[avatar =”Mosh” size=”50″ align=”left” /]With their fourth album, Explositive, out recently I had the chance to throw a few questions at vocalist Agata about the band, their unique sound and their live performances…
Your fourth album is just about upon is – have you had fun putting it together?
Yes, we had a lot of fun this time. We collected tons of ideas and sometimes it was hard to maintain the overview. But it’s great to be part of the process when a bunch of ideas are growing into a real proper song.
What’s the writing process like with seven of you in the band? Does anyone take the lead, or is it very much a team effort?
It’s all a big struggle. Sometimes even a bloodbath… :) This time we tried a different approach. Our two singers came up with vocal ideas and melodies for e.g. a chorus, then our guitarist and bassplayer are trying to harmonize and arrange the instruments for that in the studio. Other times we start out with a cool riff and evolve the song around that. Sometimes it’s a classic band-jam during the pre-production-phase. But at some point everybody is involved in the song-writing process, at least when it’s time to choose the final tracks for the album – the hardest part.
How did you all come to be working together anyway? I’m right in saying that everyone is Austrian except yourself? How did you find yourself involved with a bunch of lederhosen-bedecked Tyrolese?
:) Well, actually only three of us are from the countryside (Upper Austria). The others were born and raised in Vienna. I was born in Poland, but came to Vienna when I was little. We all knew each other from the local Underground scene and over the years we grew into our current line-up.
Your sound is often labelled as “crossover”. How did you end up with this mix of sounds, and is it a challenge to bring together varying genres in a balanced way?
Not at all. It would be difficult for us to stay in one genre. This mix is the natural result of us working together.
Second Hand Wonderland was a superb collection of tracks. Do you think you’ve managed to top it with Explositive?
I’m sure you’re very aware of the fact that musicians always think of their latest record as their best! :) But it’s hard to compare those two records because Explositive is more straight forward and orientated on our live-performances than SHW.
Do you feel that your sound has changed at all since 2001’s Teamspirit 55 EP?
YES! :) Of course it has. Back in the day, this was a complete different band. But maybe the love for some heavy riffs and grooves is still the same.
Your live show has had great write-ups, especially that memorable show at Woodstock Poland in 2011. Do you have any plans to tour in of the new album, perhaps to the UK?
Of course, we start out in Austria this Winter. But for spring and summer we are planning dates in whole Europe, mainly in Poland and the Netherlands. But when we are already there, it wouldn’t be too far to make a jump over the Channel. :)
Are there any shows which stick in your memory – for good reasons or bad?
Hmm, loads of for both reasons. There was a particulary strange one in our early days: We played as the musical backup for a Extreme-Snowboard-Event in the Alps. The boarders were doing their stunts and races all day in the mountains and in the evening there always was a award show with live music (us) and a big party. One day the village in which the event took place was completely snowed in.
So no one (not a single person) showed up for the award show and the party (and subsequently our gig). But our singers had the great idea to invite all the athletes to us on stage and we played anyway. Instead of playing in front of a empty concert hall we had a packed stage with headbanging and moshing snowboard-dudes. That was fun.
What bands would you like to tour with – past or present – if you could choose your own line-up?
That’s a hard one, because everyone in the band would choose different acts. Let’s say this would be some kind of Festival-Tour: Iron Maiden, Rage Against The Machine, Faith No More, The Prodigy, Seeed, Soulfly and maybe Depeche Mode. Pretty weird. :)
Can we expect a video for any of the new album tracks? Any clues as to which one(s)?
There’s already a clip on YouTube for “Just Propaganda”. We are still fighting about which one is gonna be the next one.
Thanks for your time and best of luck with the release! Hope you make it to Glasgow some day :)
Thanks for the Interview. We sure would love to tour Scotland some day.
