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Joined: March 04 2008
Location: Retirement Home
Status: Offline
Points: 3658
Topic: Todtgelichter Posted: December 01 2011 at 15:15
TODTGELICHTER, a band with music nearly as interesting as their name, is a German experimental post metal band formed in Hamburg in 2002 by guitarist Frederic and drummer Tentakel P. The band started out as an intense black metal band. The band eventually was joined by vocalist Mort and they released a demo in 2003. With the addition of bassist Nils and second guitarist Felix, the band signed with Folter Records and released their debut full-length album "Was Bleibt..." in 2005. After the release of the album, Felix announced he was leaving the band, and he was eventually replaced with Claudio. 2007 saw the release of their second album "Schemen," which gained them an international audience after selling thousands of copies.
I got in touch with the band and Tentakel P answered my questions.
Your biography has been covered in your ProgArchives profile so let's bypass
the biography details. But which bands were you influenced by and why did
you choose that name ?
The name TODTGELICHTER stands for ourselves -
friends bound by death looming around and above us, freely translated. It is
old German and thus maybe hard to translate correctly. It transports a
certain feeling and morbidity for us, but since nearly ten years now it has
become more than a name. It has become an entity of itself, carrying the
memories, experiences, joys and achievements of all involved persons. It
serves as a vessel for mainly melancholy, a bit of agression, also hope,
sadness and joy, amongst others. Those feelings are given form by our music,
so it has been and is still fitting. The bands we were and are influenced by
do mostly evoke the same feelings: I wouldnīt want to name them here, as
there are too many even for one, not to mention EVERY member, of this band.
But be it Rock, Pop, Metal, classic, whatever - our musical influences carry
those emotions, and we like to dwell in them to get inspired, even when they
are not Metal. Today that may be CRADLE OF FILTH, tomorrow that may be PINK FLOYD...
Your band has been associated with the black metal
scene. Do you regard yourself as a black metal band and what is your views
on the black metal scene?
"Has been" should put it right. I can only
speak for myself here, but Black Metal to me transports a certain feeling
which I just canīt see in our music anymore. So, I wouldnīt go as far as to
call us Black Metal, and my bandmates seem to agree - we like to call our
style simply "Extreme Metal" nowadays. This way we do not limit ourselves - we still do have Black Metal elements present in our music, yet there are also many other influences so that label seems roughly adequate. But
just between you and me, we donīt give a damn about this ever-so-famous
labelling business; we just want to make music the way WE want to listen to
it. Let other people categorize it, if they must; but in the end it all
comes down to this: Do you like the music? Thatīs all that should matter. I
really see no sense in people accusing us of betraying our roots for
example: So yeah, we did Black Metal earlier and now we donīt, big deal. Get
over it or just listen to something else, hope you see my point ;-) Forgive
me for being bitchy about this particular point, but we have experienced
people to put too much empathisis on that topic.
To answer the second
part of your question, Black Metal nowadays mostly bores me. As soon as
someone tries something innovative and new, Iīm all for it, but most of it
is just dilletantish and uninspired crap. Itīs just not enough to be able to
torture some audial perversions out of your instrument as most bands (if
they are even a band and not some one-man-project) seem to think. Luckily, there are a few good examples to prove this theory wrong, I myself would
add LANTLÔS, NEGATOR, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT and some more to the list of
Black Metal I still like to listen to.
How is the local music scene
in your area now ? Is it easy for you to get any gigs ?
Sure, somehow
it has always has been easy for us to get gigs, we get offers very steadily.
Now our booking is done by DRAGON PRODUCTIONS, who also do DARK FUNERAL,
ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN and many other great artists, and we have big plans
for 2012 but canīt say anything official just yet ;-) All in good time. You
know, I rather see that as a gift if you take into account that the German
Metal Szene explodes with bands playing everywhere and at any time, Iīd say
for small bands it has become harder and harder to play good gigs with
bigger bands because the scene is overfed with concerts here. Sometimes you
would have three Metal concerts in one week, so where to spend your money on? And if you miss a band youīd want to see, you can be sure in most cases they will return within the year... Guess we just have that certain something that fans and bookers want to see; in my opinion you have to present something which people canīt get everyday, and I suppose
we achieve that through our music as well as with our shows. And we do not
take every opportunity, we choose carefully, so that a TODTGELICHTER-concert
stays something special.
Over to your three albums. Please tell us
more about the Was Bleibt... album from 2004.
Yes, that one has been
Black Metal, and no mistake. We had just released a demo the year before, so
the joy of having your first recorded output in your hands was somewhat
tarnished, but anyway this has been a big step for us as we had the record
deal with FOLTER REC. and several gigs coming up to look forward to. Black
Metal it was because that was what we felt like doing at that time, and
looking back after more than seven years now it felt great, I wouldnīt
change a thing. In my opinion this was a necessary step for us to grow as musicians and composers; and to be honest, anyone following us since that time can also see our technical progress as musicians as we were learning our instruments as we went along. We really started from scratch, and our ideas were a lot bigger as our skills (admittedly equalling zero when we started, haha). Do I need mention that I canīt listen to it today without a mixture of pride and
embarrassment?
You returned in 2007 with the Schemen album. Please
tell us more about this album.
Iīd say this is the crowning of what
we had to say in Black Metal, and I still like it very much because it also
shows an aggressive as well as a progressive side to Black Metal (attentive
listeners can also hear elements into the direction of "Angst"). Part of
this was due to the influence of our new guitar player Claudio, who came to
us in the middle of the composing process after Felix had left us. There are those who say that if it werenīt for Mortīs screams, that album would already have had a hard time classifying itself as Black Metal. This might be true and part of the different views among us that lead to Mort
leaving us finally, stepping aside as he said himself for us to evolve into
the direction we wanted and he didnīt. Funny thing is that he really likes
"Angst", he just didnīt want to be part of creating it. But he did a very
deep and radical change of his whole life at that point, I donīt know if he
even makes any music nowadays, just that he is a completely new and happier
person now and if that meant for him to quit being part of TODTGELICHTER, I
still am happy for him.
Another thing is the fact that Marta sings for
the first time on "Schemen", and although we thought that we would be
considered "untrue" with that experiment already, the orthodox Black Metal
police seemed only to recognize one album later... which only proves that no matter what you do, you canīt please everyone, so there is no point in trying, is there?
Your so far last album is the Angst album from
last year. Please tell us more about this album.
Ah, the album I want
to dedicate to all our haters. And the album I consider the most complete
and harmonious of them all, the album where we had no restrictions and maybe
the first album where we really had found ourselves. Where we had grown as
musicians and songwriters, and where we worked best together as a band so
far. You know, for me we were always recognizable for our melodies, and that
hasnīt changed a bit on "Angst". The feelings and melodies are still there;
but the sound has changed undoubtedly as we put much thought and work in it this time, checking out many different guitar amps and sound and their correlation; experimenting with drumsounds; and having more diverse vocalwork this time. Mort has been replaced with Nils, and we always wanted to add more clean male vocals - something Mort didnīt want to do,
but as we tried this with Nils he did a really good job as you can hear on
"Oblivion" and Café Of Lost Dreams". I guess another point is that Claudio
was there from the beginning of the composing process this time, and he and
Frederic go really well together, we have several melody arches harmonizing
with each other, thatīs a thing we shall empathize even more strongly on the
next album. Concerning the music we implemented more Rock elements, got
slower and more heavy - there is just more space for each instrument, and I
suppose weīre going to work on that as well. For those of us
unfamiliar with your music; how would you describe you music and which bands
would you compare yourself with ?
Again, I wouldnīt want to compare us to
any other band out there. Weīre listening to too much different styles and
bands so we donīt have any direct idols, and we do not want to copy any
other band, too. Itīs a state-of-mind-thing: We try to make ourselves free
from any influences when weīre rehearsing and try to transport the musical moment, that is that what WE have in our heads. I think if you start naming Bands you sound like youīre on the wrong track and you wonīt be able to grow beyond the status of a copy, thatīs just not what we want to do. If we have succeeded, anyone can judge for him-/herself. There are some Post-Rock influences as I was told (although not one of us could tell what exactly Post-Rock IS, haha) and some people said they hear early 90ties-Gothic-Metal in it - Well, I myself would say itīs the
mix what makes us interesting; personally I like to hear the Rock-influences
in an Extreme-Metal-Mix based on Black/Death/Doom/Gothic Metal with some
experimental elements, all that with a hell of a modern, extreme and
crystal-clear sound sound fitting these modern times. We want to look
forward, we do not look back, we strive to bring new impulses into Metal to
push it forward. And if that means we have to implement elements from
outside the Metal scene, we will do that, too... Letīs see what the new
album brings ;-)
What have you been up to since the release of
the Angst album, what is your current status and what are your plans for
this year and beyond ?
2011 has been a busy and productive year for us:
We played some festivals, the METALFEST Dessau for example with a.o. CRADLE
OF FILTH, AMORPHIS and AMON AMARTH; and we did a weekīs worth of gigs at the HEIDENFEST tour with WINTERSUN, FINNTROLL, TURISAS and others. We have
played many club,- headliner-, and tour gigs to promote "Angst" - amongst
the more memorable were the two gigs with PRIMORDIAL for the release of
their new album around easter; the RAGNARÖK- and METALFEST- Festivals and of
course, as said above, the 6 HEIDENFEST-extended shows. Those have been
really great experiences, and we hope to be even more present in 2012. Three
dates are already fixed, but not official yet - we should be able to
announce them at the beginning of next year, I guess. At the moment weīre
busy writing new songs, planning the next recording session and working on
the concept for the next album, which slowly takes form. So thatīs what
weīre planning, finish composing the next album until around march, play as
many gigs as possible during spring, summer and autumn until we can enter
the studio again at the end of 2012. Studio is already fixed, so make no mistake, itīs going to happen soon ;-)
To wrap up this interview,
is there anything you want to add to this interview ?
Thanks for
staying with us through the whole interview, dear reader, and if youīre
intrigued go check out:
Thank you to Tentakel P for this interview
Their PA profile is here and their homepage is here
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