Angela Aux released the wonderful “In Love With The Demons” (Trikont) back in May. We were delighted to catch up with Heiner Hendrix (for he is she) for a second Swinterview to discuss the record, weird coincidences and much else besides.
I love “In Love With The Demons” – who are the demons and do you really love them?
Not so sure and not so sure either. All in all I think it’s the best way to approach them if they’re there. But maybe the inner world is something like an interrelated cabinet of moving mirrors and we are too busy or confused to realize.
I find the new record a bit more varied and “up-front” sound-wise than “Warp Your Troubles In Dreams” – do you agree?
Yes.
Have you grown into the Angela Aux personae? Do you feel at ease now with your alter-ego?
It’s funny because I’m not so sure what it is, but when I get on a stage it starts to move and play. It’s entertaining and I really enjoy it. I have a little clue where it will go next, but not sure yet.
Is that you whistling on “Wanna Be A Woman”?
Yes.
Why such an affinity with Anita Augspurg?
She was a very smart and brave woman in a crazy time. Maybe there are more parallels between her time and ours than we would assume. She’s not so well known in Germany, which is strange and maybe one of the reasons for the parallels between back then and now.
What’s your favourite song on the record?
I really don’t know.
Heavy Mike I kind of a perfect song, in fact there’s not a weak track on the whole LP, something you must be very proud of – who is Heavy Mike?
Thank you. I am really happy with it. Heavy Mike is one of my oldest friends. I had this dream in which he took me in a glass suitcase out on a lake while a storm rose. The ship went down and we sank on the bottom of the lake. I woke up from the dream and wrote down the lyrics, but then forgot about it. I wrote some other lyrics which didn’t really fit the mood of the song. Happily I found the lyrics some weeks later.
Did you have a clear idea of how you wanted the record to sound? It reminds me of all kinds of things – Dylan, Jackson Browne, Early Fleetwood Mac…and many others.
Thanks again. I like their music a lot but didn’t really think of them while recording the songs. I listened a lot to the last records of Andy Shauf, Haley Heynderyckx, Tre Burt and Damien Jurado. I like the idea of telling some sort of story. The music happened somehow in addition to the demos and the lyrics. Nico Sierig was important in that phase and I am happy with his work. Nico was important later on as well. Simon Frontzek mixed it well and Sam Irl & Daniel Meuzard did a great tape mastering on Paul Weller’s old tape machine. They’re all really good in what they do and I hope I will work with them in the future.
If you could change one thing in the world right now what would it be?
I would make aggressive people tired. Maybe hate should burn much more energy, so that people fall asleep while they’re processing hate or aggression.
When is the last time you cried?
Yesterday? For a long time I couldn’t cry but over the last two or three I became a pro in crying. Have to figure out why but maybe some deeper layers of my consciousness will keep it as a secret.
What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you recently?
I read “We’re prisoners”, a book of Oskar Maria Graf while touring with my homie LeRoy. We missed a train in Nuremberg, then took the next train. Then we arrived at a small station called Schwandorf and had to wait for the next train. We sat next to the rails, both reading. Somewhen I went on the toilet and in the meanwhile the train arrived and departed without us. So we took the next one. I sat down in the train and started reading again and suddenly read a passage in which Oskar Maria Graf was on his way to Russia in 1916. His train stopped in the same small Schwandorf station and while he went on the toilet the train was departing without him. I still cannot believe it really happened.
What colour is July?
Many.
What’s the best phrase you’ve picked up in another language?
Maybe “Your heaven is loaded with oceans”.
Did your parents ever play golf?
Yo. (is that a yes or a no?)
Did you have any strange habits as a youngster?
When I was seven or eight I used to steal little bottles of liquor in the supermarket together with a friend. My friend would drink it but I didn’t like the taste. I mostly buried the bottles on a marquee close-by. Would be interesting to interview this earlier version of myself now to find out why I did this.
Please tell us a joke.
What’s the difference between God and Bono?
When God is walking down the street, he wouldn’t think he’s Bono.
super world indie tunes 