"Krone" interview

Fendrich: “I’m very afraid for our democracy”

Singer-songwriter with a socio-political conscience: Rainhard Fendrich.

(Bild: Marcel Brell)

He celebrates his 70th birthday at the end of February, and Austropop legend Rainhard Fendrich will be celebrating his 45th stage anniversary in 2025 with his new album "Wimpernschlag". The singer-songwriter tells the "Krone" in a big interview why hate is perverse, why he is interested in people and not politics and what he has learned in almost five decades of his career.

"Krone": Mr. Fendrich, 2025 is your anniversary year. The new album "Wimpernschlag", 70th birthday, 45th stage anniversary ...
Rainhard Fendrich: I'm totally grateful, but also more nervous than ever because the tour is selling really well. It's a bit like a school assignment, because the expectations are so high. I'm doing my best to live up to these expectations.

Can an upcoming tour really throw you off track after such a long time?
This year is different. A sold-out tour where I perform twice in the Wiener Stadthalle or twice in Salzburg is something completely different. I also spend a lot of time thinking about my old work beforehand. People always say to me: "Why don't you write something funny again and not always something political", but that's not actually true. The hits then became songs like "Schickeria", but I've always thought in a certain direction. I was once criticized by the journalist Heinz Sichrovsky: "Rainhard Fendrich doesn't know how to take aim at the problems of our time with intellectual acuity". That hit home and I've remembered it to this day. When I started out, it was the heyday of singer-songwriters like Konstantin Wecker or André Heller - that's where I wanted to be. But bad reviews always got me further than pats on the back.

There has always been criticism of political singer-songwriters, but social media platforms have made it possible for everyone to be read and heard in public for some time now. Does this make criticism of a person like you more noticeable than it used to be?
Social media really is a phenomenon in its own right and I can still remember when it first emerged. Sociologists and philosophers said that it would make the world a better place - today we know that the exact opposite is the case. This form of high-speed communication has made us more anxious and aggressive. We immediately point the finger at others and judge. I'm not talking about hate posts, but about all the superfluous and unnecessary things we do just to get noticed. The anonymity gives it a sniper mentality. I'm not on social media at all in my private life, I long for silence. I call my friends or send a quick WhatsApp message. Professionally, however, I can no longer do without it. On the ARD morning show, a youth researcher recently said that 80% of first-time voters get their political education from social media. And who is strong and active there? Right-wing populist parties. I don't understand why everyone else has missed this boat.

Social media then also form the so-called "bubble". People only move in their own fields of interest and ignore the world around them.
The algorithm is the biggest bugbear. Fortunately, I have a team that posts something at regular intervals; I'm scared of it myself. As a result, it's no longer about whether something is good or bad, but only about perception and presence. I'm not interested in politics either, but in people and life. I would like to have a party that I trust and where I can lean back and trust. Unfortunately, that's not the case. But I also don't believe that politics is to blame for everything that happens in the world. However, many parties have not moved out of their comfort zone and have slept through fears, cracks and developments in society. There are some who see Putin as a reliable partner because we have always received cheap gas from there. And the Ukrainians are supposed to be the bad guys? Hello, that's unbelievable.

"Wladimir" was the first song from your new album "Wimpernschlag" that you performed live last year.
I had to do that. It upsets me immensely that Putin is becoming more and more socially acceptable and how he is being treated. My childhood was in the tradition of Helmut Qualtinger or Georg Kreisler - humor is a weapon and not offensive. In the song, I try to take the pants off a narcissist in his vanity - nothing more. The radio stations in the federal states tell me that they like the song but can't play it. It would often be too dangerous for them. So that's how far we've come. You can't win elections with democracy these days, but once it's gone, freedom of expression is the first thing to die. Many of my colleagues in the theater no longer say anything because they fear the next shitstorm. At the "100 Years of Radio" event, I played my song "Rattenfänger", which is 30 years old - I was threatened for it. "We know where you live. We'll set your house on fire. You left-wing bazilla." If you confront people with a different political attitude to your own like that, then I don't know what else to do.

What can you achieve as an artist and public figure?
I have no idea how we can break through all this. It sounds so banal, but we have to stop hurting each other. If you want to change something in this world, start with yourself. I told a Buddhist monk that the problem with the Western world is that we hate too much. He explained it to me metaphorically, that it's like a liquid. When you pour out the hate, there's always a little bit left in the glass. For me, hate is one of the most perverse forms of self-gratification. Just like in domestic politics: you can't berate a potential coalition partner before they are one. I don't understand that.

Do you sometimes get the feeling in Austria that people prefer the other side to be worse off than themselves?
Somehow yes. You have to be able to do something about it. Stand up against this resentment. It's a terrible development.

Despite everything, you have become much more serious in your songs in recent years. You've become even more politically outspoken both inside and outside your songs.
I used to be very cheeky and have become a bit more cautious today. Of course, I have a certain amount of life experience and see the world from my perspective, but I can only ask questions - I don't have any answers. My favorite book is "Maturity makes you younger" by Hermann Hesse. That's true, because at least you become more level-headed and have a different perspective on things. Some people go into old age, others try to open their horizons further. I try to belong to the second group.

In terms of your music, does that mean you write a song with a social rather than a political intention?
I don't choose the topics, the topics find me. The basic prerequisites for a songwriter are curiosity and alertness. I often notice things that others don't notice and then I pour them into my form of expression. I don't want to spread a message and I'm not someone who knows where to go. But I do think about things and this results in songs in which I ask myself questions. The fact that things are going off the rails politically is unpleasant for all of us. Art has to stir things up. It has to provoke, otherwise it loses its raison d'être. I have nothing against après-ski and pop songs, but I don't make music for fun. One is an entertainment machine, the other is art. Even in the McCarthy era in the USA, there was a time when artists didn't get any work. But as an artist you also have to put up with something. It must always be possible to treat someone with a different opinion with a minimum of respect. My father always said that if your opponent insults you in a factual discussion, you can assume that he is not right because he has run out of arguments. Politicians shouldn't be surprised that no one trusts them anymore if the tone is subterranean and it feels like some of them sit on committees of inquiry more often than in parliament. The coalition negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS have collapsed, but do we know why?

There are three truths. One for each party.
But none of them say anything concrete. As a voter, I want to know where I stand and the truth can't be that bad. On the other hand, if the ÖVP and the FPÖ have so much in common, why are there two parties at all? My mother is Sudeten German. So I know what it means to have to leave your homeland. She was broken all her life. When I hear sayings today like "justice must follow politics", it makes me feel very different. You have to let that sink in. What is Fortress Austria supposed to be? A wall around a landlocked country? Mr. Kickl was dismissed as Interior Minister because he was a security risk. I have a picture of him grazing with his horses. But if you get on a high horse, you should also be able to ride it.

With all the upheavals in the world, do you sometimes have to be careful not to write your songs with too much anger? Do your lyrics come out unfiltered, or do you often go over the top again?
I can only ever represent one direction and I'm not someone who appeases. I don't claim to be right about everything I say, but I always think very carefully about what I think and say. I'm the last person who can't be convinced otherwise when it's been argued. You hear surprisingly little howls of victory from Kickl and he is actually behaving moderately. Perhaps power will bring about a turnaround and he will give a wonderful speech in the EU Parliament - but the likelihood of this happening is not very high. The rise of the right-wing populists is also happening because they are right about many things and the established parties are making it easy for them. But the right-wing populists are just putting their finger in the wound, they don't have a band-aid. I can't imagine how Austria, which is in the middle of Europe, could be isolated. I'm not saying that FPÖ voters are all stupid or that a third of Austrians are Nazis. People may be right-wing conservatives, but they are not Nazis. I also vehemently defend this viewpoint abroad. But I am shocked that a right-wing electorate is so naive as to not recognize the consequences. The shift to the right actually came from the established parties - and across Europe.

You start your album with the song "Wir sind am Leben" (We are alive), which has a positive tenor in the narrative. Was this approach important to you?
The song is admittedly naive, but I want to remain naive and hold on to the principle of hope as long as there are still people who open their mouths. I don't just mean me, there are many more intelligent and educated people. I live here as a responsible citizen and say what I think. Sometimes I may be right, but I'm not the one pointing the finger. Even if everything speaks against it, I want to believe that times will get better again. Let's stop believing in it, then everything will be fine anyway. Thank God there is also a silent majority that is slowly waking up. But I don't have a solution myself. Times are dark, and now there's also the fear of war. Ever since I heard Trump's speech on Greenland, I've been thinking that the Third World War is coming. The Chinese won't put up with that. The Greenlanders aren't happy with the Danes either, but everything has settled down. True to the motto "Canada is in between, we'll take it right away", Trump is now planning imperialist campaigns of conquest that will bring a major war closer.

What would you say to Vladimir Putin?
"Watch out, we're the same age. What is your goal? Do you want to be the 100-year-old who jumps out of the window to become tsar? You have everything, don't you? What else do you want?" I don't understand any of this. Trump's speeches, on the other hand, remind me strongly of those of Benito Mussolini. I have the feeling that the whole of humanity is being held hostage by a handful of narcissists. How did it get this far in the first place? Why does Herbert Kickl have to call himself the people's chancellor? Am I being oversensitive or is this pure coquetry with power fantasies? Do we really have to say that today? I'm really worried about our freedom and democracy. Fortunately, I'm no longer young, but I would like to see more young artists speak out and get involved.

But despite everything, do you see it as your responsibility to speak out and fight back?
But not because I am a well-known face and a singer-songwriter. I can't help it and would do the same if I had a different job. It's just that not so many people listen. Sometimes I think to myself that I should write something funny, but that's difficult. Then suddenly I'm standing in the rain, calling a cab and I hear a melody on my cell phone, terrible music - the song "Warteschleife" was born out of that. Sometimes you have to face the madness of everyday life with humor. But singing something funny today is a real challenge. A pop singer has it easy, it's always about love in all its facets, but unfortunately that's not my profession.

Isn't music a bit like movies? That the comedy or the funny is the supreme discipline?
But in theater it's tragedy. I see myself more in the theater genre, because contemporary plays are all extremely critical. When I go to the theater, I want it to have a lasting effect. That's what I want when the audience hears my songs. When I share my thoughts with people, I want it to be interactive. That's why Spotify is poison for my music. Sure, with Taylor Swift it's all about a good hook line and you're in the song after ten seconds, but if you rip out a sentence with me, the whole story is no longer right. I'm more of a storyteller than a musician, so I'm often closer to theater than music. A song always works when it only works with the guitar.

There are also many moments of self-awareness on "Wimpernschlag". For example in the song "Hoit mi", which is about the dichotomy between being together and the desire for moments of being alone. Did you revisit and reflect on your past for the album? Perhaps also analyzed it?
Of course I've made mistakes, but all in all I'm a very happy person. My son Lucas is also talented, he sings much better than I do and makes great music. He has everything he needs to be successful in this profession and I hope that he meets the right people at the right time and recognizes opportunities as such. I was very lucky and was often in the right place at the right time and with the right people. I had a nose for what was important and was always there. I'm at the front of the stage, but without my band I'm nothing. The others know that too and that feeling is very important. These are things you learn in the course of an artist's life. But I don't browse through photo albums from the past. Cars used to be less safe, medical care wasn't as developed and education was more brutal. What worries me today is just the turn in a direction that threatens our freedom. That's scary.

The cover artwork of the album shows you in the present and at a young age. Do you want to close the circle of your life with this visualization?
Originally I wanted to look at myself from both sides, but we couldn't manage that for graphic reasons. With the two faces, however, I now stand by my age and my experience. I am the way I am and will never let myself be lifted. At some class reunions, I don't even recognize some women anymore, but I stand by the wrinkles and circles under my eyes. Of course you're more beautiful when you're younger than when you're older, but you can have a radiance when you're older that you didn't have when you were younger. Every age has its quality, no matter how cheesy it sounds. I no longer have the stress of constantly feeling like I'm missing out on something. People all want to have their peace and quiet and many are on the verge of burn-out due to social stress. Fortunately, I don't have that feeling, I'm my own metronome.

"Little Happiness" is a bit of a reflection of everything you're telling me here. Did you often have to remind yourself that the little things in everyday life and the special moments have the greatest value in the end?
My grandfather, who was expelled from his homeland, always said that it is better to be rich than poor. But it is a different form of wealth, because materially rich people must constantly live with the fear of possibly losing this wealth. "Little happiness" has its origins in my grandfather. He used to go to the Heurigen and take the streetcar out to Nussdorf when I was maybe five years old. He knew all the Viennese songs and played with the musicians there and had a drink. The Wienerlied is melancholy and sad, but never despairing. The Wienerlied style crops up again and again in my songs, but not in the Heinz Conrads direction, but in a different way. The Wienerlied is our blues. I see a lot of people who are 80 or 90, they have gray hair but are happy, they hold hands and are happy. I always ask myself what they have experienced. The whole world is all about money and profit, resources and trade routes. But I admit that the quality of life increases with increasing prosperity.

Do you have to gain experience in life to see things from this perspective? Have you only come to understand what really counts in life over the years?
Definitely. I'm a wealthy man today, but the most uninhibited moments were back then in the two-man tent in Jesolo. I had no prospects back then and was fully into being. We had little money, but we had the best summer. As you get older, your responsibilities increase and you get a different perspective on life. I never wanted to become an artist to be an artist, but because I actually wanted to be rich. I once said in an interview that I was like Robert Mitchum, who became an actor for the same reason. I always had the least money and that's why I wanted to have money. You could see through the bottom of the floor panel of my old Fiat 500, but I was in Sicily with it. I've had many cars in my life, but that was the best one I've ever had. I didn't get a shilling of pocket money from my father. Fortunately, I stopped studying because I had no money. At first I just wanted to earn money and then I realized that being a musician was a really great profession. Others go to the Reinhardt Seminar or have vocal training and I slipped into it by a blessing. I still remember well when I was in Greece, leafing through an old "Kronen Zeitung" and reading that "Strada del Sole" had gone to number one in Austria. Then I bought myself a bottle of ouzo and started celebrating. For a long time, I suffered from the fact that although I was successful, I lacked recognition from society. That certainly also contributed to the fact that I became more socially critical. I have always oriented myself towards the great word giants and poets. But I am incredibly grateful for my life today.

Do you get more comfortable with the lighter songs from your own repertoire over the years?
Yes, but I have to defend myself and say that every supposedly light song has a deeper background. "Macho, Macho" takes aim at exaggerated masculinity. Back then, it was common for "Palmers" posters to feature muscular men in white underpants. Softies were out, you needed muscles, a blow-dried hairdo and that "Last Christmas" touch. Today that's terribly embarrassing. Or "Blond", which was often dubbed a hit. It's about men who are so stupid that they only care about their appearance. "Schickeria" was critical of the envious society. But also the question of why some have so much and others so little. Why doesn't my father have more money and why don't I have the biggest car? These are the kind of youthful, thoughtful facets that I expressed in songs. Now that I'm older, none of that is important anymore. What counts is love and health, you can't buy that.

Your biggest hit "I Am From Austria" has often been misinterpreted. There are parallels to Bruce Springsteen and his "Born In The USA".
It's a really apt comparison, because it's exactly the same. Now we're back in Nazi-land. When I was in the USA, I always met Austrians who denied their origins and pretended to be Swiss. I never did that. When the song is sung in a soccer stadium, it has a succinct sense of togetherness. At the time, I was accused of stirring up xenophobia. Hello, you can love your homeland without disliking everything else and not wanting someone else. Despite everything, I have said that Austria is my home.

Will you remain loyal to Austria?
I definitely don't want to leave now. I have to stay here now. Now you have to stand by your country and improve things.

Have you had to reconcile yourself with older songs over the years?
That's a good question that I can't answer so easily. There are songs that I no longer like at all - some of them were my biggest hits. A good example is "Oben ohne". It was suddenly allowed and an issue at the time, but in hindsight it's obviously not important at all. But yes, I sang "Oh, Melon" as a child, so we play it now too. I don't really want to leave anything out on the upcoming tour. I'll play a maximum of five songs from my new album, otherwise a lot of classics too. You can't leave out a song that has been played 800,000 times on Spotify on a tour and who knows how long it will last? I don't make any long-term plans. I may never make another album, but I say that after every new one out of pure self-protection. I'm done when I have the feeling that I'll never come up with anything again.

Big tour through Austria
Rainhard Fendrich is going on a big "45 years live" tour in 2025 - you sometimes have to be quick with tickets(www.oeticket.com) if you want to be at the concerts. Among others, he will be playing on April 25 and May 16 in the Wiener Stadthalle, on April 27 and May 17 in the Salzburgarena, on May 1 in the Dornbirn Halle 11, on May 5 in the Linzer Arena, on July 6 in the Klagenfurter Ostbucht, on October 28 in the Grazer Stadthalle and on October 31 in the Innsbrucker Olympiahalle. You can find all concert dates and ticket information at www.fendrich.at.