CHAPEL
DESECRATOR
Well, Chapel Desecrator is
a true thrash metal band with a really clever sence of humor and a nostalgic
feeling for the 80s metal music and attitude that pours out fom their compositions.
This is indeed one of the interviews I enjoyed the most cause I found 2
people with a live and kicking brain, 2 persons with which I share many
common beliefs. I enjoyed both their music and this interview a lot! I
hope you will too!
1.HELLO AND MY CONGRATULATIONS
FOR "WRECKING YOUR CHURCH"! WELL, I AM INTERESTED TO LEARN WHAT KIND OF
PERSONS ARE CHAPEL DESECRATOR IN THEIR EVERYDAY LIFE AND WHAT ELSE DO THEY
LIKE TO DO BESIDES PLAYING MUSIC?
Ad: I work as an electrition in
an oil raffinery. And besides the music and my job? I haven't any other
hobby or do something which is not in common with the band in any way except
hanging around, drinking beer and doing party. And, I like to do
some sports sometimes.
Tommes: I'm interested in literature,
espacially in those of the german middle ages, so I study german literature
and political science at the university and at the moment, I'm learning
for my exams. So, there's no much time beside learning and playing guitar.
After that I'll have to look for a well paid job, cause somebody has to
pay all the guitar strings I wreck. Besides music there's nothing I would
call a "hobby". I would say that I'm a pretty normal student guy, livin
like a parasite, drinking and doing party.
2.HOW MANY DEMOS DO YOU HAVE? POINT
OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES AMONG THEM. DO YOU
HAVE ANY NEW SONGS READY?
Tommes: We have two demos out:
"Thrash or be thrashed", recorded in spring '99 and "Wrecking your church",
recorded 2001. The difference between them is the sound I think. The first
one has a real "demo- sound", because it was the first time we recorded
some of our songs and we were very inexperienced. The guy who recorded
the songs was also an amateur, so we got some good songs recorded bad.
And that?s the main similarity between both demos. It?s all played in the
same Thrash- style. Ok, our songwriting became better, but it's everything
on both recordings CHAPEL DESECRATOR stands for: straight Thrash- Metal,
not taking itself too serious, played to make a good time coming out of
your stereo. We've got plenty of new songs ready and we've planned to conquer
a record studio this spring.
3.I LOVED YOUR DEMO "WRECKING YOUR
CHURCH" IT HAS AN 80S THRASH FEELING AND A PUNKISH ATTITUDE! HOW DIFFICULT
IS IT TO CREATE NOWADAYS SUCH A SOUND? IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO
CHANGE NOW?
Ad: I started listening to Metal
in the mids of the eighties (my first record was "World Wide Life" by the
Scorpions, god forgive!) and I came soon in touch with Thrash-acts like
Kreator or Exodus. To this day this is the kind I prefer the most along
with Punk-bands like The Damned, Sham 69, The Exploited and of course The
Ramones, my all time faves. I think we just play the kind of music we like
the most, so we don't try to create the music in any direction or any order.
We just ask ourselves whether this is something we would buy if we would
find it in some record store. And the rest goes just automaticly.
4.ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK
YOU GOT THIS FAR? IS THERE A COMMON STATEMENT YOU SEE REPEATED IN ALMOST
ALL THE REVIEWS YOU RECEIVE? HAVE YOU SENT THE DEMO TO ANY LABELS? WHAT
DID THEY TELL YOU?
Tommes: Most of the reviews we
got were positive, so that we can be very satisfied with this. The "common
statement" I think was, that they all love this 80?s spirit, just like
you. We started to molest recordlabels some months ago, but we got only
refusals so far. But we won't stop until every damned recordboss knows
the name CHAPEL DESECRATOR, ha ha.
5.NOW, LET'S GO TO THE LYRICS...TELL
ME WHAT EACH SONG IS TALKING ABOUT AND WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE LYRICS.
Ad: Sooo..., the title-track is
about an ordinary day in the life of our masquot, the Chapel-Desecrator.
He just walks into a church guns everybody down, sets the whole place on
fire and after all he does what every humble working man does after work
in the evening. He watches the telly and has himself a cold drink. "Whiskey
'n' Blood" is about the morning after. A crude hangover and waking up on
Sunday morning with something in your bed which normaly belongs to your
stomach... "Prepared to take your life" is a little bit more serious. I
wrote the lyrics before the U.S.-boys had planned their holidays at the
Persian Gulf. It describes the lack of the equilibrium between two opponents.
In modern warfare as a civilian or a soldier belonging to an army not such
state of the art, you have no chance to survive. The other side has satelites,
tanks and planes you don't have any idea of and you don't see untill your
house has been hitted by some smart-bomb or precision projectile. "Steamhammer"
at least is just some poser-shit. Everone laughing at us will get some
fine answer while having his head between hammer and anvil. (Yeeaah, sounds
much evil and dangerous, doesn't it.) I think in general the lyrics are
inspired by our everyday life. You have funny moments, angry moments, you
read or see something or something happens to you which really touches
you very deeply. So there is no concept in writing our lyrics. Somebody
once named us a "Fun-Thrash-Band" like Tankard for example, because we
have lyrics with a great portion of ironie and humor, but that label won't
get our point. It's not only fun after all, just like life.
6.HMM...I SUPPOSE THAT YOU ARE NOT
MUCH COCA COLA DRINKERS... :))) AREN'T YOU AFRAID OF BEING BOMBED BY BUSH
FOR SUCH A RADICAL TASTE? :)) WHAT DO YOU PREFER DRINKING?
7.A FRIEND OF MINE SAID DURING A TALK
WE HAD THAT IT'S ABOUT TIME FOR BUSH TO STOP TERRORIZING THE TERRORISTS...IT'S
AN EXAGGERATION AND A HUMOUROUS EXPRESSION, HOWEVER, IF WE LOOK DOWN TO
IT, IT'S NOT FAR FROM THE TRUTH. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS U.S. EXTERNAL
POLICY?
Ad: Well, I think we live in a
very special time. The western civilisation, with the U.S.A. taking the
first place in the west, is losing their leading position in the world.
There are other civilisations like the chinese one or the arabian civilisation
claiming their rights more and more to be equal to the west and even to
get higher. So the U.S.A. becomes to them an opponent and it is not a model
they look up to any more. And in that situation the Bush-Administration
is doing their best to make these changes going on more rapidly. They persuade
a policy of total isolation, they try to make their own interests to something
like the "laws of the world". And this is not even since 9/11. 9/11 lead
them only to a more extreme acting. They left Kyoto and reduced their working
for the peace process in the Near East before, for example. (O.K., and
they had some interesting adventures in South-America, but this would go
too far now). But there are two problems getting bigger and bigger: For
every dead Arab there will be ten Arabs starting to get in touch with the
terrorist-scene. For every state they want to set free the anger and the
hate against them will grow and grow. You cannot make yourself friends
if you conquer somebody's land and take hands on home and property.
Even if you free him from dictatorship. For him not the system had been
changed only the dictator. And the second problem is Bush and his friends
are violating the norms and standards of democracy. They internate prisinors
on Guantanamo Bay without any justification, they even torture them. This
strenghtens the political opponents of Bush in the U.S.A. So Bush is driving
right towards a dead-end, and the U.S. have to change their behaviour sooner
or later. I hope so. Having much power gives you even more responsibility.
That is something they have to get back in mind again.
8.WHICH IS YOUR BEST AND WHICH IS YOUR
WORST ELEMENT ACCORDING TO YOU? WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SOMEONE IN ORDER
TO INTRIGUE HIS INTEREST?
Ad: Uhhh, I?m not able to claim
my best qualities by myself. This is something only others can do for me.
And my worst ones? Well, how much time do you have right now?
Tommes: I also can't tell you anything
about my best attitudes (are there anyone?). But I?ve got a lot of bad
ones, for example I'm fuckin' inquisitive ;-).
9.DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS?
WHAT SHOULD THE FANS EXPECT FROM A CHAPEL DESECRATOR LIVE SHOW?
Ad: I read in an interview with
Angus Young where he told about the attitude of AC/DC. He said it doesn't
matter if we were the main act or the supporter. By the time we enter the
stage it is our concert and we don't care about the state of the stage
when we left. This was very impressive. We always try to work as hard as
we can and to behave like our music is sounding. No one likes to see some
fuckers standing on the stage playing their instruments and look like someones
who don't want to be there. So we always want to wreck the stage and try
to transport as much energy to the audience as we can. Everytime we have
to try to do our best show ever.
10.I A D O R E THE DEMO'S COVER ARTWORK!!!!
IS THIS CUTE GUY YOUR MASCOT?? WHO DREW IT? IT HAS A RETRO, OLD FASHIONED
80S FEELING!!! WHAT'S HIS NAME? DO YOU THINK YOU COULD CREATE SOME DOLLS
FOR THE FEMALE FANS OF YOURS TO HAVE? :))
Tommes: Yeah! This handsome boy
is our mascot. It was drawn by a friend of us. We told him he should draw
something that looks like a chapel desecrator, and this is also his name.
Concerning the dolls, I'll try to contact Gene Simmons. I think he would
be able to give me some hints in producing dolls.
11.WHAT DO YOU AIM WITH CHAPEL DESECRATOR?
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU CAN OFFER TO THE METAL SCENE?
Ad: I think we just want to go
as far as we can with our music. There is no point we?ve got in sight,
no state where we would say, now we have reached it and that's it. We just
want to spread our desease as far as we can and if there is someone who
likes it...we're more than happy. It's a long way to the top and we just
try to get as high as we can.
12.I THINK THAT YOU HAVE THIS REBEL
ATTITUDE, CRITICIZING THROUGH HUMOUR SERIOUS MATTERS, A PURE 80S THRASH
METAL FEELING AND STAND THAT LACKS FROM MOST OF THE BANDS NOWADAYS. WHY
DO YOU THINK THIS HAS HAPPENED? WHY DO MOST OF THE BANDS HAVE SUCH A SERIOUS
AND A BIT "CONSERVATIVE" POINT OF VIEW FOR HEAVY METAL? I SUPPOSE YOU UNDERSTAND
WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY RIGHT?
Tommes: Yes, I know what you mean.
You mean those "scene guards" who think they have the right to decide who
or what is Heavy Metal. I don't really know why this kind of "fans" got
such a loud voice with the time. But in my opinion they stand for everything
that is NOT Heavy Metal. Look, Metal is my way of life because it stands
for tolerance, fun and the knownledge that I don?t have to care about the
people's mainstream opinion. And those guys stand for the exact opposite
side. Where are they tolerant and funny? Where is the rebellion in their
minds? They aren't better than all those kids running for the latest fashion.
Ignore them! They don't belong to the Metal- scene I know. They are nothing,
so let 'em cry but don't listen to them. If they realize, that they have
left the scene they want to "protect" they will all disappear I think.
Ad: Since I'm in the Metal-Scene,
for me Metal deals with a fucked up attitude. That means I can say and
do what I like and I can listend to the music I want to. Sometimes I listend
to James Brown or Run DMC for example. So what does that mean? Am I not
a real Metalhead because sometimes I got an Iggy Pop record on my player?
We sometimes have problems with those "Metal-Sentinels" Tommes mentioned,
because we don't use that typical stereo-types. But what do they want?
That every band plays the same sound, wear the same clothes and so on?
There is more fun and tolerance in every bank and every insurance-office
where the people all wearing suits and ties. And this is the so cruel and
intolerant establishment Metal is fighting against.
13.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT
WOULD IT BE? IFIT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
14.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF WE LIVED IN
A WORLD WITHOUT MUSIC?
Ad: Hmmm, I had to look for something
else to get on people's nerves. But what could it be? I don?t know, playing
some horrible tunes is the best way to drive people insane. You can close
your eyes but not your ears. But, o.k., seriously, I think I would draw
some sort of bizare cartoons or stuff like that.
Tommes: Good question. I think I
would try to write something weird. Something that makes people scream
"Oh my god, what kind of a psychopath wrote that shit". Just what they
are saying now, when they listen to a Thrash- band.
15.IF YOU WERE A FLY, WHERE WOULD YOU
LIKE TO BE AND WHY?
Ad: I want to live in the toilett
of the Metallica-Tourbus. I would make Lars, James and Kirk go crazy everytime
the want to take a shit. And besides touring I would stay at Lars? home.
He has a predilection for dust-bins, I think. So there will be enough to
eat for me and I could live in his new drumkit.
Tommes: I would visit some politicians
in their offices. I would stay at the ceiling and listen what they are
talking about behind closed doors. I said it before, I'm fuckin' inquisitive.
16.IF ONE WISH OF YOURS COULD BE GRANTED.
WHAT WOULD YOU WISH FOR?
Ad: To be at a Ramones-Show with
DeeDee and Joey in the line-up and listen to them play every Song they
ever recorded. And when they would finish they would just start again and
again and again. Or, to choose something that could be more possible, doing
a show at the CBGB?s in New York.
Tommes: Hmm, there are too many
bands I?ve never seen, because I wasn?t old enough to their times. Or I
would demand some answers from the asshole who created all that shit arounds
us. Whoever ist is (call him Jesus, Allah or however you want), I think
he owes mankind some answers.
17.THANK YOU! IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D
LIKE TO MENTIONAND I FORGOT TO ASK YOU?
Ad: Yeah, this is our first time
we are interviewed by someone from abroad (err, not from Germany, you know).
So thank you for your interesst.
Christine Parastatidou
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