The following article features interview questions with Alphaville. This
article first appeared in The Golden Path in 1988, and is compiled from
interviews sent by Silvia Epicoco, Kay Hatfield, Ute Kreiner,
Alessandra Montrucchio and many other
sources (too many to list them all).
Q. Can we see you live on tour some time?
A. This time we work on a concept on a real live act of the third LP.
Q. You said you'd make a world tour. When are you to do this?
A. In the spring of '89, if the new album comes out. But I think more in a
cinema as live on stage.
Q. What is the meaning of the name Alphaville and why is the group called
Alphaville?
A. Alphaville is the name of a futuristic city in one of the more unknown
movies made by Jean Luc Godard, the group's favorite director. In this movie,
Alphaville obviously IS Paris, which symbolizes the fact that the word
Alphaville stands for the most fascinating aspect of the reality;
IMAGINATION... we do the soundtrack.
Q.I have heard that you haven't held any concerts and if so, that you use
only playback. What is the reason for this?
A.We have played live only for non-commercial reasons so far, e.g. supporting
the anti-nuclear movement in West Germany. T.V. appearances are normally done
with playback and is a boring thing to do. Our favorite T.V. broadcasts are
those in which people are going to the pictures.
Q. Are you hampered in real life by the whirl of money and glory which you
sing about in the song Lies?
A.Lies was just a fantasy about this fame and business thing. Later we found
out that this kind of life is far less interesting than we'd expected.
Q. Do the pentagrams on the cover of Afternoons in Utopia reflect your
religious beliefs?
A. About as much as the pentagrams on the American flag reflect the religious
beliefs of the American people. (Marian Gold during a press conference in
New York, November 1986)
Q. What share have you in the success of The Other
Ones? How have you supported them with the work in your studio?
A. We support The Other Ones with help from our publishing firm and our
production company.
Q. When do you plan to play live and where?
A. If we play live then we'll go play in East Germany too, if it's possible.
Q. Have you any further contact with Frank Mertens?
A. No.
Q. Will you ever release an album with German lyrics? How many German songs
of yours are ready?
A. There are 2 German songs, we've not yet published them.
Q. Have you a personal favorite of all your songs?
A. Heaven Or Hell (on the next LP.)
Q. What connection is there between The Nelson Highrise Sector 1: The Elevator,
Sector 2: The Mirror and Sector 3: The Garage? Why don't the songs appear one
after the other?
A. Every sector stands for a part of the Nelson Highrise building. Every part
of the building stands for a story. Every story stands for a song. These
stories are told in an irregular sequence.
Q. What should the cover of the first LP represent? Has this face carved
out of stone got an actual meaning for you?
A. It's a reference to the LP title. [Note: There are two different covers
for Forever Young)
Q. Your B-sides are fantastic! Can we ever hope that you'll release them as
an album? That would surely be a present for many of your fans!
A. That's planned. Apart from that there's a compilation of the first and
second albums (for East Germany) planned for this year.