Valentin Baumgartner

In Love Your Mother

IN LOVE YOUR MOTHER, hailing from Zurich, have recently released their first full-lenghth album entitled; "The Great Ape Project". Our writer Andrew Sifari was granted the time to speak with Valentin Baumgartner, the guitarist about the new album, their inspirations, and even ape costumes. Enjoy! Dear readers!!

By Andrew Sifari

• January 9, 2015

Interview - Valentin Baumgartner (In Love Your Mother) interview

Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed. "The Great Ape Project" has been out for a little over a week now; have things been really crazy or chaotic? What has been going for the band since then?

Hey! I would say: "not crazier as our tour with the Excrementory Grindfuckers". 😉

We`re really enjoying the feedback from different parts of the globe. First of all the people which came to the "Blast Christmas Tour" - great support - thank you folks! And there are a lot of cool reviews going around.

While your first recorded effort came out a few years ago, "The Great Ape Project" is the band's first full-length album. I imagine this is an exciting time for the band; what is the atmosphere like this time around compared to when the "Killing Music" EP was released?

During the last two years we really worked on our band sound. We grew with this concrete and individual sound. This album is our first big step into the very scene and I`m quite sure that I`m gonna stay as proud of this album as I am now.

But no matter how you feel after releasing your album and be truly happy with it - we`re already working on new songs.

What was your experience in the studio like for the recording of the album?

We recorded „The Great Ape Project" and also our EP „Killing Music" at the „Kohlekeller Studio`s" with Kohle. He did not just simply record us. Kohle worked more like a producer. So every time we came back from studio our ideas grew more concrete.

In Love Your Mother have been together for over five years now. How much do you feel you have grown as musicians since you first started? How has your idea for what the band's music should sound like changed since then, or since you released "Killing Music?"

Oh I think the difference is huge! (haha)

We started with a lot of Metalcore- and Thrash-Influences. I guess if skipped the roots I would play differently now. But anyway - we moved on and as I stepped more into the Jazz- and World-Music-Scene I finally could write the songs which I`ve got in my head and which hunt me in my dreams.

I guess we`re working on this concrete band sound since the „killing music" area and we`re in the middle of this process.

What bands, if you had to name a few, would you say have had the biggest influence on the sound of In Love Your Mother?

This is a hard one because there are so many. For sure „The Dillinger Escape Plan". Converge. The Chariot, The Human Abstract and Avishai Cohen.

Genre labels can give people an idea of what a band will sound like, but they definitely do not tell the whole picture. How would describe your band's music for someone who has never heard it before?

It`s well organized chaos - multi-genre-punk-and-mother-core played by some Dadaistic mothers?

I have to ask about "The Disco Fish," because it's a really different, really good song, but also quite a departure from the predominantly heavy and serious tone of the rest of the album. What was the inspiration behind the song?

This song is about a guy/fish - working at his desk every single day.

He`s getting angry but he kills his emotions and revolting thoughts by partying hard. His wish is to stop the world going round - to get a quiet day.

And that's why this song is a mixture between a chaos-punk song and a disco song (refrain).

I saw that you guys played some shows wearing ape costumes, and that you have gotten pretty creative with band merchandise (including the "Dancing on the Street" sticker). How has the fan response to the band been, especially playing live?

Great feedbacks until now - just this one time we woke up in a zoo - sharing a bed with real monkey`s 😉

While the songs on the album are technically impressive, they are also very accessible and memorable at the same time. Is it hard, as a band, to find a balance in making music that's both complex and catchy?

To be honest - I don`t force myself to write complex or catchy songs. I`m just writing what`s in my mind and the better I understand music, the better I`m able to write things exactly down as I hear them.

"The Great Ape Project" is packed with great moments and interesting ideas. Which song(s) are you most proud of? Are there any in particular you get excited to play live?

My three favorite songs are „We`re gonna dance till everyone`s naked and fallen apart", „Johnny Rocket is not dead" and „The Discofish". The first one is my favorite song to play live too.

As far as song writing goes, what is the band's main focus or goal musically?

I/we want to combine chaotic and energetic concepts with Dadaistic and social critic lyrics. I like bands/albums you can explore during a long period of time. Every day you`re hearing some new notes. Some new effects and hiding sounds. And that's what I want to create.

I notice that you just finished a string of shows with Excrementory Grindfuckers, the first since your new album came out. How was the tour?

It was just incredibly awesome! Two chaotic bands - two snow-machines (from the Excrementory Grindf***ers) - and good old apish behavior. A lot of greetings to our beloved monster-psychopaths! 🙂

Do you have plans to do more touring in support of "The Great Ape Project" in the near future? What do you have planned for the band going forward?

We will have some shows beginning of 2015 and looking forward to announce a next tour or at least some weekend shows. But we will see, we already need time for working on the new tracks

Valentin, I wish you guy all the best with the new release, thank you for the interview, any last words for the readers?

Love your mothers, the mothers of you friends and all the other mothers, you will see how much fun it will bring

You`re really welcome!

Many thanks for your time and the nice questions!

In Love | Your Mother

Cheers!

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