Vans Warped Tour, the longest running tour in the United States is making its way to Houston on Friday, June 13, kicking off another summer of madness. Last year, the festival brought loads of crowd-surfing, shout-a-long fans and an insane line-up featuring names likes Forever the Sickest Kids, We Came As Romans, Sleeping with Sirens, and Never Shout Never, and it’s back. That’s right. The all-day music bash that invades cities all over the map is back for another rock-out summer.
This year’s line-up includes a heavy bunch from the Fearless roster, including Mayday Parade, Breathe Carolina, The Summer Set, Real Friends and Ice Nine Kills, as well as imports all the way from Germany – the Bad Frankenhausen-based electronic duo Captain Capa. The pair had the pleasure of playing the fest two years ago, and had such a blast they decided to return for a second serving of Warped Tour craziness.
We got the chance to chat with one-half of Captain Capa, Hannes, to talk about the duo’s first Warped Tour experience, symbolism of their new album FOXES, music festivals in Germany and more! Hannes also hit us with a burden of bad news.
Check out our interview with Captain Capa below and be sure to check out the band’s super groovy FOXES album!
Who are the two cool dudes in Captain Capa and what are their roles in the group?
Haha. I don’t know about these cool strangers, but usually Captain Capa would be me, Hannes, and my friend Maik. I’m the singer and writer of the band, I come up with most of the songs and start shaping them. Maik plays the guitar and some synths on stage and jumps into production to work out the songs in detail.
What’s the story behind the name Captain Capa?
When we started this band we had some kind of electronic space-opera in mind and wanted a name that sounded like that. We wanted to name ourselves like some sort of spaceship captain. Today we couldn’t be further away from the space-opera but we still dig the name. No shame!
When did the band form?
We started with a single shitty sequencer in 2007, two years later things got serious.
What made you guys decide to play the style of music you do?
We always wanted to combine everything we loved about music – big melodies, easy accessibility, but a little rough around the edges. Captain Capa is the essence of our early alt-rock-loving souls and our later experiences in the world of electronic club music.
A lot of your songs are up-tempo and high-energy. Does this directly reflect your personalities?
Sort of, yeah! We’re both very outgoing, outspoken and energetic people, although not in the way some might imagine. We’re not very sporty and a little nerdy, to be honest, but we can talk non-stop at parties and set ourselves on fire on stage.
Tell me about touring on Warped. You played the fest two years ago. How was it? It seems like a really fun experience.
It’s definitely a fun experience, but it’s also pretty exhausting, if you’re new to it. It’s such a rare thing for a German band to join one of the craziest tours on earth. We’re usually playing club-shows all through the year and festival-shows on summer-weekends. But Warped is something completely different – it means spending a sweaty, dirty summer in a parallel-universe million miles away from home full of rock bands. Some say it’s the bootcamp of touring and in some aspect I think that might be right. But of course, it’s absolutely stunning and so much fun.
What made you want to play the festival again? Your last visit inspired an album. Are you looking to create a follow-up to your last masterpiece?
We don’t have a certain goal in mind but we’re sure the inspiration for new songs will come to us on tour, of course. We had so much fun in those weeks back in 2012 that we really wanted to go back and experience the whole deal.
What stage are you playing this year?
That would be the Beatport stage, the stage for electronic driven acts and EDM artists.
What gets you guys pumped before a show? Do you have any pre-show rituals?
We don’t have certain rituals. Usually we take one or two shots of Jägermeister or something similar to ease up the mood, but our shows at Warped will mostly be kind of early in the day so that might not be a great idea, haha.
What can fans expect to hear from you guys on the tour? Will there be any surprises? Will you be playing anything new?
We released our album Foxes between our two Warped appearances, so we’ll be playing a lot from that record that the US crowds haven’t heard before.
How would you describe your live performance?
It’s very rough and energetic, we want to spread a “band-vibe” without having an actual band. We want to be on the same level with the audience and make them feel the same for our songs as we do, we want to truly connect with them.
You released your FOXES album last year. How does FOXES differ from your previous albums?
Well on our first record Tonight Is The Constant we were kind of playing around with different styles, we didn’t really know what we wanted to be back then. On our second album Saved My Life we shaped the band we are today, it felt like the first proper album and we’re still very proud of it. So now that we pinned down our very own style and were able to show everyone what Captain Capa is about, we took it a step further on Foxes. We dared to experiment and to try out more stuff. Initially through our experiences on tour and in our lifes in general, Foxes became a lot darker than our previous records.
Why did you choose FOXES as the album title? What does the title mean and what does it say about the songs?
The fox became some kind of symbol for our record. In Germany sometimes you say “Smart as a fox!” or “Ha, you fox, you!” if someone did something remotely intelligent. Haha. So when we started to take animals as a metaphor for human beings in the song “Foxes” the fox stood out as the secret hero of the night. Then we found a stuffed fox at a friends house to top it all and the deal was sealed, it had to be “Foxes.”
Can fans expect new material from you guys anytime soon? Any new songs or videos being released this year?
We’re expecting to come back from Warped with loads of inspiration and ideas, so we’re going to work on new material as soon as we’re back. Maybe we can build a few beats here and there in between shows during Warped.
What activities does your pre-Warped Tour schedule consist of? Are you guys partying, resting, practicing, recording?
We took a few months off after our last tour in winter to prepare for Warped, but played a few festival shows in summer to get back into the game. Aside from that we worked on some other projects, started writing short stories and planned ahead for whatever might come later this year.
What are you looking forward to most on this year’s Warped?
The whole atmosphere of being among a thousand creative human beings, all locked up in the parallel universe that is Warped. Also we’re looking forward to the BBQs, haha. And I can’t wait to see Falling In Reverse live again. Honestly, their new album is just SO entertaining! I need to see them.
What are you looking forward to the least?
The heat will crush us, obviously. And I’m already afraid of not being able to shower for days. But we’ll get used to it.
Are you ready to rock the stage in Houston on Friday?
We were so ready, I tell you. Unfortunately just yesterday we were told that our visas won’t be there in time to play the show in Houston. We’re so sad about it as we missed out on Texas, last time, too. We’re so sorry and really upset. But we’ll get there one day, I promise!
How do festivals in Germany compare to Warped Tour?
Festivals in Germany are a completely different thing. Everytime we talk about Warped at home everyone is just shocked and like “What!? It’s a festival that travels every day!? With so many stages!? How does that work? What magic is this!?” Germany has a very broad variety of festivals, small or huge, for every kind of music. Honestly, there are so many of them. But they all take a few days, they are set up early in advance and they don’t have that many stages.
I was looking up music festivals in Germany and came across names like Hurricane Festival, Southside Festival, Das Fest, Open Source, Highfield Festival, Summer Breeze, and Melt! Festival. Have you performed any of these?
We’ve been to some of these, but not as a band. We had some crazy festival-summers where we played 3 festivals a week – the biggest ones must have been Sputnik Spring Break, Deichbrand or Sonne Mond Sterne. It’s always great to hang around in the sun, meet your friends and fellow artists and play a show in front of crazy festival audiences. But the ones in your list are mostly very big rock-based festivals, but maybe we’ll get there in 2015.
Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and SXSW are the big fests here in the states. What is the most popular fest in Germany? Have you played it? If so, what was that experience like? Have you attended it? If so, what was that experience like
I’d say the biggest festivals in Germany are Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, it’s kind of a twin-festival. But it never appealed to us as a band as it is a rock-driven festival for huge masses of people – it’s horribly huge, really. I just can’t see myself in the audience and I don’t think we’d fit into their line-up that well. But never say never!
Is there anything else you would like readers to know about Captain Capa?
Yeah, come around at Warped and shake some hands with us! We can’t wait to get to know as many of you as possible. We don’t bite! Have a great summer.
Vans Warped Tour unpacks at Houston’s newly-named NRG Park tomorrow for its first date. Sadly, due to visa issues, Captain Capa won’t be performing the event. What other bands are you itching to see live? Let us know.
