Federal Republic was a great production, it was at this point that I joined forces with MICHAEL SONNEN, then a young assistant studio technician/engineer. Michael had this band (Federal Republic) together with his mates Yusef and Sofija, and although a bit rough I felt there were some good ideas there. It was obvious that Michael had real talent as an engineer having been trained by Kappi (Ralf Kappmeier) and although lacking in confidence and reference points, all he needed was encouragement and the input of ideas. This Federal Republic album that we recorded together was something really special dark, original and emotionally powerful, as the tracks featured here show. Michael and I became good friends and worked together for quite some time, he was a nice young guy and a very fast learner, and his engineering and musical talents were the perfect and almost inspired combination for my production ideas.