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| w/BASTIAN HERZOG |
| Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The band recently just came off tour with Six Feet Under in support of your new release “Made of Flesh”. What was the audience reaction when displaying your new material? Bastian Herzog: The tour went totally great for us. Almost all venues were full and people seemed to be excited about the new songs. At the beginning when putting together the set list for the tour, we were a little unsure if we really should play so many new songs on that tour, since the album was released in Europe only a few days before the tour start. But it turned out that we made the right decision to reserve half of the set list for the new songs of “Made of Flesh”. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Speaking of touring, I have noticed that when doing shows Fleshcrawl's normally stationed overseas. Are there any prospects for a tour or select dates in the US? Bastian Herzog: So far not. However, we hope to get some cool offer/chance to tour in the States for this new album. We had a couple of offers during the last years, tours and festivals. But it didn’t work out for some reasons in the end. However, I have to say that it is kind of hard and expensive to come over for just one gig like one festival show. I think we should play more than just one show. So we will try again this time. Well, another thing, I guess is that in the end this also depends on the sales figures of the record. So we will try the best we can Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I must say congratulations on “Made of Flesh”. I loved the new material! It has that "old school" death metal style that many bands seem to lack these days in that genre. What do you feel contributes to making Fleshcrawl so distinct amongst its ranks? Bastian Herzog: Well, I think we developed some good feeling for writing old-school death metal songs over the last years, all the work, and albums definitely made us gain some good experience on that. This together with the fact that we love this style in extreme metal probably enables us to do the work we are currently doing. At some point this is hard to explain. I mean if we start working on material we simply cannot do some other stuff. We also never tried in fact. All the riffs, melodies and arrangements always end up in old-school death metal, brutal, intense and heavy as shit songs. I am really happy about that fact which probably also keeps us from making any mistakes. (Laughs) Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When writing for “Made of Flesh”, was there anything particular that you felt influenced the bands creativity and what is everyone’s involvement within the writing process? I see that you did all of the writing for the lyrical content with the exception of the one track "When Life Surrenders" where everyone contributed to the lyrics. Bastian Herzog: Nothing special indeed. We were working the same way like we ever did in the past. We just wanted to improve ourselves and raise the song quality again towards our last output “Soulskinner”. About 80% of the songs for “Made of Flesh” were written by Mike (guitar) and Tobz (bass). The final 20% were contributed by our new guitarist Oliver. I myself also wrote one riff for “When Life Surrenders”. Lyrical wise I was doing most of the stuff, like already on the other albums in the past. The fact that Sven and Oliver were contributing some lines for the lyrics of “When Life Surrenders” is because that song was finished 3 days before we headed to the Studio in Sweden. We then had to write the lyrics in the studio. Actually, we finished those lyrics one day before the vocals for that song were put on tape. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: If you had to pick one track off the album that you feel would best illustrate Fleshcrawl, what track would it be and why? Bastian Herzog: Definitely, “Demons of the Dead” because it represents a typical Fleshcrawl song. It offers slow, mid-tempo and fast parts and has a lot of variation. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When recording, was there anything that you had done differently with this release than in the past? Are there any special "behind the scenes" events that took place while recording that you would like to mention to your fans? Bastian Herzog: Well, there were two things which were different this time in Studio Underground. We were working in two studios at the same time, in the big studio doing all the drums, guitars and in the small studio bass and vocals. This saved some time and also gave our singer the chance to rest his voice for a while. In the meantime we recorded some bass and then we came back to the vocals and so on. We couldn’t use this advantage when recording “Soulskinner” because the 2nd studio was not built yet at that time. The other thing was the fact that “Made of Flesh” is the first Fleshcrawl album on which we used a click track to record. Cool thing, no idea why we didn’t do it before?! Unfortunately, I cannot offer any special stories from behind the scenes while we have been in Sweden. We really worked hard during these three studio weeks. There were also no boozing stories taking place outside the Studio just inside in the living complex after the studio hours. (Laughs) Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Who did the cover art for “Made of Flesh” and what is it suppose to symbolize with regards to the album or the band itself? The detail is incredible! Bastian Herzog: The cover artwork was done by Uwe Jarling who is a professional graphics artist and a very good friend of ours for years. He already did a couple of other artworks for us in the past on“Descend into the Absurd”, “As Blood Rains from the Sky” and “Soulskinner”. Uwe was living in our area and therefore we could check the different stages of the painting at all times. Well, we just provided him the album title and the lyrics for the title song and then left him alone without any further directions. Everything you see on the cover is completely his own idea. We just wanted him to do a typical death metal cover artwork with a lot of details. Of course it should fit somehow to the album title, but I think Uwe did a very good job on this challenge. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When thoughts for the new release were first initiated, which came first, the CD imagery, or the songs? I know some bands write based on the album concept and imagery first. Bastian Herzog: We started the songwriting at the end of 2002 beginning of 2003. The artwork came together sometime in mid 2003. When we began to write the very first notes of the album, we even didn’t know how the album would be called in the end. Every time a song was written, I started to put the lyrics for that song together. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The band has had a couple label changes throughout the years. With that said, how has the music industry changed since you originated? Bastian Herzog: The music industry probably changed over that time, but the way we see/saw the industry has basically changed not much. Also we as persons, not really. I mean we are pretty much the same people nowadays like when we started the band. Of course, our understanding, knowledge and professionalism grew along with the band over the years. We always stayed true to ourselves, no matter what the “business side” threw towards us. We always tried to get into the “business” side of the game not too much because this keeps you from making music and keeps you from concentrating on the band. During our first time being signed to Black Mark we had to learn a lot and also got to know the bad side of the “biz”. People who are not interested in building up something and just want to make some fast and easy money. Unfortunately we realized that almost too late, but we managed to split from them in 1998. Shortly after we got signed to Metal Blade which totally changed our world, perspective and motivation. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When listening to earlier releases, how do you think your drumming has evolved? Bastian Herzog: Well, I have to say it didn’t evolve too much compared to earlier times. I never was somebody who wanted to improve my playing technically so much. I think it needs to fit to the overall atmosphere and feeling of the songs on the record. I also never rehearsed like hell for myself just to become better. Maybe I am also too lazy for that. As long as the songs on final record are killer and I am satisfied with the product, I am happy. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I found you to be an excellent drummer and believe me I only give compliments when merited. (Laughs) So with that said, how would you categorize yourself as a drummer and do you feel that you’ve reached your full potential? Bastian Herzog: Technically there a lot better ones around in the scene. But that’s ok with me as I never wanted to become the best of the best. (Laughs) Moreover, I think solid playing is much more important than being the fastest, most technical or whatever. Well, considering the time I am already playing drums, I should be much better. No doubt about that. But to be honest, I don’t really care. I am not a person who wants to spend all the time behind the drum kit to rehearse for myself. So I don’t give a fuck about that. I am happy with the current situation and the way my drumming is integrated into Fleshcrawl. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: What measures do you find to be influential in having a great performance live? Bastian Herzog: I need some time to relax and prepare myself just before the show. Also, I usually drink two beers up front at the gig. Not more and not less. I guess if the people freak out on the show that’s the most important thing about playing gigs, isn’t it? Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I noticed that Fleshcrawl's Website is currently being reconstructed. When will the site officially launch and how important of a tool do you consider the Internet to be for underground bands? Bastian Herzog: We are in the process of re-building everything. We finally found the right person who wants and hopefully will do that. However, it still will take a while. Therefore I cannot say when we really can re-launch the site. The best way to find out is to regularly check back on our site because we will post every step there. The internet and the resulting possibility to use websites to spread band information is pretty important nowadays. I would not want to miss that way of information for myself. Cheap, fast and clean. A “must” for all bands, not just underground ones. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I appreciate you taking the time out for the interview. I was very impressed with “Made of Flesh”. With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? Bastian Herzog: Thanks for the interview and the support of Fleshcrawl. Appreciate it a lot! Everybody who is into old-school death metal stuff in the early Swedish vein, uncompromising, raw, but at the same time wants to have catchy and melodious stuff should check out if he is “Made of Flesh”! OFFICIAL SITE "FLESHCRAWL": http://www.fleshcrawl.de HOME |
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