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You can choose to have one -- and only one -- super power. Other than gaining that power, you remain exactly the same as you are now. What super power would you pick, and why?
Ludo Maas: I would like to be unbreakable. Then I could always go touring.
What was your favorite day job, and why? If you hated them all, what was the best (meaning most interesting) way you ever quit a job?
Ludo Maas: I only had one day job in my life and I still have it. I bring the mail around. Well, I am lying...cause it's not the normal mail, no, it's the commercial unaddressed mailings everyone hates! And it's very cool to do 'cause you get to visit interesting ghettos I never knew existed in my town and talk to lots of old folks.
We've all heard variations on the phrase "there are two kinds of people in the world... Those who (do or think something) and those who (do or think something else)". What are the two kinds of people in the world for you?
Ludo Maas: The people who know and dig Nick Drake and the people who never heard of him.
If money/ambition/significant others/et cetera were all non-issues, where would you choose to live and why?
Ludo Maas: I guess I would still be at the same place -- Breda, the Netherlands.
You've been given the money and resources to produce a movie biography of the most significant, influential person in your life. Who's it about, what's the story, and who plays the central character?
Ludo Maas: It would be about my mother and her struggle to get me of my lazy ass. The central character would be played by Marijn Melis, a local actress with some fame.. Wait.. That's my mother!
Summarize your driving ability in 25 words or less.
Ludo Maas: Oh god I hate cars, give me a bike quick!
What is the function of your music in a capitalist society?
Ludo Maas: People listen to forgot that it's all about money, money, money.
You've just entered a contest in which the prize is an MP3 player loaded with the complete, exhaustive recorded output of any artist you choose. You win. Who do you choose?
Ludo Maas: Van Morrison.
What are you carrying on your person -- in your pockets, purse, et cetera -- right now?
Ludo Maas: My lucky stone, green and it's more like a broken marble. I traded it with some loser in the school before high school.. I gave him an old coin. He probably sold it for lots of bucks but I've had luck since... At least I hope so. Some other grey lucky stone which isn't working yet. My key to the house with attached a Dexter's lab plastic thing. And some paper handkerchiefs.
You're on tour, you're in an unfamiliar city, you haven't eaten in 24 hours, and due to some poor financial decisions, you have only a single unit of the local currency -- one dollar, one pound, or thereabouts. What do you eat?
Ludo Maas: I guess some potato chips.
What was the last song you danced to? Who, if anyone, did you dance with?
Ludo Maas: Probably that new Phoenix single, ermm, what's it called... It's on their Alphabetical album, that's for sure.
When did you last make a mountain out of a molehill?
Ludo Maas: I live in the Netherlands, this is a land of stone.
Post-Schwarzenegger, are there any high-profile people you'd like to see run for governor or other high office? Who and why?
Ludo Maas: Michael Moore should run for president, that would be funny. Not that the guy isn't irritating.
Apart from cheeseburgers, what is the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast?
Ludo Maas: Boterhammen!
You receive a series of e-mails stating that Grace Jones, Junior Brown, Missy Elliott, Ian Mackaye and Philip Glass are interested in a collaboration. How do you respond to each request?
Ludo Maas: Who the fuck is: Grace Jones, Junior Brown, Ian Mackaye. Missy Elliot: please keep working with Timbaland, I can't make beats.
Philip Glass: would be cool to work with you Mr. Glass... come fly over to the Netherlands.
Have you ever seen a ghost? Or a dead body? Tell us about it.
Ludo Maas: Never seen a ghost. I think most of us have seen a dead body. I saw the body of my grandfather. It looked pretty serene.
Everyone can do at least a couple of decent imitations -- of celebrities, maybe, or associates, friends and family. Who can you "do"?
Ludo Maas: I can do great imitations of Toad, that mushroom guy in the Mario games. Especially Gamecube's Mario Kart: Ooooooh.
What was the last book you read and hated? Why did you hate it?
Ludo Maas: I only read good books.
Let's assume that God is a DJ. What's on his playlist right now?
Ludo Maas: Probably Brian's "Teenage Symphony to God".
Who was your favourite teacher in high school? Why?
Ludo Maas: I don't know. I am so friendly, I liked all or most.
What is your favorite Meg Ryan movie?
Ludo Maas: I know who she is, but I can't remember seeing a whole Meg movie from beginning to end.
What is your favorite "comfort food" when you're on tour?
Ludo Maas: I never feel at comfort on tour, no matter what I eat!
Tell us about the least likely place you ever sent a CD/demo. Why did you send it? What happened?
Ludo Maas: Warp Records. Nothing happened. I should've known.
What essential item are you most likely to leave at home when you're heading out on tour? What do you do about it?
Ludo Maas: Probably my health so I could return and collect it there and have a nice holiday at home.
Aliens have just landed, and you get to select the Earth's goodwill ambassador. Who do you pick, and why?
Ludo Maas: Harry Potter, he could do some nice magic tricks to impress them.
You wake up one morning and discover that you have dolphin telepathy. What do you do with it?
Ludo Maas: Start playing Ecco the Dolphin on Sega Genesis. Now I would finally have no problem finishing the game!
You've just been hit in the face with a large chocolate cream pie. How do you react?
Ludo Maas: I thought pies were always thrown by left-anarchists. I would scream: bastards, I am on your side!
Assuming that you must choose one, which would you rather listen to for an hour: Christian rock, mainstream country or Jessica Simpson?
Ludo Maas: Jessica Simpson!!!!! She's cute and I like that MTV series Newlyweds.
What's the deal with those damn raccoons?
Ludo Maas: They just need a bath.
Where do you think Osama Bin Laden is hiding and what would it take to get him to come out?
Ludo Maas: On the toilet on a lonely island. USA should invent dinos and they would kill him, like in Jurassic Park.
You're sitting in a pub when an errant dart from the games area strikes you in the leg. With the dart pointing out of your body, do you pull it out, shout for help or attack the jackass who hit you?
Ludo Maas: Shouts: Oneeeee-Hundreeeed and Eeeeeeeeeighty.
What would you consider to be the worst fate imaginable for your music,and which contemporary artist would you most wish this terrible end upon?
Ludo Maas: That it would be given away in an empty-the-garage kind of action. I would like this to happen to the worst of all bands: Live.
What is sexy?
Ludo Maas: Baltic girls.
Which reality TV game show could you see yourself as a winning contestant on? Explain.
Ludo Maas: Probably Idols, with my great vocal skill and the low level of the rest of the Netherlands.
What is the strangest thing you've ever had for breakfast?
Ludo Maas: Pizza.
Which non-music related product (i.e. -- no instruments, microphones, etc.) would you most like to be a celebrity spokesperson for?
Ludo Maas: I could be in a promo campaign to encourage kids to go to the library.
Describe the skankiest, sketchiest place -- whether it's someone's home or a hotel/motel room -- that you've stayed in while on tour.
Ludo Maas: The back room at the local spaceship, I mean concert hall, called Mezz.
If you had an army of super-intelligent lab mice to do your bidding, what evil deeds would you have them do?
Ludo Maas: Kidnap all the Baltic girls and bring 'em to me.
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Like many of his generation, Multi-Panel's Ludo Maas has grown up as an interface between the analog and digital worlds, dividing his time between soccer and video games, between solitary thought and outward explorations into musical expression. His first memories of music include dancing to Queen on his parents' coffee table and feeling scared for Courtney Cox in Bruce Springsteen’s "Dancing in the Dark" video as she was "randomly" pulled onstage. He continued his interest in music later on, taking a course that introduced him to a variety of instruments through basic lessons. But instead of emphasizing the exhaustive mastery of a particular instrument, the course emphasized exposure to as many sounds and ideas as possible. To this day, Multi-Panel will select an instrument, as opposed to a sample, and master that instrument if only for the context of a single phrase in a single song.
-- George Zahora
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