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I
am sure some of our readers know Hubi Meisel from his performance
on Dreamscapes “Very” album or from one of his solo-albums. He
is now ready with a new solo-album called “Kailash”; I have
put together a few questions for him.
Kenn
- Hubi, previous to your new album my only experience with music
you’ve taken part on was the Dreamscape album, but I am sure
there is a lot more to be told about your background, so please
fill us in...
Hubi: After
Dreamscape I finally realized my first Solo-EP Hubi
Meisel
/“CUT”, which was released in January 2001. It contains
rearranged versions of my favourite 80’s songs, and could be
described as my personal tribute to this special era. As the title
suggests, it was something completely different from what I had
done before ;-) I had this project in mind since my childhood
already, and it was real fun to interpret those pop classics in a
new and heavier style. My second album Hubi
Meisel
/”EmOcean” was
released in March 2004 through Lion Music and Avalon Marquee.
”EmOcean” is a 72 minute progressive concept album dealing
with the Bermuda Triangle, Sargasso Sea, Atlantis and the
mysteries of the underwater world...
this album is strongly connected to the element of water and very
emotional... it really means a lot to me.... Apart from that I
also participated in several projects, e.g. Book of Reflections
& Mistheria, but during the past 2 ½ years I was almost
working non-stop on the production of my new concept album ”KAILASH”.
Kenn
– “Kailash” is a progressive journey through the
Himalayas
, telling the story of ancient Buddhist/Hindu mythology – what
inspired you to write about that, and are you a Buddhist yourself?
Hubi:
I’m not a Buddhist (and also no member of any other religious
group) however; there are many wise and precious keys in this
religion. Being a strict vegetarian and having deep respect for
all life forms are attitudes that I share with this ancient
religion… not because of moralizing or dogmatism, but simply
because it feels right and good to me. For example, their practice
of true non-violence, also called “Ahimsa”, is something which
would be real blessing for mankind if we honoured this principle
at least a BIT more…
Kenn
– “Kailash” is your 3rd solo-album (second one on
Lion Music), and on all you’ve worked together with Marcel
Coenen, and on the 2 last ones with Vivien Lalu, who has written
the music. How did those co-operations come together, and how do
you work out a song?
Hubi: A
buddy had called my attention to Marcel in 2000, and I also knew
him from his work with Lemur Voice. He’s an amazing guitarist
and I’m glad that he’s also part of this 3rd album!
The cooperation with Vivien - who lives in Paris - developed
rather quickly after he had dropped me an e-mail in 2000… he
knew me from the “Very” album and had found my homepage on the
net. We got into a conversation and he sent me some MP3s of his
work… one thing led to another, and very soon we both had the
feeling that it’s meant to be that he joins me for “EmOcean”,
for which I was writing the concept story at that time. As our
cooperation for "EmOcean" worked out so well, it was
more or less clear that we would work together again.
After I had finished the KAILASH concept, I sent it to him
together with rough directions & suggestions on song
structures for each song. Then he started sending me his ideas via
MP3, and we were discussing and arranging the parts together until
it matched my inner vision of KAILASH. Afterwards I worked out the
vocal melodies & lyrics. I usually do the melodies first and
then write the lyrics, sometimes it’s also the other way round.
Then the material was sent to the other musicians, who still had
the possibility to add their own creative ideas & soli to the
existing material.
This kind of ”long-distance cooperation” may seem a bit
unusual, but I must say it always worked pretty well! Vivien did a
wonderful job again on "Kailash", and the same applies
to all of the other musicians involved. Apart from Viven and
Marcel, there are
Daniel Flores
(Mind’s Eye - drums) & Johann Niemann (Therion - bass), both
from
Sweden
, Jorge Salán from
Spain
(Mago de Oz - guitars) and Dutch guitarist Joop Wolters on the 2
bonus tracks.
OK, it might have seemed less complicated to work with people who
live a bit nearer to
Munich
... but those guys are all so great and I just love working with
people from different countries!!!
Kenn
- If
your music was an emotion, which one would it be?
Hubi:
LOVE & FAITH!
Kenn
- I really like the very simple artwork, which
features
Mt.
Kailash – to people, who has never ever heard about this place,
which significance does this mountain have to the Buddhist/Hindu
religion?
Hubi: I
wanted a something “pure” for the front cover, but the overall
artwork consists of 16 pages full of awesome illustrations
depicting the concept story. The artwork was done by Chris
“Sayian” Kallias from
Switzerland
, who already did the "EmOcean" artwork... some of these
illustrations can be viewed in the flash-headers of my homepage.
As to your question on
Mt.
Kailash
: It’s considered as the spiritual centre of the universe, the
“navel of the world”! It’s also known as “
Mount
Meru
”, which is the residence of God Shiva. It’s worshipped by the
Buddhists, Hindus and Bons and until today it’s a “must” for
many Buddhists and Hindus to circumambulate around this impressive
mountain at least once in a lifetime. It is said that with every
round around Kailash you get a chance to free your soul of karma.
Kenn
– On this album you’ve clearly been inspired by a mythology,
but what else inspires you when you write music?
Hubi: When
I create a new concept, the first impulse is never coming from
outside, it always comes from inside and can’t be planned…
it’s just there one morning. I’m mainly inspired by my
intuition and nightly dreams, which have led me to the conceptual
frames of "EmOcean" and "Kailash". Later, when
I’m working out the concept story & lyrics, I also include
the inspiration which was coming from books and old writings.
Kenn
- Is there any plans for you to go out on the road to support
“Kailash” or is this strictly a studio project?
Hubi: At
the beginning I actually didn’t plan a pure studio project only,
but due to the fact that the musicians live in 5 different
countries, it still seems very difficult at the moment to do a
tour. Each of them is unique, and it would be a pity – and maybe
even impossible - to replace one or more of the musicians who
played on "Kailash"… But even IF it was possible to
get together all musicians, it would still be very risky with
regard to the high costs that would arise from that. In general
these songs would work on stage, too, I think… I guess it would
be great to perform them live!
Kenn
-
Let’s play an association game, please tell us your first
spontaneous thoughts about the following key words:
Family
Hubi: That’s
were it all starts… and I love my family!!! However, from a
higher vantage point, I strongly believe that the family is also
an important learning field for anyone, as our family members
often mirror those parts of ourselves that we don’t like or that
need growth. Even if you leave your family, the play goes on…
you’re drawn to other persons who reflect the same topics to you
until we finally start to integrate or balance them in our own
personality.
Religion
in music
Hubi: To
me, spirituality and beliefs are an integral part of any art,
especially when it comes to music! Whenever you express yourself
through it and whenever it comes from your heart, music and
spirituality always accompany each other I think. I prefer the
term spirituality here, as I associate the term religion with
something that has been influenced and distorted a lot by humans…
Spirituality is more connected to one’s individual soul, and
it’s not bound to rigid rules and attitudes, ha-ha!
Politics
Hubi:
I was quite into politics until a few years ago, but meanwhile I
don’t care much about this all anymore… it always involves
judgement and taking sides in matters we can’t really judge in
this jungle of lies, half-truths and power games… this all
didn’t feel good to me anymore, so I more or less got out of it…
World
Cup in Germany 2006 (Soccer)
Hubi: I
don’t live far away from this huge new stadium (called
“Allianz Arena”) in Munich, where the opening game and 6 other
soccer matches will take place, however I didn’t make any plans
as I always give top priority to music, and there’s a lot of
work waiting for me this year ;-) So there was no chance for me to
get infected by the circulating “world cup fever”, ha-ha!
Progressive
Rock
Hubi: Still
my favourite genre in the wide field of Rock Music! Nevertheless I
like many different kinds of music… music has so many faces!
Kenn
– Name a person, event or maybe an album, that have had a big
influence on you life, and why?
Hubi:
Dream Theater - ”Images and Words” & Steve Vai -
“Passion and Warfare”.
When I listened to "Images and Words" for the first
time, I was overwhelmed by the unique sound and atmosphere of this
album… until today it’s one of my favourite albums. Also
“Passion & Warfare” felt like a real blessing and has this
“not-from-this-world” touch… the moods and harmonies on this
album cannot be described in words…
Kenn
– When you sit back to relax at home, what kind of things do you
do? Listen to music, read, watch TV or…
Hubi: You
got it! I’m a real bookworm and I love listening to music! TV
became more and more unimportant to me but watching a good DVD
from time to time is something which I really like, too.
Kenn
- Last question - do you have any famous last words for our
readers?
Hubi: Thanks
a lot for your time & interest! Feel free to get your own
impression about KAILASH on my site www.HubiMeisel.com
Have
a great time and BEST WISHES from
Munich
:-)
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