New Fuzz Sagrado EP

As my 4th year in Brasil comes to a close, I am really glad to finally release new music with Fuzz Sagrado - which always means guitars, riffs, and vocals and so in a way can be seen as the direct continuation of SBE. There's now even two older song ideas from that period which I managed to realize by myself. And it has been a bit of a "crazy ride" to finish this EP. I've had a friend in Italy, Alessandro of L'Ira Del Baccano, help me understand a few significant things here, and still I am learning. But I am happy with the result and now it's here for you to check out ...

Snowchild

Oh the tranquility seems to be wearing me out
Tried to be cool, calm and collected while it twists me around
And everything within me is starting to freeze,
and yearn to burst into the light

It's half past midnight now and I'm so tired to explain myself

And I don't want you around
when your icecold ethics are just bringing me down
Trail of (cold) smoke misguiding me
And to still see you frown seems just so pathethic
You took control of me now either way

It's feeding on me through every shallow day and every vengeful night,
while it feels just like going insane
with that same old drive in me
as I'm longing to be oh more than just morally fulfilled

Cold Remains

Everything changes, nothing seems to be real
Guess that's how it goes just for everyone
The words that we speak dissent the pain that we feel
So strange how we thought we're the only ones ...

Who'd loved yet had lost all their naivety
That's how coming of age slowly takes its toll
Take a look at the numbskulls that we have become,
in the end just afraid to grow up

And then I wanted to die,
was looking for an easy way out to end this reckless life,
so I could be reborn,
emotionless and cold

Everyone screws around with each other's minds,
unable to listen, and unlearning to think,
while here I am lost on the middle of the road
and still just don't know what you want from me

We lived on the cost of our integrity
and that's how coming of age really took its toll
Take a look at the memories that we have outgrown,
in the end just afraid to break up

And then I wanted to die,
was looking for an easy way out to end this reckless life,
so I could be reborn,
emotionless and cold - just like you

Morphine Prayer

Here comes resurrection, again I'm on my own,
for all that once had been familiar became unknown
I've sent my morphine prayers to ease off, or to restrain,
ever since I've been a servant to her game
Used to love her with obedience, an addiction as I would say,
yet never then would I foresee her wicked ways

And now at times it seems so silly, no use to reminisce
This foolish love was torn to pieces of fragile bliss
Like a moth who's burned her wings in golden rays of the sun,
promised you that I would wait till the bitter end had come

Neurotic Nirvana

Once true brotherly love shook this earth,
now look at what is left of it
All faded into darkness, the memories lost in time
Debating such ambiguous things like correctness or truth
and yet there's no switch to rewind

In their blind convenience,
these naive fools never stood a chance
in their fragile resilience, such a pitiful scene to see

In blind convenience, selfishness, more than arrogance
Missed the point - trying to pretend
relations wouldn't mean a thing

If that's where it was all headed to
I guess I will just accept my fate
Thought we'd made this bold pact for eternity,
now I have to leave all l my innocence far behind

Blind convenience, here I lie slain by these cold hands
If that's where our forever ends, how can you be so mean to me

New vinyl coming!

It's been a while, I am still a bit undecided about this whole blog thing. It seemed great during that "covid daze", to get things off my chest or use this as a kind of online diary, or even self therapy ... dunno. A lot of things are always happening, sometimes I may be just a little lazy to post stuff. Apologies!

So I have a new vinyl coming in January 2025, yay! I've been putting quite some effort into this, finding labels who'd take a bit of a risk. Don't get me wrong, I think this album is among my finest and totally deserves this "proper release". I may have quite my own philosophy about this, I don't think everything needs to printed on physical media anymore, no! 

I am not even a collector at all myself, but I know that there are people who love to have such things and like I said: This particular album totally deserves it. It will be the third Surya-vinyl after "Holy Holy Holy" in 2017 and the super rare "The Hermit" from 2016!

A few words about all this in general, because some people really liked it and one fan even wrote it may be my best release since Samsara's last album which in some ways is quite a bit "funny" for me, because the backgrounds of these two albums can't be much more different really:

This one here was made here in my brasilian home studio, in calm, with passion and dedication - while the Samsara-album almost ended my career. I really didn't want anything to do with it all anymore, almost gave up guitar because I had to play these songs like a zillion times before recording them under the stress of a dissolving band.

And how ridiculous it seems spending thousands of bucks on a recording (SBE), oh perhaps it still sounds a wee bit better while at the same time I hear the stiffness behind my tracks, and it's all just way too big of a compromise for me. So what's more important, good sound or passion? Eventually the goal is going for both! I might say with that latest Surya-album I am almost there and proud of my achievements.

It's a great album. Period.

An end, and a new beginning

There's a concert coming up, the first one since 2019 for me, and I'm writing here again ... a lot has happened in the last months, I've lost a few friends and found new ones. We've been evicted from our house, not sure why, crazy stuff ... In my fourth year in Brasil, things are still strange at times. I've been searching answers in spirituality. This may seem strange to some people, sometimes it seems strange to myself, but if that doesn't make sense, what else does? Some of the things here are a big old mystery. I have come to this foreign land, far away from the the life I've known before, and it's all so different ...

During these months I also tried to make something happen for SBE - it was suggested to me to return with SBE, after I expressed my "saudades" to play live and initially had this idea for a "best of career"-program with a new band. I began to miss it, and to travel and all. So Thomas, Hans and I talked for the first time in years, and although for a moment it seemed as if something could happen, it can't - ... I'll try not to stay bitter about it. It would have been easy to come back with the familiar name (that I created, where I wrote most of the songs etc) instead of starting over again. At least, we will continue to play some of these songs in the new group.

But these days I have other challenges ahead of me. I started the year with a new Surya-album and recorded a whole lot of new stuff, but I can't lie: the last few weeks I was in a bit of frustration perhaps. The untimely end of SBE and the loss of some friends took their toll and made me question how much of that is my fault, even though all I want to do is PLAY MY MUSIC really. Is it that difficult for every band? Was it like that when we were younger? Was I ignoring other people's feelings? I guess life's like that: things change. I look back at all with gratitude and will not try to force much for now, ... just recently I really enjoy to work together with other musicians again.

Here's three excerpts of constellations I have been playing in the last months ... all were special to me ... most impressive perhaps would be the group with Steffen Schneider (Spaceship Landing, Blackbox Massacre), Raphael Nigbur (Blackbox Massacre) and Charlie Paschen (Coogans Bluff, Charlies Studio etc) but also meeting with my old friends Jens Vogel and Robin Niehoff was great! Eventually though I have decided to stick with two "local" Brasilian guys, although drummer Lucas Fursy is from 200 km away. It was guitar- and amp maker Guilherme Bordin who initiated me to play with local guys, despite all the difficulties here ... let me just say it is MUCH easier to play music in Germany in general!

But that's how it is, I really learn to have a different view on the past and present here ...