Q:
Introduce yourself, who are you?
Eberhard Forcher:
My name is Eberhard Forcher, for me it's all about music. I was a musician with three albums, a bigger hit and two smaller hits. I'm still a musician, with Paul Pfab of the Bingoboys I've been producing very successful media music for over twenty years, at the same time I'm an Ö3 radio host, I have two programs there, one is more with the classics of the genre on Sunday night called Solid Gold. Then there is also a program that deals with current music, a mix or DJ show, which takes place on Friday evening. By the way, I still work as a DJ, although not as much as before, and my main activity that also emotionally fills me the most is scouting for the ESC. It starts every year in parallel to the ESC in May. While the song competition is running, I'm preparing the next year.
Q:
How did you come to this task? You're doing that since 2016 as far as I know.
Eberhard Forcher:
I am already doing this for the fourth year.. Actually, I tried to get involved the year before, because of some other activity that I am doing, I run a YouTube Channel called Austrozone in service of the Austrian music scene. There I present 5 new Austrian acts every week and due to this activity I'm pretending to know what is good in Austria and what is less good. Because of that, I got involved as a contributer of the NF [2015], that year it was a three-part [televised] national final, but that was in the hands of others, so to speak. At that time, the Makemakes won. After the Makemakes had only a manageable success...
Q:
..undeserved.
Eberhard Forcher:
Yes, of course, but in the end that was zero points, nobody understood that, but from the start I was not sure if the right song selection was done. I stand firmly behind the performers, but in my opinion the song was too boring and too retro. But tastes are different, on the radio the song worked well. Was probably also a bit owned by the staging, that was unfortunate too.
Q:
The burning piano ..
Eberhard Forcher:
Yes, but that's just too little.
Q:
What makes the perfect song at the Song Contest?
Eberhard Forcher laughs:
Yes, if we knew that, we would at least take second place almost every year, because first place is not so much desired, at least not every year. Although I have to say, our goal is to win. Marcel Hirscher is not at the start and says Top 5 is fine, he also wants to win every time. But if there was such a recipe, everyone would want it, but it does not exist.
It is different every year, the environment, the context is different. If you dotted two years ago with songs that included voice samples, then that's extremely boring today. Anyone who comes up with something like this will not be successful this year, depends on how it's done, it was then again innovative with Netta.
It's difficult every year, every year I rack my brain in which direction I have to look. In the beginning I have some acts in mind, I try to contact them, then there is the first conversation in which you find out if the interest of the artist is so great that you can build on it, or is it "Good, we will see.. " then it is not interesting for us, because I am personally work only with people who are burning for this topic, where I know that there is one hundred percent effort behind it. This can already be seen in the first conversation.
If you want to work with the artist, then there is a conversation about what is required there. A normal artist does not know, only 3 minutes. A song contest song is different from a typical radio song. The typical radio song is not very successful at the ESC. There are exceptions, for example Frans back then, that was a typical radio song.
Q:
He did not win ..
EF:
He did not win, but he was in the top 5, I think.
Q:
Yes, he has won commercially.
EF:
I come from the radio, and I wish that the number on the radio works properly. That has been very successful so far. Whether this will be this year? That remains to be seen.
Q:
I'm always allowed to be in this panel too, I'm allowed to listen in advance, it's always an exciting process. There are some experts that you know have a bit of musical knowledge or they understand the competition, that's not unimportant. You also deliberately seek the opinion of others, right?
EF:
Of course it is so, if you dive so deeply into the matter from May to December, also emotionally, because with each of the acts, with which I work, I develop a relationship. They all grow in my heart. And finally it is hard for me to distinguish what is musically closer to me and what will be successful. Therefore, it is extremely important for me to catch up with as many well-founded opinions as possible, so that we are safer in our assessment. So far, the opinion of the panel of experts - ten to fifteen people, this year it were even about twenty - was always congruent with our assessment. This year, it was also ultimately that a large part of the experts were on our side, although this year it was more difficult.
I have to say that Austria will start this year with an artist and a song, that will polarize.
Q:
That's good for the ESC.
EF:
That's good, and I'm happy, we've always been looking for something extraordinary in recent years, in addition to the fact that I always look to find something that also works on the radio. My biggest wish was always to find something extraordinary, one sees that again and again at the ESC, that is very difficult, our music scene is not big enough for that. And the most extraordinary ones are often not interested in the ESC.
Thus, the selection is reduced to those who are generally interested in this topic. PÆNDA is an artist who brings an artistic legend. She brings a very clear musical point of view, which often leads to conflicts in the cooperation, because she knows exactly what she wants. We, who have been working in the ESC context for some time, know a few things that may not be that favorable in the ESC context. And there were conflicts, so to speak, but conflicts are there to be solved. We deliberately start with a song where some people will shake their heads, especially if you know her previous songs ....
Q:
You know, I love the song. I also spoke in favor of it.
But it is not ... It is a courageous contribution.
EF:
It's true, we internally hoped that we could bring about an upgrade, so to speak, that only happened in homeopathic doses.
That was the wish of the artist. And we said from the beginning that we would not talk her out of it.
The story is quite funny as it has come this year.
She originally started with another song. But it was not finished, there was no chorus. There was a desire to have a chorus and an upgrade at all. Weeks later came the upgrade and it had not actually won, actually almost lost.
So PÆNDA was already out there. She was than no longer an issue. Than I remembered that she was working on an album and maybe there is something that we like from the beginning so much that we do not have to intervene in the song. That's sometimes a bad idea because either it's good or it's not good. When there are five additional people revamping it...
Then I listened to the album, which is sensational, an electro pop album with lots of cool sounds. But this is not really ESC compatible, because there are insanely long instrumental passages, you can not implement that for the ESC. And then there was a number, it broke out, it did not fit the rest at all. That's why it will be very surprising for some, who know her previous songs, because they will say that's very different from what we know about her.
But that was the exciting thing for me. It's a song that's totally true in itself , and that's why it's now in the running in the same fashion as it was submitted to us.
Q:
Would Pænda get away with it in a NF?
EF:
The question does not arise, because we have no televised NF.
Internally, it won, we also had some very good competitors in the game. But because it was so different, that's why it was so appealing to us. It is, I think, a very touching song. It's like a mantra to me. It pulls you in and won't let you go.
The first selection are usually fifteen songs. And then there is the first editorial session and you play the songs. In this editorial session you hear the songs quite differently. You immediately recognize, but also the editors sitting around you, when a song starts to get boring. That was the same again this year. There was a co-favorite, where we thought that will be a strong competitor, and the channel manager [of ORF] Lisa Totzauer became totally restless at the second chorus, just like me, when it gets boring that is a sign, we should not choose that one.
I am primarily responsible for the music. At the first talks with Marvin Dietmann who makes the stage production, I'm still there. How do you stage this, how should the light be, what should the camera capture, that's very exciting, but I'm primarily responsible for the music.
Q:
I'm afraid we have to talk about it, the elephant in the room. There are other talented female musicians who have done a different project and have been very busy promoting to go to the ESC. How should we deal with Hyäne Fischer now?
EF:
Look, basically I have to say that we were for Pænda and not against Hyäne Fischer. Hyäne Fischer came to me as part of my work with the Austrozone and I also presented the video, also with the hint that I am thrilled about how they have managed to create this hype. Because the set-up was quite good. I also mentioned that it will be musically difficult. Musically, I think the title is not strong enough for the ESC. That was not my sole decision, both editorial and expert panel unanimously rejected the title. Nobody saw great possibilities for the ESC. What was not very nice, but that was also part of the PR, was to put the ORF under pressure by simply postulating "We are the ESC participants for Tel Aviv". That's how it was conceived and that was weird.
The times when you were successful with gag entries are over. There was also this video, with a visual language that has caused very unpleasant thoughts. I do not think anybody in Israel understands this satire. It is sold as satire and it would be helpful when you would understand it as such. If I do not understand it as satire, I understand it as reality. That would have been a very wrong signal. But again, if the song had been good and you could have had a decent conversation, but that was very difficult too, we might have found a way. I wrote an e-mail to the manager, saying that I would like to congratulate them on the production. But no one knew, who is behind the project? I suspect that Gustav is behind it. It would be a great story to go with Gustav at the start. Someone told me that they want to go to the ESC with another song, if that's the case then we like to listen to it. I take the existing song to the editorial meeting, but with that the chances of success against the existing competition are manageable.
Than came back a mail "No, no, that's the song we compete with and blah blah blah". She did not comment on Gustav. It was a difficult story.
Q:
I would have found it very problematic to go to Israel with an Eva Braun aesthetic. I thought it was PR technically good. Worked well in Austria, Germany and internationally, on ESC sites it was discussed, but it was also perceived as very disturbing. In the end it would have totally overlaid the music. Many fell for a satirical project, you also a bit?
EF:
My focus is always on the music. Musically, I did not think it was really exciting. For my part, I have finished with that and it has no value to talk about it, the decision has been made. If you participate in a selection process, you have to expect that there is a winner and others who do not win. That's how it is. And there were others there too, we had sensational artists at the start, some were just one step too avant-garde and the others too conventional.
Q:
What is the biggest difference when making a NF on TV or choosing internally?
EF:
For one, it's harder for the TV show to find acts that want to get involved. Many acts do not want to participate because they say, I do not want to lose in public. That was also the case at the NF [2016] I did, where I found at least ten candidates, and I think that was a show on a very high level. It was difficult enough to find these 10 candidates and the corresponding songs. But I was successful at that time, with a lot, lot of effort. But the fact is, there are 5 where you know right away they are not fit for the ESC, but they have at least a bigger audience where they can present themselves, and some of them used that quite well. But then you have to divide your focus to 10 acts. I drove from one studio to the other and at some point that will overwhelm you. There are a few things that did not work out as well as I imagined, and there are some things that I would do quite differently today. It is also due to the fact that you have to look after 10 acts at the same time. From this point of view, I prefer the internal method, because I can focus on where I actually see the biggest opportunity. If the ORF decided to make an NF again I would be available. But I'm not unhappy with the internal method.
Because it's also ultimately a game of chance, if you let the audience decide, then something can come out of it that could make it hard for you to live with it.
We agree with most artists that we do not communicate that they were in this internal preliminary round. We've kept that up to now. It's true that many of the acts that were in the preliminary round and did not make it to the ESC then did quite well on the radio with the titles that were in the pitch, or attracted attention with the title, without that someone knew that it was in the ESC pitch. This year I have again two such cases that were in the pitch, have not prevailed and now just do pretty well.
Q:
Have you been to an ESC before or the first time in 2016?
EF:
When the ESC was in Vienna, I somehow managed not to get any tickets, at least where I had time.
Q:
You are from the ORF and could not get tickets?
EF:
No.
Q:
Look!
EF:
I then watched the semi-final on Rathausplatz at the public viewing. It was raining and it was a shitty weather and it was so cool, it was such a great mood, there were people from all over the world, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Italians, Swedes.
And everyone got into conversation, there I was sucked into the ESC world. I did not even notice that it was raining or that it was cold. Since than I thought, that's something especially cool. Then came the invitation the following year to do the scouting, then I was in Stockholm, at the semifinals I was allowed to sit in the Green Room, a very special experience. But by now I'm always in the audience and feverishly there and that's an emotional rollercoaster ride for me, that's amazing.
These four days of the decision -this year only two days in the best case, because we are stupidly in the second semifinal, which is not so great for me, I would rather be in the first semifinal, because if we should make it to the final, then you can celebrate afterwards and then refocus. If you make the final on Thursday there is no time to celebrate, because you're back in the hall all day on Friday. I am so completely euphoric and trembling all over. Then the announcment who is in the final, and we were twice called last, you throw away your nerves, you are completely devastated. So the two times where we were called last, last year we were the first, that's nerve racking.
Q:
How was it in Lisbon when it rained twelve points?
EF:
We could not believe it, it was so unbelievable, Julian le Play and musicians from his band sat around us, and Kathi Zechner was also with us.
In the front of us, I think, were the Danes and behind us Spaniards, after the third twelve points they joined us and cheered on every following twelve points with us. Kathi Zechner [ORF Program Director] crawled on the ground...
Q:
Was she afraid that we could win?
EF:
No, no, she was only in joy. We knew that the audience is always difficult for us ...
Q:
But with Zoë it was the other way around?
EF:
With Zoë, it was the other way around, that's right.
On the other hand, she [Kathrin Zechner] was a bit releaved, I believe that a second time after such a short time it would have been difficult if you are thinking of the budgetary situation of the ORF.
Q:
The City of Vienna is planning an event hall which will open in 2024 with the capacity of 20,000 people, would be a nice start?
EF:
Then we have to focus on that.
Q:
We have to win in 2023.
EF:
Exactly!
) and being Austrian citizens, we let it grow and didn't dismiss it after listening to it only once or twice. 
Even my grandma voted for him (or against Monika Marija, more likely:twisted
