Answered by drummer Bastian Herzog.
Translated and questions prepared by Petra, thank you!
Hello FLESHCRAWL! How are you guys? Is it something new in a FLESHCRAWL headquarters?
Hello Jakub, we are doing great! Thanx for asking. Well yes, quite some things are happening right now and also happened in the last weeks. We launched our fleshstore a few weeks ago. https://fleshstore.de – this was long overdue, but it took a lot more time than expected to complete all prep work and eventually get it up and running. Now all FC merch is available there.
Then we teamed up with District 19 as our new booking agency. This is a VERY important topic for us since I consider D-19 THE booking agency for extreme metal. Killer achievement indeed ! I am sure this will be a fruitful and productive cooperation. I think this will get us to some killer festivals and other shows in the future.
Moreover we recently had a line-up change in the band. We parted ways with our long time guitarist Mike. Details / reasons are internal only. For sure, this is not something to celebrate in the first place, but rather kind of a sad development. However it was inevitable and was the right decision in favor of the band and the future of the band. We are currently busy to complete the line-up again. I think we can make an announcement soon.
Finally we are planning for a new album, the follow-up to “Structures of Death”, towards the end of 2019.
We almost forgot that some band entitled FLESHCRAWL does exist. It is already 11 years from releasing of your last full-length album. Are you preparing some new material? Could you reveal some details about the potential upcoming album? What have you been doing during these eleven years?
We know the last full album was ages ago… and a new one is l o n g overdue. Yes, we are preparing new material and planning for a new record in 2019. Actually, there has not been any songwriting in these last 11 years apart from the songs for the 4 track split CD “Tales of Flesh and Skin” which was released at the end of 2015. So just to get this right for everyone asking the question why all this took so much time on our side: We did not write / did not try to write music during this time ! In fact after “Structures of Death” our deal with Metal Blade expired. Additionally I moved outside of Germany to work for around 2 years. During this time the guys continued playing live only. After I returned to Germany in 2012, we increased live activities in the following years, but were not able to finally put together a new record. This has many reasons. One of these turned out to be line-up related…
This year I noticed that you are more active concerning live shows/concerts in comparison to previous years. Why the sleeping FLESHCRAWL woke up right now? What brought you back on the scene?
At the end of the year 2017 we did put together kind of a plan for a Fleshcrawl “comeback”. This plan consists of many topics/points. Some of which are sorted already while others are still in the works. One topic was to increase live activities in general. So we were looking to book good shows which luckily worked out. In 2018 we managed to play quite some single shows and several cool fests in Europe from Finland down to Portugal and everything in between. This was important to re-highlight the name of the band in the heads of the people. And as I also mentioned in the previous answer, another point on this plan is a new album which is the foundation to be able to furtheron run this band.
I saw your show this year at Obscene Extreme Festival, but you also played at the smaller festival in Slovakia called Flesh Party. I love Flesh Party, it is comparable with Obscene in many aspects, but of course, it is smaller. How did you enjoy this party, did you stay there for the whole festival?
Flesh Party was a cool party haha. Really nice fest and atmosphere there. And yes, crazy fans, kind of comparable to Obscene Extreme. We arrived on the day we played, so could not experience the entire fest.
FLESHCRAWL have started to spread death metal in earlier nineties even exactly at the same time as Swedish death metal started to form. What do you think, why your popularity didn’t achieve the proportions of bands like DISMEMBER, ENTOMBED, or MORGOTH? Or it is only my feeling?
Well, could be many reasons. For example our first label didn’t push ourselves as much as we would have liked that. Keyword promotion. Then probably another fact is that we could not handle the band as a full time job and be on tour more or less constantly and/or make a living from it. Many other bands from this era exactly did that and/or tried to do that at least for a certain amount of time. The past is the past, nothing can change it. We are happy to still be around and are planning for a great future of FC!
You are part of the metal scene more than 25 years. Could you compare the scene now and in your beginnings? Was it more coherent, stronger? Sometimes I think that now the metal scene is more split, contains a huge amount of styles and fans instead to be the friends in metal, they often can’t find a way to talk to each other due to differences in the favorite metal music (for example prog death metal / old school death metal fans). What is your opinion?
The scene is very strong now I think. There are lots of good new bands coming up. Actually I think this development is reality for some years already. Death metal is popular although it is a niche music.
Is the current FLESHCRAWL lineup stable? Could you reveal to our readers who are the members and who is the older and younger musician in the band? I am sure that you don’t play the instruments all the time. Do you have some unusual hobby in your free time? What are actually your jobs in regular life?
Well, as mentioned earlier in the interview, the lineup was stable for many years. Actually since 2002 and then again since 2011. But we had a lineup change now in October 2018. So we are now very busy to complete the lineup again. I cannot provide further details at this stage yet.
Actually I am the oldest guy in the band since I founded it together with Stefan Hanus (who quit in 2002) back in 1987 (although initially with a different band name). Hobbies, for my part there is no time for other hobbies apart from family, music and work. It is more or less similar / same for the other guys.
Which of your album is your favorite?
I actually cannot say. I prefer elements from our debut “Descend into the absurd” and others from the younger albums.
Have you registered the new wave of young bands sounding as let say “old school”, which are inspired by Swedish death metal? They are all around the world. Do you know some of these bands like Gravebomb, Gatecreeper, Revel in Flesh etc.?? Do you monitor the new young bands or rather you listen to great old stuff?
Yes absolutely know some of them. I am following the scene where I can / whenever possible and also listen to new bands/albums. Revel in Flesh for example is a killer act. They are actually not that new anymore haha. We played many shows together in 2017 and also 2018. Really good friends of ours. We actually know the people behind the band even from before they started the band. All of em have been active in other bands/projects before. But I also have to admit that my ratio of old and new music is something like 70/30 I would say. Very often I find myself deep dive again in the bucket of old classics.
I am sure that you are the metal fans too. Do you still go to concerts and support bands? What was the last album you have purchased? What have you been listening to recently?
Sure we are metal fans ! Yes, we do go to shows of other bands / support bands. Don’t have that much time anymore as in the early years, but still doing it. Last record I bought was the new one from Vintage Caravan, totally different genre in metal / hardrock.
With which bands did you play during your career? Which concert do you appreciate most and which band you would like to play with? Do you remember a certain concert or club, which was special and you can’t forget it, whether in the positive or negative meaning?
Actually over the years too many to list here. I was saying this in many other interviews before, but our tours with Bolt Thrower were totally fantastic. Great memories !
In terms of clubs or so, I really remember one gig as if this happened just yesterday. Back in April 1995, we toured with Deicide, Brutal Truth, Cathedral, Sinister and Kataklysm. And this club called L’Arapaho in Paris, France was a great, hot and tiny place, but perfectly fine for a tour like this. And the shows of all bands were totally intense. As well as the fans have been ! The place was packed and exploded. Never will forget this one. For some reason, I don’t see metal tours going thru this club anymore nowadays. No idea why.
Are you planning some tour or concerts? Reveal to our readers your plans for the upcoming year.
Absolutely. In December 2018 we will play Eindhoven Metal Meeting and start 2019 with several cool single shows in Germany, Italy and Belgium. In March 2018 we’ll show up on Heidelberg Deathfest and Braincrusher in Hell fest. In May 2019 then playing Vienna Metal Meeting as well as Nice to eat you Deathfest in CZ and afterwards 3 shows in the UK. Followed by Maryland Deathfest in the US. Some others are not announced yet. We’ll see what else we can get for summer and the time after summer.
Try to imagine that you play your very last show on the stage. Where should be this concert, who should attend this show and which song would you like to play like your last one in your life? And your last words?
I would think this should happen in or around our home area to invite as many friends and people being close to the band as possible. Maybe “Evoke the Excess” from “Descend into the Absurd” ?
Thanx for the interview Jakub, hope to see you again soon!
Thanks for the interview! I really enjoyed your show at Obscene Extreme, and I hope I will have a chance to see you again. I wish you all the best! Old school death metal forever!
CHEERZ
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