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Interview with the German guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Dirk Radloff By Sergio Vilar Dirk, what are your musical ideas aiming at? Musically speaking, how would you describe yourself? I was educated in classical music and I actually was trained at university in playing the violin to become a musician in an orchestra. That’s why I’ve never been able to cope with improvisation and spontaneity as the main features of light music especially well. The only means of improvising I use are simple changes in chords. I’m making songs like a classical musician, i.e. I write scores and contemplate the arrangements thoroughly. I think about every single sound. I’m a perfectionist and work in a highly intellectual way. How has your career developed until now? Until 5 years ago I took part in a countless number of local bands, so played live very often. That didn’t really satisfy me. My bandmates were either completely unprofessional and turned up stoned at rehearsals two hours late or they were just not prepared properly. Things didn’t develop und you just carried your amplifiers from one youthclub to the other. So I decided to work on my own 5 years ago. For the first Heartscore CD I made almost everything on my own apart from singing a few lead vocals. I had copies made which I sent to almost every internet platform in the world no matter how small it was and designed my own homepage in order to sell my CD. It was exciting to get reviews from Japan, Uzbekistan or other foreign countries. This motivated me so much that I released the straight to the brain album two years later. I turned Heartscore into a studioband for this album. I engaged a drummer and the music started to be a lot more groovy than before. The real drums were a big improvement. I also think that the songs are much better and more original. What are your favourite bands soloists? Where does your sound come from? When I was a child I only listened to classical music. I especially liked Beethoven (most of all his string quartets), chamber music by Schubert, Liszt and orchestra pieces of the late romantic period, for example by Wagner or Bruckner, but I also liked modern composers like Ligeti. My favourite bands are the big heroes of the 70’s, that is The Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Yes and all these dinosaurs of rock. In the 80’s I started to be interested in Metal. I’m sure I’m influenced by bands like Slayer, Savatage, Metal Church or Armored Saint. I also listen to Jazz. I in particular like Jazzrock of the 70’s like the Mahavishnu Orchestra or Weather Report. I also like intelligent pop music like Steely Dan or Chic or more recent stuff like Björk or Prodigy. I think you can hear these influences when you listen to my songs, but due to my special way of working I create something new. When did you decide to give your project Heartscore its actual form? I think I started to work in my homestudio, which I had newly equipped for that purpose, in 2000. After the first demo recording, which I regarded as too undecisive, I officially started the sculptures project in 2002. Inside that musical scene in particular would include to your band? I don’t know. Let‘s speak about “Straight To The Brain”. What is the general idea of the album? As with the previous project sculptures the concept is to turn poems by famous writers into music. In comparison to the earlier album the music on “Straight To The Brain” is closer related to the text, i.e. the text sets the tone for the music. In earlier songs I had often had the idea for the music or a certain tune before I actually decided which text I wanted to use, so that the text had to fit to the music and not the other way around. This way of working does not go along with the ordinary song structure. Still, I mostly work with the usual pattern of stanzas and chorus, though. Could you give me a profile of each of the songs from the disc? The listeners should find out for themselves. Did you write the material starting from previous specific ideas or did you simply let your ideas develop in a natural way? There is always a small musical idea which I start with, e.g. a guitar chord or a simple tune and then I start to look for a suitable poem. Sometimes it’s the other way around and I‘m caught by a certain lyrical line and it makes me think of a special tune or harmony. I’ve got a scrapbook to jot down my ideas, which has got more than 1000 pages by now. Then I start working with my composing software (Sibelius) to create the music to the poem according to it's specific course. I write down every single note. When everything is perfect I print the score and play and record it or have it played and recorded. How much material existed for the album and finally wasn’t used? The material consisted of exactly 12 songs which are all on the album now. The only song which is older than the others is The schoolboy. I started writing on this song many years ago and worked on it again every now and then. That’s why it is stylistically a bit different from the other tacks on the CD. I hadn’t been satisfied with the song for quite a while, that’s why I rewrote it several times. What did you think about the finished album? Was the result as you had expected? In any case “Straight To The Brain” is my best production ever. The song material is much more original than that of the previous songs and I think, I’ve found my own personal style on this CD. The most important and striking idea was to engage a real drummer. Thus, the album sounds more like a live performance. I love the atmosphere of old rock productions, like The Who, the drum sound, which is caused by the interference of the single instruments and the sound of the room the recording took place in. There’s more life to that than in any sample you can buy or create on your computer. Have you developed other musical projects apart from Heartscore? I’ve written some piano pieces, which you can listen to at www.sibeliusmusic.com. But these pieces are rather classical music, which might be related to Liszt, Chopin and Jazzrock. Apart from that I’ve written a children’s musical together with my sister’s boyfriend, which will soon be staged for the first time at different schools. In your opinion, how do you think will your music develop in next years? In general I want to stick to the style which I’ve developed with Heartscore. The next production will probably be straighter and less progressive. I might make more use of the piano and violin. I’m working on a live performance at the moment for which I‘m engaged in negotiations with professional musicians, who I will have to pay. If I can afford it, there will be a live performance of Heartscore soon. Thank you Dirk. Would you like to add anything else? I'm all alone in this world, she said Ain't got nobody to share my bed, Ain't got nobody to hold my hand- The truth of the matter's I ain't got no man. Big Boy opened his mouth and said, Trouble with you is You ain't got no head! If you had a head and used your mind You could have me with you All the time. (words by Langston Hughes) Changes may take up to 2 mins to show on your profile