A Million Little Pieces

TOMO’S INTERVIEW Geschmacksverstärker: Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for? Tomo: Thank you!! I am thankful for the last 32 years of my life, I’m thankful especially for the last two years, which have been the most amazing years of my life and our lives as a band. You know it’s been a pretty amazing journey we’ve been on the last two years. We’ve covered most of the globe. The only continent that we have not played a show on is Antarctica, which is kind of amazing, you know. We’ve covered the world on this tour and we’re very very grateful and very thankful to have had the opportunity to do that. And now we’re gonna end this whole tour in NYC with a Guinness Book of Records Show. Geschmacksverstärker: How are you going to celebrate your record? Tomo: We’re gonna celebrate with everyone! We’re gonna celebrate it on stage with our family and friends out there and what’s even more exciting about that is, we’re doing something historic and new, we’re doing something that’s gonna be done for the first time ever. We’re doing a full HD live stream of our show with a company called VyRT. It’s the first time that anyone’s ever sold individual digital tickets to a concert. It’s gonna be extremely high quality HD performance, lots of extra content before the show, backstage cameras after the show, it’s gonna be really really special. Definitely nothing like this has ever been done for the internet, so anyone anywhere in the world can come and share the 300th show with us, whether you can make it to NYC or not. It’s gonna be really really cool! We’re very excited about that! Geschmacksverstärker: What’s your opinion on pop music? Tomo: Pop music? Well that’s a tough question. Are you referring to pop music as a genre or pop music or pop music as just popular music? Geschmacksverstärker: I mean pop music as a genre. Tomo: I mean you know there’s some good stuff there. I don’t dislike pop music. I’m only interested in good music. If somebody has something to say, if they’re telling a good story, if there’s a good melody a good musical arrangement, then I like it. There’s not really a type of music that I listen to it’s just if it’s interesting to me, if it inspires me, that’s good music. Geschmacksverstärker: Alight, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Rihanna are obviously very successful at the moment. Out of these three, who do you think is the most talented and why? Tomo: Oh I mean, who am I to say who is the most talented? In my opinion of these three the music that I prefer, is Lady Gagas‘ music. But I’m not gonna say who’s more talented that’s pretentious from someone like me to say. (Laughs) They’re all extremly talented in different ways, you know. They all have their own style and their own thing, they’re all unique in their own way, so they’re all talented. You don’t get to be as successful as they are without beeing talented. It’s not a fluke, I mean they have continued proven success, so … My personal taste, I prefer the way Lady Gaga plays and sings that’s my style, more than the other two, but they all have great songs. People obviously like them and you can’t argue with the masses all agreeing on something that something is great, i mean, you know. Geschmacksverstärker: Taylor Swift once said that you have a responsibility as a public figure, do you agree with this statement? Tomo: I think it depends on what she meant by that. Geschmacksverstärker: She meant that you are a role model and that you have to be aware of what you’re doing. Tomo: No, I don’t agree with that. As a matter of fact, I think that’s total bullshit! Because we’re artists and we’re also people just like everybody else. It’s not our job to babysit or to make sure not offending somebody. It’s our job to express ourselves and whatever way we think that fit and you as a listener or an observer of whatever we call our art, it’s your job to decide if it offends you or if it inspires you or if it gets you excited or makes you happy or makes you sad, you know. Our job is just to be ourselves and to put ourselves out there and to not be inhibited by thinking about what somebody might think, that’s not our job. But I know what she means, she appeals to a younger audience so maybe she thinks that because of that she has to be careful. Maybe she’s right in her case, but I think t hat for us, for most artists, I think that it’s our job is just to be creative and to challenge ourselves creatively. Geschmacksverstärker: You’re on twitter as well. How do you experience being on twitter and being able to talk to fans? Tomo: I think twitter and all the other social media outlets out there are a really incredible way to keep in touch with your fans and your audience and just people that are interested in communicating in that way. You know, this thing VyRT is an interesting version of that as well, because now you’re going to be able to go to live concerts or live event of any kind through the internet and share this experience with people from all over the world via this portal. And I think that’s very interesting. Because now the live show is being taken to the airwaves to the digital stream that exists out there globally and I think it’s a very interesting way to communicate with people. Geschmacksverstärker: Do you think you can replace the feeling of a live concert via digital streams on the internet? Tomo: Yes, I think the reason why you even asked that question was that examples for that up until now have been such shit quality, but when you have great sound, when you have great camera angles, somebody who knows how to capture that for the screen, I think that you can. And another thing that’s also very interesting, is that it’s more than just a live show. There’s gonna be access to places that you can’t go or see at the show. It’s gonna give you a different look to the whole experience. I think it’s gonna be really special and we’re really excited about that. Geschmacksverstärker: If you could talk to a dead celebrity who would you wanna talk to and what would you ask him or her? Tomo: Dead Celebrity? Geschmacksverstärker: Right! Tomo: I have no interest in speaking to any dead celebrities or or celebrities of any kind for that matter. (Laughs) Geschmacksverstärker: If you could choose a super power, what would it be? Tomo: Invisibility, obviously. Geschmacksverstärker: When you look into the mirror, who do you see? Tomo: Satan. Geschmacksverstärker: Satan?? Tomo: (Laughs) You asked! Geschmacksverstärker: What’s you hidden talent? Tomo: The ravens’ claw technique. Geschmacksverstärker: What’s about that? Tomo: Just write it down. (Laughs) Geschmacksverstärker: Alright, that’s it I guess! Credit : http://andy.artmagazine.cc/?p=8597