Hadley Hudson Photography
As you’re probably familiar by now, I’ve credited a lot of my musical taste to one Mr BAM MARGERA, having discovered several of my favourite bands thanks to his compilation albums and personal choices for soundtracks (The CKY series, “Haggard”, “Viva La Bam” etc.) and one such band are Germany’s favourite alternative melodic punks BEATSTEAKS…with a brand new record released earlier this year, I was lucky enough to catch up with drummer Thomas Götz for a quick chat about the record, touring and an insight into German punk…here’s how it went down.
“I’d like to start off by saying Congratulations! You’ve just recently released your brand new album; “Yours”, twenty years after your debut…did you ever see yourselves getting this far back in the mid-nineties?”
TG: “Never…I never have seen myself going anywhere and I am really glad for spending the last 18 years with the band. I had the chance to see really beautiful places and travel through Germany, Europe and even America with the band. And I am very proud that I was finally able to avoid real work and spend my time playing music for such a long time!”
“When people think of German music, initially, a lot of people make the connection with metal; bands like RAMMSTEIN, SCORPIONS and HELLOWEEN etc…very few people automatically associate Germany with punk rock in any capacity. What inspired you to go in that direction and what’s Germany’s punk scene like?”
TG: “I think that Germany has a very vital punk scene and always had. For me it started all when bands like EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN, ABWÄRTS, DER PLAN, DIE TÖDLICHE DORIS entered the scene in the 80's and brought really innovative music to the table….back then people said it’s just noise - not even music. But these bands opened the doors for so much other bands - they were like pioneers….and nowadays bands like PISSE, KARIES, HUMAN ABFALL, GEWALT, TURBOSTAAT, DIE NERVEN, LEVIN GOES LIGHTLY, WOLF MOUNTAIN and others reap what’s been sowed back then. We as a band are somewhere in between…too melodic for real punks….too punk for mainstream pop….too much guitar for young kids….we love DEPECHE MODE, Hip Hop, AC/DC and all kinds of music…so we are not considered as strict punks….we just play some kind of pop music or at least something that we think of as pop music.”
“Coming back to “Yours”, it’s another batch of great songs in your ever reliable repertoire, tracks like “You In Your Memories” and “Fever” in particular stand out for me…what can you tell us about the album? What’s the inspiration and story behind it? Having recently listened to it, it’s worth noting that its 21 tracks long, which in most cases is a lot for any album, was that always going to be the case? The writing process was evidently very fruitful…”
TG: “We wanted to make an album as diverse as possible….not our usual 11 song album 32 minutes long that we normally make but an album with a wider variety….not everybody in the band has to love every song as much as another…as long as everyone enjoys contributing to the songs….that was somehow the bottom line of the album….and every time we felt clueless and didn’t know what to do….we just asked friends that we met along the way in our career to help us with the particular song…we asked JAMIE T for help with the song "HATE TO LOVE" and he wrote us a wonderful bridge and lyrics. We asked CHAD PRICE of the band ALL to help us out with the singing because we thought that’s the voice we want to hear on "YOU IN YOUR MEMORIES". FARIN URLAUB of the band DIE ÄRTZTE wrote lyrics for "ABBA DU"….the hip-hop band DEICHKIND wrote lyrics for "L AUF DER STIRN" and sang on it…FRANCOISE CACTUS wrote the lyrics for "VELOSOLEX"….so finally we had our first French song… BREZEL GÖRING of STEREO TOTAL produced two songs on our record…..then there was STEPHEN STREET who helped us with producing and mixing of the album and so on….every time we asked for help we got help and so it was a great experience to work on this album and besides the fun we learned a lot…we had a lot of songs in store and this time we didn’t strip down and made no selection of songs worth to work on….we just worked on every idea that was on the table and we succeeded almost every time but in three cases where we just couldn’t finish the ideas……”
“Another talking point would be those collaborations themselves…it’s not something you’ve done a lot of on past records but here there are several, with tracks featuring the wide variety you just mentioned…how did these come about during writing? Did you seek them out specifically?”
TG: “Jamie T. did a show in Berlin while we recorded so Arnim and me went to the show and Arnim went backstage to ask him if he could imagine to help us out which he said was no problem…..a few weeks later he sent us his ideas and we loved it…..I met BREZEL GÖRING and FRANCOISE CACTUS during a Radio session that I did with STEREO TOTAL for the Berlin based station RADIOEINS….a few months later I called them because we had this demo that cried for French lyrics and also would be perfect with her voice….and she didn’t hesitate - she listened to the song and asked for a theme to write about…BREZEL suggested something with motor scooters and Ii suggested something light and something anti right wing…she came up with the story of an ex lover trying to make up for his bad behaviour….trying to reach his ex girl living in Aix and on his way he meets Brigitte Bardot to tell BB that she’s a cunt….”
“Collaborations are everywhere in the charts these days, especially in pop, rap and R'n'B based genre's...are there any artists you'd love to work with that you've not had a chance to?”
TG: “BEASTIE BOYS, TY SEGALL, TOPPER HEADON, PAUL SIMENON, MICK JONES, TONY ALLEN, FRANK OCEAN, LIGHTENING BOLT…..all in all ….too much to mention…”
“Coming back to the new record, you’ve just completed a tour promoting the album, primarily within Germany but a couple of shows around Europe including a date in London, how was the tour for you? How has the reaction been to “Yours” in general?”
TG: “We had a great time including an amazing evening at the KOKO in London…we got along really good, the audiences were great and we’d love to come back to England as soon as possible to continue with our tour. The reaction to the new material was good and it’s getting better all the time! I guess we will have a lot of fun during the next year with this album.”
“What’s next for Beatsteaks in the new year? Is there going to be more extensive touring overseas or aiming to play any festivals? What does 2018 have in store…?”
TG: “Another tour in Germany in spring, a lot of festivals all over Europe during the summer hopefully coming back to England….maybe a few shows in France and definitely some shows in East Europe.”
“Nochmals vielen Dank und viel Glück mit dem Album.”
TG: “Thank YOU!”
“I’d like to start off by saying Congratulations! You’ve just recently released your brand new album; “Yours”, twenty years after your debut…did you ever see yourselves getting this far back in the mid-nineties?”
TG: “Never…I never have seen myself going anywhere and I am really glad for spending the last 18 years with the band. I had the chance to see really beautiful places and travel through Germany, Europe and even America with the band. And I am very proud that I was finally able to avoid real work and spend my time playing music for such a long time!”
“When people think of German music, initially, a lot of people make the connection with metal; bands like RAMMSTEIN, SCORPIONS and HELLOWEEN etc…very few people automatically associate Germany with punk rock in any capacity. What inspired you to go in that direction and what’s Germany’s punk scene like?”
TG: “I think that Germany has a very vital punk scene and always had. For me it started all when bands like EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN, ABWÄRTS, DER PLAN, DIE TÖDLICHE DORIS entered the scene in the 80's and brought really innovative music to the table….back then people said it’s just noise - not even music. But these bands opened the doors for so much other bands - they were like pioneers….and nowadays bands like PISSE, KARIES, HUMAN ABFALL, GEWALT, TURBOSTAAT, DIE NERVEN, LEVIN GOES LIGHTLY, WOLF MOUNTAIN and others reap what’s been sowed back then. We as a band are somewhere in between…too melodic for real punks….too punk for mainstream pop….too much guitar for young kids….we love DEPECHE MODE, Hip Hop, AC/DC and all kinds of music…so we are not considered as strict punks….we just play some kind of pop music or at least something that we think of as pop music.”
“Coming back to “Yours”, it’s another batch of great songs in your ever reliable repertoire, tracks like “You In Your Memories” and “Fever” in particular stand out for me…what can you tell us about the album? What’s the inspiration and story behind it? Having recently listened to it, it’s worth noting that its 21 tracks long, which in most cases is a lot for any album, was that always going to be the case? The writing process was evidently very fruitful…”
TG: “We wanted to make an album as diverse as possible….not our usual 11 song album 32 minutes long that we normally make but an album with a wider variety….not everybody in the band has to love every song as much as another…as long as everyone enjoys contributing to the songs….that was somehow the bottom line of the album….and every time we felt clueless and didn’t know what to do….we just asked friends that we met along the way in our career to help us with the particular song…we asked JAMIE T for help with the song "HATE TO LOVE" and he wrote us a wonderful bridge and lyrics. We asked CHAD PRICE of the band ALL to help us out with the singing because we thought that’s the voice we want to hear on "YOU IN YOUR MEMORIES". FARIN URLAUB of the band DIE ÄRTZTE wrote lyrics for "ABBA DU"….the hip-hop band DEICHKIND wrote lyrics for "L AUF DER STIRN" and sang on it…FRANCOISE CACTUS wrote the lyrics for "VELOSOLEX"….so finally we had our first French song… BREZEL GÖRING of STEREO TOTAL produced two songs on our record…..then there was STEPHEN STREET who helped us with producing and mixing of the album and so on….every time we asked for help we got help and so it was a great experience to work on this album and besides the fun we learned a lot…we had a lot of songs in store and this time we didn’t strip down and made no selection of songs worth to work on….we just worked on every idea that was on the table and we succeeded almost every time but in three cases where we just couldn’t finish the ideas……”
“Another talking point would be those collaborations themselves…it’s not something you’ve done a lot of on past records but here there are several, with tracks featuring the wide variety you just mentioned…how did these come about during writing? Did you seek them out specifically?”
TG: “Jamie T. did a show in Berlin while we recorded so Arnim and me went to the show and Arnim went backstage to ask him if he could imagine to help us out which he said was no problem…..a few weeks later he sent us his ideas and we loved it…..I met BREZEL GÖRING and FRANCOISE CACTUS during a Radio session that I did with STEREO TOTAL for the Berlin based station RADIOEINS….a few months later I called them because we had this demo that cried for French lyrics and also would be perfect with her voice….and she didn’t hesitate - she listened to the song and asked for a theme to write about…BREZEL suggested something with motor scooters and Ii suggested something light and something anti right wing…she came up with the story of an ex lover trying to make up for his bad behaviour….trying to reach his ex girl living in Aix and on his way he meets Brigitte Bardot to tell BB that she’s a cunt….”
“Collaborations are everywhere in the charts these days, especially in pop, rap and R'n'B based genre's...are there any artists you'd love to work with that you've not had a chance to?”
TG: “BEASTIE BOYS, TY SEGALL, TOPPER HEADON, PAUL SIMENON, MICK JONES, TONY ALLEN, FRANK OCEAN, LIGHTENING BOLT…..all in all ….too much to mention…”
“Coming back to the new record, you’ve just completed a tour promoting the album, primarily within Germany but a couple of shows around Europe including a date in London, how was the tour for you? How has the reaction been to “Yours” in general?”
TG: “We had a great time including an amazing evening at the KOKO in London…we got along really good, the audiences were great and we’d love to come back to England as soon as possible to continue with our tour. The reaction to the new material was good and it’s getting better all the time! I guess we will have a lot of fun during the next year with this album.”
“What’s next for Beatsteaks in the new year? Is there going to be more extensive touring overseas or aiming to play any festivals? What does 2018 have in store…?”
TG: “Another tour in Germany in spring, a lot of festivals all over Europe during the summer hopefully coming back to England….maybe a few shows in France and definitely some shows in East Europe.”
“Nochmals vielen Dank und viel Glück mit dem Album.”
TG: “Thank YOU!”
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