Serge: I have read that your creative career has started
rather long ago. What was the impulse, which pushed you to begin
creating music?
TMB: Since I'm was a baby there was someone playing music
around me. My father had a band, my mum played piano and we had
a piano in the farm where I grew up. Up 6 years old I tried to
play harp or clarinet and later guitar and organ. I had a band
with my brothers and we played Rock'n'Roll. At 15 I played church
organ and had the charge of the Saturday evening mass. A nice
souvenir was that when I was young I liked to ride a bicycle
with no end and at the same time compose and arrange songs in
my head. I like to compose and I couldn't imagine doing music
as an interpreter and not composing. I have to express my feelings.
Now I have been a professional musician for 20 years.
Serge: When did you create your first album? What was its
name? What was this music?
TMB: Because I had to work for a lot of studios, producers
and singers for many years, my first album was created quite late
in my career. I think that my very first album was "Entre
Ciel et Terre," New Instrumental Music or New Age in 1995.
Serge: In general, what are your "roots" - where
are you from, where were you born?
TMB: About my roots it's very funny, because of our geographic
position, I heard a lot of traditional German and Swiss music.
I discovered American music later when I was about 12 years old.
Today because of this heritage I like simple music that goes right
to the heart. I'm composing a lot of simple songs that speak of
the life and for that I'm singing too. I was born in Alsace (France),
very close to the German and Swiss border, and I'm a real Alsacian
speaking Alsacian which is an old German dialect.
Serge: What is your education, where did you study?
TMB: I went to school at 5 years old speaking only Alsacian
and then I started to learn French. That's why today I don't write
very well French. I quit school at around 20 years old, and mostly
I was more in the bush than in school !!! Please don't tell that
to children. I went to school only in my county.
Serge: Where did you study music?
TMB: Up 14 years old I studied organ in a music school
for 3 years. After that I had enough with keyboards and started
bass. I studied this instrument with some famous teachers in Germany
and Switzerland and mostly on my own. I worked for years very
hard, around 8 to 10 hours every day and at the same time I studied
harmony and toured a lot with many bands. I can say that I studied
music in the street. Maybe it's the reason why today I'm doing
music more by feeling.
Serge: Who has influenced you most in your music and why?
TMB: I was influenced by many things in my life and in
growing up I discovered many things. You know that from Bill Haley
to Gino Vannelli or Tchaikovsky there's a world of difference.
Gino Vannelli was one of my biggest influence and mostly he's
first productions and the latest one. He composes lovely melodies
with emotion and inspiration. I love strings in music and one
of my dreams would be to sing with a symphony orchestra.
Serge: You create music, which is in deep harmony with
a nature. You masterfully combine your music with a nature sounds.
Why do you create this very music? Why is it so important for
you to create a nature environment for listeners?
TMB: I have a story about that. When I started to compose
and produce my first record "Entre Ciel et Terre" I
went to the forest to record nature sounds and sometimes only
to have a walk and to be in peace. This album was composed and
produced in one month before going to the studio for the final
mix I had the impression that the music was too complicated but
I didn't find how to do it better. I decided to have again a walk
in our mountains to listen to the sounds. It was a very sunny
day. When I was in the heart of the forest I started listening
birds and that for a long time and I founded it so perfect. I
was surprised that the birds' songs matched together perfectly
in simple melodies. I said to myself "That's it !" my
music is not simple enough and the melodies too. I have to take
away all the superfluous and keep what goes right to the heart
and bring in the front my emotions. I went back home and started
again. The future proved me right and "Entre Ciel et Terre"
was a good success.
Serge: This world is dangerously ill. Now this planet is
not a really holy place. As far as I feel your music, you are
creating music for the future of this planet, for the better future.
At this time this small planet could be the place of Harmony between
people and between people and nature, the place of Love, the more
holy place. Are my perceptions true? What do you think?
TMB: Yes you're right but humanity needs more generations
to grow up for living in perfect harmony. We all have to forget
money and we have to work hard for that. Money is not everything
and surely not life. I think that doing music and bringing peace
in the hearts of my listeners is to be in the chain of all the
people that want's to bring and share good things on our earth.
Serge: What do you want to pass to the listeners by your
music? What concepts are important to express for you in your
music?
TMB: Only happiness, dreams, peace, emotions...
Serge: Do you like traveling (and why)? What places have
you visited? What place did you like most? Where would you like
to live?
TMB: I like traveling a lot just to stay somewhere and
to see how the people are living. I like to feel all my senses
with the colors of those lives. I went to many places in the world
Africa, Australia, America, Mexico....and more. I think now I
could live in South or Latin America because they are very friendly,
they like kids, dancing, listening to loud music and colors.
I like to eat anywhere on the road and to talk with anybody, having
fun. I like girls dressed as girls and acting like girls. That's
why I like Latin America. I haven't worn a watch for 20 years.
Serge: What musical instruments are you using now in your
creative work?
TMB: To create my music I use keyboards, samplers and expanders.
With these kinds of instruments I have all the sounds I can imagine.
For my future productions I'll use more acoustic sounds like real
percussion, guitars, flutes or strings. I didn't do it before
because it's very expensive to produce this way. I had first to
sell a lot of my albums to be able to do this work.
Serge: What is the concepts of your new album "Les
Secrets de la Nature"?
TMB: It's very simple. I wanted to do something simple
with instruments that everybody knows, it's why I used different
types of sampled flutes playing very simple melodies. I wanted
this album also accessible for a large majority of people and
not only the few specialists who know this kind of music. And
it works !!... and it makes me happy.... At the same time I recorded
tons of sounds in the forest and make a long nature sound remix
at the end of the album. At the end you listen to people applauding
to what they heard before, the beauty of nature, and at the very
end you can hear people talking and whale sounds. This means,
for me, that everything on earth is bonded.
Serge: Could you, please, also tell about your previous
album "Entre Ciel et Terre"? What are the main ideas
of this album?
TMB: When I worked the first time on this album I decided
at this time to change my life. Before I worked full out for many
artists with no life for me and my family. It's why I decided
to do my own music, to sell it and to take the time for me, to
have walks in the forest, to travel.... I composed the music the
way I wanted, and I played the music from my deepest feelings.
Every song on the album has its own story. And those stories have
something to do with the region where I'm living. So you can imagine
that this music is very close to my roots.
Serge: What are you working on at present? Are you continuing
working in the movie industry?
TMB: My next project for January is to record a single
with 3 songs for the German Market. My movie business is not very
strong at the moment because I have so many other things to do.
We're also working on a new mix of some of my compositions. We
are going to remix them with a brand new type of software that
makes a spatial sound effect.
Serge: Could you please tell me about your musical activity
(concert, tours and creative plans for the near time)?
TMB: Maybe next year I'll be on stage with 3 musicians.
I really want to do it but It's not easy to perform on stage with
this kind of music. So maybe for a show I'll add voices. I've
been touring for many years as a singer and bass player with a
four man band.
Serge: In general, what does your music mean for you?
TMB: It's just a good way to bring out my emotional feelings.
It's my freedom.
Serge: What musicians could be named as your friends?
TMB: There are too many to name them. You know I like music
from Blues to Symphonic, so you'll understand that the range is
very large.
Serge: What are your interests in life? From your web site
I knew that you are fond of photography. Could you tell me a little
about it? What does photography mean for you and how do you combine
it with music?
TMB: When I compose music I think at the same time to pictures
and stories. I have all the colors in my head, so it's very easy
for me to take photos of things that touch my heart. And if those
pictures awaken my emotions they will awaken my inspiration for
composing and I think that they will touch the listeners of my
music.
Serge: Could you please tell me where do you live at present?
Why did you choose this very place to live?
TMB: I'm living in a little village at the bottom of the
mountain. I have 100 meters to walk and I'm in the forest with
my kids. A few years ago I chose to live in the country, I don't
like big cities. And I don't want to fight like crazy to find
a job that's not very well paid. That's the good thing about where
I'm living now. I have the opportunities from 3 countries and
I know how it works. Here, when it's sunny, I close my door and
go in peace to the mountains.
Serge: Are you practicing any spiritual exercises (techniques)?
Do you belong to a particular religion?
TMB: No. Religion is a big question in my life. Some are
interesting and good to know about. But many religions are terrible
and put humanity down. I think it's too stupid to tremble before
a god. How is it possible to have many gods on one earth ? Only
stupid people think that their god is better than their neighbors
god. God has to be a friend. Why does the majority of people want
or need to be driven by a leader ? Humanity has to find his place
within creation.
Serge: What long-term goals do you have in your life?
TMB: To have a smiling family and a good life and to bringing
happiness around me.
Serge: What is the new age music in your view? How could
you define it?
TMB: Today new-Age music is a way to present a musical
work that's different. At the same time it's a different way of
life. Put them together... It's a way also not to be a passive
actor in the life that the economy wants to bring us. About spirituality,
I don't really know, I only want to be a good and radiant person.
Serge: What would you like to wish to the readers of our
magazine?
TMB: All the best, to be in good health, to take care of
their families and to be happy. One happy person spreads happiness
to others. So lets do a chain of happy people around the world.
I send you all my love and wish to see you one day.
