Interview with Diary of Dreams done during the EuroRock 2000 Festival, by Jihad elMurr from RML's Alternative Rock Show.

Jihad elMurr: With the third day in the EuroRock Festival and we have the pleasure of having with us one of the bands that we all love in Lebanon. We had last year a song which was number two in the Hit-Parade of the whole year, it was "June", and we have the pleasure of meeting Adrian Hates of Diary Of Dreams, and we have also the pleasure of having someone who now in the Hit-Parade with us, the new band, It's Diorama, Torben Wendt, what a great pleasure would be interviewing you. Let's start with Adrian. Adrian tell us about your experience here at EuroRock.

Adrian Hates: Well it's the second time we play here at EuroRock and I think the audience has been a lot more into this new material today which is very pleasant, it was a great concert, we got a lot of reactions, it was just a pleasure to play. There was a form of communication between the audience and us. And it's kind of like a homerun meanwhile, you know, I came off stage and said this was like we played home, it's was just great, fantastic experience again, and the whole organization was great, very professionally done, you just feel taken care of and everything comes together. And backstage to the whole backstage area to the show and to the audience; it's all very very well done, it was just great to see so many people from so many nationalities and countries in front of the stage.

JM: You know next year we're doing for Lebanon a kind of package for all the people who want to travel and come and stay here, so maybe you'll have a lot of Lebanese next year.

AH: That would be fantastic, that would be great.

JM: Anyway, you have your own label?

AH: Yeah, I have Accession Records which is actually the label where Diorama as well as Diary of Dreams is released on. I released all Diary of Dreams CDs on there and I founded the label 1995, because the purpose was to do a better job than others and I think I did that quite well because there's a family feeling to the label, we all pretty much know each other, e-mail each other, the bands between each other, it's a very friendly relationship and that's what I wanted. I wanted people that I trust and not just people that I do business with. Business is a dirty word, it's a dirty business as well. So my philosophy was being close to everybody and achieving a great result together and not just by yourself, and not just being commercial but giving a whole great service package with everything together.

JM: And who are the bands that worked with you on the label other than Diorama, are you planning to sign someone new or did you work with someone in the past?

AH: Well it's ten bands so far, yes...

JM: Can you name them or you will forget them?

AH: Yes, let's start with the easy ones, Diorama, Diary of Dreams, Lady Besery's Garden, we have Cleaner which is formally known as Cleen, Haujobb, Claire Voyant, Assemblage 23, Cut.Rate.Box, Information Society and Aesma Daeva, here we go that's the ten all together. When the new signings are ready, I'm sure that by the end of this year we'll have 15 label bands together.

JM: And what's your relation, because I understand you worked with Diorama, you contributed a lot for the album, so Torben can you tell us in what way the contributed in your album?

Torben Wendt: It's a long story. We got to know each other in 1996. I wrote him a letter talking about me making music and didn't know how to start and stuff like that. He was writing me back or he was calling me on the phone and that's how the contact got started. We met and we decided to work together and then during the production we got to know that it worked out very well and we figured out that we should do more together. That's how I got involved with Diary of Dreams as well and the production of the Diorama CD, Adrian was very experienced in the technological aspect of the production work, and I could concentrate totally on the musical aspect which helped me a lot and he supported me in any way I could wish, it was a great effort of him and I'm very thankful for that still. So it came along that I'm with Diary of Dreams right now and let's see what the future brings.

JM: So in the next album of Diary of Dreams, will you be there?

TW: I think so, yes. It would be an honor still.

JM: Very Nice. Actually we've seen you on stage, you made quite a nice impression, I mean this double voice was making such a nice impression. What do you call your music, would we call it electro-goth?

AH: It's my favorite question and my favorite answer I don't know what to call it because every country has a different name for it and I always say; guys, that's your job. My job is doing this stuff and your job is to categorize it.

JM: We are asking all the bands. No one can say my kind of music is this or that.

TW: Do you know the reason for that? Adrian just said it in the last interview, every state and every culture has it's own terms for a certain musical direction for example in Greece or in South Africa everything is called gothic, when they talk about Covenant; it's gothic, here in our regions, industrial bands are called gothic and make a lot of different names for each category. So if you talk here with a Greek person about Covenant and he says it's gothic, you don't know, it's not gothic, it's this or that... Every nation makes differences and descriptions in terms and that's why we don't like very much to give certain terms for ourselves.

AH: The main importance is that a country is told by people to know their market and what they have to expect from listening to the album. And surely my knowledge about Lebanon is not enough on the musical industry to be able to tell you the perfect term for our music. That's why people like you take that responsibility.

JM: Because our show, it's been 19 years that we're presenting that show, it used to be the Alternative Rock Show then it became the Modern Rock Show, now we have two hit parades, one is called the Darkwave and... so we don't know yet, it's changing with the time. I noticed that you two have a lot of electronic in your music, is it the same for all the bands that you produce or is it just you and Diorama...

AH: Well from a very young age on, I was absolutely fascinated by electronic music because the range of possibilities was so much higher that with a simple guitar. I am classically trained on guitar, I studied for 15 years just playing classical guitar, and then I studied piano, then I started to work on bass. Year by year, a new instrument was added and keyboard was always something that I was focused on, but I needed a certain financial input to be able to do that kind of music that I am able to do today, having a full size studio calling my own with tons and tons of equipment, tons of electronics. So electronics give me a very unique and very individual way of expressing myself in any kind of mood.

JM: Because you create most of your songs, like 90% of your songs...

AH: Yeah, that's how it has been so far...

JM: Would you bring a drummer for a live performance?

AH: Well the problem is also in the organizing aspect. Having a drummer with you, just imagine for example us wanting to play in Lebanon and our drummer insisting on taking his drum kit with him, I mean we all know what kind of a problem that would be. We had drummers in the early days and I can't stand people that can't let go of their instrument for a minute and drummers are amazing, their base is always moving so that annoyed me and just working with electronic drums gives me the opportunity to work by myself without necessarily being forced to work with anybody at the same time and that is great, that is extremely productive.

JM: You are reminding us of one reference, the Sisters of Mercy who started with a drum machine and they used to call it Dr. Avalanche, so what will you call your drum machine?

AH: Steve McArthy.

JM: Who are your influences in this kind of music.

AH: I'm not one of these people that has been listening to one specific band forever, I've had bands that I love to listen to, and others... you know Sisters of Mercy, for example, you named them, is not one of my main bands. I listen to a wide range of music and that is a freedom that I appreciate and love and I think gives you a wider range of the musical world. So there isn't one band that I could name for you, there's 20, 30 bands that I could name.

JM: Ok, if you thought of doing a cover for a song to put it in your cd, what would you think of? You surely did.

AH: Tears for Fears: Watch Me Bleed.

JM: What about you Torben?

TW: Black: Wonderful Life.

JM: Thank you very much and we hope to see both of you in Beirut very soon.