„Mehr Fleisch!“ Interview with The Drowning Men, part 2.

A few weeks ago I was really excited! You wanna know why? Because Chuck Ragan, Joe Ginsberg & The Drowning Men were on their way to Germany to play some concerts. I’m willing to admit that I didn’t know The Drowning Men before. The first time I have seen these guys was in Berlin- they came up on stage and the thing that particularly and straight away caught my eye was that they have a lot of tattoos. Right in that moment, a girl behind me said: “If you don’t have a tattoo- you will never have a chance to become a member of The Drowning Men!” I had to laugh because it was so true! They were playing the first songs- and what can I say: I was blown away, because every single one in this band had so much energy, passion and a lot of talent! It was love at first sight and I was really happy to see them again in Hamburg, Münster, Stuttgart and Cologne.

During my journey I thought about a question which Anka (tour manager) asked me a few days before the tour started: “Do you want to do an interview with The Drowning Men?”, but I had to say “No, sorry! I would love to, but I have no time to prepare something!”

Only three or four days later, I had a practical idea – I wrote Anka and asked her, if I still could do an interview. “How much time I need for this? Oh, I really don’t know, because the questions will be hidden in some balloons and they have to burst them with darts- it may take some time.”

To cut a long story short: It was a lot of work to prepare this interview- you know- finding good questions, blowing air in the balloons (that was really hard! I must have been about 12 the last time I did that- and it was definitely easier!), finding darts and an oscar. But you know what? They had a lot of fun with the balloons- so all the work was worth it! Big thanks to James & Gabe and I hope to see you soon back in Germany!

James: How did music enter your life and what are your memories about your very first concert you’ve seen?