Interview with Georg "Showbaer" Schober
ACOUSTIC LAKESIDE 2016 ©BERND FASZL
1. Would you like for a beginning to tell us something more about yourself and how did you become interested in music?
I had two big interests in my early age - basketball and music. My parents supported me in both things but at some point, when I was around sixteen years old, I chose music. I couldn't and still can't live without music and the whole process of making it. I'm still very interested in basketball as well. I always wanted to make things happen. Anyway, I started organizing concerts with friends, running the sound, providing a small PA, booking concerts, playing in bands, touring a lot... Everything got more and more professional. And now I’m here! But since you asked about my family… my dad is part of the “Stadtkapelle Oberwart” where he plays the clarinet and saxophone. My mum loves music, especially live concerts and she used to play the guitar. (Don’t know why she doesn’t do that anymore, hmm mum?). My grandmother is a trained opera singer and was the pianist at the “Ballettschule Oberwart”, so I’d say they are all quite interested in music.
2. So you come from a family with a long line of musicians and music for sure has a really special place in your life. But what exactly does music mean to you?
The world, literally! When I started touring as a sound engineer, tour manager and musician about 10 years ago, I got introduced to the music world and plenty of people along the way who I call friends now. Music is something that connects people, and that’s one of the most important things - being connected to one another.
3. Do you have an idol, a person who you look up to and who has influenced you and your music style?
That's hard to answer. I don't know if they are like idols for me, but there are many guys and girls out there who have influenced me. To name a few bands in a random order: D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Kompost 3, The Roots, Garish, SK Invitational, Gin Ga, Schmieds Puls, The Beatles, .... and of course my BANDMATES!
KAIKO PHOTO BY © ROBERT ANAGNOSTOPOULOS
VIDEOSHOOT FORGET THE WORLD FOR A WHILE ©BERND FASZL
4. You are part of the band “KAIKO”. Tell us more about it, the music you create and how did you meet the other members?
I know Thomas since we played together in the band “James Choice & the Bad Decisions”. He quit after some time because he was the only one living in Graz, which meant quite a lot of time spent on the road for rehearsals and everything. Thomas called me one day and said something along the lines of, “Hey, I got something for you to listen to. Don’t mind the sound, listen to the songs”. Let’s start a band, Phil plays the guitar. Kathrin writes the songs, plays the acoustic guitar and sings, Ines plays the piano and sings. Ah, and Kathrin is a drummer, as well. Phil and Thomas used to play in a ska-punk band called “Faster than Sound”, and after that Phil played in a band called “Remedy” and Thomas in “The Liberation Service”. I knew Phil already from the “DIY-Scene”. I remembered when “Remedy” played a “Rage against the Machine” cover set and I was really stunned by the sounds Phil produced there. So, I didn’t question Thomas’s choice of guitar player for the band. After that everything went pretty fast, we met for the first rehearsal at my bedroom and played a small concert there as well a few weeks later. Fun fact: Kathrin took Thomas’ place, and she’s been playing Drums in “James Choice & the Bad Decisions” for two years now. We are a big family!
5. As an artist you need to be passionate about what you do so where do you get inspiration for your work from?
Actually I haven’t asked myself this question so far. But I love it when we lock ourselves in the rehearsal room, stick together for a few days and take our time to jam around. Usually it’s pretty stressful with ”KAIKO” since we all live in different parts in Austria - Vienna, Graz and Linz, so even rehearsals are pretty expensive and short in time. But it looks like things will get a little easier in the future.
NOVA ROCK ©MATTHIAS HESCHL
6. Do you remember your first live performance? Tell us something more about this experience. How did you feel?
I think I was quite nervous. It must have been at a kids’ piano class or something like that. I didn’t like to practice the piano at all so I’d bet that I wasn’t prepared!
7. Live performances are always dynamic and I suppose pretty often something unexpected happens. Would you like to tell us about something that happened while you were on stage?
Last year we made some kind of promotion for the record where we tied small bricks with a download code and our band name on it (made by the Lebenshilfe Feldbach) to red balloons and spread them all over the place in front of the stage. It was really cool seeing people grabbing and going away with them. You could see when people met and in the distance it looked like the balloons were kissing.
And there was one concert with “James Choice & The Bad Decisions” in Edinburgh where the toilet pipe of the bar above burst during our concert, but nobody really realized that. After the concert I found my bass ukulele bag soaked in piss. It was pretty interesting what it takes to get rid of that aroma.
8. What are you most proud of so far in terms of your career?
It was a big thing for us to release our record “Brick By Brick” at the Radiokulturhaus in Wien with lots of friends on the stage. We played songs from and with “Jahson the Scientist/ Scattah Brain”, “Georg Kostron & sein Manager”, “James Choice & the Bad Decisions” and we had a big choir on stage for two songs with members of the bands I mentioned before, plus band members from “Onk Lou”, “Fin”, “P.M. Love Explosion” (Phil’s electro band), ”Fourscape”, “Martin Spengler & die foischn Wiener”, “The Kurts”, … That was a huge thing. I’m always the guy who wants to support other artists, as well. I don’t see other musicians as rivals, we are all doing the same thing and face the same problems. So it’s better to help each other out, right?
9. What were the biggest challenges you have faced so far as a musician?
Self doubt. I think that’s something every type of artist struggles with in a way. And to juggle two bands, a private life, relationship and money. It’s not always that easy.
10. How do you imagine your music career in 5 years? What do you want to accomplish?
At first I want to be a daddy at that time… But talking about my career, I would like to take the next steps with “KAIKO” and “James Choice & the Bad Decisions”. Both bands are really up-and-coming and very interesting to work with, and have a great future coming up.
11. Are you working on any other projects right now?
“KAIKO”, “James Choice & the Bad Decisions” and there’s an interesting project called “Music - Coworking-Space” starting now and which should be released in let’s say four years. That’s going to be a huge project, but it’s too early to talk about it.
12. You are part of Solidarity evening. What do you think about this initiative?
As a musician you play a lot of benefit concerts, and there are quite few times when you are not 100% sure where the money is going. But Ines did a great job at organizing “Solidarity Evening” and made it clear and easy to understand where the money goes to, and I’m really happy that we are part of the SOLEV. It’s not that easy to organize something like this, and she struggles with problems, as well, from time to time. Right now she needs more sponsors for the SOLEV, so if you are (part of) a company who wants to do something good, contact Ines!
KAIKO ACOUSTIC SUMMER B72 ©PASCAL RIESINGER