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Vice Blog

FROM A BAVARIAN YOUTH CENTER TO STARDOM

I’m from Landshut, which is a small town in Southern Bavaria. I have a band down there and we used to practice in the local youth center. The guys in the practice room next door belonged to this death metal combo called Obscura. Whenever we had a smoke...

I'm from Landshut, which is a small town in Southern Bavaria. I have a band down there and we used to practice in the local youth center. The guys in the practice room next door belonged to this death metal combo called

Obscura

. Whenever we had a smoke in the common area we could barely exchange words because of the infernal noise. A couple months ago I was curious and clicked on their Myspace page, only to see that they were supporting Cannibal Corpse on their US tour. So in the time that we had wasted on cluelessly touring fucked up jerkwater rock venues in Bavaria, this guy Steffen had considerably stepped up the game. The shy and quiet lead singer of our old neighbors replaced the entire personnel of his band with the toughest, famous virtuosi he could find (ex-members of Necrophagist and Pestilence), sealed a record deal with Relapse, and recorded an album that got loads of praise in all special interest media in both the US and Europe. So I decided to check out their Berlin gig a while ago, to have a little chat about the good old times. Sometimes I had trouble following the conversation because after a set from this band your head basically feels as if a cargo train had hauled right through it.

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VICE: Steffen, four years ago we used to play at the youth center's summer fest in a little garage. Now you're touring Europe with Dying Fetus and Cannibal Corpse. What the hell did I miss? How did you become a professional musician? Steffen:

Well, professional musician might be a slight exaggeration. We're basically playing to make a living. After this summer fest in 2005 things went on as usual for a while. In 2007 I organized this tour through the Balkans. A couple of things went wrong during my planning period. The whole line-up broke apart and I had to look for a new drummer to fill in. I ended up paying more than I earned. I found myself at the crossroads: either keep going the way we were—playing at youth centers two or three times a year—or doing it right. I've always been the bashing my head against a wall kind of guy: I fired the whole band and then approached the musicians that made me think: that's exactly it, that's the style I'm looking for. And all of them were up for it. We recorded a three-track demo in my student apartment and sent it out to different labels. Three labels wanted us and finally we signed with Relapse. And then everything went really fast

That's how easy things can go…

Well, we did put a lot of work into it. The hardest work actually started after signing. It's not like you get anything for free.

How was your US tour?

One the one hand it was fantastic, of course. We got amazing feedback from the people. Concerts have a different value there compared to Germany. The typical German death metal fan is 15 years old, wears glasses, and his faced is covered under his semi-long hair and lots of pimples. He's watching the concert just standing there with his arms crossed and then afterwards he comes up to you at the merch stand and points out your mistakes. In the US people come up to you and tell you how much they liked your show, even though they've never heard of you before. Of course that's amazing. At the same time it's very strenuous. In the US you have to cover long distances, 400-500 miles per day. And we had to drive ourselves, we didn't have a driver, nor did we have anyone to handle the merch, nothing. Now imagine running on an average of five hours of sleep, being on the road all day and then having to perform a good show every night. That'll wear anybody out. After four weeks I got really sick. I had severe tonsillitis and my voice was fucked. We had to abort the tour.

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Fuck. Well, you're also still in school right? How do you handle both things?

Yeah, that's kind of hard. My first semester went out the window for the Balkans tour, the second semester for the promo recording and then we released an album in the third semester and then toured the US in the fourth. Now I'm in my fifth semester and touring Europe.

Haha, oh boy. Do you have any free time at all?

Well… not really.

Your bass player lives in the Netherlands. How do you guys actually manage to practice like that?

Actually, we don't practice at all. All our songs are written down in notes, every drumbeat, and every guitar lick. We're using Guitar Pro for that and the we just exchange the files via e-mail and everybody can practice at home. Before tours, we just meet once or twice and then it's got to work.

What about the jam situation? Don't you miss it?

Not that much. It does have some advantages to work this way. You don't have to walk over to a cold practice space in winter. And you can write much more complex stuff. Question is: Can you actually still play it? But up till now, we can handle it.

Your aesthetics really differ a lot from what I know from other death metal bands.

Yeah, we're really not into this dumb thrash-gore-diddleydoo. We take a bearing on the prog bands from the seventies, have lots of classical and fusion influences. Our bass player has a flamenco background. We try to come up with something different. I've already created a concept spanning four records.

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Four records?! Are you a control freak?

Yes. Well in terms of music, everybody in the band has his freedom, but concerning the organization and the overall concept, I have to know what happens when where and how. Otherwise I get nervous. There are bands that can't organize shit and they still get along. Well, we're different. We're nerds. Boring, no smoking, no drinking, trying to get everything straight.

Oh, that would have been my next question. My band mate Simon wanted to know if you're still such a poor drinker for a metal head or if that has improved at all.

Ha ha, no, we're really not a party band. We actually can't allow ourselves to be one because of the demanding music we play. And it always goes down the same anyways, I'm just witnessing it again with the Swedish band we're touring with: First week they all get wasted, second week they get sick, third week they're all pissing each other off because they all fuck up on stage. Now we're in the fourth week, and we'll see how long this band will survive.

Our guitar player Auer wanted to know if there are groupies in the death metal scene.

No comment.

You got a girlfriend?

No, and that's fine. As you can see, we have a dimmer in this bus.

I see.

Hey, do you know this doctor from Landshut? What's her name again? Batzenschlächter [chunk slayer]?

Batzenschlager [chunk beater]. Yes, I know her.

Batzenschlager. Man, I'd marry for this name.

If I were you, I'd give that a second thought.

Photos: Christoph Voy