High 5! Well, our new album is called “Decline of our century” and it got first released as an 11” LP in September, followed by the CD version containing 8 bonustracks right now in the beginning of December. Both of it, 11” LP & CD are out on Power it up Records (www.power-it-up.de). You can expect 20 tracks of crazy, ultrafast grindcore with absolutely insane vocals…pure passion for blastbeats, highspeed & hatefilled aggression. Until now we only got some very positive reactions to be honest! Nevertheless we are ready again to make new songs which will be even better & crazier than on this album!
Could you highlight some moments in band’s biography specially for those who hadn’t heard about you?
E.M. was founded in July 1990, in 1992 we released the first Split-7”, in 1996 E.M. played in Peru, in 1997 we played our 1st Brazilian tour, a lot of releases, shows & tours in Europe in the 90`ies, in 2000 the 2nd Brazil- tour, 2001/2002 tours with Regurgitate Genocide Superstars, in 2004 our 1st full length album “Crucial strikes with attitude” got released, the US- tour with Catheter in 2004, a lot of very special festival shows in Europe in the 00`ies & since 2010 we began to concentrate to work on a new full length album which was recorded then in 2012.
What do you think about conceptual albums? For example, some metal bands like to do this kind of stuff.
I don`t have anything against concept albums as long as I like it. If the band has in fact a good “concept” you can feel, see & listen- than it`s okay for me. It doesn`t matter if it`s Pop, Rock, Indie, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Metal, Prog, Hardcore, Post-Rock, Deathcore, Slam-Death, Noise or whatever the fuck. Don`t know if it was a concept album or not- I love Mastodon`s last album “The hunter” soo much- great tunes, very good sound, outstanding coverart, magic live presentation- the whole thing is like a trip to me. Brilliant stuff!
This year was very intense for EM. 3 releases, 2 of them on Power It Up. How did you manage to work with them and are you satisfied with their work?
Tom from P.I.U. is a very good friend for a long time right now. We know eachother for more than a decade and always met on festivals or shows & talked a lot about an eventual work together. In the end he was always very much interested in all the shit around E.M. and we feel totally supported by him & his label work. We can do what we want and he is delivering a very good job! That`s it!
How did you come up with an idea of 11” vinyl? As far as I know, they’re only produced in USA and they’re often a cause to a delays. Wasn’t it easier to make a cover on Elton Jon for some extra space and release usual 12”?
Lol- it`s not that we had not enough songs for a 12”- we just wanted to do something different in a way that you have something special in your hands when you`re bying the new E.M.-album! Tom & us are loving the idea to create something different even when it needs a little more work & money to do it. It`s all worth it I have to say as a vinyl-lover…it`s something special in your collection of 5”?s ,7”`s,8”?s,9”?s,10”?s or 12 “?s! As far as I know not many bands did an 11”-so we hope to have something outstanding on the Grindcore-market!
You’re a german, so I should ask you about your tasty beer What’s your favorite and do you visit Oktoberfest?
I`m afraid to not be able to fit in the typical “German”- stereotype! But of course I like beer.. even when I don`t drink that “huge” amounts than in my younger ages…haha! Nowadays I love to have 1 or 2 little ones…not more. I love wodka more….as a longdrink or whatever. Beer makes me a heavy headache the next morning- that`s fucking shit. If you want to have my opinion about German beer…I guess there are better beers to find around the globe- see Denmark, Czech Rep.,Belgium, the UK, USA, Australia. My personal faves are Carlsberg,Tuborg,Heineken or Corona! Delicious stuff! And again I have to be honest- I`ve never been to the Oktoberfest in Munich- I can imagine friendlier locations without hundreds of thousands of absolutely drunk people consuming way too expensive products, that`s something I don`t feel like I Have to see that or that I missed something in my life before!
What was the longest tour for EM? And what do you think about it? ‘Cause there are bands that busy touring the whole year to make some money. What is your muse that inspires you to write new songs?
We love to be on the road, be far away from the daily stuff that`s surrounding us! It`s something so inspiring to play shows or tours! We love the idea of being able to perform our music live on every stage you can imagine. You can meet people, get connected to the local vibes, experience other cultures etc.- just an amazing thing to have! We feel very lucky to play in other countries- that makes our lifes richer and more colourful! E.M. always feel very connected with the whole D.I.Y. idea of living a Grindcore way of life! If you ask me about our tours I think we spend the longest time on the highways in the US of America back in 2004. Thanks to our buddy H Murder & Catheter we played there for about 3 weeks… including the absolute highlight of playing a show @ 924 Gilman street in Berkeley, Califonia! Killer memories for sure! But I have to mention some more things I can?t forget to mention when we talk about touring etc. We feel very lucky to have played tours with the almighty Rot in Brazil, we will never forget to tour with Mieszko from Nasum back in 2001, although we toured with his sideband Genocide Superstars (including ALL members of the very almighty NECRONY) & we feel very privileged to have 2 tours played with the Grindcore gods from Regurgitate!
By the way, do you plan to release a compilation that includes songs from the splits? Sometimes it’s practically impossible to get some split album.
Tom from Power it up & a guy from a Mexican label are currently asking for a whole discography of Entrails Massacre, too! We will see… right now we are more looking into the future than we have time to look back in such a work-intensive way than with a whole discography. If we`ll do it it should be a very special release.. 3xCD with 40sides booklet or so… and that costs a lot of time & work that we spend right now more into writing new songs, going into the studio & preparing for some release & live action in 2014. That eats all our potential time that we have beside families, kids,jobs & so on! Maybe in late 2014 or 2015…we gonna see how it goes!
As far as I know, you’re the only former member in the band. A huge respect to you for not quitting! So, why? What makes people leave the band? I don’t believe that you’re some kind of despot that everyone’s afraid of and run away.
Thanks for your respect! I don`t think that I am kind of a despot- but I am very passionate about playing drums in a Grindcore band & so on! In the past a lot of different things happened, everybody that was involved made his own way of life and so sometimes the ways which you`re going together are ending on some points. I am still in contact with some of the ex-members of E.M.- no big deal behind that! E.M. nowadays is a very democratical band and that?s what makes the cool vibes around it I guess!
Let’s talk about art. Is it really important to have a good quality artwork for split/album? And tell us, is it hard to find great and understanding artist nowadays?
As music lovers of course we like a cool artwork on EP,LP,CD,MC or shirts or whatever! Before the release of our latest stuff we were pretty sure that we MUST have cool artworks to be satisfied with the whole release. Maybe in the past we were not that much behind all the creative process with that and so we were not always 100% satisfied with that. Nowadays we have a different view on that fact and you can be sure to expect nothing but more than cool artworks from E.M. in the future!!!
What were the most memorable things when you were, like, at the very beginning?
Even the founding process of the band is a funny thing to remember. Back in July 1990, some months after the major changes in Germany (remember the break of the wall etc.) I was on the way with 2 friends to see a show from Carcass,Pungent Stench & Atrocity near Dresden in the former East Germany. We were 17 years young, were Thrash/ Death Metal fans and there were no shows or records, shirts or whatever at that time. The whole Grindcore thing was very very small & young- but totally interesting and it was totally amazing to explore & experience what happened not only in music at that time. The show really smashed us in a way that always makes me smile when I remember today. Man, Carcass just released Symphonies of Sickness and totally slayed it live!!!!! And after the show @ 5.30 am in the morning…when we were drunk & lying around on the trainstation…we decided to form a Grindcore band! Even when nobody from us could play an instrument or had one! I was the one who said- “I wanna play the drums!”- and so E.M: was founded!!!!!
Please, share your thoughts about diy-movement. I think, world’s underground scene wouldn’t be such as it is without it.
As I said some lines before- Entrails Massacre always and will forever feel very fucking much connected with the D.I.Y. idea of having something different than the bullshit things which are surrounding us in the daily life! Money,lies,corruption,brainless consume,media overdose- we wanna live a different way of life and we wanna express that not only with our music!
And what do you think about promoting a band through the Internet? Don’t you miss the good ol’ times, when you could actually touch the letters with distro list from lables or just from the fans?
I love to have different and other opportunities to interact with people nowadays. It`s just a little different and I don?t miss something coz I`m still getting letters, parcels etc. and I am still writing letters and sending packages around the world. We as a band are still reading fanzines, Mags & books! The internet & all kinds of social network make it a little easier & faster to work! Good to have the analog & digital way of life!
Well, I’m really glad that we did this interview! You may say some last words for our readers.
Thanx for having us & giving us the possibility to promote our shit! Good luck for you & all the readers in the future- have a good 2014! Hope to see you somewhere in the pit!
