Name: Anett Ecklebe aka Toni Kater
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: German
Current release: Toni Kater's new album Jemals is out November 15th 2024 via her very own Toni Kater Records.
Recommendations: Book: Balzac: Verlorene Illusionen; Art: Christian Lemmerz: Adam Kadmon, SMK, Kopenhagen

If you enjoyed this Toni Kater interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, and current live dates, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, and Facebook.



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start writing?

When I was a child I wrote animal stories and animal poems. I can't remember, if there was a connection between music and writing. I wasn't really interested in song lyrics because I grew up with classical and baroque music.

This changed when I got in touch with Suzanne Vega's self-titled debut …



… and Songs for Drella by Lou Reed and John Cale.



Maybe this was the moment I realized, that there are precious messages inside the songs.

It is sometimes said that “music begins where words end.” What do you make of that?

I don't see it that way. I always start with music, because I have no words. Mostly I find my words because of the mood the music creates.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to writing?

In writing, I can create a parallel universe, walk in it, claim things, invent things.

I try to transform things that scare me and that I can't explain into something artistic. It's my way of dealing with real life.

What were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely on the strength of their lyrics? What moves you in the lyrics of other artists?

As already mentioned, Suzanne Vega's debut and Songs for Drella by Cale and Reed sparked my interest in lyrics. Here I realized for the first time, that songs are not just about love and relationships. The lyrics were political, critical, socially.

I could see aspects of my own life in them. Regardless of whether or not I understood them correctly. :-)

I have always considered many forms of music to be a form of poetry as well. Where do you personally see similarities? What can music express which may be out of reach for poetry?

Music is even closer to feeling than words. It's more abstract and more direct, because everyone understands it, no matter which language you speak.

It's hard to close your mind to it.

What kind of musical settings and situations do you think are ideal for your lyrics?

Every place can be suitable for my lyrics. But I need silence and a kind of concentration to get involved with my lyrics.

When working on music, when do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

Usually I write the lyrics after I've got a musical draft. Maybe I've got an idea or some special phrases before. That's all. But it's not a must.

Sometimes it happens that I have a story, I've written down a story before.  Then I try to find a rhythm for the words and the music comes later.

Do you feel like the music triggers specific words inside you? Or is more of a feeling or a memory? Would you say there is instantly an entire idea in front of you or does the story grow as you keep listening to the music?

In my case, music triggers memories and pictures. Also atmospheres. All of this is growing, changing, moving during listening to music.

More generally, in how far can music take you to places with your writing you would possibly not have visited without it?

That's very likely.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

Maybe yes, there is a connection between my voice or better the kind of melodies I write and song lyrics. And yes, the more I think about it, the more I'm sure of it. There is a feeling for “it sounds right or good” and the opposite.

Of course I can sing someone else's song, because I make my own version of it. The words' meaning can be kind of different then. And at the same time, the foreign words can open a new, undiscoverd side of my personality as well.   

In how far are you consciously aware of the meaning of the lyrics you're writing during the creative process? Do you need to have a concrete concept or can the words take the lead?

Oh, that's totally different. In case I want to tell a certain story with a certain message, I plan my sentences, form my words and pictures.

But mostly my lyrics are created unconsciously. Often when falling asleep or during washing dishes, walking ...

What is the value of song lyrics or hip hop bars outside of the music?

It's the combination of music and lyrics, that you keep it better in mind than just the lyrics of poems or prosa.

You repeat them, because you have the music in your body, memorize them. They accompany your daily life, comment it, make it more poetic.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of poetry is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I really appreciate a great cup of tea, the ceremony of preparation. So I think, putting together a bunch of flowers or cooking a meal can be just as creative as writing a song or painting a picture. The only difference is that a poet or painter invents something intangible. They create a visible form for something abstract.

I'm a kind of dreamer, and I don’t like to express myself concretely and clearly all the time. By writing and composing I can live a double life, I can travel where ever I want, I can express my feelings on a higher level of life, beautiful and deep.