Der Blutharsch

"Time is thee ennemy" has been released for a while now. What about the forthcoming releases?

"Time..." showed us an evolution of Der Blutharsch going farther in the direction lead by "When all esle fails", am I correct?

Probably...I think the evolution is more into a "Rock N" Roll" direction, if you want to say so; more away from orchestral ephic/ambient into more song orientated music.

Still about "Time...", there were lots of collaboration with other artists such as Bain Wolfkind or Geoffroy D... Should we consider your two lasts albums as collective work? Will you continue the many collaborations with friends on next releases?

I will continue collaborationg. Bain is a fix member of Der Blutharsch, as is Marthynna and Jörg, so working with them happens on a regular basis in the studio, and they are involved a lot, but with friends I collaborate as well. There are some plans for collaboration with people for the new album, but let`s not talk about it before it happened.

You had troubles for the april 2004 gig in Paris. What happened exactly? Had there been other problems during the same tour?

no problems exept for Paris.
In Paris we had a strange situation...the mair of the district told the venue, that he do not want us to perform, but he was afraid to ban us - as he would have had to take the consequences. If we would have been banned officially, we would have taken him to court, and as he wood have lost the case, he was really afraid - but the venue, due to this situation got scared and wanted to stop the whole night. We talked to the people, which were nice, but afraid, of corse...and we persuaded them to let the other bands perform. After Bains performance we sneaked onto stage and performed 3 songs. After that we spoke to the owner of the venue, and he told us, that if he would have known in advance how easy the audience was, well behaved and how our music sounded, he would have let performed us. A typical case of misinformation and anti-propaganda. But, well France seams not to be a very liberal country anyway considering "freedom of art" - am I wrong?

Will there finally be a concert in Israel? How comes you encountered more problems than Death In June did for that precise country?

Well, we are much more dangerous than Death in June... :=)
Yes, there will br a concert this year ot next year, when we tour again. The main reason for the posbonin of the night was that 2 weeks before we wanted do fly over, the venue got bancropt, and the venue situation in Tel Aviv is quit complicated, there are not many Rock venues. Of corse we had some people panicing arround about us comming to Tel Aviv, but this wouldn`t have affected our performance, as we allready had work permits etc.

What's your response to people who reacted negatively after the release of "Speech of Truth"?

There were not really many who reacted negatively, and those who did I just told to "Fuck off!"

I learnt recently you'll perform an accoustic gig in italia together with DI6 ; what kind of music do we have to expect considering that usual Der Blutharsch sound is a lot sample-based?

We just are rehearsing a lot...and I can tell it works out well. We peform a lot of the songs, and all totally accousitc. We will be 6 people on stage - and it simpky works.We reduced the songs onto the basics and worked out new arrangements. So, keep fingers crossed that it sounds good life. The worse work has our sound-engineer...as he has to handle arround 14 mics and aditional instruments..but he is a good technician.

The aesthetical background of Der Blutharsch in general seems to have changed a bit on the last albums, maybe less historical. What are your songs about now in general?

About life, despair, alcohol, drugs, sex, incorrectness, stupidity, ignorance, slender, lies, misinformatioon...simply, about LIVE.

In the clip featured on "Time...", pigs are very present. All pigs must die?

Not all...but a few.

Is there a delibarated "Laibach" influence into that precise song?

I don`t think so. not by purpose. I just wrote and recorded it in one evening when in the studio, and I think Bains vocals made it as it is and gave it the special "touch". I like it a lot - it reflects the new direction we march towards.

Are you still into eastern / slavonic folkore music? Will it influence your forthcoming album?

Yes, very much, and I think there will be a huge influence again in the new album, for me this kind of music is very important and emotionell, and some of this music is the best music in the world.

Any comment about the end of WSD?

Some things go and you are sad, some things have to go because they are handled totally wrong. WSD was a really good distribution once, but as soon as they lost enthusiasm, they lost ground. And - well, that`s how things go. Fortunatelly I left the ship before they even noticed that it was sinking.

I saw in an interview (Wardance) that you were more into pop music that industrial and neofolk. Is it still the case? Has it an influence on how you rule your own label?

Yes, I do not listen industrial a lot, and nearly no neofolk. Ilike rock and pop music, but more the weird stuff, like Serge Gainsborg, Lee Hazlewood, Hank Williams etc... the dark side of pop. Well, the only thing I noticed over the years, concerning HauRucK! is that I still only want to release music I like and from people I like. But the longer I do it, the harder I judge for new bands if I release them. Today only a band who can write good songs (in a melodical sense) has a chance to be released on HauRucK!

What is your policy for the future of Hau Ruck?

If I like it, I do it. Nevertheless what style it is....I judge...and decide.

What pissed you off the most in 2004 concerning Der Blutharsch?

Nothing! All went totally fine!

...and what is your best souvenir for that year?

Many souvenirs. Probably the best was touring with the new line up, having a lot of "sex and drugs and rock N`roll" on this tour .. releasing the "best of" as well as re-releasing "The Moment of truth" - and simply doing what I did.

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Homepage : DerBlutharsch.com

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