First, could you introduce your band, as I think little people reading this would know your band?
C: High Wycombe consists of two guys, Martin and me, coming from Rostock , a city in the north of Germany . Since 1996 we ' re puzzling and experimenting with synthetic sounds, supported by guitar sounds and other hand played instruments of guest musicians. 

The bands name, High Wycombe , could you tell me a bit more about that (I know it ' s a common question...)
C: In search of a cool band name I found that name in a book about the German naval forces during World War II. High Wycombe has been mentioned there as an American base. Even the sound of that name and the history fascinated us.
 

Where do you think the artwork represents your album? 
M: The two washing machines on the front cover symbolize this mixture of old and new songs. In contrast to classic electro/ebm artworks we used this artwork to express the difference of our music to old-style dark electro/ebm. In our opinion untypical elements in the music require an untypical artwork.
C: The cover is very suspicious and should stimulate contemplation. For instance the machines need some rotations to get clean the laundry. So you have to listen to the complex music repeatedly to get a clear structure. ;-)   

The artwork is very white and sterile, do you think this album ' feels ' the same?
C: The cover shows less the complex musical structures, than rather our attitude to life generally. Furthermore, the music of high wycombe sounds very cold and frozen. And because we live in the cold north on the baltic see, we want to show it too.
M: The songs cause different feelings. There are complex structures with melodic phrases in songs like "geometrical" or "oblivious" too. Often these differences alternate even within a song, like perhaps in "their law".

On "Impulse!" there was the small club hit "No Escape". What do you think will be the hit on this new album?
M: Perhaps "geometrical" or "stalker" or the remix of "runner’s high" from x_dynamics.
C: But we have to admit that the whole album „retoure“ was written for listening and it is primarily not club-orientated.

I can imagine you ' ve got a wide variety of bands you like? Could you name a few of your biggest inspirations? (of course, non-music, like artists or writer or whatever are o.k. too)
M: We like Haujobb, Front 242, Frontline Assembly, Skinny Puppy, - an endless List. Most of all we like their unconventional releases - Haujobb´s "Solution for a small planet", FLAs "Flavour of the weak" or the "male or female"-project from Front 242 members. Other important inspirations come from Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, beefcake,...oomph!, Die Krupps, Nitzer Ebb, Laibach...
C: Often science fiction movies like "Alien" and "Matrix" and literature like “1984”, “Brave new world”, etc.  inspire us for lyrics, speech samples and sound effects. In the same way current and critical topics concerning our society are reflected in our songs.

"Retoure" is a very unconventional album. It has its own face, and can ' t be compared with the majority of electro bands around. How do you feel about that? Is it your goal to show what you ' re capable of?
C: It’s not our goal to show that. We create what we like. The music we’re listening to influences our own songs. By the way, it is also a nice side effect having an own face.

A lot of people tend to link your band to the older EBM bands like Front 242, Frontline Assembly, Skinny Puppy etc. Bands that are now partly gone and forgotten, which leaves room for new bands. Do you think High Wycombe is capable of filling in these ' blank ' spots?
M: It’s a big compliment for us to be compared with these bands, but from our point of view it would be presumptuously to put High Wycombe on a stage with these cult bands. Changes of our musical preferences will always change our own music. We use the sounds we like, and this could also lead to very different new songs.
C: We have no special “High Wycombe” sound or use some samples a couple of times. But the way of producing the songs and the working method will always be the same. These elements could be the recognition effect of our music. And if these elements have such a high significance for the listeners, we are much more enthusiastic if we are compared with some great musicians.

Where do you want to go with High Wycombe ? Is it "just for fun" or are you aiming to get the band spread worldwide?
M: It’s very important to have fun making music. But this does not exclude the goal to get the band spread worldwide. The current vast positive resonance to our album motivates us and we keep on working on videos and planning our live show.

How about concerts? What does an HW show look like?
M: Until now we never performed live. While Christian already rehearses with his second project "concise" we’re also planning our first live show for this year. We will test synchronised stage light and some ideas which differ from bands only standing behind their keyboards.

Thank you for the interview!

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