Tom Geldschläge aka Fountainhead, a Berlin-based metal guitarist and music producer paid a visit to Calcutta for Dethfest v3 at Five Mad Men, a metal gig organised by Soumick Chakraborty on June 17. Currently operating from his studio in Berlin, Germany, Tom is pursuing solo acts across the globe. He’s toured with artistes like Marco Minnemann, Defeated Sanity, Jimmy Pitts, Xell, Hannes Grossmann, Amogh Symphony and Nader Sadek. He’s got several accolades to his name, being the lead guitarist to internationally acclaimed band Obscura’s Akroasis album and his contributions to the 15-minute epic Weltseele are some of them. Fountainhead is considered to be one of the modern-day guitar legends and when he plays, it seems like he’s transcended from the world, leaving behind his audience in awe! His fearless use of fretless guitars and unique playing style makes him one of the most enigmatic metal artistes, who began his solo career in 2013. He’s all set to drop his new eight-track album Changeling and t2 got into a candid chat with him on June 17 afternoon. Here’s what he had to say...
So nice to see you, Tom! Could you share your thoughts on being able to tour India?
It feels brilliant as it is one of my favourite countries and I’ve stayed here before. So, it goes back to me waking up one morning and going, ‘Hey I want to be back in India. What can I do to make it happen and be back on tour’... and here we are after a few weeks, all geared up to tour different parts of India. So yes, it feels great to be back!
You’re also on tour to promote your upcoming album Changeling! Tell us a little about it…
This tour is also a bit about recycling. I’m on tour to test out the new music and I’ll be playing that in India to test out the audience’s reactions to it. There is no specific release date yet, but I know it’ll be out as soon as possible, once I’m done negotiating the label release. I simply can’t wait to share the music and this tour is to check how the audience feels about my new music.
What is the concept behind your new album Changeling?
(Smiles) It is interesting that you ask because it is a concept album. There is a loose narrative lyrically about the psychedelic experience. It is about a character undergoing a spiritual and emotional transformation.
Has it got anything to do with your personal experience?
(Bursts out laughing) Absolutely not! Well, I’ve been working with one of my favourite artistes, Florian Magnus Maier also known as Morean (lyricist and vocalist of bands like Dark Fortress, Alkaloid and Noneuclid), so we developed the concept together and he had a lot of freedom to make the lyrics happen. So you can say, the lyrics are an outcome of the way we can see and perceive the world and we both were extremely happy to collaborate.
The album took three years to be conceptualised and executed. So why do you think it took so long to make it?
Collaborating with another artiste and navigating through all of that took time. The production was the most expensive one that I’ve ever done in my career so far. Everything is recorded and I had to go to the church to record the choir. So, all those different things took time to organise, arrange and execute. They were all very happy to have the freedom of expression in the new album and had no limits on how much they can express and communicate.
What kind of metal do you play? What’s special about it? I’m very happy to play metal-inspired music but I’m not a fan of categorisation of the same as I feel, it is limiting. I think I have done all the sub-genres in one capacity or the other. Changeling is based on the technical death metal sub-genre as we call it!
Any words of wisdom for upcoming bands to keep metal alive?
I’m not sure if I can share words of wisdom necessarily. If I wouldn’t be naïve and romantic to a large degree I wouldn’t be here. So, never losing your essence is the key to going forward. Being outside the confines of what’s considered possible or realistic can make one’s art flourish. Another point is, keeping negativity at bay and disengaging oneself from it is the way to make better art!
What apart from music interests you?
I’m really interested in psychology and reading about it!