Beyond The Bridge

Beyond The Bridge are an exciting new band signed to the legendary Frontiers Records. Loved what they were doing and thought they were worth interviewing, so please read on and find out more about this amazing new band.  

http://www.beyondthebridge.net

1. How did the band form?

Our musical life started as a school band. Back then it was only
Dominik (Bass), Christopher (Keyboards) and me (guitar). When we
finished school in 2004 and everybody moved to different cities the old
school band broke apart. Dominik, Christopher and I decided to stick
together as friends. It wasn´t until 2005 where I came up with the
conceptual idea of “The Old Man & The Spirit”. One of the biggest
motivations was that Christopher went for a life of recording music. I
knew in 2005 that Christopher will become a producer someday and we will
have the chance to do professional recordings. I convinced Christopher
to create a concept album together. In the next five years we finished
our university studies, composed the music and wrote the lyrics. I did
my Diploma in Physics in Munich and Christopher became a "Tonmeister".
As it turned out in 2008 my plan has worked out quite well. But it was
not Christopher who produced the album as he decided to go for
engineering, mixing
 and producing classical music. It was rather Simon Oberender who was
and is one of Christophers best friends and colleagues. After finishing
his Diploma Simon became a sound engineer and producer at the Gate
Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany. We simply asked him if he would like to
produce the album at the Gate Studios. This was a great choice and a big
opportunity for Beyond the Bridge. Simon also brought Fabian and Herbie
to the band and I met Dilenya at a concert of hers in Munich.

2. What was it like to have your album released on the legendary Frontiers Records?

I was speechless. The first thing I did was to go directly to the
website of Frontiers Records and check out all the releases they have
been putting out over the past years. I had goosebumps all over me when I
saw that we are in the same boat with Mr. Big, Toto, Yes, Asia and many
more. Amazing!

Yes, I am very proud of it. Usually I always question the things I
do or have achieved in everyday life. But there is almost no self-doubt
about this album. I love it very much.

4. How would you describe the concept of the album to a 7 year old?

O.k., lets assume the name of the 10 year old is Leo. I would say this:
My little Leo, once upon a time there was a young boy, Bob, just like
you but very anxious to find out all the secrets about Santa Claus and
his magical elves. He got really desperate that no one in his family and
none of his friends could help him with this issue. Just right before
he gave up, one of Santa Claus´ magical elves suddenly appeared and
offered him a trade of. The elf said: "Bob you can just become like me
and fly around the north pole as much as you like discovering everything
you can imagine about Santa Clause and his magical elves. But you can
not do this as the boy you are. You have to become an elf. I know a
great magic spell which transforms you in me and me in you." You have to
know little Leo, that Elves do not get presents on Christmas. And they
are not allowed to eat candy and chocolate. The tale of little Bob tells
you how Bob decides and whether he reveals the secrets of Santa Cl
 ause or remains a boy happy and thankful for every present and for all candy he gets. What would you do, Leo?

I had the idea for the concept of "The old Man and the Spirit" at
the moment where I had to decide what I am going to do with my life. It
was after school and I had two possible choices. Either I become a
musician or I study physics. I believed that physics could be able to
reveal the answers to the questions I have been having as  a teenager.
These were questions that you can find in typical popular scientific
literature. Basically questions about the universe, elementary
particles, quantum mechanics and stuff like that. On the other hand
there was music. And I guess I don´t have to tell you that music can be
the most intensive experience sometimes. At the end I decided to go for
physics. But as it turns out now, I am back to music 😉

The scene is currently very busy. Many new exciting German Prog
bands put out new stuff. Check out for example Flaming Row, Dreamscape,
Effloresce
or Vanden Plas. In Germany you can find a lot of musicians being
interested in Prog Metal. I just wish that more Listeners would draw
their attention to Prog 😉

It helps us a lot. For a newcomer band like us it probably the
most important thing. Over platforms like Youtube or Facebook we are
able to spread the music and all the informations and updates about the
band. Facebook is very useful to get in touch with fans and other bands.
We can interact with people and chat with them. That is great. It is
also due to Facebook that we will be playing on the ProgPower USA this
year in Atlanta. Of course the internet has a few bad sides for
musicians or record companies but overall we have to use the positive
things the internet has to offer to our advantage.

To be honest, we only had one show so far. But that one was great!
We had 45 Minutes to play as a support band for one of the greatest
prog bands of our time, Fates Warning. It was very exciting! The two
singer were in a great shape, the audience was great, our drummer did
not loose a stick and so on. Everything went well on that night apart
from me pulling out my in-ear monitoring cable by stepping on it. I
could not hear my guitar for about 30 seconds until I managed to put the
cable back in ; )

Well, if we wanted to have a clip with our idols it would probably
be Spocks Beard, Pain of Salvation or Dream Theater. Personally, I
would love to meet Paul Gilbert some time. But again from a very
different point of view, shooting a video with Katy Perry or Pink could
be awesome as well 😉

We are working every day on arranging upcoming live shows. We will
put up an online shop on our website where people can order the first
BtB T-shirt ever. Overall we will focus on more live playing and a new
album. We want to become a real studio and touring band with all the
things a band like this has to do. I am looking forward to my first
smelly tour bus and my first bad hangover after a great show.