Heiko Maile Interview by Camouflage-Info-Service in Deutsch | English
Interview with Heiko about the upcoming tour
Camouflage-Info-Service: The "REWIND TO THE FUTURE AND GOODBYE" tour starts in a few days. Can you share some details with us?
Heiko Maile: We’re really excited, especially since it’s been a while since we’ve been on stage with Camouflage. A major downside for Marcus and me is the thought of performing without Oliver on stage. He’s still very much a part of the band, but for personal reasons, he has decided not to perform live with us again. As you can imagine, this decision left us feeling quite uncertain, and we questioned whether we should even go ahead with the shows under these new circumstances. After all, the band existed as a duo between 1991 and 1998, and we were thrilled when Oli rejoined us after those years. We had hoped for a long time before the tour that Oli might change his mind about concerts, especially considering our other joint projects. But eventually, we had to make a collective decision. Now, there are essentially two parts to our band: Camouflage "Music + Albums" with Oli, Camouflage "Live" without Oli.
CIS: Did Oliver send a message to the fans?
HM: Yes, Oli asked us to release the following statement ahead of the tour on his behalf:
"Dear CAMOUFLAGE friends & concertgoers,
It’s been several years since CAMOUFLAGE toured live. Over the next few weeks, you can look forward to our first concerts since 2015.
I personally decided some time ago not to tour for the foreseeable future and will not be participating in the 'REWIND TO THE FUTURE AND GOODBYE' shows in 2024 and 2025.
This has been a difficult situation for us as a band, and I am very grateful to Heiko & Marcus for respecting my decision, even as we continue working together on new songs & ideas, which you’ll hopefully hear soon.
I wish you all special concert moments!
Oliver Kreyssig"
CIS: What does that mean for the actual implementation of the tour?
HM: We’ve teamed up again with our long-time collaborators Jochen Schmalbach (drums and electronic drums) and Volker Hinkel (guitar and keyboards), and we’re excited for what feels like a revival of our tours in 2006 and 2015. Since Volker is busy with his own band and won’t be available for all future dates, we’ve brought in guitarist Stefan “Snöt” Fehling to join us as well. In addition to the musical side, we’ve put a lot of effort into the visual design of the concerts, and we’re really curious to see how our fans will respond. The rehearsals are going great, and we’re very much looking forward to the shows.
CIS: Will you share the setlist with us?
HM: Certainly not ;-) But I can tell you this much: besides the songs everyone wants to hear, there will also be surprises. Of course, we can’t play everything that both the fans and we would like to hear – there are simply too many songs by now. If everything goes to plan, we’ll even play two new tracks. But if you were hoping for a quiet evening without movement and singalongs, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed ;-)
CIS: New tracks? That’s intriguing, especially since you announced last year that you’d be releasing new songs for the 2024 tour.
HM: Touché! We have indeed been working on new songs and were initially confident we’d have them ready, both in terms of content and timing, though we never made any firm commitments regarding a release date or the number of songs. The reason we often need to be somewhat vague is simply because of the situation with our band and its members. While we operate the band professionally and with full focus, it depends on whether – and this “whether” has been a constant companion for many years – we can align our band activities with our main jobs. Other bands in similar situations might handle this differently, but for us, it’s clear: if we perform or release music as Camouflage, it’s with our full focus. If that isn’t possible for any reason, then it takes longer. Releasing songs or productions that we’re not 100% convinced of is simply not an option for us. While I sometimes miss the old days with large production budgets and plenty of time in the studio together, the fact that we don’t rely on the band for our livelihoods actually gives us a certain artistic freedom. From an outside perspective, people often wish for a different pace from us, but this is our reality – even though we’re still compared to artists with much larger revenue streams who can draw from more resources. Giving up is not an option, though; we love making music too much. We’ll continue working on the new songs after the tour – with Oli, too!
CIS: Universal Music is planning a kind of fan box for the band’s 40th anniversary. What can you tell us about that?
HM: We’re really pleased about this project, even though it’s come at a time when we’re fully focused on the tour preparations and our calendar is already overflowing. With Thomas Thyssen and Steffi Zoll from the "Catalogue Domestic" department, we have fantastic partners looking after the albums and content from our contract period with Universal Music (formerly Metronome). At some point, the idea for a fan box to celebrate our 40th anniversary came up. However, as we’ve been working with our partner Gunther Buskies and his label “Bureau B” on releasing the "30th Anniversary Limited Editions" of our albums ourselves, putting a lot of time and care into each one, the bar is set very high for such a fan box. We’ve seen the first samples of the packaging, and while we don’t want to give too much away just yet, the quality of this fan box is going to be top-notch – you can look forward to a stunning and elegant piece of Camouflage history! We also love the idea of letting the fans vote online to decide the tracklist. The internal band bets on which song will make the top 40 are already in full swing. The title of the box will be "REWIND TO THE FUTURE AND GOODBYE." We’ll be sharing more details about the content and design of this fan box in the coming days.
CIS: Speaking of the "30th Anniversary Limited Editions." Next year marks the 30th anniversary of your album "Spice Crackers". Will there be a limited edition for this as well?
HM: Yes, there are plans for a limited edition. Though, considering the other work for Camouflage at the moment, I’d happily skip it this time around. For these editions, I typically spend around six weeks on archival work, remastering, tracklisting, photos, digitising, graphics, etc. Oli helped with the graphics for "Methods of Silence" and "Meanwhile", which was a huge relief. But the time for the liner notes and texts alone … Maybe ask me again after all the tour stress ;-)
CIS: Will there be Camouflage merchandise available during the tour?
HM: Definitely! We’ve teamed up with Bravado, a new partner, to handle merchandise for the tour and beyond. There’ll be a range of items available, which can also be purchased online through our new shop that will launch a day before the tour begins. This way, fans who can’t make it to the concerts will still have a chance to get their hands on our merchandise. Long-term, we’re even considering a "vintage" series in limited numbers, featuring reprints of T-shirts from the early days or designs related to a specific song or album.
CIS: We’ve heard there will also be a "Camouflage Synthesizer"?
HM: As a treat for tech fans interested in Eurorack synths, we’ve collaborated with Thorsten Janert from Tunefish Modular in Braunschweig to create an exclusive Eurorack module for us. The module fits perfectly with the name, design, colour, and style of our "REWIND TO THE FUTURE AND GOODBYE" tour. It’s a combination of three different areas, based on original modules from the now-defunct Mutable Instruments, which we’ve long used in the studio. As a small nod to our band, we’ve named the three sections VOICE = Marcus, TRIGGER = Oliver, and FILTER = Heiko. The edition is strictly limited to 40 units and will be sold exclusively by Tunefish Modular.
Infos:
Eurorack synthesizer module "REWIND TO THE FUTURE"
Limited to 40 units (40 years of Camouflage) for €449
VOICE: based on Braids (v1.9 / Renaissance 040) 57 synthesis models
TRIGGER: based on Peaks (Dead Man’s Catch) 23 modes
FILTER: based on Ripples (2020) second distorting input, high-pass output, switchable slope
Comes with shared power supply in a gift box:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066375560347
https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/pro/tunefish-modular
https://www.instagram.com/tunefishmodular/
CIS: Thank you for the interesting and open interview. We wish you much success for your upcoming tour and we are really looking forward to the concerts.
HM: Thanks! My pleasure!