- How this idea to create Gothic Metal Opera was born? Maybe it was a result of listening of highly acclaimed concept album 'Schlafende Hunde' of your labelmates JANUS?

I’m sorry but I must tell you that this question really offends me. I respect my labelmates very much, but I ain’t the kinda person who has to be inspired by JANUS. My debut-album „Die Liebe Gottes“ has already been a concept- album, to name it: a black metal opera. I dislike my first CD very much due to it’s bad performance and it’s bad production. With „Tineoidea“ I simply wanted to create a better opera with todays abilities, knowledge and a production done by myself.

- What is 'Tineoidea' story about? It's mainly written in German, so Russian fans can hardly understand even main idea of it without some your explanations...

As in „Die Liebe Gottes“, the protagonists are Samuel and Lilith, being hunted by heavenly angels and hellish demons; the whole cosmic pandaemonium is out to utilize Lilith’s unborn child for their purposes. Lilith’s baby stands for „fate“, and the main-characters learn on their quest that they can’t escape from the forces of their own history. While Samuel flies through the channels of time in which he’s been lead by a tv-inhabiting fairy, Lilith meets Aleksandar, an angel, who wants to teach Lilith the difference between beauty and cowardice. Lilith gets caught by Baltasar who captures her in his deathtrip-church, wanting to marry her. Lilith manages to kill Baltasar and escapes into a club called „Koma“, where Eva and her generals await her and blast down every goth-disco-kid, hoping desperatly to kill Lilith...while Samuel enters the house of his evil friend Bartholomäus Skarabäus Peingebreck to receive weapons and armors against the army of the damned...and so on. As you can see, it’s very complex and complicated.

- I've heard such a phrase: "Hey, Hey, Rasputin, leader of the Russian queen" in one of these songs. How is it connected with the main story behind 'Tineoidea'?

This phrase ain’t connected to the main story of „Tineoidea“ at all, it’s nothing but a „fill-in“, a wrong „Boney M.“-quotation. I sometimes like to place funny and strange sounding vocal-parts into my songs, mostly when the message of a song or its context is very serious. I’ve done that a couple of times (before); at the end of „Ein Duell mit Gott“ (Utopia), you hear a choir singing: „Uuh-wuapp-schallalla“ while I sing that I’ll burn in hell for everything I’ve done, for every thought I thouhgt in my life. At the end of „In der Kirche des Todestrips“ (Tineoidea), you hear the „Choir Of Dead Names“ singing: „Chitti-chitti-bang-bang, chitty-rock’a’dua-satan-satan“, while Baltasar dies at Lilith’s feet and drowns in his own blood. Using these elements is a method fo presenting to the listener that there’s always a humoristic way to look at even the worst things in life.

- 'Tineoidea' song was already released on 'Ipsissima Verba' single last year. So is your new album completely conceptual and telling about one whole story, or it consists of few different stories that can be performed separately?

„Tineoidea“ is completely conceptual, but there are a couple of songs being composed to be able to stand solemy without the story, even though they have to be seen in the context of the plot, as they represent certain characteristics of the protagonists to the listener. These songs are „Ein Foetus wie Du“ (characteristica: problem child), „Scherben bringen Glück“ (characteristica: suicidality), „F.M.N.F.“ (characteristica: jealousy) and „Tineoidea“ (characteristica: forgiveness).

- A lot of guest stars took part in recording vocals on this album. How did you select people for it and how did you distribute roles between them? Was it easy to get a positive reply from them and if there were some musicians who didn't agree to work with you?

Well, first of all I simply asked all musicians I knew personally, then I asked all the other people I would have loved to hear on my album. I was very surprised of their support and the collaboration turned out to be completly unproblematic. It was easy to get their reply and none of them did not agree in participating on my album. I’ve chosen the guestmusicians due to my personal taste and due to the voices being needed for the different characters.

- Tell us about recording process of the album. What part of work did you do by yourself? Was it exptremely hard to organise recording of vocals of such many people? Who was the easiest person to work with and who was the hardest?

As always, I composed all the music and wrote all the lyrics. Matze of ASP recorded the vocal parts of Asp, Max Testory and Elisabeth Kranich aswell as Daniels saxophone- and clarinette-parts at the ASP-bunker, Frankfurt. All synthesizers, guitars and the vocals of Susanne Stierle have been recorded at my Studio-K, Fuerth, Germany, where the album has also been mixed and finally produced. The vocal-recordings of the other guest-stars took place in their own studios. „Tineoidea“ has been mastered by Calyx Mastering Service, Berlin. It wasn’t hard at all to organize the recordings, but it was very hard to keep the survey of all the people being involved in the production, including the photogrphers, illustrators, designers and layout-people. It was also hard to cope mentally and physically with all the travelling I had to do being connected to the production. The easiest persons to work with were Chris Pohl and Constance of Blutengel because they simply fit to their song in the way butter belongs to bread. The hardest person to work with was Johannes of Illuminate; but not because he’s a complicate or unfriendly person; his vocals simply turned out to change his song completely and so I had to arrange a new version of „Scherben bringen Glück“.

- This album was released in 2-CD limited edition also. Which material is the second CD contain? And why these songs were put there?

The 2nd CD contains two previously unreleased SAMSAS TRAUM tracks, a SAMSAS TRAUM RMX of WEENA MORLOCHS „Kugel im Gesicht“, an exclusive track of my 80s-electro-project MIIME and the 7 track WEENA MORLOCH EP „Trauma 7“. The limited edition of „Tineoidea“ has been released because the phono-market in Germany is about to collapse; if you don’t offer the people value for money, they simply won’t by your CDs any more. With the limited edition, we wanted to underline the fact that SAMSAS TRAUM care about their fans; 23 songs, 2 hours of music, a sticker, a poster, a huge 28pages-booklet, all this in a DigiPak for 17$; that’s what SAMSAS TRAUM is really about.

- For 'Tineoidea' you completely changed your image: you cut your hair and transformed into some kind of monster or mutilated man... Why?

I didn’t cut my hair for „Tineoidea“, I cut my hair 18 month ago because I could not stand looking into the mirror, seeing a person I didn’t want to be. Anyway: the image of SAMSAS TRAUM has been a very introverted one, but meanwhile I turned out to be a very extroverted person, so we wanted to create very direct pictures, according to the private changes in my life, slapping you in the face, screaming: „Watch out and hide your kids, SAMSAS TRAUM are straight ahead and they’re gonna kill them.“ Another point is that the new album deals with the mean and ugly aspects of my soul and my past life; so we were in need of ugly and mean pictures. They are ugly, but they ARE what I AM.

- Did you think about making a video-version (some kind of movie) of your opera?

Of cours I did, but we have the same problems as usual: money and time. I’ d love to see the movie-version of „Tineoidea“, a puppet-film in the style of „Nightmare before XMas“ or „The Dark Crystal“. The first thing I’ll do when I’ve sold 20.000 copies of a single album is engaging the right kinda people for the realisation of this project. I don’t want short video-clips, I want a full-length feature film. I hate compromises.

- Do you have any idea how this opera can be performed live on stage? Can you invite all guest stars again for this?

Yes, I have a couple of ideas concerning a live-performance of „Tineoidea “, but I don’t think that this is what I want to focus on now. As I’ve mentioned above: we need more time and we need more money. But don’t bother: we’re going straight for highscore.

-Who made all drawings for the booklet? And why is it just black'n'white?

The drawings were made by Kristine Jakobsen, who has done and still does a lot of works for tv-stations, commercial-spots and childrens-television. The illustrations are only black and white, because fairy tales are „black“ and „white“; there’s only „good“ and „evil“ in them. I don’t want no „medium“ characters in my stories.

- What is the present state with your other project - Weena Morloch. Are you going to make new album with it? It it will be recorded, will it be censored and prohibited for sales in Germany again?

I think I won‘t release a further WEENA MORLOCH album within the next two years, as I’ll concentrate completely on making SAMSAS TRAUM as sucessfull as I can; but you can be sure that the next WEENA MORLOCH album won’t be banned in Germany. It‘s gonna be an old-school-death-industrial-horror-scenario like the bands‘ debut „Kunst-X=? “: noise, nothing else...but I don’t know if Trisol are willing to release another WEENA MORLOCH album, because the other CDs were real flops. As you can see, the future of WEENA MORLOCH is quite insecure.

-I know you are fan of T.A.T.U. band. What do you like in this Russian pop-duo? Do you have some ideas about making some cover versions of remixes for their hits?

Well, if you’re a man, there’s really nothing to dislike about young, lesbian school-girls, wearing sexy uniforms and singing nice pop/rock-songs. And of course I’d remix their tracks... I’ve heared alot of remixes which aimed straight at the club/dancefloor-scene, I’d try to make the songs harder. Imagine t.A.t.U. sounding like a sexistic, harsh goth- mixture between Ministry and Skinny Puppy; that would be MY vision.

- Your last words to "DarkCity" readers.

Take care. Life is getting worse, so your minds have to get better.