A chilly room with a scenic view over part of what remains of industrial Glasgow was the setting for my chat with Ande Braun, guitarist with German hard rock act Kissin’ Dynamite. The band were opening for Powerwolf on their first trip north of the border, as well as a few other dates.
Ross reviewed Kissin’ Dynamite’s most recent album, Ecstasy, last year and it’s proven to be very popular, especially in the band’s native country where it reached the top ten. “It’s our most successful album to date in terms of things you can measure, like chart entries,” Ande tells us. “We were at number 7 in the German charts and some decent entries in the Austrian and Swiss charts as well. Around the globe we got good reviews – everything is going well for us!”
So what is is that’s given the band that extra push each time they’ve released an album to improve those chart positions time after time? Ande cites two things: “First of all, it’s a great record! And second of all, Kissin’ Dynamite have been going for eleven years now. We’ve had the same line-up, so it’s the same musicians working together which helps. We founded Kissin’ Dynamite in 2007, but we played together before. My brother [Hannes Braun – vocals] and I were brothers growing up in the same house together and we started our first band in 2001 when we were 11 or 12 years old. We became a three-piece and became a cover band playing rock music and the older we became the more we felt that we’d like to do our own songs.”
Few bands last more than a couple of years without changing a member here or there. Ande explains how Kissin’ Dynamite remain such a tight unit. “Because we are best friends, not colleagues,” he tells us, “I know everything about them and they know everything about me. You could compare it to a relationship between a man and a woman… or a man and a man and a woman and woman and… A love relationship. While this can – has has been – heavy at times, you always work through the bad things and realise why you’re with these people. We’ve had our fights, but always in a lovely way!”
One thing I did want to know was the history behind the band’s name. I’d heard that it was all down to a ringtone! “It’s true! We had some big meetings with a record label and producers, sat on a big sofa with the band wondering what we could call the band. Steel of Swabia was one, which became the name of our first album, or Swabian Steel, but we decided they were too ‘local’. Swabia is a small area of Germany where we’re from. And then you have this ‘SS’ thing… So something like Rose Tattoo, but that was already taken, two regular words which just work together. There was total silence as we were thinking when Andi’s [Schnitzer – drummer] phone rang – which it shouldn’t have done in the meeting! Andi is probably the biggest AC/DC fan of all time and from time to time he changes his ringtone, but at that time it was ‘Kissin’ Dynamite’ from Blow Up Your Video. Suddenly everything felt right. We had those lovely ballads which you could work with ‘Kissin” then there was ‘Dynamite’ for the hard rocking songs, and together it’s dangerous. That’s us!”
Talking of songs, Kissin’ Dynamite did a cover of “Let There Be Night” for Powerwolf’s recent bonus CD. “They asked us. We’re friends and we’ve done a few shows before. It’s a great honour.”
For this writer, Kissin’ Dynamite’s version is what a cover should be: an adaptation, a moulding of the original, not a near-identical remake. “We had full creative control over our version,” Ande says, “Do whatever you want, we were told. In the original there is a bit where he sings ‘oh-so-lo-lo…’ or something and people are often discussing which language it is. Latin, old Italian… actually, it’s nonsense! We wanted actual lyrics in there otherwise it wouldn’t be Kissin’ Dynamite. Their condition was that we could have lyrics as long as they wrote them for us, so they helped cover their own song!”
Kissin’ Dynamite are doing well and growing all the time, but where would they like to play? “I couldn’t tell you an exact venue, but I would like to play the biggest stadiums we have on this planet! Our slogan at the moment is ‘Bring Back Stadium Rock’. There’s a smiley face in there, but also an element of truth.”
As we wound up, I asked Ande if there was a band – other than his own! – that we should be checking out. He barely thought before pointing us towards John Diva and the Rockets of Love, who will be supporting Kissin’ Dynamite on some upcoming European dates. “John Diva wrote all those big tunes in the 80’s. Now he’s starting his own project. Check them out!”
And finally, some advice for young bands starting out as they did back when they were 17-18? “If you can dream it… You can make it. Music is the best thing that can happen to the world.”
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