Interview #26: Ease Of Disgust

Recently found time again and interviewed a great, if not one of the best Death Metal bands out there.

Ease Of Disgust killing my iPod for quite a while and they are super nice dudes. 

Check them out!

sorry, for leaving away the photo, i will re-upload it, when blogger does not have issues.

How did you guys get started?

Our guitarist Gennadiy found out the band 3 years ago with our first bass guitarist Ruben and vocalist Andrew. Then drummer Antony and the second guitarist Alex connected to the band. They recorded their first EP “The Shell” in 2009 and had their first tour around Russia. But in 2010 there were some changes in line-up and I became the vocalist and Andrew started to play bass (he also plays in Abominable Putridity). But in a year Andrew decides to finish up with concerts as he was preparing for his wedding and just had no time for live shows. So now our bass guitarist is Andrew who played in another Russian band “Stardown”.

How would you describe your sound?

Our music is just a mix of such things as Death Metal, Deathcore, black metal and hardcore. Our first LP “Chaos” defines our sound well. But now we have a little bit different course in sound, so you'll hear it on our new record in 2012.

Are there bands that influenced your sound?

Yes, of course, everyone of us has some band that have influenced on his music view. We're trying not to stint ourselves by some borders of style, so we listen to all kinds of music from ambient to brutal death metal. It doesn’t matter what music u play, if u do this good we'll like it. It's hard to name concrete bands as there are too many good stuff that we listen to.

How did you get your name, what does it mean to you?

Our guitarist Gennadiy created it. It sound quite well and it's not difficult to remember it. It's easier to keep away from some things that u don't understand than just try to do that. Our society has the same views in this life. So this is the meaning.

Which genre defines your band the most?

Stylish Death Metal

Have you known what kind of music you want to play, before starting the band?

Yeah, something like Suicide Silence, our first EP shows it quite well.

You guys are from Russia, which has actually pretty big bands brought within the last years. Are there any bands beside My Autumn or Sarah Where Is My Tea, that you would like to suggest? You're right, My Autumn, SWIMT and our band are the only bands playing heavy music who had tours over Europe. We also have 2 big bands in Russia, much more popular here than our bands: Amatory and Stigmata. But they have never been abroad. If u like progressive Metalcore or Djent try Sumatra and new album of The Korea.

Also tell us about the Russian metal scene. It's not such big as our country, our metal scene is underground, there are only few big metal festivals and they are to rare.

You'll never see here something like Mayhem fest, it's just impossible as this kind of music is not such popular as in Europe or USA. And there is a funny thing here: if you're from abroad everyone will respect you doesn't matter what kind of shit u play. But if you're Russian band there is a thing like a stamp on you. People here have preconceived opinion about Russian bands. It's like a platitude: Russian? Oh guys, your music sucks, you've stolen it from some popular European band. That's shit.

What do you want to say with your music?

Is there a message to the listeners? Choose your way and follow it. Fuck opinions of others.

What are your favorite bands?

Everyone in our band likes Behemoth.

Where do you get your inspirations, beside to other bands, especially for the lyrics?

In alcohol.

What are your interests beside the band?

Do you guys just do the band or do you work/go to school/study? Our drummer has his own drum shop and Alexy is going to open his guitar shop. Andrew and Gennadiy are working for some firms and I'm the youngest guy in the band so I'm studying advertising in the university.

What things are coming up? News about new releases, new merch, line up changes?

We'll have a tour over Europe on this April and we'll take some new t-shirts with us. What about new release, we're writing new stuff so hope that you'll be able to listen to it this autumn or winter. Keep it up!

 Do you guys have played in other bands before?

Yeah, Antony and Alex played in black metal band Esgharioth, now it's just a studio project.

Are there bands you would recommend for taking a listen?

New albums of Molotov Solution, Catalepsy and Bleeding Through.

What was your sickest show?

A show with Suicide Silence in Moscow a year ago.

Which bands would you like to tour with and how would your favorite tour look like?

It's just something like a dream to play on one stage with Behemoth. And our favorite tour looks like a big van with beer and girls, huge stages, big crowds and lots of fucking money, we doesn't want to work!)

Any messages left to fans, friends or family?

Be yourself, do what u do.

Thanks from me go out to Danil Orlov and Ease Of Disgust, for taking the time and the interest!

Share this band, they are much better and may get bigger than their idols!

Interview #25: Awakening The Revenant

My last post for today, will be for a Band of my Dude.

These guys finally finished their EP "The Procreated".

A very talented band from Huntington,WV. Definitely more than worth a listen. 

Tyler, this one goes out to you! Merry Christmas bro!

Check out the Awakening The Revenant, my newcomer Deathcore band of this year!

 Awakening The Revenant - The Great Deceiver 

How did you guys came together? Was it hard to find agreement on the type of music?
-we came together over the last 2 or 3 years. ATR has been a band for a long time, just hasn’t always been very serious, had a lot of drummer changes until we found our dood tyler here, to fill up the position, and I must say, he rocks the shit. Best drummer we have ever played with.

How would you describe your sound?
-we are pure American Deathcore. We love what we do, we love deathcore. We throw the clean vocals in there simply to draw in more fans. We don’t do it much, but when we do, we feel it fits the part! Its unexpected with a band of our tone and style, so it adds a bit of personal flavor/uniqueness.
Are there bands that influenced your sound?

Which genre defines your band the most?
-Deathcore/Hardcore it’s a mixture of the two. We go hard into those 2 genres, just because its what we enjoy playing

What makes your music, being your music?
-we all enjoy different kinds of music, so we just take all of our favorite kinds of music, and try to incorporate them into deathcore.

Why do you think shall we all check you out (needless to say, since you guys are a cool dudes)?
-we think you should check us out because, like you said, we are great guys. We do this for fun, and hopefully one day, we can do it for a living, but until then, we will continue on our path, and we wont be giving up. We work hard for everything we have, and we feel like we should have it to pay off, at least with meeting new friends and fans along the way!

What are your favorite bands?
-as a band, I would say: A different breed of killer, Molotov Solution, King Conquer, Whitechapel *of course*, The Plot In You, Within The Ruins, and so many more, I mean, we couldn’t possibly name them all.

Where do you get your inspirations, beside to other bands, especially for the lyrics?
-seth and tanner both do the lyrical content, they work together, or write them solo for some songs, just according to who has the better feel for it, the inspiration comes from our hatred towards why certain things happen the way that they do, why we are particularly looked down upon from others, and questioning things such as god (not necessarily disbelieving, but just questions & our way of expressing those questions) and a lot of other things such as life situations and just straight up trying to be as brutal as possible.

What are your interests beside the band? Do you guys just do the band or do you work/go to school/study?
-Well, that’s a different answer for us all, Tyler works a full time job while is married! Tanner goes to College at Marshall University, Seth & Marcus both go to high school, but are graduating in a few months. We are all very stoked for that. Haha.

How often do you guys meet in a week to make music?
-we usually meet about 2 times a week. If we have more shows than usual, we will only 1 time or possibly none depending on how close the days of the shows.

Do you often end your band sessions in chill and laugh rounds?
-Every time, also smoke sessions. AKA we get high. Haha.

What are your personal opinon about drugs?
-see above question. Haha. Drugs are a no-no. Weed isn’t a drug. It’s a plant. People who disagree. Get over it. It’s harmless and people shouldn’t judge about stuff such as that. Its something we do for fun, if you don’t, that’s cool. We don’t play music about it or try to push it on you. Haha.

Do you think stereotyping is wrong? Or do you think it has a special sence to the modern society?
-Ehh, stereotyping is going to happen, no matter our opinion on it, but its wrong in some cases, and helpful in others, we suppose.

What things are coming up? News about new releases, new merch, line up changes?
-Right now, we just dropped our EP “The Procreated” mixed & mastered by Charles J. Wall (Sonic Assault Studios – King Conquer, Betraying the Martyrs, Ect.), All re-amping done by Brian Hood (4,5,6 Productions – The Crimson Armada, Gideon, Ect.), and all Vocal Editing done by Jeff Dunne (Arcana Recordings – Cephalic Carnage, Of Mice & Men, The Color Morale, Ect.) we also have our T-Shirts coming in the next 2 weeks, and a music video for the song “My Redemption” off of the record!

Do you guys have played in other bands before?
-Tyler played in Isla Sorna & This World Will Fall but that’s about it, really.

Are there any bands you would like to see on this page in future? Are there bands you would recommend for taking a listen?
 -Hendrik, you're the man, so it's hard to tell what you will pull off brother. We Hope you rock it! Haha.

What was your sickest show?
-Probably with We came as Romans & Attila. PA, Stage, Everything was very nice. –Credit to: David Dunlap. Hes a great promoter.

Recommend us some local bands we should check out! 
 -Check out Fall Before Your Creator. They're our great friends from here in West Virginia, US. They Deserve the listen! Sick musicians!

Which bands would you like to tour with and how would your favorite tour look like?
-Umm, right now, we would love to tour with too many bands to name, but Whitechapel, TBDM, Hatebreed, Winds of Plague, Suffokate, Oceano, Soooooo many bands that really have a sick live performance and would love to rage with!

Any messages left to fans, friends or family?
-Just want to give a huge thank you to the small amount of fans that we do have, there isn’t many of them, but the few that help us and try to promote us, are awesome people. Huge thank you to David Dunlap & Dereck ‘Dmetal’ Stinson for always hooking us up with good shows that are coming through town. As for the Friends, you know who you are. You guys are the best friends ever. And we appreciate you. To the families, thanks to all of our parents for putting up with our metal since young ages!

Interview #24: Caliban

There's not much to say about this band, since everyone knowns the one and only Caliban!

I got some time from the guitarist Marc, to do this with me. 

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Here's there newest video

Caliban - Memorial

Here's my interview with Marc Görtz from Caliban!

How does it feel to be in such a famous and well known band, having fans all around the planet and being founder of a new era of metal?
 I don't know really, we don't think about this… and it's also for other people to judge if it even is that way! But what i can say is, that we live a dream to be able to go around the world and play our music, which actually only our fans made possible!!!

How did the name "Caliban" came up?
 There are some things to find around the web, but what does the band say to this point?
 It is a character from Shakespeare, it's a demon who cant decide between good and evil and we thought it matches pretty well for the music, since we also didn't wanted to have a word you can translate… we wanted a "name"….
it fits, because we also play with opposites, fast-slow, melodic-heavy- clean vox-screams etc….

What do you think about stereotype thinking, such as "this band is Metalcore, this band is Deathcore and so on..."?
 I don't care really for genres, i just care if i like the band or not! I also couldn't say if we are Hardcore, Metal, New Era Metal, Metalcore… or whatever…

To that point, would you put Caliban into a single genre?
 I think i answered the Question above .

How do guys describe your own sound?
 Hard to say, i think we have many influences! But to reduce it to the main musical elements, i would say, mostly Metal, with some Hardcore and Post-Hardcore influences...

Do you also listen to your own music?
 Do you mean, the style of music or actually us? If you mean us, i listen usually a lot to it during the writing and recording process, to improve them as much as possible… and after the mixing too for some days, but after that i put it to rest a bit for me, that i'm not over the songs when we start playing them live hehe.

What is the favorite band release so far? 
 Say Hello To Tragedy and Shadow Hearts, but soon by far I Am Nemesis!!!

Which songs are your favorite to play live?
 "I will never let you down"

Also, are there songs you don't like yourselves?
 Do you mean songs we play live i don't like?
 Not really, but in general i like better songs to play live where i don't have to focus so crazy much on playing it really accurate… like the song above, it's pretty easy and i can move/run around better, if you know what i mean… but the songs we play live i like all!

What do you guys think about fans, that cover your songs on guitar, drums, vocals, etc?
 I actually love it! First it's really interesting to see how people play it and second it makes me really happy/proud that there are people who put a lot of effort into our music to learn and practice it! Thats awesome!

What do you guys do beside the band? Do you work/study?
 No, we are a full-time band! There would be not enough time to work, specially during the writing process of an album… the new album took for example around 10 month to finish!

What are the bands and the members interests/hobbies?
 Well i cant talk about all hobbies of the other members because i simply don't know all of them, but Marcos hobby is pretty much star wars . Denis is a movie fan.
 Andy is crazy for TV shows and he reads a lot of books, but seriously i don't know how he can watch some of them and don't get me wrong i like some shows too Patrick likes to try new restaurants!
 what kind of activity they like, i don't know so much, because for example Andy and Patrick live pretty far away… i like snowboarding, cooking, going to the movies with friends, Ps3, reading books…..

What kind of music or which artists are your personal favorites?
 I don't have one single fav band, i can name a few, because i listen to different types of music, not only to heavy stuff…i like In Flames, Muse, The Acacia Strain, Bury Your Dead, Dredg for example...

Do you guys care about your fans, because you have such a big fanbase and it must be hard to take time for them all?
 Of course, we care actually a lot! without them we wouldn't even be able to write the music we do! At least not the same way! We always try to answer mails and questions, of course we cant answer all, but we try our best! So at this point, thanks for all your support! be assured it means the world to us!

Which bands would you recommend to you fans, listening to?
 Well, thats a hard question, basically it's always good to listen to outstanding bands, which do what nobody else does, for example Muse, this singer/guitarplayer is a genius to me! This kind of tones he creates etc…

How many members have been in other bands before? Could you name them too?
 Denis has played in Aclys and Marco and Patrick in Six Reasons To Kill… Andy and me didn't have another band before, the band had just another name in the past when we started as a school band… i just had 2 sideprojects in the meanwhile..

Do you also took ideas from these bands into Caliban or did they influenced Calibans sound?
 I cant really tell, not really i guess, specially not for the "Say Hello To Tragedy" and "I Am Nemesis" just like i mentioned above, the Muse guitarplayer inspired me to create some unique sounds for the new album, but not actual the band itself…
 of course in some way you are always influenced by stuff you listening too, can be even uncountions

 Actually you guys revealed the cover artwork, the Tracklist and the title of your new album "I Am Nemesis". Can we expect a new sound from you guys?
 Yes, like i said above, i tried to create new sounds for the new album and tried to add new influences to the music without changing our style really and i think it turned out amazing, i'm really proud of it!

How does it came, that you have Marcus Bischoff and Mitch Lucker as guest vocalists on one track?
 The lyrics were actually asking for guestvocals at this song and we thought about who we could ask… and then the idea came in my mind to ask our fans what they also would like! The top 2 were obviously Marcus and Mitch, we are friends with both bands, so we wrote them a mail! And it turned out they fit perfect for the song!

Would you guys do another EP such as Coverfield and let fans decide which songs you will cover?
 Actually on the Bonus CD of our new album are a couple more coverings… in total 8 tracks! I don't think that we will record another cover CD so soon….

Have you guys ever thought of going into hiatus?
 Sorry, what?? haha…..no idea what that means….

What was your guys favorite venue and tour so far?
 I liked the chain reaction club in Anaheim California a lot, but there has been many many great places we played, i couldn't mention all of them.. this one i said, i just remember because it was a really crazy intense show and maybe the hottest we ever played, Denis even passed out behind the stage shah… but that has been some years ago! For tours it's also hard to say, we had lots of fun with many bands, so it would be also kinda not fair to mention just one and i couldn't even actually…
 but the tour which helped us a lot in our career was the machine head tour like 6 years ago! 7 weeks long and all were huge!

What bands would you like to tour with? How would your favorite tour would look like?
 We played with so many bands already, so many we wanted to play with, we already did for example "in flames" "machine head" …. if you mean it this way.
 otherwise i think we have a really cool lineup for our upcoming tour in February!

Any messages to your friends, families or fans left?
I hope everybody is gonna check out our upcoming album "I am nemesis" we are gonna release actually 3 different versions, including a very nice collectors box!
 and thanks to all our fans for your undying support!!!

It means the world to us!!

Interview #23: Madison Affair

First Interview to come for my big X-Mas Special!

Madison Affair are a band, that kinda blows everything away.

Coming from Germany's capital and sounding as big as stuff from the United States.

These guys bring together Metalcore, Post Hardcore and Dubstep in a really unique way. Recently they released their final Debut entitled "Teenage Time" which is one of my favorite releases of 2011.

Massive and solid sounding band!

Seriously, check out Madison Affair!

Tell us about you, where are you guys from and what brought you guys together?
We're all from Berlin and we got to know each other through friends and other bands.

 During the years, your sound grew bigger and better, how would you describe your sound and do you think it's the most final sound from you guys?
 Yeah our style changed a lot since we started the band, but thats the way its supposed to be we guess.
and yes we think we're on a point where our style is kinda mature but we will always do our best to keep it developing!

 Are there bands that influenced your sound?
 We all listen to recent records that come out in the US, but we're also in a lot of other styles. Some bands that influenced us are woe is me, Attack Attack, Of Mice and Men, The Devil Wears Prada, ADTR and much more!

 What does your band name mean?
 It has no deeper meaning. Its just like Madison is a girl that lives in our society and the affair is her connection to the world.

 Since it's kinda typical to categorize music, which genre(s) defines your band the most, though stereotyping is crap?
 Don't know, something between Post-Hardcore, Breakstep and Autocore

 Have you known what kind of music you want to play, before starting the band?
Not really, but we liked the same bands. So it was easy since the first jam.

 What do you want to say with your music? Is there a message to the listeners?
Check it out, give us a chance, be aware of everything that happens

 What are your favorite bands?
 Woe is me, Motionless In White, Of Mice & Men, ADTR, This Or The Apocalypse, Periphery, Substructure, Protest the Hero, and soooo much more…

 Where do you get your inspirations, beside to other bands, especially for the lyrics?
When you watch for what is going on on this planet, you gotta have a lot to say.

 What are your interests beside the band? Do you guys just do the band or do you work/go to school/study?
The band is a like a full time job for all of us now. Some of us are working beside the band.

What things are coming up? News about new releases, new Merch, line up changes?
You`ll see Were looking forward to 2012

 Do you guys have played in other bands before?
 Yes we all had other bands before but MA is the first we all take very serious.

 Are there any bands you would like to see on this page in future? Are there bands you would recommend for taking a listen?
Listen to: Periphery, Motionless In White, Born Of Osiris

 What are your favorite places to play shows at? And where and what was your sickest show?
If the crowd is alright, it doesn`t matter what club you play!

 Which bands would you like to tour with and how would your favorite tour look like?
VansWarped – Tour with Asking Alexandria

 Any messages left to fans, friends or family?
We want to thank all the people that supported us since MA was founded. It was a great start 2011 with our new constellation!

Interview: #22: Locusts

My dude, Matt Burridge from Ex-Still Dreaming wrote me, he started a new band. 

These guys are playing kinda heavy shit. This is what they like, this is what they do, no compromise.

Dark and heavy Deathcore

Check out Locusts, from UK!

Where do you come from?
 We are all from the southeast of Kent, United Kingdom

 What music do you make? And what makes your sound, being your sound?
 We are primarily a metal band with a lot of Deathcore influences in our sound. We don't necessarily sound like, but take influence from bands like Whitechapel, Oceano and Postmortem Promises.

 Tell us what you are currently doing, in reference to your music. Any upcoming albums, ep, songs, new merch?
 We haven't been around long so at the moment we're just focusing on getting shows and writing songs to fill out our set. We recently recorded 2 demo tracks which are on our Facebook page, and we had our first show a few days ago which was great. We'll be looking to record an EP by March next year.

 What does your band name mean, to you and to others, and where does it come from?
 We just wanted something that sounded a little different from your average Deathcore band name. We thought 'Locusts' had an imposing image and was a fairly original name within the genre. It doesn't have any real significance for us, but we just like how it sounds.

 Which bands are your influences? / Which bands are your personal favorites?
We all have fairly similar tastes in music which we like to think is an advantage because we have a very clear idea of how we want to sound. As a band i'd say our favourite bands are Oceano, Whitechapel, Molotov Solution, Viatrophy, As You Drown and Catalepsy.

 Do you guys have a message, which shall be said through your music?
Not really, we're just all about writing and playing heavy music, and at the moment we're just enjoying it. I dare say we'll have some sort of lyrical focus when we begin writing an EP, but i couldn't say what it'd be right now.

 What was your sickest/best show, whats your dream venue and which band would you like to tour with and why?
We've only had one show so far, but it went very well for us. The turnout was far better than expected and we felt we got a good response and plenty of positive feedback. It was definitely the best 'first show' we've each of us played.

Our dream venue would be somewhere like Brixton Academy, and if we had to tour with one of our favourite bands it would have to be Whitechapel or Oceano, because those bands live are simply unreal.

 Any messages left to fans, friends, family?
Just a thank you to anyone who's taken time to check us out, i know those numbers are few at the moment, but we're working hard to change that!

Interview #21 - Human Improvement Provess

First of all, i'm really sorry, for being so quiet the whole last month. My computer broke and the motherfuckers, who repaired it, where slow as fuck.

So for now, i'll be posting a lot more!

The next interview was also a long time ago, but this time it's really really interesting i think, because these guys from Italy really founded a new kind or dimension of modern extreme music.

Comparing these guys with "The Browning", who are actually pretty hip, these guys will speak a lot to fans of this kind of music.

For all those who chill their lives to Dubstep instead of Trance, or also like both and off course are open minded to new stuff and love Death Metal, will find a new favorite band in these guys...

So here's my interview with 

Human Improvement Process!

Hello, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for my site,
first of all, tell us who you are and where you're from.

Fabio:
Hello Hendrik, we're from Modena (Italy). Maybe someone knows our hometown because of tortellini, Lasagne and Ferrari ahahah =)

Where does your band name come from?

Fabio:
Finding a cool name was really hard before starting this project; I don't remember very well but I guess
that someone told "hey guys, how about Human Improvement Process?"...heey that's awesome.
That's all =)

You guys have kinda rare sound, combining Death Metal, Dubstep and many more kinds of modern heavy music.
What moved you guys to the conclusion of as i would call it "Melodic Death Metal-Dubstepcore"?

Fabio:
Is quite simple, because we love death metal and we enjoy electronic music =)
We have a huge musical background; we listen to every kind of metal since we were 10/11 years old, and
this obviously have a strong influence on our composition.

Lately we discovered a lot of interesting sounds in electronic music, so we think our sound is
just the merging of all the music we've listened to!

Also how would you guys define the music you are playing? Maybe you have a special name for this sick mixture?

Fabio:
Giving labels to music is quite useless I think, we just do what we love to do =)

How would you explain your sound?

Fabio:
Early 2000s Death Metal with Melodic stuff and Dubstep, maybe could fits XD

What music or which bands are the members listening to? Any favorite bands?

Fabio:
Personally I'm listening to an awesome italian band in these days "The Secret"; I'm also listening to
Hundredth, The Ghost Inside, Viatrophy, We came as romans, Motionless in White (talking about "Deathcore" bands), Dissection,
Slayer, The Legion...
We listen to a lot of Death Metal bands like Suffocation, Inveracity, Dying Fetus, Decapitated, Vader, Death and many more.

Do you guys know a band called "The Browning"?
These guys are became a really famous band recently, for mixing Death Metal with Trance, what do you think about their music?
Just interested in how you think about bands that play a similar type of music to you.

Fabio:
Sincerely I don't like this band, but it's just a personal opinion and if I have no good things to say I think it's better saying nothing =)

What inspires you, to write such a great music? Are you guys knowing what the listeners want, i mean you combine two really popular genres?

Fabio:
As I told you before we just write the music we love to play, nothing more =)

Coming to your live shows. How do you manage the Dubstep sound on stage, do you have a hidden 6th member?

Fabio:
No unfortunately it's impossible at the moment.
Right now our drummer Luca is playing live shows with an Ableton live project which send click and guitars to his
headphones and electronic stuff to the mixer.

What was your sickest show and was you funniest/favorite moment behind the stage?

Fabio:
Our sickest show ever was definitely at XO club in Moscow, I think THIS video speaks by itself ahahah =)
More or less all the moments on tour were amazing, from getting drunk with Russian vodka to sign autographs (!!!!!!! incredible xD) and shoot
pictures with maaaany fans everyday; was totally insane.

Which bands would you like to tour with and why?

Fabio:
Touring with Born Of Osiris would be awesome.

What things are coming up from you guys? You guys already said to me, you currently finished writing your debut album, so when do you think it'll be released?
Also keep a physical copy for me haha ;)

Fabio:
ahahah of course we'll do.
I hope we'll able to release our full length on April/May 2012 =)

Any other things in the works? Probably new Merch coming?

Fabio:
We've a couple of gigs in Italy and then I think we're touring again Russia in may!

Any words you want to say to your fans, friends or families?

Fabio:
We will be more extreme than "In Crystalline Worlds Beyond", we won't never sell our asses shooting a video of a famous cover, we'll stay true.
Cheers guys!

Weblinks:

FACEBOOK
Eye Of Illusions on BlankTV
Purchase "In Crystalline Worlds Beyond":
BANDCAMP
OFFICIAL MYSPACE

MERCHSTORE
 VKONTAKTE
 OFFICIAL WEBSITE
TWITTER
 YOUTUBE
BAND CONTACT
  info@hipband.net

A big thanks to Fabio, for taking the time for this. Also i'm very sorry for the long delay!

Hendrik.

Interview #20: What The Sea Left Over

 

Who said, there are not enough good bands, hiding in Austria? I never did.

I recently fall about these guys and they left their footprints of sound in my ears.

 I hooked them up, to review their EP and they asked for some more promotion, so we got this down.

Meet What The Sea Left Over! 

Introduce yourself, who are you and where are you from?

My name is Henrik Huber, I'm 19, and I am the lead guitarist of What The Sea Left Over. I live in Vienna, Austria.

How did you get the band started?

I started jamming with the founding members of What The Sea Left Over about three years ago. The guys "found" me on an internet ad. It was the first real band for everyone of us. After more than a year of songwriting and rather casual rehearsals we had more experienced guys completing the band's line-up. That was when things started rolling. We determined the band's name in late 2010 and also released our first songs at that time. Live shows started in early 2011, because we had a lot of line-up changes to go through. It takes some time to find the right combination of musicians, but I guess every band has to struggle with that in the beginning.

Tell us about your sound, how do you think are sounding like?

What is typical for us, are very melodic guitar riffs and licks. I think they are kind of a substitute to clean vocals, which we haven't used yet, but most likely will in the future. We do a lot of harmonized guitar stuff, especially leads, what gives us kind of a "swedish" touch, I guess. On the EP we rather focused on writing catchy melodies than on writing really heavy parts. There are some well-placed kick-ass parts though. And although we consider ourselves a "core"-group, we've never been a band that overuses breakdowns. You will find elements of traditional metal when listening to the EP, like guitar solos in every song.

Are there bands that influenced your sound?

Actually, we really tried to be ourselves on this Debut EP. Of course, there were a lot of bands we listened to at the time of the songwriting process, but we tried not to copy any bands. You will probably make out some As I Lay Dying, some Killswitch Engage and some In Flames amongst others, because those bands simply are the cornerstone to many newer metal and metalcore bands.

What brought you guys, to the band name "What The Sea Left Over"? Whats behind it and what does it mean for you?

An ex-member came up with the name and we instantly agreed on it. For us personally there is no deeper meaning behind it, but it sounds really cool. The name's a bit long for my taste, but I really dig sea-motive based bandnames.

If you would define your band to a specific genre, what would it be?

It's hard for me -and also for many of our fans- to strictly categorize my band and I think that's not a bad thing, because it means, that we somehow have an own style! But that style is mainly composed of Melodic Death Metal and Metalcore. That's why we would call ourselves "Melodic Metalcore" when asked.

Do you guys spread any kind of message with your music to the listeners?

We don't convey any religious or direct politic messages in our lyrics. I don't write lyrics, but I think our songs say things that can be important and helpful for every person, no matter what they believe in. They are about topics like standing up for what you believe in, not giving up on each other although times are hard, being proud of what you have and similar things. In most songs there's room for some personal interpretation, so that many listener can somehow relate to the things we sing about.

What are your favorite bands?

My all-time favorite band is Soilwork! I loved the guys since I heard them for the first time, which was when I was about 12. They surely shine through our songs at some times. Recently I'm getting into more technical stuff like Born Of Osiris. Sylosis from the UK are a damn good band, too. The newest albums of those two bands are the best ones I've heard this year. After all, my favorite bands change quite often, but Soilwork is definitely a constant.

Where do you take your inspirations, beside to other bands, especially for the lyrics?

I guess every songwriter processes experiences in life. Everything can be an inspiration! What is funny in my case: When I'm in a really shitty mood, I write the best riffs and melodies! If there is real emotion behind a song, it probably turns out better in the end, because it's just "true". Same goes with lyrics! They are mostly written by our singer Flo and I'm always impressed when he comes up with new lyric ideas. The only song on our EP that is inspired by an actual event is "July 22nd". It deals with the horrible attacks in Norway this year, that came really surprisingly and shocked the whole planet.

Anything special coming up? Working on a record, new songs or planning a tour?

Our vocalist is in his last year at school at the time and will most likely be stressed out with big exams and stuff. That is why we probably won't be able to rehearse and play live for some time now.

But that doesn't mean that we'll be wasting time! We'll switch to the songwriting mode now, with loads of motivation, and write the best songs possible to present you guys a full length album in 2012!

We will spare no pains to produce a record with the best quality possible!!!

All I can say by now, is that our new songs are going to be heavier and more technical. Nevertheless, they will still contain melodies and harmonies that are typical for us. And I'll play much harder solos, haha!

Which places would be on the top list, you wishing to play a show at?

Hard to choose one... Playing huge festival shows, like With Full Force or Wacken, would definitely be sweet!

How would you explain your live performance?

We have yet to become really tight and secure on stage, musicwise and also what concerns our stage acting. We started playing gigs not even a year ago, so we still have to learn a lot. But what I think is cool, is that I see our stage performance improve with every show we play. After a show, I always like to hear feedback from colleagues in more experienced bands. And as long as the reply is honest I don't care how tough it is, haha!

Are you listening to your music too?

Hehe... Well, the songwriting process and the following recording sessions expanded over a really, really long period of time. So I had to listen to some of the songs for probably a million of times. Because of that, I don't really often listen to our EP, to be honest. But maybe it will become interesting for me again in a few years, when we've already released other records, hehe.

Which bands would you like to tour with and how would your favorite tour look like?

The first band that springs to my mind is August Burns Red. All of us in the band like them and they seem to be really nice guys and are professionals at what they're doing. Also they're not one of those wasted-all-the-time bands. It would be cool to hit the road with them for sure.

My favorite tour would be a long trip through Europe or North America with a huge tourbus, fancy hotel rooms and of course great catering everywhere, hehehe. But I guess that will remain a dream for now.

Any messages left to fans, friends or family?

There are loads and loads of bands coming from every country out there nowadays. We would like to thank those who chose us and took their time to check out our stuff. We are glad about every single one who has downloaded our EP. And we're stoked, that the feedback has been good so far! This really motivates us to do bigger things in the future and you can be sure that we will!

A special thanks goes out to the band "Bury The Sun" for sharing an amazing drummer and a great rehearsal room with us. You guys rule!!!

And, not to forget, a big thanks goes out to all parents, brothers, sisters and friends that are standing behind us and had hope for us since the beginning.

Stay tuned, check out our Facebook page, download our EP if you haven't done it yet (it's free!) and if you want to talk guitar stuff, feel free to hit me up on Facebook!

We appreciate every kind of support and you can be sure, that we will give you something big in return soon!

See you out there, guys! :P 

All questions answered be Henrik H. , Guitarist of WTSLO.

 Thanks a lot for that bro! I really look forward to 2012 to hear new stuff! Pretty impressing music you have!

Hendrik.

Interview # 19: I Defy

Got a new interview down, with a british Hardcore band that is really really underrated and still unknown as well. Pretty nice guys, who play a pretty solid and recognizable Hardcore sound with Metal influences, yet they haven't created a complete new sound, their songs are pretty catchy and enjoyable!

Check out I Defy!

How did you get the band started?

It was originally Alan and Stu (Guitarists) that wanted to start a band. After writing a few songs they went over to James' (vocalist) studio to record a few tracks.

After that James decided he'd start a band with Alan and Stu which went on to be called I Defy.

What were the reasons for choosing the band name? What are you defying?
Haha! If we was to list off things that annoy us about life and the way music is turning these days we'd be talking forever! 

We chose I Defy mainly just because we thought it sounded cool.. and also because we saw it on the back of a Machine Head album and thought it would make a cool band name.

Tell us about your sound, how do you think are sounding like?
We're just trying to play music that we enjoy.. 

We looked at bands like The Ghost Inside, The Acacia Strain etc etc

and thought "What if they had clean singing?"
So we set out to be more of a Metalcore alternative to bands like that really.

Are there bands that influenced your sound?
Yes! Everybody must have an influence from somewhere! 

With us it's anything from.. Parkway Drive/Killswitch Engage

all the way to more hardcore bands like Blood For Blood/Terror

and everything in between!

If you would define your band to a specific genre, what would it be?
Metalcore!

Do you guys spread any kind of message with your music to the listeners?
Yes! As a band.. and individually we've all gone through some very rough times and have had to make a lot of sacrifices! 

We've had some AWFUL luck as a band but we carry on going no matter what. So the album is all about picking yourself up when you've been knocked down, sticking with your dreams and just going for it! Believe in yourself! 

What are your favorite bands?
We all have different favorites and not always metal.

James likes Killswitch Engage, The Acacia Strain, A Day To remember etc etc and even music like Boyce Avenue and Bruno Mars etc.. pretty much anything he'll listen to as long as it isn't Rebecca Black or Design the Skyline!!

Dave loves his Dream Theater/Machine Head/DevilDriver etc

Stu Loves bands like For Today/Chimaira

Alan loves Bury Your Dead/Blood For Blood etc but also a lot of Acoustic and sometimes pop music too!

Lee likes a bit of everything really he can be a bit more old school than the rest of us he's into Mudvayne/Dry Kill Logic/The Haunted

What do you guys do beside the band? 
Work!

Alan Drives massive lorries

Lee works in a shop

Dave works building speakers

Stu works in a call center

and James works in the studio recording bands

Anyone of you guys playing video games ;) ?

Lee, Dave, James and Stu all have Xbox & Xbox live!

Ask us nicely and you can have our Gamertags ;-)

You guys have released one Ep, including 9 Songs, so kind of a little album already, tell us a bit about it? What should we know about it?
Wow... THAT record!

It was the first 9 songs we'd ever written as a band, we we're still trying to discover where we wanted to be and who we wanted to be as a band etc, it's not the best record ever however we're very glad we did it as we learned A LOT from doing it and we've grown a lot since then and changed the way we do things MASSIVELY.. we're almost a completely different band now, what we have on Facebook/Myspace right now and the album is FAR better! 

But as far as the old record goes we're happy we did it.. without it we wouldn't be the band we are today! :-)

By the way ,the Artwork looks pretty evil, who made it? It reminds a bit of a Death Metal band, what is behind it, who had the ideas?
The artwork was made by Top Two Studios here in the UK They're amazing illustrators and great with coming up with ideas. 

We gave them full control over the artwork and we wasn't disappointed with what we got! We'd 100% recommend them to anyone after great Illustration work!

Where do you take your inspirations, beside to other bands, especially for the lyrics?
The lyrics are inspired a lot by our past and obstacles we've had to overcome in order to be stronger/better people.. we want people to feel empowered by our music and really relate it to something that's happened in their life... and hopefully inspire them to pick themselves up and make the best of the life they have!

Anything special coming up? New songs or planning a tour?
We've got a lot going on at the moment

We've just recorded a full length album with Sky Van Hoff over in Germany, he's recorded bands like Caliban and also worked with bands like Kreator etc... he is the MAN at recording and he's really the person that has mentored us as we've grown and taught us a lot about how we should be doing things... without him we'd be nowhere! We already have a music video out now "Bridge Burner" That is from the album, head over to Youtube and check it out!

We have 3 more music videos on the way!!

2 Are songs from the album and one is a very special cover of a pop song we've done! Don't want to spoil the surprise just yet but it will be released very soon!!

We're heading off on a co-headlining tour in the UK with good friends of ours 'Deadlines' who are ex members of Bury Tomorrow! Make sure you check them out! And we are planning on coming back to Europe very soon for another tour, not sure when yet but we're very keen to come back and play for you guys again!

When can we hope for a new record of you guys?
Hopefully the Album will be out soon! We're still working out the business side of things at the moment, but hopefully we should have it out for you ASAP! 

Have you guys ever thought of going into hiatus for a long time or forever? 

Haha!! Many times it feels like we should just stop.. we have such bad luck.. especially with breaking down on tour.. (We ALWAYS seem to breakdown in either Belgium or Germany! 

Cancelled Flights/Gigs

People stealing money from us... Gear off us.. People promising us things and them never happening.. 

It always happens to us! And sometimes it does get us down!

HOWEVER we're never going to give up, we'll keep fighting through it all and playing non stop shows!! You wont see the last of I Defy, not by a long shot!!

Which places would be on the top list, you wishing to play a show at?
Ever since i can remember i've wanted to play at the Download Festival over in the UK.. i think the same goes for all of us! 

Going there as a kid and then finally playing there would be a dream come true!

How would you explain your live performance?
Intense! 

The songs are ALL written with the live performance in mind!

It's fast.. it's heavy.. there's always a breakdown... it's a non stop 100% workout extravaganza! If you like to move.. we will make sure that you get no chance to stop and rest throughout the entire set.

Are you listening to your music too?

Yeah i like listening to our music.. i'm very proud of what we've achieved and how hard we've worked to make the music we love to make.. listening to it just makes you remember how much all that hard work, blood, sweat and tears is worth it!

Which bands would you like to tour with and how would your favorite tour look like?
I'm sure we'd all love to tour with out individual favorite bands but i think we'd all love to tour with bands like.. Parkway Drive/The Ghost Inside/The Acacia Strain/Bury Your Dead etc!

And the Perfect tour for me (James)

Would be:

Killswitch Engage

The Acacia Strain

Bury Your Dead

The Ghost Inside

Any messages left to fans, friends or family?
We love every single one of you! You're exactly what keeps us going

and every single show we play just reminds us that we want to be doing this for as long as we possibly can!

Thank you all so much for your support and to all of those that have stuck by us from day one! It means SO much to us you have no idea!

Again Thank you! And we'll see you on the road!

Interview #18: Our City Skyline

Our City Skyline, are a band, who really look deep inside their hearts, before composing a new song.

Their new EP will be released very soon.

So here a little interview, to read about it and the band.

PS: i really recommend this band, since they are one of ten my favorite bands, i know more then 5000 bands by the way...

So here we go, finally meet Our City Skyline!

Who are your and where are you from?

I'm Esai of Our City Skyline. I play guitar from Idaho

What brought you to start this band? 

Well we had another band we had a bit of success with, but we wanted to cut ties with it so we could write and play what we wanted to.

You guys have a carrying, emotive and yet positive sound, explain us, what moved you guys to this?
we all love positive music, our music helps us through rough times. We just like to be able to show that there is another side.

Also explain how you call your sound yourselves, genre and what you sound like.
Well I guess you could say Progressive Hardcore or Progressive Metalcore. We have a ton other elements though. We.don't like to pigeon hole ourselves.

You guys are currently working on your next release, an EP, could you tell us about it?
Well its easily the best thing we have done. It felt like as a band we had hit our stride. In the studio with Ryan from Rain City Audio just was a great time. And he pushed really hard to get this the way it is. Also we are getting it mixed by Ryan Morgan, the guitar player of Misery Signals.
How many songs will be included, will it be available as physical copy, maybe you want to unveil us the name of it too? The EP has 7 songs. It will be released digitally, on CD, and we are looking into pressing vinyl and then the name we will announce soon!

What are your lyrical themes on the EP and in general?
Thats more of a question for our vocalist. He is the one who handles that stuff!

What are your personal influences? 

Personally I am influenced by a lot. Just everything that goes on in my life. Personally bands are stuff like Poison The Well, Crossbearer, Moving Mountains, and Oceana.

Also are there some bands that influence your sound?
Our sound is very influenced by bands like Misery Signals, Oceana, and Poison the Well.

A question beside this all, i currently saw a live set of a hardcore band, whose members kicked the crowd before the stage in their faces. What do you think about it?  Very hardcore isn't it (ironic)?
It's one thing to try to get the crowd going, but thats just disrespectful to people who have literally paid to see you.

What do you guys think about scene and stereotype thinking within the youth of today, isn't it annoying that people get judged by their look and also if they listen to bands that look different?
People should be able to listen to what they want. And as long as they go to shows and support everyone should be accepted. I mean not every persons first Hardcore band they got into was Terror or Madball, so all the older kids need to remember where they came from (don't pretend you never had Atreyu merch) and accept the younger kids so we can keep the scene going

What are your personal favorite bands?
Personally Poison The Well, Underoath, Misery Signals, Oceana and many others. But those are always there. 

Do you guys prefer a special lifestyle? Also what do you think about all this peer pressure?
None of us really live a specific lifestyle. To us, if you're a good person, then you're a good person.

What was your favorite concert, and which bands where the best you shared the stage with?

That would easily be Thursday. It was a dream come true to play with Thursday. That band got me into music.

If you could plan a tour yourselves, which bands would be with you guys?
It would be Poison The Well, Misery Signals, and a Beloved reunion

What things are currently in the works beside the EP? Any gigs or tours planned? Maybe some merch?
We are going to be working on some tours. And merch is designed and going to be printed soon!

Anything left to say (to friends, fans or families)? 

Thank you for the interview and.thank you to everyone for the support! 

From me a big thanks to Esai and the rest of the band, but especially to Esai, for hooking me up with the lastest news on their new EP, and on news of what's going on, the interest in my page and also for taking the time for it.

PS: I'm sorry for the delay, could't post due some reasons of blogspot.

♥

Interview #17: Finisher

 

I'm so glad, that Louis as hit me up, to promote his band on this site.

Finally a promising Hardcore band from the UK, that does heavy shit, kinda familiar but something effective and different 

So here we fucking go, meet my new favorite band from the UK Heavy Hardcore section!

 Finisher!

You guys are called Finisher, so tell us about yourselves, where are you from and what do you stand for, also what kind of music are you bringing to us? 

We're a 5 piece band from the Essex area (south-east England) and we started in March 2011 as 3 mates jamming ideas out. We then gained another guitarist and only recently got a bassist last month. We play heavy, hateful music influenced by Hardcore, Deathcore and Metal. The only thing we stand for is having fun and hitting up shows in new towns.

Tell us about your bandname, it's a pretty strong willed name and it fits very well to your sound. What does it mean and what were the ideas behind and/or for it?
David (vocalist) and Travis (drummer) were playing around with the name "Finisher" for a while and then when me and Ollie (guitarist) joined we wrote some songs it just seemed like the right choice of name as we write heavy and fast paced music.

What do you guys sound like? 

We're a bit of a mixed bag but we've been compared to Recon, The Miles Between and (old) Stick To Your Guns. We don't like to label ourselves as people are so quick to say "no, you don't sound like them/that band" and its annoying to say the least.

What are your personal favorite bands? 

Personally, I (guitarist) adore The Acacia Strain, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Whitechapel, Aegaeon and Your Memorial.

Whereas David (vocals) is more into death metal and Deathcore such as Dr.Acula, Carnifex and The Black Dahlia Murder.

Travis (drummer) prefers hardcore such as Terror and Pay No Respect. 

Jason (bassist) is into bands like Stray From The Path, Title Fight and Brutality Will Prevail.

Ollie (guitarist) likes bands such as Pariso, Latitudes, Rinoa and Lavotchkin.

Tell us about your music, what are your lyrics about and is there a hidden or open message to the listeners?
The message is open and very simple for the listeners - Hate! The lyrics are very negative and aggressive, usually describing how people really are useless pricks and about having to rely on yourself. They also go on about violence and fighting people. 

Where do you get your inspirations? Any examples from life, maybe experiences or bands that influence you and your music? 

 I can't speak for the other guys here but my inspiration comes from past experiences and this causes me to write heavy, angry music to vent my aggression. Playing a show and (literally) destroying the place is the best feeling and its why I love playing in Finisher.

What is coming up from you? Tours or Releases planned? 

We have our debut EP due to be released in a few weeks (date undecided as of yet) but the EP is called "Doomsayer" and we have a pre-production demo of one of the tracks up on youtube at the moment. As for touring, we are hitting the road on the 16th september alongside our friends in Odessa and we have more tour dates, headline shows and one off shows to announce for the coming months.

What do you think about stereotype thinking, which is actually a pretty big problem, for smaller bands, to get more attention?

It is a hard issue and thankfully we've been lucky in the amount of support we've been shown in the short time we've been a band. In the 6 months Finisher has been a band we have played around the UK and played shows with Annotations Of An Autopsy, Ingested, Martyr Defiled, Release The Kraken and Silent Screams. But yes, it is very difficult for new bands to get any recognition, especially if they don't have many contacts or good enough recordings to gain attention.

Which bands would you like to tour with?

 I'd love to tour with Whitechapel, Molotov Solution, The Acacia Strain, Fit For An Autopsy and, of course, Finisher. A heavy and fucking rad tour line up right there for the masses to enjoy.
  

Any messages left to fans, friends or families? 

To our fans and friends, thank you for the ongoing support and for helping us achieve what we have so far. Hopefully everyone will enjoy the EP and it'll push Finisher further still.

I just have nothing to say from my side, except a big thanks! Looking forward to your EP!

Interview #16: Dumblecore

Fucking hilarious band, called Massacre On Privet Drive, gave me an interview.

These guys should seriously be supported. They have the most original band image/theme i've ever seen.

Joking around with Harry Potter based lyrics, which has tons of stuff to write about, is such a legit way, brought into music industry. These guys are just starting their carrier and there will definitely come a lot more.

So here we go, meet the dudes from Massacre On Privet Drive!

How had and what where the reasons/ideas to start a Harry Potter themed band?

We actually saw a Facebook group, called 'Metal + Dumbledore = Dumblecore?' we laughed and just thought we'd give it a shot, wrote one song and apparently stuck with it haha, took us 3 hours to write/record/release the first Dumblecore song 'the great feast' 

Your bands' name was once called "Dumblecore" and you changed it to  "Massacre On Privet Drive" now, so what was behind this change?

Our band name is Massacre On Privet Drive, and we started as Dumblecore, after the first EP, we wanted to take a more 'serious' approach, we wrote songs with the intention of them being as bad as possible. 

What do you guys sound like? Could you describe your sound a little bit to us? 

we sound like another generic Deathcore band, with a twist of lemon & magic. the odd bit of Dubstep, occasional melody, lots of breakdowns 

Which bands influenced your sound, and maybe also the idea of a themed band? 

Johnny Truant and Deftones are probably our biggest influences as musicians, as irrelevant as they may seem, The band started as a two piece with just myself & Tim, and currently we're getting a full live band together, We butter the bread with butter have a similar setup to us, with their two-man approach to everything, this inspired us to play gigs i guess!

Generally you do kind of a parody of Harry Potter, do you guys liked the movies so much or did you hate them, to do a themed band?

Personally I'm not a massive fan of the stories, read a few books and seen a few films, as far as i know Tims pretty keen, hes got the books and films. 

What are your guys personal favorite bands?

Aegaeon, Carnifex, Johnny Truant, Deftones, Machine Head, Aphex twin, far too many more the mention! 

Tell us about the lyrics you guys are writing. HP-ish i guess

Well the lyrics are all written about Harry Potter of course, I'd love to tell you all about the new songs we've got written, but our Debut EP under Massacre On Privet Drive is due in just 27 days, expect lots of trolls and brutality though. 

What things are coming up from you guys? CD releases, planned concerts or tours?

September 30th this year sees the release of our 8 track EP,'The Hallowed Contagion', In October we're hitting the UK for 2 weeks doing our first ever tour, filming a music video, and then hopefully early next spring Germany/France/Belgium/Holland, with a particular German band.

What was your sickest show, that you've played? 

I think it was our 2nd or 3rd gig, when we played 'The Rohypnol Love potion' the whole crowd was completely still for the whole set, and for about 40 seconds or so right at the end there was uproar and complete chaos haha, that was pretty sick, i'm hoping we'll see plenty of people dressing up as wizards on tour, playing Quidditch in the pits and such haha! 

How would your tour line up, look like, if you had the chance to take bands.

To take bands on tour with us? i reckon it'd be cool touring with a load of other parody bands, We Butter The Bread With Butter, Anal Cunt, Spermswamp, Alestorm haha, just one fucking ridiculous tour. 

Any messages left to friends, family and fans? 

Well things have really blown up for us recently, we've had such an awesome reaction from everyone who's come across us, we're really grateful for all the support and cant wait to see all of you this October on tour!
 Don't forget you can get "The Hallowed Contagion" on iTunes, spotify, Amazon and more from September 30th! 

As i already said, check out this band seriously!

Brutal band, also for me, who actually is not the one who's into Deathcore, but these guys got me with their originality, which is actually pretty rare in this section of metal.

 Thanks a fucking lot to Jack, for taking the time for me, getting this down so fast!

  Take a listen to them now:

Massacre Of Privet Drive - Hagrid The Schizophrenic

Interview #15: All For Nothing

I finally got a new interview for you guys!

This time i hooked up one of my favorite Hardcore bands, since i visited the "Ultimate Summerblast Festival" in Trier/Germany. This was the first time i heard of them, sadly. But i totally fall in love with these guys.

So here we go, an interview with ALL FOR NOTHING!

How came the idea to start a hardcore band?
Mid puberty when everything sucked, school was a drag, girls unreachable and disco for assholes. We had a lot of questions just like everybody growing up and playing music/ hardcore provided us with a healthy outlet for frustration, anger etc. Cindy joined us in 2005, before that Ernst did the vocals and played guitar. We’ve been in this line up since late 2007.

You guys actually play a mixture of hardcore, flavored by metal and punk, does it has any reason for it?
Our band consists our of five people. Who have five different views en preferences for music. We all love hardcore in the first place, but we also bring in some other music styles.
We don’t want to commit to just one style.

Are there any bands that influenced your sound?
The are so many bands that inspired us in general. Even non-hardcore bands. When it comes to hardcore bands, we love the Bad Brains, Black Flag, Cro-mags, Warzone, Madball, Sick of it All and many many more.

What does the name "All For Nothing" stand for?
The name came up when we were brainstorming on a name to pick. It’s also a song by the bands Run Devil Run and DRI. It has no special meaning.


Which message do you guys spread with your music?
We write songs about thing we experience in our lives. No matter how deep you can fall, we always believe in the positive side of life and the strenght that lies within. We want people to think about certain subjects but we don’t want to force our opinions. We believe in an world for everyone without fascism, ssexism and discrimination.

Do you guys listen to your own music?
Not that much, only when we write new songs.

Tell us what Hardcore exactly means to you.
In the first place it’s about the music and the message. Hardcore to us is friendship, a way to meet different people around the globe, hear different stories and see many great places.

Which bands are your personal favorites?
In the van we have an Cassette tape that goes into stereo, it has a Ipod Connector at the end. Our Ipods make turns. What you can expect ( Next to the “usual” hardcore): Pantera, Mastodon, Social Distortion, Johnny Cash, Distillers, Rancid, Foo Fighters, Wu-tang-Clan, Janis Joplin, Henry Rollins spokenword session and some chill out tunes. The Odd thing may be Julee Cruise and Frank Zappa.


Where do you get your inspirations and ideas for your lyrics?
I write lyrics based on things I experience in my life, or see around me happen.

What are your interests beside the band?Do you guys just do the band or do you work/go to school/study?
We all work next to this band. Bas owns a driving school, Cindy works as a social worker, Ernst-Jan is a Graphic Designer, Ab is an Optometrist and Richard works as an IT specialist.

Do you guys have played in other bands before?
Yes, we all played in other bands.

What do you guys think about stereotype thinking / scenes?
It’s sad to see how some people claim to be really intelligent and have opinions about thing they know nothing about. Stop bitching and moaning, start being open minded and you will be surprised.

What do you think about underground bands?
Great, we love checking out new bands and get blown away.

What do you guys think about fans, that cover your songs on guitar, drums, vocals, etc?
It’s the biggest compliment we could get!


Are there any things coming up? News about new releases, new merch or planned tours?
We are currently looking for a new drummer. Richard decided to leave AFN in good terms. After we find a new drummer, we are going to record a new album and hopefully hit South East Asia.

Have you guys ever thought of going into hiatus?
No, we are young and we want to do this now.

Would you like to suggest me some bands i should check out?
Risk It, Go For It and Bitter Verses from Germany.

What was your sickest show?
Any show at the Sucks ‘n Summer fest.

Which bands would you like to tour with and how would your favorite tour look like?
We don’t really care, big or small bands as long as we have fun it’s cool.

Any messages left to fans, friends or family?
Please check us out when we come near your area! Thanks!

Regards, 

Cindy

A big thanks to Cindy, for taking the time for it and also for signing my merch!

You guys are awesome and you should never stop making music!

Interview #14: Oh, Manhattan

Obviously Post-Hardcore is more then i have thought it is.

This band came into my life and to my luck, i got a new perspective to this genre. Finally i know, that Post-Hardcore is more then just the sceneshit i know, beside some really good bands, where this band definitely is settled to.

Thanks to Oh, Manhattan!

What moved you guys to start this band?
Kodi: It feels like hair metal is reproducing itself in a different form. I, personally was starving for something a little more edgy.
Hance: I actually joined the band after it was formed.. I joined for the reasons that Kodi said. I wanted to play music that stood out just a little.

You're profile says, you guys are playing Post-Hardcore, in my opinion a really melodic and catchy kind of it. Explain your sound a little bit.
Kodi: Post Hardcore has adopted so many different definitions these days. It's gotten so broad that some would consider Attack Attack! to be post hardcore, whereas bands like Glassjaw and At The Drive in would be more fitting.
Hance: We try not not to think about labeling our sound under one specific genre. Not trying to make ourselves sound like elitist pricks or whatever, it's just less stressful when we don't claim one particular genre.

What influences your sound? Any bands?
Kodi: Mostly movies.. but I do enjoy listening to a lot of old indie stuff.
Hance: Well just from a vocal standpoint, I am influenced a lot by Spencer Chamberlain from Underoath. But I listen to a pretty broad spectrum of music. I'm also influenced a lot by my
family and friends and situations that arise in life.

Do you guys think Post-Hardcore defines you guys the most? If yes, explain why. You can also tell us what genres you would also bring together with your band.
Kodi: Yeah, as we played a good bit around the local scene, a lot of our friends seemed to think that Post-Hardcore was a good label for us to fall under. Really though, we just like to play catchy, but heavy music.
Hance: Agreed.

What does your band name mean? Do you guys complain it to something special?
Kodi: The name Oh, Manhattan is a reference to The Manhattan Project, which led to the building of the first atomic bomb. At the time, our old vocalist and I were very consumed by the entire Manhattan Project and all of the people that were brought in to be a part of it.
Hance: Our band explores a lot of different and weird concepts. A lot of our lyrics are about spiritual and emotional struggles, with some political stuff mixed in there along the way. But we never wanna tell anyone which side is wrong or right.. we just present situations in their raw form.. kinda saying: it is what it is, and it's up to you to decide what how you wanna approach it.

Is your guys' sound the one you wanted to play, at the point you started the band?
Kodi: I rarely notice that kind of stuff haha, it's more like a progression, you start with a guitar and a drum set just goofing around, then you find a style you cling to and it goes from there.
Hance: I agree. And our sound will probably progress more as time goes on. So it's hard to say really.

Do you guys spread a message with your music? If yes, tell us, if not just tell why you guys are making music.
Kodi: I believe our purpose is to dismantle what is popular now and create a new curve on which the endless cycle of music will repeat itself upon. I want future generations to be able to look back on our era and say, "oh, manhattan, ya that band was awesome," like i do with my favorite bands growing up and presently like Brand New, Bright Eyes, the Cure and Everytime I Die.

I'm really interested in what bands influence the single members, so what are your favorite bands. In personal or inside the whole band.
Kodi: Lol I think i have listed most of them throughout the interview! But ya Stray From The Path, Brand New, La Dispute, Copeland, At The Drive In, Comeback Kid, Deathcab for Cutie, Every Time I Die, etc.
Hance: Underoath, Brand New, Blindside, Silverstein, Taking Back Sunday.. I also really like a few metal bands like The Acacia Strain and For Today.

What are your lyrics generally about, and where do you get your inspirations?
Kodi: Mostly from movies we had seen or from personal investigations like supernatural vs. super scientific. The id and the inner struggle to determine the natural state of yourself and seeing what moral values stay in tact with the absence of consequence and it truly becomes spiritual warfare.

What are your interests beside the band?
We all do a ton of stuff. Personally, I am involved in the music industry and do booking/promotions and Hance and I do a lot of graphic design work. All of us have
odd jobs outside the band so we can make some money while we're at home.

What things are coming up from you? News about new releases or merch?
September 27, 2011 our debut album drops and we are all STOKED for that. it's been a looong time coming. We will also be posting new tour dates and new merch releases on our Facebook over the next month.

Tell us which bands, shared the stage with you.
Oh, we've played with a ton of cool bands: A Skylit Drive, Woe,Is Me, From First To Last, ISMFOF, Asking Alexandria, Kills N' Thrills, Attila, Thrash n Burn tour, etc..

Would you like to suggest some bands, i should check out? Or just suggest me to your friends, haha :)
Baby, Baby

Where was your sickest show?
Kodi: I'd say playing with A skylit drive and woe, is me in Atlanta. That show was packed out and all the bands were cool guys.
Hance: As far as crowds.. I'd say the same as Kodi. But personally, my favorite show was the first show that I ever played with the band, at a favorite venue of mine called The Movement Venue. There's something fun about playing for people you know.. most of the time ;)

Which bands would you love to tour with?
Stray From the Path, Glassjaw, Thrice, Coheed.

Any messages left to fans, friends or family?
WE LOVE ALL YOU GUYS! and we can't wait to see what's next.

Thanks for refreshing my perspective to Post-Hardcore! Your music finally gave me new thoughts on it!

It's not just the winy crap. It can also be hard as metal! 

Also a big thanks for the interview with you guys!

So if anyone of you would like to check out some Post-Hardcore, which finally has such a different sound then a lot of most bands i've heard, then check out The Anti-Da Vinci, i mean check out Oh, Manhattan!!!

Seriously, just do it!