|
THE ARCHIVES
|
Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
|
|
|
|
|
PERZONAL WAR
|
Matthias "Metti" Zimmer
November 2005
http://www.perzonalwar.de
Perzonal War have just released their already 5th CD, 3rd for AFM records. "When Times Turn Red" is a big step forward and will hopefully give these very symphathetic Germans the more international attention they deserve. They can finally prove their live reputation in 10 or so European countries as support act on the second leg of the Destruction/Candlemass tour. After some failed attemps in the past years, I'm finally able to interview singer Matthias "Metti" Zimmer when the band came to Weert, shortly before their tour, to present their new video. At that moment I hadn't heard the whole CD yet, only the e-card they had mailed out.
I've only heard the e-card songs so far, but I was blown away!
Really?
Yeah, it's super heavy and it seems you've further developed your style and esp. your vocals! How do you think the album compares to your last albums?
Thank you! I think it's heavier, more spontaneous, more straight to the face I would say. When I look back I still like the "Faces" record, but we had to improve some songs on that record before we could record them. I think some songs weren't so strong, so we had to put a lot of lead guitars on them, a lot of different vocals, a lot of arrangements. But now the songs work in a simple way with just bass, guitars, drums and voice. And some songs on the "Faces" records didn't work in that way. So we thought, let's focus on this live moment and catch this feeling that we also carry live, on the record. And very important this time was to get away from this Metallica thing. Esp. with "Faces" a lot of people said, yes it's a cool band, a cool record, but they are Metallica. So is it worth listening to Perzonal War?
I think it already had improved a lot with "Faces", or didn't they know the older albums?
That must be it yes, hehe. Now, we tried to avoid everything that could be compared to Metallica, esp. the voice: the endings, some phrases. We really tried to use some different melody lines to get away from this Metallica thing, but without losing our roots, that was important.
I think it still sounds like Perzonal War :)
It should! (laughter)
Did you change anything in the songwriting? How do you normally write songs?
No. It was a bit different to the "Faces" record, because then I was still studying so I had a lot of time, hehe. This time we all had a lot of work and we really could just write songs and rehearse after work or in the weekends, we really had to be creative in certain hours. You couldn't take time just to make music, it depended on our working hours. At first it was hard to get the beginning, it took a long time before we were satisfied with the ideas. I also took a long time with the lyrics, I wasn't satisfied to the last hour really, hehe!
Changed them in the studio?
No, but we did a lot of lyrics in the studio and we also wrote some songs in the studio, it was very to the last minute. But I think it worked because the record is more direct. We couldn't have done it some years ago, we just wouldn't have the abilities to do it. Now, everyone's better at their instruments and we can also try out some spontaneous things that we couldn't have done some years ago.
Since I've known you, you only once changed the lineup when Sven became your new bassplayer.
The little boy, hehe.
Well he's not so new anymore, but was it refreshing to have a new member? Did it change anything in the band?
Yes it was refreshing. Our last bass player was of course a real member, but he started as a guitarist. He was Martin's brother and when we at first couldn't find a bassplayer he said, ok I'll do, we took him and that was it. But Sven, he's a real bassplayer, he can't play guitar. It's not often that a bassplayer can't play guitar, because most bassplayers play bass because they can't do anything else... (laughter)
I think it's a very interesting instrument.
It is, when you can play it. But a lot of people can't play guitar and just change to bass because it has just 4 strings and it's easier ;) To have a real bassplayer like Sven, that's totally different, because they play with the drums and don't copy the guitar on 4 strings.
It's very hard to find a good bassplayer, but we found Sven and I think it was very refreshing, because with the last member we always had to tell him, do this, do that. That didn't work so well, Sven works alone and we tell him, do what you think is best and it works. It's good when you can rely on everyone in the band.
The production sounds (as far as I can tell from the e-card only) amazing, very heavy - did you again record in the Gernhart studio and did Martin produce it again?
Yes, it's a big difference to "Faces", we wanted it more rough, raw and aggressive, because it fitted better to the more aggressive songmaterial. Most productions out there are good and phat, but sound the same. We tried to do something different that really sounds like Perzonal War, maybe more.. live. We didn't use any triggers, we just used our equipment and it really sounds like Perzonal War. Martin did a very good job, he works as an engineer and producer and produces so many different kind of bands, he learns a lot, gets better and you can hear it on the new record. There's a development in the production as well, not only the music. A lot of people ask if we think it's good to have a producer or engineer in the same band. It can be a problem if you see there's no development anymore. But if you really think you get forward and it grows, it's much easier to work with a person you know and trust.
Who also knows how the band should sound..
Yes. He knows how we should sound and knows our abilities, how we work best and when you have a new producer you have to learn to work with him. For me and also the rest of the band it's very comfortable.
I guess there are arguments for both ways.
Yes, I think so.
How did you find your name Perzonal War (or rather Personal War with an s, as it used to be)?
I think that was Martin's idea. Personal War was just a project, we all played in different bands, our main bands, and wanted to try something different. Let's make a demo tape, write some songs, then Martin came up with this name, because we wanted to have a name that sounds like metal, but it shouldn't be too cliché. It also fits the lyrics. We don't use any fantasy style or dragon stuff or whatever, more personal, political things, everything that happens around us. It doesn't mean having a war against any person, it's more the inner conflict that everyone keeps inside.
You recently held a video presentation at the Cinelux in your hometown Siegsburg, how was that?
It was cool! First we worried a bit, because we had the presentation at 5pm and we thought it was too early, because too many people would still be working at this time. It was on a Monday, because we got the cinema for free and of course the owner didn't want to cancel anything. But I believe there were about 150 people there and we were very satisfied, for this time of day it was better than we could imagine! And it was great, it looks cool on the big screen. It's the videoclip to "For The Last Time" and also the "making of" clip which is 10 or 11 minutes. It just shows us in the studio, how we work, what equipment we used, how the record was recorded - but it's more funny, shouldn't be taken too serious. (laughter)
You're about to go on tour with Destruction and Candlemass and had a warm up show in Troisdorf yesterday. How was it and you must be very excited to go on tour with these two great bands?
Oww yeah, very excited. Yesterday the gig was a perfect start, it was totally crowded. We did it to rehearse the new songs, so we decided to play the whole new record in the first block, and the second block was 1½ hour of old songs. The tour starts next Wednesday, of course we're looking forward to it, but we don't know what to expect. We haven't played outside of Germany much, only Holland, Belgium, but not far away. And now we're going to totally different countries, some "strange" countries even, like Romania..
Several countries in Eastern Europe, and Greece even.. Greece should be good.
Yeah I hope so! A lot of people told us the fans there would be very enthusiastic and really into metal and the problem in Germany..
We're spoiled..
Yeah, that's it. All bands play everywhere, you see a lot, that's the problem. We'll see what we find there. We did promotion in Romania, Greece etc., also for our last record, but we never played there, we're really eager to know if people are into Perzonal War or not. I think it's a cool combination with Destruction and Candlemass, because they are very different. I heard the tour isn't going so well in Germany so far, but that might also depend on the fans. In Germany fans can be very narrow-minded. When they like Destruction, they're not interested in other bands with different styles and I believe in the rest of Europe they are more open.
Is Candlemass not popular in Germany?
They are, but Destruction fans just want to see thrash bands, I think the combination could work better in the rest of Europe. I just think so, I don't know it.
How come you're only on the second leg of the tour?
Ehm, it was just too expensive. (laughter)
You have to pay to play?
No, but we have to pay for the bus, of course.. we get some support, but we also have to pay for some things on our own, and it's also hard to get the days off.
Any chance to see you on some festivals next year?
We're working on it. Nothing is confirmed, but we try to play of course. It depends on how the record will do, so far the reviews are very good, esp. in Germany. We are #3 in the German Metal Hammer, among the 10x Dynamit in the Rock Hard, I think #6 in Heavy, #8 or something in Metal Heart, #7 I believe in Aardschok. Really good and much better than with the last record. But we don't know if it means... anything, you know! (laughter)
You never know what comes out of it, but at least your name gets out there more.
You guys performed in a German soap series a few years back ("Unter Uns"), how did that come about and what was it like?
We just played one song.. Sascha works for the tv and he worked for "Unter Uns" as a kind of sound engineer, so he knew the people, the producers.. we also got some songs played in "Verbotene Liebe" ("Forbidden Love"), also because he works there. But I don't know if it's good promotion for us! (laughter) So it was just because Sascha works there, knew the people...
Yeah why not try it then. Could be a fun experience.
Yes it was. But nothing more, haha!
What influences do you have as a band? You all have very diverse tastes.
I think everyone of us has totally different influences. We have some bands that everyone likes, I would say, all the 80s stuff like Overkill, Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica - more the American bands than the Germans. We're open to everything. Sven listens to jazz or strange stuff like Primus, Martin listens to metalcore and hardcore bands, he also produces a lot of those bands, Sascha likes bands like Porcupine Tree, The Gathering and I like Nevermore, some Nickelback, Creed.. I think the combination does it. It's different, it goes from Seal to Slayer to Gorefest I would say. (laughter)
Who or what inspired you to start playing an instrument and start a band?
Running Wild!
Oh dear, nooo...
(laughter) Really!
Of all bands... (more laughter) I never knew what people liked about that band, never ever...
By now I'm ashamed of it, haha! But when I started, Rock'n'Rolf was my big idol. I said to myself, when I'm famous I want to look like Rock'n'Rolf, hahaha! I'm glad not to have done that! (laughter)
I had that with Joan Jett in the early 80s, when I was a teenager ;)
Yeah? I collected everything of Running Wild, every bootleg, I had all the records in 5 different versions, Japanese, German, all the misprints, hehehe. So the first songs of my first band, Crushing Skull, sounded like Running Wild. Cliché and metal! (laughter)
Oh you have to start somewhere ;)
Is there anything left you would like to say to our readers?
Ehm.. yes.. don't let Anthrax re-unite!!
But they have re-united?
I don't know if that's their last word, I hope not. There's a website, I believe reunion-bashers.com, where you can leave comments. I contributed first day I saw it, because I think John Bush is their best singer and the whole thing is just a cash-in, you know. They kicked out Frank Bello, because they couldn't get along anymore, and now everything is cool again, Frank Bello is back in, Dan Spitz... I can't understand it, really. I hope they don't re-unite and if they do, I won't buy any Anthrax records anymore.
But they already played again in this line-up.
They played and they also put out a new live record with this line-up, but it's not sure if they're going to record a new studio record or anything. It's a pity, on the website they don't even mention John Bush anymore, it's just the 5 old members.. So, if anyone can do anything against this - do it! (laughter)
What do you in general think of all the reunions?
I don't like it. Some are good, but it's not always as honest as they say. It started with Maiden, they weren't so successful with Blaze anymore, Bruce wouldn't get as big as Maiden with his solo work, but I don't think Bruce Dickinson really likes playing in Maiden. It's money. Also Rob Halford. He was a cool singer, but he isn't a cool singer anymore, hehe. I liked the Ripper, but a lot of people didn't, but he's a good singer and did his best, if he wasn't there, Judas Priest could've split up totally.
They don't want to do that I guess. They can't do anything else hehe.
That's it. Oh, I do really like the Gorefest reunion. The heaviest band I like, one of the few death metal bands that I think are very cool. It's also a matter of taste.
And they can still deliver. I like the Death Angel reunion, one of my favorite bands back then and the new album kicked ass again.
And the Morgana Lefay reunion.
Oh yeah! Well, reunion.. more a name change.
But they didn't play for a long time. Another reunion I would like to see is Forbidden.
Yep!
But the Anthrax stuff is ridiculous and I don't think it would work.
What do you think of the Testament "reunion" tour? I haven't been able to see them now with the old line-up (but I did back in the 80s ;)).
I couldn't either. It would be cool to see them in the old line-up, but I don't understand why so many bands go back to their roots, I think it's really because of money.
Yeah Testament are still great in their new line-up.
They are, and so was Anthrax and I can't understand why they do it then. It looks like a cash-in and it's not fair to the members who played all those years, kept the band running. It's not fair to kick them out, or at least not the way Anthrax is going about it. We really think that is business and when we started the band we really believed that when you release a good record, people will like it and you will sell it, hehe.
Business has changed a LOT of the years...
It's not that way at all and you have to invest a lot of time and money to get forward. You need a lot of passion and perseverance. Fun has to be the most important thing! And to have a good and stable line-up helps a lot. That's the way it is with Perzonal War. At the moment! (laughter)
And keep your sense of humor :) Good luck with the album and the tour!
submitted by Marlies 14.12.2005
|
|
|
|
|
