Photo Credit: Max Zdunek

When Marius Veith of KID DAD said, “2020 was a test, a lesson, and an opportunity!” I felt that because it’s true. This year has been a whirlwind and for many of us, it’s far from over. Alas, Marius, and the rest of KID DAD haven’t let the year go to waste. With a new album out August 21st, they’re doing all they can to make the most of ‘In A Box,’ including giving back to those in need during these trying times. To find out more about the music and their mission, keep on keeping on with the following back and forth exchange. 

Kendra: The new album, ‘In A Box,’ actually is quite opposite of that because of your ability to grow bored quickly. When you said you wanted a varied sound on the record, was that more so when you toured, the live set would continue to deliver something new with each song?

Marius Vieth: We don’t really write songs envisioning a colorful live show primarily. It’s more like many different feelings create many different songs. I’d rather say that our emotions write songs, not us. We are just the machines who transport these feelings from our hearts to our brains and from our brains into our fingers and vocal cords. Yeah, we all love that there is a certain variety from song to song but we didn’t do that on purpose I guess haha!

Maybe that’s how your question can be answered: we knew about our messed up heads and feelings when forming this band, so we hoped to transfer these different feelings in the songs we wrote and still write.

Kendra: People got to hear a bit of what was to come from ‘In A Box’ thanks to “Limbo.” A song meant to represent someone feeling unsafe and abused. While you didn’t write it about this year, one could see the parallels between the song and how most of us are feeling in 2020. When you first heard the world was going to be shut down, what were your initial reactions as musicians?

Marius Vieth: It felt like a really bad nightmare. Of course, we weren’t able to move on normally as we would have liked to, but the real horror was to see how it takes lives and separates families. For us, this wasn’t a job crisis in the first place, but a global crisis “attacking” many human beings. We easily tend to forget how bad our situation is or was (even if being in a band is our childhood dream) seeing other people losing their lives and freedom. Of course, the story we tell in “Limbo” fits sadly/luckily, but, of course, we didn’t know how bad it would get while writing it!

Kendra: Doing your part to help out during this time, you guys started a campaign to raise awareness for child and domestic abuse being that those cases have surged this year. There are a lot of issues right now, what about abuse in particular made this one the cause you wanted to shine a light on?

Marius Vieth: Alongside the rise of COVID-19 statistics say that domestic violence – especially against children – rose, too. We hated to not be doing anything against so many cruel things happening every day and we knew we can’t do something against everything, so we decided that we want to help the purest and weakest ones: children. 

So we chose the topic of abuse because it is basically the essence of our album. We sing about psychological abuse from others or towards oneself. On this record we are searching for answers to questions no one speaks out. We are looking for inner freedom. Of course, this is something different than being abused physically but we felt that there is a connection between being lost and lonely inside oneself and fearful and hurt physically. That’s why we love making music videos, you can take feelings and emotions and transfer them into visible persons and actions.

Kendra: Thinking ahead to when the world opens back up, what are some local venues in Germany that you’re excited to get back to as musicians, and as fans?

Marius Vieth: Our favorite venues are definitely the Sputnik in Paderborn (it’s already open again, I guess) and the Wohlsein (also in Paderborn) but of course we can’t wait to tour all the venues that are open for hungry bands to sweat and scream in all around the country as soon as this is possible again!

Kendra: How do you feel 2020 has shaped your creativity and drive moving forward?

Marius Vieth: 2020 was a test, a lesson, and an opportunity! We had enough time to make plans and concepts while the world seemed to slow down a little bit, and reached another level in any possible way and our bond as a band has gotten stronger and stronger. We already wrote a ton of new songs for the next album and we can’t wait to add another two tons in the next couple of months. We’re very hyped for what’s to come!

Kendra: Usually, this is where I ask people what they have planned in the coming months but with the world in a strange place right now, plans aren’t as concrete as they typically are. You can go ahead and let us know what you have tentatively planned but can you also share a song that never fails to get you through when the world around you feels like a mess?

Marius Vieth: Of course haha! You’re right, totally agree. We will release our album and play as many shows as possible as soon as possible. We miss being on the road, meeting new people and making new friends so much. As long as we can’t play live we will prepare our live show, practice, make videos and look straight forward ’cause it has to get better!

Our secret band guilty pleasure song, that washes away every cloud above our heads, is “Wot” by Captain Sensible, which fits perfectly ’cause we are very sensible.