German metal veterans Caliban are heading to our shores for the second time in August, with local hardcore kings Her Nightmare in tow. Patrick (Drums) was good enough to give us the following interviews…
German metal veterans Caliban are heading to our shores for the second time in August, with local hardcore kings Her Nightmare in tow.
Patrick (Drums) was good enough to give us the following interviews…
By Cameron Chambers
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Can you please us your name
and what you do in Caliban?
Patrick - Drums
For those that aren’t familiar
with you guys can you give us a bit of a run down on how the band got
together, any significant line up changes, etc…
Caliban came together in 1997 and started
as a school band with the name “NEVER AGAIN”. After recording our
first demo we got signed on LIFEFORCE REC. Then we decided to change
our name in CALIBAN and recorded our first album. After a few years
and hundreds of shows later we were signed on ROADRUNNER REC in 2004.
Now we had the chance to tour with bands like machine head, in flames,
play bigger festivals and be on the road all the time. In all these
years we had some line-up changes, cause some of them noticed that a
life on the road can be harder than it seemed. In the last years we
toured the whole world and were very busy bringing our music out to
the people.
The Awakening was released
in Europe over twelve months ago. Now that you’ve had some time to
sit with the record are you satisfied with how it turned out? Is there
anything you’d do differently looking back on it?
We are very happy with the awakening.
The album turned out great and looking back we wouldn’t do anything
different. TA were another step forward and most of our fans are very
happy with the album. We were a lot on the road to play all the new
songs live and of course we are very happy to have the chance to come
over to oz to perform and to tour.
The album’s title is fairly
suggestive, are there any significant lyrical themes that were covered
on The Awakening?
All the lyrics are written by Andy our
singer. His thing is to write about personal things and feelings he
had in the last years. The lyrics on the later albums were more dark
and sad. On the awakening it seems like he is seeing the light at the
end of the tunnel. Hahahahaha.............
The release of The Awakening
was delayed by six months in the US due to your label merging with Century
Media. How did that affect your ability to tour the record and do you
think it impaired how the success of the album?
That was a very bad thing, cause all
our fans in the states already had our album when it came out. But then
we were very busy touring Europe so we couldn’t go out to the states.
A lot of things went wrong and we are very sorry for our fans in the
states.
Your last couple of records
have had a greater emphasis on melody than your older work, has this
affected the intensity and energy of your live show?
No! Our shows are still hard and brutal.
We had clean vocals on all our albums. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
But our intensity on the shows is still the same. The people like to
sing along with us before they have to mosh again. J
Caliban
has always been successful throughout Europe, but the last few years
have seen you guys make a bigger push for the US. What’s the biggest
difference between the two markets/audiences?
First of all, the market and the
scene in the states are the biggest, I would say...the people/audience
are way more brutal then the guys back home or Europe, it looks always
like a big fight...and sometimes, more often then in Europe, there are
real fights and we have to stop our set, I hate this, but it’s the
way it is...
Given the sheer number of metal/hardcore
bands in the States, do you think it’s been harder for a group like
Caliban to break through over there?
Yes I do...it’s hard for a German
band to get well known in the states, because you have to tour there
all the time, even as us band, otherwise the people will forget your
band, but that’s not possible, because we have to tour Europe and
other countries, too...right ; )...like you said, there are tons of
metal/hardcore bands...our advantage over the us bands is maybe that
the people don’t get the chance to see us so many times, that’s
maybe one point why the shows are mostly packed ; )
Your most recent recorded output
has had a distinctively American feel to it, was this a conscious move
to increase your chances in the US or did you always envision that Caliban
would take this direction?
I don’t see it this way...our
intension was to take the best parts of the recent albums of Caliban
and put it on the awakening and so we did : ) so for us it was a “normal”
way of progression...we don’t write our music for any market or label!!!
Your last Australian tour saw
you guys taking part in the Gigantour Festival, what can we expect from
your headline shows in August?
More songs, more aggression, more
mosh and flying bodyparts ; )
on the Gigantour we don’t had
so much time to perform our music/set and now we’re back as the headlining
band with more time...so I hope you guys will enjoy this...
Are you going to be playing
a good mix of old and new, as you’ve got a lot of long time fans down
here in Australia?
We’ll see...but I think there
will be something for everyone’s taste...old, semi-old and of course
the new stuff.
Once you wrap up the tour you’re
heading to Japan for a few festival dates, what’s in store for Caliban
for the rest of 2008?
After this Asia tour we will play
some more festivals in Germany and after that we’re maybe doing a
short Canada tour...and in between we’re writing the new album...it
should come out early next year and studio time is around October November...so
keep your ears and eyes open ; )
Just a quick final five questions
to finish up with…
Favourite place you’ve travelled
to?
On holiday : Toscana
On tour: Moscow
Favourite album at the moment?
Calexico-Feast Of Wire
Most ridiculous thing you’ve
done for a buck?
Never happened, any suggestions
; )
Most embarrassing onstage experience?
One time, I was sooooooooo drunk
I lost my microphone and it took forever until I found it...same show,
I announced a song we just finished...it happened 2 times and I almost
fell of the stage..Dont ask me what I said in between the songs, cant
remember a thing...I think that’s enough embarrassing for one show...
Any experiences with crazed
fans or over zealous groupies?
A shut mouth catches no flies...
Any parting words?
Everyone of you who read this
has to come to our show in your area...otherwise you cocks or boobs
will fall of ;) seriously, thanks for your time and reading this,
hope to see some of you on a show, maybe there is some time to hang
out, have a little chat or whatever...take care, Caliban loves you*
Thanks for your time!
For all things Caliban head to their Myspace page.