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Here comes an interview with a fantastic Thrash Metal band,
namely WASTELAND. They opened new dimensions for the Thrash Metal style
in their "Genuine Parts" album. So, I was more than pleased having
the chance to do an interview with such a great group. Most of the questions
were answered by André (drums), but Frank (bass) also added them
with some sentences too. All is left to say, keep your eyes on WASTELAND
and check their "Genuine Parts" right after reading these lines.
"Genuine Parts" is your first full-length CD. How has it
done? Is the band happy with turning out of this album? What can you tell
us about the response you got so far? What label released this material
or maybe it is a self-financed one?
- After WASTELAND released the MCD "Mare Tranquillitatis"
in 1995 my person joined the band. All band-members agreed on the idea
of recording a full-length CD as our next publication. So we collected
new material and went over unreleased old stuff which is all now available
on our current album "Genuine Parts". We are very satisfied with
it and we are confirmed in our opinion by the response we got. Reviews
in several underground zines were all good and many people think that we
are one of the most hopeful thrash-bands. Some people say that our music
is a little "old-fashioned" but that's the way thrash metal has
to sound in my opinion. In spite of the good response we were surprisingly
not able to get a deal with any label and so we had to finance the whole
production by ourselves. This has had the advantage that nobody could interfere
in our affairs. So "Genuine Parts" is really that result which
WASTELAND wanted.
Give us a lookback on your five-track MCD "Mare Tranquillitatis". Do you satisfied with its production and sales? And tell us in what way "Genuine Parts" differs from it.
- The songs on the MCD are the first ones WASTELAND wrote. Satisfied
with the sales? Well, actually "Mare Tranquillitatis" is sold
out, although it took a long time to sell our contingent. We either are
satisfied with its production but nevertheless "Genuine Parts"
is a considerable step forward. The material is very varied and the sound
is fatter. I think this progress results from the fact that we developed
our way of playing together and that I forced the band to play harder and
faster by my way of playing the drums (that is what the others say). To
put in in a nutshell I might say that our new album is more professional
than the MCD.
Your sound is very similar to the Thrash Metal bands of 80's when
bands like DESTRUCTION, NECRONOMICON, EXUMER, etc. reign. What do you think
about this? Are you listen to these bands' old materials? Have you any
news concerning these bands?
- Well, you are not the first person who compared our music with the
thrash-style of the 80's. And I think you are right. This is really our
favourite metal-sound and thrash bands like KREATOR and SODOM are god-like!
We growed up in these times and we are a little bit proud of sound like
them although were are not copying them directly. When I start playing
the drums and Stephan follows with a dirty riff – well, it automatically
sounds like thrash......
WASTELAND now is a four-piece band. Do you spend a lot of time together or all of you have their own occupations outside of the band?
- Well, as you can read in our band-info WASTELAND has got five members. Tobias, our second guitar-player rejoined the band last year after he was
one of the founder in 1995. We are all good friends and spend a lot of
time together outside the band. We all know each other for years from the
school and live in the same neighbourhood. Perhaps that's one reason why
I go together better to WASTELAND than the former drummer, who was a little
strange.
Tell us about the lyrics of WASTELAND and who write them? Which is the
main line of them? What things were motivated the lyrics of "Agony
Of Christ", "Infernal" and "Demon"?
- Well, as you can guess this is one of the most answered questions.
The most lyrics are written by our vocalist Tobias, some of our bass-player
and "manager" Frank. They contain different kinds of topics.
Many of the songs tell the story of somebody's ill thoughts about our society.
As a result the lyrics are very explicit and brutal, sometimes even satirical.
But there are also serious topics like the bad influence of modern television
or the pain after losing a longstanding girl-friend. Nevertheless the music
has the priority on our CDs and good music of course needs a text – otherwise
Tobias would be unemployed...... So there is no special motivation for
the lyrics of the songs you mention. "Agony of Christ" is about
the pain and torture of Mister Jesus Christ while hanging at his cross,
"Infernal" is about the end of the world and "Demon"
describes how Satan and his demoniac underlings attack and plunder the
world.
Nowadays the media says that Thrash Metal is out of time style and
they propagate bullshit about the bands playing this style. What's your
view on this? Do you find it hard to stay original with your music with
so many different bands?
- Well, for us it's no problem to stay original. The point is that
we are not trying or planning to stay where we are. We are just playing
music and in the past the results mostly sounded like the traditional thrash-metal.
By the way, I noticed that the number of thrash-bands has increased again
in the last years. So perhaps there will be a "new wave of thrash-metal"
or something like that. We will see....
I think WASTELAND is one of the few Thrash bands who ain't influenced
by the nowadays popular Black, Doom, Gothic, Hardcore, etc. styles and
remains faithfully to its origins. What you say about this? Are you listen
to any of these styles I mentioned before? Name us your favourite ones.
- Thank you for this compliment. But that's a logical consequence of
the fact, that we do not listen to much music of the styles you mentioned
above. Some Hardcore acts are quite good, Gothic sounds boring in my ears,
Doom is groovy but a little slow and Black metal is a style of music I
can only laugh about. Especially the thing with the "evil" make-up
and all these requisites is absolutely ridiculous!
Tell us more about the live-experiences of WASTELAND. Do you play
live often? Do you use any special accessories on this shows? What kind
of bands do you prefer to play with?
- We have collected much live-experience since 1995. We try to perform
as often as possible because that's one of the coolest parts of playing
in a metal-band. We have a saying in Germany which means approximately:
The bread of a musician is applause. So it's real fun to play live and
have a cool aftershow-party. We don't use any special accessoires in our
shows, just a cool lightshow and much fog. We try to make an more entertaining
show, not an evil one. We do not prefer to play with a special kind of
band. The headliner of a gig should be a local band and it's quite good
when bands of different styles take part to make an impression on a bigger
number of visitors.
You live in Wolfsburg. Please draw up the Wolfsburg's scene in details. What bands, labels and magazines are out there?
- Yes, we live in Wolfsburg. Labels? Magazines? Haha, the only useful
products of Wolfsburg are the Volkswagen cars. Just kidding. I'm sorry,
but we have no labels or magazines here actually. But some cool bands like
VERY WICKED (Death/Grind), GRIEF OF GOD (Doom), UPPERCUT (Powerthrash)
and some more famous bands like SEVENTH AVENUE (Power/Speed), HEAVENS GATE
(Powermetal) and the late PROTECTOR (Godz!!!).
Last voices from the WASTELAND...
- Thank you for this interview and for your support. If somebody wants
to listen to cool thrash metal - listen to our CD. It's available for 16
US$/23 DM at: Frank Neugebauer, Heidkamp 21, 38442 Wolfsburg, Germany,
E-mail: wasteland@wolfsburg.de.
Visit our homepage: http://www.wolfsburg.de/~Wasteland.
It's possible to load down songs and live-videos there. Bands: Trades are
welcome, but ask before. Don't hesitate to get in contact with the WASTELAND! | 
