Hallo Ascheregen! Wie geht es Ihnen in Deutschland ?! Ich wohne in der Nähe von Seattle und ich genieße deinen Heavy Metal der alten Schule. Können wir das Interview auf Englisch führen und dabei helfen, Ihre Band amerikanischen Fans vorzustellen?
This is Metal Bulletin Zine in the Seattle area, U.S.A.
https://metalbulletin.blogspot.com
1. Your album Untot (Undead) is a lot of fun, it’s like heavy metal for a party! Ascheregen is actually a new band, isn’t it? The band formed recently in 2017, but the album is done well with that classic-style hard rocking fun vibe of heavy metal. Do you all have experience in other bands in Germany? How did the idea of forming the band happen in 2017? Does Ascheregen have theme? King Diamond is horror, Dio is fantasy, so what is Ascheregen? Horror movies? A particular theme from German culture?
Answer: We are happy that you like our stuff. So greetings to all american metal fans as first. The most bandmembers have experiences in bands before. Andreas played with HAMMERSCHMITT and ASGARD before and wrote guitar lines for bands like GRAVE DIGGER. Christina and Daniel also have bands before and I played in the early90ties in the german punk bands FREMDKÖRPER and SCHLEIFSTEIN before. In that time I meet Andreas the first time and we did a project in 2007, but the stuff never released because one of the members had a contract with an other band. So we meet again 2017. Andreas worked with Daniel and Christina and two guys of the former Line Up…so we come together, because the ask me for the second voice in the first song. Now we also have a new drummer, Detlef Schröder. He also is experienced in music, because he is the drum-teacher of the music conservatory in Frankfurt.
Who is answering this interview
Answer: My name is Marc Debus alias Kaleun Cronos in the band. I´m one if the two voices, the other one is Lilith.
2. Now that the album is out. What is next for plans? What do you have planned for 2019? Will be playing a lot of shows in Germany and Europe in general?
Answer: Yes, we are planing to play shows and we also work on new material for the next album since a few weeks.
Have the metal music publications done reviews of the album? Are there radio stations in Germany that play heavy metal and that play the music of Ascheregen? Where can fans hear the complete album?
Answer: Yes there are a lot of reviews, some like the stuff, others don’t like it. They say metal with german singing sounds horrible. Hahaha…..the problem of a prophet in the own country….but for us not a reason to stop our music. Because others like it, we have enough motivation to continue our work. In Germany we had our release show as a radio show on metal-fm.com and they also play our album. Also the metal-crash.de radio play our songs. You find “Untot’ s official video on Youtube and “ Lass es raus” from a live show in 2018. Also you find the other songs on Youtube, but not in the same quality than on our album. You can buy this worldwide on Amazon….so please….buy the album….better for us. hahaha
4.The song Untot seems like a horror movie situation, but what about the song Christina? Is Christina a character from a movie?
Answer: “Untot” is a horror movie, because of the hipe around TV shows like the “Walking dead”. But you also can hear the song as a critic on people, following a system without a own will….so there are two messages inside this song. “Hey Christina” Is the story off a girl with some mental problems, because of here suroundings, friend, job etc. Problems everybody knows in his own life, so everybody knows the feeling.
5.I was thinking that the song Tod im Ascheregen (Death in Ashfall?) is a ballad love song, but it is the story of a brutal way of dying ha ha!! I felt like you were playing a joke, a prank on the listener: make people think it is a sweet ballad, but it is a brutal theme! And then the song Hau ab (Get lost?) is an anti-love song! How much of your music and lyrics is German humor that only German rock fans would be able to understand?
Answer: “Tod im Ascheregen” is like you say…a ballad about a hard part in someones life. A soft song about a hard time. “Hau ab” means “Go away” and it is a anti lovesong, about a relashioship at the end. She says GO AWAY, because he was a dirty bastard…..hahaha. But everybody can understand the meaning after a translation...its not only for Germans understandable.
- Ascheregen is “old-school heavy metal” but actually your band has female/male singing, the lyrics are in German and there other surprises, like on the song Wer bist du (Who are you?) there is death metal growling! Therefore, Ascheregen music is also a bit rebellious against the rules. What is your opinion about experimenting a little bit with other genres in the music of Ascheregen? Do you want to continue adding some more surprises for the listeners?! I was not expecting death metal growling at all.
Answer: We have an main idea off our music, but we also like it to add some things no one expect. We think the old metal also have influences from punk rock..see the Ramones or the Sex Pistols. Also some of the old punk bands like The Exploited do albums like “Beat the bastard” and that’s more metal…..and every American metal fan knows, that Ross the boss from The Dictators is one of the founders of Manowar. So it allways was a crossover. You talk about the voice in “Wer bist du”. Its not realy a growling, because you can understand the words….hahaha But you are right. We like it to do sometimes strange things. We hope for the listeners its fun, because they get different kinds of cake, not only ten pieces of the same one.
Ok, so, so tell us about the song Schnell wie ein Hai!!! Every fan of old heavy metal in Germany knows exactly, exactly the title, right?! Is it your tribute to Accept, in a fun way? Maybe on the next album you will have a song called Rock dich wie ein Hurrikan?
Answer: Nice….you see the idea behind the song….and yes!! it’s a tribute to the old ACCEPT line up with Udo Dirkschneider….if you search you will find the shark also on the cover of the album on the left side. Accept is still a nice band, but we are oriented on the old metal stuff, that’s what we want. Also the song “Rockgott” – “God of rock” is an homage for Ronnie James Dio, one of the best metal voices ever we think
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8.I like the keyboards on the album. Sometimes the keyboards have the classic and fun feeling of 1980s rock. How were you able to find a keyboard player in 2017 that would understand that you wanted a little bit of the classic 1980s sound in the keyboards, a little of hard rock but also a bit of pop sounds, too? Was it difficult to find a person like that in today’s rock world? The beginning of Rockgott, the keyboards and the guitar riff, takes the listener through the time machine back to the 1980s.
Answer: That feeling was the intention to take Daniel inside the band. He is a fabulous key-player and we like it to create this feeling of the old sounds. We think its old but also modern, because a lot young people listen to that music again. We like it…..and we don’t change it…..its a part of our music and give us the possibility to sound like in the 80ties.
Thank you for answering these questions! The album is a lot fun. Do you have any other news about your band? When will be coming to play in Seattle ha ha? Maybe I need to buy a plane ticket and go to Frankfurt to catch a show!
Answer: playing in Seatle…..a good idea I think…..you can invite us and we will come…hahahahaha. But you are allways welcome to our shows in Germany….and the same we can say to each american metal fan.
I will also say some greeting to my good friends in Virginia Beach….Gorden, Kent, Kent and Fender. I share some open stages with them….and thar was allways fun, to play some German-Bues. Cheers to all american fans…..rock on…..and never forget to drink some beer when you do it!!!!!!
Thank you for your time!
Review von www.bleeding4metal.de
Review von baarikärpänen vom 14.02.2019
Normalerweise ist es recht einfach, wenn der geneigte, über den Tellerrand schauende, Metal-Freund Bands aufzählen soll, die mit deutschen Texten agieren. Da reichen in den meisten Fällen die zehn Fingerchen schon nicht mehr aus, so groß ist das Angebot. Nur leider haben diese Truppen dann recht wenig mit Metal im herkömmlichen Sinn zu tun, sondern sind eher in der Punk-, NDH-, Deutschrock-, Gothic- oder Mittelalter-Ecke verwurzelt. Und nein, die auch dort vorkommenden Brat-Gitarren machen aus diesen Combos noch lange keinen Metal-Act im traditionellen Sinne. Selbst bei echten Szene-Insidern wird's schwierig, die volle Anzahl Finger einer einzelnen Hand mit Beispielen auszuschöpfen, wenn nach reinrassigen Metal-Acts gefragt wird, die die deutsche Sprache bemühen. Außer den ostdeutschen MACBETH oder den ollen Helden FORMEL 1 fällt da nicht viel ein. Wir stellen also fest, dass in diesem Bereich bisher eine riesige Lücke klaffte. Richtig, klaffte, denn jetzt kommen ASCHEREGEN und beweisen mit ihrem "Untot" größtenteils eindrucksvoll, dass die Kombination aus Metal im Fahrwasser von MAIDEN, PRIEST, MANOWAR mit deutschen Lyrics ganz vorzüglich funktioniert.
Dass auf "Untot" aus songwriterischer Sicht nichts in die Hose geht, dafür sorgt A. Püschel. Ein echtes Szene-Urgestein, der schon in den goldenen 80ern bei den deutschen ASGARD mitmischte und außerdem auch beim Songwriting von GRAVE DIGGERs "Tunes Of War" seine Finger im Spiel hatte. Was ASCHEREGEN zudem ausmacht, ist hinter dem Mikro zu finden, welches sich Kaleun Debus (dürften vielleicht einige vom Promoportal Germany kennen) und Lilith Frost teilen. Eventuelle Bedenken, dass wir es hier mit der x-ten Version von Beauty & The Beast zu tun haben, können wir aber gleich schon vorab zerstreuen. Beide überzeugen mit grundsoliden Rockröhren, die entweder schön rau (Debus) oder geerdet (Frost) klingen. Wenn man schon die deutsche Sprache bemüht, dann macht es durchaus Sinn, gleich im Intro zum Titelsong richtig einen rauszuhauen, indem man good old Goethes "Faust" zitiert. Ein wenig Stil kann ja nicht schaden. Besagtes 'Untot' zählt dann auch gleich mal zu meinen persönlichen Highlights, mit seinem Chorus, der im Ohr hängenbleibt. Das nachfolgende 'Hey Christina' werte ich als feine Verbeugung vor OZZY OSBOURNE und erinnert an dessen 'Mr. Crowley'. Soweit also schon mal ein starker Beginn. Nicht so recht dazu will allerdings 'Lass Es Raus' passen, ein Song, der eine Mischung aus Punk, NDH mit metallischen Gitarren ist. An sich nicht schlecht und wird garantiert auf Konzerten aus einigen Kehlen mitgegrölt werden. Diesen punkigen Vibe versprüht übrigens auch 'Hau Ab'. Auch wenn das Label ASCHEREGEN im traditionellen Metal-Sektor verortet, ist das zu kurz gegriffen. Da darf es gerne auch mal CHILDREN OF BODOM-mäßig sein, die ein oder andere Power Metal-Referenz lässt sich finden und gegen Ende ist mit 'Rockgott' sogar ein Track dabei, der aber sowas von original aus der Feder eines Don Dokken stammen könnte. Und dann wäre auch noch das balladeske 'Tod Im Ascheregen', ein Song, der mehr Symphonic als traditioneller Metal ist. Aber ganz egal, wo man die Stücke jetzt auch hinpackt, alle haben die tolle musikalische Umsetzung gemeinsam, hier vor allem die Gitarren und auch, darf man ja mal erwähnen, die Keyboards passen perfekt. Natürlich müssen wir noch ein Wort zu den Lyrics verlieren. Auf die dürfen ASCHEREGEN zu Recht stolz sein. Gerade dann, wenn Bands die deutsche Sprache verwenden, ist ja oft mal fremdschämen angesagt. Nicht so bei ASCHEREGEN. Deren Texte erinnern stilistisch sogar manchmal (vor allem auf 'Argenteum Astrum') an Wolfgang Tilgner oder Kurt Demmel, die beide gar nicht wegzudenken sind, wenn man vom sogenannten Ostrock spricht.
Was in einem Genre wie z. B. der NDH auf Anhieb funktioniert, erfordert im Falle von ASCHEREGEN eine gewisse Eingewöhnungszeit. Denn, machen wir uns nichts vor, gerade im traditionellen Metal ist der Hörer nun mal auf die englische Sprache konditioniert. Insofern muss man sich in "Untot" reinhören und dem Ganzen einfach eine Chance geben. Und weil wir es hier mit einem Debüt zu tun haben, will ich auch gar nicht zu kritisch sein. Allerdings sollten sich ASCHEREGEN einen großen Gefallen tun und sich auf einem eventuellen Zweitwerk auf eine Stilrichtung fokussieren, denn gerade die traditionsmetallischen Songs wissen wirklich zu überzeugen und davon dürfen's beim nächsten Mal gerne mehr sein.
Interview von battlehelm.com
http://battlehelm.com/interviews/ascheregen/
ASCHEREGEN have a very explosive band name. Thankfully they got the music to match it. Anders Ekdahl ©2018
Let’s start with your latest recording. When you look back at it now what kind of feelings do you have for it?
-We do the record in a good mode and still have a positive view of it. The band continous since this time and we find a new drummer, Detlef Schröder for our future work. So we have new songs already, but love the old ones too.
I am fascinated by band names. What was it that made you settle on the one you have and what does it mean to you?
-“Ascheregen” means ash rain or fallout after a vulcano erpupted…we think our music is like that. Creative people come together, bring their ideas and then the eruption bring our product or song……and the ash rain let it fall on you….or so
What does it mean to you that there are people out there that actually appreciate and look forward to what you are doing?
-We hope we can give them what they want and we try to do our best making music that people like. But in the end we wrote it first for us…bring our ideas inside a song and feelings in our lyrics. We are sure, that some people feel the same and will like the music….hmmmm….ok….we hope so hahaha
How important is image to the band? What impression do you want the fans to get of the band?
-We don’t have an idea about a fixed image….its like a song….it changes with the feeling
I am a huge fan of LP art work. How important is it to have the right art work for your album?
-As first we must say that Eric Philipps artwork is outstanding. We want that he work for us, because we know his work for other musicans before. We talked about the cover and our songs and he did it, like we had it in our inner view that time….he also paint some gimics inside the pic for two of our songs….try to find them…..
We live in a superficial world today where you don’t exist if you are not on Youtube and Facebook. Has social media been only beneficial in socializing with the fans or is there a down side to it too?
-There are always to sides of a coin….Yes social media sometimes very good for musicians and music….and sometimes not. Downloading music is a problem, because musicians earn mor less than in old times, but it is like it is….I think we had to find ways to give musicians more benefits for their work….as well the same for artists, painter, photographer etc. ….the problem is that the modern society don’t want to pay for art anymore…..but without artists that will end in a disaster.
When you play in a band does it feel like you are a part of a massive community? That you belong to something that gives meaning to your life?
-…it give meaning to our music…to that what we create together…..but its not the sense of life….hahaha…..ask Monty Python for that
When you are in the middle of it do you notice what state our beloved music scene is in? Is the scene healthy or does it suffer from some ailment?
-We not create our music like the Mainstream want it…..we create music and hope some people like it….but we will do nothing we don’t like to be a mainstream band
How much of a touring band are you guys? How hard is it to get gigs outside of your borders?
-Gigs are always difficult, because we all have jobs and other things beside, but we looking forward and have some plans and locations where we will play this year
What will the future bring?
-We hope only good things…..and we work on a second album….hahaha
Am Radio - Release Showkommenden Freitag ist es so weit, die RELEASE Show zu unserem neuen Album "UNTOT" als zweistündige Radiosendung in einem der größten Rock- und Metalradios Deutschlands. METAL-FM wird das Album vorstellen und moderiert wird die Show von Karl Heinz Schutlze. Dabei wird das neue Album gespielt und Marc alias Kaleun Cronos, Dniel und Christina werden dem Moderator zur Scheibe Rede und Antwort stehen!!!