Wycombe Music

If you wanna hear perfect electronic music then you have to be in Germany. Since the early 70´s Kraftwerk put Germany on the map with their electronic beeps that probably without realising it would influence thousands of bands and the line goes further cos at the moment in 2001 you can say that in Germany the EBM/electronic scene is still at its strongest. From bigsellers like Funkervogt or In Strict Confidence to the rather small bands. High Wycombe is such a small band but I´m sure that once you heard their music you´ll categorise them amongst the greatest....

HELLO, PLEASE TELL US WHO HIGH WYCOMBE ARE......
Christian : High Wycombe consits of 3 young students. Christian, Martin and Jens (all 25 years old) . Me and Jens finished our studies of business-reengineering and civil engineering. Martin, our banker, just started the study of computer science. Since 1996 we're puzzling and experimenting with synthetic sounds, with the guitar support of Jens. I" responsible for the "singing" performance.
MOST OF THE BANDS CAN EASILY BE PUT INTO CATEGORIES BUT WITH HIGH WYCOMBE IT SEEMS A LOT MORE DIFFICULT AS THE SOLE CLASSIFICATION I CAN FIND IS THAT YOU MAKE ELECTRONIC MUSIC, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Martin : Correct. We just make the music we like to. It´s possible, that different flavours can be found in one song. There are no musical limits.
AS YOU´RE MAKING SYNTHMUSIC, DOES THAT MEAN THAT YOU`RE NOT VERY KEEN ON GUITARMUSIC OR IS IT JUST A MATTER OF MAKING A CHOICE?
Martin : ...even not for guitarmusic.
WHAT I FIND SO AMAZING ABOUT HIGH WYCOMBE IS THAT ONE MOMENT YOU´RE PLAYING DISTORTED EBM LIKE SUICIDE COMMANDO AND THEN THE SONG AFTER IS LIKE KRAFTWERK ARE BACK IN TOWN...WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Christian : Really? Nice mixture. Great to be compared with the grandfathers of electro music!
CAN YOU TELL US HOW HIGH WYCOMBE WERE BORN LIKE?
Martin : In a small locked up darkroom... No, only the idea for selfmaking music joined us together.
AND THE MEETING ITSELF FROM THE MEMBERS, HAS IT GROWN OUT BECAUSE YOU KIND OF SHARE THE SAME MUSICAL IDEAS? THE REASON WHY I\rquote M ASKING THIS IS BECAUSE I DON´T BELIEVE IN BANDS WHO ARE FORMED THROUGHOUT ADVERTS...

Martin : Me and Christian had quite the same musical flavour, started experimenting with computers. For one song we need some guitar samples, asked Jens if he could play some phrases...so he joined us. We started without adverts, casting...it just happened.
RE NAMED AFTER THE ENGLISH CITY HIGH WYCOMBE WHICH YOU FOUND IN A HISTORYBOOK. WHAT EXACTLY DID GET YOUR ATTRACTION TO CHOOSE THAT NAME?
Christian : In search of a cool band name I found that name in a book about the German naval forces during World War II. High Wycombe has been mentioned there as an American base. Just only the sound of that name fascinated us.

I SUPPOSE YOU´RE STILL QUITE UNDERGROUND. WHAT ARE YOU MAIN IMPRESSIONS ABOUT THE GERMAN UNDERGROUNDSCENE?
Martin : The German undergroundscene doesn´t develop. There are only some innovating newcomers. Too many bands only deliver the old-fashioned EBM. But that´s what the public want. Most of them aren´t keen on influences of other music styles. This surely explains why bands like Funkervogt, In Strict Confidence or VNV Nation are more popular than innovating projects like Haujobb or even the newest Front Line Assembly.
I THINK THERE IS NO OTHER COUNTRY LIKE GERMANY THAT\rquote S HAVING SUCH A BIG INTEREST IN THE EBM/SYNTHPOPSCENE... I SUPPOSE THIS MUST MAKE YOU VERY HAPPY NOT?
Martin : Surely, it´s good if there is a more bigger and potential audience. But it´s even harder to become a well known band because the distributors and labels are filed up with demo CD´s by newcomers.
APART FROM YOUR OWN BAND, YOU ALSO HAVE RELEASED A SAMPLER THAT KIND OF REPRESENTS THE GERMAN UNDERGROUNDSCENE. WHY HAVE YOU DONE THAT? I MEAN, IT MUST ALREADY BE SUCH A HARD WORK TO PROMOTE HIGH WYCOMBE ALONE?
Christian : It´s easier to appeal to more listeners and this causes more promotion, which showed the reviews of "Chipyard ´ 99".
MAYBE IT´ S STUPID TO ASK, BUT DO YOU THINK THAT THE BEST MUSIC IS STILL WITHOUT A RECORDLABEL AND IN CASE SO, IS THAT SOMETHING YOU CARE ABOUT?
Christian : To found your own label is the harder way . But it´s cheaper and you can do what you want without musical compromises. Nevertheless we wouldn´t refuse to cooperate with other labels or interesting distributors.
I NEVER COULD UNDERSTAND WHY BANDS (ESPECIALLY SMALL ONES) SEE THEMSELVES AS ENEMIES.... I MEAN, IT´S MUCH BETTER TO TAKE YOUR ATTITUDE AND HELP EACH OTHER. HAVE YOU EVER UNDERSTOOD THAT CONCURRENCY YOURSELF?
Martin : Yes, we know that problem. Perhaps it´s the wish to get succesfull earlier with their own music and the envy does matter too.
HOW DIFFICULT IT MIGHT BE TO ANSWER THIS : WHAT ARE YOU SEARCHING IN MUSIC?
Christian : Try to realize my own musical ideals.
Martin : Searching for the perfect sound.
WHAT´S YOUR FAVE RECORD OF ALL TIME AND PLEASE STATE WHY...
Martin : " Process" by Skinny Puppy cos it combines their typical style with modern influences, heavy guitars, great singing and has a good mixture of slow ballads and fast songs.
Christian : "Solution for a small planet" by Haujobb as it´s a perfect mixture of music styles. Listen to the saxophone in the "cage complex". The pure innovation for this time!