Glazed Curtains Interview: “That One ‘Fuck You’ Just Had to Happen.”

THE UNSEEN met indie-rock band Glazed Curtains a few hours before doors opened for their Frankfurt tour stop. When our interviewer Mäx sat down with them backstage, one thing became immediately clear: there's something beautifully contradictory about this band. Their music hits hard, is emotionally intense and sonically explosive, yet the four-piece band from Austria radiates warmth, dry humor, and a rare sense of grounded authenticity.

Between jokes about donut-inspired band names, wallpaper struggles, and surprisingly honest reflections on politics, mental health, and creative processes, Glazed Curtains proved that behind the rock sound lies intention and behind the intensity are a lot of emotions.

I'd describe your music as mentally intense, but full of bangers and rock chords, with themes like mental health, relationships, and emotional rawness. If you had to describe your music in three words, what would they be?

Konsti: Wow. That was actually really good. laughs, I'm kind of lost for words now.

Matei: Can you send that to us? That's a solid press text.

Sulzi: Yeah, that's actually great.

Konsti: I'd say honest, down-to-earth...

Sulzi: …emotional.

Konsti: You already said that, so it captures everything pretty well.

Sulzi: I think there's unfortunately nothing more to add. That was already way too good. laughs

Your band name is also very original. How did the name Glazed Curtains come about? Is there any meaning behind it?

Matei: Well, I worked at Dunkin' Donuts before, and then I threw a donut against the curtain and was like, "Hmm… Glazed Curtains."

Sulzi: I like it. That's a good Story.

Konsti: Totally - That's our new name story. Actually, it was a bit mistranslated at first. Originally, we meant something like "glass" or "transparent curtains," which doesn't really make sense, because curtains are meant so you can't see through them. We basically mistranslated the original intention.

Jay: The important thing is that when you Google it, there's nothing else with that name. No company, nothing.

Konsti: Yeah, you either find us or you find the curtains.

Jay: ...or donuts.

Konsti: I might stick with the Dunkin' Donuts story. I think it's great. Dunkin' Donuts, sponsor us.

Sulzi: Please sponsor us, Dunkin' Donuts.

Matei: We're still looking for a more exciting story. We talked to our cameraman, Emil. He said we should come up with something more exciting. So we'll try the Dunkin' Donuts one and see how it goes.

Mäx: Maybe that'll just become the official fan lore.

Jay: Every few years, we'll just change the story.

Matei: Maybe THE UNSEEN Magazine readers have a lore idea we can steal. That would be cool.

How did you guys actually come together as a band? Did you know each other before?

Sulzi: Konsti and I have known each other since the first year of Austrian Middle School. So we've known each other for 18 years, since we were ten. Then I met Matej during my audio engineering studies, and he already knew Jay from school.

So basically, two best friends met two best friends, and it was kind of a match made in heaven. Everyone got along really well.

Wow, and you were all musically talented as you met?

Sulzi: Officially, yes. That's how we tell the story. laughs

Do you have different roles in the band - personality-wise or musically?

Konsti: Definitely. We're all very different personalities. But there are things that connect us musically and personally.

Sulzi: I think what really connects us is that we all like to laugh.

Matei: Speak for yourself, dude. I'm here because it's sad all the time.

Jay: Being in a band is kind of like running a company and you need to split up the different tasks that exist. It's not just songwriting - someone does social media, the website, someone handles booking, someone works on live production ideas. I think everyone has found their role, and it works pretty well.

If you compare your first release, "while the world fades.," with your newer songs or your recent album, "Claustrophobia," has your sound changed?

Sulzi: Definitely.

Konsti: Absolutely. We basically handled "While the World Fades" ourselves — Sulzi did most of the production. Sound-wise, it's definitely something completely different.

Sulzi: I wouldn't even call that real production — I just recorded it. Since "Claustrophobia," I'd say we've moved in a direction where we can really say we've started producing properly, especially with Matej co-producing. Our sound became much more defined after "While the World Fades." That song was quite heavy. We wrote it right after the terrorist attack in Vienna, basically within one night. It's just a very emotionally intense song. We still deal with emotional themes, but there's more lightness than in that first release.

Konsti: Yeah, and since "Claustrophobia," the sound was more settled, and we knew more what we wanted to do, how we wanted to sound, which direction it should go; which is, of course, still developing, but yes, the sound is definitely a bit more defined now.

How would you describe your current sound?

Konsti: Modern, but somehow still this honest and down-to-earth sound — and emotional. I'm just repeating all your words now that you've mentioned them before. laughs

Let's talk about songwriting. You've released "Call It a Day" and "I Still Hate Myself (Maybe)" within the past months. What was the process behind those?

Konsti: "Call It a Day" was actually older, but it came out later. It developed over a long period. A very emotional song that accompanied us through certain phases. It needed emotional processing before we reached the final version. It wasn't really fully alive yet, but in the process and creation, "I Still Hate Myself (Maybe)" was the opposite. The chorus melody just came out of nowhere, and the lyrics were suddenly there. It was really something that came to me randomly in the moment and I just wrote it down. It was very spontaneous.

Sulzi: I honestly don't even remember writing the period of that song. It's one of those songs where I'm really blank. I have no idea when or how we did it. The idea was just there.

Konsti: The implementation was pretty straightforward. The idea just came naturally.

This actually fits perfectly with my next question. How do you know when a song is finished? Are you more of a perfectionist, or does a song come together quickly?

Sulzi: I always think about the American producer Rick Rubin. He always said, "Less is more". And I think as soon as you reach a point where you say it sounds cool, we check what we can remove or if we really need to add more. So that's more my approach. We're not overly perfectionistic. If it feels right, it's right. We already overthink enough in our private lives, so maybe not as much in songwriting.

Jay: Yeah, the question is, does it need anything more, or do you force something in? Not every song needs a guitar solo. laughs

Matei: Although everything could use one.

Jay: Everything could use one, yeah, but does it need it?

Konsti: I think there are songs where it's harder to progress. "Call It a Day," for example, was a pretty heavy birth. So, there are also songs where we say, "No, this isn't enough yet." nd right now, in our current writing process, there have been songs lately where we say, "We're not where the new sound needs to go." We're just trying to push ourselves a bit further.

Sulzi: That's true, yes. The songs that have already been released felt much easier to create, but now we also have to try to top that. I think you get overly caught up in that again, but it isn't a forced attempt; it just has to happen.

Shall we talk a bit about your last album? Lead us through from the first idea to the finished album. Were there moments when you thought, "This will never work," or was it from the beginning like, "We're fully immersed in the creative process"?

Sulzi: It actually went very smoothly and quickly. We essentially always worked in Konsti's room and just vibed. We had some really cool inspiration bands we discovered beforehand, which guided the sound in that direction. Bands like Kit Caprici were a major influence on me as a producer, especially in drum production and sound design.

Jay: I remember for the "Claustrophobia" video, Konsti had the idea of walls closing in while we stood in the room. We thought it would be easy. It wasn't. And then Schulzi and I drove to a bunch of hardware stores and carried around, I don't know how many kilos of wood.

Max: My God, that was exhausting.

Jay: We built the walls so that two could move, and in the end, I believe it was about a sixteen-square-meter room. And the funny story about it is that building everything so it moves and stuff was super easy. But the wallpapering was a pain in the ass. We were actually done building the frame at 8 pm, and then around midnight, we were only just finished, thinking we could chill at home by nine.

So if you take one thing from this interview: never wallpaper anything.

Matei: If it needs wallpapering, hire us.

Max: Please don't.

Matei: Or pay us serious compensation money if we do it. laughs

Let's talk about a song on there called "AUSTRIA." It's a song that isn't necessarily in your top Spotify five, but it's one that I personally really like, and I find very socially critical, yet also melodically very nice. You're from Austria yourselves. What's behind that song, as it marked a sharper political tone and social critique?

Konsti: It reflects the political situation we're all in somehow. I think, actually, regardless of the country, it's just painful everywhere nowadays. And there are so many things that should be clarified. It's generally talked about way too little, and it was just about time to say something.

Jay: There was a particular time in Austria where it felt like there was a new scandal every few months, and then no one was talking about the previous ones; it was just so much. At some point, I thought, "Okay, what the fuck is happening right now? This can't all be true."

Sulzi: This right-wing shift is just extremely palpable.

Matei: Yes, definitely. Just in general, a lot of problems arise with money and what is being spent.

Sulzi: ...and corruption.

Jay: Yes! We literally had a golden piano in parliament that cost thousands of Euros. Stuff like that makes you go, come on.

Konsti: Totally. I mean, as I said, we're not in the worst position in Austria, I would say. There are definitely worse situations, I guess. But still, it's so important to speak up.

Sulzi: If you want to put it into perspective, it's sometimes difficult because you still find yourself in your own country, and for you, your problem feels like the worst. Even if you could objectively point out that it's not as bad compared to other countries around the world, it's still just shit. And you still have to change something because we don't want to be the country that screws up again.

And that's when you thought, because of that, you're going to make the current album a bit political with that song?

Konsti: Yes, we then wrote one or two songs, like "Austria" or "925," that address this social-critical topic more generally. It was just about time to say something.

We’re not a political band, I would say, but it was just that one "Fuck You" had to happen.

Maybe with your sound production: Do you work more alone or all together? Is it so that everyone does their instrument on a song individually, or how does it work?

Konsti: Mmm, it's actually different for each song. There are definitely sessions where we're all in the room and then songs happen. There were two or three songs on the album that came about that way. And then there are songs, I don't know, where I might have the chorus already or whatever, and we go to the studio and record the chorus and then build everything around it, and play parts and someone comes in and plays something here or there, and so it goes. It's hard to say that it's always the same.

If you had to pick one song that perfectly represents Glazed Curtains, whether from the recent releases or in general, which one would that be for each of you?

Sulzi: "Claustrophobia."

Konsti: Yeah, I would go for that too, honestly.

Jay: Either "Claustrophobia" or "Freaks." The first song has these quiet, dreamy parts as well as the heavy choruses. So the fluctuations that "Claustrophobia" has are everything, and they describe us well.

Right now, we're just before the Frankfurt concert, is there a song of yours that has surprised you a lot during the tour, maybe with your fans energy?

Konsti: The new unreleased song surprised us since we played it for the first time recently. It was like a try-out, but it was super cool.

Sulzi: They definitely gave us good energy back from it, despite the fact that no one obviously knows it.

Konsti: Totally. I find it surprising because "925" usually goes very well live. I mean, not so surprising, because it's already an energetic song, but it's just cool to see.

Matei: Also, it's crazy to hear people in Germany suddenly sing our lyrics back to us. It's a great feeling.

You probably gained some listeners in Germany throughout last year's support tours, like with The Haunt.

Sulzi: Absolutely, and to be honest, Leap gave us a huge push. Shout out to Leap. Thanks for taking us out.

(All in unison: Shout out to Leap)

Were you ever in Germany on Tour before?

We had played Germany once before, briefly, even before the Leap support shows. I think we had six headlining shows, and they flowed together pretty well. It was a cool experience, all in all. But it's crazy to see the jump from back then, the headlining tour, how many tickets were sold, and now, thank God, it's much better than before. This is still the second headlining tour in Germany we've ever done.

Konsti: It's cool to see that the family is growing.

Sulzi: The fam.

Maybe this fits in there: I've read that you call your fans "Freaks." Is that true?

Konsti: Yeah, because they're so weird. Just a joke - we love them.

Have there been any fan interactions, either on tour or otherwise, that you particularly enjoyed?

Jay: People always come up to us wanting us to draw tattoos for them.

Sulzi: Yeah, totally. And I somewhat feel sorry for them if they actually do it. I remember once in Salzburg, this dude came up to me and was so hyped to talk to me that he asked. As a drummer, you don't really get that as much. But he was actually so hyped. I think I drew him the crappiest tattoo in the world. It was a dude with a hoodie and a joint in his mouth. I hope for him that he didn't go through with it, because that was after at least four beers.

Konsti: If you did, you're a legend.

Sulzi: Yeah, you're a legend if you went through with it. Please tag us if you did it. And if not, congrats.

So tattoos are already quite something. Otherwise, maybe: Are there any funny memories you've had either on stage or while touring on your recent tours?

Jay: We once entered the wrong Airbnb in Bremen. Six guys with suitcases walked into an old lady's house. Wrong address.

Good question. We were looking for our Airbnb in Bremen, and somehow we were told it was a house with a parking lot. Well... and there was a house and a parking lot, and we were like, great. However, we had the wrong address.

Exactly, we thought, "Wow, right address, let's go up." There was this elderly woman upstairs, a bit frightened, logically, because six people barged into her home with suitcases all at once. "We're occupying the house in this direction." "We're really sorry." No one was briefed either. We suddenly found ourselves in the wrong house. She didn't seem to like it.

Sulzi: This granny looked at us with a look I will never forget. I felt like, within five minutes, all of Bremen knew. Her son was also there and seriously chewed out our manager, Branko. I completely understand, but yeah, it wasn't really his fault. If you get the wrong address, that's just bad luck.

Matei: Yeah, six dudes in leather jackets storming into your house is not a good look.

Sulzi: I think her son also owned a towing company. So he wanted to tow our car. So that was good. Otherwise, I would say nothing can really top that story.

But other than that, every tour memory I have was always somehow nice, except for when I was sick. That wasn't so great. But otherwise? Really, it's always incredibly nice. Good times, hey.

You've now started the new year super energetically with your new tour. What's next for you? Is there any new music you can tease, or anything fans can look forward to?

Sulzi: Yes, we're teasing our new song "Fade Away" on the current tour. It's finished, we just don't know the official release date yet.

Konsti: Totally, there's definitely new material coming. And a lot is currently in development and in the production process, and new music will come out soon, and generally, new stuff, good stuff. Possibly a bigger tour at the end of the year. Maybe we'll also venture into other waters.

Do you also do festivals, or is that something you haven't done yet?

Sulzi: That will definitely be happening this summer as well. We have a festival booked in Hungary where we are headlining. But maybe something else is already booked, and our Manager, Branko, will give me a metaphorical beating for messing it up and not remembering. Just follow us on Instagram, you'll see it there.

Matei: That's where I get my information, too.

So to wrap up a bit: what do you wish that your fans, or those who will become fans after the interview, think or feel when they hear your music?

Konsti: That's a really good question. I think, for me, what is generally about making music, I find the most beautiful thing is the feelings that I experience when I hear music, when someone else tells me that, saying, "I felt that after listening to the song or it gave me this or that, or it saved my life," or felt like it was so good. That's just honestly the most beautiful thing someone can say.

Sulzi: Yes, exactly; it's about feeling what you feel in the music and reflecting that back.

Konsti: Especially the emotions you put into it and the emotions you also receive back when you're a musician.

Sulzi: A while ago, before we even dropped the first album. We've got a message about a song called "Mother." It said that it was the breakup song from him and his girl, and that it helped him a lot. That kind of thing is just incredibly beautiful to hear. Even if it's a shitty situation he found himself in, if this song helped him a bit, it's extremely valuable.

Konsti: I also find it crazy how you can essentially give something like that to total strangers. Even if, in the end, it's the person themselves who makes the change and just uses it as a form of empowerment, it's simply a crazy thing to think about. But also just super beautiful. So, I appreciate it.

One last question: We have a Spotify Artist Recommendation Playlist, and it's always the people we interview who say their favorite songs. So you can drop one or two songs if you like. They'll go on our playlist and, of course, be recommendations for the people who are listening.

Max: I'm diving straight into my Spotify now.

Jay: Right now, I'm listening to a lot of Manchester Orchestra. They're more of an indie band. A good band. Quite serious songwriting, actually. I don't know, to be honest. You can listen through their entire discography, but "The Wolf," I think, would be my current favorite.

Matei: I'm doing a bit of shameless self-promotion here. I also have a little solo project that I did with my girlfriend; she has a band too, and we released an EP together. The new song "Sorry Mom" by Pure Chlorine & The HRTBRK is one for everyone who likes Glazed Curtains. It's a bit rockin', a bit fun. But yes, I would throw that in there.

Konsti: I'd say Wunder Horse, "Purple," for sure. Okay, then I have to check again. That's one of my favorite songs. And another song I'm currently listening to, which gives me a lot of emotional support right now, is a bit calmer but pleasant: Sun Kil Moon's "Carry Me, Ohio." That's a beautiful song.

Sulzi: I actually like "Dye" by Bad Flower quite a bit. Fuck, after some worries, I have to say, it's right there in my eye. That one's not so nice. It's more about a message to Trump. It's more about Trump and the political situation, but yeah. Badflower, "Dye."

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