Back in May when the review list went out, my eyes were drawn to a band called Dust Bolt. I didn’t know much about them, but when their name was followed by the words “German” and “Thrash”, I knew I had to rectify this situation. “Awake the riot” which came out at the end of May has been well received by the masses and it surely is a sign that this band can fulfil the promise which they showed on their latest release. Eager to learn more about the forward thinking thrash act from Munich, I jumped at the chance to ask them a few questions.
AN: Congratulations on the latest album. What has the reaction to “Awake the Riot” been like overall?
Lenny (vocals / guitar): Thanks a lot! The reaction has been great so far!! We are really stoked about the all the positive feedback and messages we received recently from people all over the world, it´s really exciting!!
AN: How was the recording process? Did you do anything differently for this record compared to when you recorded your first full length album?
Lenny: The recording process was great! We had a very creative and familiar atmosphere in the studio, we chose the same studio we used for our first record Violent Demolition. We worked with Max Krach and Lolli Springer at the Engine Studios again. They know Dust Bolt since the very beginning and became friends of ours! It´s really important to be able to trust the people you work with in the studio and during the musical process, at least that´s how I feel. The recording sessions of “Awake the Riot” have been very different though, compared to “Violent Demolition” as we had written and played all the songs before already. This time the songs were written only briefly before going to the studio. We hadn’t played any of them live and we also hadn’t practiced them with vocals until then. So it was very exciting to hear the finished songs first on tape and see in which direction they would go. Every one of us really wanted to make the next step forward with this album and we worked really hard during the two weeks but also had a great and funny time!
AN: Influence wise, aside from the usual Thrash staples of booze, partying and killing, what other things do you look to for inspiration when writing lyrics? Do any films, books, politics or other artists play a part?
Lenny: Dust Bolt have never been a band like that, singing about booze partying or whatever and probably never will be. To be honest that´s a part of Thrash Metal I do not listen to that often on my own (except if I actually am at party maybe haha). For us it is important to have content that is profound and we want to use the possibility to be able to speak to people and deliver something with music. I think people make and also listen to music for different reasons. For me metal music has always been a way to handle the more negative aspects of my being and of life and a way to let go aggression and anger. Dust Bolt therefore contains lots of personal stuff I´d say. We are always putting all that in this kind of like bad ass metal attitude lyrics, but there surely is a deep background. You also just have to look around the corner to see so many fucked up things, we can´t just remain silent on that. So politics, social happenings and every day life in general definitely have an impact on Dust Bolt´s content.
AN: Clocking in at nearly an hour, “Awake the Riot” is long for a Thrash album with some of the tracks being at least five minutes long and two clocking in at over seven minutes. How was the writing process for these songs? Did you approach them differently and is this a direction you are looking to continue with?
Lenny: It really was our will to bring out an album that contains as many songs as it took to run at close to an hour. After our first record people had to wait two years for the next record and we wanted to give them a record that was not just made to have put out another album but a record, that really lasts for a longer time and that shows people that it was worth waiting for. Some people even complained about the amount of the songs and the length of the album which I actually can´t understand, because why should somebody complain about too much music? But when it comes to the length of the songs it´s definitely a thing we like to do in Dust Bolt and a thing we did on purpose for this record. I know that each song also could have only three minutes, but that´s just not our way to make music. I can´t tell which way it´ll be on the next one, but we just wanted to make the songs listenable for a long time, with many details and many musical aspects.
AN: Your recent video for “Soul Erazor” was great. It looked like you were all having fun. How was the filming a video experience? Anything you’d like to do for your next video?
Lenny: Oh thank you! Yes it was definitely fun!! Although it´s really exhausting performing in front of the camera only acting instead of playing, we had a good time together! Especially on the second day, where we did some shots at our rehearsal room and invited some friends to hang out and have some beer, it was great! Yes, we are already planning for the next one! We can´t tell anything yet, as far as we are still discussing in the band how it should look like but we are aiming to shoot another in the summer, maybe in 2 months or something like that!
AN: Performing live must be a real buzz. Have you played any shows which really stand out apart from the Metal Battle at Wacken? Are there any plans for future tours further afield in Europe and any summer festivals planned?
Lenny: Yes there have been a lot shows! We also did some other big festivals shows and a couple of European tours already which all have been great. But sometimes it´s even a small club show that´s unforgettable! But we just recently did Out and Loud Festival in Germany, where we played at the Main stage the first time and the atmosphere and crowd was killer! We had lot of fun!
For the future we are going to do all the weekends for the rest of this year, playing club shows and some festivals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and some Czech Republic for the greatest part. We are planning to have a big European tour in early 2015, which will also have some UK dates, but I can´t tell any details on this one yet. We also plan to play some of the big festivals next year!
AN: Are there any bands you would love to tour with or festivals which you would love to play?
Lenny: Oh there are many!! There are so many big and great festivals we´d love to play! And also bands, having a tour with Kreator would be dream come true for example! But playing another tour with Dr.Living dead would also be a cool thing to do again! We played a small tour with the guys last year and had so much fun! They are great people and we really hope to be able to do another tour together soon.
AN: Are there any tours, festivals or albums coming this year which you are looking forward to?
Lenny: We´ll see, it´s difficult sometimes for us to go to festivals as private persons as far as we all have to make our living from other things and do Dust Bolt next to that. So there´s not much time left doing something else. But we go to many, many concerts as visitors in general, most often in Munich which is quiet near from our hometown. We just saw Black Sabbath all together two days ago! A magic moment and concert!
AN: To some, Thrash seems to be making a comeback with a new wave of bands. Personally, I think it’s never gone away. What do you make of the ‘new wave of Thrash’ and do you see yourself as part of it?
Lenny: I actually feel the same! It´s hard for me to say something on that as far as I was born in 93 and I am just not able to compare the scene that I know from today to any other time haha
But I think it´s just more a change of generations maybe. There´s definitely a new wave of young energetic thrashing bands coming up and I think we actually do feel as a little part of it.
AN: To wrap things up, which Thrash bands are your all time favourites? What about bands from other genres?
Lenny: It´s nearly impossible to point out all the bands right here.. I´m a big music fan and listening to music every free second. I´m a big Fan of old school Thrash metal from the mid 80’s and early 90’s, but I also really love the crossover movement and some old-school hardcore stuff with bands like Suicidal Tendencies, to CroMags or whatever. So when it comes to Metal, I´m definitely a Thrasher! (apart from the all time classics such as Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Maiden , etc of course – I also love them so much!) Besides from metal music I also really like to listen to 70’s stuff and bands like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd, just to name two.
Interview by Fraggle
09/07/2014 at 11:05 am
Congratulations on your interview Peter.