Who is Julia Beyer?

Wow, you are already starting with the most difficult question ever, if I only knew the answer myself…:) Well, I really don’t know where to start… I guess I am a rather calm person and quite introverted. I am very much into music and I sing in a band called Technoir since eight years. I made a lot of guest appearances, for example for Melotron, In Strict Confidence and Rotersand. I work in a media agency and in whole, I am conducting a mostly happy life with my boyfriend and my two cats.

What is the most important thing for you in life?

Another hard one! The most important thing for me in life is to be healthy, not to worry too much about money and to have your loved ones around you. Also, without music in my life, it would just be less worth living it, and I think that’s it so far…

You started making music at the age of 6. I know you thank your parents for it now but did you feel the same at that age?

I can’t remember if I really was thankful and realised the importance of my musical lessons back then and where it might lead me to later, but I know that music always played a huge role in my life and influenced me incessantely. I began piano lessons at the age of eight, and I remember that I always enjoyed it. Later, with 14 years, I added guitar lessons to my schedule, but me and my guitar didn’t get along too well, so that was a quite short period. When I started to sing in my first band at the age of 16, I knew that this is what really makes me happy and from then on, this was a constant factor in my life.

To what music did you listen as a kid?

I didn’t listen consciously to music when I was little. But I remember that we always played the old Beatles records of my parents at the weekend when I played with my two brothers while my parents were still sleeping :) I started listening consciously to music really late… I discovered the dark scene in the mid-ninties and since then, was stuck with it :)

How did you find back the motivation, Alfa Matrix was part of it but you have to get it out of yourself? Is it a passion that has always slumbered?

Sure this motivation needs to come from yourself. But signing the contract with Alfa Matrix was the right catalyst for this. Technoir was kind of asleep for a while and Steffen and I persued our own ways in life until that point. Surely we missed making music with Technoir, but I guess we just needed the right reason to start again.

I really think you’ve grown alot as a singer, what did you do to become better?

Thanks for the compliment… well, listening and practicing, that’s pretty much all about it. I never had lessons in singing, but I always try to compare myself with other singers I hear, be it on CD or in the radio. When I hear some style, some technique that I think is good, I try to use it for my singing, too. I do always sing, especially when driving in my car when no one can hear me – and I got used to people passing by in their cars and looking at me with some strange expression on their faces :)

On the myspace video on your profile you look really nervous on stage, you even say it yourself. Are you always nervous before a concert and what do you do to calm the nervs?

Yes, I am. I think it would be sad if performing on stage becomes a routine. I guess it’s also a kind of respect you have for the audience. There’s not really much to do to calm the nerves. If the soundcheck went good, that’s always reassuring, and a small beer before the concert also helps to loosen up a bit, this always works ;-)

What is the fun in doing guestvocals and guestperformances for you?

It is always interesting to work with other musicians (given that I like their music), see different perspectives on music and ways to make music. If you always do the same music, with the same people, it’s very refreshing to try different styles every now and then. There’s always a big tension in me before I hear the finished song. To hear what the song became, how they mixed my voice, etc.

For what band would you love to do guestvocals someday?

Oh, there are quite some bands… Mesh, Zeromancer, And One, Delerium and also some dance musicians like Paul Oakenfold, Junkie XL, Armin van Buuren or Gabriel & Dresden. But I’m pretty sure that this will be more or less unlikely to become reality.

You are also an editor for the sonic seducer magazin. What makes an interview a really good interview in your eyes?

If it isn’t feeling like an interview, but like a good conversation. When I feel that my interview partner is interested and polite and has something to say.

What inspires you in writing lyrics and music?

Everything! :) Things that I see, that I hear, that I feel.

Is it hard to translate these things into music, how do you work on lyrics?

Mh… it is not that hard to speak out what you are feeling, but a certain openness is helpful to express yourself. Sometimes I just have a phrase that I write down when it comes to mind, and other times, it’s a specific situation or feeling I want to describe. Writing songs for me is never the same :)

Can we expect some new things in the near future from Technoir or you?

Yes, indeed you can! Steffen and I am working on a new EP, which we plan to release still this year. It contains some remixes of two known bands from the scene and also at least two brand new songs… It will only be released as a download single, and we really hope that people will accept this still quite new way to distribute music.

Any last words for the readers?

The truth is out there!! :)