Assassin
After a long period of
silence Assassin the thrash metal Gods from Germany strikes back with their
newest self financed album. After Sodom, Kreator and Destruction it is
time for Assassin!!!
1. Hi Michael! First of all congratulations
on your newest album! Tell me what is your opinion about it now that you
have finished the recordings...
I think, we did a good job with “The Club”.
The songs have a lot of power and Robert, our vocalist screams better than
ever before. Though, we had little money for the production, it worked
out fine with the sound.
2. Why did it take Assassin 17 years to release
their new album, after the two albums in the end of 80s?
Well, back in 1989 we started composing songs
for our 3rd album when Dinko, our other guitarrist, had left the band.
We found another axeman but this was not like it was before. Suddenly somebody
broke into our rehearsal room and stole our equipment. Fuck! There we stood
in the heavy rain: No money because our company kept cheating with us and
no equipment to go on tour. This was the end for Assassin. We tried this
reunion several times before but you know, to make a real band it takes
more than just the will to play. Many things had to be “in the right place”
to make this thing happen. Robert is living in China for some years, so
this was one of the first steps to climb. Then there was the bassplayer,
who didn´t want to play in a thrashgroup again and so on and on…
Now we have a thrilling line-up with excellent aggressive musicians and
I hope we can prove this in Greece one day.
3. So far do you see any differences between
the 80s and now in the metal scene?
You have a lot of bands now. Back in the days
there were only a few who had the courage to play Thrash. Today there is
much more commeciality even in Underground music. I hope that Assassin
will help to bring back the old friendships to the scene.
4. Can we say that you were the fourth band
in the thrash metal assault from Germany with Sodom, Kreator and Destruction?
People say that it was just like that. We
didn´t realize it in 1988, that we were one of the topgroups of thrash.
Only when I was playing with Sodom in 1990/91, we made a show in Athens
and many other cities in the world where many people asked me about Assassin,
I realized that we had many fans out there.
5. Now the line up is almost the original except
for the bass player, why didn’t you do a full re-union?
Lulle, the old bassplayer is not into Metal
anymore. We have now the best bassplayer we could find. Ufo Walter already
played with Buddy Miles and many other professionals in music. You know,
he needed just 2 rehearsals to play the whole new album. The old one played
this stuff for 2 years without playing it correctly.
6. Do you believe that Assassin have something
to give to the thrash metal nowadays?
Assassin brings in loud handmade music in
its unique style.
7. Can you give me some details concerning
the lyrics; Is there a concept behind them?
Robert: Well, my lyrics deal about life and
what happens in life. They are about things I’ve witnessed or I read about.
Everything can have an influence on my lyrics.
8. What will you do to support your newest
album, "The Club"?
We are going to make a tour over Europe and
maybe we can organize a show in your country, too. The rest is promotion,
like this interview with you or radiostations that still play metal. We
are trying to find distributors in the whole world to get the albums to
the people. There are already some countries, where you can buy Assassin
CDs in the recordshops, like Brasil, Italy and Japan but this will definitely
be expanded.
9. Why have you released it as a self financed
release and not through a label?
We already had our expierience with recordlabels.
We sold a lot of records in the last millenium but the money didn´t
come to the band. So, we wanted more control over the sales and other bandrelated
things which we realized by founding AGD-Records.
10. What title do you want this interview to
have?
11. Thanks a lot for your time Michael and
I wish you all the best with your future plans!
Thank you for support. I hope to see you soon
in Greece
Antonis Maglaras
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