Line Up:
Daniela Karrer-Vocal
Olaf Danneberg-Guitar
Max Hunger-Guitar
Ben Heber-Bass
Till Hartmann-Drums
Well,Friends of Aristocracy!
We speak again of our newsroom, where in a little while, we will have in all its emotions, the interview 189 of the Aristocracy.This time, we spoke with a German Thrash Metal band that abuses American influences, mainly from the San Francisco Area in their sound. But, their modus operandi is very particular. Their story is more elaborate and more unique. the band's sixth full-length album.Another detail is that the band has been with us since 1993, but it was only in 2008 that we had the vocalist we have today, but regardless of that, the band is solid, intense and with occasional surprises, but done in a very safe way.We are talking about Headshot and they show us this sixth work entitled "Eyes of the Guardians", we want to thank the band and the Italian producer The Metallist for their respective works.Let's go to one of their songs so that this unprecedented interview for Brazil can begin.
A1:Good morning guys.Let’s talk about the composition work in “Eyes Of The Guardians”?
Olaf:Hello and thanks for the interview.Well, I write all the music and most of the lyrics. I made digital demos with guitar pro and present it to the band in the rehearsal room. Of course everyone adds something like drum patterns/fills, some bass licks, guitar solos and some vocal phrases. Although the vocal lines come later, I try to write songs with a song structure like verses and a more or less catchy chorus. The riffs are always very dominant in metal, but it is important to have a good musical flow in the songs. I although try to add some special parts here and or make some unexpected transitions, to keep the music interesting. And then we have a little progressive side, which comes out in the little instrumental “Tentacular” or the long album closer “Invisible” and sometimes in between the songs here and there.
A2:Who are these guardians that the band refers to?
Olaf: I think everyone has a big guardian around all the time. Your phone. Still this is maybe some kind of sleeping guardian, but we`re at the step to the fourth industrial revolution, the digitalization of many processes that were analog before. All the data you produce can be kept and maybe evaluated by AI. In the near future every car will have a tracking system, so you cannot drive anywhere anonymously. The next step will be a chip or some kind of tattoo (like a QR code) beneath or on your skin. It makes a lot of profane things easier, but I think there is a big danger of losing our freedom in the near future. Just look at china, they are a few years ahead and the digital surveillance combined with a social credit system can pave the way to digital dictatorship easily. The lyrics of “Invisible” are dealing with the same topic.
A3:What are the melodic passages brought by the band to this album?
Olaf:I think melodies are an important counterpart to the guitar riffs, I like the combination of thrash riffs with some melodic passages by twin guitars. You can call it the “Maiden influence” :-).
A4:Some literature or film inspire the band?
Olaf:Maybe in the past but not this time. Real happenings like the first nuclear bomb test (“Ground zero”) and the deep water horizen catastrophe (“Veins of the earth”).
A5:Can we say that the story of the fifth song will be addressed more fully in a future work?
Olaf:“Tentacular Part 1” was an instrumental we needed a name for, and by looking at the cover and hearing the gurgling effects, which Till made during the percussion session by chance, the idea with this title came up. And there will be an follow up on the next album, “Tentacular Part 2”. The main idea already exists and I think it will be a short instrumental, too. So there is no real story just your imagination...
A6:The maze that the band refers to in the eighth song is something metaphorical?
Olaf:Yes, it`s the maze of someone losing the way in life and everything goes wrong.
A7:How did the band arrive to MDD Records?
Olaf: In November 2021 the headliner of a show in Lucerne/Switzerland quit, because of covid restrictions in Gemany. The organizer asked us to play instead of them three days before the gig. We decided to drive the 750km and play the gig, because we were hungry for a show, which wasn`t possible in Germany at that time. After the gig we talked to Michael Espaenes, the husband of Liv Kristine who offered us to look for a label. A few month later MDD Records had interest to publish our new CD. At the same time we were asked again to play for a band which quit because of Covid in our hometown Braunschweig.We did again, because we new the singer from the other band (Final cry) was Kai from MDD,so we could immediately talk to each other face to face, and made the deal perfect.
A8:What is Ground Zero?
Olaf:“Ground zero” is the story of the first nuclear test, that took place in the desert of Nevada in July 1945. The intro is from an speech by Oppenheimer, who was the main director of this very first nuclear bomb test.
A9:Is it possible to make a comparison between Daniela and Andi Bruer?
Daniela: In fact,that they're two different types of shouting-styles, it's not possible. Andy performed his high pitches since the early days of Headshot and I started with deep growles in the beginning of Uppercut.
A10:Daniela, some critics compare your high-pitched screams to Rob Halford. How do you deal with that comparison?
Daniela:Of course it's a great honor for me to be compared to Rob. But let's be honest...it's impossible to fill his footsteps with my voice.But compared to my earlier recordings, there's a great increase and further development. And I'm very excited about what's still to come.
A11:Why the band have this name?
Olaf: Back in 1993,when our former bass player Steffen Keuchel an me formed the band we needed a name. It was his idea and I had no better one so we took it. Prior to our first CD in 1995 we had discussions of changing the name, but some friends of us convinced us to keep it, so we did. There are two meanings, it is not just to shoot someone in the head with a gun or something, it also means to make a portrait photo of someone by "shooting" with a camera. So everytime someone asks why we are having such a violent name, we can always refer to that second meaning :-)
A12:This album is conceptual?
Olaf: No, but a few songs have a common thread like “Eyes of the guardians”, “Divide et impera” and “Invisible”
A13:What´s the idea behind the artwork?
Olaf: It all happened by chance, but in the end the artwork fits very well I think. Before the lyrics were written I was looking at the artworks of Plamen Kolev, who did our Coverart on our fouth CD “As above, so below” from 2008. I liked this motiv and asked him if we could use it, later after the lyrics were written I noticed the context to it. This tentacle creature bis the search light on fits perfect to the lyrics of the three songs from your former queastion.
A14:What kind of subject doesn´t deserve a Headshot song?
Olaf: I think love, party or fun songs wouldn`t fit in the Headshot context. So I refuse to write about that.
A15:The band feel differences between “Synchronicity” and now in “Eyes Of The Guardians”?
Olaf: I think the vocal performance by Daniela improved a lot, she wanted to try these high pitched screams which we all like and we experimented a bit here and there. There is more melody in the vocal lines as well, and her voice became more confidence. Musically I tried again a good combination of fast thrashers, melodic and progressive passages. So I think we determined our style finally.
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