CREMATORY - Markus

This band exists since 1991, one of the most successful metal bands from Germany and regarded as one of the best gothic metal bands, Crematory has just released their new album Pray. Two years after their previous release Crematory seem to return to their darker and more rock oriented sound of the past as the drummer of the band, Markus is informing the crew of Metalzone. Which are the latest news from the camp of the most acclaimed German gothic metal band, his opinion about the new generation of gothic female fronted metal bands, their tour plans for the future are some of the topics we are discussing with Markus. And last but not least his strong liking for Greek food!
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\r\nMetalzone: We’re speaking with Markus from Crematory. Hello Markus.
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\r\nMarkus: Hello.
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\r\nMetalzone: And welcome to Metalzone.
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\r\nMarkus:
Thanks a lot.
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\r\nMetalzone: First of all let’s talk about your new album Pray which was released in February 1. How is the feedback so far?
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\r\nMarkus: Amazing and this time I do a lot of interviews all over the world and we get amazing feedback from the whole press and also from our fans on our home page and myspace page and last week we got the chart entry in Germany again in the German metal album charts and , yeah everything works well at this time. We are really happy with the situation that we have at this time. \r\n

\r\nMetalzone:\r\nYou did the production once again by yourselves. How pleased are you with the final result and were there any mistakes that you did last time and you tried to avoid this time around? I mean do you think that you went a level up in terms of the production with this one?\r\n

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\r\nMarkus:\r\nI think we go the right way because we work together with Christian „Kohle“ Kohlmannslehner. He is a good friend of the band which has a small studio here near our hometown, it’s called the Kohlekeller Studios and we work with him together since the comeback, since the Revolution album. And yeah when we write new songs, we start writing the new songs directly into studio and we record all these songs in this way that we had all the lines what we need later for the whole mix of the album. And especially „Kohle“ had also to produce and to arrange the songs and it’s really working with him and he is a really professional producer. And we think that he is the best person that we can have this time to work together with us for bring up the songs much more forward.
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\r\nMetalzone: Tell me how evolving or how different or similar the new album is to your previews releases. What should your fans expect from the band this time?
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\r\nMarkus: Well, that’s really hard to answer. That’s a question you have to ask the fans. But for us the main opinion is that when we started to write new songs we tried to catch the atmospheric and the darkness, to bring this back to our music, the feeling that we had in the middle of the ‘90s with albums like Illusion or Awake and our idea was to record a real gothic metal album which brings back the darkness which was a little bit lost from the last two albums we did. The main thing is the last album was completely in German and it was much more rocking sound and in the Revolution album we used a little bit more the electronic stuff and now we thought it was time to bring back the darkness and do again a real good goth metal album.
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\r\nMetalzone: This means that you weren’t so satisfied with your previous albums after the reunion I mean.
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\r\nMarkus: No, no we were very happy with these albums because they felt very well but we don’t want to do the same music on every album like ACDC for twenty years. We like a little bit the challenge and we want to develop our songs from album to album and do a little bit the mix, use different elements in our music. And now for the Pray album we thought, ok we want to go back to the root for the old gothic metal style. To bring back the darkness but to push more the guitars and to put the keyboards a little bit in the back and to make a really heavy sound.
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\r\nMetalzone: As you said before the lyrics of your previous was written in the entireness in German. Was this an inspiration of that time or an experiment that didn’t go so well at the end?
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\r\nMarkus: Normally Felix is writing all the lyrics at first in German because it is much more easier for him as a German guy and later the lyrics are translated by an American guy which we know very well. And we did the German album because we thought it was a good time to do that, because it was the 15th anniversary of the band. It was ten years after the first German album which was very successful in ’96. So for the new album we thought, ok we did the last album completely in German that means that we do for this new record no German songs but I’m sure that we’ll do in the future again one German song on an album.\r\n

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\r\nMetalzone:\r\nDo you think that Crematory can still surprise people with their music as they were doing almost from the beginning of their career?\r\n

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\r\nMarkus:\r\nI think that crematory is every time good for a surprise. I think that no one expects from Crematory an album like Pray at this time. Normally all the goth metal bands go much more the commercial ray. And we don’t go this way, we back to the root and play again hard music. It’s totally different from all the goth metal bands do at this time. I think no one expects from crematory an album like Pray which is so hard and heavy and this was the challenge for us. To show all the guys and the fans that Crematory can be also heavy.
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\r\nMetalzone: Since you mentioned the gothic metal bands you too have a woman in your ranks but the difference is that she is not the singer. During your reunion time has this possibility of female vocals ever crossed your mind at all? Considering also the fact that lately female vocals it is a rather popular element in metal music?
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\r\nMarkus: That’s the different. All the good gothic metal bands like Paradise Lost, Tiamat, Amorphis, Moonspell, Crematory and many more they don’t use female vocals in the middle of the ‘90s. All the new goth metal bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation, Epica, these are the new style of gothic metal. They all use female vocals. But we think that we don’t need that because we have two excellent singers in the band. Felix for the deep vocals and the growls and Matthias for the clean vocals. We thought at this time that we don’t use female vocals. Our female is Matthias.
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\r\nMetalzone: Coming to your label what were the reasons that made you return to Massacre Records?
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\r\nMarkus: It’s a normal business thing. I do the management for crematory since fifteen years also. It’s a normal thing and when a contract is finished many record companies come to you and make you some offers. And it’s the same thing that we had in this situation. We are only signed by Massacre records for two albums. This was the last album. Klagebilder album and now the Pray one and now the contract is finished and now we start again some offers also again from Nuclear Blast. They want Crematory back. We will see what’s going on, it’s a normal business thing when a contract is finished you look what kind of offers you can get and then you sit together with them and talk about the details. What can you get for money from the record company, what will they want to do for promotion and marketing for you, how many tours are part and videos and all these different things. And Massacre did the best offer for us we think and this is the reason why we go to Massacre and we are the biggest band by Massacre records. A lot of marketing and money for us. And we are the totally number one band by Massacre records. This was also a reason because on Nuclear Blast there are also bands which are bigger than Crematory for example Nightwish, In Flames, Dimmu Borgir and by Nuclear Blast we are only a band in the middle. And by Massacre records we are absolutely a band on the top. And this was also a reason why we chose Massacre records. But two weeks ago Markus Staiger the boss of Nuclear Blast which is also a good friend of my private called me again and Markus said we want Crematory again in Nuclear Blast and I will meet him I think in four weeks and he will do a new offer for us. Also Massacre will do a new offer for us, also other record companies. We will see, I don’t know exactly at this time but it’s a good feeling for us to see that all the record companies are interested in Crematory.
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\r\nMetalzone: You are one of the most successful gothic metal bands. And you exist for 15 years now if we count out the three years of your split. What are the things today that keep you motivated to continue?
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\r\nMarkus: Every record to record or every new song to write it’s a big challenge and also every concert that you play. The three years when we did the break with Crematory they were a hole in our life or in my life. But when you do ten years the rock n roll of the goth metal and when you tour and play concerts and write songs, we missed it a lot. And the challenge that you have as a musician to write new songs, to produce it in the studio and then to perform it on stage and then to get feedback from the fans this is a feeling that you can’t pay with every money on the world. And this is the thing what we need.
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\r\nMetalzone: Was this the main reason why you chose to come back?
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\r\nMarkus: The things that I’ve told you. We missed it a lot to be on stage, to go into practice room, to have jam sessions and write new songs, to produce new albums. We did this for ten years, every year again a new album, write new songs, record a new album, play a lot of shows and festivals and then we had three years nothing and this was a big hole in our lives and especially the feedback what we get form the fans when we play the concerts or on festivals, this was the main reason why we did that. And these three years we had organized totally our private life. Someone in the band married or we get also babies and children. Everything was organized, everyone had a normal job and then it was time for the good that we got from Nuclear Blast with the comeback album and they agreed with us that we can handle Crematory as a professional hobby band that means that we don’t have to do every year a new record, we can record every two or three years a record. We don’t have to go on tour for three or four months. We did in the past. We only play shows at the weekend and they agreed with us and also Massacre for the new deal and it was fine and then we can do a professional job for Crematory besides our family lives and besides our normal jobs. And then that’s good.
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\r\nMetalzone: The time when grudge music was ruling all over the world many metal bands were forced to split up because there was no interest any more from the people. After grudge disappeared we see a lot of metal bands reforming again. Do you believe that metal music is coming up with a vengeance in nowadays?
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\r\nMarkus: I only can talk for Germany here. For example normal metal bands hate it. But I think it’s a good situation that you can reach young people to bring them back to the guitar music. For example Tokyo Hotel they are really successful in Germany and now also in Russia and also in America and Cinema Bizarre, these are young bands and they are 14-15 years old. And they do commercial style of goth rock, goth metal music. All the kids love it here in Germany and they sell hundreds thousands copies of their albums. They are really successful. But all the true metal fans hate this kiddy shit. But I think it’s really good because these kiddy bands bring the young people back to the rock and the metal music with the guitar sound. Not only the hip hop stuff and techno stuff. I think it’s the right way and a good situation that the metal or rock music will become bigger and bigger also in the future again.
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\r\nMetalzone: Tell me, Markus, who was the drummer or maybe the drummers that made you wanna grab the drumsticks when you were a kid and be a drummer as well?
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\r\nMarkus: I don’t have really an idol on drums. I don’t know, I prefer drums. I started to play drums when I was 10 years old and looked what people of pop and rock music is in the TV, what the drummer play. When I was 15 years old and I started with my first band and listened to metal music, I preferred Dave Lombardo from Slayer or Lars Ulrich from Metallica or Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater. I think these are the important drummers in the metal scene. At this time when I started to play drums.
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\r\nMetalzone: Coming to the album, do you have any plans of making a video?
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\r\nMarkus:
Yes, I work on that since two months, we’ve got offers from movie companies that make movies that are coming out in cinemas here in Germany and also one in England and the wanna have some sound tracks from Crematory from the new album and they will record with us some video clips. But we are in discuss, we are making some business things and deals and I think we will do that in four or eight week. We are in contact with them and make business things and I think we will record the video clip in four or eight weeks, I don’t know exactly this time. To put it again together with the movie track from the movie.
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\r\nMetalzone: Your tour in Germany kicks off in May. What other plans do you have for this year’s live appearances?
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\r\nMarkus: To play much more as we wanna do! Normally we get the agreement inside the band, said that we only play 30 shows in every year not more but the feedback is amazing this time that we have for the new record and this time we have, I don’t know exactly, 50 shows at this time which are fixed and we have also new offers. At this time we have two booking agencies that are working for us because we had so much offers. We also had some offers from Greece, I know, I heard about this three weeks ago.
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\r\nMetalzone: That would be my next question.
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\r\nMarkus:
I know that we had some offers but I don’t know any details from our booking agency. And we want to come back to Greece again, we played I think two years ago, two shows together with our old friends from Tiamat in Athens and Thessaloniki and it was fantastic. And yeah I know we had some offers from Greece this time. I don’t know if there are some festivals or club shows, I don’t know the details. But it will be sure that we will come back.
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\r\nMetalzone: Well, that would be great.
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\r\nMarkus: Yes, it was good time for us in Greece. It was two years ago or three years ago, I don’t know exactly. But it was fantastic. Everything was very well organized, we had a lot of fun also together with Tiamat which are old friends of us. And the people and the audience was fantastic in Greece and we will come definitely back. I don’t know exactly in which month this year or next year. I don’t what the booking agency is dealing with organizers but I got a call like two weeks ago and he asked me to do Greece again and I said, yeah we wanna do that and now they check out the details.
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\r\nMetalzone: Tell me Markus, how hard or how fun is it for you the life on the road and do you prefer it than being in the studio?
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\r\nMarkus: We will like it much more to play live than to work in the studio. To work in the studio is a fucking hard job and you have to be concentrated and to work hard, that the songs will be good because there are the stuff that get later on the cd. We prefer it much more to be on stage and to have a good party and good shows together with our fans and to meet a lot of friends from different countries all over the world. For example last year we were also in Russia, it was amazing for us. We played two shows in front of 5000 people, it was amazing for us. Also Romania and now we do Spain and Portugal for first time. We never were in Spain or Portugal and now we have a completed list of ten shows. And we will do that because this year we want to go forward again with the band. We had the three years break, things have come back, everything works very well for us and now we want to do a little bit more in the future again.
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\r\nMetalzone: Basically, what’s your opinion about Internet and the free downloading?
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\r\nMarkus: Oh, that’s really hard. Yeah, it’s really because it’s completely bullshit for musicians. For example you have to pay the studio, you have to pay all the stuff, the production of the record costs a lot of money and it’s really boring when people make illegal downloads. They steal our music. I think this is the right way for me, it’s not really good because when the band don’t sell records, there is not enough money to do good productions and everything costs a lot. Also the touring and stuff. For me it’s not so hard because I’ve got a normal job and all the rest of the band but I know a lot of musicians which can’t pay their rent because they don’t sell enough records. And this is a really, really big problem for the future and my opinion is that people which make illegal downloads and say I’m a fan of the band, I say fuck you! And you are not but a band but you have stolen my music and this is my opinion.
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\r\nMetalzone: I don’t have the promo cd and I don’t know if you have any voice overs in your tracks like other bands so, would you consider that possibility?
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\r\nMarkus:
I don’t like it the voice overs in the promo cds. But the main problem is that also the journalists here in Germany told in the past that promo cds by eBay are put in the internet and this is definitely the wrong way. And this is the main reason why the record companies do the fucking overvoice on the promo cds. It’s not really good to hear a song and a fucking talking inside, this is the new Crematory album blah, blah, blah. It’s not really nice but it helps a little bit that the music is not in the internet before the album is released.
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\r\nMetalzone: So, Markus is there anything you would like to add to this interview and I didn’t ask you?
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\r\nMarkus: I think we talked about all the stuff. We talked about the album, we talked about the tour that we want to come back to Greece but I really have to tell you. You have really amazing good food in Greece. It’s totally different when you go to a Greek restaurant here in Germany, I think you only get bullshit for food. But in Greece it was amazing. And tasty food we get. And this is the reason why we will come back!
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\r\nMetalzone: Well, if you ask me I think we have the best food in the world…
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\r\nMarkus: And really good looking girls! I think this is also the reason why Johan from Tiamat stay in Greece at this time. I know when we played together in Thessaloniki he met the girl which he is together, which is his girlfriend at this time.
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\r\nMetalzone: Wow, that’s interesting.
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\r\nMarkus:
Yeah ,yeah. And this was in the show we played together in Thessaloniki.
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\r\nMetalzone: But I think you are already married so there is no possibility of that.
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\r\nMarkus: Yeah, yeah but… you’re true, I’m married but it’s every time good to see good looking girls in front of the stage. It helps a lot!
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\r\nMetalzone: So, give a message to the readers of Metalzone.
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\r\nMarkus:
It was a fantastic time in Greece for us when we visited two years ago and we hope that we can come back to Greece as soon as possible because you have the best food in the world and really nice looking girls in front of the stage! \r\n

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\r\nVaso Prassa \r\n

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