Captain Capa is not a name that is well known in the US, but after this year at Van’s Warped Tour, they may just gain…oh, a few thousand followers. Captain Capa consists of two young German natives by the names of Hannes Naumann and Maik Biermann. The Germanic duo are not strangers when it comes to Warped Tour, but this year they are taking the Festival by storm as they are performing near every date. Hannes and Maik told us about the differences in festivals in Europe and the US, as well as what American foods they can’t get enough of!
Cliché: This is your second Warped Tour, but this time you are performing almost every date. How exhausting is it?
Hannes: Actually playing everyday is a little exhausting but the whole tour so far hasn’t been half as exhausting as our last experience with Warped. This time we knew what we were getting ourselves into and we don’t have this sh*tty merch tent that we have to build up and set up every day. It’s not that exhausting, right?
Maik: Oh yeah!
Hannes: It is fun, and it’s really a good training, getting on stage every day. I think that we’re getting a little bit better on stage every day.
Do you have any favorite states that you have visited so far?
Maik: All of the places with a beach!
Hannes: I love Ventura, for example, all of the stages were set straight by the ocean. That was pretty sweet. Crowd-wise Chula Vista was my favorite so far. I don’t even know what states most of these are in, I’m really bad with geography. There’s just so much information every day.
Have you been sampling famous good old American heart clogging foods from each state?
Hannes: Oh yeah. Yeah we have. When we came here this time, we introduced to our bus mates: We want to go as trashy and as American as possible this time.
Maik: We had Taco Bell the first night! It was good!
Hannes: I liked it. We had Jimmy Johns, which was good. And, oh my god! One time I had a breakfast burrito that nearly killed me because it was so good.
Maik: We had a good Mexican breakfast. Yes, it was very good!
What I find interesting is that Hannes, you have said in another interview that Warped Tour is like a parallel universe. What is it about WT that is so different from festivals in Europe that you would classify as this other dimension?
Hannes: You know it’s really different. In Europe, especially in Germany we have this really long festival summer full of huge festivals, small festivals, and stuff like that. And for a band over there, you tour in fall and in summer you just rock festival after festival. But this is like a touring festival so it’s like completely different. So it’s like a challenge every day; it’s a surprise every day. But I realized that it might be even more fitting that Warped might be a parallel universe, but it’s more like a summer camp. It feels like summer camp around here. You have all the cliques and the groups, and people might start falling in love with each other and have to say goodbye in a few weeks. It’s just like summer camp!
Is there a particular band that you have watched more than once performing on this tour?
Hannes: I’ve caught Crizzly’s and Antiserrum’s sets so many times because they are bus mates and we always catch each others sets on stage.
Maik: I saw Falling In Reverse’s set three times, and I will see Enter Shikari maybe every day.
Hannes: I saw The Devil Wears Prada for the first time and I loved it. I thought it would absolutely not be my cup of tea, but it was. And we can’t say it enough but we watch K.Flay as often as possible because they’re amazing.
Can we expect a US Tour later in the year, or do you plan on writing when you return home?
Hannes: Well you know, doing things like Warped Tour is so inspirational that afterwards we have to lock ourselves up and write something new but we’re still not sure what exactly it’s going to be. Whether it’s an album or something else, maybe we’re going to do a Theatre play or something, we don’t know. But there definitely will be something new.
You both have been a part of different worlds from the club scene to festivals. Would you say that that these different types of tours have influenced your music?
Hannes: I think we always get influenced at least a little bit by the things we see. With Warped especially, what moved us was the way people perform on stage. When we did Warped last time we came back to Germany and our shows kind of turned around a little bit. It was like we were more pumped up and so hyped up, we were like, “Yeah kids come on up to the stage!” because usually we’re more humble on stage and we’re hesitant, we make a little bit of fun of ourselves, but in America you have to hype up the crowds and you have to get out there and talk to them. I think some bands take it a step too far, but there is a really nice middle ground that you can explore. That’s what we take from Warped.
A lot of artists in your genre prefer to work in a dark venue or performing at night where they can display a light show or a lot of visuals in their performance. Do either of you have a preference?
Hannes: I think that’s a part of making electronic music. We also like to be in the dark clubs with the big lights show, the flashlights, and stuff like that.
Maik: With the fog machine!
Hannes: A lot of fog machine! So it is a little bit of a challenge to have the same effect with the kids out there in bright daylight, but I think because we come from a punk-era rock background we are kind of used to that stuff. I think that it’s on the same level because everybody has daylight and there’s no night show for anybody so I think it works fine!
Social media is huge in the US, have you gentlemen been adapting to the use of Instagram and Twitter for your band?
Hannes: Yeah, you know we’re actually totally addicted to that stuff. We’re one of the bands that love to communicate with the fans. The thing is, in Germany we’re pretty much still stuck to Facebook right now, but in America Instagram and Twitter are the shit so we’re just starting to get adapted to that. Last night I was talking to Crizzly on the bus and I was like “I still don’t know exactly what we should post on Twitter,” and he says, “Just post whatever you think. Just post whatever you think of.” And now we’re starting to try that. [laughs]
Maik: The last two days I had no service on my handy, so I never can sync to Facebook, and I think I’m going crazy!
Hannes: No social media for you!
You originally started thinking that you were going to sound like a Space Opera, as to where you are now would you say that you are where you want to be or is there still room for growth?
Hannes: Well of course we want to be the richest and most famous band in the world [laughs] so there’s still room to grow there. [To Mike]: Ok, so you take the money and I’ll take the fame, ok?
Maik: Ok!
Hannes: Ok let’s do that, great deal. But genre-wise and looking at our audience I think we’re in a really good spot right now!
Captain Capa Interview: Photographed by Heather Glock
