As far as i know you just came back from a trip. You were in the mountains for a while to work on your new album „12 Songs for 12 Friends“. How different was the process working on it, compared to booking a studio in the city?
Well this was actually the most different experience I ever had with recording anything, because for the first time ever there was a back and forth. There was a funding and I have never experienced anything like that before. A situation where the finances where sort of taken care of to a point where I could just focus on getting the musicians that I wanted, getting the studio that I wanted and having food, apartments and everything like that sort of taken care of. It was the first time I felt really free and you know we had 7 days in the studio and I really wanted to do it there because it‘s a really beautiful area and the studio was owned by my friend Tim Hecking who was the guy that recorded the first album I did here in Germany. He is a good friend and a fantastic engineer and I really wanted to work with him. So all these circumstances came together for the first time. It was really different from anything I have done before.

I already mentioned your new album. It's called „12 Songs for 12 Friends“. That's a pretty specific title. How did you get the idea?
I‘ve been in Germany for only like a year and a half. Moving here everything I knew was gone. For the first 7 or 8 months living in a new place especially with a language barriere, there is a bit of this gap! You know I had my life in a certain way with bands and friends and stuff – moving here that was gone. And even though I was happy with my girlfriend and happy with being here for the reasons I have chosen to come, naturally there‘s things missing in this readjustment. And readjustment is a very scary feeling. My appreciation for the people that turned me into who I am sort of came to light, so I started to think about who had helped me... and what I really wanted to do was to give a ‚Thank you‘ back to these people.

Your Tour is about to start. This Thursday you're playing here in Munich, but then you're off to Nürnberg, Mannheim and so on. In June you're even playing on a festival right here in Munich. Do you prefer concerts or festivals?
Yeah! I'm really happy with the shows that are booked this year. This is the first year that I have worked with a management and a booking agency and they're really doing a great job. But I mean if it's White Paper Festival, Puls Festival or Nürnberg Pop Festival I would defenitely say festival. But if it's just a concert... well I would pick concert.