|
Reflections Of Doom # 5
Old School Doom ... when a band describes it`s music that way, you have a good indication about what it is all about. And Germanys Dreaming plays Old School Doom. Heavily influenced by the likes of Vitus, Cream and Sabbath, the band got together in the middle of `93. After gigging with bands like Dawn Of Winter, Naevus and Mirror Of Deception, they recorded their first Demo during December '94. To be honest, it`s not the best tape to come out of Germany - The sound quality isn't that good and it's obvious that it's been in a bit of a hurry, but it does find it`s way into my tape deck very often. Bassist Thomas was the one who got to answer my sometimes a bit critical questions… The demo has been available for a while now, do you have any idea on how many copies are sold so far? And how have the reactions been? At the moment - September `95 - we've sold 100 copies and I have personally send out between 30 and 50 Promo Tapes to magazines all around the world. The biggest part of the reactions were good, most told us that we reminded them at Vitus and that`s a big compliment for me. But there are also critical letters because of the voice and sound, that it could be better. The Demo was done on a 4-track which resulted in a, although clear, sound which could have been better. All a matter of money I guess? One of the reasons is, of course, the money. But I don't think we shouldn't spend too much money on it, cause we're not good enough yet for a real studio recording. And … just listen to the first Vitus - Lp, that sound isn't that much better, so we have a real cult sound, hahaha … You got me there. But please tell me something more about the Demos title: "Smirten Prøben". What the hell does it mean and why this exact title? "Smirten Prøben" was a mighty warrior, he rides on his dragon ship through the waves of an ancient black ocean. There were no sun, no moon and no stars. Just darkness. After a long ride he saw a light, it was the lamp of a pub. He went inside and started drinking beer, beer, and beer … and if he isn't dead or puking he's still drinking there now. Our drummer found the title on a comic book on which a bird says "Smirten Prøben Pelben", it sounds Nordic, like True Norse Black Metal, so it's a joke. Personally I wasn't so impressed with the "People Love Him" Track, it is cool to see you try and use some humor in the lyrics. But for me it just doesn't work. Besides the vocals on this particular track are a bit weak as well … any comment on this? The lyrics are done by Sandro, he's a great Charles - may God give him Whiskey - Bukowski freak. At first when I read them, I thought of an old man, but for me it wasn't funny, more tragic and sad, a little sarcastic story about you and me. The weakness of the voice was because this was the last track Sandro did, it was our third or fourth attempt, and his voice was gone. We couldn't do another take anymore so this is the way it ended on the tape. You describe Dreaming as an Old School Doom Band, one band which really comes to mind is of course Saint Vitus. Especially the whole (guitar) sound is very alike them … What can I say, we all like Vitus, The first song we did was "Born Too Late". Vitus are gods! Just a couple of riffs and master Chandler's magic, it is so minimalistic, yet so strong. I prefer Wino on vocals but I am happy about Scotts return, unfortunately he was ill the day they were Supposed to play near our hometown. Guitarist Sandro is also involved in a band called Subversion and it seems like Dreaming is more of a hobby band to him, or am I wrong? No, you're right, Subversion is his main band. Their sound is hard to describe, maybe a mix of band like Crowbar, Kyuss, Type O Negative and a bit of Neurosis. It's hard, brutal and particulary cold. They become better every day. Dreaming is more of a hobby, so f we don't have any new ideas it's not really a problem. I think music should be done this way, you don't always have to think about its structure, it must come from the heart. By the way, the bass player and the drummer from Subversion are together with me and a guitarist in a cover band called Silver Machine. Sandro sings two or three songs there too. You guys are from ex-Eastern Germany. Has the disappearance of the famous wall affected your daily life in any special way? I guess so, but did it also have an effect on the musical environment? The fall of the wall has changed our lives in both, good and bad ways. On one side, we can go to any country we choose, we can buy all the records we want, etc. … The materialistic way has improved, but the relationship between the people has become a lot colder than before. Before the disappearance of the wall, there were a lot of concerts with cover bands. They played almost every weekend. Sometime we went from town to town to see them. It may sound funny to you, but it was more like a 60`s feeling, there were a lot of Hippies. It was great, if you had no money, no problem. There was always some freak around that would give you a beer. Most of this bands played Blues, Blues Rock or older Hard Rock. We usually traded records back then. It was like " I´ve got "Black Sabbath - Volume IV", do you want to trade "Genesis` - Foxtrot" for it". So after a while one guy had the complete Sabbath collection and someone else had everything by Genesis, if you know what I mean. Now it`s no longer like a big family, now you`ve got Thrash, Doom, Hardcore … all with a bigger offer, but with less people. There are only three or four places where it`s still like in the G.D.R. days, Blues freak, Rock freaks, Punks and Darkwave people, all in there together. Don`t misunderstand me, I don`t want the G.D.R. back, I`m really happy that I can now see each band I want and everything, but it makes me sick when I see the blindness between the several music styles, especially in the Metal section. Maybe I`m just a Hippie in mind … ? It seems like you haven`t been able to do that many gigs yet, is it that hard to do any in your area? What can you tell me about the ones that you did? I think that most people who did see us liked our sound, but the main part of the audience were friends of ours, except for one concert outside of Zschopau were only 50 people turned up, but a while later, one of them wrote me telling me how he liked us, that was really great. I would like it if we were to have more gigs, but Doom is too special for a lot people so promoters have to take risks booking Doom bands, after all 50 to 100 people aren`t exactly large masses. The only way I se to improve it is what I said in the previous answer. You guys seem to have a strange fascination with candles … Yeah, what`s with those candles? They have a warm light, they`re hot, romantic. They remind us of times with Dragons, Knights and sweet Virgins. If you smoke a candle in the right way, with all your heart, you can see and feel things you`ve never seen before. It`s like a trip inside your dreams. Hail to the mighty candle !?! ??? Okay … Well, tell me, when do you think we can expect a new demo from you guys? Have you already started work on any new songs? At the moment we have only got two new songs, but we are working on some more. We didn`t have too much lately with the holidays and the Open Air Shows and everything, it was like a summer break. We`ve also got some new lyrics which deal with the return of the giant candlesmoker, religions, etc. … I guess the new songs will be in the same style, perhaps with a bit of Blues in them … Okay then, if there is anything you want to ad to all of this, any message you like to spread … To all non-conformists who read this mag, stand together, open your minds, tolerance is the key to peace and understanding. We should especially stand as one against the normal world. Doom heads, go to Blues concerts, Doom and Blues are the same thing, but in a different way! And we all say thanks to you for this interview! And how about merchandising? Tell us what you have for sale … You can order the "Smirten Prøben" demo for $ 6 or 10 DM in Europe, or $ 7 outside of Europe. You can also order green or dark-blue shirts with the Dreaming logo for $ 18. Sorry about the high price, but the German postage rates are really expensive. If you are interested in our drummer's underwear, I can ask him about it … Thanks, but no thanks … like I said at the start of this interview, the Demos sound may not be that good and everything but it`s still a worthy asset to anyone's collection. I`m sure that with a bit more work on the production and lyrics - that candle stuff is now already getting a bit silly guys! - The next Demo could be quite a surprise!
|
||
|
Psychedelic Fanzine #1
Dreaming are: Sandro
on guitar, Thomas on drums and me, Thomas on bass. The vocals takes
mostly Sandro over. I only sing on 2-3 tracks. Some music magazines wrote about your first tape entitled "Smirten Prøben", that it is resembling to St. Vitus, but it has his own psychedelic components. Do you think St. vitus was your nearly inspiration ? In any case, but I would say St. Vitus was not the only band who inspirited Dreaming. Some other influences were: Cream and old Black Sabbath. Thomas, our drummer for example likes to listen very often to Progressive Rock like Genesis (old), Jadis or Kansas. So far I know, Sandro has an other project too: Subversion. What does an invited Doom fan have to know about this band ? Sandros main band is called Subversion and plays New Orleans Doom Core. In this way their style couldn`t be better. They released two demos and a promo until now and they recorded a 7` with three new songs. They are live extremely worth seeing, so support them! What is your opinion about the unemployment in Germany ? Do you work besides playing music? The only disadvantage of unemployment is that you havn`t got enough money, but I find it very pleasant to have enough sleep and not to have a curfew. Nowdays I work as a carpenter in restaurants, Sandro makes his final exam and Thomas is a mechanical engineer. What do you do in your free time ? Sandro rehearses regulary five times and me twice a week. On the weekends we go to concerts or partys and to pubs. During the week I usually go out with Thomas for a beer. Sandro can not come so often, because he lives outside of Zschopau. Nowdays our club "Motor City League Of Sound e.V." works to equip a studio and organize some concerts. What kind of music do you like ? As I mentioned the band members listen to very different kinds of music. Thomas likes besides Progressive Rock a few female singers like Tori Amos, Sandro is a big Hendrix freak and my personal faves are St. Vitus, Venom and Judas Priest. I can list now thousands of good bands such as Trouble, Frank Zappa, The Black Crowes, Guru Guru, all the bands your magazine features, all good Doom, Entombed, Neurosis … Do exist other Doom/ Stoner Bands near Chemnitz ? I am sorry to say: No, but if we see how many bands in the world or in Germany play this style of music it is not surprising. There is a band in our town with a big Kyuss influence. But this is just a young band and they need more practice to be better. Have you ever played outside of Germany ? No, but we still hope to play in Switzerland, Michi from Windfall tries to organize a show there, but we havn`t succeeded in it yet. Fans, if somebody reads it, who has an offer, please write ! Do you know some Hungarian bands ? Yes, I know Omega, Edda, Pokolgép, Sear Bliss and the mighty Tormentor. What do you think of the broadcast "Metalla" by VIVA and in general of the visual musicbroadcast? Well, I`m on the opinion that Markus K. is an incompetent leader of "Metalla". We can see sometimes good videos, but I do not find VIVA worth for checking out. The only music program I like is "Rockpalast", who broadcasts some good concerts of my favourite bands. Near to your home town in Zwickau takes place every year the"With Full Force" festival. Did you visit the festival this year ? (1997) What were your favorite acts in `97 ? Yes, I attend the
"Full Force" every year. I went to see A.O.K., Entombed, Bolt
Thrower, S.O.D. and Manowar. In general was the Open Air very good,
we had a lot of drinks and fun. We want to release our double single, we are going to equip a studio. We also plan to organize an Open Air, but it is not 100% sure. Well, I think it is enough, many thanx for the interview.
|
||
|
Horrible Eyes
I have to admit, I wasn`t very well prepared for the interview & also a bit exhausted from the devasting IMMOLATION/ DESTROYER 666 gig I had the night before but I think the result has become at least an enjoyable one. The 1st question I have is a quite
ordinary one: when did you start with DREAMING ?
Ronald, May 2001
|
||
