Hallo Ascheregen! Wie geht es Ihnen in Deutschland ?! Ich wohne in der Nähe von Seattle und ich genieße deinen Heavy Metal der alten Schule. Können wir das Interview auf Englisch führen und dabei helfen, Ihre Band amerikanischen Fans vorzustellen?

This is Metal Bulletin Zine in the Seattle area, U.S.A.
https://metalbulletin.blogspot.com


1. Your album Untot (Undead) is a lot of fun, it’s like heavy metal for a party! Ascheregen is actually a new band, isn’t it? The band formed recently in 2017, but the album is done well with that classic-style hard rocking fun vibe of heavy metal. Do you all have experience in other bands in Germany? How did the idea of forming the band happen in 2017? Does Ascheregen have theme? King Diamond is horror, Dio is fantasy, so what is Ascheregen? Horror movies? A particular theme from German culture?


Answer: We are happy that you like our stuff. So greetings to all american metal fans as first. The most bandmembers have experiences in bands before. Andreas played with HAMMERSCHMITT and ASGARD before and wrote guitar lines for bands like GRAVE DIGGER. Christina and Daniel also have bands before and I played in the early90ties in the german punk bands FREMDKÖRPER and SCHLEIFSTEIN before. In that time I meet Andreas the first time and we did a project in 2007, but the stuff never released because one of the members had a contract with an other band. So we meet again 2017. Andreas worked with Daniel and Christina and two guys of the former Line Up…so we come together, because the ask me for the second voice in the first song. Now we also have a new drummer, Detlef Schröder. He also is experienced in music, because he is the drum-teacher of the music conservatory in Frankfurt.

 
Who is answering this interview
Answer: My name is Marc Debus alias Kaleun Cronos in the band. I´m one if the two voices, the other one is Lilith.

2. Now that the album is out. What is next for plans? What do you have planned for 2019? Will be playing a lot of shows in Germany and Europe in general?


Answer: Yes, we are planing to play shows and we also work on new material for the next album since a few weeks.


  1. Have the metal music publications done reviews of the album? Are there radio stations in Germany that play heavy metal and that play the music of Ascheregen? Where can fans hear the complete album?


Answer: Yes there are a lot of reviews, some like the stuff, others don’t like it. They say metal with german singing sounds horrible. Hahaha…..the problem of a prophet in the own country….but for us not a reason to stop our music. Because others like it, we have enough motivation to continue our work. In Germany we had our release show as a radio show on metal-fm.com
and they also play our album. Also the metal-crash.de radio play our songs. You find “Untot’ s official video on Youtube and “ Lass es raus” from a live show in 2018. Also you find the other songs on Youtube, but not in the same quality than on our album. You can buy this worldwide on Amazon….so please….buy the album….better for us. hahaha

4.The song Untot seems like a horror movie situation, but what about the song Christina? Is Christina a character from a movie?


Answer: “Untot” is a horror movie, because of the hipe around TV shows like the “Walking dead”. But you also can hear the song as a critic on people, following a system without a own will….so there are two messages inside this song. “Hey Christina” Is the story off a girl with some mental problems, because of here suroundings, friend, job etc. Problems everybody knows in his own life, so everybody knows the feeling.


5.I was thinking that the song Tod im Ascheregen (Death in Ashfall?) is a ballad love song, but it is the story of a brutal way of dying ha ha!! I felt like you were playing a joke, a prank on the listener: make people think it is a sweet ballad, but it is a brutal theme! And then the song Hau ab (Get lost?) is an anti-love song! How much of your music and lyrics is German humor that only German rock fans would be able to understand?


Answer: “Tod im Ascheregen” is like you say…a ballad about a hard part in someones life. A soft song about a hard time. “Hau ab” means “Go away” and it is a anti lovesong, about a relashioship at the end. She
says GO AWAY, because he was a dirty bastard…..hahaha. But everybody can understand the meaning after a translation...its not only for Germans understandable.

  1. Ascheregen is “old-school heavy metal” but actually your band has female/male singing, the lyrics are in German and there other surprises, like on the song Wer bist du (Who are you?) there is death metal growling! Therefore, Ascheregen music is also a bit rebellious against the rules. What is your opinion about experimenting a little bit with other genres in the music of Ascheregen? Do you want to continue adding some more surprises for the listeners?! I was not expecting death metal growling at all.


Answer: We have an main idea off our music, but we also like it to add some things no one expect. We think the old metal also have influences from punk rock..see the Ramones or the Sex Pistols. Also some of the old punk bands like The Exploited do albums like “Beat the bastard” and that’s more metal…..and every American metal fan knows, that Ross the boss from The Dictators is one of the founders of Manowar. So it allways was a crossover. You talk about the voice in “Wer bist du”. Its not realy a growling, because you can understand the words….hahaha But you are right. We like it to do sometimes strange things. We hope for the listeners its fun, because they get different kinds of cake, not only ten pieces of the same one.


  1. Ok, so, so tell us about the song Schnell wie ein Hai!!! Every fan of old heavy metal in Germany knows exactly, exactly the title, right?! Is it your tribute to Accept, in a fun way? Maybe on the next album you will have a song called Rock dich wie ein Hurrikan?


Answer: Nice….you see the idea behind the song….and yes!! it’s a tribute to the old ACCEPT line up with Udo Dirkschneider….if you search you will find the shark also on the cover of the album on the left side. Accept is still a nice band, but we are oriented on the old metal stuff, that’s what we want. Also the song “Rockgott” – “God of rock” is an homage for Ronnie James Dio, one of the best metal voices ever we think

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8.I like the keyboards on the album. Sometimes the keyboards have the classic and fun feeling of 1980s rock. How were you able to find a keyboard player in 2017 that would understand that you wanted a little bit of the classic 1980s sound in the keyboards, a little of hard rock but also a bit of pop sounds, too? Was it difficult to find a person like that in today’s rock world? The beginning of Rockgott, the keyboards and the guitar riff, takes the listener through the time machine back to the 1980s.


Answer: That feeling was the intention to take Daniel inside the band. He is a fabulous key-player and we like it to create this feeling of the old sounds. We think its old but also modern, because a lot young people listen to that music again. We like it…..and we don’t change it…..its a part of our music and give us the possibility to sound like in the 80ties.


  1. Thank you for answering these questions! The album is a lot fun. Do you have any other news about your band? When will be coming to play in Seattle ha ha? Maybe I need to buy a plane ticket and go to Frankfurt to catch a show!


Answer: playing in Seatle…..a good idea I think…..you can invite us and we will come…hahahahaha. But you are allways welcome to our shows in Germany….and the same we can say to each american metal fan.

I will also say some greeting to my good friends in Virginia Beach….Gorden, Kent, Kent and Fender. I share some open stages with them….and thar was allways fun, to play some German-Bues. Cheers to all american fans…..rock on…..and never forget to drink some beer when you do it!!!!!!
Thank you for your time!