DGPL.: We, your Polish fans, we begin to know the team of David Garrett. Internet helps us, but even there is limited information about you We know that you are: guitarist, composer, arranger, conductor and actor ... so maybe let's start from your adventure with acting...
You played an episode in "Paganini: devil's violinist" ... who you wanted to be as a child: a musician, fireman, or maybe just an actor?

FRANCK : I finally had time to answer all your questions... It's been a crazy period the last 2 months...
As a very young child I first wanted to be a shovel operator…don’t ask why. Then I got obsessed by WW2 and wanted to be a soldier but also an inventor of science. After that I indeed moved to the arts. Also wanted to be an actor but I was very decided that I wanted to go to the film academy, from 10 years old onwards I was always running around with an 8mm camera making all kinds of movies. I accidentally started to play bass guitar at the age of 14 and from there it all went very quick. I had my first band and started to play guitar because I had to instruct the 2 guitar players how to play the songs. In no time I played better than them and slowly moved from film making to music. After 2 years I already went to the conservatory.

DGPL: Was it the first acting role in your life?

FRANCK: Nothing serious, but I organized my own entertainment shows with friends when I was in elementary school. Basically it was trying to make the other kids laugh. I loved comedy and still do.

DGPL: Your dad was a music teacher. Did it have a big impact on your music way.

FRANCK: Yes and no. Obviously I grew up in a music environment. My dad played all string instruments, violin, guitars, keyboards, and all of those instruments were at our house. As a young kid I did have some piano lessons and music training but I wasn’t interested. I didn’t like the piano lessons very much and said that I would like to play guitar when I was around 8 years old. But my dad’s reply was that if I couldn't persevere my piano lessons I was not allowed to change to guitar…
Then later when I thought myself to play guitar when I was 14 and decided to study music his reply was 'oh don’t do it, you can dampen all the canals of Holland with guitar players…”
So all in all he wasn’t very supporting but of course I could always go to him when I had a question about music theory. Later when I got more successful he was very proud but never really told me directly.

DGPL: You chose the electric guitar, why? What do you feel in your soul more, the spirit of rock and heavy metal or maybe something else?

FRANCK: My musical taste is extremely broad. I love almost any kind of music. When I started I wanted to play jazz and also studied that. Gradually I learned so many other styles and I don’t really have a preference. In my work as an arranger and composer, which I do more than playing, I do almost any style from classical to gothic rock and anything in between. I like it because it never gets boring.

DGPL: Frank, you play: Guitar - we know it, the piano - also know that, baton – of course, and what other instruments do you play ?

FRANCK: I play bass guitar and a little bit of drums as well. Like I just wrote I don’t play very often anymore because I’m constantly writing and producing. It’s a shame because I do love to perform but simply can’t find the time with all the work I do behing the computer. I used to be a quite a virtuoso guitar player but if you don’t keep up the skills by practicing every day the technique fades away.

DGPL: Do you have your music guru? Who is it ?

FRANCH: I have a couple of heroes in music. For guitar it definitively is Steve Lukather of Toto. I worked with them in 2003, that was a great experience. John Williams the composer is another big example for me. For the rest I have no guru’s, I just appreciate big talents who make beautiful music.

DGPL: What is composing for you? an inner need to express your own emotions or a custom work? Where do you get inspiration from?

FRANCK: I like to create and have a vivid fantasy. Strangely enough my visual side is maybe better than my auditive one but when I compose I do use images and try to translate them into sound. Maybe in the end I chose the wrong profession and should have gone to the film academy but now my biggest passion is to combine the 2 and therefore I would love to write film music. Composition can be an expression of emotions but sometimes it’s also just work. So inspiration can come from really anything.

DGPL: What about your own album, are you working on something right now, any plans on that?

FRANCK: Haha, it’s horrible. I started that album in 1999….I was never satisfied with the result but a couple of years ago I gave the material to a friend of mine who did the mix and now it’s ready to be released. I have plans now to do it in 2017.
There were many reasons why I did’t do it earlier. First it’s difficult to find a label, but nowadays it’s absolutely not necessary to have one. Second was that I always doubted to go out as a solo artist doing all the promo and concerts and I was always too occupied with work for others. You cannot imagine how much work I did in the last 21 years which is great but the downside is that I never had the opportunity to work on my own music.
But now I will focus in that album. I probably will just release it on internet but I don’t think I will ever tour or do promo for it.

DGPL: When you hear a song, right away you "know" how the arrangement will look like?

FRANCK: Most of the time I do.

DGPL: What do you dream of in your professional life?

FRANCK: To write film music.

DGPL: Your relax… music, movie, Or maybe doce far niente? „ sweet do nothing”

FRANCK: Not much time to relax…but I do a lot of workout lately which helps me to relax.
I like movies, and would love to do photography and videos.

DGPL: When you need to chill out, what do you do?

FRANCK: I like to hang out with friends and all other things I can’t tell you…haha

DGPL: Do you have superstitions about stage performances?

FRANCK: Not really. Also I’m never ever nervous any more. I used to be nervous when I was young but now I’m always relaxed no matter in front of how many people I stand. The biggest crowd I played for was in 2008 on 14 Juliet in Paris. 650.000 people in front of the Eiffel tower and over 10 million viewers on TV. Well maybe the closing ceremony for the UEFA finals this year had more viewers but I was only conducting…

DGPL: What annoys you? situations, people .... just please do not tell me that silly question of your fans;)

FRANCK: People who don’t do their job right. For example, we had many sound technicians who screwed up big time. I get more than annoyed by that….
And overall I get annoyed by injustice.

DGPL: Ennio Morricone at the age of 80 got the first Oscar ... Do you dream of such an award? you still have a lot of time to the 80th birthday ..

FRANCK: If my health allows me to get to 80….Of course I would like to receive an award. Any kind of award is a recognition of the work one does. So far I haven’t received much public recognition yet. All the awards were always for the artists or producers I worked with. So far I haven’t received any personal awards at all.

DGPL: How would you describe Frank van der Heijden as an artist? You are the peace and quiet or someone like "crazy artist"?

FRANCK: I guess the audience sees me as a quiet person, humble and always in the background.
But in my head there is more than enough craziness going on.

DGPL: Talking about you is very interesting but time is running out and we still have a lot of questions, could we talk now about working with David and the guys from the band?...OK?
We know that you met David on Night Of The Proms... Did you heard anything about him earlier?

FRANCK: No, 2002 was the first time.

DGPL: Who suggested a cooperation? David Garrett or You?

FRANCK: David called me after the proms to try and make some demos. He never played other material than classical music and in 2002 we started experimenting with all sorts of genres from heavy metal to house.

DGPL: You are musical director of David ...does that mean that you are the boss?

FRANCK: I am the boss over the musical content. I’m not the bossy type but I’m good at having an overview and getting done what needs to be done. Being an md is not just about musical content but also things like planning. How to schedule the rehearsals, communication with technique etc.

DGPL: The songs that you composed for the last album of David, were prepared especially for this CD or did you wrote them earlier and they waited for the right time and right artist?

FRANCK: I specially wrote Explosive and Furious for David. Midnight waltz was much older, it was a melody that came up in my head while taking a shower. At that time I was co-writing songs for an Italian singer and while in the process of writing my brain doesn’t stop and the waltz was one of those pieces that came out of nowhere.

DGPL: You all are from different parts of the world .. how did it happen that you create such a good team? You knew each other before?

FRANCK: The US guys were recruited in 2009 when David was planning on doing a lot of promo in the US. At that time there was a band from the UK but it was inconvenient to fly them over every time.
For the tour in 2010 David decided to have the American guys in Europe as well.

DGPL: Band seems to be a very harmonic team ... Who is the one who says: Ok, gentlemen calm down, "and who is more" explosive “?

FRANCK: We all have our own role and there are 5 different characters that go together very well. None of us is very 'explosive' I think and all are wise and calm enough to be able to tour in good harmony for long periods of time. On tour discipline is quite important. It’s annoying when one person always shows up too late for the bus or is wining all the time.

DGPL: Please, try to define each of the guys with just one word ... David is .... John is... Jeff (drummer) is... Jeff (bass) is .... Marcus is... and You are ...

FRANCK: Difficult to answer. I’ll try to describe them from the team role management theory. If you want to know more about it have a look here: http://www.dehoopentertrainment.nl/en/Orkestspel
This is a theory by professor Belbin about 8 different characters within a team. With Richard de Hoop I translated the character roles to instruments so based on that theory I would say:
David-Drums
John-Piano/Violin
Jeff Lipstein-Trumpet/Guitar
Jeff Allan-Bass/Drums
Marcus-Violin/Harp/French Horn
Me-Guitar/Piano and a bit of everything.

DGPL: We all dream to do what we like, with nice people ... Have you found your dream job ? Do you know a saying: Choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life? You were able to do what you love?

FRANCK: I have a very good job and I was lucky in many ways. But it was also an awful lot of very hard work. Compare it to top athletes, they love what they do but have to work extremely hard to get to their goals.

DGPL: It is Christmas time .. How do you spend the holidays and what do you like the most in Christmas?

FRANCH: Too be honest…I don’t like Christmas and the holiday season. I find it boring with all the obligations of family dinner. I prefer to spend time with family whenever I want and not because the planet invented Christmas.
So I do spend it with family and for the rest of the holidays I usually am just cleaning up the mess in my studio and doing very boring end of the year administration. Not very romantic…

DGPL: And finally ... first of all, thank you very much for giving us opportunity to meet and talk with you - it was an extraordinary meeting. At the end ... could you greet your Polish fans, and wish them a Merry Christmas ...

FRANCK: Although I’m very late because I didn’t have time to answer all your questions until now I wish everybody happy holidays and already a very happy new year.

DGPL: Thank you Franck Merry Christmas and happy new year

wwwdehoopentertrainment.nl