Interview Suffocate Bastard (Germany)

Gore: Hey Karsten, let's start with the usual stuff first. Tell us a little bit about the band history.

Karsten: Hey Markus, the band startet in the year 2000 when our old singer Stefan fixed an advertisement at the "Idiot Records" CD store in Dortmund, Germany. Shortly after David and Patrick got in touch with him and they formed the band. We had some changes with the line-up in our history too. David for example was originally our bassplayer and Patrick did the drums on a demo. But after Thorsten and I joined the band we had a solid line-up. Later as we learned the 4 old songs from the demo we've written 10 new songs and entered the studio at December 2006 to record our debut full length album. Well exact at the release date, we split-up with our singer Stefan and after a long search we have found our new singer Brice. We hope it was the last line-up change in our history and that we could work on relaxed.

Gore: Your great debut full length album "Acts Of Contemporary Violence" which I can recommend to everyone who's interested in brutal US styled Death Metal proved again that the German Death Metal scene got some great underground Death Metal hopes. Are you guys happy with the result of the album? How did the people react up to now to your album?

Karsten: Thanks for your kind words. Yeah we're really happy with the result if you consider the short time we had to record our stuff. But this is also due to the profund skills of Jörg Uken from the Soundlodge Studio. It's safe to say that he's absolutely fast and he works so effective, that many things were done before we noticed any mistakes. As a musician you're never 100% satisfied with the result and you always find something which could sound better. But in view of our time pressure, we can really be happy with the recording session and the sound. Well the responses which we have seen 'til now have impressed us a lot. We had never assumed that so many people enjoyed our album. We've received some great feedback from foreign countries and we're glad about that support. And if you keep in mind that it was our debut album, the reviews have been great. Some people criticised the missing originality and that some songs are a little bit monotonous. But that's some kind of criticism which we can deal with and which we took to our hearts.

Gore: Everyone who dealt with the cover artwork and the album title had probably realized that you guys are not another band that is trying to shock with another female corpse cover artwork or gore lyrics. Unfortunately there are no lyrics in the booklet, so here's my question: about what kind of stuff are you singing on the debut album and is there something like a concept?

Karsten: That's right, that point was very important for us. We know that this kind of colouring of our cover artwork is unusual for the Death Metal genre, but Niklas from Infested did the artwork and we gave him a plenty of scope for that. We wanted a brutal cover but without the typical genre chliches. I think Niklas made a good job and at least our CD is eye-catching at the merchandise table. Well there are no lyrics in the booklet, because we had some space problems. Stefan's lyrics were very large and it wasn't possible to put them with the layout into the booklet. We haven't used a real lyrical concept for that album, but all lyrics were about the intrigues of the ruling class, religion, war, terror and the human desire to accelerate the demise of its own race. Calling our lyrics social critically would be a little bit overacted, but we see us lyrically more in the Dying Fetus way than in the vein of Devourment or Gorgasm for example. Well, we have definitely nothing against gore and splatter lyrics, but that's not our cup of tea. We will continue this way also with our new singer Brice.

Gore: Let's talk about the point with your old singer Stefan Meia, who did the growls on your debut CD. Tell us something about the reasons why Stefan left the band and tell us something about the new singer also.

Karsten: We split up with Stefan in spring 2007. This date was really inconvenient, but we had to make that decision and we did it consensual. In the course of time we have noticed that it was the right decision. The cooperation with Stefan became more and more difficult and the band developed into another way than Stefan. We noticed that it can't go on with this, so we decided that he should leave the band in a friendly way. So there is no bad blood between us and we all whish him the best for his future projects. Well the new singer search process wasn't simple and everything happend at the release date of our album. We had found some people which would be able to do the job, but most of them had problems with our music or were finally not available. After we abandon all hope to find a quick solution, we decided to subdivide the vocal parts to our bandmembers. Suddenly Brice messaged us, he did vocals in a fun grind band which was called Dead Members, and they also practiced in the same building as we. But his band split-up, so he was looking for a new one. Already after the first band practice he was able to convince us with his vocals, he learned our songs in an impressing time and that's not really easy. In the meantime our live show set is complete and works great so we can focus our work to write new songs. We also heard that Stefan works now with the remaining members of Brice's old band to form a new project. We will look ahead for it.

Gore: What's your personal opinion about the German Death Metal scene at the moment? Personally i'm really impressed about it and in my opinion our scene is able to stand comparison with other great international Death Metal scenes. All the people who can't agree with my opinion should check out the new Deadborn ("Stigma Eternal"), the latest Defeated Sanity ("Psalms Of The Moribund") or the debut album of your band. What's your opinion about these bands?

Karsten: Yes I can agree with that, there are some really great bands in Germany who play US styled Death Metal. Many bands here don't need to hide behind other international Death Metal bands. Some other great bands which I want to mention are Infested and Despodency as the advocates of the "new" German brutality. Well the new Deadborn isn't really my cup of tea. The technical level and the sound are amazing, but I don't like that kind of songwritting and song structures. In my opinion it's a way too silky and they repeat the good parts too many times. But that's just my personal opinion and a matter of taste. Quite different from the new Defeated Sanity, I really love the new album. Yes it's hard to understand that album, but that's the way I like it. Great blasting sound production and a complex song writting that makes this record also attractive after a long time.

Gore: Revenge Productions has released your debut full length album. This label is or maybe was (no idea how the current situation really is) the home of some great German underground hopes like Infested or Despodency. How did you guys get the record deal and will you continue the work with Revenge in the future?

Karsten: Dani from Revenge talked with us directly after our gig at the NRW Deathfest 2005 and by the way it was our second gig ever. Then we entered into business relations with him. We're really satisfied with his work. We know that Revenge is a small underground label and it doesn't have the option for a big financial scope. But Dani did everything in one's power to support his bands, so we can't compare. You can also find our album worldwide without any distribution, so one reason why Revenge and Dani was our first choice is referable to his great contacts in the scene. But at the moment we don't bother about it to be honest. Our first album is released and we try to play that stuff as often as possible live. Apart from that we concentrate our energy to involve Brice a way more and write new songs. By the way we have written five new songs and in my opinion they sound great. So that's why the thoughts for future releases are currently secondary at the moment.

Gore: You guys are really often live on stage. I had the chance to see your band with Monstrosity, Deeds Of Flesh and Vile. It was great you guys impressed me a lot with your energetic blasting show. Have you ever played a gig outside of Germany? Tell us something about the best and the worst live experience you had with your band.

Karsten: Cool that you enjoyed the show. We try to play as often as possible live and we were on the road many times. We had the honour and luck to play at amazing festivals like the Neurotic Deathfest in the Netherlands, or at the superb Mountains Of Death in Switzerland. Additionally we also played in Belgium and Austria. We don't had any really worse live experiences yet, but at the MOD in Switzerland we were so impressed about the landscape and the hot sun that we played so fast and have overcharged us a little bit hehe.

Gore: If I'm right you guys also play at this years Death Feast Open Air in Hünxe, Germany with other great bands like Suffocation, Origin, Decrepit Birth or Malevolent Creation. What do you think about this festival? I'm very delighted that someone is prepared to bear a risk to start such a big extreme metal festival like this.

Karsten: Yes if you take a look at the band billing, than the mouth of every Death Metal fan will be watering, don't you think so? In this quality and size there has nothing been in Germany's brutal Death scene before. Last year the line-up there was already great, but this year it's just pure breath-taking. Besides that the festival is just round the corner so I'm looking forward to see great bands for three days. Especially I like to see Unmerciful, Suffocation, Brodequin and Dying Fetus. It's nice and important that Mike and Blast Corpse Promotion spare neither trouble nor expense and do a lot to create a great extreme Death Metal festival among the Ruhr area in Germany. It's a big honour for us to be a part of that.

Gore: If you had the chance to choose a band for a tour which one would it be?

Karsten: Well, maybe this question could be unnecessary soon. The way things are going we are about to go on the "Gutting Europe V" tour next August with Beheaded, Inveracity and Inherit Disease. There we already have a lot bands with those we would like to go on tour. We are already pleased as punch to be involved into this brutal package. I think that should be very attractive for everyone who is into extreme music. Personally I really wouldn't miss that hehe.

Gore: Are you guys also involved in other bands or projects?

Karsten: Yep two of us are also involved into other projects. Brice got a soloproject Havana Grind (http://www.myspace.com/havanagrind) he's influenced by Havana club rum and does whatever he wants. Sometimes simple grind, then a little bit more technical and he screams out his soul for this project. Brice is also a good guitar player and surely he will add some ideas for our songwritting in the future. Our drummer Thorsten plays also in Apocalypze (http://www.myspace.com/apocalypzemetal) . He plays there with two buddies. They play an interesting mix beetween brutal Death and symphonic Black metal. But he doesn't play drums there, he's the bassplayer. You should listen to it, it's a great hybrid on a high quality level.

Gore: What albums have you enjoyed in recent times? Could you recommend any secret newcomers for us?

Karsten: Last year the new albums of Defeated Sanity, Inveracity, Malignancy and Beneath The Massacre blasted me away. Another one which was great, but it's no Death Metal was the Blotted Science album. It's a great inspiration for every musician. The new Putridity was also appreciable. Yes I have a secret underground recommendation for you. It's called Bleeding Corpse (http://www.myspace.com/bleeding666corpse) from Indonesia. They're blasting like hell, but these guys wouldn't win any prices for innovation.

Gore: What are generally your favourite bands? Do you also like other music styles besides Death & Grind?

Karsten: Besides the brutal stuff I like to hear old Speed/Thrash Metal stuff as I'm already old and grown up with bands like Kreator, Celtic Frost and Slayer. But I'm not only into Metal, I'm also into some classical stuff like J.S. Bach and I'm also a big fan of Jamaican dance hall music. Hardcore Dancehall is great and if you read the lyrics of artists like Bounty Killer, VYBZ Kartel or WARD21 you'll see that they're very raw. They definitely don't sing about summer, sun and a easy life. The lyrics are really brutal and if they would sing in german, it would be indexed here, yeah man.

Gore: Maybe you have read about that stuff before here. Sometimes we have some silly ideas like this one here. We write something senseless down and then we want to know your first thoughts about it. Ok let's start.

Karsten:
Gutturalzine = wonderful, it's good to see there are still some committed people!
Deathcore = No fish, no meat. Well maybe there are some interesting bands like Despiced Icon, but everything looks like the new big US trend. So if you like it, it's ok, but I prefer Death Metal or Hardcore bands like The Accüsed, D.R.I. or Septic Death, that's enough fusion for me.
Gorguts = Amazing band!! Too bad they split-up. Even today I like to hear "Considered Dead".
Alcohol = Not my world anymore. In the past I had drunk too many beers. But today I can't reproduce how this should work now hehe. So if I'm drinking 5 litres of beers in one year, then it has to be a really hot summer. Anyhow I don't like the condition of being drunk anymore; maybe I've seen too many people falling down into bad conditions in my life. I'm glad that no one in our band is drinking really much. Well ok Brice requires oiling a lot so he can initiate to his personal top form, but apart from that...
television = A visual medium, if been grown up with 3 black-and-white channels, so I welcome the variety of mental enfeeblement, information, dokumentation and the non stop streaming. Everyone should decide for oneself what one likes to look and how one handles it. Personally I could rather live without TV than without internet, but I'm anyhow pleased about soccer, documentations and TV series like "Lost" or "The Simpsons".

Gore: Ok Karsten I think that was all for now. Thanks for your time and I wish you and your band much success and fun. You got the last words for our readers.

Karsten: Thanks for your interest and for this interview. Ok people prepare for next August and visit our Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/suffocatebastard) or www.blastcorpsepromotion.de for the dates of the "GUTTING EUROPE V" tour. Stay brutal!