I have to ask: how did you start playing together? You are from 3 different countries: Poland, Greece and Germany. You are right, we are from 3 different countries, however, we are - except for Markuz, who represents the German part children of immigrants with origins in Greece and Poland. Janni and myself were born in Germany, Christoph and Chris came to Germany in a very young age. So, to answer the question, we were friends - with different origins - in Germany before we started Tri State Corner. How did it come about that you were asked to open for Nazareth? Well, this was hard work and luck at the same time. We’ve been fans of Nazareth for many years. These guys are rock history and when we got the chance to support Nazareth, we were all very happy and proud at the same time. I’m sure you tried to imagine how it would be to play before a legendary band like that – which of those suppositions proved true and which did not? Well, we did not expect that such a famous band like Nazareth would be so kind, friendly and helpful, I mean the complete Nazareth Team - the band members as well as their crew. We had a lot of experience with other bands on a more medium niveau, who were pretty much arrogant and not that friendly.
If we were to reverse the situation and you would be the big rock stars, who would you invite to tour with you as a support? We would do it the same way - allow a band to play and also check their professionalism and behaviour - is the band organized, is the band really working hard, is the band disciplined, is the band able to prepare the audience for the main? Even if you are „only” a support band, you have to be as professional as possible and able to attract the audience. If the support is bad, it will create a negative atmosphere for the main act as well. ’m sure you listen to a lot of music so you probably are big fans of certain bands or musicians. Who would you agree to support on tour without any hesitation? Would each of you say the same or do you have different favorites? We have all different and common favorites. Generally, we would support every big band as we would be able to learn from each of them. There a couple, Pearl Jam, 3 Doors Down, Dream Theater, Firewind, Creed but also Journey, AC/DC, Metallica everybody :-) I can imagine that touring with such a legendary band, that has played for more than 40 years, is a truly valuable experience. What did you learn from Nazareth or other big bands you toured with? We learned a lot and we could write a book about it. Here is some of the experience... Be honest, authentic, kind, disciplined and grateful, work always hard and as a team and have respect for the team and, of course, for the audience.
Bands that play as a support act, especially when they are young and inexperienced, are often doomed from the moment they go on stage and have hard time getting any attention. Do you remember your first steps on stage? Well, we never had the feeling that the audience does not like what we are doing, we were sometime not sure, if the audien-
ce is the right one for our music.
We are convinced that we will not miss the attention of the majority of the audience - cause we play what we feel and we think this is the most authentic way to express our music... The main stars of an event expect that the support act will warm up the audience and help them get into the right mood. You, as a band, would like to present yoursel-ves the best way you can. Do you think you succeeded in fulfilling both your and the main star’s needs and expectations? Yes, absolutely - we are sure that we reached both, warmed up the audience and presented ourselves. You were there, what is you feeling - are we right in what we are thinking?! Of course, otherwise we would not have remembered you. Have you already had a chance to see how the big live productions look like behind the stage? We did big live productions and we know how it works.
What did you like the most about this tour? Performing on stage, the before and after show, the Polish people, the Clubs - simply everything!
What do you think are the chances for young bands to make it big nowadays? Is it possible to break through with the competition of so many young bands around? We think it is possible by continuing with hard work and never giving up - as it is in life. You need also to be lucky at a certain point and find people that understand your work. Since a couple of years and based on the way the music industry works, most of the labels have been focusing on quick wins and the result is that if you hear about a new band, you can categorize this band very quickly and compare it to a band that already exists. So, most of the music sounds somehow the same, ‚cause people would buy this music and the industry would be able to make their needed turnover. There are very limited promoters who are not frightened to promote something new, something that did not exists until now, something very special, but catchy....
By the way, the thing we said here was confirmed a couple of times by big labels, so it is not only our way of thinking...
Obviously, the big bands have got their own technical crew. Supports, especially young bands, usually can’t afford that. What is the best way to get ready for a perfect show as a support act? We do have our crew as well and this crew is a professional crew touring with big bands when we are not on tour with Tri State Corner! TSC is a family not a simple band, and everybody is working with the same intention to get things done. Any advice for other bands on how to survive a tour being a support act? Be helpful, grateful, honest and disciplined! Thank you for the interview and see you in the future during your shows.
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