• BOOMERANG is a new heavy metal band from Germany. They are ready to release their first debut cd and also we learned that Zeus is a headbanger...!

1.GIVE A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE BAND. WHICH ARE THE CURRENT BAND MEMBERS?

• The current line up consists of 5 people: Axel Johann, vocals and charming behavior, Stefan Zobel, guitar and really charming behavior, Thomas Fahrnbach, vocals, guitar and extremely charming behavior. He is also the main songwriter. All together the 3 played in a thrash metal band called Arcus which split up in 1996. Soon after that, they started to play together again and found a new bassplayer, Christian Katzer, who brought the current drummer, Andreas Reichard into the band. Since the beginnning, there were no line-up changes.

• Thats a hard question. A lot of people use to come up with long descriptions, meddling around with adjectives like „epic“, „powerful“ or try to make out a sharp destinction between different genres such as Power Metal or Speed Metal. We think, thats just a waste of time, BOOMERANG should be compared with the music from a time when noone tried to seperate the different genres. No matter if you liked Twisted Sister or Slayer, it was, as it should be today-only the music is imprtant ! Nevertheless, I try a description: Boomerang got some of the Aggression from Thrash Metal, some powerful guitar riffs from bands like Judas Priest or Manowar, it has got some speedy, stompin‘ rythms from stuff like Helloween, someone even compared BOOMERANG‘ epic parts with Manilla Road, Skyclad or Savatage. Thats an honour, but if it's true- I dont dare to decide, just listen and make yourself an opinion.....Thomas favourite band is Judas Priest along with lots of 80s bands like Anthrax or Griffin, Andreas likes modern stuff like the new SLAYER, Stefan prefers teutonic metal like Accept or Rage but also Rock Stuff from the 70s. Axel is a lot into Cradle of Filth, Christian likes more or less everything as long as it kicks !

• Yes, in 1999 a demo was recorded. It wasn‘t originally meant to be released as an official demo, but a lot of people liked it and encouraged us to release it, though the whole thing was not state of the art, but it had a nice feeling and documented the state of the songwriting. But yes, we would change a lot of things. It was not professional enough, it was more of a fun thing, recording it during an early evening on some low grade equipment. Now, we are going to record a full length CD containing 8 songs on about 55 minutes. It will be recorded by an experienced engineer and we will try to give our best. About the songs.....good question, the songs on the demo were not that bad, but we will only rerecord one song from the demo for the album, we have more than 20 songs now, so it has been a difficult choice. And it's more interesting to record some new and yet unheard material than rerecord the old stuff. Also, in autumn, a seven inch is going to be released, probably as a split,  we currently negotiate with some bands but nothing‘s confirmed yet. Watch out, it will be a collectors item, limited to maximum 400 copies and containing an exclusive track !

• Every instrument was recorded on a single track on a computer, it was all done during a few hours. The producer was Volker Matejka. It was done in Schwetzingen, a small town in the southwest of germany.

• Well, a lyric is always a way of expressing reality after you filtered and reshaped it through your mind, isn't it ? All great writers took their basics from real life, Shakespeares big drama about treason and revenge was taken from real life, Macbeth did exist. The author has only to add bits and pieces here and there to make it a bit more dramatic, to weave a message into the raw fabric of the facts, to make a story out of History !I wouldn’t dare to compare Thomas with Shakespeare, but he also takes his stuff out of life, out of his experiences and out of his own mind, rather than trying to copy some worn-out sword and dragon story. Fantasy literature created some great pieces of art, like Tolkien, Herbert, Poe, Lovecraft to name but a few. Noone of us could fit into the footsteps of those titans of literature, so we rather try to explore our own way-lyrically and musically.

• It was received quite well, especially in the underground. We sold more than 300 items, though it was not widely promoted, we sent some promos to underground fanzines but not to the big mags like Rock Hard. The fanzines reacted euphorically, only the Legacy was not completely happy with it. But most of the critics were fair, some even too positive. But I got one funny story to tell: A reviewer once wrote, that she heard somewhere in the first song a „black-metal guitar“. Well, we sought for it really hard and came to the result that it has got to be Thomas pink „Flying V“-it has got a really evil look, hahah !

• It was Axels idea, after the Arcus split, he said, that, no matter how often thy were thrown away, they would always come back-like a boomerang. So the name was born. Axel claims now, that he never said that, or that he might have been drunk, but the name is here and it will stay. And if it's true or not, it's a good story and an intelligent explanation for a stupid name, haha.

• For a start we have no big wishes, it is fun to play, so we like to play gigs, no matter if big or small, the recording of the CD will be an experience, also. After that, a deal and a distribution for the CD would be fine, but we dont do it for the success or for money, it's just the music we like and we love to play. Stefan and Thomas have their jobs, Axel, Andreas and Christian are students, so noone needs to make money out of the music. It's just for fun. (well, Axel dreams of fucking a lot of beautiful groupies, but thats another story)

• We already done so. We played  with a lot of local bands but also bigger gigs with Spiral Tower, Krabathor is soon to come. Hopefully we can make the gig with Grave Digger real next spring. That would really be a great thing. Besides that, an average of 10-20 live shows per year is a goal we like to achieve.....

• No, we are not afraid of the competition, it is an honour to be chosen to participate in this competion. We done a lot of covers for the live shows, songs from Slayer, Sacred Reich, Manowar. But if we can make it on such a tribute album it would really be a fine thing. Especially though Running Wild is a glorious band up to day ! They never made a weak album during all those years !

• No, absolutely not. The competition is very hard here, we have a lot of very talented bands and the fans are very demanding, if you dont have a huge label support, you wont have enough promotion to sell albums. Also, there are a lot of gigs, more than anyone can afford to see every weekend, so it's very hard to become popular or to raise label interest. Also, to speak frankly, the label policy of companys like Nuclear Blast or Metal Blade is really devastating to the scene: They rather buy a well selling band from a smaller label than to build up some new band with a fresh approach, good, new ideas and a distinctive style. The other way is that they rather sign the 1000 th side project of a well-selling artist, because that is the way to make safe money. The music doesn't matter to them, they release every shit as long as it promises lots of cash. I think, the whole business-scene should be run by fans only, people who love the music and not the money. Sooner or later the companies will kill the whole scene, like they did in the late 80's because there is only a certain amount of shit the fans will take untill they loose interest. That really pisses me off, to see brilliant bands like Raging Force or Metal Inquisitor rotting in the underground.

• I think the underground scene is ok. It could be a lot better, but it is not that bad as some self-proclaimed experts keep on saying. There are tons of great bands, for example the aforementioned Raging Force and Metal Inquisitor. There are also some great old school thrash bands like Purify. Lightmare is great, Couragous for fans of modern thrash,and many more- you could fill a battleship with all the men ! (and a whole fleet out of the imbecile posers who spoil the whole scene)

• Only comics. We metalheads are so stupid, we need pictures, hahahaha !

• Goofy.....he is the greatest hero-he fails everything he does but he keeps on trying. Really a metal heart like us, hehe.

• Hmmm, probably same as now, working, studying, playing football-just the average stuff we do in our spare time.

• The Cold one from the demo was really liked. I  think Battered was also a fine, straight number. From the new album, the titletrack is going to be a real smasher. Fantastic hookline, very catchy.

• Manowar: Fighting the world !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are fighting the world for the right to play ! heavy Metal in our veins.... We also have THE ASS OF STEEL, once before a gig in Kaiserslautern, when Thomas wore some leather jeans which were a bit too small for him, they bursted right beneath his ass as he tried to get out of the car. That was more Manowar than Manowar itself, the ass of Steel, hehe.

• Thank you very much for your support, it was an honour to answer your questions. Greetings to the greek Metal Maniacs, you are really devoted to the music, when I think of the Manilla Road Freaks in Balingen or the fanatic crowd shouting on Iced Earths Alive in Athens. You are renowned in the Metal world. Zeus is a headbanger !!!