The Monika Roscher BigBand is returning to Zappanale.
They'll perform at the main stage on Saturday, at 18h45.
Those who witnessed the BigBand's previous Zappanale concert (in 2018), know that this is something to look forward to.
They'll perform at the main stage on Saturday, at 18h45.
Those who witnessed the BigBand's previous Zappanale concert (in 2018), know that this is something to look forward to.
I’m really looking forward to the upcoming concert of the Monika Roscher BigBand at Zappanale. I still remember being blown away by your previous appearance, in 2018.
I assume you’re looking forward to the trip to Bad Doberan. How do you look back on the 2018 concert and what happened since then?
Monika Roscher: We’re really looking forward to Zappanale — though not so much to the journey itself! :)
The train company (Deutsche Bahn) has thrown us into chaos once again by cancelling our long-booked group tickets just two weeks before the festival, which means we’ve had to rearrange everything — including hotels.
But yes, we’re super excited about Zappanale!
2018 was almost magical for us. It’s rare to play a concert where you feel like the audience somehow already knows you — even though they’ve never heard you before. We immediately felt understood, which is something you don’t often experience, especially at festivals. Usually there are always people walking off thinking, “What on earth is this?”
That’s why Zappanale 2018 left such a strong and beautiful impression on us. Some people were still hanging out at the campsite afterward — it was just a wonderful evening all around.
But yes, we’re super excited about Zappanale!
2018 was almost magical for us. It’s rare to play a concert where you feel like the audience somehow already knows you — even though they’ve never heard you before. We immediately felt understood, which is something you don’t often experience, especially at festivals. Usually there are always people walking off thinking, “What on earth is this?”
That’s why Zappanale 2018 left such a strong and beautiful impression on us. Some people were still hanging out at the campsite afterward — it was just a wonderful evening all around.
Hopefully we can pick up right where we left off!
Since then, we’ve released two new albums: one is a studio album "Witchy Activities And The Maple Death" released 2023, it is full of new pieces that revolve around the theme of witches, and a live album "Witchy Activities - Live" which is brand-new.
Since then, we’ve released two new albums: one is a studio album "Witchy Activities And The Maple Death" released 2023, it is full of new pieces that revolve around the theme of witches, and a live album "Witchy Activities - Live" which is brand-new.
"Witchy Activities - Live" album artwork
UniMuta: With 18 musicians in your band and by performing adventurous music, I can imagine that this is not the easiest band to manage and to find opportunities to perform.
What’s the hardest part: matching the agendas of the musicians, or finding clubs or festivals that are interested in your music?
Earlier this year, the BigBand performed at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival in Portugal. Is this something that you would like to do more often? Gigs abroad?
Monika Roscher: Planning for the Big Band is completely crazy — sometimes it feels like hell! But not because of the people — they’re all dear friends, and there’s nothing better than being on the road with this bunch. It’s just that everything adds up: booking trains (we try to travel eco-friendly), organizing hotels and rehearsals… and with the band spread all over Germany — from Berlin to Munich to Innsbruck — it gets complicated fast. Then there are always surprises: someone gets sick, a train is canceled, a laptop is left behind, even a person is left behind… Looking back, it’s actually pretty funny what we’ve already been through.
It’s exhausting at times, but once we’re on stage, all the stress disappears. It’s totally worth it. And the band makes it easier — everyone’s quick to respond and super helpful. We all want to have a good time, and that spirit is what makes our group so special: we’re not just making music, we’re living shared adventures.
What’s the hardest part: matching the agendas of the musicians, or finding clubs or festivals that are interested in your music?
Earlier this year, the BigBand performed at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival in Portugal. Is this something that you would like to do more often? Gigs abroad?
Monika Roscher: Planning for the Big Band is completely crazy — sometimes it feels like hell! But not because of the people — they’re all dear friends, and there’s nothing better than being on the road with this bunch. It’s just that everything adds up: booking trains (we try to travel eco-friendly), organizing hotels and rehearsals… and with the band spread all over Germany — from Berlin to Munich to Innsbruck — it gets complicated fast. Then there are always surprises: someone gets sick, a train is canceled, a laptop is left behind, even a person is left behind… Looking back, it’s actually pretty funny what we’ve already been through.
It’s exhausting at times, but once we’re on stage, all the stress disappears. It’s totally worth it. And the band makes it easier — everyone’s quick to respond and super helpful. We all want to have a good time, and that spirit is what makes our group so special: we’re not just making music, we’re living shared adventures.
As for your question — what’s harder: organizing the musicians or finding places to play? Honestly, both! We get a lot of messages from fans wanting us to come to their cities, but finding clubs or festivals open to our kind of adventurous music isn’t always easy — especially without a booking team. But we’re definitely eager to play more internationally.
Performing at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival in Portugal earlier this year was amazing — such a beautiful festival. We’d love to do more gigs like that abroad!
UniMuta: Frank Zappa was known to push his musicians to the limit of the technical capabilities, and sometimes even further. When you compose for the BigBand, do you have the musicians in mind? Do you write parts that match their sound or personalities?
Monika Roscher: Absolutely! I always have the musicians in mind when I write music. Everyone in the band has their own unique style—that’s something I really love—and I try to incorporate that as much as possible. I know where each musician’s strengths lie, and together we constantly explore how to navigate limits. For example, if there’s a section where it’s impossible to breathe, we find ways to distribute the parts so there are no gaps. Or we talk through what’s realistically doable and adapt accordingly.
When I compose new pieces, I often call individual players to ask if they can record certain passages for me, just to check whether something is playable. I love this kind of close creative exchange.
That said, I compose much slower than Zappa! I’m happy if I manage to release a new album every five years. I get obsessed with every detail—I want to try out everything, fill in every blank. On the way to completing one piece, I’ll often throw away 15 others because they don’t quite come to life the way I imagine. No one hears those, because I didn’t think they were good enough. A lot happens behind the scenes, but in the end, only the music I’m 100% happy with makes it out into the world. If something doesn’t feel quite right, I pull it back and keep working on it.
UniMuta: For your previous album, “Witchy Activities And The Maple Death", you produced some otherworldly videos (and I use ‘otherworldly’ in the most positive way): ‘8 Prinzessinnen’, ‘Firebird’, ‘Witches Brew’, … Do I sense a fantasy / sword & sorcery fascination? Did you compose the music with the visuals in mind? Or how did this come about?
Monika Roscher: The music always comes first — from pure nothingness, or maybe from the entire universe, I honestly don’t know where it comes from. You’re just messing around and suddenly, an idea appears. It’s strange, and I don’t fully understand how it happens.
But as the process unfolds, images start to emerge, and ideas begin to take shape. For our music videos, though, it varies. For '8 Prinzessinnen', we left most of the concept to the video crew of Juri Beythien. My only initial idea was the candle being carried through beautiful German landscapes, slowly burning down. I liked the idea of being followed — but by yourself — without realizing you’re running from your own shadow. And at the end, you think you’ve arrived because you meet your idols, in this case the eight princesses, and believe you’ve become one of them. But that’s an illusion. They only recognize you if they choose to. So, chasing after a fantasy can be misleading — sometimes you have to reach the goal to realize it wasn’t the right path. That connects with the theme of the song, which is loosely about influencers.
We didn’t want to literally recreate the lyrics in the video, but rather add a new layer. Filming it was a blast — we had a small but wonderful team and a great time together!
I’m so happy you asked about 'Firebird'! I absolutely love that video. It was created by my friend Sascha Back from Fürth. She’s an incredible painter — I adore her use of color, her playfulness, her whole aesthetic. She wanted to turn one of her paintings into a music video, and she taught herself the entire animation program from scratch! I’m still amazed. She also paints all our album artwork, and I now have my first original painting hanging at home — it’s the artwork for "Witchy Activities and the Maple Death" our third album. It completely transformed the room.
And one of our most special videos is also 'Starlight Nightcrash', created by Patrick Buhr. He developed an incredibly unique and abstract visual world that perfectly matches the energy and complexity of the music.
Because it’s quite experimental, it hasn’t been watched as much as some of our other videos — but I honestly think it’s one of our best. I’m a big fan of Patrick’s idea and how he brought it to life. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s definitely worth a watch!
UniMuta: You have just released “Witchy Activities - Live”. On LP and on CD. The music is amazing, and you’ve also added some fine live videos to YouTube. Did you consider releasing a DVD or blu-ray?
Monika Roscher: Our very first live album Witchy Activities – Live was released in mid-June 2025. We recorded it at Ampere in Munich — it was such a cool experience, though we definitely felt the pressure for everything to go smoothly. In the end, we were thrilled that nothing went wrong, the solos turned out great, and we’re honestly really proud of the recording!
You can get the album on our website or on Bandcamp. Every direct purchase means a lot to us — Big Band is a bit of a wild operation, so every order really helps support the whole group!
As for a DVD or Blu-ray — I actually hadn’t thought about that yet. For now, producing LPs and CDs is already quite a big project for us, and Blu-ray would definitely be a next-level challenge. So I don’t think we’ll go there just yet — unless the demand turns out to be huge. Then we might consider it!
But! We did make some new t-shirts for the live album — brand new designs are available now! ;)
UniMuta: Thank you very much, Monika !
Looking forward to some Witchy Activities.
The Monika Roscher BigBand will be performing on the Zappanale main stage on Saturday, 19/07, at 18h30.
Not to be missed !
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