MP: What did you do in the meantime?

S: After being kicked out I started fairly quick with 'Headhunter' and released three albums with them. But it wasn't a good time for Heavy Metal, for our kind of music. The beginning and mid-90ies were the high tide of crossover and who didn't rap in a song was lost. We were signed to a small record label, then later to Major Records and they couldn't promote us properly. All went off a bit unfortunate and at some point I simply was fed up with it all. I was so pissed, especially with the hypocrisy of the whole scene. And the change wasn't quite my style as well - so I simply decided to have a short break. I started thinking what I might do besides music and started my own little business. By then I knew already that it would take at least two or three years - because either you do one thing properly or the the other - but never both at a time!

MP: What did you learn personally from that time?

S: In the first place the most important discovery was that there are other things in life than music. The last ten years my life had consisted only of music, so it was very important for me to learn that there is a life without it. Maybe it wasn't that thrilling but it was bearable for two years or so. Only then it began to be hell. I had heavy withdrawal symptoms. I missed the feeling, the scene, the cohesion. At that time I also went to 'normal discos' but this superficial, artificial scene is not my thing. And the music there was unbearable either. I couldn't stand it...

MP: But how did you reunite then?

S: In a way it was like a divorce. We haven't seen or talked to each other for five years, we tried to avoid each other. But after five years the dust had already settled on it and we slowly started to get into contact again. And then something like a second honeymoon happened. We met again and went on well from the beginning. And that was a basic principle for Destruction's reunion and the production of the new album and everything now.

MP: But now you are only a trio...

S: That's true but we also were a trio in he beginning when we did the mini-LP and the two real albums. Then we got the reinforcement and from then on everything happened to the saying: too many cooks spoil the broth. So this time we said: only us three!!! Mot–rhead-like, then nothing can go wrong.

MP: Where are your musical roots?

S: From childhood days I loved guitars. The first things I remember were from AC/DC, Status Quo, Deep Purple and so on. But I also liked the extreme. I liked punk music because it was fast, hard and totally anti-society. But somewhen in the early 80ies all this NWOBHM stuff (Note: New Wave of British Heavy Metal) started to influence me. It was this mixture of punk and british heavy metal stuff that completely got me. And as a result of it we founded Destruction. The music of our early days is nothing else than a mixture of hard punk tunes and heavy guitar riffs.

MP: How old are you actually?

S: Deep inside I'm 18. But the outer decay lies at 33 years. For the kids in metal we seemingly are the 'grandfathers'. But I think it was very important for us that we had our comeback last year. We are still fresh, you know? We aren't old bastards with hanging bellies and short hair, yet. We still are people that can bite and are deeply rooted in the scene - that makes us strong!

MP: Why does your music still fit - even after such a 'break'?

S: I believe that it's simply a matter of evolution. The success we had was build on this Disco-Manta(car)-scene. The kids just wanted to listen to something new and all this disco-crap bored them to death. I think that we're going through exactly the same right now.: they want to escape their mediocre lives, the techno-scene, all this big business bullshit. It's time again to be a bit different. And as we just talk about it: I still remember when all my friends cut their hair in the 90ies (Note: the Metallica-syndrome). Thank heaven I never did that - I'm sorry, but they're loosers! I've always been proud to look and be like I am - even if it wasn't always easy. Because I know myself quite well that we were spat at and ridiculed. And because of that it is and was simply a matter of defiance against society. And this is also the reason that Metal is hip again...

MP: How would you describe your music?

S: Fast, hard, mercyless. At any rate nothing for soft nerves! It's not background music that you can listen to at the side. It is music to get rid of your aggressions.

MP: Then the work with your new producer Peter Tägtgren (Note: Hypocrisy-, Abyss-, und Pain-Mastermind) was very important for you?

S: Yes, definitely! Especially to see what sounds and recording techniques a young man like him, that also comes from the hard side, can offer. And as Tägtgren was a die-hard Destruction-fan from the beginning, he knew how the band should sound. So there were no discussions - we simply did our thing and Peter got on very well with us. And that was very, very important for this record. He simply was in the same boat with us.

MP: Why did you chose him as a producer?

S: Well, we met one year ago at the 'With Full Force'-Festival in East Germany. After our gig he lay there kneeling in front of me and prayed "Schmier, please let me produce the new Destruction", which I found pretty cool and thus bought him a drink. Then we talked a little and realized that we were on the same wavelength. He's a complete metalhead and I know all his works. So we pushed us mutually.

MP: How long have you been in the studio?

S: We spend three and a half weeks in Sweden of which we recorded three weeks in Peter's Abyss studio. It was a daring step, as alcohol is so incredibly expensive up there. But we calculated that from the start and Tägtgren made us a good deal with his studio. After all, Destruction doesn't show up any day there, so he lured us with the price and had a whole house ready for us to live in... But alcohol was a considerable cost factor. They have something called 'Moonshine', a home destilled Vodka, with something over 50 % ... That was quite an experience! (laughs)

MP: And what about your private life, sice you are back to being a fulltime musician?

S: I have to reconcile somehow my business with the music. It isn't easy, because I made it very clear that the band has top priority and I'm not home that often. At the moment I try to give everything for the band. We already did a lot of work for the current record in advance at last year's festivals. And right now I give full throttle and hope that we can make somewhen the expected steps forward. Now that the album is out in conclusion it remains up to the fans... But it's true that my girlfriend and my circle of friends have to take second place to Destruction.

MP: You have your own homepage. How important is this new media and all this hype about MP3 for you?

S: Well, one year ago I might have said "WorldWideWeb? I'm not interested!" But my brother is very competent in this respect and he slowly brought me to it. So after last year's summer festivals I started our own webpage - of course completely unofficial in the beginning. It's just a few weeks now, that we are listed in the most important search engines and already more than 13.000 peolpe visited the site. I can also see a great international response: from Malaysia and Japan to Russia the fans stop by the guest book and thank us that the band is back again. You can check fans' reactions very fast and they have access to the latest news. It's impossible to be more upto date. But all this MP3-hype makes me worry - nobody is really able to control it. Myself, I don't think it's cool if the bands are falling by the wayside when they no longer make money - because like this will kill music completely. All this is very unclear to me and I think the record companies themselves don't know how to proceed. A lot will depend on how things will develop right now. Probabely you can also download our record for free in the near future. But on the other side I still think that a CD you bought with a booklet is like a really nice book. Of course you can also copy a book page by page, but if you hold the real thing in your hands it still makes a hell of a difference to this nic-nac. For me as a musician it is a sword with two edges.

MP: Can you live off your music or do you need a 'real' job?

S: Well, at the moment I live from the music alone. I'm not that often at my business. The share, I usually get out of my business is invested back in other people that do my work now. And my business is a kind of Bar-Bistro-Pizza place with four different areas: a big garden restaurant, two areas where you can eat and one area with bar and jukebox, where we play some hard stuff and where the small scene here hangs out.

MP: Allegedly you make the best pizza in the world - Jörg, Stratovarius' drummer says so. What's your favourite?

S: Yeah, exactly! Jörg (Note: formerly Headhunter-drummer) was here one day and helped me out making pizza. He was quite good at it but he's a cooking talent anyway. And we have very reasonable prices here, a superbe qualitiy and everything is freshly made. My favourite pizza is the "Barracuda Tuna · la Chef", my own creation. That is a pizza with garlic, tuna, blots of cream, olives, onions and three kinds of cheese. It's veeeeeeeeeeeery tasty! (Karin already slobbers with desire.)

MP: What plans do you have for the future? You told me that Destruction are planning a US-tour...

S: In early May we do our release shows in Germany for "All Hell Breaks Loose". Then we make a short break and will rehearse the set for the upcoming tour. Probabely we'll start with some festivals abroad, then go to the US in August and start the European tour in September. We also have already some offers for X-Mas festivals, but we haven't decided yet which ones we'll play. But in any case we want to play a lot of live-gigs to convince people that not only our new record is brilliant but the band is live just as good! And the audience should have a lot to catch up. We haven't been around for ten long years and the metal scene is better and stronger than ever - that means we have a strong competition out there. But I hope that we can establish the band until the end of the year as I would like to.

MP: What kind of project would still tempt you?

S: I would really love to do a project together with other musicians. I have something in mind like the Band Aid project - with the coolest metal-guys around. That would be quite a kick for me! If Destruction is really successful we might try and talk about it next year. I'm curious if this is something that can be realized. I have already talked to a lot of people about it and all were very interested. I'm convinced that we'll get the cream of the german and international music scene together. In any case it would be a good thing .

MP: And would you like to do a coversong?

S: I did a cover of Metallica's 'Whiplash' from their first album "Kill 'em all" for America and Japan. But I think a coverversion must come from your heart, you are not allowed to think about it too much. We have had some offers to get on these compilations with coverversions but we will do only one. And that's Thin Lizzy! Because in our early days, before the Heavy Metal wave really started, we already cared a lot for Thin Lizzy. And it would really give me a kick to do a cover that corresponds with us as a band. A punkversion would be cool as well. Something like GBH, Dead Kennedys or Exploited....

MP: What kind of music do you listen to, yourself?

S: As long as the guitars are noisy and the music is honest I can listen to anything! There are no limits, from modern, heavy sound, up to death and black metal to thrash. I have quite diverse CDs in my player. Let me think. The new Alice Cooper, the new Motörhead - both not yet available in stores. And the last Testament disc is also on constant replay....

MP: O.k. and now let's give the tracks of your new album a quick run:

1) Intro That's only the calm before the storm!

2) The Final Curtain It's about arbitrary law. I wrote this after some idiot wrecked all the cars here outside my place. So I said: "If I ever get hold of him, he's dead!" I wrote the lyrics about that incident and the song turned out to be just as aggressive as that!

3) Machinery Of Lies It deals with the "ant syndrome" of mankind. This 'follow the stream' thing. It's a typical Destruction-Song with rollercoaster speed, high - low, fast - slow, very aggressive.

4) Tears Of Blood One of these "old schoold" tracks that get a lot of good response. It is very 'back to the roots', 'back to the 80ies', thrash-wise.

5) Devastation Of Your Soul Lyricwise it deals with the conflict after having killed somebody, a fact that you normally can't live with. And is also the musical introduction to the next song:

6) The Butcher Strikes Back That's the real hit of the album and the lyrics are a kind of homage to our fans. A "thanks", were you take all old songs and once again bow lyricwise in front of the fans that kept the band alive for ten long years, although it ws already dead.

7) World Domination Of Pain It's a song about Nostradamus und philosophical thoughts about the end of the world. A bit more technical, more compact, more modern. And surely stucks out of the rest of the material.

8) Extreme Measure The ballad of the album (laughs), the slowest song, so to speak. We simply wanted to have a song that differs from the rest. It goes in this doomy, modern direction but is still very thrashy und very Destruction-like, I think.

9) All Hell Breaks Loose Title track, longest song, very compact, a lot of riffing. The lyrics deal more or less with our comeback. The bad guys are back and will kick your ass!

10) Total Desaster Is a remake of the first song we've ever written and always was kind of a cult song. Got incidentally on the disc - nobody knows exactly why (laughs). But I think it's a killer and we had it ready. I believe older fans will love it and for the newer ones it might be interesting to hear how an old song sounded.

11) Visual Prostitution Well, how you may have guessed it's about all this prostitution in TV. About all these people that try to establish themselves in talk shows. And talk bullshit all the time - that really drives me crazy!

12) Kingdom Of Damnation Starts relativly mild and then turns into a punk-thrash-thunderstorm. It's a song about how you can get far in life. With our ellbow-society and a fuck-your-neighbour-and-you'll-get-far-in-life attitude. But in the end you still might fall deep - that's the message...

MP: Well, then I hope you will stay a long time on top, thanks for the nice chat and I'm going now for a pizza!!!

S: Yeah! See you in Bochum. For a drink. Or two. Or three. Or.....

© MEGALOMANIAC PRODUCTIONS 2000 | 05

Of course our darlings from Destruction have their own homepage. For news and infos surf to the following url: http://www.destruction.de

You might as well check their record label's site for coming tour schedules and nice tidbits: http://www. nuclearblast.de