MP: Do you like playing festivals?

Gert: I definitely prefer festivals because of the weather - so you can sit outside in the afternoon. Because of the different bands you get to see. There's something nice about small clubs too, but only if they're nice clubs. Unfortunately a lot of them are also very dirty. Occasionally you get to a cool club that's also clean so you can go to the bathroom without worrying. A lot of club-owners don't seem to care about hygiene ... that's very un-rock'n'roll - I know (laughs)

MP: So your nightliner is clean?

Gert: Yeah, but it might be different in a couple of weeks.

MP: How do you spend time on the bus? With music or playstation?

Gert: There's a playstation in the back of the bus and there's also a video. But most of the time we listen to music. Somebody asks "Do you feel about listening to this" and someone says "No" - but we'll listen to it anyway. We are many people on the bus, so sometimes it's hard to play the music you want but everyone gets his headphones. That's what we do most, I guess, listen to music and talk about it. We all bring our favourite books, too. I also try to draw a little when I'm on the road. Everybody is into something else. Sarah tries to study some language - like spanish. She also studied electricity for some reason - I don't know why.

MP: Do you try to see something of the cities on a day off?

Gert: Yes, then we try to get to the city as soon as possible and maybe shop a little. But on days like this, when we still have to hang around for soundcheck, I saw only the place over there where the horses are running (Note: the famous racing course in Vienna). Sometimes it's frustrating: we are the third time in Vienna and I never had time to visit the city.

MP: As you're painting - are you responsible for the cover-artwork?

Gert: Yeah, not for the first and not for the last album, but for "Paradise In Me" and "Cocoon Crash" I made the drawings. Then I usually sit down together with somebody who knows more about graphics then I do.

MP: But you studied graphic design?

Gert: Indeed, but I didn't finish it. So I'm not so familiar with software and the proper type of lettering. Many others are a lot better than I am. Usually I do that together with the same guy, a belgium graphic-designer and drummer. We try to make the way the album looks our thing. So there's always a little picture that Sarah made and some of my drawings on it.

MP: What about videos? You also studied movie animation for a while?

Gert: I always think about making an animated movie for one of our videos but it's a lot of work and whenever I have spare time I don't want to spend it with making those things. I still enjoy drawing a lot but it's not making one - it's making 16.000 drawings and I don't feel like doing that. That's one of the reasons why I stopped studying - it was too much of the same thing. Whenever I had a new idea; I still had to make 500 drawings for the former movie - I hated that. Yesterday I heard the new Tool-song "Schism" ... I think they really have the coolest videos.

MP: What inspired you to your last CD which differs a lot from the old material? We miss the guitars...

Gert: It definitily has a different mood and a lot of people were surprised that this was our next step. But for us it really made sense. We write songs and we try to record them with the five of us. This time we realised at the rehearsals - even before we were in the studio - that we were working on a different album. There's a lot less distorting guitars, more mellow and it's true that it doesn't have the drive that "Cocoon Crash" has. We are a little more in making the songs sound as athmospheric as possible. Especially our US-record company was a little disappointed with that, as they expected something else. With all these heavy bands out now, we didn't made a heavy album at all. But we just had to do what we did.

MP: How do you work together?

Gert: Either Sarah writes something completely and I change a couple of things or the other way around. On the last album Sarah made most of the songs and I just added some chords or arrangements. There are only two songs where Sarahs did the lyrics and I the music. One is "I wanna meet the man" - not a great song...

MP: Is there any input from the other bandmembers?

Gert: They do that constantly during rehearsals and in the studio but when we are still working on the song it's just the two of us. It's already hard with two people and I don't want to do that with five.

MP: So what are the others doing during this time? Do they have side projects or are they just hanging around being bored?

Gert: Some of them might be bored. Most of them try to play some gigs with other people and get some work done in the house. There is definitely a period where they are not so close to what Sarah and me are doing. But it makes sense to me as our songs are very personal, it's like writing a letter - something you wanna do by yourself. I like to work with my sisters because we have the same taste in music, still a little different but we know what the other one is about on a personal and musical level.

MP: What's the secret to keep a band together for such a long time?

Gert: There are two important things: You have to like what you're doing musically and you have to be really good and close friends. We are friends but we don't see each other that often in our spare time. Once in a while somebody throws a barbecue and we are invited. At the end of a three month long tour you are sick and tired of each other, but after a while you start missing them. It's just like a marriage: you know you love each other but once in a while you would like to strangle the other ... Well, it's not really like a marriage! I mean I never feel like strangling my wife (laughs).

MP: You released a live-CD that's only availiable for fanclub-members. Why?

Gert: We try to do something for the fans every single year and Frank, who runs the fanclub, organizes some kind of event - usually in Brussels - where people from all over the world can come to see a K's Choice show just for them. We try to do something special musicwise, like songs on the accoustic guitar we ususally do on an electric one and there's always a small stage interview and a signing-session. The basic idea is that people who are big fans can meet other big fans. Many of them met on the forum of our website and can now see each other for the first time. We will probably record another live album at the end of the year with songs we've recorded over the last ten years.

MP: Are you already working on the next regular album?

Gert: Not yet. We are working on new songs but don't have immediate plans to go back to the studio. "Almost Happy" was released last September and will probabely be released in the States in one of these months. In Belgium and Holland we have our third single out and in the US the first one is due in October - we still have a long way to go with this one...

MP: Do you have a specific image? All promo-pictures show you somewhere in the green, as if you're very into nature.

Gert: I don't know, but if we have an image I like that one. I never really thought about it. But it's true that when we started as a band we thought "Oh, what should we look like?". You look up to all the different kind of bands, I was still into U2, The Police, The Beatles ... and you see that those bands you like musically they also have an image, a certain way of appearing in the media. I would say basicially we are going for the no-image image ...

MP: What do you think of bands like Marilyn Manson or Rammstein that emphasize their image?

Gert: There are lot more bands than just those bands who really emphasize on looks. About 95% work on their image - even when you think they don't even have one. I think Nirvana really worked on their look a lot. They had always the same jeans on and some strange T-shirts ... We thought about it when we made the shooting for "Almost Happy". We wanted to look the way we felt, so that's probabely an image, too. It's just funny - keeps us young.

MP: Do you like Manson?

Gert: No, I don't like his music - but I had a dream about him a couple of days ago - I don't know why - I think I did something wrong. He was in another room and the door was closed and I was trying to bang the door really hard but in a very strange way, because I did'nt just run to the door to crush it. I jumped in the air, kind of a ninja-way, and jumped three meters to the top of the door and I always landed on my feet again. It was impressing - I tried it in real but it didn't work.

MP: How is the situation in Belgium for young musicians who want to develop their own style?

Gert: Unfortunately it changed the last couple of years. There was a very good rock'n'roll-culture about five years ago. Bands like dEUS or us had a pretty good international response, so a lot of people and record companies were paying attention to what was happening in Belgium. They realized that some bands had a distinguished international sound but unlike other bands who came from Great Britain or the US. So at one point they really supported that but nowadays they again follow the US-tendancy: have a single, get airplay as soon as you can, get really big in a couple of weeks and what happens after that is not important because you already had a single that sold big time. There not much attention for musicians who still write albums ... I think that's something we have to live with for the rest of our careers.

MP: Do you support young bands?

Gert: We try to especially in the countries where we are big. It's always nice when you are in the position to bring bands you like on the road and give them a chance. That's basicially what Alanis Morissette did in the States for us. When she asked us to support her, we were just an obscure little belgium band. So it was pretty brave of her to take somebody like us and that's what we try to do whenever we have the opportunity.

MP: What do you think about Alanis Morissette?

Gert: I still like her music a lot. I met her and talked to her very very briefly but I don't really know what she is like as a woman. It was at the peak of her tour and it was very hectic for her, so I don't blame her for not having contact with anybody. People were just all over her - even backstage someone always accompanied her. When you're famous like that it must be pretty hard to be nice to people cause every five or six seconds someone comes up.

MP: Can you still go out in Belgium without a screaming crowds following you?

Gert: It's different for Sarah cause she has a more recognizable look, I look like the average belgium bloke, basicially. But even when you do get recognized they are not over you at all. Most of the time I don't even notice that someone recognizes me until a friend tells me. We are not that successful that it becomes annoying. It's probably the best not to get too famous ... or you have a lot of whigs and sunglasses at home (laughs).

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