaper:<\/strong> Hi Mathias! How are you? Let\u2019s start from the beginning: when you was a child, were you interested in music? When you realized that this is something you gonna do?
<\/em>
Thanks so far. I\u2019m well, except some business troubles, stress and the usual things in business life. To your question: My interest in music was growing in the early 70s. I remind my first LP\u2019s from Les Humphries Singers, The Arcade and K-Tel long-plays at this time. Since the mid 70s I was interested in rock music. My first LP\u2019s were from Uriah Heep, Kiss, Sweet, Jethro Tull\u2026 After a while I was impressed by art-rock, especially Yes, Renaissance, Elp, Gentle Giant and else. All the giants from this time I liked very much. I searched for looong pieces to get out of this world and I wanted to listen to music, not everybody listens to ;-). Then, beside rock music I found Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. It\u2019s impossible to get not influenced by them, if you\u2019re playing synthesizer\u2026 Funny that I decided to create own music, after I was so disappointed from the albums from Schulze and TD around 1980. I wanted to keep the spirit of TD and Schulze during the mid 70s \u201atil the early 80s going on and on. My decision to choose synth was obviously then. But my ground aim was to play drums, later guitar. In the early 80s all musicians from the local scene wanted to play punk, disco, or something like Police. I personally wanted to combine the electronic creations from my idols with the symphonic rock like Yes. No chance! :-( At the beginning of making own music I was not into new-age, drones and else. My first connections with spiritual music was my long stayed friends Peter-Michael Hamel and Georg Deuter.
PiedPaper:<\/strong> In 70s Germany gave a lot to world of music: krautrock experiments, berlin school electronica, new age music\u2026 I\u2019m sure it influenced you, but your choice was ambient and drone \u2013 when did you become aware about drone music in the first place?<\/em>
Oh, I see, that this question is answered in the first one. Drone music was not categorized in the 70s and 80s. I was influenced by the munich school more than from berlin school, so Popol Vuh, P.M. Hamel, Stephan Micus and my \u201afather and teacher\u2018 Klaus Wiese gave me the secrets of drones without many words. It cames by itself . I never saw myself in the drawer of \u201adrone-music\u2018. Very much later I found the secrets of drones in philosophy and in sufism, in indian music and in alchemy!
PiedPaper: <\/strong>One of your project names was Musical Philosophy \u2013 I suppose it is something close to Eastern philosophy like Vedanta, Buddhism or Sufism, neither than Schopenhauer or Hegel, right? Are you attached to some certain teaching or it\u2019s kind of synthesis of all of aforementioned?<\/em>
I got this project name during a meditation with music from Georg Deuter in the early 80s. At this time I had no aim and no \u201areal\u2018 philosophy behind. I recall myself with a book I got from my parents \u2013 \u201eDeutschland Deine Denker\u201c. It was a funny book that gave me an impression of the main philosophy for e.g. from Schopenhauer, Kant and Hegel. I\u2019m a fan of history and geography and the main heads of religion, science and metaphysics since my childhood. My first teachings came from Osho, Buddhism and then Sufism; later the mystic side of christianity and in the last 5 years \u2013 shamanism.
![\"Image\/photo\"](\"https:\/\/hubzilla.rocks\/photo\/0ded061e739f98836044833f775a4a217ec1fa9915b8f57408517192e24060f5-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>
PiedPaper: <\/strong>Speaking of shamanism \u2013 I\u2019ve always thought about drone as the most ancient form of music, its roots. Its traces can be found in every culture. But our culture re-invented drone, using modern instruments. How do you feel, drone (and ambient, perhaps) is something more archaic, or it\u2019s a natural evolution of western academic music?<\/em>
Difficult to say. I work with drones for a long, long time and never \u201escienced\u201c my works. Of course I\u2019ve heard from Architectura Celestis, Harmonia Mundi and was impressed by the healing music from Hildegard Von Bingen (my work \u201eSymphonialis Est Anima\u201c is dedicated to her life and works), but the thoughts around my life-work came very late\u2026 Not before composing a track or an album ;-) Yes, yes I\u2019ve heard Planet-Tones (Joachim-Ernst Berendt fundamental work on drone music \u2013 piedpaper), Hans Cousco and the possibility to calculate music the mathematical way\u2026 But I never did any science and research assignments in this, never.
PiedPaper:<\/strong> If \u201ethe eyes are mirror of the soul\u201c, what are music then? Can we say something certain about a musician on the assumption of music he creates? Or about listener? I mean, it happens all the time \u2013 musician can be just improvising and naming resulting tracks in random way, but then listeners see there some concept, inner meaning, etc. For example: when I first heard your \u201eMorpheus\u201c album, I though that it\u2019s kind of continuation of Robert Rich\u2019s idea of sleep concerts and his \u201eSomnium\u201c work, but then I read in some of your interviews that this is just name of the synth you\u2019ve played that time. But, despite that, I still use \u201eMorpheus\u201c for sleeping and it works perfectly!<\/em>
Hmm, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll find answers not in words, but in deep listening with your heart! Heart wisdom is christ consciousness\u2026 I found my personal answers in the books \u201eDurch Musik Zum Selbst\u201c from my friend Peter-Michael Hamel and in \u201eNada Brahma \u2013 Die Welt Ist Klang\u201c from Joachim-Ernst Berendt. So, if \u201ethe eyes are mirror of the soul\u201c (this is not a universal true law for me ;-), then \u201ethe heart is the mirror of our being here\u201c \u2013 a taste of Samadhi, where all is one and one is all \u2013 behind \u201eshunyata \u2013 the magnificent void\u201c. We are sound, all is sound\u2026 And if your body consists of near to 70% of water, you\u2019re into the \u201eBig Sound\u201c, by finding answers in your heart (-pounding) and while watching your Breath.
![\"Image\/photo\"](\"https:\/\/hubzilla.rocks\/photo\/d8339c7b60f615d982a206c291ec2c0360e5ba0ee2c72b39634ff0b260b871f0-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>
PiedPaper: <\/strong>Are listeners feedback on your creations affects you somehow? I suppose many musicians would say no, but maybe it\u2019s something subliminal. Otherwise they were just recording for themselves, not releasing any albums, right? Do you read reviews or some blogs, zines, internet forums perhaps?<\/em>
Yes and no\u2026 I listen carefully if a fan writes me that the drone XXX brought him to tears while remembering a situation in childhood\u2026. And this every time he listen to that piece\u2026 I like such very private feelings and statements much more than the usual blablabla like \u201awhat synths you\u2019re playing\u2018; \u201ahow do you create this and that drone\u2018 and else\u2026 Every fan who writes me his impressions will get a personal answer by time. I want to be in connection with my listeners and so this has an influence to my compositions. Of course!
PiedPaper:<\/strong> As I understand, your live shows are very rare \u2013 it\u2019s because you prefer studio work or you need some special place or equipment to make them right? Sadly, I\u2019ve missed your show in Moscow few years ago, any chance that you\u2019ll play there again?<\/em>
My shows are very rare because of reasonable offers. That means: no attractive locations, neither fee of expenses . Cost coverings for travelling, hotel and else are the minimum standard I ask for first. Here in Germany it often fails because of local problems with government and all the business shit which is all around, if the organizer is not a fan of this music, you understand? Moscow was a personal effort of a fan there and maybe I\u2019ll come back\u2026 Who knows? There are plans in the pipeline for concerts in the Netherlands, in Sweden or Norway and in northern Germany (Gut Saunstorf near Wismar).
PiedPaper:<\/strong> Hi Mathias! How are you? Let\u2019s start from the beginning: when you was a child, were you interested in music? When you realized that this is something you gonna do?
<\/em>
Thanks so far. I\u2019m well, except some business troubles, stress and the usual things in business life. To your question: My interest in music was growing in the early 70s. I remind my first LP\u2019s from Les Humphries Singers, The Arcade and K-Tel long-plays at this time. Since the mid 70s I was interested in rock music. My first LP\u2019s were from Uriah Heep, Kiss, Sweet, Jethro Tull\u2026 After a while I was impressed by art-rock, especially Yes, Renaissance, Elp, Gentle Giant and else. All the giants from this time I liked very much. I searched for looong pieces to get out of this world and I wanted to listen to music, not everybody listens to ;-). Then, beside rock music I found Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. It\u2019s impossible to get not influenced by them, if you\u2019re playing synthesizer\u2026 Funny that I decided to create own music, after I was so disappointed from the albums from Schulze and TD around 1980. I wanted to keep the spirit of TD and Schulze during the mid 70s \u201atil the early 80s going on and on. My decision to choose synth was obviously then. But my ground aim was to play drums, later guitar. In the early 80s all musicians from the local scene wanted to play punk, disco, or something like Police. I personally wanted to combine the electronic creations from my idols with the symphonic rock like Yes. No chance! :-( At the beginning of making own music I was not into new-age, drones and else. My first connections with spiritual music was my long stayed friends Peter-Michael Hamel and Georg Deuter.
PiedPaper:<\/strong> In 70s Germany gave a lot to world of music: krautrock experiments, berlin school electronica, new age music\u2026 I\u2019m sure it influenced you, but your choice was ambient and drone \u2013 when did you become aware about drone music in the first place?<\/em>
Oh, I see, that this question is answered in the first one. Drone music was not categorized in the 70s and 80s. I was influenced by the munich school more than from berlin school, so Popol Vuh, P.M. Hamel, Stephan Micus and my \u201afather and teacher\u2018 Klaus Wiese gave me the secrets of drones without many words. It cames by itself . I never saw myself in the drawer of \u201adrone-music\u2018. Very much later I found the secrets of drones in philosophy and in sufism, in indian music and in alchemy!
PiedPaper: <\/strong>One of your project names was Musical Philosophy \u2013 I suppose it is something close to Eastern philosophy like Vedanta, Buddhism or Sufism, neither than Schopenhauer or Hegel, right? Are you attached to some certain teaching or it\u2019s kind of synthesis of all of aforementioned?<\/em>
I got this project name during a meditation with music from Georg Deuter in the early 80s. At this time I had no aim and no \u201areal\u2018 philosophy behind. I recall myself with a book I got from my parents \u2013 \u201eDeutschland Deine Denker\u201c. It was a funny book that gave me an impression of the main philosophy for e.g. from Schopenhauer, Kant and Hegel. I\u2019m a fan of history and geography and the main heads of religion, science and metaphysics since my childhood. My first teachings came from Osho, Buddhism and then Sufism; later the mystic side of christianity and in the last 5 years \u2013 shamanism.
<\/a><\/div>PiedPaper: <\/strong>Speaking of shamanism \u2013 I\u2019ve always thought about drone as the most ancient form of music, its roots. Its traces can be found in every culture. But our culture re-invented drone, using modern instruments. How do you feel, drone (and ambient, perhaps) is something more archaic, or it\u2019s a natural evolution of western academic music?<\/em>
Difficult to say. I work with drones for a long, long time and never \u201escienced\u201c my works. Of course I\u2019ve heard from Architectura Celestis, Harmonia Mundi and was impressed by the healing music from Hildegard Von Bingen (my work \u201eSymphonialis Est Anima\u201c is dedicated to her life and works), but the thoughts around my life-work came very late\u2026 Not before composing a track or an album ;-) Yes, yes I\u2019ve heard Planet-Tones (Joachim-Ernst Berendt fundamental work on drone music \u2013 piedpaper), Hans Cousco and the possibility to calculate music the mathematical way\u2026 But I never did any science and research assignments in this, never.
PiedPaper:<\/strong> If \u201ethe eyes are mirror of the soul\u201c, what are music then? Can we say something certain about a musician on the assumption of music he creates? Or about listener? I mean, it happens all the time \u2013 musician can be just improvising and naming resulting tracks in random way, but then listeners see there some concept, inner meaning, etc. For example: when I first heard your \u201eMorpheus\u201c album, I though that it\u2019s kind of continuation of Robert Rich\u2019s idea of sleep concerts and his \u201eSomnium\u201c work, but then I read in some of your interviews that this is just name of the synth you\u2019ve played that time. But, despite that, I still use \u201eMorpheus\u201c for sleeping and it works perfectly!<\/em>
Hmm, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll find answers not in words, but in deep listening with your heart! Heart wisdom is christ consciousness\u2026 I found my personal answers in the books \u201eDurch Musik Zum Selbst\u201c from my friend Peter-Michael Hamel and in \u201eNada Brahma \u2013 Die Welt Ist Klang\u201c from Joachim-Ernst Berendt. So, if \u201ethe eyes are mirror of the soul\u201c (this is not a universal true law for me ;-), then \u201ethe heart is the mirror of our being here\u201c \u2013 a taste of Samadhi, where all is one and one is all \u2013 behind \u201eshunyata \u2013 the magnificent void\u201c. We are sound, all is sound\u2026 And if your body consists of near to 70% of water, you\u2019re into the \u201eBig Sound\u201c, by finding answers in your heart (-pounding) and while watching your Breath.
<\/a><\/div>PiedPaper: <\/strong>Are listeners feedback on your creations affects you somehow? I suppose many musicians would say no, but maybe it\u2019s something subliminal. Otherwise they were just recording for themselves, not releasing any albums, right? Do you read reviews or some blogs, zines, internet forums perhaps?<\/em>
Yes and no\u2026 I listen carefully if a fan writes me that the drone XXX brought him to tears while remembering a situation in childhood\u2026. And this every time he listen to that piece\u2026 I like such very private feelings and statements much more than the usual blablabla like \u201awhat synths you\u2019re playing\u2018; \u201ahow do you create this and that drone\u2018 and else\u2026 Every fan who writes me his impressions will get a personal answer by time. I want to be in connection with my listeners and so this has an influence to my compositions. Of course!
PiedPaper:<\/strong> As I understand, your live shows are very rare \u2013 it\u2019s because you prefer studio work or you need some special place or equipment to make them right? Sadly, I\u2019ve missed your show in Moscow few years ago, any chance that you\u2019ll play there again?<\/em>
My shows are very rare because of reasonable offers. That means: no attractive locations, neither fee of expenses . Cost coverings for travelling, hotel and else are the minimum standard I ask for first. Here in Germany it often fails because of local problems with government and all the business shit which is all around, if the organizer is not a fan of this music, you understand? Moscow was a personal effort of a fan there and maybe I\u2019ll come back\u2026 Who knows? There are plans in the pipeline for concerts in the Netherlands, in Sweden or Norway and in northern Germany (Gut Saunstorf near Wismar).
![\"Image\/photo\"](\"https:\/\/hubzilla.rocks\/photo\/e292573b15a1fe2e14715a839fd8d35aae379836313a837bfeba5ed7e5dbb3ab-2.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Image\/photo\"](\"https:\/\/hubzilla.rocks\/photo\/5a8680c6b1cb96db38b7047b217d6161436a99c8b87af1ec265ca41b131e810c-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","width":640,"height":426}