Actors band
Long more than an experiment: Woods of Birnam
Philipp Makolies (lr), Uwe Pasora, Christian Friedel and Christian Grochau are Woods of Birnam. Photo: Sebastian Kahnert / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Woods of Birnam stand out among the actor bands. Christian Friedel and the ex-Arctic Circle 18 musicians are one art alone too little – that makes them an exception.
Philipp, Uwe and two Christians are full of expectation. Instruments and a large control panel are ready in the tiny rehearsal studio in the Dresden industrial area, which was once a printing shop.
“It is the first day since the beginning of the pandemic when it feels like it used to be,” says Christian Friedel. The actor (“The White Ribbon”, “Elser”, “Babylon Berlin”) and his fellow musicians have been Woods of Birnam (WOB) for a decade now. To mark the anniversary, they have released three new EPs and are doing “a nice little” club tour. “Despite all the difficulties, we wanted to give 2G and 3G a few concerts, despite the decline in ticket sales in clubs,” said the 42-year-old before the start on Saturday in the city on the Elbe.
Next year comes «Macbeth»
“We’re going through the ten years of Woods of Birnam in a very intimate, smaller setting and let people participate before we can finally finish rehearsing” Macbeth “next year,” says Friedel. The soundtrack for it is already ready, but will not be released until the premiere of the production: at the beginning of September 2022 – two and a half years late.
Friedel also had more time for the band despite filming for TV and cinema in the pandemic. “When I’m in Dresden, I almost exclusively make music with the band.” The former musicians of the Dresden band Polarkreis 18 are used to ups and downs. In practical terms, they preferred recordings and video productions to bridge the drought. The positive interest in her tour and actions on the net during the abstinence makes her confident about the new start. “We are inherently optimists,” says Philipp.
Finally going on tour again
In doing so, WOB dose their presence in social media, evading the usual machinery of the industry. Permanent posting does not match the artistic demands, although their target group ranges from 18 to “open end”, as bassist Uwe says. Your thoughts and feelings are also in the new songs. The tour is “like a musical vaccination”.
The arrangements are created in the discourse and are only finished when everyone is behind them. “Philipp and I compose most of the songs together, meet for nightly sessions and then bring them into the band cosmos,” Friedel outlines the process. At the rehearsals, everyone gives something to “make it a band song”. There is heated discussion, “constructively and on an equal footing”.
But it took time until then. After their debut album in 2013, they popped “Hamlet” and caused a sensation for the first time in the production with Friedel in the title role at the Dresden State Theater. They set other pieces by playwright William Shakespeare and masterpieces from the Dresden Gemäldegalerie to music, and wrote a soundtrack for “Babylon Berlin”. With the art project “How to Hear A Painting” 2020 and the accompanying album, “we had the feeling for the first time that it was WOB,” says Friedel.
Experienced all ups and downs
Over the years, drummer Christian has developed into an expert in artwork and the visual appearance of WOB, while Uwe has become a producer and organizer. During the forced break from the stage, WOB recorded an album for “Macbeth”. Rehearsals for the Shakespeare classic directed by Friedel and with the band had been canceled shortly before the premiere. “The Corona crisis slowed us down when it should really start,” says the celebrity among equals.
The ups and downs have welded the boys together, made them friends. Music is currently being created for “Dorian” based on the novel “Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray”, directed by Robert Wilson, in coproduction with the Düsseldorfer Schauspiel. “Working with Wilson is a great honor,” says Friedel, who plays the title role.
In 2022 the band wants to show their art project again, “and maybe touring with it”. The connection to the theater, the unique selling point of the largely project-related indie pop band with a range from cross-art and special things to mainstream, is to be expanded. “At first glance it is not sexy or modern, but then you notice that it is timeless, and therefore always modern,” says Friedel, for whom a dream came true with WOB. “I’m looking forward to the next ten years.”
Woods of Birnam plays in the old slaughterhouse in Dresden (October 30th, 8pm), in the Neue Schauspiel Leipzig (November 2nd, 7.30pm, in the Thalia Hamburg night asylum (November 3rd, 8.30pm), in the Red Salon of the Berliner Volksbühne (November 4th 7.30 p.m.), in the Mon Ami cultural center in Weimar (November 7th, 7.30 p.m.) and in the Zakk Düsseldorf (November 8th, 7.30 p.m.)