Age is just a number and there is no clear definition of being what is an adult and every person is different. We can’t define it, so everybody is looking for their own answers in life. 14 is a sensitive age. It’s when you start thinking about your own future, so we wanted to make a series of age 14. After the Tokyo and New York issue, we selected 15 people in Berlin who have very diverse background, different ages and professions for 14 Issue in Berlin.
After three hight-school students, the forth interview is Martin from online culture magazine “Gusto – Ablass für Massenkultur (GUSTO)”. He’s into guitar rock music and journalism since his childhood. Now he is based in Dresden / Berlin and presents a new style of media today.
—Hey Martin! Please introduce yourself at first.
Martin: I’m Martin from the online magazine “GUSTO”. I’m a journalist and interviewer in the fields of mainly pop culture and alternative guitar rock music as well as theater and literature.
—Could you tell us about yourself when you were 14 years old?
Martin: I was a bit angry in those days because the small village in East Germany where I lived had a problem with the far right, even Nazis. Also I felt people didn’t understand me at school and most of them didn’t like me, but I didn’t like them too. I had two good friends in my village. Besides, I already knew Adam from the school who works together with me on “GUSTO” today.
—What did you do in those days?
—What did you think about at age 14?
—Please tell us your most memorable moment at age 14?
Martin: My first experience of drinking alcohol. I really drank only 2 beers because I was still young and extremely lightweight. At that time, puberty was still far away for me. I put around 40 kilos on the scale back then, haha! My mother is very strict and hates alcohol, so I secretly drank with my friends on the weekend. Anyways I think I never got drunk like this one time, it was horrible and great. Something about the feeling has charmed me.
—What did you want to do when you were14 years old?
Martin: I wanted to be a politician, Chancellor actually. I’m very interested in politics because of the Nazi problems in my village. II often read the German newspaper “ZEIT” especially articles about politics and culture. That’s why I wanted to be a politic journalist too. My interests shifted from politics to culture between the age of 14 to 18. However I was very into politics in those days.
—I see. How did you start “GUSTO”?
Martin: In January 2018 Adam had a university project and asked me to work on it together because he would like to do it outside of university. After that Noel Richter, who’s a photographer joined and we officially started “GUSTO”.
—I think ”GUSTO” focuses on video rather than text. Why you do especially do video interviews?
Martin: I like the camera and want to be in front of it and see myself in the videos, haha! Anyway I like video interviews more than just written interviews because I wanna see the interviewee. We need to do something new and different from the other media. There are so many media which feature only text interviews.
—You feature many artists. How did you make a network around “GUSTO”?
Martin: Luckily since the beginning there were a lot of people who liked us. For example Isolation Berlin, who were the only band I already knew before we started “GUSTO”, then Dagobert, Drangsal etc… They gave us their contacts and we started interviewing them. Our network is growing quite fast. We have a different content, so many artists believe that we have a great future ahead of us.
—However what is the meaning of “GUSTO”?
Martin: It means “taste” in Italian. It doesn’t have any special meaning, but I like the sound.
—What good and bad things have happened to you since you started “GUSTO”?
Martin: I can learn a lot of things from new people and friends, which is good. Also I can do what I want really because we started it by ourselves. On the other side, it’s really stressful. I often have to move between Berlin and Dresden where I live. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult, but I like my work.
—Have you ever work as a journalist at company or magazine?
Martin: Yes. I worked as an intern at “DRESDNER Kulturmagazin” for a half year. I did interviews with musicians, artists and so on. It was a really great time too – these were old-school cultural journalists who smoked all day and came and went when they wanted. Lovely local journalists, greetings to Heinz and Jana! I started “GUSTO” after that. Before this internship, I studied philosophy and sociology at university for two years, but stopped eventually.
—It sounds like you are making your next step now. What inspired you at age 14?
Martin: I liked The Libertines. My favorite album was their 1st “Up the Bracket (2002)”, but my favorite song is “Music When The Lights Go Out (2004)” from their 2nd album. I often listened to them on CD. Adam gave me a big musical input, which in turn was influenced by his father. I also really liked to watch the German TV station “ARTE”. They have great art and culture programs and Independent art-house films or classics like the old movies with Audrey Hepburn and stuff. Music as well. As I told you I lived in a small village in East Germany, so it was important to me to watcht his stuff and get some input from the outside world.
—Do you have any message to the people who are 14 years old?
Martin: Alles wird gut (Everything gonna be fine). It’s a part of the lyric of “Lisa (2014)” by Isolation Berlin. I didn’t listen to it when I was 14, but it’s my message to the youth of today.
—Do you have any advices you would give to youngsters who want to start their own media?
Martin: You need something that is different from other magazines. You need something special and have to be special yourself. Be polite to the people, but don’ be too polite. It’s important.
—Do you have any upcoming news that you want to share to the readers?
Martin: I’m planning a talk show called “GUSTO SALON”. It’s supposed to be very classic in the style and aesthetic of the 1920’s. Also we plan to do a GUSTO summer or winter festival next year. Please check our website and Instagram!
photography Tereza Mundilová
text Yukiko Yamane
Gusto – Ablass für Massenkultur
www.gustoonline.de
@gustoablassfuermassenkultur：https://www.instagram.com/gustoablassfuermassenkultur/
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