Eurovision

Johann Sebastian Bass: “We can represent 300 years of Austrian musical history in just one song.”

Austria is choosing their entry for Vienna pretty soon now. Time for escXtra.com to catch up with possibly the most remarkable act in tonight’s final. All the way from the 1750s, it’s Johann Sebastian Bass!
escXtra.com: Hey guys! Thanks for taking the time to speak to us!
Johann Sebastian Bass: We’re glad we finally found the time for this interview. There’s pretty much to do these days for us, so time is a rare commodity.
X: Could you introduce yourself to our readers?
JSB: Johann Sebastian Bass is a three-piece Band. “Johann Martinus Bass” is the vocalist and brings out the sweetest sounds of the talkbox and synths, “Johann Domenicus Bass” plays the electro-basso-continuo and the most virtuous melodies, “Johann Davidus Bass” performs on the drumset and plays the beats as smooth as no other.
We come from Vienna and Munic and met in the 1750’s in Leipzig, at a funeral of a famous composer. Rumour has it that, tough we are from different mothers, this composer was our father. Since then we have been working together as an art collective.
Due to a embarrassing accident, we caused when we have been invited to King Louis XV mansion in Versailles, we should be sent back in time to undo the accident. But the time-machines back then haven’t been as good as they are now, so we arrived in the year 2011. Since then we are working as a three-piece dance band in Vienna.
X: How would you describe your music style?
JSB: Electrococo! Electropop with a baroquian flair.
X: Why do you want to go to Eurovision?
JSB: Because we can represent 300 years of Austrian musical history in just one song. And to be honest, we have been struggling a bit to participate in a preliminaries at first, because you never know what these kind of shows will look like in advance. But we think the ORF (Austrian Broadcast) made a big step towards austrian musicians with the preliminary-shows, and rather presents a broad profile of the music scene instead of creating another casting show.
X: Your performance appearance is quite remarkable. Could you tell us more about that?
JSB: First of all, we love being on stage, doing our stuff. There’s nothing that beats this feeling (only floating through the space-time-continuum feels better!) and our outfit and makeup may be quite extravagant for modern times. But it would be an act of profanity towards our audience to enter the stage without wigs and makeup.
X: Where did the name Johann Sebastian Bass come from? Is Bach such an inspiration?
JSB: The name just exists and was for us the perfect connection between the times we come from and the things we do now. And the good thing about it is, that it’s soo easy to remember. 😉 And of course Bach is one of the biggest influences in pop-music, so we all owe him a bit.
X: What’s your favourite place in Austria?
JSB: Vienna! We love this city. Vienna is right in the heart of Europe, the bridge between east and west, north and south. The city is influenced by equally by various cultures and ethnologies. And there is no other city that combines history and pop-culture on such a small space. It’s the best place in Europe and it’s just getting even better.
X: What’s your favourite thing to eat or drink?
JSB: That’s a hard one, because there are too much good things we love. But we think you can’t do much wrong with a proper made lasagne with salad and a good glass of wine.
X: Are you Eurovision fans?
JSB: “Fan” is kind of a indefinite expression. From a real ESC fan we’d expect to be present on location at every Eurovision show, including all of the hard parts. Like camping in front of the ticket sales office.
Due to the fact that we arrived in the year 2011 we only had 4 years to see the event live (in television ;)) and we only missed it once. So let’s call us ESC enthusiastic.
X: Do you have an all time favourite Eurovision song?
JSB: Nope. But we loved appearances like Sebastien Tellier’s – “Divine” performance.
X: Finally, do you have a message for the readers of escXtra.com?
JSB: See you in Vienna! We’re sure you will like it here.
escXtra.com would like to thank Johann Sebastian Bass for their time and we’d like them the best of luck in Austria’s national final! The song they’re competing with is called Absolutio, which you can watch below!

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