After their excursion into the world of Black Metal (-inspired Industrial) with „Black Forest Metal“ HANZEL UND GRETYL have developed a bit further with „Satanik Germanik“. This time orchestral elements are in the center of the industrial of the two Americans. Vas and Kaizer Von Loopy explain how this came about and what else makes the album so strong from their point of view.
Your last album was entitled „Black Forest Metal“ and some kind of Black-Metal-satirism. What was the idea behind this release?
Vas: There is no satire in „Black Forest Metal“. Since we represent the Grimm Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretel, it is our greatest duty to have created „Black Forest Metal“.
Kaizer Von Loopy: I don’t know if I agree with that! There is plenty of satire! The black metal scene and aesthetic is just as comical as it is dark and evil! With „Black Forest Metal“, we wanted to depict those things! If it was up to me, the album would have been called „Black Forest Ham“! There would have been many pigheads on sticks!
The album was crowd-funded – why? And what experiences have you had with the crowdfunding principle in this context?
Vas: The reason we offered a crowd funder for „Black Forest Metal“ is to simply give our hardcore fans a chance to order unique and specific items directly from us and get these items earlier than the actual release. „Black Forest Metal“ was crowded funded through Pledge Music. The reason we did that as well was because they contacted us and suggested it was a good idea for ourselves and the record label.
Kaizer Von Loopy: People have many different opinions about bands crowdfunding. I personally don’t see a problem with it. Perhaps when the goals are absurdly large or unreasonable, it can appear exploitive. I’m astounded however, by how some indie-level bands can legitimately raise hundreds of thousands of dollars! I’m encouraged by it! Anything that puts the artist and fan in a more interactive setting I’m all for!
Now you’ve got a new album out for a while, „Satanik Germanik“. Did you crowdfund this one as well?
Vas: Yes, this time we did a small crowd funding campaign ourselves without any major company involved. We did all the work and I have to say it was gratifying since our amazing awesome UBER Fans were so respectful and patient as they had to wait several months before getting the CD and special items.
Kaizer Von Loopy: Yes! We decided to test the waters doing it independently! There are some pros and cons! Generally it’s a larger workload in the way of preparing websites and shipping and so on … and you might lose something in the way of visibility on social media! the pros would be that you can have something of a more controlled environment which allows you to adjust or readjust your deadline if need be and of course there are no fees or staggered payment plans.
That being said, I would still use established crowdfunding services! it depends on the timeline and band goals. With crowdfunding „Satanik Germanik“, we wanted to discover which option is best. It was inconclusive one way or the other really, both options work with various advantages or disadvantages as described.
Musicwise, it’s more a „traditional“ HANZEL UND GRETYL album – what made you go back to the old sound instead of the black-metal-influenced experiments from „Black Forest Metal“?
Vas: I have to disagree. „Satanik Germanik“ has way more of a black metal sound. But then, what is black metal? What is industrial? What is anything? Music is a simple creation of the moment with no alternative motives.
Kaizer Von Loopy: I do agree that the previous one, „Black Forest Metal“, was more aggro or „black metal sounding“. On „Black Forest Metal“ I had written many of the riffs and drum programming etc. ahead of hearing any lyrics whereas with „Satanik Germanik“, Vas had done a fair amount of writing on the whole up front so the songs had a more straight forward vibe. Upon hearing it, it was my instinct to take a more „industrial metal“ approach to the overall production and sound rather than try and rewrite parts and black-metal-ize them!
Nevertheless, „Trinken mit der Kaizer (die Bierz From Hell)“ is one of only a few straight, hard industrial-songs, whilst you often use chorus and also strings on „Satanik Germanik“. What inspired you for this new direction?
Vas: The feeling and the vibe of the songs and the lyrics in „Satanic Germanik“ pointed us in the direction of a more orchestral feel. Again, there is no thought out formula in music. We only create and listen to where the song tells us to go. It’s usually a spiritual experience. I speak for myself.
Kaizer Von Loopy: „Trinken mit der Kaizer“ was the only song on the CD that I did from A to Z on my own so I thought it was a good idea to have it stick out as sort of a drinking intermission before returning to the endless swirling, sucking eddy of despair that is Vas Kallas‘ psyche! (laughs)
As a result, the album is more diverse, but also not that hard and brutal as some of your prior releases. What do you think about that, but also: what do your fans think about that? Did you get feedback regarding this point in particular?
Vas: Yes, this statement is true. The majority of the songs were demoed a couple of years back in the winter. They were all true to self for that moment in time. I tend to write slower more melodic style songs. When I gave the songs to Loopy, he added his ideas, therefore what we create becomes diverse, which I believe is a good thing. We never want to sound the same. it’s tedious and uninteresting. We have all kinds of fans since we have created music in all kinds of styles in the past 25 years. They either think this is the best shit ever or they just want us to keep writing he same old style music. It’s always up to the individual. Everyone is going to have an opinion. Personally I am very proud of „Satanik Germanik“!
Kaizer Von Loopy: I am very pleased with the CD! One reviewer described it as black metal Yoga! If I had thought of that, it would have been the name of the CD itself! Perhaps a t-shirt? Or sportswear line!
Very characteristic for you are the texts, some of which are written in German. Do you at least speak a little German, or how are the lyrics written?
Vas: Yes, I do speak simple German. I used to live in Germany and therefore find the German language perfect for our style of music. I write the lyrics in German and make sure they are correct before I actually record them. But of course there will always be those people who say that the lyrics are incorrect. I don’t want them to be perfect. It’s art, not a grammar test.
Kaizer Von Loopy: „Ein Bier bitte!“ – that’s all I need to know when we’re in Germany!
I have the feeling, the lyrics used to be more provocative, but also a little more humorous. Do you see it that way, and if so, what is the cause of it?
Vas: We’ve written so many songs in so many styles, it’s hard to generalize. I create by feeling and what the cosmos suggests. Lyrics are just colors of a paintbrush creating the canvas of a song.
Kaizer Von Loopy: My answer to that is simply, I didn’t write too many lyrics on this one! My tendency lyrically is to make people want to scream, drink or turn it off immediately!
Once again thanks for your time. The last words are yours – is there anything left you want to tell our readers?
Vas: We look forward to seeing you all again!
Kaizer Von Loopy: „Danke und prost!“
12. Oktober 2018 Moritz Grütz
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