Yargos

author PP date 09/08/06

This may sound a little bit weird, but trust me when I say that it's all true. Yargos was formed by drummer/vocalist/guitarist Wieland "Wielo" Hofmeister and guitarist/vocalist Dirk Werner in 1973 in Hanover. But the band has been through lots of line-up chances and never seen the inside of a studio until 2003. In 2003 Wieland decided that it's time for the debut album. In collaboration with Anca Graterol (vocals), Peter Pichl (bass), Andreas "Andy" Kienitz (solo guitar), Osssy Pfeiffer (piano, keyboards, drums) and Andrew "Mac" McDermott (vocals), Wieland recorded the album in the Urzeit Productions Studio under the guiding hand of Osssy Pfeiffer. The debut album "To Be Or Not To Be" was released in November 2005 via AFM Records. The band waited 22 years to release the debut album, but fortunately they have already started to write songs for their second album. So Yargos still lives and the story continues, and here is their guitarist Wieland and vocalist Andrew answering our email questionnaire.

RF.net: Wieland, let's start with all the hottest news from Yargos. Your recent debut album "To Be or Not To Be" was released on November 18 and since the release date is there anything new with the band, what have you been doing, are you happy with the reactions you get from the press and the fans? Basically the main question is; how is life since the release of the album?

Wieland: We are suprised and thankful because of the positive press voices we got. Just because of the press we have a lot of visits on our homepage daily from our fans. Thats why we started to work on our next album – 4 new songs are already done ...

RF.net: If I hadn't done an interview with The Syn a few weeks ago (The Syn was formed in the 60s and after a short(!) break, they released their debut album in 2005) I would definitely be so surprised to see that Yargos was formed in 1973 and then released their first album in 2005. As I know you never leave music so what are the reasons for releasing the album so many

years after band's formation?

Wieland: We played live very offen in the 70`s, but we never got a good offer for a deal from a label. The band divorced, but the music was still there till today. With a new line-up we created the album „to be or not to be“.

RF.net: Andrew, it is really great to hear from you in a new project! So please tell your involvement in the project, how`s that come about?

Andrew: My involvement in the project came about mainly due to the fact that i already knew Ank and Osssy and had worked with them before, so i knew i would be working with profesionals. I received a call from Wieland asking if i would be interested in working on an album with him, met him in his studio, heard a few demos and said yes. Very simple really.

RF.net: Weiland, in one of your interviews, you said "Mac's popularity through Threshold will give us a good start", great frankness :) But I don't think that

choosing Mac as the singer was just about his popularity, I have also read that you are a big Threshold fan, so I guess working with Mac is a great experience for you as well, am i right?

Wieland: When I heard that Mac said yes to play with us, I was very proud to have the Threshold-vocalist in our band.

After working with Mac on „to be or not to be“ it showed us that Yargos without him would`nt work out.

RF.net: The guys in Yargos, especially Wielo, are very happy about your involvement in the project. How about the guys in Threshold, how are they? And what do they think about the album?

Andrew: Threshold have no problem with me being in Yargos as most of them also have other projects, the only ones i talked to about the Yargos album were Rich and Karl, both said they liked it.

RF.net: To be honest, when I first heard about Yargos, I thought it was a one man show. But after reading the materials about the band, I noticed that it was not just one man's work, but a team effort. So it seems that Yargos already has become a part of your lives too, what do you think?

Andrew: Yargos is just as much a part of my life as Threshold is, if i record an album i always give my best, and of course i have the added advantage that Yargos is based in Hannover and is therefore much easier to fit in to my daily life. With Threshold things have to be planned quite far ahead due to me having to travel to England.

RF.net: So from what I understand from the lyrics, To Be Or Not To Be is a concept album. Seems that there is a little girl and her father in the story but I dont have any idea about Anca's character. Can you enlighten us a bit on the lyrical concept, but first of all, am i on the right track?

Andrew: Yes and no! There is a bit of a concept idea to the album,some songs linked quite strongly whilst others stand on the outer edge of the idea, although all the songs can stand alone, its basically - birth, life, the struggle we go through trying to convince ourselves and others that there really is a point to it all and our confrontations with death and god, or no god depending on you stand point. The small girl and the father is me trying to explain the irony of growing up, all our youth is spent being told what to do and waiting to grow only to realize much too late that we are grown up but dont want to admit it. Anca's part is that of a woman who has to leave her birthplace for whatever reasons (war, famine, religion.....) only to find out that home is there where you make it.

RF.net: I think the album has a characteristic that belongs to 1975/1985. I

mean you know the young generation is after the drum solos, heavy guitars,

etc. Do you think that the album manages to attract the young generation

or do you maybe not even have that as an aim?

Wieland: I think that Prog-rock fans have not changed since the 70`s. The new generation likes the same characteristics of this genre.

However I think you have to create your own kind of style and don`t create music that other people want to hear.

I think that just „real“ music can be sold.

RF.net: You described your music as "art-rock" and to be honest i don't think

that i understand what it means completely. Would you be able to describe

the main differences between Yargos' music and the progressive rock/progressive metal band's music?

Wieland: First of all it was not our aim to have extra long drum- or guitar-solos, which is typical for progressive-rock or –metal, where the musicians have to have individual high skills . I belive that Art-rock is in between progressive-rock and album orientated music. Yargos plays complex compositions which are definitely not made for playing them on the radio. By the way on our next album there will be a track which lasts about 15 minutes, filled with individual guitar- and keyboard-solos ... :)

RF.net: As for the last one, do you have any regrets for not releasing the album before and waiting that long to release the album?

Wieland: Definitely not. Because we can use todays technical capabilities we have the chance to present our tracks in higher sound quality. In the 70`s a lot of things could`nt be done because the recording capabilities were very limited.

RF.net: Thank you very much for your time Wieland and Andrew, any last comments to end the interview?

Wieland: I like to thank you for your interest in an interview with Yargos. With this album a dream came true for me, and I´m proud to have such great musicians next to me.

Andrew: Yeah, thanks for the interview and i am also now starting a new project with the band Galloglass, also from Hannover but a bit more metal then Yargos or Threshold.

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