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Interviewer: Jesus C. (Saqrangel)
Answered by: Peter Zotzmann (bass)

Zadera is a young band from Germany, they offer us a refreshing Batcave-Gothrock-Postpunk sound, and recently they have released under the great dark label Strobelight its debut album ...Something Red", a disc that it is receiving flattering reviews around all Europe... Here the interview:

Introduce us to the Zadera's world... Does the name of Zadera have a special meaning?
For a start maybe: ZADERA is a German band of four members. Two guys (Michele, Peter: Guitar and bass) and two girls (Conny and Jenny: Voice and drums). Formed in the year 2000 with the aim to bring a fresh tone to the Batcave-Gothrock-Postpunk Genre we played a lot of gigs and so could spread our name in the scene. This name ZADERA does not mean anything special. It's a name that Conny made up. But we liked especially the fact that there are no connotations linked to it. It open to interpretation and everything.

Why did you change their previous name "Through the pale door" to Zadera?
"Through the pale door" is simply to long . It does not really stick to the memory and it is hard to pronounce, isn't it? So we dropped it in favour of ZADERA.

With "...Something Red" CD I was surprised pleasurably... but are you happy with the result obtained? I read very good reviews in press means from Europe...
The thing is, that we only had little time to record the debut and to finish the artwork. We spend 12 days in total to record it and some days to finish the artwork. We had a lot of help from friends concerning photos and artwork but after all it was a really short time until we had everything ready. Therefore we are still very happy with the results of the effort. Some things we would do now differently but I guess that's always the case when you have to work under pressure because of time. And the reviews we received were great as you mentioned it. After all it is still just a debut album so we aren't that experienced in everything and are still in the beginning. So what more can we expect! Great record label, great reviews, great reactions in general. We are quite happy!

I knew Zadera through NEW DARK AGE VOL 2.... do you think that its appearance in this compilation helped you enough?
Definitly! I don't want to think of what would have happened if ZADERA wouldn't have taken this chance. After we were represented on the Compilation and the reactions were good, we just asked Strobelight if they wouldn't like to sign us! And they wanted to! We then got the chance we had hoped for all the time. Record a real Debut and promote it.!

What do you tell us about Strobelight Records? How is the distribution of the disc? For my Strobelight in a young but promising record of the dark music!!!
Well, what shall I say! Strobelight is THE Label for us and everybody else who is into this kind of dark music. (Batcave-Deathrock-Postounk etc.) They are dedicated and live for what they are doing! That's it! The distribution of the CD works very well! Meaning you can get it everywhere. And its great to see your music in the shops. We'll see how many people will give us a chance.

The songs that more I liked of the disc are the emotive and similar "Through the pale door" & "Fallen", both possess the same feeling! Are these the songs more acclaimed by the means and the fans? Which are your favorite songs?
It seems that the people listening to the CD have different favourites all the time. Some say its "No Answer" they like best. Some say its "grey and red" or "That much I didn't want to know". We couldn't name favourites! There are some songs we were lucky to record very well and with others we were unfortunate and got stuck to version that was o.k. but not the best we could make out of the song. You have to be dedicated to all of the songs when you play them live, so if somebody in the band really hates a particular song we wont play it anymore.

Which is the general concept of the album? I generally perceive lyrics focused to the pain, escape of the reality, dreams and fallen, etc... 
You are absolutely right! This is what the album is about: Pain, escape and the gap between dreams and reality! A lot of the songs are also about people and their difficulties. Some are purely fantastic; others are inspired by daily life. "Through the pale door" for instance is an invitation to follow us into the "ZADERA-world". "Shame" makes a statement against rape and child abuse. All things that trouble Conny will make her write lyrics and so that are the things the songs are about. These themes are also symbolically represented in the cover artwork and throughout the whole booklet!

Das Licht is a deep and mysterious song, but I don't understand German... could you tell me the concept of this song?
These lyrics have been written by Michele. Quite simple on the surface they reveal the problem if you make up your own mind! "Why did you cry and why didn't you say anything of this pain" is basically the main line. They way it is sung by Michele and Conny makes clear that there is a severe problem the voices are dealing with. What mor can we say…

I perceive a lot of influences in your music, Gothic rock, deathrock, post punk, batcave and more.... do tell us which bands it marked your lives? Which are your influences? Some author / writer that has influenced in your form of thinking?
The four people forming ZADERA are all of different ages you could say. So, with Michele and Conny we get the old Goth influences because they experienced this time themselves. Of course they listened to all the important bands of this time (Bauhaus, Christian Death, Siouxie and the Banshees and so on and on) Jenny and Peter bring in more modern influences of all kinds. Be it the way of punk drumming or melodic approaches in bass playing and in general. Both are simply to young and can only discover all these great bands from the 80ies.

The booklet shows your picture with 5 members, but the lineup it only indicates 4 members. Who is the fifth member???
Laughing. The "fifth member" is Connys daughter Mary-Jane. She was our model when we took photos for the booklet. She played an innocent little girl (what she actually is). We had her as a symbol you could say. When you look at that band photo it seems that she is not from this world. That she is something sublime. We liked the photos and decided to use a band photo where she is part of the group. 

The hairstyle of Conny and Micchel are very flashy. Which is the expression of them? Some influence?
Well that is simply the influence of the 80ies Deathrock/Batcave fashion. A blend of the Punk and Glam style of these old times

For those that didn't still listen Zadera, describe us musical and lyrically your last stuff. 
Well if you mean what we are doing right now… We write new material, experiment with 3 voices, so the boys joining Conny in some passages, and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse. The last song we just recently completed lyrically deals with the Lizzie Borden case which happened in the 18th century USA to name just one example. It's a very rough song with disturbing vocals energetic instrumentation.

Thank you for your time, future plans and last words...
We would like to abroad and play some gigs. Would be great if that could happen in near future. Apart from that we want to thank everybody who gives ZADERA a chance, listens to our music and gives us support in any kind of way!!! Thank you very much.

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