PROLOGUE

 

 

On 23rd May 2007 I (Tom) had the great opportunity to have an approx. 30 minute interview with Alan Wilder in Berlin at Hotel Q.

 

I flew to Berlin in the morning and teamed up with Marc (he made all of this actually possible for me - thank you so much again!) and a friend of him called Philipp at the Tegel airport.

 

We went to the city near the Hotel Q where Alan resided and met Anne (marketing director of Mute & Labels International) by accident as she just walked out of the Stefanel shop next to the hotel. Our interview time was again confirmed for 13:50 o'clock so we had a lot of time to spend until then.

 

Everybody was slightly nervous and so we spent the whole forenoon at a bar near the hotel talking (no alcohol yet!). Marc and Philipp bought some Berlin postcards for friends to be signed by Alan later.

 

Around half past one p.m. we finally decided to enter the hotel. Anne was there and took Marc aside and Philipp and myself were told to get up to a hotel room that was rent for the interviews.

 

We stood there about two minutes but nothing happend. Then the concierge came and opened the door for us. Philipp and myself got in and we checked the empty room. It was a very nice design room like the whole hotel - we were sitting on a white ostrich-leather sofa whilst Alan would sit later in the opposite to us in a red round seventies style chair. In between us there was only a flat narrow coffee table. I took out my voice recorder and the questions I had prepared.

 

And then suddenly the door opened and Anne, Alan and Marc came in. It was really an amazing moment to see Mr. Wilder coming in with a big smile on his face, very friendly with an excited attitude.

 

He greeted everybody with a handshake and I was handed out a signed promo photo from the LIQUID era plus a very astonishing gift: Marc had bought a wedding card secretly earlier (when he bought the cards for his friends) as he new that Tanja and myself were married the Monday before - and Alan had written his congratulations and best wishes for Tanja and myself into the card before they came to the room - what a gesture! I was completely overwhelmed as it's a pretty unique gift from Alan! I hadn't expected anything like this at all! Who would anyway?

 

So we introduced ourselves to Alan and I did it like Michael from SHUNT Staff advised me to do some weeks earlier, because I was asking him if Alan would know what I'm talking about if I would introduce myself as the webmaster of RECOIL19.NET. Michael told me "Alan won't probably know the site by its name but if you tell him you're the webmaster of the most comprehensive RECOIL discography on the internet then he'll exactly know who you are." And so I did and it was quite obvious to me that Alan was pleased to meet the 'guy' behind RECOIL19.NET. He was very thankful that I'm running this website (he really knows it) and he thanked me later once again for the site when we said goodbye. I think the best reward for any webmaster of a fansite is the true appreciation of the concerned artist from eye to eye.

 

Unfortunately approx. the first two or three minutes are missing in the transcript as I switched on the voice recorder when we all sat down after the (first) handshake. 

 

 

Tom:	Thank you so much! [for Alan's wedding card for Tanja and me]
Alan:	Oh, you're very welcome! Very welcome, very nice. Where did you travel from?
Tom:	I came from Vienna this morning.
Alan:	Vienna from this morning! And where are you from? [asks Philipp]
Philipp:	And we're from Frankfurt [points to Marc and himself]. I'm Philipp, I'm just a friend of him.
Alan:	OK, nice to meet you [shakes Philipp's hand again]. Nice to meet you [shakes my hand again] and nice to meet you [shakes Marc's hand again]. So... [everybody's laughing] ...well, actually I've been in Berlin for a couple of days. I came in on - where are we now - Sunday night I came. Because I wanted to have a bit of time to see the city, I haven't been here for ten years or so.
Tom:	It's the first time for me...
Alan:	...first time in Berlin?
Tom:	But I won't see anything, because I will travel home today.
Alan:	Today tonight, today? Ohh... So we...
Philipp:	...the city changed a lot.
Alan:	Berlin has changed a lot, it's right. But it's so fascinating - it's always been a fascinating city anyway. And of course now with everything that happened the recent years. Because yesterday I went to Hansa studios, I would passed it and I thought it won't be there anymore, because it's right in the - you know where it is? - it's in Potsdam. And I thought... and I saw all the new buildings in Potsdam and I thought Hansa will be long gone. And there it was - exactly the same little cafe where we used to eat breakfast every day - it was exactly the same. It was nostalgic for me to go there.

 

 

Continue with INTERVIEW.