As Niko Fischer, he stumbled through the capital for a day in “Oh Boy”; In “Death the Hippies !! Long live the punk” he rebelled against everything and nothing in the West Berlin Underground of the 80s. Erich Kästner’s Fabian played with the same brilliance as Gerhard Richter. Few, on the other hand, know him as a musician: In April 2022, Tom Schilling and his band released the other side a dark, almost death -loving long player entitled Epithymia.
The clock beats afternoon. Tom Schilling is in a cathedral city on the Rhine, Kölsch drinks from the “Early” brewery. He is currently waiting for the last concert of his tour with his group – he also brought us anecdotes to the most important six albums from his record cabinet.
Nick Cave – Your Funeral … My Trial
Tom Schilling: I have to introduce this plate from Nick Cave! It was the first to come into my hands from him. I got her through a friend at 13 – and the album totally changed me. I still know how I went home very differently: how it was snowing and I probably felt strangely grown up. Or I thought I had discovered any secret.
After that I became a real cave disciple; I dealt with the whole universe and discovered many other bands: the new buildings, Birthday Party – these were the things I heard up and down.
Exciting that this feeling of adult also played a role – because Nick Cave has always been somehow an old soul. Could you find yourself there?
Yes, probably. But primarily I found it musical when it comes to harmonies and production. And the aura, the Nick Cave with all these stories, heroin and blood painted with blood … of course that also contributed a lot to fascination.
Leonard Cohen – Songs of Love and Hate
Leonard Cohen always ran to my parents in the car radio. Of course, their music was the first to consciously perceive. And I can remember that I liked it best from everything. This simplicity in the recording: With double bass, “Avalanche” starts, then the guitar and this deep, warm voice.
This is an incredibly simple but very effective arrangement, totally got me. In any case, I preferred many other things that otherwise ran on the radio. “Famous Blue Raincoat” is also one of the first pieces that I learned on the guitar.
Johnny Cash – at Folsom Prison
This is a record that I know very, very well: When I went on a long vacation, she was the only one I had in the car. That’s why it has grown very dear to me. I like folk music and of course also come from storytelling. I like texts that I understand and that tell a story. And in it Johnny Cash is the master.
Cash was someone who positioned himself as Outlaw in his songs. Could you identify yourself with it?
I didn’t feel like that. But of course I thought it was great that he sings about the lost. What I like about Johnny Cash is this courage for a really great story, a big gesture and the tragic stories. In German they often look sticky if you would tell them like this-according to Gunter-Gabriel-like. Nothing against Gunter Gabriel, but it loses a bit of sex.
The Doors – Strange Days
Interestingly, the Strange Days bundles the remaining pieces from the first album. And I think the plate is much better than the debut. Experimental, special, driven out. Of the singers I have mentioned so far, Jim Morrison is the biggest for me. He has an incredible range in his voice: this gentle and then he is also a screamer at the same time. In the chronology of the albums you can see how different it can sound. And in every field it looks totally credible and conclusive.
Do you quarrel as an actor every now and then with your singing skills?
Yes, but it gets better. Max Rieger once said that he noticed much too late in which range he sounds good and which melodies fit him. If you find it out and ultimately find your voice – then I could imagine making my peace with it when there are also a few blue.
Franz Schubert – winter trip
He is a bit the father of the sung concept album. Before I came across it, I actually had no real access to classical music. But after listening to the winter trip, I thought: “Oh, that can do just as much as pop music – and even more.” When I heard the “Leiermann” for the first time, it totally blew me away. I have often asked myself: “What is the most heartbreaking, saddest and most depressed piece I know?” And of course Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen had already presented well. I think they were all influenced by German romance. I also heard the winter trip when I wrote our album. It was a bit the bar for me – that I would write very, very sad music.
Of all the plates that you have presented so far, it is also the first in German. Has Schubert shaped you in text?
Yes definitely. I keep sliding into this language of romance. The measure, the pictures, the rhyme form – I just can’t get rid of it.
Peter Doherty – Grace/Wastelands
I think Peter Doherty is the largest living songwriter with an incredible talent for melody and harmony: very simple, sometimes twisted – but it never does too much. And then of course he sings like an angel. It is also incredibly well produced, you shouldn’t forget that: the string arrangements; How everything is built – very great art. Very French, it reminds me a bit of the sound aesthetics of Jacques Dutronc or Françoise Hardy, i.e. sixties French pop. There is no filler on the album. Just hits.
I interviewed him a few weeks ago. In our conversation, he said that he was at the peak of his addiction in the production phase. He was really at the cliff to death.
Very interesting. The same is said about Tender Prey from Nick Cave. Somehow you hear that someone is all in.
Can you generalize that? Is it important to you that such a story or severe is behind art?
Yes, I think so. When I transfer it to film now, I just thought: “Maybe that’s not true.” For example, because of a film like “Oh Boy” it was totally easy to turn it. But I know that it was a Matter of Life and Death for the director. The things that I really like really came across a lot of resistance and friction when they were created.
This interview was published in the MusikExpress 08/2022.