Interview: Stälker – Die Thrasher aus Neuseeland – Thrash Whiplash
Stälker werden am Freitag, den 30. Oktober 2020 ihr neues Album „Black Majik Terror über Napalm Records veröffentlichen. Passend dazu ergab sich die Möglichkeit im Interview mit den Jungs über die Band und Thrash/Speed Metal zu sprechen. Wir wünschen euch viel Spaß!
Auf ein Wort mit den Jungs aus Neuseeland
Please introduce yourself to the Thrash/Speed scene. Who is doing what?
DAIF: Yo, I’m Daif and I play the bass terribly and sing even worse.
Chris: Chris here play guitar. Nick ain’t here, but he plays the drums pretty well..And together we are the best speed metal band to come out of the southern hemisphere
When did you get the idea to create a band with the focus on Thrash/Speed Metal? What do you like about this genre?
Chris: From the demise of my old band Razorwyre, which was a Speed/Power band, I still wanted to play in another band with fast as fuck music in the old school way. Now, it just happens that Daif was also writing some fast as fuck amazing shit and I don’t think he was even thinking about a band at that stage until I said, Dude, we NEED to get together.
Daif: Weird question. It’s instinctual for us to play fast as fuck and to write the catchiest song humany possible.
What can you tell us about your new record? Where do you see a difference to your previous works?
Chris: After playing with each for a few years, and writing some new stuff, we found the writing process to be alot more together. I guess each time will always be a bit different, but we had so much fun writing this, and we felt all the songs complemented each other well. We feel this is more of a package. I mean everything is so long ago now *checks notes* this time last year it’s hard to say. But, listening to it back now along with the other stuff, it’s all balls to the wall SPEED METAL, which you know by now is what you get from us.
What helped you to get a step beyond and to reach the next level?
DAIF: I reckon I really pushed everyone out of their comfort zones and wrote some challenging stuff for us, some slower but aggressive sections for example. Personally I find it much harder to play slower than fast. It’s important to have some meat to chew on ya know.
Very important during these times: Where can people buy your merch and music?
Chris: People still can get all our shit from the usual places. From our record label Napalm if you’re in Europe or USA they have shipping to you from there. It will be available in shops if they are dumb enough to stock it. And of course you can buy direct from us in this god forsaken corner of the world. Apart from your normal streaming services (which i hate by the way) except for youtube.
Alright this is the real talk part
Which band had a major impact to your Music?
Chris: For me, it’s ALWAYS Maiden, Priest, Dio, Accept etc and at the same time, Slayer, Destruction etc….but the band that did it for me, all those years ago, was Exciter. We were at the record store, and we were going through the CDs and my friend James McInnes, stopped at Violence and Force and just couldn’t stop laughing at the cover. Haha. And then he was like fuck man, you have to get this, imagine what its going to be like. “Imagine it” looking at it laughing. Fuck man, we took it home and cranked it up and it was the best thing i had ever heard.
Big four or teutonic four?
DAIF: Teutonic or die. That said, any of those bands after 1999 can rest in peace though. Ya need to take bands at the strength of each album. I can’t be loyal to a band that hasn’t done a song I like in 20 years. Even If that song kicks every other song’s ass. That all said, Teutonic Four was a sound that’ll rip your ears.
Chris: Man that’s a hard one as i love Destruction so much. But I will have to go with the big four.
What is your all time favourite Thrash record?
DAIF: Ya know what? As I’m writing this I’m blasting Dark Angel – Darkness Descends. And its fucking doing the trick! But actually maybe Slayer – Haunting The Chapel or Deathrow – Riders Of Doom or Warhead – Speedway.
Chris: I would propably have to say Slayer Show no Mercy or Exodus – Bonded by Blood, no wait I have one more probably should be no 1 but i love Rust in Peace.
Can you drop us your fav. record of 2020 so far?
Chris: for me it has to be Paradiser by Venator
Do you have a Thrash Metal Idol? Singer? Guitar player?
DAIF: Jörg Juraschek from Warrant (The Enforcer album) is one I’ve listened to a lot and marveled at the places his voice takes me. That perfect mix of someone who’s smoked for 400 years and breath control.
Which LP artwork do you worship most and why?
Chris: A few for me. Exciters Violence and Force, Iron Maiden – Somewhere in Time (but really most of them) Fatal Violence – Ashes tell no Tales
DAIF: X Japan – Vanishing Vision. It’s a painting (which I love), and has that real violence and slasher energy which the album actually lives up to.
If you could, which band would you allow to play in your house or Backyard?
DAIF: yeah this question threw me. It’s a big one! A lot of bands can record a killer song, but don’t do as well on stage. My all time favourite setting for a show to play or see is in a basement or a backyard, so it means a lot. I’d like to see how bigger bands like Killers era Iron Maiden would do at a skate spot here in Wellington, but equally, I’d kill to see a more compact unit like Celtic Frost or Motorhead would be like. Im sure this question will haunt me for years! Fuck Imagine seeing Into The Crypt Of Rays while the sun was going down on your backyard party!
Cover & Tracklist von Stälker
01. Of Steel and Fire
02. Black Majik Terror
03. Sentenced To Death
04. Stalker
05. Holocene’s End
06. Demolition
07. The Cross
08. Iron Genocide
09. Intruder
Mehr Infos
Bleibt auf dem Laufenden mit mehr Informationen mitten aus dem Moshpit auf diesen Kanälen:
Homepage – Facebook – Instagram – YouTube
Bildnachweis: Napalm Records.