LomoAmigos Octopus Prime on a Black-and-White Mission

We all know, earlybird and lilaluke rock our community with their incredible images! But how would’ve thought, that both of them are also musically talented and in a 8 piece band called ‘Octopus Prime’? Get to know more about them and their band in our LomoAmigo interview and download their song ‘Analog Love’ for free!

NAME: Octopus Prime (Hannes & Lukas)
CITY: Münster & Verl
COUNTRY: Germany
LOMOHOME: earlybird & lilaluke

The first question is obvious. Whom of you is the ‘Transformers’ fan and picked the name? The link to Optimus Prime is pretty unimissable.

Actually none of us is. The name is the result of eight people brainstorming in order to find a name in their more or less creative chaos in their heads. I don’t even know exactly, how we came up with that one. Anyway we’re bringing the transformation of techniques and humans on stage. Repeatedly we try to combine our organic basic ground with electronic sounds — that’s why the link to a robot-like animal living in the deep sea matched.

How would you describe Octopus Prime’s style?

We call it submarine Reggae Rock. There’s lots of space for interpretation, but that’s what we want. All of us got a different taste in music and by that everyone can make his style part of the project. We’re independent, we do whatever we want. All of us have been in a band before, playing Ska or Reggae music, hence you find these influences in our music. Also elements of rock and pop music are to be heard. Anyway we’ve also tried out dubstep for example. Just listen to it yourself.

How long does the band exist and how did it even start?

Most of us know each other since childhood and make music together since these days. It’s more like family than a band, though we’re playing in this formation since 2007. We started as ‘The Skapitanos’ with Ska and Reggae music. About a year later our singer became part of the band. We’ve been playing in that formation for a few years and had loads of fun. We made a CD ‘Get it Together’ and a 7’’ Vinyl “By my Side”. One day we realized, straight Ska is not really what we want to play anymore and changed our style. The name of the band was problematic now, because of ‘Ska’ in ‘Skapitanos’ and that’s how we became Octopus Prime.

Which analogue cameras are a must, when you’re practicing or touring?

I often have my LC-A+ RL with me and Lukas likes to bring his Nikon FM2. But we’re quite open to that. That always depends on our mood. Anything is allowed, if it’s fun.

Any tips for our Community for taking photos at concerts? What films are good for that? Which camera etc?

It’s quite hard to focus on a stage or use a light meter, that’s why hip shot cameras — namely LC-A+ RL or our beloved Diana F+. Panorama photos are also working very well with the stage. I’m talking about cameras like the Horizon. Also the Sprocket Rocket can do that. Often I’ve used the Spinner for photos on stage; though that can be problematic due to the bad light conditions. If you’re in front of the stage, it depends on the result you want to get. If you want to go crazy and dance, handy cameras with fixed settings are prefect, like the LC-A+ or the Colorsplash. If you like to enjoy the show, standing not directly in front of the stage, you can also use a SLR and take some time for photographing.

The film choice depends on your camera and the light conditions. If you’re not using a flash, a very light sensitive black-and-white film that can be pushed. You can also go for a color negative or slide film. When you’re using a color flash like Fritz the Blitz, you can shoot wildly and be surprised when you see the results afterwards.

Do people ask you about your cameras? Or has it become normal for your fans?

Our friends and family know these little toys already and don’t get angry when we start a colorful flash attack or our sudden abstraction, when we’re busy with something more important than ending a conversation or carrying a heavy bass box. Sometimes our organizers ask what we’re doing. But when you see a red flash, that’s just part of the show. Sure, the Spinner or the Lubitel gets a lot of attention and people ask about it, because both cameras are optically attractive.

What’s coming up for Octopus Prime? Where can we catch a show?

We’ve just published our CD “Octopus Prime” with 15 tracks. We’re now bringing it to the stage and we’re just checking where we’d like to do that. We’ve got two fixed dates in summer: 15th of June in Bielefeld at Rock on the Beach Festival and 28th of June at SmallStone Rock in Gütersloh. We hope we’ll be playing some more shows.

You can listen to the full album at Bandcamp and also buy it there.

What subjects are in your pictures? Which cameras did you use?

A mix of friends, ourselves and snap shots. The cameras we used most are Nikon FM2 and Kiev88, but also a Holga and a Lubitel.

If your pictures here could have a soundtrack, what songs would you choose (3 tracks + interpret please)?

• Beastie Boys feat. Santigold – Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win
• The Black Seeds – Dust And Dirt
• Fat Freddy’s Drop – Roady

Does Lomography inspire your songs? And does that work vice versa?

We picked up the topic ‘analogue’ in our songs. You can get the *exklusive Lomography Download here*.

I guess, all you do and deal with is an inspiration for your next steps. May it be music or photography or anything else in life concerning creativity.

Thanks for the interview!

Get to know more about Octopus Prime on their website, listen to their songs on soundcloud or bandcamp and like them on facebook!

written by vja on 2013-04-22 in #people #videos #party #band #music #concert #shooting #community #germany #munster #lomoamigo #earlybird #octopus-prime #lilaluke #analog-love #free-download