(2007/12/10) Hello Heiko! Congratulations on the very beautiful compilation of the Rare Tracks Collection "Archive#01"; visually and musically it is very successful. The CD is now available in shops (in Germany). After more than 20 years of history with the band was it difficult to select from the wealth of material for this collection?

Thanks for the compliment - we are very pleased with the result. The idea for this release is something we have discussed among ourselves for quite some time and we are interested to see how the Fans respond. Over the years there has been quite a lot of material collected, and as a result it was difficult to bring structure and order to the large quantities of tapes, DAT Cassettes, Disks, Harddrives and CDs. It became clear to us very quickly that it would be difficult to pack everything on one or two CDs. We did decide against approaching the project by compartmentalizing or presenting a complete history. Had we chosen that approach, the first CD would have consisted entirely of different versions of "The Great Commandment". That approach would not have provided a very interesting overview of our music.

[shortnews ende]The name "Archive#01" suggests a likely continuance of the Rare Tracks Collection series. Are there actual plans or intentions to continue the series?

As I sat between the many archives crates and collected all of the materials together, the project seemed self-designated as "Archive". Many of the different recordings are designated by numbers, and for each of the countless mix versions ( e.g. "Spice Crackers" master tapes) this method of differentiation is absolutely necessary. Otherwise you will soon be unable to find something - and who really wants to listen to 14 nearly identical versions of a song and then still not know with surety which version ended up on the final CD? So we adopted this method of sorting for our rarities CD, but also with the thought and suggestion that there might be other releases in the series. Whether there will be future releases in the series certainly depends on the success of "Archive#01".

The new CD has been released by your old record label Universal. At the moment you are contractually still with SPV. What is the situation with the labels and why is the CD just coming to the market now? Many fans would have wished for this kind of CD years ago.

We are indeed still under contract with SPV, but since Universal has rights to the majority of our back catalogue, our work with Universal was necessary if this kind of CD was to be released. We aren't really interested in having compilations of our music released, unless we have had involvement in the selection of tracks and the presentation of the release. SPV is indeed still our partner for the Live DVD and does still have an option for the release of the next studio album.

The booklet contains liner notes specific to each of the tracks and these notes answer many questions. In regards to the "Love is a Shield - Lexy & K-Paul Remix" we still have two questions: Did Marcus re-record the vocals for the track and what is the origin of the lyrics at the beginning of the remix?

Yes, the vocals were recorded new for that remix. The words at the beginning are vocal snippets assembled from Marcus vocals.

The front cover and the inner cover images of the Digi-Pack each show a photo of the band and on the last image it shows you as a foursome. Can you explain somewhat about the origin and age of the photos?

The same rules apply to the recordings as to the photos. The front cover was taken during our fotosession for our second cassette "From Ay to Bee", which was produced in 1985 and 50 copies were distributed. The photo was taken by Reiner Pfisterer and was one of the earliest in our career - which was also the case for Reiner, who has since become a very successful photographer. The picture of us as a foursome was very important to me to include. This photo is from 1984 at our very first performance. Front right is Martin K ähling - the fourth founding member. This same evening was Martin's 18th birthday celebration, and since he was now of legal age he had quite an intense night ahead. The photo was hanging at his parents place for the past 20 years and it was critical that it was included in this release.

The styling of the new Camouflage font appears to be written by hand. This also appears to be very similar to the script used on the "Areu Areu" EP. Is there a connection between the two?

Good observation! The handwritten script in both examples is from me.

Considering "Computer Liebe" from Kraftwerk and "Winter" from The Sound, "Archive#01" contains two cover versions. You have released several cover versions and played many cover versions live. Can you imagine that Camouflage might record an entire album of cover songs for release? One of the first candidates would of course be your version of the Human League classic "Being Boiled", which was received so well during the Relocated Tour.

Cover Versions are often quite fun. But to do and entire album of this is a very difficult theme. When one chooses to cover a title, which one is fond of in its original form, the cover should be done in a way that brings the song into a new context. The simple translation of an existing arrangement is something I find boring. With our cover version of "Winter" we were successful in creating something new and the core of the song is preserved. With "Being Boiled" I see it a bit differently - it is really a homage to a very important band, who too infrequently receives the recognition they have earned. But perhaps the idea of an album of covers version isn't so bad...I would disappoint you in saying that for this kind of CD we would certainly need much more time than for a Camouflage studio album ;-)

Let's come to the last question. Since this is important for many fans, it must be asked! How far is the work on the Live DVD progressing and approximately when could this be released?

Unfortunately there seem to have been many errors and problems that have slipped in during the recording in Dresden, and these are causing a significant amount of work. The time required to make the adjustments exceeds the allocated time allowances in my schedule and so I must often interrupt the work on the DVD to focus on current projects. I do hope though that we can release the DVD in the first quarter of 2008.

Thank you very much for the Interview.

It is always a pleasure!