Smyrna Ochoa
El Universal
Sunday August 8th, 2004

The German band Lacrimosa closed up successfully their tour "Echos" in Mexico on last weekend, filling up the three dates of their concerts in the Circo Volador.

Before leaving our country, Tilo Wolff, head of this band, accompanied by the beautiful Finnish Anne Nurmi, gave an exclusive interview for EL UNIVERSAL:

Tilo, you are the founder of the recording studio Hall of Sermon, why did you have the necessity of founding your own recording studio?

When I did the Lacrimosa demo I received proposals from some recording studios to sign a contract, but they wanted to tell what to record and how to record, when I just wanted to play my music. I didn't any plan to form a band; I just wanted to give a new dimension to the poems I wrote, so I play the piano as company and I recorded it. The idea in self was to record an album at some time, but artistic, not commercial, so I thought in founding my own recording studio.

This band from Germany, has already 13 years expressing emotions to the public, trying to label them in only one musical genre is difficult, since Lacrimosa has created its own style, since the hardness of the Metal until the symphonic pieces that make their music a true pleasure, joined with the poetic and sometimes cruel lyrics and the dying singing of Tilo Wolff, founder of this band, and Anne Nurmi whose choirs give her enigmatic touch to one of the most important band of the obscure genre.

Why did you do a Spanish version of "Durch nacht und flut"?

Recording "Durch nacht und flut" in Spanish was our way to say thanks to all our fans in Mexico, your support is very impressive, for seeing you sing our songs in German, and this is our gratitude; this version was not ended in that way without the help of our friend Patricia Nigiani from Aurora Sutra and Catastrophe Ballet, who translated the lyrics and helped us during the recording.

In this new album, we can notice the mark of what was Lacrimosa at the beginning, why do you re-take the past?

Was asked to the leader of this band, who showing a complicity smile, Wolff commented that the last album "Fassade" was very heavy, musically speaking; and with regard to "Echos" that is not something he was looking for; he did not think of recording this album, he was only writing and then he realized he had a complete album, very soft, that is a contrast for the previous one.

Anne, you have 10 years with Lacrimosa, in the moment, what was the reason that rouses you to leave "Two Witches" and enter to "Lacrimosa"?

During the tour "Satura 93", Two Witches, where I played the keyboards and sang, support Lacrimosa as back band, there I met Tilo who offered me the opportunity of entering to his project, since he had been looking for a feminine voice for the backgrounds some time before; also the fact that I understood his music and felt his lyrics were reciprocal with his ideas, had an influence on it, in this way I joined to Lacrimosa few time after that tour.

Source: "El Universal" newspaper.