Interview с Subway to Sally : DARKSIDE.ru

First of all, how did you become the new drummer in Subway To Sally? Who recommended you to the band?

I’m endorsed by a German cymbal company called Meinl. They heard that Subway To Sally were searching for a new drummer, and they forwarded the e-mail of the band management to four out of all Meinl drummers. Three of those four drummers were playing an audition, I played three songs with the band as well, and then everything was clear. (laughs) Playing in such a band, playing live so often, sitting together with all the members of the band that has been around for such a long time as Subway To Sally – this is more than just playing the drums the way they like it, it’s more personal. The feeling we had when we were playing together for the first time was great, and the feeling is still great today. We’re enjoying every single gig and every single rehearsal.

Was it easy or difficult for you to join such a famous and established band? Were you nervous in the beginning, or did everything go smoothly right from the audition?

(laughs) Of course, I was nervous. I joined the band at the end of April, and we were playing the first show at Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, which is one of the most popular gothic festivals here in Europe, there were about 20,000 people in the audience. This was my first show, I had just five days to get prepared for this, and we had only one band rehearsal. But it turned out great. In a way I was a fan of the band, and when in two or three weeks you become a part of it, it’s a great change. Of course, I was nervous, but today I’m very happy about it. I’m looking forward to the tour, and after that I think I’m going to become a full-time member.

As you are a newcomer to the band, can you tell me a few words about each of the band members? It’s very interesting to hear the opinion of a new member, since you have a fresh eye, so to say…

(laughs) A funny question. Let’s start with Eric, the singer. He’s a great frontman, he’s submitting unbelievable energy to the audience, and he’s a very special person. He’s a classical singer, in a way a real rock star. He’s got his own way to get prepared to the concert, and he also needs a lot of silence before the show and after the show. He spends alone more time than any other band member on tour.

Then we’ve got Silvio (aka Sugar Ray), the bass guitar player. I’m really close to him, we’ve got the biggest relationship among the band members, because the bass and drums are always related. He’s a quiet person, but he’s very educated, he knows everything about everything. (laughs) If you’ve got any question about history or politics, just ask him.

Then we’ve got Simon (vocals, acoustic guitar, trumscheit – ed.). Simon is the person with whom I’ve got the best personal connection. When we have rehearsals and are playing live, I stay at Simon’s house. He’s the management guy, he’s doing everything that we don’t want to do. He’s making telephone calls, he’s sitting in his bureau for about an hour every day, writing e-mails and doing things like that.

Then we’ve got Bodenski (vocals, acoustic guitar, hurdy-gurdy – ed.). He’s a very funny person, he’s got lots of humor, and he’s the lyric writer, so in a way he’s a real artist with all the clichés we know about artists. In a way he’s like Eric.

We’ve also got Frau Schmitt (violin). Even though she’s a woman, she’s just a normal band member. I played in different bands before that had women in their line-ups, and women were always something special. They always needed a clear backstage room, it was always a little bit difficult with women in the band. But Frau Schmitt is different, she’s just a normal band member, you can talk to her about everything.

And we nearly forgot Ingo, the main songwriter and unbelievable guitar player. Ingo is also a good friend, but at the moment I cannot say anything special about him. (laughs) I have never thought about

such a question, so it’s a bit hard to speak on this issue.

Is Subway To Sally a democracy or is there a distinctive leader who makes all the important decisions?

Hmm… Of course, it’s a democracy. Every band that works together for five or six years has got a structure that satisfies all band members. The only possible way to work together for a long time and keep everybody satisfied is to have a sort of democracy in the band. Everybody knows that the genius is Ingo, there’s no doubt about that. He’s writing most of the parts, and he’s also the one that has the last word. If something is not clear, he’s the person that makes the decision. But it’s only about music, not about management issues or lyrics, he only thinks about music. Other band members also write songs, offer song ideas, produce demo CDs and things like that, but Ingo is the one that has the last word in everything that concerns music. The last word in lyrical things belongs to Bodenski, of course. He studied German, he’s a really great lyric writer. And the last word in management things is Simon, because he’s got the best knowledge about that. But in fact, everybody can say what he or she wants, they even ask me about everything. They even asked me about financial things (laughs) concerning the latest record “Nord Nord Ost”, when I had been in the band for two or three days. They also asked me about the artwork for the CD, so everyone can say what he wants.

You are a very versatile drummer, you have played with many bands, ensembles and orchestras. Was the music of Subway to Sally a challenge for you?

Of course, of course! It’s not as simple as it sounds. When I heard for the first time the three songs I had to prepare for the audition, I thought, “Well, they’re just rock songs.” (laughs) But when I sat down to write them down in charts, it was not that easy. Especially the song “Die Rose im Wasser” had odd meters, it’s a very difficult rhythm, and I had to practice this song for 12 hours until I could play it without any charts or sheets. When I was preparing for the first shows, we had a set of about 60 minutes, and I was rehearsing between five and eight hours every day. That’s not usual - I used to play with many different bands, I had to get prepared for a five-hour long show, and I would just write the material down from CDs and then just play it. Sometimes it wasn’t really a work to get prepared for a three- or four-hour-long live set, but the 60-minute set for Subway To Sally, and later the 90-minute set we’re playing at the moment, is a real challenge. But it’s great because I learned a lot from it.

How much are you allowed to come up with drum patterns or change them in older songs? Or do you try to stick to the original versions as much as possible?

It was one big question we were talking about after the first rehearsals, when our bass player said, “Man, it sounds so different!” Of course, for a bass player it’s a big difference after playing for nine or ten years with the same drummer to familiarize himself with a new guy. It was really hard for him. Even though we were playing with a click-track, in some songs he used to say, “It’s too fast, man! Play it slower!” We recognized after some songs that I was always playing the snare drum a little bit earlier. Many drummers do this, this style of playing is the opposite for playing laid-back. For example, if you know AC/DC’s “Back In Black” (imitates the drum and guitar intro to the song with his voice) the snare drum is always a little bit later, and I play in a completely different way, I play the snare a bit earlier, so everything sounds a bit faster. Even though it’s the same tempo, it still sounds faster. Then they said, “Well, it’s your style of playing, we like it, so please don’t change it!” I tried, of course, to play all the rhythms and grooves as they were recorded originally, even though David Paetsch, the guy who played drums before me, also changed old songs a lot for playing it live. In

fact, I’m more back to the roots, I play closer to the originals than David did. But of course, I play with my own feeling, and I do not try to copy others’ styles.

Now let’s discuss the new album. And the main question is: why is it called “Nord Nord Ost”? Does the name have anything to do with the Moscow hostage tragedy that happened three years ago?

I did an interview with another Russian magazine last time, and the guy also asked me the same question. Is this tragedy know in Russia as “Nord Ost”? Am I right?

Yeah, it’s the name of the theater which was seized by terrorists.

No, the name has got nothing to do with that. “Nord Nord Ost” means “north north east”, it’s a direction of the compass. If the hand of the compass deviates from the north at 22.5 degrees, it’s what is called “north north east”. On a watch, it’s one o’clock or something like that. If you take a map of Germany, “north north east” is the area where the band is from, around Berlin. There is also another meaning – most lyrics are about traveling to a land of ice in the north, and if you want to get from Germany to the land of ice – Scandinavia or something like that – you’ve got to start in the direction of north north east.

Can you describe the album in general for those who haven’t heard it yet? Does it continue the course of the previous record “Engelskrieger” (2003) with a heavier stress on metal, or is it closer to Subway To Sally’s earlier stuff?

On “Engelskrieger” there were a lot of electronic influences – programmed basses, programmed drum loops and things like that. In a way, we go more back to the roots on the new album. But I don’t like bands who try to copy themselves, whose latest record sounds like an earlier album, who do no experiments just to satisfy their fans. Subway To Sally went back to the roots with the new record, because they used more medieval instruments than on “Engelskrieger”, and the typical chants returned to the choruses, for which Subway To Sally is know, but there are also new influences. For example, we worked together with a real classical orchestra for the first time, and it sounds amazing, we and orchestra really fit together. We also used a lyrical concept for the first time and tried to let the music fit the lyrics. If you listen to the album and know something about the lyrics, you can really feel the coldness, everything is slower and heavier in a way. I think it’s a new groove for Subway To Sally, this heavy groove. (imitates the groove with his voice) And everything fits together – Eric’s voice, the orchestra, and everything.

You mentioned electronic drum loops and programmed basses. Being a drummer, what do you personally think about things of this kind?

Well… I don’t like it when it’s too much. I like to play with a drum loop, but when if you take it just for supporting the groove. It should not be the main thing, the main melody should not be played by an electronic bass guitar. I don’t like the stuff, I like real-played music. If there’s some additional electronic stuff, like a bass loop or a drum loop, just to support the groove, I like it. That’s the difference between “Engelskrieger” and the new album – if electronic things are used in new songs, they’re only a sort of support. For instance, in the song “Feuerland”, it’s the third track on the album, there is a bass loop and a drum loop, but they’re just supporting the whole thing, they’re not standing alone.

The German folk metal scene is quite big, there are many great bands like Subway To Sally, In Extremo, Morgenstern, etc. What are your relations with your fellow musicians playing folk metal in other bands? Are you friends or are you competitors?

In general, we are friends. But we’re also in a way competitors, because the audience of all this folk metal stuff is not as big as the audience for power metal, for example. We are full-time musicians, we gotta sell records

, we gotta play concerts, and of course, there’s a sort of competition between the three big folk metal or medieval metal bands – Subway To Sally, In Extremo and Schandmaul. But we have played a lot together with Schandmaul, us and them have the same booking agency, and we like these guys. We are celebrating great parties with them after shows, and there’s no real competition on stage when we play festivals together. Of course, we monitor how many records they have sold and things like that, but I don’t know whether it can be called a real competition, we’re just looking at what the other guys are doing. In a way it’s good to see that a band like In Extremo, which is in the same style as we are, was number one in the German charts, it’s good to see that it is possible to get really successful with this kind of music.

Last year there were announcements that Subway To Sally was planning an acoustic tour for 2005, but now only an electric tour is planned for this fall…

The acoustic tour is already confirmed for the spring of 2006. This has a lot to do with the release date of “Nord Nord Ost”, because the album should have been released last autumn, but it was delayed, and delayed, and delayed. Now we first of all have to play a tour in support of the new album, which was originally scheduled for the spring of this year or even for the previous winter, and this means that the acoustic tour, which was scheduled for the fall of 2005, will also be delayed. Everything is delayed for about a year.

Do you happen to know the reason for such a long delay?

You know, if you’re working as a musician, you got to work creatively, and if you have personal problems, it might be that you’re completely closed. If your head is full of stupid and bad things, you can’t really work. In a way you’re closed for creativity. And our guitarist Ingo had really bad personal problems for a few months, and there was not enough material to do a new album. The whole process of recording took too long as well. The result is great, but the work lasted too long – we had to record all the orchestra parts, all the choir parts, and that’s why the record was delayed.

Now as you are a member of Subway To Sally, will you continue playing with your own band The Rising Force?

That’s a special thing, because I run this band together with my brother and my sister. In a way that’s more of a family thing than a job. The first reason why I’m doing music is because I have fun with it. The second reason is that I earn money with it, that’s my life, I’m doing nothing but music. First of all, I need a band that makes sure that I can pay my bills the next day, and then I can do a band that’s just a hobby for me. And Rising Force is just a hobby, I’m writing my own songs for it, and it’s also this family thing. I can’t stop playing in this band, because it’s my family. (laughs) But there were a lot of other bands I had to stop – I had played in a cover band called Alive and with a hip hop act that is well-known in Germany, it’s called Phyxe

On your personal website (www.simon-m.com) there are two mp3s of songs from your solo CD “Claustrophobical”. Do you have plans to develop this project further?

Oh, that’s from the time when I thought I would be a fusion drummer. But in fact I’m a rock or heavy metal drummer. (laughs) Of course, I’m working on different songs, but what you’ve heard is not the way my next CD is gonna be. In fact, “Claustrophobical” is not a real album, I just recorded four songs for my cymbal company to show the way I’m playing and writing songs. I was 17 when I recorded it, it was four years ago. In a few days I’m gonna delete these samples from my homepage, because that’s not the way I’m playing today, that’s not my trademark at the moment. But I’m working on songs for The Rising Force, and at the moment we’re recording a new CD. I’m also developing some special things for my next solo CD, but it will not be based on dru

ms, it’s just gonna be piano ballads.

Wow!

Yeah, in my heart I’m a drummer, it’s my job and everything, it’s my life playing the drums. You can’t divide Simon Michael and the drums, because we’re together all the time. Every time I’m going out of my house, I’ve got a pair of drum sticks in my backpack. (laughs) But my hobby is playing the piano. (cracks) I’m always writing a little bit and just playing the piano for fun and relaxation. Thus I have got some good ideas in the past few years, and I think I’m gonna record them if I have time after the tour.

What are your favorite drummers? Who are the people that influenced your playing style?

A good friend of mine is Daniel Zimmermann from Gamma Ray. He’s coming from Nurenberg, it’s 20 minutes away from me, and sometimes we meet and play together a bit. He showed me lots of things, I learned a lot from him, and he’s one of my big idols. There are many other great drummers, for example, the old Therion drummer, Sami Karppinen. If you listen to the past few Therion record, especially “Secret Of The Runes”, the drum sound and the style of drumming are really unbelievable. There’s another friend of mine, he’s living three kilometers away from me, but he’s not known, he’s not in a popular band or something. He’s also a great drummer. Right today in a few minutes I’m gonna leave for a concert in my hometown where another friend of mine is playing. He’s a great drummer and I’m gonna stand the whole evening behind the drum stand. I’m gonna learn a lot of things today. It makes no sense for me to buy DVDs or CDs of big names in drumming, like Simon Phillips or Mike Portnoy, because there are so many great drummers here in my area, and I can watch them play live, talk to them, ring them up or send an e-mail to ask them something, and they can show me the things I want to know. That’s better than buying any DVD or listing to any Dream Theater record.

I’ve checked out your upcoming tourdates with Subway To Sally, and nearly all of them are in Germany. Do you have any plans to tour the rest of Europe? And in general, what are you planning to do to bring your music out to more people outside the German-speaking countries?

We’re gonna make tours all across Europe, that’s for sure, but it’s gonna be in 2006, maybe in autumn or winter. We’re quite known in Germany and the German-speaking area, so first of all we want to do our own headliner tour, and then we’re gonna tour the rest of Europe, maybe as a support of another famous band. I don’t think that Subway To Sally is as known in the rest of Europe as we are in Germany, but we are sure to come to Italy, Spain, maybe Russia. We love playing live, we’re playing about 70 gigs a year, which is quite a lot for a metal band, and we also love to conquer new audiences. A few weeks ago we played a show in the Czech Republic, and no one in the audience had known the band before, maybe 100 people out of 5,000. But after five songs everyone was jumping with us, everyone was clapping his or her hands with us. It’s a great feeling when you go down the stage and you know that there are people who had fun even though they hadn’t known the band before. We love that, and we’re looking forward to playing in front of an audience that doesn’t know the band.

Have you received any proposals from Russian promoters?

Well, I don’t know at the moment. We’ve got some offers from bigger bands to join their tours, and we’re thinking about it. Right now we’re busy with our headliner tour in the German-speaking area, then we’re gonna think about the acoustic tour, and between this tour, maybe in spring next year, we’re gonna make a tour across Europe. I talked to Simon about this last week, and he told me that he’s working with a booking agency that’s gonna spread Subway To Sally all across Europe. I think there are possibilities to play in Russia, too.

Great, I’ll be looking forward to it! And thank you very much for this interview, it was a pleasure talking to you.

Yeah, thanks for your support. By the way, you’re also a musician, aren’t you?

Unfortunately, I’m only a reporter.

Well, your questions were so special, I would bet you were a musician. (laughs)

Special thanks to Kathy Schutte (Nuclear Blast Records) for arranging this interview

Roman Patrashov
August 1, 2005
22 авг 2005 the End

Subway to Sally

Battles In The North North East