News Mainz | "Mir Meenzer stehn zusamme, it will all be fine again". Andreas Bockius and Matthias Bockius want to convey this message together as the carnival group "Dobbelbock. Boost your City performed this Sunday (7. February 2021) talked with Matthias Bockius about the new song.
Normality and a good feeling for people
In autumn, many Lenten elders thought about what they could do in the current difficult time and whether to do anything at all. "Many have decided not to do anything at all. But we did not want that. It was clear to us pretty quickly that we would do a song anyway, even if there would be no performances for the time being.", explains Bockius. With it, the two wanted to maintain some normality even in these difficult times and, of course, give people a good feeling.
In October, the two brothers started working on the song together with a mutual friend. The chorus was written within half an hour, reports Matthias Bockius. The production and the recordings were more complicated than that. Contact restrictions have not made the job easy, but not impossible either. Most of it went through WhatsApp or the phone. "Even if you’re running a bit on the back burner, you shouldn’t let it show on the product, of course. That’s why everything took a little longer. The song, as it is now and where we said now we like it 100 percent was ready about two weeks ago.", reports the Fastenachter. Out came the song "All is well again" by Dobbelbock. In total, about 10 people were involved in the production of the song and the video. These were Matthias Bockius and his brother Andreas as well as their mutual friend and the producer. In addition, there were six people who sang along with the choir.
Performance of Dobbelbock from the time before Corona | Photo: Ralf Trabold
It is more work and you get less back
The production of the song was more work than it usually is, he said. But there was one more downer for the artists. Due to the performances that could not take place, they also miss the real feeling of the Meenzer Fastnacht. In the past few years, there have been a total of about 40 to 50 performances where the brothers were present. This year due to Corona not a single one. "Normally it is so that you put a lot of work into it. But when performing in front of thousands of people or even at smaller gigs, you get so much back from the audience. That was not possible this year and that is a great pity and of course missing," says Bockius.
A small consolation was the streaming of the Gonsenheimer Carnevalverein (GCV) this Saturday evening (06.02.2021), where also the song of Dobbelbock was presented. For the video that was shown there, the two brothers performed on the empty stage in the castle in Mainz. Of course, this was something completely different than performing in front of an audience, but it still gave them a great feeling to be able to perform again after such a long time, reports the carnival rider. After the Streamung the two brothers received much resonance of the virtual public. "To hear that people liked it was of course great for us. Even if we didn’t get the direct feedback we did during the live performances, we were pleased to hear that the song was so well received. There were also many emotional messages, that is of course super. So you can see that the goal of pleasing people has worked", says Bockius.
Performance of Dobbelbock from the time before Corona [photo: Ralf Trabold
More about Dobbelbock
Ever since they were kids, these two brothers have been real Lenten eights. We were then active in the Frei-Weinheim carnival association. "In 2011, we then appeared for the first time in pairs with music and lectures. The first songs were still re-purposed cover songs. This is how things have evolved over the years and we have come to the Mainz Prince’s Guard. They let us then also the first time on a larger stage. After all, this is how we came to the GCV and grew in the Meenzer Fastnacht. From time to time we are also on the road with the Rot Rock Rappers.", says Bockius.