Interviu CREMATORY

Inca 3 saptamani mai avem de asteptat pana la intalnirea de gradul de III de la Cluj si cred ca v-ati dat seama ca ma refer la concertul Crematory care va avea loc pe data de 6/7 octombrie. Am considerat ca ar fi placut sa le adresam cateva intrebari, sa vedem ce si cum ne astepta la concert si cam cum cred ei ca vor fi primiti :) Nu va mai retin, dau verde pentru savurarea interviului cu liderul trupei Crematory - Markus Jllich. Interviul nu l-am mai tradus pentru ca vreau sa vedeti ce surpriza mica dar placuta ne-au facut nemtii la finalul interviului, vorba unui amic "Deutschland rulles" ;) Din acest motiv am si lasat interviul in limba engleza pentru a nu-si pierde farmecul.


* Deepest hails and thanks for accepting this interview for Metalhead Romania. First of all I want you to tell us few things about CREMATORY's birth. All started 15 years ago in Mannheim, Germany and further I will ask you to tell us, please

Markus Jllich : Yes, it started all in Mannheim, when we founded the band "Excess". This was Harald (vocals, bass), Lotte (guitar), Schmock (guitar) & I (drums). But it turned out not very fantastic , so Lotte & I were looking for new members in the scene of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen we found Felix (vocals) & Marc Zimmer (bass). Katrin joined on keyboards. This was actually the birth of Crematory.

* CREMATORY is one of the greatest bands in the world, how are you feeling in this position?

Markus Jllich : We are very happy that you rate us that high commercially of course we are far away from bands like Metallica or Rammstein. But it is true that we have a big following. How do we feel? Well, it's not that that we got it for free. We know exactly how much hard work we put in the band during the last couple of years. And therefore it is of course rewarding to see that people like us that much.

* In 15 years you changed your genre a little from Gothic/Death to Goth/Industrial, what will CREMATORY sing after another 15 years? Did you ever thought to change totally CREMATORY's genre?

Markus Jllich : I would not exactly agree on that. I don't think that we sound very Industrial that to me is something reserved to Type 0 Negative, Fear Factory, etc. speaking for Metal bands. I reckon we have an electronic/dancefloor-approach that makes most of our songs danceable as well. A sound-prediction is hard to make. You'll never know what happens and you don't know if we still exist in 15 years. Changes have to be subtle. We were not only the first band who combined Metal and Gothic we were also the first ones to do an album in German language. If we would change Crematory's sound too much we would have to rename the band as the name is totally tied with that kind of style we're playing for years now.

* How do you see the metal scene from entire world comparing with the one 10 years ago?

Markus Jllich : The metal-scene of today has one big problem: decreasing sales! It seems like in Germany or most parts of Europe very young people are not interested in music or Metal music anymore. The biggest change was brought by the internet. I like it, because you can get information very quickly and communication is possible all around the globe but for commercial bands it's hell. The impact of illegal downloads is undiscribable immense. And it's getting worse every year. It's not only stealing money from the artist people have to understand that they steal & kill exactly that what they desperately want: music. It is a vicious circle: Illegal downloads cause decreasing CD-sales. If the big chains and record-labels sell less CDs they raise the prices. Higher prices more illegal downloads. That means less income for distributors and record-companies. They have less money to pay for a top standard production or really good marketing/adverstisements for magazines. The magazines live on that if the don't get that support they don't support the products/bands. If you guys don't support us nobody will buy our records as nobody knows the record is outthe just it!


* Is there a band that took your attention in the last 2 years?

Markus Jllich : A couple: Rammstein (again and again), Unheilig, HIM and Oomph!

* How would you describe CREMATORY's music? can you resume it to only 3 words?

Markus Jllich : True, honest, unique.

* Where do you feel better? In the record studio or up on the stage, facing the public? :)

Markus Jllich : Well this depends on the audience . Just kidding! Both "worlds" are great. Sometimes it's really fun to work in the studio especially when it's cold and rainy outside. But the better choice is mostly to go on stage and see the direct feedback of the crowd, the cheering and singing of them.

* How do you see "Act Seven" compared with "Believe"? I mean, main differences, common points

Markus Jllich : Hmm good question, Elisabeta. "Act Seven" was the first album without Lotte and therefore a possible stepping stone. Our former songwriter went and we had to reorgansie ourselves heavily. Therefore "Act Seven" is still a brillant album and we play some songs still on our live-shows, but "Believe" is of course another caliber. We've learned from things we weren't happy about reflecting back on "Act Seven". And therefore "Believe" is of course a massive progress, like "Revolution" is compared with "Believe" and "Klagebilder" goes on top of "Revolution".


* I know that an artist loves all his creations but I'm very curious to find out what is your favorite CREMATORY's album and song. Please, tell us

Markus Jllich : I always like the new stuff best, because I always look ahead and not back. I think "Kein Liebeslied" from "Klagebilder" is maybe the strongest song we've ever wrote with the biggest "Hit-potential" you can have.

* Let's talk a little about your self titled album, an album 100% German, this was the way you choose to celebrate the 5 years of CREMATORY? Are we going to have the chance to listen another CREMATORY album wrote and performed in German?

Markus Jllich : Yes, indeed. I was a "Thank you" to the German fans. On the second album we had a huge success with "Shadows Of Mine", who had German lyrics. Therefore we decided to do something new and made a whole album out of it. Ahem, Elisabeta"Klagebilder" IS completely in GERMAN . It's to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first German album. As you might not know: "Revolution" was completely finished with German lyrics before we handed it over to the responsible people at Nuclear Blast. After they've heard it, they denied to release it because of the German lyrics. We had to rewrite and re-record the whole lyrics and vocals very quickly to guarantee an release of "Revolution". Back then we decided that this would have been the last time that a record-company would interfere in our creativity. As "Klagebilder" developed and it was clear to be a German album Massacre Records were very keen to do it as they did the first German album called "Crematory" 10 years ago as well. So it's not only a gift to the German fans, it's because it's our mother-language where you can express some things more precise than in a foreign language.


* If tomorrow you would start over with CREMATORY, is there a thing that you would change?

Markus Jllich : No, definitely not! You need "ups" and you need "downs", but compared with other bands we are blessed with success.

* In all this years you had many concerts and this year in October you will perform in our country. How do you think the public will be?

Markus Jllich : I think the Romanian fans have waited quite a long time to us live on stage finally. As Crematory didn't play very often outside Germany in "the old days" we figured out that the fans are dying to see us live in Europa and all over the world.. And as we know that we can give them a 110% show.

* Have you ever heard about Romania? Can you tell me something you know about our country?

Markus Jllich : I don't think that you need a stout German to tell you about your own country . I've never had the chance to visit Romania before. Well I've read my Bram Stoker, and some of my chaps are married to Romanian girls, I followed the whole Ceaucescu & Securitate-mess when I was younger and I now that the are lot of poor people in Romania and the unemployment-rate is very high. I think the best way of learning about people and a country is going there with open eyes, talking & listening to people and of course identify with them.

* Have listened to any Romanian Metal bands? Can you name one?

Markus Jllich : No I'm sorry! I'm not at all familiar with the Romanian scene but hopefully I am, when I come back home

* When you heard that you are going to perform in Romania, weren't you afraid that you will bump in on the streets with Count Dracula? :)


Markus Jllich : Actually no, because I always have some garlic hanging around my neck . I don't think that Vlad Dracul would come close to usor he's bound to like the smell of Jack Daniel's with Coke that's hanging like a big cloud around Felix, Harald and Matze, haha.

* What do you prepare for the Romanian audience?

Markus Jllich : Big balls . Just a joke! Of course we'll have something special for you guys, but if I tell you now it's not a surprise anymore

* There are less then 2 months until your gig here and the people are very anxious to see and hear CREMATORY live on the stage. How are you feeling about this?

Markus Jllich : As said before: There's nothing more enthusiastic like fans who waited for years to see you live. And there's not a bigger thing like playing in front of enthusiastic fansdo I have to say anything more???

* This month, you released your newest material, the album called "Klagebilder". Tell us, please few words about it.

Markus Jllich : For us 'Klagebilder' is already a classic. It combines all the individual strength we have to one big bubble. We are very happy to use this 'beauty and the beast' vocals as we have two guys who can do it in perfection. If we wouldn't have Felix and Matze Crematory would sound completely different and I don't think we would really find a suitable substitute for any of them if one day they would stop making music. We are very pleased to see that we are really top-priority at Massacre Records. We know the guys for so long as we started our career with them. It's good to come home and see familiar faces if you know what I mean.

* And why did you named your 13th album "Klagebilder"?

Markus Jllich : It was Felix idea. And as we are a very democratic band we agreed on that title which can be roughly translated as "Mourning Pictures".

* Speaking of titles, how did you come out with the name of the band?

Markus Jllich : This was Felix idea. And as he came in the rehearsal room back then he brought an already finished logo with him. We all liked that name and so we settled it not because of a special message it did just fit with our thoughts and feelings.

* Now, after more than a decade what does means to you?

Markus Jllich : We're used to it what can I say. The former baby has grown up, went to school and through puberty now it's an adult at full strength and we hope to carry on till we're old and grey, haha.

* We are very curious to find out what kind of music/musicians/band(s) do CREMATORY members love to listen, so please, tell us

Markus Jllich : The new album is 110% 'us', i.e. that all our influences are mixed up in it as well. That's Black/Death Metal for Felix, Power/Thrash/Prog Metal for Matze, EBM for Harald, charts-music for Katrin and Dancefloor-stuff for me. The album is a homogenic mix of that it's just that not every song sounds the same the stylistic variety is bigger than before and of course we have bigger guitars and much more melodic chorusses and vocal-lines. That gives us a different approach. By the way: I personally like albums that need some time to be 'digested' as they keep longer fresh.

* Any plans for the future?

Markus Jllich : World domination . We just want to make people happy with what we do the reward for it will come automatically then. Maybe we can give some of them a helping hand with our music and our lyrics that would be great as well.

* Because the end of this interview is getting very close, I want to thank you very much for accepting this interview and taking time out to answer the questions.
We can't wait to see you here, in Romania! We are counting down the days until your concert here!

Markus Jllich : Same for us we are very much longing to perform in Romania as we never went there before it will be a great experience.

* and now, let there be CREMATORY's words special for the Romanian Metalheads, please

Markus Jllich : As you don't get a reward from the fans as you don't move your a*s and do a good show I think we like to act the following way: "pina nu faci foc, nu iasa fum".

Thank you,

Markus Jllich

CREMATORY
www.crematory.de
www.myspace.com/crematorygermany

Elisabeta versus CREMATORY