FLOOD OF AGES - STYGMA IV Gunter Maier
\r\nNovember 2005 was a sad time for all\r\nStygma IV fans since it meant the very end of the band. The reason\r\ngiven by the group was the health problem their drummer faced and his\r\nun ability to play with the band anymore. Being Stygma’s fans ourselves\r\nwe decided to talk to the band and get the true reasons of the groups\r\nsplit up and what the future holds for the members of the group. We\r\ntalked with Gunter Maier [Guitar / Keyboards] and found out the truth that lies beneath Stygma’s split up and his future plans. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: At\r\nthe other end of our line we have Gunter Maier (am I saying it\r\ncorrect?) of Stygma IV. Hello Gunter this is Metalzone calling how are\r\nyou?
\r\nGunter Maier: Hello Helena, I am very fine. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Where do we reach you?
\r\nGunter Maier: I am near Salzburg. Austria \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Is this where you live or are you there on business?
\r\nGunter Maier: This is where I am living near the border of Germany. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Two months ago we heard about Stygma IV’s end. Do you want to talk to us about that?
\r\nGunter Maier:\r\nYes everything must have an end the main reason for. we decided to do\r\nthat, the end of Stygma IV is the problem of our drummer. He had a\r\nproblem for many years with his legs especially with his knees and now\r\nhe got many problems with his back and it’s not possible for him to\r\nplay drums anymore and we’ve been together for 14 years and with Richie\r\nwe’ve been together for 11 years and we can’t go on with another\r\ndrummer under the name of Stygma IV. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: So it’s more of an emotional decision that you don’t want to get another drummer?
\r\nGunter Maier: I will be very honest with this interview. As\r\nI said this is the main reason, but there’s another reason. We were on\r\nour first headliner tour on Germany lust summer and it was a\r\ncatastrophe because the booking agency, made bad work there was no\r\npromotion, and nothing, and everything went out of control, on this\r\ntour and especially Ritchie went completely out of control, and the\r\nfeeling after the tour within the band wasn’t as it was before. As I\r\nsaid we’ve been together for years and we’ve been very good friends and\r\nthat was a deep cut which happened on this tour nothing was like it was\r\nbefore and. I said ok I can’t go on with the band under these\r\ncircumstances.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: You mean that this catastrophic tour caused bitterness within the members of the band?
\r\nGunter Maier: Yes, it was for the first time in the history of Stygma IV we\r\nwent into deep problems especially with our singer and it was my\r\ndecision to say ok I don’t want anymore and I want to do something new\r\nit has to be something new. I got many emails and reactions from all\r\nover the world and Stygma fans. Most of the fans are very sad but new\r\nthings come up and I promise you that. I have a new band now, and very\r\ngood things are going to come up.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nDon’t you feel that a band as important as Stygma IV deserves a second\r\nchance? It’s bad for another tour manager to cause the catastrophe of a\r\nband?
\r\nGunter Maier : Yeap I\r\nknow, but there’s another reason, we have not very much luck in the\r\npast with record companies, and our record company for this last album\r\nwas a new record company, a German record company, a catastrophe.\r\nEverything, every word that they said was a lie and there was no range\r\nto work together with these people. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: What you describe me is awful.
\r\nGunter Maier: Me\r\ntoo I’ve had an awful time during November because Stygma was my life,\r\nit was my babby, and it was not easy for me but now I am looking into\r\nthe future and everything is ok now for me. And now I know that the\r\ndecision was right. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nDo you feel that there have been other factors that contributed to this\r\ncatastrophe such as point where the metal scene is at the moment? The\r\ntype of music you play isn’t really mainstream as far as what sells\r\nmore at the moment.
\r\nGunter Maier: No\r\nnot really, it was a normal thing the music we did, because we were\r\nfour different characters, regarding the music and I always tried to\r\nhold the thing together because there were different influences. For\r\nexample Ritchie wanted to do more in the progressive and doom\r\ndirection, and Alex wanted because he is a very good base player he\r\nwanted to do more to show off what we can do with our instruments and\r\non the other hand there was the limitation of the planning because we\r\nhad problems with the knees all the time, and I try to hold the thing\r\ntogether and this is the kind of music that we did. I never wanted to\r\ndo a trendy music. We just wanted to do the music that’s in my heart.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: So tell me about your new band.
\r\nGunter Maier: My new band it’s called Flood of Ages\r\nwe’ve been together for one month. The band is nearly the same cause as\r\nwhen I am with Alex and Herb and we said that we would start it\r\ntogether and I said we need a drummer, and he said I have a drummer,\r\nand then we met and there’ s a guy I know who’s been around for twenty\r\nyears with Wolfgang and I knew he is a very good base player he plays\r\nmore in the thrash metal scene and we always wanted to do something\r\ntogether and after the thing with Stygma was over I called and he said\r\nyes and I told him that the problem is that I have no drummer and he\r\nsaid I have a drummer and we did our first session and now we have\r\neight new songs already composed.\r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Are you preparing a demo for a record company?
\r\nGunter Maier: we\r\nare in the making, before summer we will do some recordings and we are\r\na trio now because Wolfgang has a very good voice and the drummer also\r\nhas too a very good voice and we will experiment a little bit with two\r\ndifferent voices and Flood of Ages will newer the sound of what I would\r\nlike to hear from a heavy metal band in 2006. Naturally it’s heavy\r\nmetal. I don’t want to compare it any other band, it has a very unique\r\nsound now and the direction is more straightforward than what we did\r\nwith Stygma and the direction like we did with Stygma on our first\r\nalbum called Greed Machine and like on our second album there’s a song called Room Eleven\r\nwhich I like very much. These two forward going songs and now I wanted\r\nto do more in this direction but the other members didn’t like it\r\nbecause they wanted to do more complex songs and now I will do it this\r\nway and I think you will like it very much because it’s very powerful\r\nand this is the direction that I am going to do in the next time. We\r\nshare a connection with the drummer and for me I am feeling like I have\r\nfallen in a fountain of youth cause I am very excited about this and I\r\nam composing and I have so many ideas I think this will be a very good\r\nthing for Flood Of Ages. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: Tell me a few more details of the new songs.
\r\nGunter Maier: I have my guitar in my hands and everything\r\nis running out when I am driving with my car everything is coming out\r\nwhen I am playing. Even when I am at work I always have a shit of paper\r\nbeside me and when I have ideas I write it down and as I said I am\r\ncomposing all the time. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: What about the lyrics?
\r\nGunter Maier: I am not writing a concept album it’s\r\nabout different themes. What is happening around in the world. I am not\r\nwriting love songs. About psychological experiences and such things.\r\nAnd I try to make intelligent lyrics. \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: What are your future plans at the moment?
\r\nGunter Maier: I\r\nwill take time for everything I do because I don’t want to make any\r\nmistakes. It’s very easy to do that. It will take so much time before I\r\nsay ok this is good enough to record and take it to a record company \r\n
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\r\nMetalzone: A message to the fans
\r\nGunter Maier: I want to thank you\r\nall especially the Greek people who have support us all over the years,\r\nI hope that we will meet again I will come this summer I hope, and I\r\nwish you too all the best \r\n
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\r\nElena "Blackie" Michailidou \r\n