DEVIL-M
By Anders Ekdahl September 16, 2016 September 15, 2016 Interviews
One of the greatest industrial bands is German; Einsturzende Neubauten. One of the greatest indumetal bands is German; Rammstein. Do you see a pattern for DEVIL-M here? Anders Ekdahl ©2016
How hard was it to come up with a band name and how does the name fit the music?
-it wasn' hard at all. our bandname came up when I was about 12 years old and started experimenting with a piano and a virtual sampling machine. It (the name) sounded cool to me, like I was the devil himself. Nine years later I formed the band but couldn' find any cool name so I used "Devil-M". That's it. Most of our songs are about suicide (Kannst du Sterben LP) and a story about a shizophrenic guy packed in religious songs (Revenge of the Antichrist LP). For our upcoming album we focused on human double standards and a little portion of spiritualism.
As I am new to your band perhaps a short introduction might be in order?
-We are Devil-M, a german Industrial-Rock Band with Soundtrack influences and mich much Noise-Sampling. It's quite difficult to describe it as we were always compared to Marilyn Manson, Combichrist and sometimes Skinny Puppy but I don't see that. We love experimenting with samplings and we love the Nu-Metal 90's.
As I am no musician I have no idea how it works, but how do you make your own music based on what influences you? What parts do you pick?
-Mostly I make a drum sound and later for a long track. Later I cut it in pieces, fill the parts with Bass and guitar and after that my guitar player records the rest. On our next album "Hollow Earth" you can combine almost half of the album within each other to get completely new songs. It's really cool and I hope to see some great remixes from other musicians recreating the original long track.
The most influences we had so far were movie soundtracks and Bands like Tool or Psyclon Nine. For the vocals I just see how it may fit and record it, there is no specific method.
We also got some help from a lovely friend of mine, Elmar Schmidt. He helped us mixing the songs and put his spirit in some songs. It's a great experience for me to work with him.
When you are in a band does it feel like you are a part of a worldwide movement?
-I think that's the most common problem for every unknown band. They often think they are the Deal and try to show themself as the next rock-gods. But when reality confronts they are trying to ambush everyone else except themselves and their attitude. I realised how the music business really works very soon and as a result I will never see me beeing a part of a worldwide movement. There are millions of other bands, one better then the other. All I have are goals I try to accomplish.
My advice to every musician who reads this: be nice and courteous to everyone. You will never know, if someone later becomes a helpful person. You will never take the centre stage alone.
How important is it that you look the part in promo shots and stuff? How important is the graphic side of the band?
-It's very important. In my eyes it's more important than the music itself! Today you don't need a random Metal-Artwork with skulls and blood. What you need is a whole world! I know it's difficult but it's possible. For "Revenge of the Antichrist" I worked on a design for about six months until I threw it all away and created Tarot cards within a week. We used these cards, Boom, finished. It was a world, 'cause it had one theme – tarot cards.
What would you say influences your lyrics? How important are they?
-It always depends on the album. The first Demo "Kannst Du sterben" was about my love-life, "Revenge of the Antichrist" was about shizophrenic guy, the upcoming "Hollow Earth" is about the double-standads.
Is the album as relevant today as it was in the 70s and 80s? Is digital killing the album?
-There will be always a bunch of people who buy CD's and Vinyl's. So I don't think digital is killing anything. It's more helpful to sort out music you want to listen to.
Where will the future of format end – digital verses physical verses whatever?
-CD's are the perfect format for a band. It's compact, you can put in a lot of graphic-stuff in different ways AND it looks better in your shelf than an external harddrive. I prefer Vinyl, because of the artworks. It's a huge format and I love to hold those covers with both hands.
How much of a touring entity are you guys? What is a live experiencevwith you like?
-Every two years we have a complete tour. The other years we're searching and searching and searching for atleast 1-3 gigs for the year. Very strange but who am I to moan about it? We are always happy to be on stage. Besides that we play about 4-7 shows per year in total.
The live experience is a total difference compared to the records! We are a truely live band with beer, flying floortoms and a lot of destruction.
What lies in the future?
-We will release or second official Album "Hollow Earth" at the end of the year via DarkTunes. We signed in, 'cause Raphael Beck, the chairman of DarkTunes, is one of the greatest guys I ever met. He loved our music from day one and I hope to reach my personal goals with him and my mates.
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