Set up in 1983, German synth-pop band Boytronic is an old servant of the music…
Set up in 1983, German synth-pop band
Boytronic is an old servant of the music genre. The band went through several
line-ups, but Boytronic remains. Because of the numerous changes, albums
weren’t always released at regular basis. 2019 will for sure become an
important year in the band’s history. The original singer of the band, Holger
Wobker, joined in again to compose the new opus “The Robot Treatment”. Together
with the last singer James Knights, this self-released (Wuff Records) album is
pure lust for the ears. It’s the kind of work getting people dancing and happy.
This is what Holger Wobker has to say.
Q: The new album “The Robot Treatment”
already stands for a new line-up! Ingo Hauss and Hayo Lewerentz are no longer
involved, singer and core-member Holger Wobker joined in again while James
Knights who was singing on the previous album is now assisting Holger Wobker in
the writing process while doing some backing vocals. How do you explain all
these line-up changes and what’s the impact on the sound of Boytronic?
Holger: That’s a long story, but I’ll try
to explain it in short: Hayo and Ingo were members of the second Boytronic
line-up created by our former record company way back in the 80s. The company
stole the name of the band and registered Boytronic for themselves as a
trademark without our knowledge or permission. They did it because we had only
a one year contract and we wanted to leave because we had very attractive
offers from several companies. So they tried to tie us to the company with
this… but Peter and I left anyway. They installed three totally different
people who pretended to be Boytronic. I don’t know if this ever happened before
or after to another band, but I would call it unique!
The fact is that these guys had nothing to
do with the original band, and when I was asked to work with them at that time
I refused. Later on in 2001 I thought I could give it a try and worked with
Hayo on the “Autotunes”-album and some songs from the “Maxi“-compilation, which
was a good experience and worked out somehow. But he lost interest after he
realized that it didn’t work on the commercial side. So he left and
founded a successful company releasing audiobooks.
To get this right, I will not blame Hayo
or Ingo. They just accepted an offer, and for a unknown band this was a great
opportunity. Who would refuse..? Later after they pretended to be Boytronic,
they founded U96 together with Alex Christensen and they were much more
successful than Boytronic ever was. That’s why I didn’t understand why they’re
so stuck on Boytronic. Now they perform as U96 again. That’s the best they can do.
It’s their band… Boytronic is mine. I wished them all the luck in the world,
from a distance. And then came “Jewel“.
After “Dependence“ in 2007 I took a long
break because I didn’t know where to go with Boytronic. You can hear that very
clear on that album. But I never stopped writing songs. So it was clear that
there will be a next album someday.
Then all of a sudden I saw announcements
of a new Boytronic-album. First I thought it was a joke the fans made up, but
unfortunately it was true. Hayo and Ingo tried to take-over the band for a
second time. I immediately went to a lawyer, but It took a little time and I
couldn’t stop the release of “Jewel“. After that I cleared these name rights
one and for all. This time it was pretty easy, but it had something of a bad
déjà-vu or a rash I couldn’t get rid of!
James contacted me, because he felt very
unhappy with the situation he found himself in. He felt more like a stand in,
and he always tried to apologize for what happened. He is a real fan of the
original band. So he wasn’t the best choice to replace me, even if he’s a
brilliant singer. He’s a very nice person and I liked him immediately.
That’s the main reason why I chose to work with him. It’s no mistake and we
work really well together. He makes great contributions to the tracks and he’s
very patient.
Q: “The Robot Treatment” clearly sounds as
a ‘feel-good’-album; happy music and danceable tunes! This album is an antidote
to the dystopian world we’re living in, but what has been the goal when composing
the new songs and the lyrics?
Holger: I’ve been really through hard
times lately, accompanied by loss of friends, disease and all these things
people upwards from 50 have to face. But I never pulled the blanket over my
head and complained about how bad and unfair the world is. Life is a miracle
and to be able to consciously perceiving this beauty that surrounds us is a
great gift… every single day. You can decide what you want to reflect in your
songs. I choose celebration of life. Like Sally Bowles sung in “Cabaret“: ‘What
good is sitting all alone in your room? Come hear the music play…’
Q: How did the writing of the album
happened? Did you follow a kind of guiding line? What has been the main
equipment? What are the criteria and references when it comes to
production?
Holger: Most of the songs I’ve written
over the years. There are many more, but for “The Robot Treatment” we’ve chosen
mostly uplifting tracks. That wasn’t planned, but it turned out to be like that
in the production process. We choose what fits best together. On this album we
used analogue equipment only, no digital plugins. We want to give it this full
and warm original sound. You can call it retro. I call it courageous these
times. I’m very happy with the result. It sounds exactly like it should.
Q: Boytronic has been always driven by
good-old synth-pop music, but I also noticed the pure Italo-disco sounding “All
You Can Eat”. This song makes me think to James Knights solo-project (KNIGHT$),
but tell us a bit more about your fascination for Italo-Disco and Hi-NRG?
Holger: This question really make me
laugh. When “All You Can Eat“ was written, James was 6 or 7 years old. It’s a
track from 1986 and we only made very little changes from the original.
Actually it sounds almost the same. At this time you can hardly say who
influenced who. Did Boytronic influence Italo-disco or was it the other way
round? If you take a song like “Late Night Satellite“ for example it sounds
pretty Italo-disco, but again wasn’t our intention. Maybe we’re naturally
sounding a bit Italo-disco like. But when it comes to those who really had a
big impact on the sound, I have to name Patrick Cowley first, followed by
…yes weird… Mike Oldfield or Bobby Orlando. And as I always said German
Schlager of the 70s has also his share…but only the drama tunes. When I was a
little child and we had friends visiting my parents, I went into the kitchen
and sat underneath the kitchen table. It had a drawer with a button. Everytime
the visitors place some sweets or something in the drawer and push the button I
began to sing some Schlager tunes. A human jukebox… That’s how it started.
Q: “All You Can Eat” also is the single
taken from this album while a clip has been made as well. What’s the importance
of singles and clips today?
Holger: It’s still important even if it’s
completely different from the past. For us, now as a totally independent band,
it’s the only way to promote our music… apart from live shows. We’re also free
to do what we want in the clips. For “All You Can Eat“ we’ve chosen a not so
spectacular surrounding cause it was important to show who Boytronic is now. But
in the future it gives a lot of space for artistic impression… but it has to be
cheap and effective… that’s not always easy.
We’re not a million selling band and
without the help of some friends it would not be possible.
Q: What about live performances, which
according to Hayo Lewerentz, has been a problem in the past as you weren’t
really interested in live performances? What brings the future for
Boytronic?
Holger: I will not
comment on what he said. We did our first live show last month in Berlin which
was very successful and great fun. We will be performing next year in Italy,
Sweden and Denmark and Germany of course. A few dates are already confirmed and
we will announce them soon.
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