Interview with Volker Störtebeker

1)      Who are you? Who is me, Volker?

I am Volker “Bauli” Störtebeker (nickname derived from Bauland my offstage real lastname)  and I hail from the fair city of Groningen (Grönn/Grønn/Grunn) situated in the north of the Netherlands. Oh yeah, Holland doesn’t exist (as official country name). I am a trombonist, selftought didgeridooist, sousaphonist and euphoniumist. I play in a lot of different constellations but I reckon most know me of Terbeschikkingstelling (experimental improv noise). My oldest band is skaband Knight Susan.

Also I like trying everything and like putting bad jokes in music, hence I also created Dolph S. Lundgren in which I combine my sense of humor with crude artwork and raw noisish stuff, which I like to call wacky noise. Next to making art I also organise a soundart festival “het Rumoer” and a skafest “Skasjock”.

2)      Can you describe your surroundings?

Yes I could. I live above a cornerhome in an area close to the railroadtracks towards even northern places. I have neighbors that don’t appreciate experimental music so I dose my recordingtime. My girlfriend doesn’t mind, I reckon she likes it less when I purely listen to experimental tunes. We have a balcony with a birdfeeding home, but birds are cocky and don’t eat there and yet the seeds vanish! Also there are lots of junkies living in the neighborhood and they are great security guards, always at home and not wanting other people to rob their neighbors.

3)      Where would you like to go?

Mongolia, Antartica, Andes, Kilimanjaro, Cambodja, Vanuatu, Hokaido and Siberia (amongst other locations)

4)      What would you say are the main features of your creative process(s)?

Lousy sense of humor, wordjokes, just basically not wondering what others would think of stuff, being hella patient, favoring trial and error, thinking that you can do everything you haven’t done yet (honoring Pippi Långstrump)

5)      What do you really want your audience to understand about you/your art?

Nothing, not much. I don’t see my art as something to comprehend if you will grasp. That would mean I would associate it with rationality, which I don’t. My art/music to me is 100% emotional and feeling. So the only thing I can hope for is that people form their own emotional bubble when they experience my music. What you see, hear and feel matters to me. Making music is a nice thing and in 2020 I have been able to collaborate with loads of lovely people from all over the world and I haven’t produced as much as any other year. But I long for live concerts, walking amongst appreciators of my search for the insane.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IKUNnGM839E

Live at my own festival het Rumoer

6)      Does audience matter?

Yes and no. Continuing my previous answer I definitely need people at gigs to get feedback and interact when I play. But why they don’t matter is that I am not looking for approval, I don’t play good or bad, I play… decided that you cannot value my creations, just experience them. If you want to participate and share what you feel, you are more than welcome. If you just want to say my stuff sucks, you are also welcome. I have a good time goofing around anyways!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3TyWaNfmmuQ&t=4s

First time live with sousphone

7)      Why Resist?

Why not? Restistance breeds creativity and a critical mind. Always a revolution, but it ain’t my revolution if I can’t dance to it…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bON4Qtqt21w

Playing at oldest church of Groningen, landmark Martinitoren / Martinitower

8)      Why do you do it?

I am addicted to it, it is a very strong urge, I need to create… it is my biggest companion and outlet.

9)      What drives you?

Experiment, improvisation and interacting with kindred souls.

10)   What do you do in your daily life?

I am I guess a guardian / tutor for people with slight mental disabilities and addiction problems on a carefarm in a small village close to my hometown. I always bike there (50 minutes by bike)

11)   Do you have any strategies for adapting to the challenges of existing in your unnatural environment? If so, what are they?

No, I just cope and am a true presentist. I tend to live in the now, for that is all you can. You learn from the past, have goals for the future, but act in the now. There is a very random component to this and I love dabbling in trial and error.  

12) What is your favorite animal?

This fluctuates, at the moment I would say wombat, penguin, armadillo or sloth. Soon I will publish a 6way split with some Australian artists centering around the majestic wombat.

13)   What would your superpower be?

Definitely teleportation. Travel everywhere without leaving an ecological footprint and a way to physically be able to work face-to-face with all the lovely people I have met and will keep on meeting.

14)   What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen?

No idea, live itself? I am not easily amazed, but enjoy experiencing daily wonders.

15)   Please tell us something about one EFSPACM project that you took part in, and how you worked on your piece.

For the Weimar project I wanted to use Prussian marching music, to symbolize the militant side of that time. So I went on youtube and recorded the piece Preußens Gloria. Than I had a basis. I wanted to combine it with something political. Being an anarchist myself I searched an internet library from revolutionary German anarchist and poet Erich Mühsam. Recorded reciting 3 of his poems and mixed those in Preußens Gloria which than became Mühsams Gloria. My first spoken word venture, loved doing it!