Flo V. Schwarz

Written on 15 May 2025.

I had the pleasure of conducting a very nice interview with the super friendly Flo V. Schwarz. Flo is probably known to many as the leader of the band Pyogenesis but he is also responsible for Hamburg Records.

Small note, the interview was conducted on the 14th of May at 11am German time. Since I'm in Mexico, it was 3am for me. It was my first video interview... so I was very nervous.

Interview with Flo V. Schwarz

I'm in Mexico City now - I've seen that you've already played in Mexico with your band. And in September you're playing at a festival in Leon Guanajuato. Have you already played in Mexico City, I think so, right?

Yes

Was it at Circo Volador?

No, that was Andy Bridges, it's a bit out of town. I don't think it exists anymore. I googled it once. (Note: Andy Bridges is in Naucalpan)

It's been a while, hasn't it?

That was in 1995.

It was the first and last time in Mexico, wasn't it?

Exactly

You are the bandleader of the band Pyogenesis and also responsible for Hamburg Records, what does a normal working day look like for you when you do both jobs?

There's no such thing as a normal working day, on the one hand, as you said, I'm a musician and on the other hand I'm the owner of Hamburg Records, I do management, publishing and booking, which are relatively different tasks. But I also produce other bands in the studio and write songs for other bands. So, there's no such thing as a normal working day because every working day is somehow different. And the field in which I work, or the fields in which I work, are so different that you can't break it down to the average day.

You probably work all week, don't you?

Yes, and I also work at the weekend.

You have been making music with your band Pyogenesis since 91, and this band is one of the founders of Gothic Metal, can you be proud of these 34 years, or are you proud that you have been making music with the band for 34 years and how do you celebrate the 35 years with the band?

I'm proud of the fact that - I'm not proud of the band, as you put it. I'm proud that I've managed to maintain my passion for something for 34 years and that I've managed to make it mean so much to me to this day. It's a very important part of my life, and yes, it feels good to have done it and to still be doing it and still be on the ball. it's not primarily about success, but it's a wonderful occupation and yes, I can't imagine anything better

Is there already a plan for the 35 years?

How did you get into music?

I started listening to music at an early age (ringing interruption), so I started listening to music at an early age and really liked Depeche Mode in the 80s and then wanted to play bass myself because I liked the bass in Depeche Mode so much. I didn't realise that the bass in Depeche Mode is played with the keyboard and not at all with the bass guitar. But that's how I got into stringed instruments and ended up in heavy metal relatively quickly
and that influenced me and I spent a lot of time with it. After bass, electric guitar soon followed. A year after I started playing bass, I learnt to play electric guitar and a short time later I was playing in bands.

Was it during school time or after school?

School time.

You're coming to Mexico for the festival this year. But you've also played in other countries, for example, Russia, Europe, and, as I mentioned, once in Mexico. There was this festival in Romania with a huge crowd, and also shows in Russia with 25,000 people. When you play those shows and you're there, can you absorb the cultures or see that they're different cultures, or does it not matter live?

I always try to take my time. So, if it's a continuous tour and we're in different countries for several days in a row—that happens more often in Southeast Europe—then I don't have the opportunity to see much. I try to get into the city during the day. But I can't really get a taste of the culture. When we fly there for a show, like in Mexico, I take an extra week and come a week earlier to look around a bit. Over the years we have made friends in the individual countries who we meet up with and who show us around. They understand how we Western Europeans think, partly because they like our music. In Russia, for example, I found it really interesting that our friends, our fans who became friends and with whom we met regularly, showed me that they understand how we tick and can explain the problems to us in a different way than what we have been told in the media for a long time. Many countries share a common culture with Germany, or Russia in particular, for example Catherine the Great was a German princess who took lots of Germans with her to Russia to settle the land there and cultivate it, and to train craftsmen and farmers. Well, many royal families have gained new members from Germany, not least England, although England is actually very close to us. Mexico, too, by the way—so not a German, but an Austrian emperor. Well, I find it quite interesting to see the individual countries, to engage with the culture there, and to gain impressions not necessarily from a tour guide you book on the spot, but from the people who live there. I was in Israel and spent a day in Jerusalem with the tour operator. That was one of the most important days of my life because I saw things there and was told about them, and I understood the significance of what I saw there, something I would never have been able to do in Germany.

Do you prefer playing at festivals or in clubs? Which is more fun?

Both. - At club shows, it's just your fans. It's much more intimate. The atmosphere is completely different. The nice thing about a festival is that you have the opportunity to convince people who don't know you or maybe have never even heard of you, I don't know and see them standing around and then finally joining in, and later you see them at the T-shirt stand.

Since 2002, you've been in charge of Hamburg Records, which you also founded. I read it had something to do with the album rights, so how did this company come about?

Yes, as I said, the rights to the first albums reverted to us, and I could have simply licensed them and gotten a small piece of the pie. Or I could exploit the rights myself, so I only had to reproduce the recordings, vinyl and CD, although CD was the predominant medium at the time. I just had to make them available. I didn't need any marketing or promotion, because there's no such thing for a re-release. And I did that. And I didn't have to share it with anyone. The record company takes the lion's share of the proceeds and gives the artist a small portion. After I had the opportunity to exploit it myself, I did that, too. Hamburg Records was born from that, and more and more areas have been added, like management, merchandising, booking, publishing, and so on.

Hamburg Records now works with, so you work with, many bands. How does this kind of business, a collaboration, usually come about? Does the band come to you, or does Hamburg Records look for bands? How does that work?

Both. I asked Lord of the Lost, for example. Chris Harms shared a Pyogenesis video on Facebook in 2017 with some kind words. I didn't even know Lord of the Lost or Chris Harms. And then I approached him to see if we wanted to collaborate somehow, and yes, a collaboration developed from that. With Lacrimosa, for example, they approached me, who in turn asked Chris Harms who he worked with in merchandise, because things seemed to be going well with them, and whether he had a contact there. And that's how Lacrimosa came to us.
Funnily enough, Tilo and I already knew each other from the 90s. And when we had our first video call, just like we both are now, he looked really surprised as to why I was sitting there, because he didn't know that Flo from Pyogenesis was also Flo from Hamburg Records.

At first, I thought it was the combination of Hamburg and Hamburg Records. You're in Hamburg now, Lord of the Lost is also in Hamburg. Tilo is often in Hamburg too; it's probably his favorite city. Hamburg is probably a good place to be.

I'm originally from Stuttgart.

But you like Hamburg, right?

Yes, Hamburg has a lot more to offer musically than Stuttgart. Stuttgart was very one-dimensional in hip-hop. Dance music and guitar music. There were three bands there. And so I moved to Hamburg, founded Hamburg Records here, and now my home is here.

Hamburg Records has a lot of things: merchandise, booking, and many, many things, including many bands online shops. Who is responsible for the merchandise? For example, who has the ideas for the design or what kind of merchandise is sold? Lord of the Lost, for example, has condoms. Who comes up with these ideas? Does it come from the company, the artists, or do you work together?

Both. So, the band has ideas, we have ideas. We sit down together. So, Chris from Lord of the Lost is in our office twice a week and he either makes videos for social media to promote merchandise or comes to sign something or to a meeting. So, there is a very lively exchange, which we think is very important and that's how it works when everyone contributes their ideas. A lot of merchandise items aren't really what you'd think of as a merchandise item, but if you have a funny idea or can connect the product with a funny idea or a story and it suddenly makes sense, then that's a good thing and nobody is forced to buy the stuff. But if it's a well-rounded product, then people want it and we create a market for it. It sounds very technical, but ultimately, at Hamburg Records, we get food baskets from fans, packages with sweets, and thank-you notes because people have been ordering from us for a long time and already know who works for us and who does what. They somehow identify with it to a certain extent—if I say you now, it's wrong—but they are grateful that someone is making sure there are always new items and what they love, the band, that there's always something new.

The company philosophy also includes "No Nazis" (I think that's very good). To what extent do labels, Hamburg Records, or even the artists have to take a stand on politics or social issues? What is the duty of artists?

In general, or with us?

With you.

We don't demand that the artists we work with fly the political flag externally. That's not a demand from us. But we rule out collaborations with artists who, in our view, are going in the wrong direction.

No name, but have you ever had a situation where you said, oh no, it won't work with this band.

Yes.

We're in Hamburg, HSV or St. Pauli?

Well, actually, I don't care, but if I have to choose, it would be St. Pauli.

You already talked about how the collaboration with Lacrimosa came about, with Hamburg Records. But you also mentioned that you've known Tilo for a while. Is it because of those gothic metal pioneers, or how did you meet?

I worked at Nuclear Blast in the 90s. And he was signed there with Hall of Sermon. So we knew each other by sight, and then we were in the studio in Hamburg once – in 1996 – and he was in the studio there too, and because neither of us were from Hamburg, we had an apartment. Well, he had an apartment, we had an apartment, they were right next to each other. And there was the European Football Championship. When we talked about it, when we started working together, he told me that he remembered we used to live together, next door to each other, while we were in the studio. And that we used to shout. We totally, like we'd torn the apartment apart and banged on the walls, like we'd lost it, and then I had to remind him that it was the European Football Championship that day, and Germany can always go further, and the day he's referring to must have been the final. - Oliver Bierhoff scored the first golden goal in football history, making Germany European champions. Of course, I understand that he didn't know that. Because I don't think Switzerland plays a major role in either the World Cup or the European Championship.

I think he (Tilo) isn't that into sports.

But he could have noticed that it was the final. Even if Switzerland doesn't call itself 100%, it's still in the heart of Europe.

Since 2023, you've been responsible for CD sales and Lacrimosa merchandise. Which countries do you sell the most merchandise to? For example, from Lacrimosa, or what was the most exotic country you've shipped to?

I can't answer either of those questions. But as far as exotic countries go, we ship practically all over the world, and sometimes you're really surprised at how people in countries where you get the feeling they probably don't have the internet, and if they do, then not in Europe, find the bands, because they don't really exist in their cultures. There's no concert culture there either.

Through my contacts, I've seen that a lot of things go to Russia and also to China, which is super interesting. I saw that you've already made music with Lord of the Lost. Is something like that planned with Lacrimosa or maybe with Tilo Wolff? So, a musical collaboration.

Not yet, but it might be a good idea.

I also thought, why aren't you the band opening the shows in Germany? - Now it's [Soon], also a Hamburg band. Hamburg again. What's the relationship like between Hamburg Records and the bands, like, who's the boss?

So, the band has the final say, because ultimately, they have to represent that to the outside world. But I would say that we have a significant influence there, and that the bands listen carefully when we talk about articles, what we think, because we have much more experience than the individual bands.

At your band's live shows, you often play with pyrotechnics and lots and lots of fire. Does that have something to do with the band name?

It's just cool.

Will there be more Lacrimosa concerts in Germany than the four? Or do we fans have to buy more tickets so that the tour might be extended? (Now we know.)

Well, as far as I know, these are the only four concerts. And these days, advance sales really determine success. And if the agency, together with the artist, sees that advance sales are going well, there's demand, then it's understandable for everyone involved to extend the tour.

We know that German fans often complain and ask why there are so few concerts here in Germany, while in Mexico, for example, there are now 20, and in Mexico City alone there are three, and they're usually sold out. But maybe the market in Germany is oversaturated. But I heard that Lord of the Lost wasn't that crowded in China, for example.

But, you know, in China you first have to mobilize 300 people per city. I think you shouldn't always measure it by where the most people come, and then it's really small. So, it's quite an achievement to draw 300 people in China in one evening. Many bands would be thrilled to have that, compared to the number in Germany, the US, or Mexico.

Is there anything you'd like to do with your band that you've never done before? Are there any plans for the next 34 or 35 years, perhaps?

A duet with Tilo.

That would be interesting. I thought the music would fit too. Lacrimosa, Tilo calls himself a pioneer of gothic metal, and on your website it says you're the co-founders. I would have thought you'd done something in the past, festivals perhaps. Musically, that could be a good fit, right?

Yeah.

But maybe not something like Children of the Dark, because from what I've heard, that might not be the best.

Yes, although I think Children of the Dark was the most successful thing the protagonists were ever involved in.

That was the feedback I've heard that there are people in the scene who make fun of it, but when you say it was probably the most successful, it was probably envy.

Yes, of course there are purists everywhere, and you'll always find someone for whom it's not pure enough.

Anything else you'd like to say?

So, I'm looking forward to the next three decades with Lacrimosa. I'm looking forward to the next three decades with Pyogenesis. I'm looking forward to the next two and a half decades with Hamburg Records, and I hope all three of them will continue to work together for a long, long time to come.

Thank you so much!!!

Pyogenesis - official Homepage
PYOGENESIS - Tickets & Merchandise

Tour!
07.09.2025 (MEX) Candelabrum
19.09.2025 (ESP) Revoltallo Fest
20.09.2025 (POR) River Stone Fest
13.12.2025 (GER) LordFest