“I’m on the road, I’m happy”
Long before Jan Vetter became a rock star and singer with the Ärzte, he was already traveling the world restlessly. He called himself: Farin Urlaub. To this day, the 51-year-old is constantly on the move. On tour with the “Farin Urlaub Racing Team” or all alone - with his off-road vehicle and his camera. The convinced nomad has just published the photos from his last trip to Africa in two illustrated books.
What was your first trip that you remember?
A camp in Sweden when I was nine years old. It was the first time I was far from home, I didn't know anyone. It was the greatest thing I had experienced up to that point: complete anarchy for three weeks. We could do whatever we wanted, slept in sleeping bags on hay. I knew then: I wanted to have something like that for the rest of my life.
Since then you have been to more than 100 countries, often traveling for several months a year. Do you travel differently today than before?
I used to travel with hardly any luggage; my record was 6.5 kilos for four months. But that's no longer possible, I just enjoy taking photos too much - and I need a sensible means of transport for my equipment. If I take my medium format camera with me, I can quickly reach 40 kilos. That's why I take either my SUV or my motorcycle with me when I travel. But the basic idea has remained the same: I'm on the move, I'm happy.
On the cover of your current record “Fascination Space” you portray yourself as a hero returning home after a big journey. What do you miss about home when you're on the road?
The only thing I miss from time to time is my friends. But it's not like it used to be. Back then, people drove away and communication simply stopped. I had to make the most expensive phone call of my life from Zambia to Germany in the mid-1990s - $100 for about eight minutes. And I drove for half a day to the only telephone there was anywhere. Nowadays I can send SMS, sometimes even MMS, in a surprising number of countries. But I consciously don't do that. I think that traveling is a kind of farewell. If I'm at home with one leg all the time, I'm not fully traveling.
How do you translate the very personal experiences on your travels into the songs that the fictional character Farin writes?
If I knew that, I would probably win a Nobel Prize as a brain researcher. But I don't want to understand the mechanisms behind it too closely. Let's take a situation: I'm driving along a dusty track somewhere and there's an elephant corpse lying there. Of course I don't sing: "There was the dead elephant." But this impression still releases something in my brain so that at the end of the day a song comes out. Which in terms of content has nothing to do with the experience, but is still thanks to him - apparently because potential was released. The equation works for me: travel a lot, then you write a lot of songs. Complete.
Do your friends and family understand this lifestyle or are they telling you to take it slower?
I have exactly one person in my circle of friends who feels the same way as me. Everyone else said: Now just relax. Three or four years ago now, I read an article in the Economist that, to put it dramatically, saved my sanity. It said that researchers had found a non-sedentary gene. About 1.5 percent of the population has it, the rest don't. For many years I thought there was something wrong with me. Then I read that and thought: That's me, everything's fine. It's just a genetic mutation.
The songs on your new album are again about universal themes, about partnership, courage or social pressure. How hard is it not to repeat yourself after all these years?
It's not just difficult, it's impossible. There are a lot of crossed out texts that make me think: You've said that before and maybe even better.
You have written more than 1,000 songs. Can you even remember everyone?
I already have the lyrics very present, yes. I know everything that is published. But I can't remember names, birthdays and phone numbers at all. That seems like a deal: OK, you keep all your songs, but you'll have to pay for them. Then I'm standing in the supermarket and have forgotten what I wanted to buy.
Does it annoy you when you keep having to throw ideas in the trash?
No, it's more of an incentive. I'm really happy when I think of a topic that I think: Not only have I not sung about it, but perhaps no one has. But it doesn't work that often - when I was proud to have written a song about architectural criticism for my new album "Dynamit", two people immediately sent me songs and showed me: You're not the first. These were two absolute niche bands that I didn't know. But I was already a bit upset.
On your tours you are only traveling for work. What do you take with you from these trips?
The off days alone are great. When we have a free day in Erfurt, I look forward to it and walk around there. Recently we played at a festival with the Racing Team and there was a lake nearby. It was completely clear that we were going to jump into this lake, all of us. We see this from an ironic perspective: This is our job and we are all a bit older. And if we can, we'll poop together too.
On your current album you are playing the punk rock that we know from you again. Would you like to do something completely different?
To be honest: I don't think my voice alone is enough to fill the evening, there has to be something around it. I'm not Johnny Cash, I like listening to him for five albums. For me you have to turn out the mids (laughs). Of course, sometimes I have spontaneous ideas or dreams, but as soon as I would start implementing them, I would ask myself: Do you really need this? And then I'll just leave it. I think I do quite a lot anyway. I don't want to annoy people.
You are now 51 years old. Do you sometimes find that you are oversaturated and less curious than before?
If anything, it's gotten worse. Because I know more now, I can ask even more questions. If you know less, you won't even come up with many questions. A bit of knowledge has accumulated over the years, but not so much wisdom. That's why my questions are now more broad. You should see my library, which is growing and growing. Ah, that's interesting too, I have to read that too, I keep thinking about that.
As for over-saturation: I've learned to give myself rest points for my head on my travels. After three months I stay in a less stimulating area for a few days. The main thing I do is maintain the car and wash everything. But ultimately I want to let everything sink in a bit before the next thing comes along.
So you haven't become a cynic yet?
Zero. Above all, the thought “I know everything” is always a fallacy. There are situations in which I have a rough idea of what will happen next - but I still can't be really sure. And I get to know myself again in every new situation. I don't think I'm fit to be a cynic anymore in this life. I'm far too enthusiastic for that.
Where was the last time you were really bored?
(thinks for a long time) Flights and airports are not great places for me. On longer flights, I'm looking forward to getting far away. But I really don't like being a frequent flyer. The air is bad and I can't read properly on the plane. If I could beam myself, that would be a dream. But otherwise? I don't know how to be bored for long periods of time. This is a borderline experience for me.
From professional to backpacker student: What are your most important tips for traveling?
The very first thing: Please throw half of it back out of your backpack. Things are getting bigger and bigger. When I set off, a large backpack weighed twelve kilos. There are now people who carry around 30 kilos. Are you crazy? Then stay at home. You don't need more than two pairs of socks on any trip in the world, except maybe the North and South Poles (laughs). You can wash anywhere.
I also think it's stupid when you get an idea of your goal beforehand and then just go on the road to fulfill that image. You should - be careful, I'm getting lyrical now - travel as an open vessel. To say: “That’s definitely the case…” is a completely wrong approach, I think.
Do people recognize you abroad?
No nobody. But being recognized isn't that bad anyway. I go out all the time in Berlin and it's rare that someone speaks to me. I once went wild camping in Austria. After a few days I was so neglected that I wanted to go to a hotel to take a shower. I picked out a nice mountain hotel and walked in there. The woman at the front desk saw me and passed out, gasping and out. I hope it wasn't because I smelled so bad.
Long before Jan Vetter became a rock star and singer with the Ärzte, he was already traveling the world restlessly. He called himself: Farin Urlaub. To this day, the 51-year-old is constantly on the move. On tour with the “Farin Urlaub Racing Team” or all alone - with his off-road vehicle and his camera. The convinced nomad has just published the photos from his last trip to Africa in two illustrated books.
