Die Apokalyptischen Reiter

Interview date

13 Janvier 2011

Interviewer

Ostianne

I N T E R V I E W

Interview Volk-Man (by phoners)


Your music is more "conventional" than before. Why such an evolution?

I don't know. We had a long time to do stuff and we had a good time in the band. And as always, we didn't want to do the same thing twice. So maybe the last album was a little bit brighter and had most positive moods, but this time, it's more diverse, wild but it's like the feeling in the band.

How did you work on this new album?

We had a lot of rehearsals, we met two or three times a week, we had a tour, then we had a few weeks to go home in the mountains. We were in a kind of isolate atmosphere and we had a lot of time to talk, we did jam-sessions and found the right balance for the album... Most of the time, we were on tour so we didn't really have the feeling we worked for months on the album, it was more like "ok, let's work on the album, let's tour, let's work on the album again". So it's a little bit different compared to the old albums.

You also produced this album. What kind of feelings do you have when you create the music, but also produce it?

Actually, of course it gives you a lot of freedom because after fifteen years in a band, you know how you want to sound, you know all the techniques to catch the idea you have in mind. And of course, it's also special because if you have time to achieve stuff, to record and everything, it's easier for the band.

This new album, "Moral & Wahnsinn" has a special cover and doesn't look like the previous one. It's more coloured, and we can also notice religious elements like the snake, the apple, and the man who looks like Jesus. Why is there this kind of references and what does it mean?

Yeah, the English meaning is Morality and Insanity. So I think it fits the album really well. We wanted to show the difficult question and answer to what are morality and insanity. Because we don't think that morality is only good, and madness and insanity are always bad even if they are opposing. For us, insanity and madness mean freedom, nature which is wild, and morality... There is a lot of universal morality and authorities that tell you what is moral and immoral but if you look at the church or the States, who controls them? Moral is the one who says, this morality is right and only the morality of this kind of person is good. And I mean the whole topic is very philosophical and if you look at the story, a lot of famous philosophers like Socrates or Plato have already thought about it. What we just wanted to show, it's just that there is no universal morality and no universal truth, and we wanted people to sit and look at the album cover and start thinking. I think everybody knows someone who says you are not allowed to do this but if you look behind that, they don't do what they are preaching. So there is a lot of hypocrisy and a lot of lies in discussions, especially if you talk to politicians. We thought it was really a good topic that could fit this album and when we found this album title, it was easier to compose the songs and the lyrics for it. We have really intense apocalyptic lyrics, and on the other side we have very hopeful lyrics, so it fits really well.

To me, the green man we see on the cover represents Nature. What do you think about the situation of the planet and human behaviour?

Yeah, if you look at the cover, you see the green man, the unspoiled nature in the middle and you have these moral authorities on the left and on the right who try to whisper at his ears what he should do, what is right, what is wrong. So you have to make a choice, to go on the right side or to go on the left side. And all this is going into a conflict. I think everybody in this world has to face it. I mean, if you are tied by time pressure, and you go on the traffic light and it's red, of course, you can cross, nobody is there to tell you that you have to stay or you can go. But you have to make a decision to go even though the traffic light is red. It's just an example but... But we also put in on the morality of the society. People like in a church preaching them to be nice and on the other side, you can read on the newspaper that there are really bad things that happen in church with young people, a lot of sexual stuff which were on the media a lot of times. And it's the same people who try to say you have to be honest and loyal, don't steel and be like they want to you to be. But there is no universal truth, because what can be true or right in Europe may not be in Africa!

On this album, there are eleven songs but the album is less than forty minutes long. Why did you compose songs which are so short?

Yeah I think it's the first album which is less than forty minutes long. But we think this album has to be intense and we think that people can really take this level. We had a lot of other experiments, and we maybe could have added one or two more songs, but in our opinion, it was only longer, not better!

"Gib ich ihn" and "Hört auf" are maybe the two songs that remind me the most what you did before. Was it natural during the composition or did you think you had to do it for your earlier fans who are a little bit disappointed by your evolution?

Actually it was really fun to play those songs. It was the first time that we felt we had to do it again, to make something that extreme. Because the lyrics are really drastic on those songs and I think it really fits the intensity of the music. But of course, during the rehearsals, sometimes it was like "ooh, this is really like what we played in the old days!". But it's fun. And I can tell you that the mood in the band is really good and we really had a lot of ideas, and we really wanted to bring as many stable ideas as possible on the album. I think it will surprise a lot of people.

There is this song "Dr. Pest", and that's also the name of your keyboard player. What is the story behind this song?

There is a big mystery about Dr. Pest and every fan and even everybody on the band is curious to know the truth about Dr. Pest (Laughs), because his image is so unique and so strange. He has a mask on stage, a whip and he is beating people. And there is this strange attitude he brings on stage and there is this real addiction and devotion from the audience to him... It's a great story we could tell, and we wanted to do a big story, and in the music there is a string orchestra. It's really an epic song in my opinion. Of course, it will confuse people, but it's an anthem to him. And this will be the first single on the market, we already did the video for the song and it will be out in two weeks, you will be able to watch it for free on Youtube everywhere... We are very curious because the song is a very, very good story about Dr. Pest so everybody will know everything about him!

I saw you at Raismesfest last September, and that's true, I find him really strange too!

Yeah, there is always the band on the stage, there is no introduction for the band members, there is just this one guy with a mask and the whip who is playing the keyboard, and sometimes he comes in front of the stage and beats people... But we don't have a real explanation for it. It was always like that and when we check our fans mails, there are always questions about him and what Dr. Pest is all about. It's not the truth in the song, we cannot explain him, but we tried to do an interesting story for everybody.

"Heimkehr" is a sweet and instrumental song. Why did you put it on the album? Is it to make a break for the listeners?

Yes. Except on the "Licht" album where there was no instrumental break, on the previous ones, we always had an instrumental song. Sometimes, it's really good, especially when the songs are in so compact and intense moods. So the song is a kind of break, and gives time to rest a little and have more concentration for the following songs. Because in my opinion, the mood of the album changes a little bit after the instrumental, especially with the song directly after it, "Wir Reiten" which is a really sad and cool song. But it's really good because it brings a break so you are ready for the other songs.

As we said, for this album you used again some death metal elements, do you think that finally, you might do it again in the future and on stage?

I mean it's always hard to find the balance when you have so many albums. I think we could play like seven hours (laughs) and when we have only forty-five minutes to play... So it's always difficult to find the right songs for a festival for example. But we always want to show the many faces of the band for a live show, especially if we do a headlining show and we play one and a half hour. There is a lot of time and space for many, many influences and different faces of the band.

And how do you combine the old and new songs, the death metal ones and the more conventional ones?

Of course, it's a big evolution. And we still have one song from our first album, "Metal Will Never Die" and it's also fifteen years old and if you play those songs, sometimes, you like to think about the old stuff and think about time. But on the other side a lot of things happened during all these years and we are very grateful that we can still play music, and that there is always a lot of people who adore the band, follow the band, to have so much support. It's always a great honour for us and it's always very cool to play old songs for the fans. But when you do old songs, the reaction is really good, but usually, in the crowd, most of the people are from the new generation and they only know the new album. If you play a very old classic, then of course, for some people it's like heaven, but if you have the chance to record the show for a video and check the crowd on that song, sometimes it's really weak! But you don't care, everybody who comes to see the show should feel alright with the set-list. And we are looking forward to the next tour, we are rehearsing at the moment and we have many songs, and it's difficult to find the right balance.

The band has been founded in 1995. When you look back, do you have some regrets about Die Apokalyptischen Reiter career or if you had to do it again, you would do the same?

It's a difficult question, but of course, everybody makes mistakes and could do things different or better. But, if we had known about some record company, we wouldn't sign with them because it caused a lot of stress and cost a lot of money... But we were lucky that we made the biggest mistakes in the very earlier times of the band. So at those times we all had regular jobs ans it was more as a hobby. But in general, there are no regrets. I think it's a very good challenge to take your band a step-forward. And at the beginning we had so much negative feedback from the press... It was always like nobody could understand why we mixed up the songs so much and we always said that the most important thing is that the band members interact with the music. We cannot plan that thousand people will come to your show, nobody can. But at the moment, we feel very honoured and of course, it's a great mission to make this music, to write songs and to know that thousands people will listen to the songs. That's something that was really not imaginable when I had a guitar for the first time in my hand.

And next year, your first album will be fifteen years old. Do you plan to do something special to celebrate it?

Actually, we really missed the sound we had in the band in 1995. So, actually now, we are sixteen years old, so we missed the fifteenth anniversary... Maybe it's a good idea to celebrate the eighteenth anniversary because we will finally be adults! (Laughs). But I don't really know. There is a big plan to make a very big historic DVD. We have everything, every studio on video, even the first tour. We have very old and great stuff on video and of course we could do a real good historic DVD but it would also take a year. And at the moment, we don't have time for such a project. But maybe for, let's say the twentieth anniversary, this would be a good idea to come up with this special DVD for the fans.

On the album "Licht", you had a guitar player, Lady Cat-man, but now you have a new guitar player, Ady. What happened?

Actually, we really didn't have the same opinion on a lot of things. So we were not comfortable with this situation. So after nine months, we thought it wouldn't work for the future, so we searched for another guitar player. I mean, in a band, you are on the road for many months in a year, and the chemistry in the band is the most important thing and it was not a real rocking unit... It was something different... It was ok and cool, she also brought a lot of power and energy to the band and we really appreciated that, but for us, we decided not to continue with this line-up for this album. And we are very happy that we have Ady in the band because it feels really natural to have him. He is a passionate guitar player and he is into heavy metal music. We couldn't find a better one.

As you are rehearsing for your tour, I know you always have special stuff on stage, so do you already know what you will have on stage for the upcoming tour?

Actually, this is a good question because we are in the middle of the creative process of thinking about which stuff we are going to have. We always have some robots and some bomb cannons and other stuff. We have a lot of stuff and at the moment we have to discuss with our crew, with our management and the local organisation of what is possible and what is not. It will be a unique show and we work on doing something special. But at the moment, nothing is really, really sure. That's what I can say!

And with this album, does France will finally be able to see you on stage and not only during a festival?

I really hope that we can set-up a tour as soon as possible. Actually, that was plan to make before the German tour parties, we had in mind to make three shows in France, but sadly, it didn't happen because it was not working, because there were too many dates in clubs and it didn't fit together. But we are very close to booking with the Hellfest, we already played there and hopefully, we will be able to come back in September or October for some shows. It depends on how the album will be in the French market... But we had some successful tours when we toured with the Paganfest, when we played in Lyon or Paris and the Raismesfest was a great challenge. I think the band has a good reputation in France, we always like being in France, and it would be great to come back as soon as possible!

What else can you say to end this interview?

Of course, I say hello to all French fans. I'm really happy that the album will be out really, really soon and I can tell you that the new video of Dr. Pest is coming in early February. We will announce it on our website, there will be a brand new facebook page facebook.com/reitermania so, if you are into the band, just add us as friends and you can have all the necessary info of what will happen in this year. We really want to come back as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience and your dedication to the band and we wish you all the best!


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