• "Extreme metal music is not a normal kind of music. And we don't want to be a part of the normal way. That's the reason why we called the band AB:NORM"
• I think this is the best definition-explanation of what these five guys try to do...

• I suppose there are many stories to tell...Ok, the most important moment was holding the fresh pressed “Inside” in our hands. We were very proud.
• The current line-up is:
• Felix – Vocals
• Martin – Guitar
• Tobias – Guitar
• Michael – Bass
• Gianni - Drums

2.WHY HAVE YOU NAMED THE BAND AB:NORM? WHICH THINGS ARE ABNORMAL TO YOUR MUSIC? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO STATE?

• Extreme metal music is not a normal kind of music, you know. And we don´t want to be a part of the normal way. That´s the reason why we called the band AB:NORM.

3.HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSICAL STYLE? WHICH ARE THE BAND'S INFLUENCES? COULD YOU NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED ALBUMS?

• We love to play progressive music with an extreme brutal sound, complex song structures and arrangements. That what we call "Next Generation Music". We´ve many influences and are very experimental. Althought we take care to remain our “own band”. We don´t rehash rip off other bands on the scene. I mean… we listen to others but we are not a boring copy.

4.TELL US SOME GENERAL THINGS ON "INSIDE". ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED WITH IT OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?

• I think, the sound could be better, but we are still satisfied with “Inside” and the great cover design from Ronelle at www.micro-mediadesign.de. We are really impressed by Ronelle´s  work. He will design the new cover for the upcoming album, and we´re anxious for it.

5.WHAT ARE YOUR LYRICS TALKING ABOUT? WHICH THEMES INSPIRE YOU IN WRITING LYRICS? DO YOU WRITE FANTASY OR REAL LIFE STORIES?

• Both of them, Felix is absolutely free in choosing the themes for his lyrics.

6.YOUR SINGER IS FELIX WHO IS ALSO THE SINGER OF CREMATORY, A VERY FAMOUS BAND. HOW CAN YOU ARRANGE IT? IS IT DIFFICULT? DO YOU THINK THAT AB:NORM'S WORK COULD FALL BEHIND CASUE OF CREMATORY'S OBLIGATIONS?

• No, that was never a problem. Felix has enough time to arrange it. AB:NORM will never fall behind Crematory, because AB:NORM is not compatible to Crematory. Both styles are too different and you can´t compare it. We must conquere new fans and can´t hope to take over the old CREMATORY fans.

7.YOU HAVE ALSO PRODUCED A LIVE VIDEO. CAN YOU TELL US SOME THINGS ABOUT IT? HOW HAVE YOU DECIDED TO MAKE SUCH A MOVE? DON'T YOU THINK IT'S A LITTLE EARLY WITH ONLY ONE ALBUM TO RELEASE A LIVE VIDEO?

• Why not! So people can see what´s up live! We produced the song "Upstairs" with a friendly movie company (www.Jimmytex.com) and they did a very good job. Jimmytex made this clip just for fun and didn´t want to have any money. This guys rules!

8.WHICH WERE THE REACTIONS OF THE FANS AND PRESS THIS FAR FOR YOUR MUSIC? WHICH WAS THE BEST AND WHICH WAS THE WORST REVIEW YOU HAVE RECEIVED?

• We have earned a lot of good reactions from underground-zines and fans of brutal music. But we have hoped to get more reaction from the industrie, but the future of AB:NORM in not dependant on a record deal.  It was clear to us at the start that for AB:NORM music was always going to be up front and that there would be little commerial gain. Well, the worst review was from a real     Crematory fan, he was just shocked and didn´t understand the music…lol

9.YOU HAVE RELEASED YOUR DEBUT CD FROM SHOW NO MERCY RECORDS. WHAT MADE YOU LEAVE AND SEARCH FOR YOUR SECOND RELEASE A NEW LABEL?

• ShowNoMery Records was founded by a really good friend of ours to help us to start. Unfortunately due to his business commitments he can´t continue with SNM. That´s the reason that we are without a label now. We are eternaly grateful to him, because he made it possible for the release of 1000 copies of “Inside”.

10.COULD YOU DESCRIBE A TYPICAL AB:NORM LIVE SHOW? WHAT DO THE FANS HAVE TO EXPECT FROM YOU?

• We try to play our program perfectly and have fun thereby. We always give 100% to the people who have paid for us.

• Well, live we play two new songs called "Eugenic" and “Blue Rain” and people really like them. I think the new material is more varied and has more maturity.  The songs are a mixture of exteme blast-beats, grooves and atmospheric doom parts. We hope to release the album in summer 2003.

12.COULD YOU PICK OUT SOME NEW BANDS FROM YOUR COUNTRY THAT YOU FIND INTERESTING?

• There are many great Death Metal acts. For me Necrophagist or Profanity are the most           interesting bands of the german scene.

• Just, “Fuck off” to this Bands. Black, white, red or green? … Who gives a fuck? The other bands should get a life.

15.IF SOMEDAY YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHICH WOULD YOUR BIGGEST QUESTION BE?

• “Why is just only one sock in the washing-machine?”

16.IF TIME TRAVEL WAS POSSIBLE, WHICH HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY? WHAT WOULD YOU MISS THE MOST FROM OUR TIME?

• Yesterday, and take the lotto-numbers.

17.WHAT PROLOGUE AND TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO HAVE?

• I think it´s your job…

18.THANK YOU!HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?

• We put the complete album “Inside” on our homepage www.ab-norm.de so that fans of brutal music worldwide have the opportunity th hear what we´re doing. If we don´t find a label for the upcoming album we´ll make it available for downloading, too. Thank you for your interest and the interview.
• Grind on…
• Michael
• AB:NORM
Christine  Parastatidou