donderdag 21 februari 2013

Interview with We Set The Sun (GER)


Vocalist Tim from We Set The Sun tells us about the brand new album, Shakespeare, changes within the band, the recently uploaded music videos and his love for We Set The Sun.



You guys recorded a new album, which will be officially released this month.

Tim: The newest thing about our new album 'V Ages Of Men' is that I left the bass guitar for what it was and take care of the vocals from now on.
I must say I am very happy with my new job (laughs). Now I carry some more responsabilities, because a bass player can easily dissapear to the background if he wants to. For a frontman that is impossible.

Where did you record 'V Ages Of Men'?
Tim: Close to Nürnberg Alex Adelhardt owns the Ghost City Recordings studio. We are soundtechnically satisfied with this album and recommend every other band to book this studio for their recordings.
Last April we were there for one week to record V Ages Of Men. There was nothing around the studio, so we certainly were focused on what we were doing. We even wrote some parts of songs in the studio itself. Also, we decided to leave some stuff out from the pre-productions because it had lost its relevance to the rest of the album.
I don't want to tell too much about the concept of the album itself. All I can say is that it is about Shakespeare.


That sounds interesting. How Shakesperian is 'V Ages Of Men'?
We based our CD on the poem 'VII Ages Of Men' and wanted to recreate this story in a more modern way, with music of course. The protagonist in our songs goes through different stages in today's daily life where faith, love, hope, addiction and death are central themes.
What does the tour for the release show look like?
Tonight our pre-release tour together with Scream Your Name came to an end with the show Münster. We did shows in Austria, Switzerland, Berlin, Hamburg, Köln, Frankfurt,...
The show we played today in the Sputnikhalle was actually the best show. I love it when the stage is big, which gives me the opportunity to move more and it is nice to have the venue packed with a nice crowd in front of you.
Until now there are no shows planned for the future now, so for those who are interested: book us!

Was it a big change for you to drop the bass and pick up the mic?
Tim: WSTS is not my first band. In the past I also trained my vocal skills in the days we were still a band that just started. During the pre-productions I created the vocals, so our singer knew how to sing the songs. Somehow we noticed that my voice fits the songs better and we decided to hang on to this and change the line-up. Since that change the atmosphere in the band also got better, which is a good thing I think.

Explain your love for WSTS.
The last three years I celebrated my birthday with the band. We were always on the road or just together. Last year we were recording V Ages Of Men during my birthday and after the recordingday we went out in Nürnberg. Actually I couldn't imagine more beautiful birthdays than the last three of mine.

Sounds like love.
Tim: Most of the time yes. Part of love is of coufse some fights which take place now and then. That is normal when you are together for weeks in the same RAUM all the time.

You also released some music videos recently.
Tim: Yes, the two videos are actually stories without any band performance in it. We also have some actors in there. We tried to bring the concept in both videos closer to the viewers by using protagonists. We wanted to use the stories only and that is why we left out the band performance.
In the future also some lyrics videos or play through videos will be online.

Already some people saw the first video 'Groundbreaking'. Right before the video ends, it is completely unclear whether the protagonist survives his suicide attempt or not. What happens next?
Tim: Well, the first video has an open ending. All I can say is that he is not dead and who
wants to know what else happens should watch the video.

What about some last words?
Our record was already released on iTunes, Amazon, etc. earlier this month. The official release date of 'V Ages Of Men' date is 22 February. From then on our CD's will be in stores as well.
By the way, on our website
www.wesetthesun.com there are some veryyyy nice preorder packages with exclusive limited shirts which come together with the new record. Also college jackets with records can be preordered.  The pearls of our online store are two guitars with signatures and the WSTS logo on it. Also a drum is for sale which comes with a shirt, CD, poster, stickers and everything. And please BOOK US! We feel so much like playing shows anywhere, please check us out and book us for your show!





Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wesetthesun?fref=ts
Online store: www.wesetthesun.com




maandag 18 februari 2013

Review Ieper Winter Fest 2013


Genet Records and Vort'n Vis blew out five candles that were proudly burning on their vegan Ieper Winter Fest cake last Saturday. A hardcore line up mixed with some outcast genres and even bands that fuck up your mind completely.

Ieper winter fest took place at Jeugdhuis Het Perron in the heart of Ieper. As all of you already know, the festival is more than just music. Those who were interested had the possibility to join in for readings, have a look at the live interview with Colin from Amen Ra and ask him a question at the end, buy books, etc.
The hungry ones could get theirselves some gyros or burgers – all vegan of course. For those who were into something more sweet there was some nice vegan cake.

Just after one o’clock the guys from Cheap Drugs started the festival with bringing the real old skool hardcore punk back to life. Around two in the afternoon King Hiss entered the stage and These Mountains Are Ghosts finished their heavy riffed set around three.

Next blacksludgedronedoom (read: black metal)
band were the Belgian guys from Alkerdeel. The band from Ghent was not expecting so many people to show up to see them play. 'We are sort of outcasts here, but the crowd reacted very nice to us. There was more response that we would have expected'.

There is anger. There is angrier. And there is the angriest. Think of this superlative and it is the precise description of what Pay No Respect brings on stage. The UK guys played their first Ieperfest on the 2013 winter edition. Raw, harsh and angry songs made the crowd go mad. 'Belgian people are insane’ declared the band after their show while we had a talk at the merchstand. ‘Besides, thumbs up for the soundguy', the band said afterwards.

New Morality pushed the crowd that bit further in excitement with playing songs from their new album ‘No Morality.
Surge Of Fury seduced the people to go for a dance by starting off with 'Boogiedown'. It was a brutal performance, with contrastive pink lights during the hardest breakdowns. I see what you did there, lightguy.

The Black Heart Rebellion surely was a good warm up for the headliner Amen Ra
Every now and then the vocals seemed to be just a detail, because of the instrumental focus. They were able to turn the stage in something magical, especially at the beginning of their set.

Celeste was possibly the most outstanding act for the people who are not familiar with their way of performing. Before getting on stage, the entire concerthall got filled with smoke. To give you an idea: even in the hallway and the bathrooms you had to go through a mist. Then, each of the the bandmembers tied red miner lights around their heads and started to play. After the show you realize you have been watching red lights moving around on the stage with nothing else to see. The fact that you don’t see anything except fir lights surely strengthens your ears to listen to the music.



Knuckledust
was also present for the last summer edition and was very proud to be back for the winter edition. ‘We love Ieperfest, give it up for the organization’, singer Pierre declared his love for the festival. Songs like London Zoo and 25 Years Dead made the audience go wild. Of course ‘Bluff, Lies & Alibis’ was planned to be the last song of their set, because it is the first single that has been released from their most recent album ‘Bluff, Lies & Alibis’ and raised t.

Amen Ra is known for their eccentric performances and attitude on stage. Singer Colin does not show his face, as he performs with his back to the crowd. Most people are not able to do anything else except for staring at the stage, because it is simply so impressive. I didn’t even make one note during their set. Moving images and rewind videos of clouds are projected on a big screen, in front of it Amen Ra does their thing. Not a single word is spoken to the audience during the show. At the very end, Colin turns around to sing the last lines, showing his face to the people that have been watching the show all the time. When the band leaves the stage and the moving images fade, a warm applause makes clear that Ieper Winter Fest 2013 has come to an end.



Ieperfest: http://www.ieperfest.comGenet Records: http://www.genetrecords.com/
Vort'n Vis: http://www.vortnvis.net/

Spider Killed Bananaman (GER) says goodbye

Here is a video we made last on 9.2.2013 during Sputtenmosh XIV in Münster. Spider Killed Bananaman tells us about their future plans, what it is like to be a role model and also something about Quentin Tarantino.



Alex from Spider Killed Bananaman (GER) speaks the last words about the band




Well, there is not much to say about this video...
We can say the Germans have their own way of recycling bands that don't exist anymore.
Just watch it.



dinsdag 12 februari 2013

Review Sputtenmosh XIV 09.02.2013 @ Sputnikhalle, Münster (GER)


Dear Sputtenblog,
Last Saturday we met again after an epic busridefailure (forgetting how to open busdoors in Germany is not so practical...) and ending up paying for a taxi I did not need.
Well, at least I was in time to still see how the Swiss guys of Scream Your Name set foot on stage. Their post-hardcore melodic mixtures of heavy guitarriffs and the more soft clean vocals were certainly not bad. The crowd however remained calm. Too calm if you asked the band. “I really think people tonight are up to heavier stuff than Scream Your Name”, the band declared after the show. 

Next up was We Set The Sun with the release show of their new album 'V Ages Of Man'. Some changes have taken place within the band: The previous vocalist left last year and guitar player Tim took over the microphone. Same people, new energy you could say. The atmosphere somehow changed when the Germans hit the stage, as a lot of efforts were done by We Set The Sun to make the cinderella crowd wake up. First song ‘Groundbreaking’ with music video on the album was definitely a song that people were familiar with. After that people were slapped literally by give-away-shirts and some stagedives made everything complete. A very good warm up for the next two goodbye shows of ‘Arterial’ and ‘Spider Killed Bananaman’ that were coming up. 

After the last free shirts were grabbed from the floor, Arterial prepared theirselves for their last show ever. Half an hour is quite short for a goodbye show the band could unfortunately only play a song or five. It became clear that a big bunch of people came out to Arterial's hometown just to support the band one last time. Songs as Rising Tides, Awake and some surprise act new untitled song were played. Before leaving the stage the moved fans received the last shirts and EP's. Tears were shed and hugs were given. Arterial will forever be in our hearts.

Spider Killed Bananaman overwhelmed the crowd and now all people seemed to have waken up. The entire hall went crazy when songs as 'Cut off her tongue' and 'Shit and fuck and motherfucker' were played. A lot of songs were played and after that some extra songs were played.
Suddenly around the end of the set, one of the bandmembers yelled at us: ‘Hey, what do you wants us to play now?’ As my brain decided not to reply at all I answered ‘Uuuuhhmmm… Play me something you have on Youtube please.’

Then it came to an end. Last song ever, last time to see Spider Killed Bananaman on stage, very last chance to dance. People start to yell ‘Cut off her tongue’. All of a sudden around the end of the song, the bassplayer ran to us, pushed his bass into my friend’s hands and dived off the stage. People sang along and suddenly  there was pink light, seagels appeared out of nothing in the Sputnikhalle and it seemed we were in Utopia. No drugs involved, only music and a good light show.

P.S.: Keep your eyes open for some videos we made on Sputtenmosh XIV that will be online tonight!