The revolution of Pack continues breaking schemes. The Germans have been achieving worldwide success for nine years thanks to their techno marching band concept. Now they publish “EMPOR” (Tumult/Neubau Music, 24),
The German band will be playing in Madrid (October 9, WiZink Center) and Barcelona (October 10, Sant Jordi Club).
With eleven members, the band led by Thomas Burhorn has two passions that it has managed to combine perfectly: techno and musical instruments. Worlds that could seem so far away and, at the same time, are not so far away. The Hamburg band, which also became known for covering songs like “You & Me”, by Disclosure, Eliza Doolitle and Flume, has just released its new album“Empor”a word that comes from old German and is related to going upwards, something they wanted to highlight after the pandemic, in which their creative world faltered – hence, they titled “Taumel” to his previous album.
Master DJs with acoustic instruments who, on their fourth and latest album, combine their own creations, such as “Vermis” or “LoCKeDoWN2” with versions of musicians, such as “Loss Of Hope” by Innellea and “Come Together” by Henrik Schwarz. Freshness and power flows between the marching band and the techno club that conquers stages and has already sold out tickets for some of its concerts on its European tour this year.
Thomas, how did the idea of creating “Empor” come about?
We are artists and we simply want to create. We always want to continue with the idea of creating techno music with acoustic instruments. We have been there for eight years now and we have realized that it is never boring. With every new song we record, every new album we release and every concert we play we try to reach deeper into this universe of sounding like electronic instruments. This album is called “Empor”, an old German word that means “upwards”.
“We are like scientists, we simply want to try and see if it works with the same energy”
Did you want to set a different direction with your music, to detail that you are moving forward?
Yes. Our previous album is called “Taumel”, which means “wobble”, and it discovered a side of us in which we were insecure about some things, because with Covid no one knew what was going to happen. But now we want to say that the wobble is over.
On this album you include a song called “LoCKeDoWN2”, but you had already created “Taumel” after the pandemic. How did you experience the pandemic as a band?
In fact, it is a composition we created during the pandemic. It was a very difficult time for many artists and people who work in the cultural industry. The good thing is that we still exist. It generated a lot of insecurity and stress. Of course you have stress when you have too much work and too many gigs, but you can also have stress when you don’t have enough work.
With a band with eleven artists on stage, is it easy to manage so many people?
We have learned many things in recent years. The band grew in a very organic way. We just planned a concert and organized ourselves to play there. The most important thing is the power of music, which is what keeps us together. We also talk a lot to exchange our emotions. We are kind to each other.
What has changed in your live shows since the beginning?
Obviously, they have become much bigger shows, so we can’t do them on the street like before with thirty people around. Now we have two thousand people in the audience. The difference is that we have more people and the energy is different. There is more distance, so we try to bring the energy of the street to the big stages to convey the feeling that we are closer.
How did you come up with the idea of creating a techno marching band?
We love techno music and live music. I have always thought that both ideas are more united than they seem. Electronic music is based on synthesizers on a computer that try to sound like real instruments. When we try to make electronic music with real instruments, we change the rule and it’s funny to see what happens next. We are very happy that this experiment went well. We are like scientists, we simply want to try and see if it works with the same energy. Sometimes on large computers, there is a component called “Humanizer” to make it a little more human. We are a great “humanizing” band.
How has Hamburg influenced your creations?
Hamburg is the best place for the band. Berlin is the great center of Germany, but Hamburg has a lot of history with live music. For example, The Beatles started their career here. There are many concert halls and musical theaters. Of course, we are close to Berlin and we also have a lot of electronic music here. But I think Hamburg is the ideal place for the band because we combine both things.
You alternate your own songs with versions of other artists. What is the selection criteria for making covers?
It’s intuition. We try to listen to our heart and stomach, to our emotions. It helps when the song comes from the world of electronica. We want to sound different from the original song and add something to those emotions that already exist.
The living being one of the most incredible parts of the project, how are you preparing the European tour?
We are already rehearsing only with instruments, and then we will have a short break. One week before the tour we will have general rehearsals. We have new surprises and new lighting for the live performances of this album, so it will be very interesting and fun.