Formula Indie Sessions – Interview with SCHÄUMEN
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Louis: Listening to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles.
Tobias: I remember listening to music in my older siblings’ room, so music was connected to a sense of community from an early age.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
Louis: It started by collaborating with other musicians across different genres.
Tobias: I first played the trumpet as a kid but never really got into it, which I feel a bit sad about now. Then I wanted to play a “cool” instrument, but everyone was already playing guitar. So I picked up the bass and started playing in bands. I fell in love with writing songs collaboratively. I also enjoy doing stuff on my own but I always circle back to working with others, it’s just so inspiring.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
Tobias: We think SCHÄUMEN is about forced surprises and loss of control, about black boxes and unexpected collaboration. Maybe it’s also about connections, the invisible net that catches us when everything else fails.
The project takes the form of an album born from an improvised recording session using a no-input mixing board and drums, recorded directly onto 4-track tape. Each track was then handed to a different artist with the invitation to make something out of this rough and unwieldy material.
The songs move through themes of love, isolation, alchemy, confusion and introspection, creating a noisy rhizome of ideas. We wanted to build a temporary community held together by friction and trust. The grey sludge is foaming.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Tobias: Aesthetically it’s industrial fused with post-punk and noise, with surprising glimpses of joy throughout. It’s also deeply connected to ideas of rhizomatic networks and community.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Tobias: You don’t have to master your tools or instruments to get interesting results. I’ve also learned to think of the studio as an instrument in itself.
Louis: Don’t force creativity. Sometimes it’s better to call it a day if the inspiration just isn’t there.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Louis: The no-input mixing board. <3
Tobias: It’s actually the subject of my artistic PhD research and one of the foundations of this project. A mixing board is normally an object of control, but when used as a no-input instrument it becomes something that resists control and mastery. You have to approach it playfully, following temporary discoveries and happy accidents instead of trying to dominate it.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Louis: I’ve been listening to Porches a lot recently.
Tobias: I’ve been listening to a lot of Ikue Mori lately. She’s an experimental musician and composer who mainly works with drum machines to create really intense pieces.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Louis: Friends and other musicians taught me that you can achieve a lot by exploring sonic possibilities and thinking outside the usual boundaries.
Tobias: These days I’m less interested in playing within a specific genre. I’m much more interested in creating different settings, processes and collaborations, then seeing where they lead.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
Tobias: Like I mentioned before, it’s about connections, an invisible net that catches us when everything else fails. It’s also about refusing to use technology only in the ways it was designed for. What happens when we put the noise of our tools in the spotlight? I think that can open up new perspectives on optimistic futures. It’s a celebration of the unoptimised, uncertainty and non-mastery. Perspectives like these can help shift the narrative around control and technology.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Louis: Working with so many collaborators on this project taught me to stay open to other people’s tastes, opinions and visions.
Tobias: It’s really important to learn to give up control and just let others do their thing with your material. The most amazing things can happen.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Louis: Bad Bonn Kilbi in Switzerland would be amazing. Playing a KEXP session would also be a dream.
Tobias: Honestly, I’d be happy to play anywhere.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Tobias: That’s basically the idea behind this project. We asked ourselves which artists we’d love to collaborate with, then simply reached out and made it happen. We’re really excited to reveal everyone involved once we share more about the album. For now, the first collaboration is with the amazing Verbrennung 3. Grades.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SCH%C3%84UMEN
Bandcamp: https://schaeumen.bandcamp.com
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
Louis: Release the album and start playing live. We’ve been rehearsing a lot lately and can’t wait to bring the project on stage. We’re also happy to work together with the Basel Label A Tree in a Field Records, which was one of our favourite Swiss Indie Labels growing up in the local scene.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
Tobias: We both play in several other projects as well. One of them is Carve Up, which also has a new album on the way:
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