I had the great honour of being able to interview Dero. The lead singer from Oomph! Along with Jeremy Williams from MusikNews. info we had a 17 minute (although it felt like a lifetime) interview. We were able to video tape the interview and will be posting a link to that later. For the time being. Here is the Transcript: Joe 1/04
DML: So… first question and its a good one because everyone does it differently. How do you pronounce the band’s name?
Dero: Oomph! (umff) I know that there are many people, especially Germany and Eastern Europe who say Omph (omff)… But no, no, its Oomph! (umff) like sex appeal and enthusiasm. I know that there’s, uh, the word isn’t very common in English. I’ve heard that.
DML: Is it like “Give it a little oomph…”?
Dero: Ok. Like Marilyn Manroe wants to oomph!
DML: Ok… And how did you come up with the name?
Dero: Because it was so strange to see that the name like that is existing. You know, with the two “o”s and the exclemation mark at the end. It was strange, you know, the visual aspect and pronounciation. And, you know, its always good to have a name where somebody is like “What was that?” You know, if your band name is like, I dunno, “Toilet 2, 3, 4” its, its, I dunno… Your name has to be special. And this is a special name, definately.
DML: Its different.
Dero: Yeah, that’s right!
DML: “What the hell was that?!?! Oomph!!! Ungh!!”
Dero: I heard that many people think that its like the sound that you get when somebody kicks you in the stomach.
DML: Yeah, definately. Ok. And… Why did you decide to switch from Virgin Records to Gun Records?
Dero: Because the work together with Virgin didn’t turn out that well. Because, in Germany, it was pretty okay. But, Eurowide it was kinda like a mess because we toured two times with huge
bands like Skunk Anasie and Hirou(???) all over Europe and nearly no one from Virgin was there to see us or to say, you know, “Ok, we’re going to release your records in each country.” And it was very disappointing to see. So, uh, the contract ran out and it was a good point in time for us to look for a new label. It wasn’t so that we were dropped or had been dropped by Virgin. It was just time. It ran out. The contract ran out.
DML: Do you know if there will be any kind of US distribution this time? ‘Cause I know Virgin there was a big thing where the just wouldn’t give you US distribution.
Dero: That’s right. We’re, right now we’re looking for a new partner there and hopefully there gonna be one. But, you never know. We don’t want it to be on the independant level. So, its hard to find, kinda like a major there. But I think it works out if you are, if you, if you can sign with a label, a major label there. Its better than Metropolis Records or something. Because we could sign with Metropolis right now, but I think its too small.
DML: Its too small and there are too many bands.
Dero: That’s right.
DML: Nobody cares. Ok.. umm… A friend of mine heard that there was, uh, taped albums released in Spain.
Dero: Yeah. That was, uh, right in the beginning. It was right in the beginning of Oomph! and we were kinda like doing vacations in Spain. Spending a long time there. And, so for us it was kinda like a good way to find out which music we wanna do. So we tried out and had some rehearsals and sessions and stuff like that. And, it was kinda like an electronic, avantguard stuff that we made then.
DML: Similar to the first album?
Dero: That’s right. Like that stuff.
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