'Rockin' The World, One Beat at a Time!'

Formed in 2001, Groove Coverage is the multi-platinum Euro Dance brainchild of DJ Novus and vocalist Mell. Having sold more than 800,000 singles and albums worldwide, the album contains three Top 20 chart hits – “She,” “Runaway” and Top 10 single “The End” – as well as an explosive version of Alice Cooper’s “Poison” that is currently climbing radio charts in the U.S. In Seattle alone, “Poison” has been the #1 requested song on tastemaker KNHC for more than three weeks.

Known for arty, sexy videos with groundbreaking conceptualization, Groove Coverage’s atmospheric video for “Poison” is affecting videos shows across the country as quickly as the single is affecting radio.

In addition to the award-winning production team of Axel Konrad and Ole Wierk, Groove Coverage collaborates on the writing side with internationally recognized crossover artists such as Lou Bega (“Mambo No. 5”).

Groove Coverage have also won several Euro music awards, and have toured Europe, South America, Asia and Australia yearlong. They are now readying for their first full-scale blitz into the North American club scene.

Groove Coverage GREATEST HITS on Toucan Cove Entertainment is in stores now.

Chatting recently with both Mell and DJ Novus, I first wondered where and when the idea for Groove Coverage the band had first originated? Mell - "Groove Coverage was been founded in 2001 by our producer Axel Konrad and DJ Novus and was initially planned as a pure club act. The debut single “Are You Ready” was indeed a decent club tune. I’ve joined the act rather by coincidence and the guys recorded “Moonlight Shadow” with me and this song became our first big hit and sold over 250.000 singles (gold) in Germany. Now “Moonlight Shadow” has been rerecorded by us and remixed by the NY DJ Josh Harris and is our current single release in the US."

DJ Novus - "The source of Groove Coverage in 2001 was the small cellar-studio (in Ingolstadt near Munich/known as the hometown of Audi) owned by my partner Axel Konrad (now head of Suprime Music). While DJing together for many years we decided to start our own project together. Coming from the club scene we started with pure instrumental club sounds and even our first outputs could be found in several cases of German and Austrian DJs and entered the various German Dance charts. Later on we felt that it is time to include more feeling and melody by a singer, and Mell has been discovered by chance when Axel and Ole (Axel’s studio partner) dropped in on a singing competition. She fitted perfectly in our new idea about a female singer for our song ideas. But we never forgot our club roots and from time to time we release rather clubby tracks or produce additional pumpin’ dance mixes for the vinyl releases."

Being that your first two singles released over here in the US were both cover songs, did you have any concerns that you might be instantly conceived as a cover band? Mell - "Sure, the most famous songs from us are covers, nevertheless – it’d clearly be wrong to call us a cover band. Now we’re about to release our third album and made over 30 songs where most aren’t covers. If you wanna know Groove Coverage – check the albums and you’ll figure out that we are very flexible in what we do. Maybe we have the widest variability of all Dance acts. We like to do good covers but it’s not a must."

Novus - "That’s in my opinion also based on our name as it includes the word “Cover”age. This wasn’t our intention when we fixed the name when launching the act. We simply liked the words “Groove” and “Discovering” and made Groove Coverage out of it and we now feel very comfortable with this uniqueness and in the meantime also established name. In fact, we don’t really mind if people call us a cover act. Our covers follow very much the typical Groove Coverage style and actually, we prefer to adopt parts of old songs and build something complete new around it – isn’t that also highly creative? Last not least, plenty of our 9 top 30 singles aren’t covers."

Being that this is your debut American album it's title 'Greatest Hits' is an interesting choice. How many other albums have you released in your native country of Germany? Mell & Novus - "We’re about to release our 3rd album in Germany in just a few months time and had 9 top 30 singles in a row. The album Toucan Cove (our US record company) has released in the USA bears our best songs of the first 2 albums or in other words 'Greatest Hits'."

If there was one track on this new album that truly encapsulated Groove Coverage at their musical finest, which one would it be? Mell - "Not easy to answer this, it depends on the situation. Every song contains an important part of Groove Coverage. A lot of emotions are involved and very often based on own experiences. I can’t make up my mind."

Novus - "For me – that’s “Poison“, this cover version of Alice Cooper’s superhit. I still find pleasure including it in my DJ sets and the dance floors are always crowded. It became a real club classic."

Just where did the name Groove Coverage originate ... and what else could it so easily have been? Mell - "That was some kind of playing upon words. We simply liked that combination and it still sounds good in our ears."

For fun, and taking the titles of a few of your album tracks, please let us know:

'Home' - Just where do you call home and what is still so special about it to you to this day? Mell - "Home ... personally, my home is where my family is – that’s where I feel at home. Novus: I always like to come home after a tour or weekend DJ sets."

'Little June' - What is your favorite month of the year ... and why? Novus - "The first real summer month of the year in Germany – we’re all summer-freaks!"

'Only Love' - Are you currently in love with anyone and if so, is it true that it's only love that is required to keep it alive?! Mell & Novus - "Yes, these persons exist for both of us. And just because of love, trust and understanding it is worth to live and enjoy every day. We’re not sure whether we could handle this kind of life without our partners."

What other '80s (and possibly cheesy!) pop song would you love to cover today if asked ... and why?! Mell - "Sure there are some interesting songs we’ve thought about – it was such a creative time. But exposing this would be wrong as it’d spoil the tension about the next releases!"

Lastly, I like Penguins ... do you?! Mell - "You wanna know whether I like Penguins? (smiling) Sure I do!"

Novus - "Yes, they’re great. One of the funniest and most interesting species on the planet. I’ve recently seen a TV program about their wandering behaviour. That’s was fine for relaxing and interesting as well."

Interviewed by Russell A. Trunk

If you would like to win an AUTOGRAPHED copy of Groove Coverage's brand new CD, just answer this easy question: Groove Coverage has won several Euro music awards, and is a two-time nominee for which award?

Send me your answers and if you're correct you'll be in the running to win one of these great new and AUTOGRAPHED CDs! Just send us an e:mail here before May 15th with your answer and the subject title 'GROOVE COVERAGE SIGNED CDs' to: exclusivemagazine@flash.net