Interview with death metal band HEREZA.
Answered Slobodan, thank you!
Translated by Duzl, thank you!
Questions prepared Jakub Asphyx.
Recenze/review - HEREZA - Death Metal Drunks (2019):
Ave HEREZA!
When I first time heard your first album "Misanthrope" in 2015, I was literally thrilled. It got into my blood immediately. Now I have your new album "Death metal drunks" at home for review and I must say that it really stinks like death again! Please tell us a bit about the history of band, how did you get together?
- Ave Jakub! Thank you for a nice words right at the beginning of the interview :)
The band was formed by me, Slobodan Stupar back in 2014. as a one man band project after my previous band split up. I had all the songs ready for rehearsing and recording but the guys were not into it anymore so I didn’t want to these songs to go to waste and I recorded them at my friend’s home studio.
Tried one other vocalist but he wasn’t into it so I asked Ivan Kovačević, our current singer to sing on the album. He accepted it and we recorded “Misanthrope”. Hereza was meant to be a studio band not a live band but we really liked the first album and decided to try and gather other members.
We did try with some friends but it just didn’t work so we remained a studio project for the first two albums, “Misanthrope” and “I Become Death”.
When you started, you were only two - Slobodan and Ivan. But your ranks have been added. Tell us how cooperation with the new musicians began and who is actually a regular member of HEREZA?
- Yes, it was only two of us at the beginning. Then at the end of 2016. I moved to Germany and Ivan to Ireland. At the end of 2017, Ivan moved to Germany and our friend Nenad introduced us to Thomas, our current drummer. He plays in another band called Theropoda.
We had a few drinks and we decided to give it a try. Then he said he has two other musicians, Chris and Matze in his band, a guitar and a bass player, right what we needed to complete the line-up. They joined us in January of 2018 and since then we are active live band.
We were in this formation until November of 2018. when Matze, the bass player decided to leave the band.
Then we auditioned a few bass players and chose Holger to be our 4-string master.
In this formation we remained until July of 2019, then Chris, the guitar player decided to leave the band.
Again we auditioned a few guitarists and chose Philipp to be our next 6-string master.
So current line-up is:
Slobodan - Mastermind, guitars, backing vocals, lyrics
- Ivan - vocals, lyrics
- Thomas - drums
- Holger - bass
- Philipp - guitar
My first meeting with "Death metal drunks" was when I received promo materials, I sat down next to the player, added volume and then fell on my ass! Great material! No doubt. Energetic, cutting, with lots of ideas. How did HEREZA compose the new material?
- Thank you for your kind words. I am really glad you like it this much.
All the music and most of the lyrics were written by me. I didn’t want to write another “Misanthrope” or “I Become Death” album so I just let this punk rock side of me to take over and do it’s magic.
In retrospect, I wasn’t thinking much about the music and how it should sound. I just played what I felt at the moment.
On the first two albums we used the legendary Boss HM-2 pedal and we tried it on “Death Metal Punks” but it just didn’t sound good. I wasn’t really happy with guitar sound so we actually went 4 times to the studio to re-record guitars. It was really time consuming but I am happy that we did it because I think it sounds really good. I am really happy with the album.
Special thanks to our dear friend Mario who had to see us this many times. You the best bro!
“Death metal drunks” has an interesting cover. Who is the author? I like his work, How did you even choose the cover idea and what does it represent?
- The idea was mine and the master behind all the drawings is Andrej from All Things Rotten.
Since I am the comic fan and the album sounds fun and not that pissed off and dark, I’ve decided to go with comic style.
The front cover shows a metal-punk guy who likes to drink and death preys behind him. So we somehow incorporated death, metal and punk. Pussy juice is Andrej’s fine touch. :)
Who is the author of the lyrics and what are they discussing? Where do you get inspiration for themes?
- The album has 11 songs, I wrote 9 and Ivan wrote 2.
Every song is for it self. Some are more funny and fantasy oriented, some more serious.
Basically we sing about women, violence, death and drinking on this album.
“Death metal drunks” is a good record, even when it comes to sound. Where did you record and who is behind the mastering and production?
- Thank you :) We recorded it at our friend’s studio in Munich, Germany. Mario Marković is the guy behind the recording, mixing and mastering.
You are regular members of the Croatian death metal scene (even if you have already moved elsewhere). To tell the truth, I didn't have much to do with bands from your country. What about the underground scene there? Do you have a lot of gigs there? Are people attending them and support the local scene? I admit that maybe I know a few bands from Serbia, I have their records, I saw them live in the Czech Republic, but the Croatian scene is unknown to me. Can you tell us more about Croatian bands and local scene there, or recommend some bands?
- To be honest, I really don’t know what’s up with the underground metal scene in Croatia. I don’t follow it. I knew a few bands but I haven’t heard about them for a very long time.
Friends who stayed there in our home cities say that there are no gigs anymore so it seems it’s really quiet, not to say dead.
It used to be a lot better when we were younger but in time, it just went silent.
I could recommend Cold Snap. They got signed by a label which is owned by Nuclear Blast and hopefully guys will make the best of it.
Your music is also much influenced by punk. But this is a wide term. What punk bands do you like and which of them had the biggest impact on you? Do you listen to any new bands or are you stick to just proven names?
- Yes it is and I am proud of that because I love punk vibe and punk shows where people go crazy and do pogo / mosh pit so I wanted to people do the same at our shows.
I like The Exploited, The Casualties, Zeke, Supersuckers, Total Chaos, Loš Primjer, Direktori... some d-beat bands like Disfear, Wolfbrigade, Victims, Tragedy, Behind Enemy Lines, Driller Killer, Genocide SS, Kyliga Dälen, and of course Malignant Tumour. :)
Personally, I like bands that don't take themselves so seriously. I am an old metal dog and I remember a time when music was played mainly for fun. On you I can see how you clearly just enjoying your gigs and everything what belong to this. What does metal music really mean to you?
- For me personally metal music is a way of life. It is a safe haven where I go when I am happy, sad, upset, calm, energetic… It is a therapy that keeps me in balance. It is life.
And making music is the best feeling there is. Especially when you come to a rehearsal room and you work on songs with your band and it comes to life. Phenomenal feeling. Love it.
I don't think I'm going to talk to the wind when I write that you're a band that honours Lemmy's famous slogan - "We want to play fast, loud and kick your asses". Yet like every band you are going through some development. What direction will HEREZA take in the future?
- All Hail Lemmy!
Like I already said, I don’t like to repeat myself so I don’t think that the new Hereza album will sound like “Death Metal Drunks” just because I don’t feel the same now and when I wrote the album.
I have some songs written for the 4th album but can’t tell much except it will be raw and pissed off as everything we did in the past.
I also follow your social media and I have to say that you act as "a bunch of nice guys who really enjoy death metal". Everywhere smiles, everything looks cool. Is it true? Are you going together to drink beer, chat, talk about women and metal? People who do not know death metal perceive it as something weird - dead bodies, open graves, and in my experience all metal heads are usually really cool people, am I right?
- Absolutely right! We are a bunch of nice guys who enjoy beer and music. We do hang out when we have time and it is a great feeling to have friends in a band, not just musicians you play with. And you said it yourself, we like spending time together playing music, chatting, having a drink.
On the end one more philosophical question. How would you define a style called death metal? What does this music mean for you and why did you choose this style?
- The name says it all. It is as real as it gets. No make belief things and themes. Well, sometimes but most of the time it is inspired by real life and real life is the best horror you can think of.
Like I said, it is life for me. I breathe, drink, eat, sleep metal. Death metal is my choice because life is the best inspiration you can get for writing death metal lyrics and songs.
I am not a religious person, I don’t believe in God or Satan or any of that stuff so I can’t and don’t want to sing about these things. I don’t have an imaginary friend or enemy I fight in my episodes of insanity.
What are HEREZA preparing for upcoming months? Will you support the new album with some European tour? Are you coming to the Czech Republic?
- We have a few gigs in upcoming months. We support Fleshcrawl (of which I am also a member) on November 29th in Aalen, Germany and we have a gig in Slovakia on February 15th. If everything works out fine, we WILL come to Czech Republic on February 14th BUT we still wait for confirmation.
Thank you very much for the interview and for your music. I wish you many CD sales, a lot of loyal fans and good luck in your personal lives.
- Thank you Jakub. We wish the same for you too.
Thank you for the opportunity to spread some words about Hereza and our work.
Na zdraví!
Recenze/review - HEREZA - Death Metal Drunks (2019):
Recenze/review - HEREZA - I Become Death (2017)
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