A SHORT CHAT WITH ANTON BRÜSCHWEILER / ANTON AND THE HEADCLEANERS

Zappanale not only presents bands that perform the music of Frank Zappa. It’s also a showcase for artists and bands that play adventurous music.

Bands like Humble Grumble, Corrie van Binsbergen, Gargantua and Panzerballet, to name a few, have all played in Bad Doberan.
One of this year’s surprises is called Anton and the Headcleaners, Anton Brüschweiler’s project. They will be opening the festival on Friday, August 2, at 15:00 h.
Here’s a short chat with Anton.

UniMuta: Anton, the youtube videos from the Burg Herzberg festival show that you had a lot of fun. There's a lot of energy on stage. At Zappanale, you will be opening the festival as you are the first band to enter the stage at the festival ground. Looking forward to it?

Anton Brüschweiler: Music without fun is only an exercise. Music has to reach the body and heart of the listener. Although we play complicated music we always have fun and we like to dance to our own music. To open the Zappanale on the main stage is a honour. Normaly it is not the best time for a gig, if you open a festival , but at the Zappanale it might be okay because there is a warm up day on thursday.

UniMuta: Last year, you released "Rotor", the band's second album. The first album got released in 1998. What happened with the band in between these two records?

Anton Brüschweiler: A very good question: As you mentioned we released our first album "Mess-Age" in 1998. At that time I already made complicated Instrumental music for 15 years. So I was frustrated about how hard it was to tour with music for minorities. So I concentrated my work on funny songs that I wrote in swiss-german. With "Die Hellen Barden" we produced three CD's and toured  a lot around in Switzerland. Then after two years something happend that I never thought of: A lot of people phoned me  (it was the time before Internet) to get a Mess-Age CD. The CD got cult. After a few years the CD with this complicated music was sold out and we had to press another thousand. This was really incredible: Without any promotion the CD got known from mouth to mouth, and we had a lot of fans. Then in 2009 Harald Haerter a guitar virtuoso and boss of Unit records asked me to produce a new album with the Headcleaners , 11 years after the first. I was so happy that I did it. 2012 the album "Rotor" was released in Germany and received excellent reviews everywhere. That made us of course extremly happy.

UniMuta: Dedicating an entire festival to the music of one man, in this case Frank Zappa, might seem weird. But the result is a festival where bands play Zappa's music and where you get to hear bands that are inspired by Zappa's music. How do you feel about this concept? Who is your musical inspiration?

Anton Brüschweiler: To your last question: I have a lot of musical inspirations but one of the most important influences is a musician called Frank Zappa. I saw him three times live. Those were among the best concerts I ever saw. Zappa inspired me as a composer but also as a guitar player. Other influences are: Strawinski, Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, Gentle Giant and of course Hendrix to mention only a few.

Two years ago we played in Germany and a guy was telling me about the Zappanale. I never heard of that before: And I knew: This is my thing! So I went there as a guest last year and this year we will play there, which is of course great.

And now I will tell you a big secret. I was such a fan of the concept of the Zappanale that I decided to do a simular festival in Switzerland. So next year there will be for the first time a festival called  Zapperlot! at a very nice place in the nature of Switzerland, in the  Emmental. At a place  called Schangnau. Hope to see yuo all there:

15.8. - 17.8.2014

Zapperlot!-Festival

Open-Air für progressive, innovative, fun-tasievolle Musik

Schangnau, Emmental, Switzerland

www.zapperlot-festival.ch

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zapperlot-Festival/131287170411934

UniMuta: That’s excellent news !! I’m assuming that Anton and the Headcleaners will be performing there as well?
At Zappanale, you are playing on Friday. Will you be staying the entire festival. Have you seen the program? Are there bands that you want to see?

Anton Brüschweiler: We stay till sunday, then we have to leave . I want to see a lot of bands, and I'm looking forward to meet a lot of interesting people.

UniMuta: Your website (http://antonline.ch/Home.html) shows that you have various musical projects going on. What's your favorite project?

Anton Brüschweiler: As a professional musician I play in several bands. My favorite band is of course "Anton and the Headcleaners".

UniMuta: Great. Thank you for your time and for the Zapperlot! scoop !!
See you at Zappanale on Friday, August 2, at 15:00 h.

Here's Anton and the Headcleaners on stage at the Burgherzberg Festival, July 2012.