How long have you been in existance and how did you get started?
Tragic Comedy came into being in the late 80's when Mathias Dümmatzen
and Rickard Lautrup made their first songs influenced by artist
such as Vangelis and J.M Jarre. In 1991 the group was joined by
Fredrik Magnusson and Martin Dümmatzen and the music soon became much
harder and faster. The band appeared on some electronic compilations
("Illumnative"+"Autumn Leaves" released by Memento Materia and
"Subreality" by Powerspot) before being signed to Memento Materia in
1995. Tragic Comedy has one release to date, the album "Ciphers".
Who makes up the current band?
Three original members are still in the band. Mathias and Martin
Dümmatzen together with Rickard Lautrup. Fredrik Magnusson (now
playing in the band Gu qin together with Rickard Lautrup) was
replaced by Niklas Ottosson in early 1997.
What do you wish to achieve with your work?, What type of feeel do you
try to project?
Tragic Comedy creates precise and almost cold music. Electronic
soundscapes, hardhitting drums and strange lyrics. It is very much
up to the listener to bring meaning to what they hear. Maybe this is
demanding too much from the listener today (when most music is played
for deaf ears) but he people that really listen to our music and give
it chance loves it.
We ourselves love the precise and complicated structures you can
achieve with synthesizers and computers. That is enough for us...
Who do you think is drawn to your music?
hmm, strange people probably. We try to be a complement both the
electro and techno scene today, still making our very own and
peculiar music.
What do you meen by the name Tragic comedy?
Nice descripton of life, isn't it??
Who was Peter Dummatzen and whu have you dedicated "ciphers" to him?
Peter Dümmatzen is the father of Mathias and Martin. He died in a car
accident some years before the album "ciphers" was released. He was
always a huge fan of our music and he always supported us and we felt
it right to dedicate this album to him.
How did you get your contract with Memento materia?
Mainly through the compilation cd's we participated on. We have
always had a good relation with Memento Materia and they followed us
with interest for a long time before deciding to sign us.
How do you feel about the other mm bands, Covenant, Mesh, Malaise?
Well, we are all great fans of electronic music in all of its forms.
We have always thought Memento Materia to be an excellent label and
that also means the bands of course.
Why did you choose to interpret Wilfred Owens "for whom the bells
tool"?
Hmm, I (Rickard) fell in love with that poem and the whole story
about the life of Wilfred Owen a long time ago. This is a poem
written in the trenches of World War 1 in which Wilfred Owen died
himself. It is a beutiful poem describing the futility of war, its
pain and frustration. A comment on society still very up to date and
close to many of us.
Why did you make a cd rom track?
When we started working on the cd-rom it was something new even to
the computer world. When the cd was released evolution had passed
us...
We think it is important to give the audience the best picture
possible of the band. Not only their music but pictures, info and
much more. I think it is strange that so very few artist use this
possibility today... If there is room on the cd why not use it and
give the audience some value for their money.
Hows it going with the new album?
We are currently working on the new album, but since Fredrik left the
band we have had to rearrange a lot of stuff. We're getting closer
every day..
Future plans?
Well, a new album some day. We want to to this right and have no
hurry what so ever at the moment. We will probably turn up on some
compilations in the future to keep our fans updated and the first to
come is a cover of the Kraftwerk classic "Autobahn" to be released on
a compilation by Energy Rekords this autumn.
