Q&A With Berlin Dream Pop Artist Maximilian Hecker Ahead of May 13 Tango 3F Gig

The New York Times ranked his debut album alongside releases by megastars like Bob Dylan and Alicia Keys. He can count one of the Pet Shop Boys among his biggest fans. And he's worked with one of the promoters for Depeche Mode. Yes, Berlin-bred dream pop artist Maximilian Hecker has certainly had an interesting go of it thus far. And yet the most surprising aspect of his nearly 20-year-long career might be just how big his fanbase is in China, where he has played numerous times, has press agents specifically for the mainland and Taiwan, and which has helped him secure a headlining spot at Tango 3F.

Below, Hecker tells us about (to put a twist on an old adage) being big in China, securing famous fans, and more.

When you made your debut in 2001, The New York Times ranked you on their "best of the year" list alongside the likes of Bob Dylan and Alicia Keys. How did it feel to see that?
At that time, as a novice in the business, I was still naive and thought: “Well, that is how it’s supposed to be like now, isn’t it? And good music will get recognized, won’t it?” In other words, I didn’t really appreciate the incident at that time, which astounds me these days. However, what I found out later was that, curiously, the journalist who had raved about me in the The New York Times, turned out to be the Neill Strauss, one of the world’s most well-known and notorious "pick-up-artists" nicknamed Style [laughs].

That write-up went on to say "Mr. Hecker, by legend an oft-disparaged Berlin street musician, whispers the most precious and fragile heartbreak of them all." So what is it like to be an "oft-disparaged Berlin street musician?”
I don’t know why Neill Strauss speaks of me as being disparaged. But busking used to be, and still is for that matter, a hobby of mine. I started to do so in my hometown, Bünde, when I was a teenager, and I continued when I moved to Berlin in 1998. What I loved about busking back then was that I was able to create my own stage. I could be independent of the judgment of the music industry who would, if I did music professionally, always judge whether or not I was worthy of being on a stage. However, the busking never affected any of my songwriting.

What was it like to work with Depeche Mode and Erasure producer Gareth Jones on Rose? How did that benefit the project?
Gareth was the first real producer I have worked with. And what he always used to say, like a mantra, was that all that counts is my mood and "the vibe," hence neither our techniques nor the equipment had to be perfect, and that was very liberating. I love the slick sound he gave my album Rose, and I very much enjoyed his fun personality and spending time with him.

You've gone on numerous Asia tours over the years. How have your ties to Asia become so strong?
Just a thesis – I might be wrong though: I think that my music and East Asian pop music have quite a similar approach: It’s all about the longing to free oneself from restraints and about intense emotions. Emotions that, living in an East Asian patriarchal and stern environment, can almost only run free in dream worlds and art.

The more the narcissistic and individual needs are suppressed in everyday life, the more a necessity for a valve, a parallel universe becomes. This valve for emotions – particularly in East Asia – is art. Most East Asian movies, pop music and even the TV commercials are hyper-romantic and hyper-melodramatic and deal almost solely with man’s great longings, especially the longing for romantic love. The reason now that I can identify with all that so much – and vice versa – is that in my everyday life, too, I have a problem to really feel, as my stern, controlled, and rational everyday life character seems to suppress my emotions and to block the channel to my soul.

I love how my Chinese fans are open-minded, enthusiastic about my music, and proud to be fans, in general, whereas when I play in Europe, my audience is much more reserved. And, in the Western world, people kind of maintain a low profile and don’t really wanna show too many emotions and their fandom during concerts.

What are you working on next?
I have just finished recording my new album Wretched Love Songs, which will be released in China exclusively about one month before anywhere ales in the world. I suppose the record is very similar to my other albums sound-wise because I have never been interested in variety, only in intensifying my own emotions with the help of music. The topics, however – my inability to love, my wretched romantic experiences, and my partially difficult early childhood, which I sing about on Wretched Love Songs – could be seen as the core, the synthesis of my prior album’s lyrics.

Maximilian Hecker will perform at Tango 3F on May 13. For more information, click here.

Photos: Gimmicks