Well, I'm still here, just been busy with other things and sometimes still a bit undecided about how to proceed with my social media appearances. But anyways, I've been doing some interviews recently and here's a very detailed one with Eclipsed magazine in Germany that I translated for you. Introduction and questions by Bernd Sievers, who followed my musical career since around 2006 when Terraplane released "Into The Unknown" on Nasoni Records. Find the original article in German here.
With Samsara Blues Experiment Chris Peters mixed up the local heavy psych and stoner rock scene. But in 2020, after the last album "End Of Forever" - the fifth studio album of the band - a closing line was drawn. Chris Peters moved to Brazil and restarted his music career there: Fuzz Sagrado is the name of his new project, which he does all by himself, and "A New Dimension" the just released debut.
Chris Peters seemed to have had enough of the music business in 2021. In his previous eclipsed interview, dissatisfaction and frustration shone through. However, the move to Brazil - for love's sake - seems to have done him good. The end of Samsara Blues Experiment, the band that the singer/guitarist/keyboarder had promoted since 2007 together with Hans Eiselt (guitar, bass), Thomas Vedder (drums) and Richard Behrens (bass, until 2014), he sees more conciliatory today - there is now a vinyl reissue of the Samsara debut "Long Distance Trip" and with "Demos & Rarities" a rarities collection - and looks to the future.
The future for him should be Fuzz Sagrado. The debut "A New Dimension", recorded by him single-handedly, moves like Samsara Blues Experiment in the realm of heavy psych and stoner rock, but also offers new facets. Reason enough to talk to Peters about his life in Brazil, his past - including the early-2000s band Terraplane and his musical side project Surya Kris Peters, from which various albums have already appeared online - and Fuzz Sagrado.
eclipsed: Samsara Blues Experiment's first albums were released on World In Sound. After that they were released on your own Electric Magic Records label. Why the return to a real label now? Why World In Sound?
Chris Peters: First of all, I see Electric Magic as a "real" label. Besides my own releases I have also released some albums of other bands. But my label was always closely connected to World In Sound, almost a sub-label, because WIS had always done a lot of the distribution work as well. In Germany I was still able to do a lot of label work. I myself also sent records directly to fans via the webshops, etc. Now here from Brazil it's not so easy. The first edition of the Fuzz Sagrado CD or the second edition of the last Samsara album was still sent by my father, but this is no longer possible because of the much worse price conditions of the German post. We then thought back and forth, also with Wolfgang at WIS I was still in contact. Above all, a shipping solution had to be found, since DHL is unfortunately no longer viable for small companies that have their customer focus abroad (especially the USA and overseas).
I have always said with SBE that no band really needs a label, but that is not quite right. Especially in these times it is important to have distribution partners. The second plus point for an external label is the financial aspect in general. With SBE we were financially well positioned, especially when we played live. It was really easy to do LP pressings. But now that playing live in this well-known scene band is no longer possible and LP productions have also become considerably more expensive, I needed help and in the beginning I was actually a bit unsure whether my current album had to be pressed on vinyl. I am not one of those complacent musicians, I approach things rather rationally now.
However, the Kozmik Artifactz label was relatively quick to agree to an LP pressing and also released the Fuzz Sagrado album in what I think is a wonderful vinyl version. I am very grateful for this support, besides the CD reissue at World In Sound and the LP at Kozmik Artifactz, there were also tapes of the two previous EPs at the American label Echodelick Records. So there is enough interest in principle. I, on the other hand, tend to be a bit of an understatement right now, I don't know why, maybe also because in the last two years it's somehow been suggested to us that art or music have no special meaning.
eclipsed: How did it come to the re-release of your debut album "Long Distance Trip" on vinyl with the bonus CD "Demos & Rarities"?
Peters: The album is really a blockbuster. For some reason it has become a real cult album. Actually, it's been going on for about six years, that at times at least one album of it had sold every day through our online stores. And in streaming, it's still responsible for about 60% of the revenue. Now the LP, like many other SBE albums, was sold out and you could watch the prices go up on Discogs, etc. I wanted to counteract this. Where there is such a demand, you have to deliver. I was also contacted by other labels, some with somewhat cheeky offers, which I will not go into detail here. Unfortunately, there are also some "rotten eggs" in this still small psychedelic scene - where I used to think we were more or less like a family.
After the end of SBE in 2020 I had my personal problems and wanted to have nothing to do with the band for a while, but I can't do it like that. In the worst case someone would have come up with bootlegs, as they are already available on CD. I also still care about the fans. I find it morally somewhat questionable, if someone asks on Discogs up to 200 EU for a record and then, for lack of other offers, also gets it. I already wanted to offer a newly reprocessed version in 2020, on the actual anniversary of the album, and that has now finally worked, including the demo CD, on which are also some "little fan gems" from the early days of the band. I'm glad that Wolfgang from WIS has been a real fan of SBE from the beginning and has made a lot of things possible for us, and for me in particular. I don't take any of this for granted.
eclipsed: "End Of Forever" was recently released on vinyl but on Electric Magic. Are there any further vinyl reissues planned?
Peters: Well, that was also a somewhat weird thing, due to the circumstances - the album was created while SBE was breaking up - and probably also my aforementioned tendency to understatement, we initially released the album in a small edition. I myself, for example, have not been a collector of physical records for years. For me there is simply no need to accumulate things. Just to mention that in passing. I certainly assume too much about myself sometimes. The first 500 LPs of the last SBE album were gone in less than two weeks. During this time I really didn't want to hear anything more about SBE, while quite a few fans must have felt a bit fooled - many still want to hold something in their hands. When things became a bit more relaxed with the other two guys from SBE, and e.g. the contractual issues were settled, we could finally agree on a new pressing, and this one went out again like hot cakes, again about two weeks and already everyone was gone from my stock. And now a third edition was needed. In this context we also had the "Long Distance Trip" special edition and now also other albums (e.g. "Revelation & Mystery"), which were sold out, were reissued. SBE is still in demand two years after the end of the band. Fortunately, my new project is also going very well, although I'm not playing live at the moment and am just the nerdy guy with the guitar. As I said, however, this fan-musician relationship is quite dear to me, I also try to answer all messages to me and want to try to meet the demand as best as possible and not to offer rip-offs at discogs, etc. - especially since such sales also bring me personally nothing, so I do not see a cent from it.
eclipsed: Who rummaged where in which archives for "Demos & Rarities"?
Peters: I really wanted to offer something special, not just the "Long Distance Trip" album in slightly different artwork, and since I started with the archive management of SBE in 2021, so to speak, I was able to put together a nice package relatively quickly. During the active time of the band a lot of things were a bit "business as usual", also because of lack of time. The albums were always pressed as they were - for example without subsequent numbering, so that you often can't see which pressing it actually is. A bit chaotic, unfortunately. Now I just have time to reflect on some things and to work out such special releases. For the completely new layout, photo research etc. you also need time and inspiration. The "Demos & Rarities"-CD was initially only planned as part of the "Long Distance Trip"-special, but I decided quite quickly with Wolfgang that the CD should be offered separately, in order not to do such a "rip-off thing", where everyone who already has the original album would have to buy everything again, just to be able to have this new CD. There's also stuff on the CD that I didn't want to release earlier, partly out of insecurities, but that ended up being significant cornerstones before the album came out, like the first real studio stint with the "For The Lost Souls" demo or my hippiedom at its zenith with the ten-minute raga attempt "All Is One". That's kind of important in retrospect too, to see where you're coming from.
eclipsed: How does it feel to hear those old things again?
Peters: Well, when I look at my past, I often ask myself: Who was this long-haired guy anyway? Some of it sounds a bit "primitive" from today's point of view, but when I compare it with other stuff, it has its justification. It was a long way from those recordings until today. In the best case you never stop learning and that's what these recordings show. In the past, I probably also thought sometimes, otherwise what a hot shot I was, but if I'm honest now, there was a lot that was still expandable. But it also has its charm, this exuberant zeal of youth, all the knobs on twelve and just rocking out.
eclipsed: In our interview in 2021 about the last Samsara album "End Of Forever" you also commented on the relationship with the other Samsara musicians and spoke of long-standing problems. What does your relationship with them look like today - two years and a few thousand kilometers apart?
Peters: Well, some things have relaxed. I always wanted a good, balanced relationship in the band, where everyone can always say what they think and contribute. I was in many things also "the maker" and then always saw myself personally criticized if there were other opinions. In the end there were too many contrary opinions and to deal with that was really difficult. As mentioned, I tend to certain insecurities, but I also don't want to be such a band boss who somehow decides everything, who pretends a unity on stage, but otherwise always cooks his own soup in the extra hotel room. Despite everything, we were somehow also good buddies with SBE and I think you can reflect on that now. Richard's departure in 2014 was similarly complicated. Ultimately, however, I also associate this SBE feeling with my fellow musicians and therefore I would not now go off and call myself Samsara alone, as some people now think: "Why don't you continue under the name". It's just not that simple, even if that would be guaranteed much easier than to start now with 42 years quasi from scratch.
eclipsed: Let's move on to Surya Kris Peters. You have released a lot of music/albums - at least online. Tell us what's behind it.
Peters: I started this project in 2014. At that time I was a bit unsure where the further journey with SBE should go. At that time, I was already a bit fed up with the always loud, always very similar, somehow dull stoner sound - on the other hand, I had also developed quite a passion for synthesizers at that time. I had my first Moog "already" in 2009 (and software synthesizers before that), and somehow a boredom with the usual guitar sounds had set in after the years as a guitarist. I had my first band in 1999 and then I was rather guitar-fixated until 2014. Then I wanted to try something different and so I came to the Surya project, where I could fully live out my sound visions, which could only be implemented to a limited extent in the often short time in the recording studio. Surya is actually the "total headphone music".
First and foremost, all my projects should be fun, which is why it was inevitable to draw a line under them when SBE really wasn't fun anymore. I certainly don't imagine to go down in music history as an innovator, and I can't and don't want to impress anyone - I certainly lack the skills on the respective instrument. I do all this more to express myself, because that's what I am. I am not a baker or a painter, but first and foremost a musician. There is something in me that wants to come out. I'm actually kind of proud of everything, a lot of things I've done on my own. Like now, for example, making songs that sound like a band, but that's all me. Creativity in any form is actually the greatest thing you can discover for yourself in life. Even being able to bake a nice cake is something creative. I think it's extremely important in your life to be able to live out a certain kind of creativity.
eclipsed: What memories/feelings do you still have of Terraplane?
Peters: The youth, which is often seen in a nostalgic way. As I said, I'm also over 40 now, and the nostalgic moments don't necessarily diminish, even if in the end there is little to gloss over, except perhaps a certain impartiality and that "everything still seemed possible". One may not think so often about how short life actually is. I think I have a pretty cool resume behind me. If I had to present it to anyone, I think they could at least certify that I have always somehow gone my own way. Quite often I catch myself with a smile on my face, when I see all these "young folks" on Instagram or something, who are still looking for that retro sound and look, like we did with Terraplane a hundred years ago, with bell-bottoms and all that 70s stuff. It's funny.
eclipsed: You live in Brazil now, you have a Brazilian wife. How is it living in Brazil? Where do you live there exactly? Have you gotten used to life there?
Peters: We live here in the state of Minas Gerais, about 300 km south of Belo Horizonte, near the Serra da Canastra. To put it in perspective, Minas covers about the area of France, but has only 11 million inhabitants. So you have a lot of land, a lot of nature, and few people. In principle, you can live well here if you have a reasonably good income. However, the difference between rich and poor is huge. We also have favelas here on a small scale, not like in São Paulo or Rio, but also poor neighborhoods, and many "luxury goods" are really luxury. Everything in terms of technology, furniture, cars, etc. is really expensive compared to Germany. The Brazilian sees many things quite differently than the "spoiled German", to which I still count myself. For me, many things are still a kind of "getting used to", including the climate. Here, the whole year is actually summer, although with seasonal differences, for example, the "winter" here is very dry, almost without precipitation, and then in the summer from January, the rainy season starts, with sometimes torrential rains, where it comes annually to the same, sometimes very violent floods. A lot of things seem somehow a bit weird, but you slowly get used to a serenity. It is also particularly interesting to look from here at Europe and its problems, which of course appear completely different in this context. But it is difficult to convey something like that in words. That's why I always say that anyone who has the opportunity to come here from Europe for a visit should definitely do so, and they will return enriched!
eclipsed: Is it at all possible to compare life there with life in Germany? Are there things you miss from Germany?
Peters: It really is a different world here. After 40 years in Germany, I grew up very differently than my wife, who primarily knows her Brazilian reality. You can imagine the misunderstandings and problems that can arise in daily life. Here, other things count, much more important than having some "modern sh..." or any of these luxury goods, is to meet with friends or family in one of the numerous "plastic-chair-bars". The Brazilian attitude to life is rather difficult to convey in words in a short interview and certainly not every Brazilian and not every German can be categorized in the same way. But I myself am still a spoiled Western European, not seldomly crying about the fact that I can not just buy an amplifier, as in the Musicstore mail order, where it is there the next day and is taken back without being asked if you do not like it. In that sense, I do miss something, yes.
eclipsed: To what extent do you get the political situation, especially now after the presidential election?
Peters: I'm not very interested in politics, but of course I notice a lot. For example, when I read the news from Europe from time to time, there is usually reason for a bad mood. One can now suggest naivety to me, but ultimately life on our planet has so many nuances that probably few of us can even halfway understand. Everything is somehow complex and has more than one side. Here in Brazil we have now election year, which is on the one hand interesting, on the other hand almost funny when Bolsonaro addresses the not so young Lula, for example, in the middle of the TV debate on his tight legs or the Viagra consumption in the current parliament is thematized. What all this will mean in the end for us "normal mortals" here remains to be seen. However, there is one thing I would like to mention in particular, in my circle of acquaintances here in Brazil, both camps can always discuss things in a relatively relaxed manner, and even best friends can have completely opposing views. I have noticed, especially in the last two years from Germany rather something very opposite, that there even friendships can break up because of political discussions. In Brazil, despite all this, you can also laugh very easily about yourself and the world.
eclipsed: To what extent does Brazil have an influence on your music? At least on Surya Kris Peters there seems to be a certain influence.
Peters: Among other things, one thing that probably influences me in Brazil is the certain isolation in which I live here. I came from the quasi-hip Berlin, where there is no lack of musicians, and also no lack of musical instruments etc. in any form, here to the Brazilian province. On the one hand, I wanted and needed to be alone for the time being, without outside influences and above all annoying discussions about principles (e.g. arguments about how often a song part is repeated). On the other hand, I am also confronted with some difficulties here, which have to lead to improvisation and creativity. For example, if it becomes difficult to buy instruments or equipment (e.g. guitar amps), well, what do you do? That's sometimes a bit of a cramp for me, e.g. to find effect pedals that I'm up for, but that are also somehow affordable. Almost all the music equipment here is two to three times as expensive as in Europe, or not available at all, and in 2020 I only came here with the bare essentials: two suitcases, one of them for the modular synthesizer, and only one guitar.
So you reflect on what you have, in the end it's enough for a while, and maybe many of these devices are not what you really need, but as in my case, you can perhaps reflect again on what makes a good guitarist or musician in general. Also I practice guitar here every day, which I lastly did in the early 2000s, while in recent years in Germany I was more busy chasing after some sounds (or sights): yesterday some vintage amps, today the Quad Cortex - in the end rather a lot of nonsense. It's also very easy to get caught up in a kind of equipment fetishism. All this analog vs. digital talk etc., better make a few songs and have fun. Well, and as I said, the fact that I'm making music on my own certainly influences me too, and eventually leads me to questions like: How much do I have to or want to say in my songs? Do there have to be umpteen parts in it, or is a simpler verse-chorus-strophe scheme sometimes enough?
With SBE I also wanted to get away from this "pseudo prog" for years, I found it really bad e.g. with "Waiting For The Flood". The "Long Distance Trip" album, on the other hand, which was largely my own brainchild, has already proven that you don't have to be so cerebral when making music. In some things I had to find my way back to myself. Living here in Brazil has also led me to a lot of self-reflection, despite the fact that I am anything but alone here, but for the first time in my life live in a really wonderful family setting with wife and stepdaughter.
eclipsed: Have you immersed yourself in the Brazilian music scene? Describe the scene a little bit.
Peters: Since my first visit in 2017, I liked especially the Brazilian 60s-80s stuff, there was for example a very unique form of progressive and psychedelic rock with bands like Secos e Molhados or artists like Tim Maia (old Brazilian funk). Especially that one I listened to a lot every day for a while. This is somehow also a kind of "good mood music" and helped me over a somewhat sad time in Berlin. Maybe I have been living in Brazil in spirit since 2017 already, with daily Caipirinhas, Tim Maias music and the online chats with my current wife. Currently there are of course numerous musicians here, but perhaps not necessarily as specialized as in Berlin or Europe in general. If I now tell someone here about modular synthesizers, questions are more likely to arise. In Germany, at least in Berlin, this is rather old news already. But what is remarkable is that here in town we have an annual drum festival, even our young mayor is a rock drummer. In general, rock and metal have a relatively large popularity here. Sepultura, for example, came from our state capital Belo Horizonte. There was also a stoner rock sampler "Weedian: Trip To Brasil" a few months ago. But unfortunately a lot of it is rather western oriented, not like in the days of Musica Popular Brasileira in the 70s. I would recommend for example the book "Lindo Sonho Delirante" and check out the bands there. In the '60s to the '80s there was really great independent music here, which probably very few people in Europe will know, because you might also have to get used to the Portuguese language first.
eclipsed: Have you been back to Germany since you moved to Brazil?
Peters: Yes, unfortunately only once briefly in two years due to difficult entry regulations, because Brazil was classified as a "high-risk area" by German authorities every now and then. So it was difficult to plan a trip. Well, difficult topic, which fortunately has also relaxed in Germany. Our visit to Germany, after two years in Brazil, was then "interesting" in many ways and also a kind of reverse culture shock for me, suddenly, for example, you could buy everything again, even the Kellogs Smacks, for which I had to search here for two years. We were temporarily in a kind of frenzy, even my wife had suddenly developed a shopping frenzy. What I really miss most in Germany is the autumn, because there is nothing like that here. Completely different vegetation, we are in the middle of the tropics here.
eclipsed: Let's move on to Fuzz Sagrado: In the 2021 interview for "End Of Forever", you said that you were bored with the lowered fuzz guitar and the even lower fuzz bass. With Fuzz Sagrado you have now returned, at least in part, to that kind of music. What changed your mind?
Peters: Yes very well noticed, to bring it to the point again: bad for me with SBE was, among other things, that the bass had almost always thundered over everything and you somehow also did not get this communicated and solved, that the bass is an important part of the music, but just not alone makes the music. You can relate this sentence from our previous interview to that. That was really extreme for me, when I stand as a guitarist with two really monstrous 100-watt tube amplifiers and large 4x12 boxes, everything always on at the same time, in the room and still sometimes only so a shred of my guitar could be perceived. If it then on my question whether one could play something more quietly, was said approximately; "Well then you must make yourself louder". So I probably just developed a different understanding of music.
I still love certain hard rock albums, my old stoner heroes from the 90s or late 60s and early 70s stuff, even the ever-present Hendrix I have to count as an influence. That was and is great music. A big push back to rock for me actually came from music youtubers, first and foremost a certain Rick Beato, who makes a really great series of videos where he takes apart well-known rock songs and explains all the parts with great passion, like "here listen to what the bass is playing in this Led Zeppelin song, and then the drums". Through these videos, I've finally been able to develop a better understanding of the work of the rhythm section as well. Playing bass, for example, is really fun for me right now!
eclipsed: On the Bandcamp site for "A New Dimension" you already explained a lot about Fuzz Sagrado. Nevertheless, please describe your motivation for Fuzz Sagrado.
Peters: In an interview with Rock Hard in 2020, their editor and SBE fan Holger Stratmann said to me: "You have to continue with this kind of music" and that was probably the first thing that stuck with me. I'm also really not ready for rockers' retirement, to put it that way. There's still too much music in me that wants to get out. One day I covered Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" here just for fun, and that was a moment when the penny really dropped: I'm still into rock after all. Sure, it doesn't always have to bang like Samsara, but I also see that some people still have fun with my music. I'm happy about the feedback I'm getting now and it spurs me on to keep going. As a musician, you don't just sit alone in a small room either: Music needs to be heard.
eclipsed: Do you actually do everything on the album alone? All the instruments? Production? Sound engineering? Do you have your own home studio there? Or where did you record the album?
Peters: Yes, I do everything by myself. I have a room here in our house where I can make noise from noon to night, so to speak. My wife loves my music, too, and has quite an eclectic taste in music. Her favorites are Frank Zappa, Magma and so on. From there already quite good conditions, only the mentioned equipment procurement problem annoys me sometimes, although one really does not need so much. Rarely I also miss an exchange with (fellow) musicians, but in the end I have enough people who I can ask, whether this is good or sh... what I do. With the production technology (especially mix & mastering) I have learned a lot in the last two years. There was enough time for it and with the internet the knowledge of the world is at your feet. Many essential plugins are even available for free or are already included in the basic recording program (compressors etc.). You certainly don't need vintage equipment and rather very little analog stuff. I'm also a bit of a nerd, I love computer stuff, all the plugins that are out there, etc. That's my thing right now!
eclipsed: "A New Dimension", the title of the Fuzz Sagrado album, can also mean that you are making a new musical start. Is that so? Or at least that you want to take a new stylistic direction within psychedelic rock?
Peters: I wouldn't necessarily call what I'm doing at the moment "pure" psychedelic rock. I actually like some groups from the 80s, post-punk like The Comsat Angels or The Sound, and also well-made synth pop à la Depeche Mode. Something like that never appeared in Samsara. But I feel like bringing these influences into my music. Not all the time, but once in a while in one or two songs per album I would find it cool and it might make a little difference to the big mass of the rest of the stoner and psychedelic world. Now not all listeners may understand that, and not everyone likes it. Whatʼs the point, I just donʼt like to serve just another cliché, there are more than enough of them. By the way, my first band was a gothic group, although I only joined by chance. But in the gothic area, which in turn is derived from the 80s sounds I mentioned, there are also echoes of my favorite band The Doors. I also have a certain basic melancholy in me, I think. Lake Of Tears was also one of my favorite bands in the 90s. Partly nobody knew how to describe it genre-wise, Gothic Psychedelic Rock? I don't want to put any limits on that, even less than with SBE. I think with Fuzz Sagrado I really do partly "experimental" and certainly not just standard psychedelic that has to sound like the 60s. I would find that boring and for me it has little to do with the term psychedelic in the original. For me, it's more about a kind of "broadening of perception", and not about exact copycat emulation of role models from the primordial soup of the late 60s.
eclipsed: "A New Dimension" really explores different possibilities of psychedelic rock. The tracks have different characters. Do you have any idea where Fuzz Sagrado will take you?
Peters: I'll keep going as long as I enjoy it. At the moment I'm working on the second Fuzz Sagrado album, which is almost finished. Interestingly enough, I find a lot of parallels to the grunge of the early 90s, but also echoes of Pink Floyd, and also almost symphonic moments like with The Verve or The Moody Blues. So the more you learn, the more endless the possibilities seem, if you're creative and open enough.
eclipsed: Can you imagine making music within a band context again? What would have to fit for that?
Peters: Yes, at the moment I'm thinking about it. I sometimes miss the social component of meeting with at least like-minded people in the rehearsal room and then playing live. That can also be something nice. I already had an offer to play at a festival here in Brazil. In principle, however, the musical comrades would have to fit in with my (song and sound) guidelines, perhaps more so than with Samsara. It seems that a band can't run too loosely if it's supposed to be halfway "good". I don't want to play in a band again that I start, but where I end up feeling like I can't communicate. I was honestly also always really annoyed by these initial comparisons with Amon Düül, maybe because SBE were sometimes really a kind of Krautrock, which was never my intention. I always wanted to have more of a tight rock band that would perform the songs as well as possible in concert. I am not a stoner in that, and in the literal sense. I'm more impressed by other groups, where everything somehow harmonizes well together.
