Interview with Violation by Jen

"Moonlight's child", your last release, was out in summer of 2000. Are you releasing any other material soon?
No, not at the moment. We had planned to go to the studio in August 2001, but we could not keep that date, because we had changes in the band. We have a new guitar player since spring 2001 and the time was too short! We really don't know at the moment, when we will record anything new!
Who does the work for the cd covers, they are amazing!
The artwork from our CD-covers are all by Michael Schindler, Dragon Design from Germany. Yes, he's great!
Give us some violation history.
We started in 1993, when Alex (guitar) and Barney (vocals) came together to pay tribute to their musical gods. After two years the line-up was constant: Alexander Schödel (guitar), Wolfgang "Barney" Dreiseitel (vocals), Andreas Schmidt (drums), Claudia Reich (keyboard), Larsen Beattie (guitar) and Martin Saalfrank (bass). So we decided to record the first demo tape. "Carbonized" was released in February 96 and found a real good response in the Underground. 600 copies of the tape were sold and so we began to work harder on ourselves and the songs. In October 97 we decided to record our first CD in Abyss Studio. So we traveled to Sweden without having a deal. After we returned from the studio we sent a lot of promos to labels to get a deal. We decided to sign a deal with Last Episode Production. "Beyond the Graves" was released in February 98. We received fantastic reviews from the press! Lots of interviews (GUC, Ablaze, Deftone,...) have been done and songs appeared on tape-and CD-samplers (Ablaze, Morbid Noizz,...). After the release of "Beyond the graves" Wolfgang, Larsen and Martin left the band. Wolfgang couldn't identify with Violation anymore, Larsen had his own band "Cryptic Wintermoon" and Martin left the band already before the recording-sessions. He just went with us to the studio, because we couldn't find another bass-man. At the end of 1999 Violation and Last Episode went their individual ways. We signed a new deal with Invasion Records. We also found new band-members: Olli Riedel (guitar), Jens Löhner (bass) and Marcus Fiessmann (vocals). Everything seemed to be ready for the next CD, because the Abyss studio was booked for August 99. In the middle of 99 we heard nothing more from Invasion Records, but we wanted to keep the recording date and traveled again without a deal to Sweden. Until the beginning of 2000 we could find no new label, although we received some offers. Finally we signed a deal with Red Stream Records, USA. The second CD "Moonlight's Child" was released on 31st of May 2000.
Our line-up since 2001 is: Alexander Schödel (guitar), Andreas Schmidt (drums), Claudia Reich (keyboard), Gary Kietz (guitar), Marcus Fiessmann (vocals) und Timo Grefenberg (bass).
Why and when did your guitarist Oli leave?
Oli left the band over one year ago (September 2000). He didn't wanna be in a band anymore. He didn't have fun anymore and he said, he doesn't have enough time for his girlfriend. We don't know, why he changed so much, we couldn't understand him also!
Have you ever played the states before?
No, never. But we would love to play in the states!
How are the clubs where you are from? Are there a lot of places to play?
We have in fact a lot of places to play. Mostly we play in small clubs. In our area (Hof) we have two or three clubs. Normally they are discos and they are for 300-400 people. They are okay. But in Germany we have also a lot of big clubs and halls for bands to play.
Are there a lot of kids who come to the shows and support the scene?
It depends on the bands who play. If it's only a underground concert, there are maybe 50 - 100 kids. When we play, we have around 100-200 people. It's different!
How is the music scene and the underground scene over there?
We have a big music scene. But most of the people listen to pop and house and shit like that. But we also have a big metal scene. And a lot of underground bands without record deal!
What other releases do you have available?
We have recorded one demo-tape "Carbonized" in 1996. Then we have released our first full-length album "Beyond the graves" in 1998. It was recorded in Abyss studio and released by Last Episode Prod.. And 2000 we have released the second CD "Moonlight's child" on Red Stream Rec. It was also recorded at Abyss Studio. That's all at the moment.
How did you and red stream hook up together?
After we had recorded our second album in Sweden, we sent the material to some record labels, because we didn't have a deal at that time. We got post from some, but what they offered wasn't that good. So we waited. And in January 2000 we got a fax from Red Stream. We didn't know that label, but he heard from us and wanted to listen to our recorded songs. After that everything went very fast. He liked our music and sent the deal. It was okay and so we signed it!
How are they treating you?
Red Stream treated us real good! Patrick did everything for us, he could do. And he did everything what he promised us. He made T-Shirts, Longsleeves, Hooded Sweaters and especially for me: Girlie shirts! Also the promotion: He did, what was in his "Macht". But some weeks ago Patrick quit the deal with us, because he doesn't have the money for us and we didn't sell enough!
What was your favorite show that you played and why?
Until now the favorite show we played was last year in Leipzig, in a club called "Hellraiser". We played together with Graveworm from Italy and Menhir from Germany. The Hellraiser is a great club with a big stage and they are very professional. We had ca. 300 people there and it was just great!
Who are some of the bands influences?
We all have our favorites, and they are very different. I like bands like Marilyn Manson, Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode, Anne Clark but also Death Metal: Deicide, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Fear Factory, Devin Townsend, Soilwork, In Flames, Hypocrisy and also Pain, Rammstein and many,many more! Alex listens a lot to Swedish death metal: Dismember, Entombed, In Flames, Hypocrisy, Arch Enemy and so on. Andreas and Gary like brutal stuff. Marcus and Snuff love Slayer and many more. Of course we get influenced by the music we like and we listen to. But still we want to create our own style of death metal!
Anything else you would like to add or plug?
Thanks a lot for your support! We hope a lot of maniacs in America will listen to our music and order some of our CD's. And maybe one day it will happen and we will play in the states. That would be great! Stay heavy metal and bang your head!!!
http://www.violation666.de
http://www.redstream.org