The Questions:

• ANTICHRISIS have played one tour so far, as far as I know: what were your impressions from playing live?
  
• Your music style has little to do with metal now, wouldn't it be perhaps more fit to play with different kind of bands, at least SKYCLAD, SUBWAY TO SALLY, IN EXTREMO or even better CHIEFTAINS?
  
• What is your preferred music today and do you listen to underground bands as well?
  
• Sid, you were born in 1962: What makes you continue in the fields of music after all these years. Perhaps music is such a large part of yourself and your life that you simply couldn't live without it?
  
• What comes to your mind when you think of Black Metal?
  
• When listening to your vocal performances, I can detect a certain passion and also an ability of acting in different characters. It seems that you're identifying yourself with each song. What do you think is the quality of a good singer? And don't you think that many young bands of today's scene do not feel real passion for what they're doing?
  
• Many gothic metal bands have used female vocals very well but also in excess nowadays. How do you feel about it? What is the main difference between a female and a male musician to you?
  
• In summer 1995 the debut demo "Missa Depositum Custodi" was released: Seems it was a great success in the underground, but it seems that it was mainly sold in Germany. What do you think about the demo nowadays? Should you have worked longer on the material before recording it or is it exactly the way you wanted it to be?
  
• The band is located in Germany, however your names do not sound German at all - what's your / their origin?
  
• I'd like to know the reasons about your choice of ANTICHRISIS as monicker...
  
• In which ways have you succeeded in mixing your obviously various background influences to such a wonderful and unique sound?
  
• According to you, what distinguishes you from the average gothic-metal stereotype?
  
• I find your lyrics to be great pieces of poetry. You must have put down a lot of time and effort into them. Do you think it's easy to write lyrics with substance? Isn't it hard for you as a German to express your feelings in English?
  
• Were you born as a gifted musician or how did you manage to play so many instruments?
  
• Will I make you laugh if I said that you have a possibility to become as good and well known as MIKE OLDFIELD or
  CLANNAD? Of course in the future....
  
• Which are the main feelings you want to transport through your music? Would it be melancholy or beauty - or both?
  
• Have you ever played live? I would be really interested in your gigs which must be a great experience. Another band I know once mentioned that their dream would be to play in an ancient church. Have you ever thought similarly about this as well?
  
• ANTICHRISIS has released 3 excellent albums so far, but hasn't achieved that much recognition. Do you have an explanation for that phenomenon?
  
• Do you still believe that your music - or just music in general - might change the cruel world or people?
  
• You don't feel shy about expressing your most peronal emotions in this naked form. Do you want to confess all your sins? Does the audience have a totally passive role?
  
• ANTICHRISIS were a band always sort of veiled in mystery as to the people behind the moniker. Your debut was a creation of one Moonshadow, while on the second record there are completely different people. Can you throw some light on your line-up development and also what's the line-up now?
  
• You do seem to be fascinated by ancient cultures, am I right?
  
• When did your interest in music start? And how was your musical development?
  
• Where would you go if you were able to fly with no limits of space or time? Who do you think have you been in previous lifes?
  
• What comes to your mind when you think of the Night?
  
• Do you think the imposition of the EU laws and standards will help with things like sexism, racism, disrespect for nature ...?
  
• What comes to your mind when you think of Germany?
  
• It seems to me that the perfect time for you to live in would be England in XI. Century, Sherwood, Robin Hood thing like that....am I right?
  
• You do seem to be fascinated by ancient cultures, am I right?
  
• Why do you think is Ireland, the cradle of such beautiful music, torn apart by such stupid religious conflicts?
  
• Human race has destroyed large parts of nature. What do you think about this abuse? What do you think will the world be looking like in another 10 years?
  
• What do you think about the Christian definition of love?
  
• What comes to your mind when you think of the following items:
  
• What comes to your mind when you hear the word christianity?
  
• I do sense some anti-Christian undertones in some of your lyrics. Do you have an opinion on religion in general?
  
• What is the sense of life/death in your point of view?
  
• What comes to your mind when you thing of Death?
  
• What do you think happens to us after we die? Do you believe that there's a heaven and hell or do you think that "hell" is where we are now and "heaven" (not the christian idea of heaven) is a place that we will be granted after our physical death?
  
• With your sort of pagan influenced view of the world, how do you see love and life as opposed to war and death?
  
• What is your definition of true love?
  
• What is the sense of life/death in your point of view?
  
• Do you think that love is far away from hate? What is more difficult: to love or to hate?
  
• What does the word love mean to you?
  
• People say that when you fall in love you do not notice anything around any more - was it the same to you when it comes to your first love?
  
• Some individuals seem to find erotic literature and pornography (I'm talking about the legal stuff here, not snuff or paedophilia etc.) to be showing women as inferior, while others believe that it's a positive way of portraying the female body, making women more worth in a man's mind. What do you think about this?
  
• How do you feel when you hear about pornography with children through the Internet nearly every day? Do you think that one day it will be common to watch those pictures on TV?
  
• What's your opinion on alcohol - not just as a drink, but as a social phenomenon?
  
• Your answers in the interviews I read are usually very witty, do you need some time to make up an answer or are you able to answer right away?
  
• What do you think of politicians?
  
• How do you feel when you hear about pornography with children through the Internet nearly every day? Do you think that one day it will be common to watch those pictures o TV?
  
• The lyrics on "Goodbye to Jane" deal with a girl being abused by her father. Is this just fiction or a true story of someone you know? And what's your opinion about child abuse?
  
• I think I can easily say that "A Legacy Of Love" is a manifesto of love and friendship: do you think that people influenced by this album have changed their view on these issues or have perhaps discovered a new truth for themselves?
  
• I suppose you are one of few bands that decided to include the notes in their booklet. What was the reason for doing this?
  
• Although love brings happiness (and sometimes sadness), "A Legacy of Love" is full of sorrow. Did you want to describe the sad side of love?
  
• The sound of "A Legacy of Love" seems more direct than the one of "Cantara Anachoreta"....
  
• In the booklets preface of "A Legacy of Love" you say that both darkness and light are given to us to make us prosper and grow. Do you consider composing and writing as an adventure and what are your inner conquests?
  
• What's the meaning of the cover and the artwork in the booklet of "A Legacy of Love"?
  
• You have just returned from the studio where you�ve recorded your new album �Perfume�: Can you give us some impressions about the time you spent there, including the material you have recorded?
  
• Perfume is released by Napalm Records, is it your real first release for them? I think in the past you have suffered by very poor distribution...not to mention promotion!
  
• Do you think Perfume has met the expectations of your audience? Will Antichrisis ever hit the airwaves of commercial
  radio station or do you consider yourself as being not ÒmainstreamÒ enough...
  
• It took quite a long time to come up with Perfume, aren't you afraid of losing touch with the fans?
  
• In which ways have you succeeded in mixing acoustic and electric music?
  
• Would you like to talk about the genesis of �Perfume�?
  
• Is there a concept behind the lyrics of �Perfume�?
  
• What about the general atmosphere of Perfume?
  
• �Perfume� contains very exclusive kind of music; with it's odour influencing all senses - this time your music is more rock-ish, psychedelic or even sensorical, but however it is still Antichrisis, thanks to Näx's characteristic instruments. Do you agree with this recapitulation?
  
• The vocals on �Perfume� are also very impressive: Are they just done by you and Dragonfly, or was anybody else involved?
  
• So we've got the third album of Antichrisis. I have to tell you that while listening to this album for the first time I had a feeling that the album sounded too modern, that you drift towards pop music too dangerously. My feeling was for sure influenced by the fact that the songs form �Perfume� were easier and somehow nicer; they fell faster into your ear. But after listening to it few times you realize that it is the same band, only refreshened and more "cheerful" Do you agree?
  
• But aren't you afraid that the direction you've chosen may bear fruit of falling into excessive musical triviality?
  
• I know also that you would like to reach wider horizons with Antichrisis' music, to go out of musical underground. You dream about charts, radio stations and (what I was mostly surprised with) people dancing to your music. I think you will admit that it is an unusual declaration in our music environment!
  
• I have got a feeling that the cover of "Perfume" was prepared in a hurry: It looks so very poor and its content inside is also very modest. What sense does it make to put your lyrics at the Website only? Don't you think that a buyer deserves its printed version in the booklet?
  
• In the booklet we can find a remark that �Perfume� is meant to be the last part of a trilogy. I'd like to know what the next step will be?
  
• With the aforementioned situation you can't do without a proper promotion, so the question is how are you going to promote the new record, what's your part on it and what's the part of your record label and, finally, will there be a tour as well?
  
• Naex, you're using traditional instruments such as uileann pipes and bodhran. Are you dedicated to folk music?
  
• What do you think about this folk/celtic renaissance in today's rock scene?
  
• What causes your fascination of Celtic music or folk stuff in general. Don't you wanna pick up some german folk influences?
  
• What is so fascinating in folklore? I mean it's a dead culture after all...
  
• It seems to me that sometimes in your music you wanna appeal to a metal audience like on "Trying not to breathe.".Why is this so? I mean you should rather stick to that beautiful quality of songs like "Baleias Bailando".
  
• Where can I find Planet Kyrah that you sing about so beautifully? Does it have something in common with the novel "Little Prince" by Saint-Exupery?
  
• You've used a couple of french expressions in "The Sea"....Have you chosen them to create a special feeling? Why?
  
• Your reference to classic characters like Romeo and Juliet in "Our Last Show" gives a theatrical aspect to the story....would you consider yourself as a modern Romeo?
  
• Which is the hidden message of the raven's cry on "Forever I Ride"?
  
• "The Farewell" can be considered as a summary of all the songs on "A Legacy of Love" with a ray of hope at the end, right? Anyway, I cannot understand the last line (due to my ignorance of German language): Would you mind to translate "Ich liebe Dich fuer immer"?
  
• Is "Cantara Anachoreta" a concept-album? And could you explain the title?
  

ANTICHRISIS have played one tour so far, as far as I know: what were your impressions from playing live?

Näx: I didn't play on the tour because I was studying wit in Brazil down by the river Amazonas. Very interesting.

Sid: I do love to play live, but the technical and organizational circumstances hadn't been too good on the aforementioned tour. Nevertheless, talking to the fans after the show always was a pleasant experience - it was very impressive to see how much our songs meant to them... and I guess it was kind of surprising to them to see that the people behind Antichrisis are not your average semi-depressed Gothic-geezers, but a bunch of quite easy to get along with people, even if some of us were temporarily absent, pretending to do some quite dubious wit-researches down in Brazil.....

Your music style has little to do with metal now, wouldn't it be perhaps more fit to play with different kind of bands, at least SKYCLAD, SUBWAY TO SALLY, IN EXTREMO or even better CHIEFTAINS?

Näx: No, I only want to play with bands that are really famous ;-)

Sid: Although all aformentioned bands are very good, I'd prefer to play with bands/artists like Magnetic Fields, Hidden Cameras or Bruce Springsteen (no kidding!) if I had the choice....Of course ANTICHRISIS is not a metal band, and I have been explaining in interviews again and again that ANTICHRISIS can never be limited to just one musical style. We do use some metal influences as well as influences from every other kind of music that we happen to like - be it Folk, Dark Wave, Classic, Dancefloor, Rock, Pop, TripHop a.s.o., so calling us a metal-band would be just as wrong as calling us a Folk-band, Grunge-band or any other kind-of-just-one-category-band. In my point of view, we're nothing else than just a slightly different Pop-band!

What is your preferred music today and do you listen to underground bands as well?

Sid: I listen to a large variety of music: Classical stuff, Dub Reggae, Country & Western, Celtic Folk, TripHop, Punk (hence I love internet radio, as it gives me the chance to listen to stuff that would never be played on the ordinary airwaves!) - just to name a few: I don't make any differences between underground or commercial bands as long as the music itself does send shivers down my spine (which is quite hard these days, as I have to admit!).

Näx: I listen to Irish Folk Music and latin-american stuff from Cuba and Peru a lot. My favourite underground bands are The Chieftains and Afro Cuban All Stars.....oh yes, and Buena Vista Social Club is also fuckin� great!

Sid, you were born in 1962: What makes you continue in the fields of music after all these years. Perhaps music is such a large part of yourself and your life that you simply couldn't live without it?

Sid: Yes, music is one of the most essential gists in my life - it's like a prayer to me, a divine gift of the Goddess allowing me to express my feelings, my visions and dreams that would otherwise be unutterable...

Music is so much more than just a hobby to me: It's the rhythm of my life, and I always feel like a dancer between the worlds when performing my songs.

I do not think that music is a matter of age: It only depends on how devoted you are. If it's just a pastime, then you'll lay down your guitar as soon as you've settled down and other things have become more important. But if you're a passionate musician, nothing will stop you from expressing your emotions through melodies, harmonies and rhythms.

Of course my musical taste has changed through all these years: Although I still listen to that old school of '77 Brit-Punk (Those were the days...sigh!), I'm nowadays also listening to classical stuff, Irish Folk, TripHop, Country & Western and Reggae (just to name a few): As long as it is a "good" song, I don't care about any musical styles...

What comes to your mind when you think of Black Metal?

Sid: Just another fake teenage rebellion by predominantly male middle-class nitwits going through puberty, obviously taking pulp literature, b-movies and themselves much too seriously.

When listening to your vocal performances, I can detect a certain passion and also an ability of acting in different characters. It seems that you're identifying yourself with each song. What do you think is the quality of a good singer? And don't you think that many young bands of today's scene do not feel real passion for what they're doing?

Sid: Being a good singer requires the ability to re-live the situation of the song you're singing: Song and singer have to melt into one, the song's story has to become part of the vocalist's emotional world. This is only possible if the lyrics do reflect your feelings and experiences - then singing a song can become something similar to playing the leading role in a drama: Like every good actor you have to become another character, reveal other facets of the human soul. A good singer is always able to immerse into a world of its own when singing a song.

A musician - just like every proper artist - has to be a visionaire; if not, his art would be nothing more than mere craftsmanship. Many young bands seem to care more about meeting an audience's expectation or copying their idols instead of developing their own musical language - that's not vision, but a frame without a picture! All that matters is musical inspiration, the artist's vision - and not image or outfit!

Many gothic metal bands have used female vocals very well but also in excess nowadays. How do you feel about it? What is the main difference between a female and a male musician to you?

Sid : Yes, it seems that the Nightwish-syndrome has taken over the gothic metal-scene, quite often in order to disguise the male singer's incapacity, but that point doesn't concern us at all: I am a pretty good vocalist myself, but I like the idea of integrating a female voice because of the different colour that this vocals provide to the big picture of ANTICHRISIS.

This doesn't necessarily mean that I'd prefer the male voice being responsible for the aggressive or powerful parts of the music whereas the female singer does all the soft and lyrical bits - this kind of stereotype is much too predictable and boring, hence I'm simply avoiding this mode of operation.

The difference between a male and a female musician? I don't see any difference in general because in my book musicianship doesn't depend on sexual categories, just on artistic ones - and if it comes to singing, it's merely reduced to the fact that there are not that many men able to sing soprano, whereas women hardly reach the pitch level of the bass.

In summer 1995 the debut demo "Missa Depositum Custodi" was released: Seems it was a great success in the underground, but it seems that it was mainly sold in Germany. What do you think about the demo nowadays? Should you have worked longer on the material before recording it or is it exactly the way you wanted it to be?

Sid: There has been an edition of 500 copies of "Missa Depositum Custodi", and it has been sold-out within 6 months after its release, which is quite good for the first demo of a newcomer. You are right: Most of the copies were sold in Germany, just a few in Greece and Italy. There hasn't been a 2nd. Edition because as the demo got ANTICHRISIS a record contract, it had fulfilled its purpose and is now simply a collector's item.

I still like "Missa Depositum Custodi" because whereas the sound of the subsequently released album "Cantara Anachoreta" is much better with the songs being performed much straighter, the demo with its more "baroque" attitude and insufficient sound (that's homerecording for you!) nevertheless manages to create an own special atmosphere. Of course many things could have been done better, but I consider recordings as some kind of snapshot: The attraction lies in the spontaneity and not on some perfect technical standards - true feelings are always miles away from being immaculate, I guess! "Missa Depositum Custodi" is simply the best I could come up with at the time I recorded it....

The band is located in Germany, however your names do not sound German at all - what's your / their origin?

Sid: We're definitely of german origin, although I don't care that much about nationalities....I used to live in England in my teenage days where I caught my nickname "Sid" (because of my predilection for the later-to-be-stone-dead Sex Pistols bass player Sid Vicious) - and somehow I got used to it.....

Näx' real name is Alexander, but he never revealed the mystery behind his nickname to me....I guess it has something to do with his sometimes very wicked sense of humour!

Näx: The origins of the name NÄX lie in the very old past. It was created by a shamane named RENREW, when he went into mystic trance (caused by wodka, I think). The myths around this name are some of the last unanswered questions of this word.

I'd like to know the reasons about your choice of ANTICHRISIS as monicker...

Sid: ANTICHRISIS is a greek anagramm meaning "Sacred Dances to honour Queen Isis", and it stands for the pagan-matriarchal tradition that ANTICHRISIS was and still is connected with. There's absolutely no satanic or whatsoever background, as many people presumed who misspelled the bands name as "Antichrist"...

In which ways have you succeeded in mixing your obviously various background influences to such a wonderful and unique sound?

Sid: I do listen to a large variety of different musical styles, be it Punk, Folk, Metal, Classical Music, Dark Wave, Medieval Music, Country & Western, Reggae, Trip Hop a. s. o., and one can learn a lot just by listening carefully to different styles - hence theres a multitude of influences reflected in ANTICHRISIS, which makes it quite impossible to describe the sound of this band without ending up with a slightly dumb expression like Medieval-Celtic- Folk-Doom-Black-Gothic-Britpop-Dark- Wave-Grunge-Ballad- Metal or something stupid like that....ANTICHRISIS can't be described in musical terms except with adjectives like unique, refreshing or thrilling. I mean there are bands that do sound like Joy Division, bands that sound like Massive Attack or bands that sound like The Pogues - but there's only one band being able to come up with a compound of all these and many more musical ingredients while still creating its very own musical vision - and that's ANTICHRISIS!

I don't bloody care about artistic limitations: Inspiration comes in any shape it likes, and it'd be a shame trying to restrict it to just one kind of musical expressiveness - if a song comes to me as a folk ballad, I'll translate it exactly that way into music; if it comes to me as a piece of gloomy doom metal, I'll have to let it happen that way! Musical limitation means standstill to an artists creativity.

Take "Forever I Ride" for example, where you'll find at least four different musical patterns within one song: It starts like an up-tempo folk-song introducing a medieval brass band in the bridge, then turns into a stirring metal-refrain, followed by a bewitching atmospheric ballad with fairy-like vocals, when suddenly a ravishing black metal-part with a powerful female lead and wistful Irish bagpipes emerges a.s.o. - there are bands who would make at least 3 complete albums out of the ideas that I've put into just one song!

All ideas for the songs of ANTICHRISIS derive from the spiritual world, hence this music shows such large variety: Spiritual inspiration doesn't care about boundaries of musical style; it comes in any shape it likes and I am nothing more but an interpreter in the literal meaning of the word: If a song comes to me as a folk ballad, I'll translate it exactly that way, if it comes as a groovy TripHop-tune, I'll have to let it happen that way - and sometimes the contents of a song ask for more than just one kind of musical expression!

I do not actually create songs: They come to me like dreams or visions any time they want, they are prodigies of inspiration and that is why I actually cannot plan or propose anything - it's like sitting by a river-bank, watching the petals, leaves, boughs or other things floating by while picking up the most remarkable ones. To me it's a sacred act of inspiration, a gift of the Goddess, and I am most grateful being able to transform this divine inspiration into words and tunes. The songs do seem to create themselves as they go along, both musically and lyrically. All that's left for me to do is giving them a certain shape like a gardener trimming a tree!

According to you, what distinguishes you from the average gothic-metal stereotype?

Sid: The mere fact that ANTICHRISIS is not a gothic metal band! Like a painter uses a multitude of colours to create a landscape, I'm using different musical ingredients to form the soundscape of ANTICHRISIS - and Gothic or Metal are just two shades of a thousand and one musical colours of my palette...

ANTICHRISIS can only be categorized by emotional values, not by any assignments of musical styles!

I find your lyrics to be great pieces of poetry. You must have put down a lot of time and effort into them. Do you think it's easy to write lyrics with substance? Isn't it hard for you as a German to express your feelings in English?

Sid: As I am more of a musician than a poet, it takes me more time to write the lyrics than the music itself: While I don't have to think at all to create music, it's definitely some kind of intellectual effort to find the right words!

Nevertheless it's not too difficult to me: My lyrics are based on my own emotional experiences or on my philosophy of life. I'm free to write about everything that is important to me, as I'm not limited by attitude, image or genre-affiliation.

I think I'm getting along with English quite well: I love the musical quality of this language and its multitude of expressional subtlety (something that's hard to find in my mother tongue), therefore I consider English as being the most suitable linguistic medium for my purposes.

Were you born as a gifted musician or how did you manage to play so many instruments?

Sid: I wouldn't say I'm gifted - I've never learned to play any instrument properly, and I'm not at all a "good" musician if it comes to technical skills: All I know is how to hold a guitar (pointy end in the air, right?) and how to play a few basic chords - that's it. My so called talent lies in writing and arranging songs so that they sound as if one had to be pretty smart to perform them...

Will I make you laugh if I said that you have a possibility to become as good and well known as MIKE OLDFIELD or CLANNAD? Of course in the future....

Sid: No, you won't...although I think it's a bit tricky to compare a young band like ANTICHRISIS with renown and established acts like Mike Oldfield or Clannad (By the way: Mike Oldfield's "Voyager" is one of my favourite albums - highly recommendable!), because they've already proved their firmness and continousness throughout the years, whereas time has to tell if ANTICHRISIS will achieve the same capability - but I'm quite confident, anyway....

Näx: Well, I personally think that it is nearly impossible to reach Clannad's standard, but be assured that we're working on it.

Which are the main feelings you want to transport through your music? Would it be melancholy or beauty - or both?

Sid: The main idea behind ANTICHRISIS is that music and lyrics as an undividable entity should be a reflection of my soul, a mirror of my dreams, my visions, my desires and my emotions. Hence this music is of very personal and intimate matter, for it reveals my inner self completely...

Melancholy and beauty are both part of my world of emotions, as well as love and hate, sadness and joy, fear and hope, strength and weakness, desire and lust, depression and confidence...it would be impossible to list all the emotional states I am or have been going through, but nevertheless they're all reflected in my songs - and that's exactly what I want to transmit to the listener: The heart and soul of me, my emotions with all their shades and nothing else....

Have you ever played live? I would be really interested in your gigs which must be a great experience. Another band I know once mentioned that their dream would be to play in an ancient church. Have you ever thought similarly about this as well?

Sid : We have actually been playing live when touring Europe (Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands) together with Tristania, The Sins of thy Beloved, Siebenbürgen and Trail of Tears in spring 1999, but it wasn't exactly a satisfying experience for us: Poor organisation, lack of essential equipment, bad promotion and other unpleasant circumstances made this some kind of "Tour de Force" - 19 gigs within 3 weeks without a day off, surrounded by a horde of permanently drunken Scandinavians wasn't that much fun! Anyway, we tried to make the best out of it and act as professional as possible (quite tricky if you haven't the chance to do soundchecks!), so we could at least prove the audience that ANTICHRISIS is also a splendid live-act! Unfortunately Naex couldn't be with us on that tour, as he had to pass his exams at that time, so the tour-band included just me, Dragonfly, Brown Jenkin on Guitar, a mad session drummer and our japanese friend Roland on Keyboards and Sequencer.

Nevertheless I do enjoy live performances, although I'd prefer an old pagan temple to a Christian building for an ANTICHRISIS-gig - as long as there are enough sockets somewhere: Otherwise it'd be a rather "unplugged" experience (which wouldn't mean a serious problem to ANTICHRISIS either, as we're capable of doing an acoustic set as well!).

ANTICHRISIS has released 3 excellent albums so far, but hasn't achieved that much recognition. Do you have an explanation for that phenomenon?

Sid : Thanks for your compliment....I guess the point about ANTICHRISIS being not that popular as it deserves to be (at least in my humble opinion) is that ANTICHRISIS is not "trendy" enough! It's not easy for the audience to "consume" our music, because the music itself challenges a listener's open-mindedness! If you listen to a Cradle of Filth-album for example, you'll always know what the next song on the CD might probably sound like, because bands like CoF as well as many others are strictly limited to just one musical style....but if you listen to an ANTICHRISIS-album for the very first time, it's simply impossible to predict what'll come next - or would you have expected a Pop-tune like "Nightswan" after the Intro ("How can I live on top of the mountain?") on our 2nd. album? And even if you think you might have got the idea behind ANTICHRISIS, then the next album will be completely different from the last one...

Do you still believe that your music - or just music in general - might change the cruel world or people?

Sid: No, not at all: The only thing or person that I can change is myself - and working on or performing the music of ANTICHRISIS always causes vast changes within myself; it's like communicating with my deeper self, like encountering my ancient soul's wisdom!

People may be influenced to a certain extent by ANTICHRISIS music (or music in general), they may even find themselves reflected in my or anybody else's songs, but my songs are not meant to change anyone and it's also not in my power to cause such effects! People can only change themselves if they have the will and the ability to do so, and sometimes certain songs may enhance social awareness or can be sort of guidelines....but nothing more!

Näx: Neither literature, drama, music nor other arts are able to change the cruelty in the world or cruel people. This can only be tried (unsuccessfully) by a strong community of upright people. These upright people may find recreation and power in arts, but art itself changes nothing.

You don't feel shy about expressing your most peronal emotions in this naked form. Do you want to confess all your sins? Does the audience have a totally passive role?

Sid: I don't think in terms like guilt or sin: they mean nothing to me - and as there's no such thing like sin, there's also nothing to confess! I don't think that the harrowing affairs I've experienced are some kind of punishment for something I might have done wrong - they are simply something I had to experience to fulfill my karmic destiny, and it's on me to learn or to reject the learning objective...

Of course the audience has a passive role insofar as listening to music on tape or CD isn't exactly what one would call an interactive process - and after all I don't care what kind of expectations an audience might have: The music of ANTICHRISIS is made and performed just for me and to some extent for those involved in this band - not for anybody else!

ANTICHRISIS were a band always sort of veiled in mystery as to the people behind the moniker. Your debut was a creation of one Moonshadow, while on the second record there are completely different people. Can you throw some light on your line-up development and also what's the line-up now?

Sid: Well, It may come to you as a surprise, but Moonshadow and me are just the same person! Moonshadow was my pseudonyme on "Cantara Anachoreta", but because of some drastic personal experiences I decided not to use this name any longer and picked up my "normal" name again. I also wanted to make clear that the audience shouldn't focus on the people behind ANTICHRISIS, but on the music of ANTICHRISIS itself, and with letting Moonshadow "die" (on a metaphorical level) I tried to make clear that I do not want any idolization or anything like that - All that counts is the music itself!

So "Cantara Anachoreta", ANTICHRISIS' first album, was done almost on my own, with support of former guest-singer Willowcat. That cooperation wasn't very satisfying on the long run, so I was searching for a new female singer who I found in Lisa. She did a very good job on ANTICHRISIS' second album "A Legacy of Love", but as she had been just a guest-vocalist as well, the search for a permanent member went on and found it's end when I met Dragonfly, who turned out to be the perfect singer for �Perfume�...

Näx, the "Prince of Pipes", joined ANTICHRISIS shortly after the release of "Cantara Anachoreta", and we got on together very well from the beginning, musically as well as personally. He is a great and gifted musician who has become a vital part of ANTICHRISIS since then and who likes to do weird interviews....

The other guys appearing on "Perfume" (Jens "Gnu" Bachmann on guitars, Tilo "Waran" Rockstroh on Keyboards and Kugator on drums) are brilliant musicians as well and it was great fun and a pleasure to work with them, but they're not permanent members of ANTICHRISIS so far - but I'm sure we'll be working together on the next album again!

You do seem to be fascinated by ancient cultures, am I right?

Sid: Yes, you are: I'm interested in matriarchal cultures all over the world, especially in those of Northern-European, pre-Celtic origin.

I do also admire Celtic Art: I remember having seen photographs of early Celtic Art when I was about 14 years old, and from that very moment I've been fascinated by the rich symbolism and the beauty of that artistic school; and so I tried to go deeper into Celtic Culture, reading every available book that I could lay my hands on. I spent about 10 or 12 years on reading and learning until I began actually understanding the spirit of all I've read about, which goes far beyond plain knowledge - spiritual awareness cannot be learned, it has to be experienced. Of course it was of great importance to me to gain knowledge through literature, but really experiencing the Celtic Spirit happened when I visited some of the ancient quoits in England and Ireland and listened to the old ballads not only with my ears, but with my heart!

When did your interest in music start? And how was your musical development?

Sid: My first-time acquaintance with music started with listening to Roy Orbison (him of the sunglasses at night and the angelic voice!) on the good old valve radio (those were the days!), subsequently superseded by Glam-Rock-protuberances like T. Rex, Gary Glitter. Slade, Sweet and (hold on!) The Kursaal Flyers (maybe that's why they call it the awkward age?). But shortly after my 14th. birthday, being on holiday somewhere in the outback of Bavaria (no rude comments, please!), some blessed DJ player "God save the Queen" by the later-to-be-awful Sex Pistols (them of the plugged bass-player) on the wireless , and from that very moment I turned into a punk (or a monster in my poor mother's humble opinion) without being kissed by your obligatory princess. Blimey, it was just my luck being a punk in a little quaint village that seemed to be bogged down somewhere between the Palaeozoic and the Precambrian era on the evolutionary scale!

As entering upon a punk career meant getting utterly fucked up almost every night, I thought I'd do a favour to my hepatitis if I went into that Dark Wave/Gothic-business instead, which to everyone's surprise served me pretty well during the next 5 years: The likes of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Theatre of Hate, Christian Death (them of the good-looking singer!), Throbbing Gristle (them of the grotty singer) or Cindytalk weren't exactly what one would call a boisterous bunch, but after all they made me give up drinking (would have been too much fun, I guess....).

A couple of years later I accidentally realized that Irish Folk could be even more melancholic and depressing than any CURE-album, and by getting myself an acoustic guitar, I turned out to be a Neo-hippie long before Tracy Chapman or The Walkabouts were invented - and I also found out that buskin' is a hard way of earning money as well as having some extra-ordinary one-night-stands....no wonder there was still no sign of the princess!

After one wicked weekend (we're talking about the golden age of every weekend being amazingly wicked!) I was feeling kind of sentimental and put on the dead-gorgeous "Pretty Vacant"-single by the later-to-be-unnecessarily-reunified Sex Pistols, but unfortunately the record player (that popular stone-age device for listening to music before CD-players were invented!) was on 33 1/3 rpm instead of the much more suitable 45 rpm - and that bungling of mine suddenly turned into pure enlightenment: Punk did sound so much more annoying if played at lower speed! But a few months later I had to find out that some creeps had nicked this brilliant invention of mine and called it "Doom Metal" - you just can't trust nobody!

To cut a long story short: Some time in the Nineties I thought it would sound quite nice throwing all my musical preferences in the big boiling cauldron and seasoning the strange dish with a strong dash of pop music - and that's the way ANTICHRISIS got on the menu!

Where would you go if you were able to fly with no limits of space or time? Who do you think have you been in previous lifes?

Sid : Hmm....though I'd like the idea of living in the matriarchal eras of Crete or Egypt, it seems quite reasonable to me to live here and now, which doesn't mean I'd be supposing we'd be living in the best of all worlds - but there is a spiritual purpose for us living exactly when and where we are, and I certainly don't want to mess around with universal orders!

Nevertheless I'd like to be able to live without any restrictions in freedom, peace and tranquillity somewhere by the sea (preferably Cornwall), and I hope I'll make it in this present incarnation....but most of all I'd like to live with the one I love, no matter what time or space as long as we are together forever! Maybe I'm just one of the last remaining hippies (although black-clothed and short-haired) because I still think that love, peace and understanding aren't such bad ideas....

I've received fragments of previous lifes in dreams and visions, and so far I've never been someone significant in historical terms. Best thing in social standards I've ever achieved was being an abbot in a little monastery in medieval times....seems I'm leaving all those V.I.P.-incarnations to other people.

What comes to your mind when you think of the Night?

Sid: Quite useful device as it helps to save daylight!

Do you think the imposition of the EU laws and standards will help with things like sexism, racism, disrespect for nature ...?

Näx: Oh, I like EU laws. They have great effects on the measures of bananas and condoms - two things that definitely belong together!

Sid: I do hope so - but as laws are made by politicans who are not exactly the kind of good samaritans they pretend to be, there's always the chance that things can even get worse. Although I'm very glad we got rid off these national-border-business, I'm also aware of the negative consequences - look at the things happening on the german-czechoslovakian border: prostitution, organized crime, child abuse (and I don't blame just the Czechs for that: It's the german wankers that invade towns like Cheb or Teplice to satisfy their so-called "needs")....it would be great if these things could be changed by EU-laws, but unfortunately racism, sexism & denial of nature are just the outgrowth of (mostly male) human stupidity and narrowmindedness....and there's no EU-law aginst that!

What comes to your mind when you think of Germany?

Sid: Could be a lovely little country if it weren't for those blasted Germans....

It seems to me that the perfect time for you to live in would be England in XI. Century, Sherwood, Robin Hood thing like that....am I right?

Sid: Funny that youre mentioning England, because it really is my favourite country (especially Cornwall), no matter what time or age. But I'll have to admit that I'm not too much into all that medieval stuff like Robin Hood or King Arthur; moreover I'm interested in neolithic cultures and religions as presented in the booklet-illustrations of "A Legacy of Love".

Näx: Yes, I am fascinated by the middle ages and of course by the celtic countries at that time, but there is a litlle problem that makes it impossible for me to wish to have lived at that time: The Uilleann Pipes were developed in the 17th. century! This means I would have been forced to play an ancient, simpler and more shrill sounding form of bagpipes, like german or galician bagpipes or others. Oh no, I wouldn't want to miss my Uilleann Pipes.

You do seem to be fascinated by ancient cultures, am I right?

Sid: Yes, you are: I'm interested in matriarchal cultures all over the world, especially in those of Northern-European, pre-Celtic origin. But I also admire Celtic Art: I remember having seen photographs of early Celtic Art when I was about 14 years old, and from that very moment I've been fascinated by the rich symbolism and the beauty of that artistic school; and so I tried to go deeper into Celtic Culture, reading every available book that I could lay my hands on. I spent about 10 or 12 years on reading and learning until I began actually understanding the spirit of all that I've read about, which goes far beyond plain knowledge - spiritual awareness cannot be learned, it has to be experienced. Of course it was of great importance to me to gain knowledge through literature, but really experiencing the Celtic Spirit happened when I visited some of the ancient quoits in England and Ireland and listened to the old ballads not only with my ears, but with my heart!

Why do you think is Ireland, the cradle of such beautiful music, torn apart by such stupid religious conflicts?

Sid: Because this country is a perfect example for the fatal combination of religious intolerance, historical injustice, and human stupidity! This conflict will never find an end as long as it's so much easier for some to hate than to forgive, and as long as there are always a few who stand to gain by the suffering of the people! Fancy that those who preach war and violence and who try to instigate the masses to carry on fighting are never those who have to bleed or suffer from destitution. But people love to follow leaders instead starting to think for themselves....it just makes me sick!

Näx: The Irish conflict is a political conflict hidden behind former religious problems, which are the result of the migration of people forced by English policy. As the Irish majority is tired of the civil war, I hope that the extremists of both sides give up their out-dated opinions, get into dialogue and finish their bloody fight that is of no use to anybody.

Human race has destroyed large parts of nature. What do you think about this abuse? What do you think will the world be looking like in another 10 years?

Sid : It makes me sad to see that most people don't give a damn about environmental problems! We're consequently destroying what we depend on, and sooner or later we will be running out of resources completely.

We have lost our respect for Mother Earth; instead of venerating and honouring her for being our source of life, we're exploiting her until the bitter end....but we do depend on her, not she on us; we are - all in all - weak children needing HER nourishment, HER shelter and HER fertility, but we have lost this awareness because of our mindbogglingly stupid presumption! I don't know what the future might bring, but I think quite soon the Earth might just get rid off us like from some insignificant cosmic pneumonia: Earth will bloom and flourish again long after humankind has fallen into oblivion...

What do you think about the Christian definition of love?

Sid: The Christian definition of love is a contradiction in itself: One can't love everyone! You may forgive your enemies if you're able to (which in my book is saintly enough!), but you'll never love them for what they've done to you (given that we're talking about real enemies (fiendish ones!) and not just some daft dorks you accidentally happen to have a slight grudge against!). Really loving someone however is divine in all its aspects, which includes sexuality as well - there's nothing ungodly or immoral about it: If love is of divine origin, then our bodies are the temples and making love is our prayer!

What comes to your mind when you think of the following items:

God?

Sid: A hoity-toity nincompoop who should be voted out of office straight away as he does obviously a lousy job!

Goddess?

Sid: The promising opposition candidate I'd be voting for!

What comes to your mind when you hear the word christianity?

Sid: Christianity means nothing to me but a religious fraud: Though it is pretending to be about love, it sows the seed of hate and intolerance - and a damn lethal seed it is as one can tell by the track of blood christendom has left in history!

That doesn't mean that I'd disdain any person who's a christian believer...nope, everyone's free to believe what he/she likes as long as they're not harming any other living being; and if they think christianity's their cup of tea then good luck to them: It certainly isn't mine!

I do sense some anti-Christian undertones in some of your lyrics. Do you have an opinion on religion in general?

Sid : As I am a very religious person myself I can't see anything wrong in believing in "higher" powers, but organized religion like Christianity is always a dangerous thing: I mean, who needs to have his or her personal beliefs organised by an institution? It's utterly senseless! Go and think for your own (as Granny Weatherwax would say), believe whatever you want to believe, but never try to force your religious point of view on others! The Goddesses and Gods are among us, they are in the wind, the trees, the fire, the earth and the sea and they'd also talk to us if we listened closely - but they most definitely don't write books and are not interested in anybody's sexual preferences (at least proper deities aren't!).

What is the sense of life/death in your point of view?

Sid: The sense of life? To love and to be loved. The sense of death? To learn, to grow and to let go....to live is like being a drop of rain that falls down to earth, and to die is like floating back into the ocean again...

What comes to your mind when you thing of Death?

Sid: Definitely one of my favourite characters in Terry Pratchett's Discworld-Novels. Speaks in capital letters most of the time.

What do you think happens to us after we die? Do you believe that there's a heaven and hell or do you think that "hell" is where we are now and "heaven" (not the christian idea of heaven) is a place that we will be granted after our physical death?

Sid: I don't think that there's something like heaven or hell according to Christian mythology: Damnation or salvation are not being granted or caused by some weird deity, but lie within us.

I don't consider this world we're living in as some kind of hellish place, although some people are trying very hard to make it exactly like that: Of course there's injustice, malevolence and cruelty - but there's also beauty, love and magnificence, and maybe it's one of the most confusing experiences to realize that both heaven and hell seem to exist on the same planet at the same time, It's up to us to a certain extent whether we do open our hearts and souls to misery or to happiness, which isn't always easy, but I know too many people who love to play the part of the "poor miserable bugger" instead of opening themselves to the beauty and the kindness that's also on this life's menu: It seems much easier to arrange oneself with being perpetually victimized instead of taking responsibility for one's destiny!

If we really wanted to create heaven on Earth, we could do that easily....but that goes also for hell!

With your sort of pagan influenced view of the world, how do you see love and life as opposed to war and death?

Sid: Death belongs to the natural cycle of love and life, whereas war is a destructive force made up by sick human minds...according to my point of view, death is not the end, but the transition to another level of existance. Love is the ultimate source of everything, a power that brings growth, splendidness and fruitfulness. As long as love exists, there is always hope and faith and beauty....of course there's also a dark side of love, but this aspect only arises from disappointment and betrayal by humans; i. e. the lack of the pure energy of love - but I guess I've said enough about that darker side in some songs like "The Sea" or "The Farewell"....

Näx: I like love more than war and death. Death is a part of the big game and I don't fear it. Just trying to be prepared.

What is your definition of true love?

Sid: That's difficult to explain: To me, love is like the most beautiful song ever heard, like dissolving in an endless sea of light and passion, having found what you've been looking for all your life, drowning in your lover's eyes, a blissful dream without end - but also being there whenever you're needed, always standing by your lover's side whatever may come, always being sincere and true to the one you're with etc. There are too many facets to true love than can be mentioned, I'm afraid.

What is the sense of life/death in your point of view?

Sid: The sense of life? To love and to be loved. The sense of death? To learn, to grow and to let go....

Do you think that love is far away from hate? What is more difficult: to love or to hate?

Sid: I think love and hate cannot be put on the same level with each other, because while both being undoubtedly powerful emotions they are nevertheless of completely different derivations: You have to have a reason for hating someone, but you dont have to have a reason for love! On the other hand, love can easily turn into hate sometimes, as I've tried to explain in "Trying not to breathe" with the line "I hate you and I love you for what youve done to me": If the one you love leaves you, then two strong emotions are fighting against each other within yourself, and this is nothing but a horrible outburst of devastition! Being torn apart between love and hate is a most dangerous process, because it can easily end in self-destruction: Someone broke your heart, but you still love her/him because of the good times you've shared, and at the same time you hate that person because she/he has the power to make you feel so tremendously bad - it's like being a small iron particle in the centre between two strong magnets: Unable to move and unable to escape.... Nevertheless I think it's much easier to love than to hate, although I don't deny the fact that hate is a very vigorous and vital force in human life; but as you have to have a cause for hating someone or something - unless you're a complete weirdo - hate is a rational-based state of mind, whereas love with its ability to strike you sometimes out of the blue is definitely a spiritual force. If you have a reason to hate someone, then do it - justified hate has to be lived through with all its consequences in order to keep your inner equilibrium, and you'll feel a whole lot better after you've gone through it. But hate can only be an ulterior motive for a certain time, it has to find its end at some stage, at the latest when it's achieved its object - otherwise it'll burn you out and leave you all barren, whereas love can go on forever and ever without doing any harm at all: There is no end to unconditional love because it is the divine impetus of life itself: The more you love, the more you'll obtain!

What does the word love mean to you?

Sid: Love is pure magic, and like every magical power it contains both creative and destructive energies. Come to think about it, the most miserable periods in my life were always caused by the negative outcomes of love (i. e. broken relationships), but at the same time I'm aware that the most beautiful moments were also because of love. If wanting to experience love, one has to be strong enough to face both heaven and hell: The higher one rises, the deeper one falls! In order to avoid all that trouble, you'd have to stay mediocre - but despite of all that I've gone through, this would not be my cup of tea, anyway!

There's a wonderful song by Hazel O'Connor that goes: "If I had another chance, I would have the same romance with you and life, the happiness and the knife. If I had that time again I'd change it not another way...." - and I guess the same goes for me: I'll never regret to have loved, even if it always ended in tears. But there's no price to high for love, and if you do love, you have to accept the fact that it makes you very vulnerable, that it might even kill you. It's a question of all or nothing, I'm afraid. Edna St. Vincent Millay once wrote about this: "My candle burns at both ends, it will not last the night; but, ah, my foes, and oh, my friends, it gives a lovely light". Or, with Tennyson's words: "Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all".

To me, love is the most sincere and honest feeling, a divine power that can make us goddesses and gods, a feeling that is equiped with closeness, truth, respect and unconditional faith. I don't know if this is just an ideal that'll never become reality, but even if the quest for true love should be bound to fail: Wouldn't life be rather poor without this dream?

People say that when you fall in love you do not notice anything around any more - was it the same to you when it comes to your first love?

Sid: To me it's exactly the other way round: When I am in love, I perceive everything around me much clearer - as if I had lived in a two-dimensional world before and now suddenly entered a three-dimensional reality! The sun seems brighter, the nights more enchanting, the moonlight much softer, the air sweeter.....everything seems more intensive, more real - but at the same time more magical as well!

Some individuals seem to find erotic literature and pornography (I'm talking about the legal stuff here, not snuff or paedophilia etc.) to be showing women as inferior, while others believe that it's a positive way of portraying the female body, making women more worth in a man's mind. What do you think about this?

Sid: As the term "pornography" has derived from the Greek term for "presentation of whores", it's quite obvious that pornography doesn't deal with respect for women. Pornography doesn't intend to show women as individuals or subjects, but as sexual objects of men.

Pornography is unable to portray the female body in a positive way, even in cases when it tries to hide its true aim under the cloak of "fine arts", because the standards defining the female body are made up - Surprise! Surprise! - by men: They define what or who is to be called "sexy", "beautiful" or "erotic" (although men talking 'bout eroticism is always a bit like a blind talking about colours!)....and after all men have decided that women always look best when being victims: Either victims of male fantasies of rape and violation, or "just" victimised by the way they have to expose and exhibit themselves in front of a camera.

Referring to sexuality itself, the majority of men are a bunch of ignorant creeps. Their only sensual interest seems to be reduced to some mindbogglingly obscure movements of their naughty bits, while their sexual stimulation seems to consist of goggling randy at some gynaecologically exposed parts of the female body. They don't see that sexuality is some kind of erotic "culture", which is much more than quick movements of the pelvis!

Pornography is nothing more than the product of the sick minds of those scruffy wallies we call "men", and it's jolly obvious that it was never meant to be for the sake of appreciation or adoration of women, but for degrading, abusing and exploiting them!

Besides, pornography in its ideological understanding is the theory - with rape being the practise!

How do you feel when you hear about pornography with children through the Internet nearly every day? Do you think that one day it will be common to watch those pictures on TV?

Sid : I do hope not - but this male dominated society is a rather sick system, and there's already enough abominable pornographic stuff in the internet and on TV right now! In my point of view, pornography in general is the documentation of the abuse of every female being; and the fact that not only a few men are turned on by pornography and prostitution shows that a majority of the male gender is neither able to develop a healthy sexual self-awareness nor to perceive women as autonomous human beings.

What's your opinion on alcohol - not just as a drink, but as a social phenomenon?

Sid: People who are not satisfied with their lives will always try to replace the emptiness within themselves with external stimulations, be it alcohol, ecstasy, TV, religious or politcal fanatism etc. And as alcohol is a very easily accessable (and socially tolerated) kind of drug (By the way: It's one of the few drug you pay taxes for so the government profits from its abuse!), it's quite understandable that so many people are addicted to it, because a vast majority of people seems to be a bunch of miserable bastards who are not satisfied at all with what they're doing - but at the same time are much too cowardish, blind or ignorant to change anything about their situation!. It's always easier to get pissed than to face reality.... Don't get me wrong: I really enjoy a good pint from time to time, but that always goes along with a good meal. I've had my time of heavy alcohol abuse in the early days of punk, and me and my liver have learned quite a lot from that.....

Your answers in the interviews I read are usually very witty, do you need some time to make up an answer or are you able to answer right away?

Sid: I wouldn't consider myself as being witty, but I do try to answer interview-questions as conscientious as possible without taking myself too serious...usually I'm answering questions right away: That's why I prefer telephone interviews, because they are much more of a dialogue.

Näx: I have studied the very young science of wit for some three or four years in Bologna, Lissabon, Calcutta and Nowosibirsk (a town which is very famous for the wit of it's citizens), etc. Unfortunately I neither speak any of the languages spoken there nor do I understand them. I also have to admit that I was no good student. Knowing only little about the theories of wit, it takes me a lot of time to write witty answers and I'm very poor in doing that. In fact, I don't like wits - they only make me laugh.

What do you think of politicians?

Sid: Let's have a look at good old Douglas Adams, for he has always a lot to offer concerning life, the universe and politics:

"One of the major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made president should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: People are a problem." (taken from "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", Chapter 28, by Douglas Adams).

There's not much to add to this...I deeply distrust every politician, because I do distrust everyone - no matter if left- of right-wing - who think that governing people is their vocation - in many cases they turn out to be just a bunch of power-hungry villains....as Bob Dylan once put it: "Don't follow leaders - watch the parking meters"; or even more radical with the words of Kevin Rowland of Dexy's Midnight Runners: "The only way to change things: Shoot people who arrange things!".

How do you feel when you hear about pornography with children through the Internet nearly every day? Do you think that one day it will be common to watch those pictures o TV?

Sid : I do hope not - but this male dominated society is a rather sick system, and there's already enough abominable pornographic stuff in the internet and on TV right now! In my point of view, pornography in general is the documentation of the abuse of every female being; and the fact that not only a few men are turned on by pornography and prostitution shows that a majority of the male gender is neither able to develop a healthy sexual self-awareness nor to perceive women as autonomous human beings.

The lyrics on "Goodbye to Jane" deal with a girl being abused by her father. Is this just fiction or a true story of someone you know? And what's your opinion about child abuse?

Sid: Unfortunately "Goodbye to Jane" is based on that kind of real events that one can read about every day in the papers. It makes me sick to see all that male violence against women - I think that men committing crimes like rape are definitely emotionally deranged yet nevertheless menacing madmen who should get locked away forever!

I do think that the story behind "Goodbye to Jane" displays the typical outgrowth of a patriarchal system that denies female values and oppresses women thoroughly. As Marilyn French once put it: There's an unnoticed war going on, a war against women! Our western culture has lost respect for womanhood: Pornography, prostitution, sexual harrassment etc. seem to be quite common today, although all these occurances do indicate that society's out of balance, that we continually disavow our roots (i. e. respect for women, as each and everyone of us got birth by one!), and Jane is just another victim of a development where even children aren't save any more.

Maybe I had to write a song like "Goodbye to Jane" to do at least some kind of justice to the vistims, although my words surely fail to describe the terror, the pain, the fear and the hate that a girl like Jane must have experienced and suffered from.

The song ends with Jane's suicide - although I'd wish that it'd be the other way round, the victims of male violence don't often have a chance to survive: Either they get kI'lled or they are suffering for the rest of their lifes!

I think I can easily say that "A Legacy Of Love" is a manifesto of love and friendship: do you think that people influenced by this album have changed their view on these issues or have perhaps discovered a new truth for themselves?

Sid: We've received lots of feedback to this album, and the reactions to it were quite peculiar: In the beginning, after the album's release, most people were puzzled and confused because they expected a gothic album similar to our debut, "Cantara Anachoreta�, so they were not at all prepared for the Folk Pop-experience of �A Legacy of Love�. But after a while they seemed to understand more and more the album's deeper meaning: Gothic Metal would have been a too limited musical diction to express all the feelings I wanted to manifest on that album. My ambition was to create an album that would outlast time, both in form and content, and I think we have achieved that goal: One can tell this easily by all the requests we receive for a re-release of "A Legacy of Love� (the album is meanwhile out of stock); seems a bit like if this album was too far ahead of its time and that just now people become aware of its emotional and musical value (and I'm sure it'll be exactly the same with "Perfume")... Many people were touched and moved by "A Legacy of Love", because this album reflects the most primary human experiences of love and loss in an almost painful yet simultaneously beautiful way: Maybe one of its main effects was that it made people realize that they were not alone: No matter if you're in love or if you'd just lost someone you've loved - when you got home at night, there was always this album to provide confirmation and bliss, or consolation and hope. I doubt that "A Legacy of Love" changed anybody's life, but it made them see things in a different way: It made them realize the beauty of love as well as the importance of holding on to one's dreams even if having to face drawbacks from time to time. In the end, that's what art of any kind is all about: to create the state of catharsis for the audience that makes people feel better instead of dragging them down...

I suppose you are one of few bands that decided to include the notes in their booklet. What was the reason for doing this?

Sid : It's just that after the release of "Cantara Anachoreta" many fans have asked for the guitar chords to the songs....but including them in the booklet of "A Legacy of Love" would have made it twice as thick as it already is - and so we thought it'd be nice (and also quite provoking) for all those guitarists to have the pipes-notes instead...as aforesaid: We do have a rather challenging attitude (and also a weird sense of humour) sometimes!

Although love brings happiness (and sometimes sadness), "A Legacy of Love" is full of sorrow. Did you want to describe the sad side of love?

Sid: It wasn't my intention at first place to record a mostly desperate album, but fate turned out to be just that way: I lost a wonderful and precious love at that time, and divine ordinances of that kind are not supposed to make you write happy songs!

I felt so incredibly sad when I wrote those songs, and the process of writing them was like building up some kind of armoury against an engulfing darkness. Nevertheless I've also tried to show that there's more to love than just sorrow and despair, and so I put 2 songs on "A Legacy of Love" to picture as well its unbelievable beauty: "Nightswan" and "Planet Kyrah". Both songs were originally written at a time when I was still together with my former girlfriend, and so they accidently became aural sculptures of this love's chastity, innocence and virtousness.

Maybe it was the hardest part for me to perform these 2 songs in the studio, because they reminded me too much of what I had lost, but at the same time they are reminiscences of a very beautiful time in my life!

No, really, I would have wanted this album not to become as sad and sorrowful as it did, but sometimes one just cant help it....

The sound of "A Legacy of Love" seems more direct than the one of "Cantara Anachoreta"....

Sid: Thanks for that compliment....but I'll have to admit that we'd spent more time in the studio than we did when recording "Cantara Anachoreta", and we had better equipment, too. Besides, theres also a mental difference between those 2 albums: The emphasis of "Cantara Anachoreta" was a more spiritual one, whereas "A Legacy of Love" is mainly determined by emotional values. But maybe it's also a question of musical matters, because there are hardly any manipulated sounds to be found on "A Legacy of Love": About 80 % of the sounds we used were created by acoustic instruments, recorded almost without any special sound effects - that's why this album sounds as if you had a strange kind of folk-band in your living-room....

In the booklets preface of "A Legacy of Love" you say that both darkness and light are given to us to make us prosper and grow. Do you consider composing and writing as an adventure and what are your inner conquests?

Sid: I'll have to admit that I haven't got the slightest idea why I had to go through all that tough shit during the time the album was written: O.K., the result of all these emotional misfortunes lead to a very heart-touching album, but if broken-heartedness is the price for the songs on "A Legacy of Love", then this price could be considered much too high! But no need to argue: These things have happened, and I'll have to deal with it somehow, whether I like it or not....There are good times and bad times in everybody's life, and accepting the interplay of both, the necessity of experiencing both to become aware of life's everchanging cycles, might be an important step on our path to self-awareness.

Composing and writing songs is just one part of my inner conquest: I would not call it an adventure, furthermore something like a gift that makes it easier for me to come to terms with life.

What's the meaning of the cover and the artwork in the booklet of "A Legacy of Love"?

Sid : The pictures show neolithic paintings and statues & figurines of European Goddesses to emphasize the spiritual aspects of ANTICHRISIS, because all songs on this album are dedicated to the Great Goddess, and to a certain extent "A Legacy of Love" can be seen as a tribute to her.

You have just returned from the studio where you�ve recorded your new album �Perfume�: Can you give us some impressions about the time you spent there, including the material you have recorded?

Näx: I can't remember too much of it. Yes, there were Sid and Dragonfly and my girlfriend Nicole visited us also. And then there was this big, big dog... A funny little man with long hair was also there, always sitting behind a window in a room. I think he was trapped there... Sometimes I saw a young woman with golden hair. And then there was a second big, big dog. And cigarsmoke I think. Well, that's all, sorry.

Sid: We spent 5 weeks at the Blue House Studio in Meerane: We had recorded �A Legacy of Love� there, too, and as this had been a very pleasant and cooperative experience, we decided to record our new album there again. The Producer, Jens Bachmann, who also runs the studio, is a really great guy: He's not the sort of producer who tries to enforce his own idea of sound on a band, but someone who listens carefully to the band�s conception and tries to transform their ideas as good as possible into music. Besides, he�s a brilliant guitarist as well and we were glad that he liked our new stuff that much that he offered to join us for the recordings...

So this time, with the additional support of Kugator on Drums and Tilo Rockstroh on Keyboards, ANTICHRISIS appeared as a "proper" band on an album instead of being just some kind of One-Man-project as it were on previous recordings....

We have recorded 10 songs for �Perfume�: "Something Inside" is a song about someone finding himself trapped in memories of the past, being forced to relive a traumatical situation again and again until he�s able to let go off the past. Matching the lyric's character, this song comes up like a haunting nightmare, the accoustic equivalent to lying awake in sleepless nights with torturing thoughts banging against your head....

"Gates of Paradise" deals with the subject of being struck down by love but gettin' up again...it's also a song that I've especially written for Dragonfly, and it's the only track on the album where I've done all vocals on my own. The song itself is quite strange: It's based on a shuffle groove, which is normally to be found in traditional Blues or Jazz, but there's also a wall of sound by analogue sequencers, transforming this song into a rather "electronique" shape, whereas the electric guitars pick up the shuffle beat again....pretty weird!

"Hole in my Head" is one of the new songs that we've introduced also on last year's tour: It's about the ignorance and blindness of other people towards the things that really matter, about their predilection for self-righteousness and prejudice instead of thinking for a minute of being tolerant. It's a very groovy track, a mixture of TripHop-sounds and heavy guitars....

"Carry me Down" is our new interpretation of a song that appeared as "Baleias" on our first album and as "Baleias Bailando" on "A Legacy of Love": This song has become some kind of ANTICHRISIS-theme over the years, and I like the idea to present it on every album in a completely different manner: Though it may still be the same song, it always sounds completely different in order to give some kind of musical

summary of ANTICHRISIS� current development. This time the song has turned into a bewitching blend of TripHop-Grooves, Shamanic Chantings and wild & heavy guitars....

"Wasteland" is a love song with lyrics written by Dragonfly - it's my vision of a perfect pop-tune: Catchy but yet unpredictable! It starts quite mellow and smooth, but as soon as the refrain appears, the guitars break loose. In my point of view, a good pop song shouldn't sound too clean - it always needs a certain kind of racket to disguise its beauty: That makes it much more interesting than offering everything unveiled!

With "Like the Stars" we've entered a completely new territory: Our first song coming up with vocals in Rap-style....but don't be afraid: They fit perfectly into the song, the song itself sounds just great and as soon as the refrain starts, you'll be blown away by Näx' enchanting pipes and Dragonfly's backing vocals - another fine example for a perfect pop-tune!

And for all of those who thought that ANTICHRISIS would have turned into a bunch of sweet-toothed popsters, there's "We are the Witches": A song that picks up the pagan thread of "Cantara Anachoreta" again, sounding as if Black Sabbath had decided to kick ass again - but this time with bagpipes from hell! Heavy as a ton of lead - and equiped with a refrain that�s based on a traditional english witches' Chant....

I've been always very satisfied with every ANTICHRISIS-release - there was only one thing that has always bugged me, and that was the very bad version of "Goodbye to Jane" on our first album, because of the vocals that had been done in a very uninspired way by former singer Willowcat. I always wanted to re-record the song again, but I had to wait for a singer like Dragonfly. We did a new and much more powerful version, with brilliant vocals, splendid bagpipes and an absolute unbelievable amount of E-Guitars creating an amazing Wall of Sound. Now it really rocks....

As most of the new songs have turned into really powerful and energetic tracks, I wanted to create some kind of �breathing-space� on the album as well - and so "Dragonflies" arose in my mind: A song completely without lyrics, but with an outstanding vocal performance by Dragonfly - and when listening to this song you�ll find yourself easily at a pond on a warm summer's day, the reflections of sunlight on the water and Dragonflies dancing on its surface...and that's exactly the atmosphere I wanted to capture with this track!

The last song on the album and at the same time the first cover-version we�ve ever recorded is Led Zeppelin's "Whole lotta Love": I always thought that doing cover-versions is a heavy burden, because one usually doesn't cover bad songs, and it's always hard to beat a classic original or even to match it up, especially if it's such a great song as "Whole lotta Love". So doing a cover version does not mean just to �replay� an old version, but to show a renown song in a new light without treating it in an unrespectful way....and that's exactly what we've done with "Whole lotta Love". But instead of merely repeating the original�s somehow ridiculous machismo-attitude (although Robert Plant undoubtedly did one of his best vocal performances on this track), we've turned it into some kind of feminist-electronic-dancefloor-metal-with-lots-of-bagpipes-and-naughty-noises....

All in all, our new album has become a very powerful and vital record: Whereas "A Legacy of Love" was the perfect soundtrack for a cold autumn's evening with candlelight, "Perfume" is meant for dancing and headbanging, preferably in a crowded and sweaty discotheque....

Perfume is released by Napalm Records, is it your real first release for them? I think in the past you have suffered by very poor distribution...not to mention promotion!

Sid: Perfume is actually our second and last album for Napalm Records - our contract is carried out now and we're free to find a more suitable label for us. I wouldn't go as far as to say that Napalm Records would have done "bad promotion�: After all, they're just a BM/Gothic-label, and they're used to promote bands and artists of that genre - but they've made the mistake of taking Antichrisis for a metal-act, so they were bound to fail in promoting a band that's simply beyond musical limitations! In the beginning of our cooperation with Napalm Records I had the impression that they were interested in entering new musical territories, and that signing Antichrisis was meant to be their first step in that direction - but in the end I realized that they would have been much more satisfied if we'd just recorded Cantara Anachoreta Pt. 2 and 3 instead of developing into those directions we've headed for with �A Legacy of Love� and �Perfume�: In fact, they considered both albums as being �too commercial�, but at the same time they're not capable of using this commercial potential for their own and the band's sake!

Do you think Perfume has met the expectations of your audience? Will Antichrisis ever hit the airwaves of commercial radio station or do you consider yourself as being not ÒmainstreamÒ enough...

Sid: To be honest, I don't care about our audience or its expectations very much: First of all, my music belongs to me and no one else - if other people like it as well, then this is just a lucky coincidence and not the main reason for my musical output. That's why I don't want to push Antichrisis in any way whatsoever: As a human being, I'm constantly developing, and these developments will cause effects on Antichrisis' music as well. At the moment our music is published by a record company - maybe one day we don't need record companies any more, but who cares? I got some recording devices at home, and I certainly won't stop writing and recording new stuff anyway, may it get published or not. I'm not in this business for fame or money...in the end, I'm just a songwriter who simply does what he has to do - although I think Antichrisis does provide a certain commercial appeal as well: Songs like �Goodbye to Jane�, �Our Last Show�, �Wasteland� or �Like the Stars� could - with some proper support - easily enter the charts, as they are both catchy and mainstream-compatible, though still maintaining that special Antichrisis-touch!

It took quite a long time to come up with Perfume, aren't you afraid of losing touch with the fans?

Sid: I'm not afraid of losing touch: Our fans have the chance to contact us via email, and we try to answer every email and every letter we receive as soon as possible.

As I'm doing most of the songwriting on my own, it's quite understandable that Antichrisis works in a different way than a "normal" band does: I do create the majority of songs, lyrics and arrangements on my own, I do have to come up with the album concept, hence songwriting takes a bit longer compared to other bands where two, three or even more people are working together on the songs in the rehearsal room at the same time. Of course I could come up with new stuff much faster, but I'm quite self-critical, so I'm always waiting until I'm absolutely convinced of every track that's bound to appear on an Antichrisis-album: If I have the slightest doubt about a song, I throw it straight in the dustbin....

I'm also quite sure that our music is good enough that people will remember it even if takes us a while to come up with a new album: Just think of how long it takes Guns'n'Roses or Pink Floyd to come up with a new one!

In which ways have you succeeded in mixing acoustic and electric music?

Sid: When I wrote the songs for "Cantara Anachoreta" and "A Legacy of Love", I usually started with evolving the basic chords on acoustic guitar, but for "Perfume" things were different, because of its emphasis on electronic sounds and grooves. I started with just some basic rhythms and bass lines when working on the "Perfume"-material, which was a modified way of creating and arranging songs. causing the tracks to develop in another musical direction than those of "A Legacy of Love", which was just what I wanted...

Personally, I don't see any reason for drawing a parting line between electronic and acoustic instruments: They both have their advantages, and they're both wonderful tools for creating the musical soundscapes of Antichrisis.

Would you like to talk about the genesis of �Perfume�?

Sid: I'm afraid the process of creating an album can hardly be put into words, as it's simply beyond intention - it's all about sitting around until getting hit by another idea for a new song. Some of these ideas remain and develop, whereas others are proven unworthy, hence they go straight into the metaphorical dustbin...

As soon as there are enough songs for an entire album - and in my opinion a proper CD should at least last something over 60 minutes, because customers should get value for money - one has to call the record company to bug them until they give in and send you to the studio, which is always the most difficult part, because some record companies seem to be mostly clueless (they wouldn't recognize a good song even if they'd got run over by one!), conservative (all they ever want is a precise replica of your last album, because it sold quite well and the new one might propably not!) and clumsy (you can always trust them to get everything wrong - even those things that cannot possibly go wrong because of universal laws of unthinkability; but record company executives in general seem to be completely out of any reasonable sphere of action!)...

Is there a concept behind the lyrics of �Perfume�?

Sid: No - both "Cantara Anachoreta" and "A Legacy of Love" had been concept albums, so this time I wanted to try something different, hence each song of "Perfume" is meant to be some kind of snapshot of my life: There are moments of joy and love (for example "Gates of Paradise", "Dragonflies" or "Like the Stars") as well as moments of being pissed off by human stupidity & cruelty ("Hole in my Head" and "Goodbye to Jane") and also some spiritual songs just like "We are the Witches" and "Carry me Down" - all in all a pretty extensive collection of my world of emotions...

What about the general atmosphere of Perfume?

Sid: Both "Cantara Anachoreta" and "A Legacy of Love" came into being during rather miserable periods of my life, whereas the songs of "Perfume" arose in a rather different situation; hence it sounds less gloomy or sad than its predecessors did. The quest that began with the debut-album and continued with the second release has found its end with "Perfume"; that's why these three albums do seem like a trilogy to me: "Perfume" is the final chapter of the novel. and no it's time to come up with a new book...

�Perfume� contains very exclusive kind of music; with it's odour influencing all senses - this time your music is more rock-ish, psychedelic or even sensorical, but however it is still Antichrisis, thanks to Näx's characteristic instruments. Do you agree with this recapitulation?

Sid: Of course Näx' special uilleann pipes-sound has become some kind of trademark, but most of all it's the songwriting that provides the typical Antichrisis-touch: Though I may always use different musical ways of expression, I have developed a very characteristic "handwriting" if it comes to creating and arranging songs: there are no bagpipes on "Carry me Down", "Something Inside" or "Gates of Paradise", yet these songs still sound like Antichrisis...anyway: Näx is a brilliant artist and I just love working with him!

The vocals on �Perfume� are also very impressive: Are they just done by you and Dragonfly, or was anybody else involved?

Sid: No - it's just Dragonfly and me - but as we're always trying to give every song a special touch, the vocals differ from track to track...

So we've got the third album of Antichrisis. I have to tell you that while listening to this album for the first time I had a feeling that the album sounded too modern, that you drift towards pop music too dangerously. My feeling was for sure influenced by the fact that the songs form �Perfume� were easier and somehow nicer; they fell faster into your ear. But after listening to it few times you realize that it is the same band, only refreshened and more "cheerful" Do you agree?

Sid: First of all let me ask you a question: What kind of complete nonsense is this to evaluate music by criteria like "too modern" or "drift towards pop music too dangerously"? Do these terms say anything about the actual QUALITY of music? No, not at all - it's just the sort of pseudo-know-it-all-terminology used by people who have stopped listening to music with their heart but trying to analyze it with their so called brains instead! Either you like a song or not, either you find it awful of great - but trying to evaluate music with terms like being "too modern" is nothing else but a sure sign of utter backwardness! When Richard Wagner first hit the scene back in 1841 with his opera "The Flying Dutchman", critics laughed at him, calling his music "too modern" as well - guess who's the laughing stock now?

But anyway: As you've already found out, "Perfume" may sound different from "A Legacy of Love", but it's still Antichrisis - even if it's another side of the same band! We just used a different form of musical expression, as we do consider repetition as dead boring...we're musicians, not bloody parrots!

"Perfume" has become a very powerful and vital record: Whereas "A Legacy of Love" was the perfect soundtrack for a cold autumn's evening with candlelight, "Perfume" is meant for dancing, preferably in a crowded and sweaty discotheque....maybe that's the more cheerful side of Antichrisis you're referring to.

But aren't you afraid that the direction you've chosen may bear fruit of falling into excessive musical triviality?

Sid: Why should I? "Triviality" derives from latin trivialis, which means "to be found everywhere" or "commonplace" (from trivium, "crossroads", from tri + via "way")...so what's wrong with that? I'm just a songwriter trying to put his own experiences, which are not so different from those of other people who have fallen in and out of love, in words and music - pretty common, I guess. But again, this says nothing about the quality of music itself! I mean, Bruce Springsteen is a superstar with international chart success, and sure you would call him a fine example of "excessive musical triviality" - and still he comes up with brilliant songs like "If I should fall behind", "I'm on Fire" or "I wish I were blind" that would make you break down on your knees and beg for forgiveness if you were able to listen without prejudice only once... ;-)

I know also that you would like to reach wider horizons with Antichrisis' music, to go out of musical underground. You dream about charts, radio stations and (what I was mostly surprised with) people dancing to your music. I think you will admit that it is an unusual declaration in our music environment!

Sid: Well, it just seems that "our music environment" is simply not MY environment: As aforesaid, I'm just a musician, hence all I care about is music, and not any "environment" or "scene" - I'm simply too old for this shit! And what the hell is wrong with making people dance? Or are you by any chance a follower of the "serious-artists-should-make-their-audience-feel-miserable"-school of philosophy? Sorry, but that's not my cup of tea: Even in the most sorrowful Antichrisis-songs like for instance "The Farewell" or "Forever I Ride", there's always a spark of hope shining through! Life is hard enough, and it's not my duty as an artist to make it even harder!

I have got a feeling that the cover of "Perfume" was prepared in a hurry: It looks so very poor and its content inside is also very modest. What sense does it make to put your lyrics at the Website only? Don't you think that a buyer deserves its printed version in the booklet?

Sid: Point taken. First: I'm a big fan of the cover artwork that Peter Saville and Martyn Atkins did in the early Eighties for Manchester-based label Factory Records, esp. for Joy Division. No naked female vampires or fake plastic skeletons or what else you have on your average contemporary goth-covers, but plain and straight, Bauhaus-inspired (not the band, but the famous school of arts in Dessau) artwork that didn't draw the listeners attention from the music. And as I do like that style a lot, I wanted to have something similar for "Perfume", and so we did the booklet-design together with Guido Meyer de Voltaire, who - even though he's always missing the deadline - did a great job. Whether you like it or not, the cover of "Perfume" was done with purpose and care - and most of all it does look neither "gothic" or "metal". Proper job...

Second: We didn't put the lyrics in the booklet due to objections of Napalm Records. They've had lots of problems with the rather thick booklet of "A Legacy of Love" that caused many complains by record dealers: Peasants browsing through the CDs in the store did take the booklet out and had to fiddle about like hell to get it back in the case again, most of the times in a very crinkled or even ripped condition.

So we had to find a way to let buyers have all the lyrics either wedged on 4 sides of a CD-booklet, which would have only been able with using a font not larger than 4 points and hence causing serious sight-damages to the innocent customer, or putting them on properly lay-outed and more easily readable pdf-files on our website, which allows even non-CD-purchasers to get hold of the lyrics. By the way, the download's for free; we do neither charge anything for it nor do we demand a voucher of purchase or any serial numbers for it, so I don't really understand why you're so upset about this - nowadays even people without internet-connection do at least know somebody who has a PC (or preferably a Mac) and a modem. But maybe that's another case of being "too modern" again... I only wished all Antichrisis-fans would be that worried and concerned about when it comes to loading illegal mp3-files of our albums up and down!

In the booklet we can find a remark that �Perfume� is meant to be the last part of a trilogy. I'd like to know what the next step will be?

Sid: So would I - but unfortunately I don't know either yet... At the moment I'm just non-ambitiously writing and recording new trivial stuff until I think it's time to do a new album with poor cover-artwork.... ;-)

With the aforementioned situation you can't do without a proper promotion, so the question is how are you going to promote the new record, what's your part on it and what's the part of your record label and, finally, will there be a tour as well?

Sid: Yes, proper Promotion is the record company's job - ours is to come up with proper music....and as long as each of us does a good job, there'll be no problem! We've learned a lot from last year's tour, and all I can say is that we won't be touring any more unless some minor requirements are provided: There's no use in doing live-gigs if you're not given the chance to perform your music under proper conditions: This ends in disappointment for the audience that expects an at least adequate sound, and it's also pretty frustrating for musicians who play their ass off without any effort because of lack of equipment and/or non-existing soundchecks....but to return to the subject: We have a contract with Napalm Records that commits us to record 2 albums; the 2nd album is now done (and will hopefully see its release by the end of the year) and so the contract is carried out - that�s all I can say to this!

Naex, you're using traditional instruments such as uileann pipes and bodhran. Are you dedicated to folk music?

Näx: Yes, I can`t deny that I am dedicated to folk music, especially to the traditional Irish music. Sometimes I think that I'm even addicted to it.

When I got into contact with ANTICHRISIS it became apparent that the sound of the Irish uilleann pipes would perfectly fit into Sid's music, so we started off to experiment with this mixture.

Beside of this musical aspect it is really interesting for me to play traditional instruments and music in a non-traditional context. I would like to make the traditional music and the uilleann pipes become known to people who have no special interest in this stuff. Everybody knows what the Great Highland Pipes sound and look like, only a bunch of people know that there are regional forms of bagpipes like the galician Gaita or Boehmischer and Maehrischer Bock in Germany, which may sound a bit crude sometimes. But there is another sound which is well known by films like "Braveheart", "Rob Roy", "Titanic" or musicals like "Riverdance" or "Lord of the Dance", and nobody knows which instrument creates this sound. They only know that non of the average bagpipes sound like this, but also no saxophone, clarinet or oboe. Perhaps a keyboard? Beside of making music with ANTICHRISIS I want to show people that there is an bagpipe-instrument, which is held in high regard in Ireland and amongst folk fans, but which still can be discovered by the worldwide rockpopmetaltechnopunkgrungegothic- andwossisname-audience.

What do you think about this folk/celtic renaissance in today's rock scene?

Sid: Well, I appreciate this a lot, because in my opinion it's a most exciting event to re-discover the musical roots of our European heritage and combining them with contemporary music. By the way: It's great to see that nowadays Celtic Folk seems to get the esteem at least that this soulful and heart-touching music always deserved!

Näx: For me it's interesting to see that every 20 years there is a revival of Celtic music. This proves that this music is quite vivid and also adaptable to other musical styles. I admire those musicians who have a huge background of folk music and who are now able to unite their instruments/voices with non-folklorical music, entering new spheres for folk music and rock, pop, classic or whatsoever. A positive effect on this popular mixture is that listeners become aware of musical styles beyond their favourite music.

What causes your fascination of Celtic music or folk stuff in general. Don't you wanna pick up some german folk influences?

Sid: Well, there's nothing wrong with German folk music (by the way: The Celts have settled and lived in Germany, hence there are also traces of Celtic folklore to be found in our musical heritage!) and if I had the hang of it I surely would assimilate those musical traditions of my native country (and there are bands around here who are doing suchlike stuff like f. e. Zupfgeigenhansel, Biermoesl Blosn, Alpinkatzen or Hans Söllner and many more), but somehow I seem to be connected to and deeply rooted in English/Celtic culture. It's something I can't explain logically - it's just that every time I'm setting foot on English soil, it feels like sort of homecoming; like I had been living there for ages, and it also never occurs to me as if I was a foreigner there: Everything about England seems so damn familiar to me!

The same goes for Celtic folk music: If I listen to an English or Irish folk song it seems to me as if a voice from afar would be answering the yearning call of my soul...it just makes my heart dance! But there's absolutely no reasonable explanation for this kind of fascination - maybe it's a matter of the heart like falling in love with someone....

Näx: Whenever I listen to music, I usually judge it by the following three measures: Does the music touch me? Is the music composed intelligently? Are the Instruments well played?

Celtic Music touches me inside and the musical part of my soul is addicted to this Celtic stuff. Now, there is one point that is really fascinating to me: The enormous diversity of a music which is passed on just by listening and learning. When you try to understand this music, to play or to analyse it, then you start to think about who composed these complex songs or tunes. When were they composed? Who played this tune which you are playing at this moment before, and who danced, cried or loved to it? And which rules make a tune last over centuries? Then you feel that this music has a deep peacefull power inside which can fill your veins if only you let it. Other people may have these feelings with other kinds of music, but most of them have never experienced the mysterious fascination of traditional music. In addition traditional music does not depend on written notes or recordings in general, in contrary to classical or rock-, pop- or metal-music. This makes traditional music so resistent against fast moving trends. Although reality sometimes proves the opposite (as in Germany), traditional music has a touch of immortality.

It is sad that there is no widespread german traditional music any more. Traditional music is still alive in some regions where regional culture is maintained. But the biggest part of this music became a victim of the success of classical music. When classical music became modern in Germany, people lost interest in their own traditional music and so it died.

What is so fascinating in folklore? I mean it's a dead culture after all...

Sid: Dead culture? Oh dear, you should travel once through Cornwall, Scotland, some of the more remote parts of Ireland or even through some outback regions of your country to realize how lively these dead cultures still are! Celtic Folklore has survived for ages and is still alive and kicking! It's only our modern society's ignorance and the arrogance of an americanized cultural attitude that makes us think folklore's just something to be found in your average rural museum....

Näx: Many folklores, especially the Irish, are very vivid cultures, because they are part of the national and regional identity. Maybe the folklorical, or better the ancient way, of life extincts, but times change and nobody wants to live in the past. On the other hand, many aspects of folklore and cultures are not bound to single periods as for example language, religion, literature, crafts, art or music. And they survive in many cultures for centuries, deriving from a dark, mysterious past.

It seems to me that sometimes in your music you wanna appeal to a metal audience like on "Trying not to breathe.".Why is this so? I mean you should rather stick to that beautiful quality of songs like "Baleias Bailando".

Sid: I never try to appeal to any kind of audience! If this would be the case then I'd certainly do completely different stuff! All I'm trying to do with ANTICHRISIS is meeting my own expectations which is to come up with the most approbriate musical expression that the idea behind a song requires: Sometimes it takes the shape of a soft piano ballad, of a folk song or even of a metal-like piece of music as it did on "Trying not to breathe". It's the song that asks for its proper musical manifestation, not the audience's anticipation!

Where can I find Planet Kyrah that you sing about so beautifully? Does it have something in common with the novel "Little Prince" by Saint-Exupery?

Sid: Kyrah is a fictional planet of unconditional love that can only be stepped on by lovers....it's a symbol for true love's purity, chastity and innocence, hence I do like the comparison with the little prince's planet, as it shares the same bittersweet aura of transitoriness....beauty and sadness are sometimes almost the same, and the older we get, the more we become aware that nothing, not even the most wonderful moments, do last forever!

You've used a couple of french expressions in "The Sea"....Have you chosen them to create a special feeling? Why?

Sid: I've chosen these french expressions just because they sound more poetic to me than the english or german ones: I'm always choosing words for the lyrics with great care, because words are not just a chain of vowels and consonants, moreover they possess sounds and images of their own that have to fit perfectly to the corresponding song.

Your reference to classic characters like Romeo and Juliet in "Our Last Show" gives a theatrical aspect to the story....would you consider yourself as a modern Romeo?

Sid : No, I don't think that I'm a modern Romeo: I may be a very romantic person and though I sometimes felt like one of those star-crossed lovers that Wiliam Shakespeare mentioned, I'm not a victim of misunderstandings and intrigues like Romeo was. I just think that we're nothing more but actors on life's badly illuminated stage, forced to take part in comedies or dramas without any chance of getting to know the script or to rehearse....

Which is the hidden message of the raven's cry on "Forever I Ride"?

Sid : In Northern-European mythology the raven is the bird of death and rebirth (just like the vulture in Egyptian or African myths) that calls forth the end - and so the raven in "Forever I Ride" is the harbinger of love's decline, forcing the fool to saddle up again....

"The Farewell" can be considered as a summary of all the songs on "A Legacy of Love" with a ray of hope at the end, right? Anyway, I cannot understand the last line (due to my ignorance of German language): Would you mind to translate "Ich liebe Dich fuer immer"?

Sid: "Ich liebe Dich fuer immer" simply means "I love you forever": The most beautiful thing someone can say to you, but eventually also the greatest lie of all! There is no ray of hope at the end of "The Farewell", but a yearning for everlasting sleep and tranquility.

Is "Cantara Anachoreta" a concept-album? And could you explain the title?

Sid: "Cantara Anachoreta" is a latin-portugiese term meaning "The Chants of the Hermit". I've chosen that title because "Cantara Anachoreta" chronicles the last hours in the life of Ariman, the anchorite, who is aware that his time has finally come: Darkness embraces him ("Prologue"), and while he's on the threshold of twilight, he recollects occurances of his present life and past incarnations. Thus he relives the dark age of witchhunt ("The Endless Dance") as well as the tremendous distress of losing the one he once loved ("Requiem ex Sidhe"). He also remembers a little girl he once knew who committed suicide after being abused by her father, and Ariman's still able to sense the rage, anger and fury her ghost emanates ("Goodbye to Jane").

Images of long gone days do arise, and the anchorite recalls the moments when he had to withstand to remain true to his principles and beliefs ("Baleias"). It wasn't always easy to follow the path of the Goddess and to obey her advice, but whenever he thought that she might have left him in the lurch, she was in fact with him for guidance ("Her Orphaned Throne").

So he dreams of her return: A return that'll bring an end to injustice, intolerance and the lies of the false prophets - the dawning of a new golden era ("Descending Messiah"). Thereupon Ariman floats downstream to Cerridwen's realm, the garden of eternal dreams, where his seeking soul will find peace and tranquility at last ("Epilogue").