Informazioni
Author: Mourning
Translation: Insanity
Line Up
Joschka Prangenberg - Vocals
Sven Urbansky - Guitars, backing vocals
Holger Reinermann - Bass, backing vocals
Fabian Haas - Guitars
Mario Althapp - Drums
Today we have Tyrael here with us, welcome on Aristocrazia Webzine, we are still in holyday time, how are you?
Holger: Hi Aristocrazia, we are doing great, thanks a lot! After having published our first album in January 2010, we are writing some new songs right now.
Tell us something about you, let's give some infos on you band to our readers.
Joschka: If you call the woods your home, manmade schemes are of little interest. We use to avoid cheap effects, and well trodden paths – only few know their way around in the woods. In 2000, the band John and me founded was completed with Sven and Thomas and named Tyrael. Thomas left the band in 2002, but Holger replaced him in the very same year. In the years that followed, the debut's tracks took roots in the minds of the band. John got lost in his inner world in 2006. At that time we decided to publish our live demo 'Raw Live Mementos' to assure our songs wouldn't get lost. During the long quest for a worthy successor, Fabian was introduced to the guitar parts, so that I was able to concentrate on lending my shrieking and rumbling voice to the band's sound. Eventually, in 2008 we met Mario, who became the new drummer. With this cast Tyrael released "Der Wald Ist Mein Zuhause", and wrote five new songs until then, and still does.
The band was born a decade ago, which are the reasons that made you postpone your debut until now?
Sven: Writing songs takes some time, for us it’s a meticulous work. In 2006 we eventually wanted to record our debut, but unfortunately, our drummer quit right then. So we spent most of our time looking for a new drummer and teaching Mario and Fabian how to play our songs.
How was the creation of "Der Wald ist mein Zuhause"?
Sven: Even after ten years of being in a band, recording our first album was a baptism by fire. We had countless discussions about the details in some songs, but that was also a very interesting process because we found out more about each other's intention with the band.
How would you describe this first work?
Sven: Considering most of the band were at studio the first time, "Der Wald Ist Mein Zuhause" turned out very well. I am not completely contempt with the guitars because they lack power. I think we should have done more guitar tracks indeed. But after all it’s a powerful diverse album with mighty vocals and drums. It really never gets boring and lets you discover a lot of new details you didn’t notice before every time. The lyrics on their own have often been said to be standard, unsophisticated or even silly, but Joschka gives them an aggressive and evocative shape.
The album has some good tracks ("Der Jaeger" and "Wo Sind Die Meinen?" among the others), it has highs and lows but it also shows that you are very strong. Which are the songs that better represent you or that are the best ones in your gigs?
Sven: The audience always enjoys "Der Jaeger" most intensive. But for us "Sonnige Tage" is far more challenging. It has a really good plot and very intense riffs. Of course, each of us has his favourite song, mine is "Gedankenfluss". I like it because of the maniac structure and lyrics, I personally think it’s a self-destructive lovesong.
Overall you made a nice work, I have to say that Joschka and Mario always seem to be a step ahead but you still keep your cohesion; how is your life in the band?
Mario: I don´t think me or Joschka are ahead of the others. We really are on the same level and each instrument is vital for our music. There is no one in the band who is not on our level. We all function quite well together. We talk a lot about decisions to be taken and I think we keep everything in balance.
Holger: It is important to point out that guitar and bass tracks, just like the vocals and drums, were deliberately chosen. True, many bands have a much more technical approach, or include much more gimmicks, but often times, that comes at the expense of the song and is more of a distraction from it. I think the way we play is very supportive of our songs and helps conveying their raw power.
And how is your life outside it?
Sven: Joschka and me have avergage jobs, he works in a tree nursery and I’m a chemical engineer. Holger studies economics and Fabian studies mechanical engenieering. The young gun of the band, Mario, is in secondary school. Some of us have commmon hobbies, like nature or parties, other leisure activities differ. We are glad having no real cranks in band.
How do your songs take life? From what do you draw inspiration?
Joschka: I think writing good music and lyrics is a product of hard cuts in a musican’s life. The ache of being confronted with disappointment moves everybody's emotions and brings about really moving material. Only that connects the listener to the music, and allows him to dive into it.
Who is/are the music-writer(s) and who the lyric-writer(s)?
Holger: "The Lion’s Share" of the lyrics was written by John, our ex-drummer, "To Isengard", "Throne Of God" and "Erlkoenig" are interpretations that were suggested and edited by Sven. For the newer songs, Joschka writes most of the lyrics. We are all very much involved in song writing. Most of the songs contain ideas from at least three band members. The drums were almost entirely written by John though, unless one of us had a special idea. Mario wrote the bulk of the drums since "Sonnige Tage". The guitars of some early songs like "Gebrochenes Eis", "Der Jaeger" and "Gedankenfluss" were completly written by Joschka and "To Isengard" was written by Sven. Sometimes Joschka or Sven had an idea for bass line, but I do most of them. Even some guitar ideas came from John or me, and I wrote also some of the new songs. Fabian made the guitar melody at the end of "Throne Of God", and has good concepts for our new songs, too.
What is people saying about your album up to now? How are you promoting it?
Mario: There are people who like our CD and some don’t, this is normal. We sent the album to some magazines, the reviews are quite varied. Some were enthusiastic, others were not so good. Sven organizes most of the distribution, and we have, thanks to him, our album in some music shops. But it is also available on the internet, like amazon or itunes.
Which are the main problems in moving in the underground scene?
Sven: A community big enough to start growing on its own cannot be established in an easy way. To get through to our target audience and inform our fanbase about Tyrael is walking on a tightrope, because there is a risk to be recognized as a spammer. The promotional success depends also upon your marketing skills, and without a professional support from an agency there is no big progress. On the other hand, we are not sure if we could meet the requirements of a label contract, also because we never had the chance to gather much experience in comparing different contracts.
Joschka: Moreover, there are few locations bands can play at today. Besides that, one day you have played in almost every location of your region, in case you do not go beyond it. Especially rehearsing the same songs year over year without the chance of having a gig has been a hard trail. We got that experience when we looked for a new drummer and taught our songs to Fabian.
How do you spread your music? How much is important to be in social networks or multimedia channels?
Sven: Our promotion basically happens via internet using online communities like myspace, reverbnation (which are currently our main ones) and so on. I think most underground bands would have no chance promoting their music without the internet. It’s the easiest and fastest way to contact magazines, mailorders and new fans. We carefully avoid spamming people, we prefer to just expand our presence to as many sites as possible in case someone wants to check us out. We currently manage 48 pages and profiles and our music is available in more than 45 mp3-shops and worldwide mailorders. We also run 2 online merchandise stores, which you can check out on www.Tyrael.net. Currently, we cooperate with thepainfucktory.com in peru, and had good experiences up to now. They helped us to get a lot of airplay on internet radios.
The german scene has always given us high quality music and a great number of new bands year after year, what do you think about this scene?
Holger: It's true, there are many great German metal bands. But I think they seldom defined new styles or really took existing ones to a new level. I mean, metalheads in general are not what I would call open to new things, but sometimes I get the impression that Germans are especially stubborn in that regard. It's almost as if it was cool to not be innovative. That is really ridiculous.
And what do you think about the world scene? Is there something that disturb you or that you don't like about the modern world of Metal?
Sven: There really are a lot of good acts around the world. To us it seems like there are few musical differences left between countries, probably because of the internet. I think that’s quite good, because we don’t accept any nationalism in metal. However, there are some NSBM bands which do a great job in music. You see, to me, music comes first, but we piss at all racists. For me personally, it’s also kind of hard to accept the rise of emo- and metalcore. I really can’t bear the whining of the clean voices and I am no friend of completely sterile and technical sounds and music.
What is Metal to you?
Holger: I know, many people would tell you something about being a rebel and an individual and all that. But I don't need music for that. Plus, I have seen to many people that tried so hard to look individual and ended up wearing some kind of "metalhead uniform". To me, music in general is there to express one's emotions, and metal expresses a very specific part of emotions which basically we all have inside us.
Sven: To me, Metal is the evolutionary highest form of music. No other genre combines the best of different classical ages, rock and avantgarde to such entertaining music.
Are you doing any live show now? Do you have some planned gigs that you want to remember to our readers?
Sven: In 2011 we worked on our new songs, and Holger has been in Poland from September to February. But since January 2012 we fixed some gigs in the region we life, and are planning some further shows.
Will we see you here in Italy?
Sven: Concerts outside Germany would be cool, but depend on the money. We definitely cannot pay for travel and accomodation ourselves. Sure, if somebody would at least reimburse us for that, we would try to fix a gig. Unfortunately nobody offered such a deal so far. Who knows, perhaps somebody will?
Thanks for the time spent with us, the last message for our readers is up to you.
Joschka: Just enjoy our music and check out our homepages to meet our work and to get in contact.