<b>HI SIMON, THANKS FOR TALKING WITH ME.</b>
You’re welcome!
<b>I WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT I LOVE THE NAME OF THE BAND. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH IT?</b>
Thank you, we started off as a side project, so we weren’t really trying to find the most perfect name ever. I was trying for a really complicated name that is based on lies. The war from the mouth is actually a lie and the harlot is just a random person. It worked because the harlot kind of offers fake love so it had a double meaning, but it’s all about lies actually. A lot of people think it’s just a stupid, random, bullshit name or that there is a funny intention, but there isn’t. There was actually some sort of serious intention behind it.
<b>WHAT IS THE MUSIC SCENE LIKE IN BERLIN?</b>
In Germany in general there is a big metal scene, but it’s still pretty close-minded. There are the death metal people that always just go to the death metal shows, but still it’s a huge scene, it works and the shows are always packed. There is a hardcore and metalcore scene and it’s pretty hype orientated. Whatever is hot, people go there. When something is not as hot anymore then people just forget about it in no time. I think there is a lot of common ground to pop music nowadays and a lot of bands don’t have the metal hardcore image anymore. It’s like an image for everyone and there is so much pop culture in it. It definitely has an influence on the kids because it seems like they are rushing through it like another phase in their youth. When I was growing up with the hardcore and metal scene it was something that left a lasting impression on my life, but it seems a little different nowadays for the younger kids. It’s a little difficult I’d say, but it’s still a good place to play. I always love playing shows here in Germany because people love to go wild and as a band it’s still fun to play. From the point of view as a fan it’s a little difficult nowadays because it changed so much.
<b>WAS IT HARD FOR YOU TO GRAB THE ATTENTION OF THE US FAN BASE?</b>
I don’t know how it worked, but it worked quite well for us. When we started out the music wasn’t really famous over here. People didn’t really care about it in the first place. People in the U.S. picked up on it through Myspace pretty quick. There was a small American label that signed us with Molotov Solution. People just got to know about us in the U.S. and we were pretty stoked about it. It mostly went through the internet and we were blown away because we didn’t expect anything. We started the band as a side project and didn’t expect anything to happen with it.
<b>YOU RELEASED MMX. WAS THIS THE FIRST ALBUM TO BE RELEASED HERE IN THE STATES?</b>
The first two full length records have been released in the U.S. as well all through Lifeforce Records. I think there is another distribution nowadays because Lifeforce used to go through Victory Records and they pushed the CD’s into the stores. If you count the split with Molotov Solution it’s the fourth U.S. release we have had. We were able to sell quite a few copies of the first record in the U.S., so there definitely is a fan base and we hope they pick up the new record.
<b>WHY THE NAME MMX?</b>
The record mainly deals with how I see the world today. I wrote 99% of the lyrics and it’s all based on social anxiety and people that can’t make their way into society. It’s something that is pretty common nowadays. There are many things that might keep you from making your way into society. There is so much stuff that makes it hard to keep up with other people. I used to watch my social surroundings a lot. In my house for example there is a lot of old people and they don’t have anything else going. They just live here and wait until they are dying. I think it’s a thing that happens a lot today. That’s why we chose the title MMX. It sounds pretty cool as well. It’s a big number, that’s why we went for it.
<b>YOU INFUSE MANY DIFFERENT GENRES INTO YOUR MUSIC INCLUDING JAZZ. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT HEARD OF YOU BEFORE DESCRIBE IN YOUR OWN WORDS WHAT WE CAN EXPECT TO HEAR. IN OTHER WORDS WHAT IS THE VIBE OF THE ALBUM?</b>
I’d say it’s gloomy with some sort of a blackened vibe. There’s a small metal influence because I was listening to a lot of black metal for the last couple of years, so I think it made its way into my writing. We have been trying to have an extreme sound and a certain vibe. There are a ton of bands that play technical metal, but it just gets boring because there is no vibe or emotions in it. There are gloomy melodies that set it apart from just being technical music.
<b>WOULD YOU CONSIDER THIS TO BE YOUR MOST EXTREME RELEASE TO DATE?</b>
I’d say so, yeah. It’s definitely a little more metal than the last couple records. There are a ton of blast beats on the record. More than we’ve had on any other recording. We wanted it to be a little more extreme than the last one. The last one was a little more experimental I’d say.
<b>YOU DO MOST OF THE WRITING RIGHT?</b>
I do most of the writing. I write a lot of riffs at home and piece stuff together. We meet at the rehearsal room and try to make songs out of it. In the end, everyone is involved in the finalizing. Our drummer Paul has a huge influence because he is a crazy drummer. Whenever I write something and think it’s complicated, he is able to make it even more complicated. He will have all these little twists and turns, but I do most of all the basic writing at home.
<b>YOU GUYS ARE PUTTING OUT AN ALBUM A YEAR JUST ABOUT . ARE YOU JUST REALLY FAST AT WRITING MUSIC OR DO YOU FEEL THAT BANDS KIND OF NEED TO DO THAT NOWADAYS?</b>
We just really like to be creative. We put out a lot of split releases as well. We just really like to write music. I love to go into the studio, record music and see it shaping up. It’s exciting for us to write a lot of stuff. There was eighteen months in between most of our releases, so I think it’s still alright. It’s not too short and it’s not too long. We’ve been doing so many split releases and I think we are going to skip on that for now. We don’t want to overwhelm people with too much stuff and we put out so much stuff. It might have been a little too much in the past, so we are kind of stepping back and writing for another full length. We are really happy with how the record came out. We want to tour on it.
<b>I READ THAT YOU WERE GOING TO BE DOING A VIDEO SHOOT. DID YOU ALREADY DO IT?</b>
Yes, we did a video for our last record and it’s been pretty exciting. A good friend of mine has been directing it. He has a lot of contacts in the movie industry because his whole family is involved in the movie industry. He managed to get equipment and people for really low rates. Without him it wouldn’t have been possible to do it. He is going to do our next video as well. There is going to be another video because some movie students shot a live video of us on our last tour. We have seen some of the footage and it looked really good. They are working on it and the real music video is going to come out early next year.
<b>SO IT WILL BE A LIVE PERFORMANCE VIDEO THEN?</b>
Yes, but with CD sound. It’s a bunch of highlights from the whole show because basically it was 1,000 people in a really small venue. It was like a stage dive inferno.
<b>YOU’VE BEEN ON THE ROAD WITH SOME AWESOME BANDS. WHICH TOUR WAS YOUR FAVORITE?</b>
The last tour we did with Never Say Die was the biggest tour we did, so it was very exciting. At the same time it was different from regular tours because it was so big. There were 1,000 to 3,000 kids every night, which is ridiculous. It didn’t really feel like a regular tour. I’d say I still prefer a regular tour playing for 200 to 500 kids and not being one out of seven bands. You make sure that people are there for you and not the seven bands. I still prefer the smaller tours, but it was very exciting. The huge stages and venues were quite impressive. There was one band we toured with called Intronaut from California and that was one of the few bands I watched every night because I was always impressed about their music and how they put it together. I watched them every night and that did not happen on any other tour. I like the bands we’ve toured with, but Intronaut was definitely an exciting band to watch.
<b>HAVE YOU TOURED HERE IN THE STATES?</b>
Yes, we were there in 2008 with Psyopus. It was pretty exciting as well. It was different from touring in Europe because in Europe everything is pretty much sorted out. In Europe you always get food and a place to stay. You get treated very well and in the States it’s quite rough. No food or accommodations. A lot of American bands told us, so we weren’t surprised about it. We knew what was awaiting us before we got there so we were prepared. It wasn’t too bad and we managed to get decent places to stay. A lot of kids offered us to stay at their places. In the end it really went quite well and we really enjoyed it, but it was still quite different.
<b>SOME OF THE BANDS HERE DO STRUGGLE. YOU HAVE TO DEDICATE YOUR LIFE TO IT.</b>
Exactly, I think it’s still a little different in Europe. You can tour as much as you would be able to in America. It was different to tour there, but I really enjoyed it and it was a good time. We were there during summer so we hung out at the beaches in Florida and California. I had never been to the U.S. before. So it was like a road trip to me.
<b>IN A COUPLE DAYS YOU WILL BE DOING THE BERLIN ANGST TOUR. IS IT ONLY FIVE DATES?</b>
It is only five dates and only in Germany.
<b>WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR TOURING IN 2011? ARE YOU PLANNING ON COMING BACK TO THE STATES?</b>
We are working on coming back to the States. It looks like we are going to play SXSW in Austin as a one off thing. There is some artist support in Germany that supports artists that go there. They are going to cover the flights to go there, so we might just go over, play SXSW, stay for a week and maybe go to Florida for some vacation. After that we are trying to get a summer tour booked. We are still working on it and hoping to get something put together. There is going to be another tour in Europe in spring with Emmure, so we are looking forward to that. The best shows were in California and in Austin. We had a great time in California. It was a great place to hang out and we loved all the beaches.
<b>THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE INTERVIEW. BEFORE I LET YOU GO WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD OR SAY?</b>
Thank you! I’d like everyone to check out the new record. We really hope to get back to the States and tour there because it’s been a while.
