VIU DRAKH: We hate Nazis.
VIU DRAKH has been around since early ninetees. During these years this German act progressed from punk-rock to old-school grindcore. Sounds good, huh? As for me, I was having an urge to crush some bastard's skull all the way I was listening to their latest release. Anyhow, you can find the review on their "Take no Prisoners..." CD in our "Album Reviews" section. In the meanwhile feel free to check out the interview below which was given by the band recently. (Krasniy)
Greetings. Please, cite the most important biographical facts of VIU DRAKH's existence.
Hi there. Viu Drakh has its origins in a band called TinPanAlley back in 1992. After a break and
some changes in the line-up Viu Drakh has risen from the ashes of TinPanAlley in 1997 to crush the world with a fistfull of steel. Until today we have recorded four full length CDs (2
xT.P.A., 2 xVIU DRAKH) and have been playing gigs all over Europe.
I wonder how has been the response to your latest album "Take No Prisoners..." so far? By the way, give us some info on your label MoonStorm recs. It seems to be quite young.
We were really happy about the response to the album from all over the world. Especially in Germany we gained a lot of new fans. Moonstorm is actually a rather young label from Berlin/Germany. They are mainly into Gothic/Rock and we have the advantage of being supported by
them very well. VIU DRAKH the only "extreme" band in their back catalogue.
What does the name VIU DRAKH signify? One of my friends told me that it's a Romanian word and it means something like "living demon". Is he right?
Yep. He's right. But the whole story is, that we have chosen this name without knowing its
meaning. After a few month some people told us about the possible translation "living dragon"
in Romanian. Now we�re quite happy with the name and look forward to any new proposals of
the meaning. :)
Describe your precedent albums. Have you evoluted since your debut "TinPanAlley" CD? If yes, how do you evaluate these changes?
TinPanAlley was more a HC/Punk band thus the two T.P.A. albums had a really straight and melodic sound. By the years we were exploring our love in high skilled metal riffing and started to create songs with more of a "metal attitude". Nowadays our music is a bastard of sick metal riffing and fast punk rhythms.
You characterize your music as a cross between Terrorizer and Slayer. Anyhow, I would like
to know about your sources of inspiration besides those bands.
We are inspired by all kinds of extreme music. Our favourites are Death and Thrash Bands like
Morbid Angel, Krisiun, Napalm Death,Vader or Bolt Thrower as well as Crust and Grind Bastards like Extreme Noise Terror, Skit System, Discharge or Driller Killer.
You seem to have a rich live experience. Tell us about your shows, countires you visited and bands you played with.
VIU DRAKH is definitely a live-band. We take every chance to go on tour. Until today we have been playing around 300 gigs in nearly every country in Europe. In the last few years we played with bands like Asphyx, Sodom, Cannibal Corpse, Krabathor, Disfear, Agathocles, Wolfpack, Purgatory and Driller Killer.
Neo-nazi movement in Germany is growing stronger everyday. What is your position on this phenomenon?
We hate Nazis. (brief, but clear - Ed.)
What music do you listen besides Metal?
Fish and Bjorn are Rock'n'Roll and Blues freaks with a special interest
in Stevie Ray Vaughn,
Jimi Hendrix and Elvis. Besides VIU DRAKH we have side projects where we
play cover versions of Motorhead
(called IRON FIST) and AC/DC (called BOOGIE KINGS).
What are your plans for the year 2001?
In march we are on tour with VADER, KRABATHOR and CRUSHER in Czech Republic and Slovakia. In May we�ll support the Southafrican Grinders GROINCHURN on their European tour. There'll be a mini-tour with INCANTATION in August and of course (and hopefully) many Open Air and Festival-gigs in summer. In April we'll release the "Take no prisoners..."-Album on Vinyl. At present we're working on the songs for the next album coming out in September 2001 on Moonstorm.
Last words.
Thanx for your interest in VIU DRAKH. Greetings and Cheers to the all HeavyMetalManiacs and Undead out there. Watch out for the living demon and visit us at www.viudrakh.de!
Thanx for the interview and all the best for your mag!
Official VIU DRAKH Homepage
Interview taken by KRASNIY.
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