Friendship band

Tune into Mateo, a five-member German pop band, which sings of life, love, and nature. They perform at Senate Hall on November 1

October 31, 2014 07:28 pm | Updated May 23, 2016 07:37 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

A ROCKING TIME Members of Mateo performing at a concert

A ROCKING TIME Members of Mateo performing at a concert

A group of friends, a shared love for music, the forming of a band, hit albums… the stuff dreams are made of. Meet Mateo, a German band, consisting of members Jan-Philip Schneider, Friedrich Steinke, Alexander Henke, Bernhard Stiehle and Steve Kuhnen that was formed in 2006. Mateo, which was voted one of the best young bands in the German pop tableau by the German Music Council, is currently touring India. Mateo will be performing in the city on November 1. The concert, organised by Goethe Zentrum Trivandrum is at Senate Hall, 7 p.m. Excerpts from an email interview with the members of the group.

A band is born

We are from Bautzen, a small city in the eastern part of Germany. We are all school mates and it is a shared interest in music that binds us together. Jan is the lead musician, Friedrich is on the drums, Alexander is on the guitar, Bernhard is on the bass and Steve is on the saxophone. We are now residing in Dresden and studying at a university there. Jan-Philipp and Friedrich are studying social work, Steve is studying engineering, Alex is doing business management and Bernhard is pursuing music.

Standing the test of friendship

Our friendship is the foundation of the band. It is not easy to stay together for such a long period without minor tiffs and misunderstandings occurring. You can compare the friendship we share to marriage; you always have to find solutions in a democratic way. So far, we have been able to solve the problems that have come our way. Our manager brings us down to reality from time to time whenever one of us is feeling full of himself.

Music from the heart

Although we love to combine different genres of music, our music is mostly pop music with a touch of hip-hop in it. We do not play covers; we pen the lyrics and tune the music ourselves. Jan-Philipp is the lyricist of the group. Our songs are based on life, love, nature… We have released three albums so far – Viel Mehr , Am Kärnerplatz and Achtzehndreissig . There are no themes to the albums. We write 20 to 25 songs for every album and pick the best 10 to 12 songs for it. The dynamism we share during our live performances is what makes us popular amongst the crowd.

Music, across the globe

We have a huge music scene in Germany. You have the music industry with all the mainstream songs, and for every genre a smaller scene. This makes it difficult to earn money as a musician. Our dream is to continue to make a living as musicians. There are so many bands that you need a bit of luck to became famous. We have been lucky as our band has performed in countries such as France, Switzerland, Austria, Poland and Czech Republic. While on our tours, we do try to tune into the local music. In Bangalore, we went out to get an impression of the Indian music scene. It was very inspirational. Bollywood music is popular in Germany. Although our songs are in German, we know that music needs no language.

Travelling musicians

In Bangalore, we went to Nandi Hills. It was very impressive and a good break from our often tight schedules. One gets to meet interesting people, musicians, learn new cultures… when travelling. Although the constant travel and jet lag gets to you, all is forgotten once you are on stage. You are totally focussed and give your best performance.

Up next

We are recording a new album, Lieblingslieder, which should be coming out in April, 2015. Upon our return to Germany after our tour of India, we are starting with the recording for the album. We will also be touring Germany, Switzerland and Austria next year. Who knows, maybe we will tour India again; we would definitely like to.

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