Caliban Interview
Caliban Interview
Words by Warren Zannin / Photo’s by Sandra Muequin
Germany metalcore oufit Caliban grace our shores for the second time this year in a tour with After the Burial and American Headliners, Emmure. Frontman Andreas Dörner took some time out of his hectic schedule, and preparation for their London show to have us aboard the Caliban tour bus and bombard him with questions.
Welcome back to London. How do you like it here in our city?
We’re having fun so far, in general I like London. The other guys went into the city to see Big Ben and all that. We had an off day yesterday and I slept too much or spent too long in bed so I am tired from doing nothing. So I just chilled on the bus today,went out to get a coffee and that was it. At least it didn’t rain today! Every other place we have been it has been raining, except for one day, so today, with no rain, is the best day so far.
You’ve just finished up Beastfest with Suicide Silence, Emmure and Maroon. How was the tour for you guys?
The tour was amazing, we had a really good time and I think it was the best tour we have ever done. The turnout was amazing, almost every show was sold out and the fans were into all the bands from the beginning to the end. It was a good time, good bands and good people. It was great!
For Say Hello to Tragedy you recorded the different instruments in different studios simultaneously. How did this affect the song writing process?
I liked the process a lot, because I had the chance to concentrate one hundred percent on my vocals. Before you would be in the studio for 3 or 4 weeks and you woould be doing everything in one studio altogether. You start with the drums and then the bass and you only record the vocals at the end. So you have to be done with the vocals in maybe three days and this always put me under a lot of pressure and fucked with my head. I don’t like that. This time I had about 3 weeks for the vocals and we had a lot of time to really work on every song. Try different things and make changes here and there. It worked really well and we will definitely do it that way again next time.
Your lyrics are inspired by life and experiences. How has the tone and message of the songs changed in this album?
This album is more about tragedies in general, so I wrote most of the titles about tragedies. It’s about love too but in a tragic way, so there’s a small change in the focus of my lyrics. Previously, when my songs were love songs they were never happy-centric they were dark, but this time the songs focus on tragedy more than love. I wrote two songs about real cases, 24 years and the Denegation of Humanity. These songs are about real cases, for example the Josef Fritzl case in Austria. I started with the title for the song and then I thought about it, did some research and came across this case and it inspired me so I started to write down ideas. I think the world and people should know that people like that exist. Evil like that exists and it is not just in movies. This theme is reflected throughout the album.
So How did the whole Fritzl case make you feel personally?
It made me feel so angry but really sad at the same time because I cannot believe that someone could do that to his own child. That things like that are even possible makes me really sad. But the content helps for our style of the music – to bring out the aggression.
Can fans expect a healthy number of new songs during your set on this tour?
YES!. We are playing 3 or 4 songs. We start with Love Song and we will be playing 24 Years and also No One is Safe.
Social media (Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube … etc) is being used more and more by bands. Is this working for you guys and do you think it’s a good way to interact with your fans.
Everyone is doing it and it is a good platform to reach people because everyone is on it. It is a great opportunity for bands to reach the fans and to get in touch with them. We have our own site and we have just started our own fanclub (the Vicious Circle), which is just going live now. Like I said it’s a fantastic way to get in touch with fans, they can write to us with questions and ideas and we answer them. I’m a bit annoyed when I get too many personal messages so I have 2 accounts, one for fans and another just for friends. But the fact that we get a lot of messages is really encouraging.
Album art is crucial to any album, it’s the first impression. How does Caliban go about creating the concepts for the artwork. Did you work collaboratively with Basti from Callejon or did you give him freedom to work his magic?
We gave him a couple of songs and the lyrics to really listen to and then the freedom to come up with his own ideas. And that is what he did, he listened to the music, and read the lyrics and that inspired the artwork and I really think that it fits with the music. His main concentration was 24 Years with the woman, her screaming face, the inlays with all the creepy and very dark stuff. It really fits perfectly with the music.
Some German bands have done really well recording songs in German, would you consider doing an album or a couple of songs in German for an album down the line?
I don’t like to sing in German! Sometimes I’ll write in German and then translate it into English but nowadays I write in English because when you translate you sometimes loose the intensity or even the meaning of the song. I don’t like to scream in German either. I’ve tried it in the past but for me it feels wrong. I like it when Rammstein does it but it’s not comfortable for me.
With the production team the same as for The Awakening, What prompted the move to Century?
We changed label because Roadrunner changed their policy and we couldn’t deal with that. We had the opportunity to do one more record but we couldn’t do it with them. They started a 360 deal which means that the label gets money from everything you do; the merchandise, the money you get on stage and you get it from everything. It came from the main office in The States but the European office wasn’t very happy with that. But for a band like us, we are somewhere in the middle in terms of our size and we make our living from what we do and if they get money from everything we would not be able to carry on, so we chose to go our separate ways. It wasn’t a bitter split, we are still friends but the deal was amajor decider for us. We recorded the record ourself and then presented it to a number of labels. There were a lot of labels interested but we chose Century Media because we have known the guys for a long time and they offered us a deal. It wasn’t the best deal but we chose Century and we are really happy with them. They are doing a fucking fantastic job so far and the promotion of the new album is excellent.
With 12 years experience what do you feel when you look back at the ride up to this point?
I feel good! I still like what I do and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I started working as a printer and I couldn’t imagine going back to that. I am very happy for the band that we are still around; thanks to our fans and to the guys who are always supporting us and buying our stuff. We have made some mistakes but I think we are doing something right. I am very happy and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
