"Krone" interview

Herre & Denalane: 25 years of love poured into music

Max Herre & Joy Denalane: A quarter of a century together. With a few lows, but even more highs.

(Bild: Oliver Helbig)

Joy Denalane defined soul in the German-speaking world, Max Herre defined hip-hop. As a couple, they went through all the highs and lows for 25 years. Now the children are out of the house and they were able to work on their joint album "Alles Liebe", which they will bring back to the Vienna Arena in summer 2025. The "Krone" spoke to the two of them about a quarter of a century of togetherness.

"Krone": Max, Joy - your joint album "Alles Liebe" has a beautiful, warm, analog, pleasant sound. Does the album strive in a positive way against all the bad things happening in the world right now?
Max Herre: Oh, there's always something happening in the world. At the moment, everything is so close to us that we have the feeling that we have to put our own house in order. In and of itself, the turmoil in the world is always very loud.
Joy Denalane: We've always made analog-sounding albums, that's a bit of our world. We were socialized to soul music and the early hip-hop albums are also deliberately kept very warm. If you want to see "Alles Liebe" as a kind of figurative warmth against the social cold, then you can leave it at that.

"Krone": The album isn't just about your love, which has experienced all kinds of ups and downs over 25 years. You had been planning to release an album like this together for some time, but had to wait until your children grew up. Aren't you afraid of opening up old wounds with a project like this if you don't leave out the negative aspects?
Herre: Honesty is our daily medicine. We've negotiated a lot, which means we can name the cracks in the foundation and sing openly about things. A lot of things happened many years ago and you look at them with an interested, sober eye. When you get into the topics, it can get emotional, but I don't think anything can really throw us off track again.
Denalane: I find that healing in a way. As an artist, it's an advantage that you can deal with texts that deal with your own life and with which you can analyze yourself. To really listen again and go back and think: "Okay, what was going on there?" And to gain a bigger picture of yourself from this. Perhaps also because you approach yourself so analytically. I find that really exciting. I really enjoy going where it hurts.
Herre: But there are also phases where you write lyrics about a topic and then get into a kind of running text and have to dig into yourself a bit to really get to where it's not always pleasant. It's about making the song as honest and open as possible.

"Krone": Did you know or hope from the outset that you would be able to express all these shared experiences well musically?
Denalane : There are a few duet albums in the history of music. In soul, of course, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway or Roberta Flack - but then the list is already over. And now? In hip-hop and R&B, there were mainly individual songs in the 90s, until the Carters got going, but most of them came from Beyoncé and they continued to work from this base. For us, that means it was an experiment and we went into the studio for the first time in January 2024 to decide on a route. To see if we could get two or three songs together. When we had nine good sketches for songs after three days, we knew that we could pursue this and that it would also work on an album. We have enough to tell and enough fun doing it.

"Krone": At some point, an album is full and finished. Yours is already very lush anyway, but did you still have to leave a lot out?
Herre : We still have a lot of sketches lying around that are really good. There's still enough material ...
Denalane : In the broad thematic blocks that define us, everything is on the album. We also finished it because it made sense at some point. We discussed many aspects, but also chose from 45-50 song sketches. There's still a lot left.

"Krone": So a second Max & Joy album is realistic?
Herre : The possibility for a sequel is there, but it's definitely the wrong time to ask that, because after an album is finished you always say you'll never make another one. (laughs) What's more, we're in a time when many musicians tend to go from song to song and then release compilations at some point. But we are classic album artists. We don't just think in terms of album concepts, but also in terms of A, B, C and D sides, just like with records. That's why we're happy that we've delivered this. We'll see what happens next.

"Krone": Did you really work out the album completely together, or did everyone work on it separately and then everything was linked together? We all know that memories sometimes come to a head ...
Denalane: I would say it happened in very different ways. We worked together during the studio sessions and the first ideas for the lyrics, which can then be found fully developed on the album, but we also started to separate certain processes. Lyrics are not necessarily our joint strength and Max and I withdrew a little from that. But people like Tom Thaler were actively involved in writing and developed a great dynamic - especially Tom and Max. When it was more about rap, it was okay for me to pull myself out of it.
Herre: We developed the music, melody and lyrics very spontaneously together. That was great fun. Above all, it wasn't done with the expectation that everything would remain the same in the end. We came into the studio with very concrete sketches, which really helped us to build up the songs. With "Vor unserer Tür", the top lines and the melodies really came together very quickly. It's clear that a song like that takes a few more weeks and requires some fine-tuning of the lyrics, but that was perhaps a good example of how we managed to get a lot done intuitively in the sessions.

"Krone": Has working on this album consolidated your shared history or reminded you once again of everything that has happened and shaped you in this quarter of a century together?
Herre: I think our relationship is just so solid. It was just interesting to look back on the trip and recall certain situations or emotions.
Denalane: It was emotional. The relationship has even gained an additional aspect. Over the last 25 years, we've been hard on ourselves at times and have experienced a lot, especially musically. In the beginning, we fought a lot with producers and created more friction. "Alles Liebe" was the most harmonious collaboration we've ever had. That's because we are very confident with each other in what we can and do. We know where our priorities lie and where it's fun to discover new spaces. In this respect, this album production was a nice phase.

"Krone": In a quarter of a century, the world changes and you change yourself. Everyone gets older and more mature, sometimes also more immature. How have you developed together? Musically and personally?
Herre: I think musically we are always evolving. The great thing about making music is the lifelong learning. The records normally get better and you keep getting better yourself. You get closer and closer to what you want to express. It's hard to say how we've developed personally. We are who we are. It's amazing for both of us to see that we have grown-up sons and that we now feel the way we feel. We are young musicians who are out there and want to go on tour and make records. But for the first time we're doing all this without a parenting job because the kids are out of the house. It's a new phase of life that I'm enjoying and that amazes me.
Denalane: We certainly listen to each other better and can give each other much more space. We know where to leave each other alone. It's great to be able to say after 25 years that I still have so many moments in love with my husband. We didn't know 25 years ago that it would be so beautiful and feel so good 25 years later. Don't you think that's great too
Herre: Absolutely, actually.
Denalane : We recently got on the tour bus and there are some incredibly narrow beds. We each have one, but I lay down in the bunk with him in the morning and cuddled up. We whispered while the others slept around us. I find moments like that amazing. It makes me realize what a gift it still is after 25 years.

"Krone": This closeness is astonishing in a personal and musical sense.
Herre : You can't separate the two, because we got to know and love each other as musicians. Music has always been a central motif in our lives and we have always defined ourselves by it. It's also a great privilege that we're allowed to do it this way. We're still searching and we'll be surprised where the amplitude takes us. What are we passionate about? What do we want to experience? What do we want to do? Who do we want to do it with? These thoughts are nice and also promote our relationship.

"Krone": How do your children deal with their parents' album?
Herre: I think they are much more objective than you might imagine. They listen to the music and then evaluate it. Every now and then there's a question or a query about the content, but we talk more about the musical aspects. It's also fun because they're both into music. One of them has become a musician himself, the other is also very knowledgeable. They don't know any different than having parents who tell their stories and negotiate their lives in the form of songs.
Denalane: Some songs they think are very cool, others didn't end up on the album because they didn't pass quality control. (laughs) They are very direct in their feedback, but that is also desirable because it helps us.

"Krone": You don't know the counter-example, but when you spend your life in the spotlight as a couple, it's not always easy, is it? Do you have to give up a lot of things that are important to you?
Herre: You just have to protect yourself, but all celebrity couples have to do that and we've done it from the start. We come from the "MTV" and "VIVA" generation and were really everywhere. We realized relatively early on that we wanted to make music together and be on stage, but not in the spotlight. As a private couple, we never wanted to be in the public eye and didn't go to galas or walk the red carpet. That was a conscious decision. When we gave interviews together, it was always primarily about our work and the music. Regardless of that, we never sought the limelight.

"Krone": In the past, you had to divide your work between raising your children. One was at home, the other was creative. Conversely, that also means that you had to push your creativity because the time constraints were very tight.
Herre: Yes, but I also see that as normal. Every author will tell you that they get up and then sit in the office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. writing their book. Sure, you have to be very well organized, but it's not much different for others.
Denalane: I think you urgently need to create islands where you can experiment. If you don't do that, nothing will come of it. But we always had a good path and never had any problems with this division.
Herre: We had to learn that very early on. We became parents very quickly into our relationship and immediately realized that we wanted to put our heart and soul into it - you have to organize yourself well for that - then the division quickly became clear. One takes care of the album, the other takes care of the family.
Denalane: We have very different biorhythms, but we have one thing in common: we don't create the good stuff between 11.30 pm and 4 am.

"Krone": It's important that this applies to both of us.
Denalane: There are artists who can only work. That would be completely contrary to family life and not feasible. That was never the case with us.

"Krone": Is an important insight from 25 years of relationship that it is perhaps good not to have everything together?
Herre : We are also very different and it's clear that we have our own spaces and areas for ourselves. For example, I used to go away for a few weeks at a time to write lyrics in peace and let myself go. I also really enjoy it when Joy is home alone. Space is certainly essential for us.

Once again live in Vienna
After the successful concert in the Vienna Arena, Max Herre and Joy Denalane aka Max & Joy will also be coming to us in summer 2025 with their album "Alles Liebe". On July 20, they will play an open-air concert in the Vienna Arena. Tickets and all further information are available at www.oeticket.com