Name: Alpacas Collective
Members: Stan Hennes (drums), Frederik Kühn (percussion), Steve Vandervoort (bass), Robby Swiggers (guitar & vocals), Jeroen Ollevier (keys), Alexander Dingens (alto & tenor saxophone), Marc Jans (baritone saxophone, trombone), Sander Vos (percussion, xylophone), Hans van Scharen (baritone, alto & tenor saxophone), Jérome Swevers (flute, trumpet), Joël Van Roode (sitar)
Interviewee: Frederik Kühn
Nationality: Belgian
Current release: Alpacas Collective's new album Big Words is out via Catalpas.
Recommendations: I can recommend a good book: How music works by David Byrne.

If you enjoyed this Alpacas Collective interview and would like to keep up to date with the band and their music, visit their official homepage. They are also on Instagram, Soundcloud, and Facebook.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you’re listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

When I listen to music I am in a different space where I can be myself. This space can also be a situation or a memory. Music frees me from a reality in which I am trapped.

When I analyze music attentively, it can be useful to close my eyes. That sharpens hearing.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to listening to and creating music?

What attracts me most is the unknown. The pleasure of discovering new music can be very intense. It can generate a lot of inspiration. When I create music it often happens that I end up in a warm cocoon where time stands still.

For me, music and making it is a kind of medicine that gives me mental strength.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience?

Mainly listening to the top 10 on the radio and being ready with the cassette recorder to record the music as soon as the radio maker stops talking. I had my first major stage experiences with the Belgian band 'Arsenal' in 2003. Since then I knew that I was always going to be a musician.

Music has made me happy at every stage of my life. But from the moment I started making music, a lot changed. There were times when I couldn't just listen to music anymore without fully analyzing the content.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

At that age, I was living in the 80s. A period where synthesizers and (drum) computers were just on the market. Electronic music was still in a very creative, experimental and interesting phase at the time.

Still, I would have preferred to experience the 60s and 70s. A phenomenal amount of good music was made at that time.

How would you describe your own relationship with your instrument, tools or equipment?

I have quite a few instruments that I have collected over the years like a number of good djembes that I enjoy playing, but my congas and bongos in particular give me great satisfaction.

I also enjoy playing timbales and a whole range of small percussion instruments. Tambourine and triangle are my favorites. I also have a number of organs and filter banks that I like to use.

My instruments are my tools to be creative and productive.

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I mainly get that impulse from other music, musicians and certain events. Sometimes that impulse is inconvenient, but a notebook and recording with your cell phone can help. Whenever I get a fit of inspiration I want to get back to my studio as soon as possible to work on it.

In 2012 I had a girlfriend with whom I made electro music. That was a very intense collaboration that I enjoyed. A few years later I made a Dutch-language record on which I sang myself.

I have always enjoyed writing lyrics. The second album Big Word by Alpacas Collective, on which I play percussion and which I produced, has some political messages: Government leaders often make promises that they do not keep. Large companies that do not take the environment and population health into account.

Music is a language that everyone understands. So it's great to communicate my thoughts and feelings in that way.

Are you acting out parts of your personality in your music which you could’t or wouldn’t in your daily life? If so, which are these? What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music?

It is difficult to describe your own style, but many people may believe that I apparently make very cheerful music. I think that makes me happier. Many people get satisfaction from melancholic emotional music, others from exciting techno or hard metal.

A few years ago I made a lot of Balkan and swing remixes. The music is very catchy and cheerful. African and South American music has also always appealed to me very much. Throw a funky sauce on top and I'm sold.

If music is a language, what can we communicate with it? How do you deal with misunderstandings?

Music expresses a certain emotion that everyone can recognize.

What I think music communicates best is the message of love, the passion. But the message of social discontent can also easily spread through music.

Making music, in the beginning, is often playful and about discovery. How do you retain a sense of playfulness and how do you still draw surprises from tools, approaches and musical forms you may be very familiar with?

Creating music, whether as a musician or producer, is always a creative game for me. Playing together can be very relaxing if it is not taken too seriously. Just jamming can be really beneficial.

I prefer to record with musicians in a way that nothing is necessary and everything is possible. Keep testing and trying. Never being satisfied with the result too quickly is important as long as you enjoy it.

As long as you realize that your production is improving, you are doing well. Dare to experiment.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you’ve had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I like whale sounds. I would love to hear them in real life. Maybe someday I'll use those fantastic sounds and melodies.

There seems to be an increasing trend to capture music in algorithms, and data. But already at the time of Plato, arithmetic, geometry, and music were considered closely connected. How do you see that connection yourself?

I like to compose and arrange music. Of course you are working with geometry patterns. It is therefore important to have insight into this. Rhythm and melody are also geometric patterns.

But feelings and emotions cannot be measured. That is why one never knows when a song can become a hit. I wonder how long it will take before artificial intelligence can write a world hit record.

What aspects of music do you feel can be captured through numbers, and which can not?

Popular music usually sells best. Often it concerns simple music patterns. But complicated music such as Zappa or Bach also appeals to many people.

Music is subjective and you can't put a number on it.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

Making music has always been a very intense experience for me. It has played a role in all aspects of my life and will continue to do so. I am convinced of that.

I can't imagine a life without creating music. Rather, it is a necessity. It is a journey of discovery that I always long for.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Silence is very important to me. In the past, when I wasn't yet involved with music, I couldn't stand silence. I even found it frightening. Now I often crave for it.

I have my ears in music productions every day. Hearing the same thing over and over again for hours can be mentally taxing. That's why I can really enjoy silence now.

But it is never quiet. We always hear noise around us. I live in a forest with many birds. I really enjoy that.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn’t or wouldn’t in more ‘mundane’ tasks?

I love a good cup of coffee. In the music throughout each style you can also distinguish between different qualities.

Good music appeals to people in a positive emotional way.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

The new TikTok generation can only listen to music for a maximum of 30 seconds and then swipes to the next one. The music experience becomes a side issue. It's more about image.

Streaming services like Spotify have destroyed the music industry. Artists can no longer make a living from it. So a lot has to change. The quality of current music in particular worries me. But maybe that's just me.