If any of you remember, there was a movie in the 60's titled Alphaville, produced by
Jean-Luc Goddard. Alphaville was the city undertaken by computers, and the main
character decided to save people from computers' power, to turn their energy into
something positive. Two decades later Alphaville was reborn but in a different way.

Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd left the guitars behind, changing their preference to
the new direction in electronic music, sat in front of the computers and started
creating a new world of sounds.

The opponents of electronic music stated that the electronic music was deprived of
soul, and Marian Gold replied: it's in a man's power to fill electronic music with a
soul.

If songs contain passion and feelings, it means their author's soul is burning.
That's why the life of the 46 y.o. Alphaville vocalist Marian Gold and his music can
be compared to the medicine against boredom.

Q: If you were supposed to write a book about Alphaville, what kind of book would
that be?

M.G.: A comedy. Because it's a very funny story. Sometimes it had some elements of
tradegy, but I think it would still be a comedy.

Q: What would you start this book with?

M.G.: I would start it with a poem (txt in German), in a liberal translation it
means: the entrance fee to the magic land is your brains.

The band Alphaville has been famous in the whole world for more than fifteen years,
though its founders don't have any musical education. Back in the 80s they closed
themselves in a studio and experimented with the new technics for ten years. Unlike
many other bands following the principle album-tour-album-tour, the German band
invested all the energy into composing new music. Even then there was more energy
and life in their songs than in the repertoir of other bands. Such hits as BIJ, FY,
DWM have become the hymn of romantics in the whole world.

M.G.: The best lesson that you can get in life is the ability to distinguish between
the

things you can and can't change.

Q: The first success - was it heaven sent or hard work and a long way to it?

M.G.: It was something I couldn't change. It happened - and that was it.

M.G.: In the very beginning of a career people are given a chance to change, to
become someone completely different. That's why I chose the pseudonym Gold and I'm
very happy about it.

But with this new name - Gold - Marian stayed faithful to his main principle: not
doing things that he didn't like.

Q: There were cases when handwritten books were thrown into fire to prevent them
from being published. Have there been any Alphaville songs that nobody heard of?

M.G.: I'm a great destroyer of the things that I created. Sometimes my creations
manage to survive. If I don't destroy them, I forget about their existence. That's
why I had to create a solo album. My house is half empty, I don't like the idea of
having things at home. I prefer watching them. For example, when I was in
St.Petersburg, I visited the Hermitage and looked at several pictures - those were
MY pictures. Every time I come to London or

St.Petersburg, I look at the same pictures, because they are my own. But I don't
need to have them at home. I share them with others.

Q: You studied in the Academy of Arts, but did you ever take a paintbrush after you
started working with Alphaville?

M.G.: Sometimes I do that. I especially like working with computers. They give us
great possibilities. Even if you have small ideas, they can help you develop them.

Q: Have you painted the portrait of your daughter?

M.G.: I did a few drafts and made a lot of movies about her - tons of videofilm,
these movies seem to last much longer than my 2 y.o. daughter's excisted already.

Q: Do you have time to look at the stars?

M.G.: Yes, I do that quite often. I would love to have a bedroom with a glass roof
through which I could watch the stars every night. I want this room to be somewhere
in the Eastern Africa, I really love this place. It would be so wonderful to think
about things looking at the stars. They are so inspiring.

Romantics have been known for their love for crazy and not well thought things.
Marian Gold is one of them.

M.G.: I love speedy racing, especially when I'm drunk. But you shouldn't do that.
But it's cool.

To get pleasure from a good portion of adrenaline, to accumulate stories to be told
to his little 2 y.o. daughter, the vocalist of Alphaville Marian Gold goes to the
wild Africa.

M.G.: I adore extreme situations. Once I went to Africa together with experienced
people. We travelled along the Mazamara river, went to Tanzania through Kenia. I
spent two weeks in the wild nature. If you want to feel the taste of the real life,
you have to go through extreme situations. Or at least to go through quick fear, to
see everything with your own eyes.

Marian Gold's travelling geography expanded in 1995 when Alphaville decided to start
playing live.

First they played in their native Germany, then in other countries of Europe, Asia
and Latin America.

In the autumn of 2000 the musicians released their first non-studio album. It
contained the band's best live songs performed in various countries of the world.
You can hear Russian fans on the live version of Forever Young. This concert took
place in the Gorky Park of Moscow.

M.G.: A successful concert for me is an emotional peak that happens so seldom. It's
a moment of total understanding. You have a very strong illusion that you can speak
to so many people in their languages.

Alphaville came to Russia several times. The musicians were performing on music
festivals only. In the summer of 2000 the band played its first solo show in Russia.
First in Moscow, in the Russia concert hall, then in the Sports Palace of Nizhny
Novgorod. The band consisted of Marian Gold, Shane

Meehan, Martin Listen and Christian Marsak.

M.G.: Every time music means a new experience that I didn't have before. But
learning something new, you lose your naivity. The more you learn, the harder your
soul becomes. Naivity is very important for an artist. I hope I haven't lost this
quality yet.

People applauded standing during the performance of Alphaville hits. They had tears
in their eyes from the powerful and sensitive voice of Marian Gold who also sang
several new songs. The live music and the live voice were accompanied by a laser
show and various light effects. The musicians were very happy from such a warm
reaction of the audience and played several 'bis' songs that were met with loud
applause.

We can only add that for the first time the concert in Moscow was organized by a
Nizhny Novgorod company Bioland, and the Volga TV company was the only company in
Russia that had the exclusive rights to film the whole concert of the band.