W2, Den Bosch (NL)
June 11th, 2005

“Unknown Pleasure dark ambient special” with live: H.E.R.R. / Des Esseintes / Olen’k / The Protagonist
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LVC, Leiden (NL)
May 28th, 2005.
Live: Co.Caspar, Tribe of Circle and Dernière Volonté.
Organisation: La La Land
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Recently Peter Ulrich released his second solo album “Enter the Mysterium”, after his debut with “Pathways and Dawns” in 1999. No matter how many other albums he will make, I suspect Ulrich will always be related to his previous activities as drummer/percussionist of Dead Can Dance. Which is of course nothing to be ashamed about. In this lengthy and readworthy interview Ulrich tells more about his varied musical influences, his working process, his experiences with Dead Can Dance, his favourite music and much more.
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13 - 16 May 2005, Leipzig (Germany), various locations.
My memory does not always serve me well, but I guess this was my fifth visit to the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig since my first time in 1998. The yearly Easter festival, which has organically grown into a major gothic event, was already held for the fourteenth time. Around 20.000 people from all over the world made the journey to eastern Germany to see around 170 bands and acts at approx. 20 different locations. Of course they were way too many bands that I wanted to see playing at the same time, but still I managed to attend about 20 concerts.Thursday was our day of arrival. We settled down at our hotel (I’ve never been much of an outdoor camping type), picked up the festival tickets, had dinner with our fellow Dutch travellers and made a long walk to feel the vibe of the city again. We were ready for the festival…
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Novalis from Germany has a melancholic and romantic musical sound, somwhere between neofolk and dark wave. Since their first EP in 2001 the band gradually evolved, with concerts and releases getting better everytime. Their latest album “…Paradise?” is their strongest work so far. Stev Schumann (vocals/guitar) tells us somewhat more about the band. The interview was delayed a little, because Novalis was confronted with a German band from the 70’s with the same name. Therefore they decided to change their name slightly to “NOVALIS deux”.
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Paradiso, Amsterdam
4 April 2005

The Einstuerzende Neubauten already exist for 25 years now. To celebrate this anniversary, the Berlin avantgarde industrial act embarked on a new tour. They played amongst others in Amsterdam’s Paradiso, where they did a great show.
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Nederlands Congres Centrum (NCC), PWA Zaal, The Hague
12 March 2005
Dead Dan Dance is of course a legendary band, and high on my wishlist of bands to see live. From various people I heard euphoric comments about how good Brendan Perry are Lisa Gerrard are on stage. The fact that they split up in 1998 made it unlikely that I would ever get a chance to see Dead Can Dance perform. I only attended a Brendan Perry solo concert once in Amsterdam. But suddenly, a few months ago, it was announced that Perry and Gerrard would go on the road again, with a new band of musicans. I was not the only one craving to see them live, because the 13-date European tour was quickly sold out. It will be followed by a North American tour.
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Quite a lot happened lately around Battery Cage, the EBM/industrial band from Boston. So much actually, that interviewer Ikecht hardly knew where to begin with his questions. There is news about three different albums being released and re-released on various labels. Time to clear some confusion, time to let founding member Tyler Newman inform us about the past and future of Battery Cage.
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