"Krone" interview

Julian Le Play wants to “search, find and let go”

(Bild: Florian Mooshammer)

During his current unplugged tour, Julian Le Play chatted to "Krone" about the therapeutic effect of his concerts, why a tour like this sometimes feels like a week at school and why he always redecorates backstage...

"Krone": Why did it become an unplugged tour and not a "normal" tour?

Julian Le Play: Well, I'm going back a bit in the timeline - I've been doing this for 13 years now. The last two albums have actually become more and more expressive, faster and louder. I just really wanted to push the boundaries and I took that to the extreme with the last album ("Tabacco"). And when the last concerts were over, it was cool, but I realized that I was drawn back again - back to the roots. I wanted to do quieter things again and celebrate my last five albums, not just my new one. It quickly became clear that I wanted to play an unplugged tour, with strings and horns. That's why the preparation was a bit different this time.

In what way?

It wasn't supposed to be a "normal" tour where we just play the songs. I was looking for a concept, a framework in terms of content, because we do play in theaters. And I found something that was a bit groundbreaking for me, namely to divide the evening into three parts, in three chapters: searching, finding and letting go. No matter what I've experienced so far, I've always been in one of the three phases. I've noticed that no matter what we do as people, our emotions are always shaped by these three chapters - whether it's in love, whether it's places, friends, parents, children.

So what did the preparations look like?

I sat there and listened to my songs and realized that every single one I've ever written fits into one of these three chapters. That was actually the preparation - that I listened through my five albums and assigned each song to a category and then drew a bow within the chapters. Suddenly I had a set list of 20 songs, which came together as if by magic.

Rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing: For his unplugged tour, Julian Le Play is back to softer tones - with horns and strings.

(Bild: KIERBERGER & HAIDER)

It certainly seems to go down very well with the audience...

The concept of these three chapters, "Search, find, let go", was also intended to challenge people a little. And that's what I do. To ask: "Where are you right now?" "What am I looking for right now?" "What have I already found?" "What do I need to let go of?" And I can tell you in advance that the concerts are one hundred percent more emotional as a result. Not only do people open up, but I open up too.

That sounds very therapeutic...

Yes, it is. I sometimes get endless messages from people after concerts. One of them came to the concert alone after her husband had left her. And she didn't dare at first, but in this community it was suddenly easier to "let go". So by opening up, it actually has something almost therapeutic about it. But for me too.

That's probably one of the reasons why the Unplugged Tour is completely sold out...

There have always been tours that have been good, but every date is sold out - I don't know if I've ever had that before. It's quite crazy. I'm really happy right now, especially because it feels right to celebrate these five albums after 13 years - for myself as well. And now I've called my booker and said: "Hey, I don't want this to be over!" So yes, we're doing an unplugged tour number two next year, where we'll probably dare to do even more. So the Brucknerhaus in Linz is already fixed, then we'll play at Finkenstein Castle in Carinthia and in the Kasematten in Graz. So it will also be partly open air. But for all those who are sad that they didn't get tickets for this year, we're doing a special Christmas show on December 18th at the Vienna Konzerthaus. At some point I had the idea that I would like to play a fixed show for my audience in my home town once a year - regardless of whether I have an album out or not and regardless of whether things are going well or not. Once a year I would like to play an Advent show - with strings, unplugged.

What does the tour look like off stage?

There are a lot of new people on the team this time. Most of the people are people I'm touring with for the first time. It's a community of fate, so to speak. We cover a lot of highway miles in the tour bus and it's honestly totally enchanting. We listen to a lot of music, chat about life, also a lot about "searching, finding, letting go". Everyone then starts talking about their last years.

The tour is a complete success: Julian Le Play at the sold-out Posthof in Linz.

(Bild: Paula Spitzauer)

Sounds a bit like school country week...

Indeed. The nights after the concerts often go on until four or five in the morning, because we're all so inspired and so excited that we don't want to go to sleep. In Berlin we were still going from pub to pub or in Cologne we were still drinking and chatting in our rooms until five or six in the morning. We often got back on the bus with an hour and a half of sleep and then continued chatting and listening to music. So we didn't want to let each other out of our arms as we had a few days break. That's why it's just nice to be able to carry on again. It's very much like a school camp week.

Who or what absolutely has to be there on such a "school country week"?

I can answer that in a very banal or interpersonal way. Interpersonal first, perhaps: the most important thing for me is people who are positive - on and off stage. When you come from this music industry, it's easy to deal with grumpy, destructive people and I've completely freed myself from that in recent years. I really look for positive, playful people who just stand on stage and say: "What kind of crazy artist life are we leading?" And that was the life music hack par excellence, because it just fires everything up, including the audience. That's the most important thing for me.

And the banal answer?

Earplugs and a sleep mask for the night so that you can zoom off on the bus. AND - and this really is a game changer - simply a Bluetooth speaker for the backstage area. If you just turn up the music backstage and make the lighting nice, then it's a hundred to one, like when it's dead quiet and the lighting is just awful. I always walk around for ten minutes and carry lamps from room to room. Generally speaking, you can say that everything is probably based on the motto "feel good".

Conversely: Apart from the grumpy, destructive people, what's not allowed on tour?

Worries, to-do lists and all that stuff. It really is like this: you forget everything during this time. It's like a parallel world.

A parallel world in which you're also cheered on by a large crowd and are full of adrenaline after a concert. What helps you to wind down and, to put it stupidly, go to sleep?

To be honest, it helps me to sit with people for a while, drink a beer, listen to music, talk about the evening, about what I've experienced. Not to be alone with it. No matter how good friends you have who are now in Vienna, talking about it with people who haven't just been through it is something completely different. It's like when you tell people about a road trip who aren't on it. I usually go to the merch stand for two hours and wait until the last guest goes home. That's really nice, because of course a lot of people come and tell you something. Then you have a drink together, let the evening draw to a close and then one after the other leaves until there are only three or four left at the end. And then at some point you say: "Well, we're leaving in two hours, so let's get some sleep. Just like a school camp week.