Headshot exclusive interview

 

1-Hello and welcome to Metal Music Midwest, first off, thanks for 

taking the time to do the interview, could you give our readers a brief description of the group? Where is the band from?

Till: Hello, thank you for the interview! We are from Braunschweig / Lower Saxony in Germany which is a quarter million city. We have a classic 5 person line-up with vocals, 2 guitars, bass and drums and we love to play thrash-metal, but we also try to bring in some other styles like prog or classic metal.

2- “Eyes of the Guardians” is the band's latest album, how long did it take to write?

Olaf: Some riffs are quite old but the songs were put together between 2015 and 2019. I always have a pool of riffs and songfragments to choose from, when it`s time to bring an album in shape and form. One riff (the refrain of “Scars of damnation”) is even from the nineties. I always had it in the back of my head, but without the second guitar line. It took about 25 years to become a song. “Invisible” ist also nearly 20 years old and is a leftover from the “As above, so below” writing phase. The rest is from the last ten years. I became a father in 2013, and Till has three children too. So we slowed things down a bit and took some time off here and there. We always played gigs, but the focus to concentrate on a new album came back around 2017/2018 I think. The lyrics always come in at last, they are all from 2019, one from 2020, when we were already in the studio.

3- What musical influence inspires the bands compositions?

Olaf: I like the prog and hard rock from the seventies, the metal of the eighties and the death metal from the beginning of the nineties. Of course Slayer and other thrash bands left a big mark on my songwriting, especially for the riffs. Sometimes I am inspired after listening to some new music, sometimes the ideas came from out of nowhere. I like songs with normal verses and a strong chorus, but also with some unexpected parts. It`s very important to me that a song has a certain flow which makes sense to me. The riffs have to fit to each other, so I sometimes keep some strong ideas for years or decades until I find the right riffs to conclude the song.

Till: I also likes some progressive stuff like Meshuggah, Voivod or Revocation. Max and Ben like also Opeth or Clutch..all in all we all listen to very different styles of metal and rock.

4- The group started in 1993, can you tells us how did you all meet?

Olaf: Back in `93 Steffen Keuchel, our first bass player and me wanted to start a band and we needed a drummer to jam. So he asked Till to join us. He did for a few month, but when things became more concrete he had to leave, because he played in two bands already and had no time for a third one. Moritz Hoffmeister became our first permanent drummer and stayed for seven years and two CDs until Till finally came back in 2000. Matze Grün, the former bass player of Protector came to the band a few years earlier and stayed also for two CDs. Our first singer Andi Bruer had a studio, where we recorded our first album, he stayed for 4 CDs, but left shorty after “As above, so below”. Daniela, a long time friend from the band who came back from Switzerland to Germany joined us while we had a second guitarist, Henrik Osterloh for a while. After a few changes on bass, Max Hunger took over and was upgraded to the guitar when Henrik left. Ben came in 2019 on Bass, and hopefully this line-up will stay for some more CDs and many gigs.

5- The new album title is “Eyes of the Guardians”, can you give us details about the content and more in depth meaning to this title?

Olaf: Most songs are dealing with some kind of apocalyptic themes.

“Eyes of the guardians” as well as “Invisible” is about the danger of digital surveillance in an Orwellian way, and the need for mankind to change their ways before it is too late.

“Ground zero” tells the story of the first nuclear test and “Veins of the earth” is about the Deep Water Horizon catastrophe. 

“The impenetrable maze” is about losing your way through life and “Scars of damnation” is about fighting your way back into life again.

6- Each member of this project is part of another band, how do you maintain a good balance working together?

Till: For all of us Headshot is the main band. Only Max and Ben are also part of the death metal band “Deny the Urge” which was founded by our former guitar player Henrik Osterloh (2003-2019). He moved 350 km away, so Max and Ben make intensive rehearsal weekends before Deny gigs there. With Headshot we have regular rehearsals.

7- Have you performed any shows in your area? if so, how receptive and supportive are the people to your music?

Till: Over the years the band played a lot of clubs and festivals. Mostly in Germany, but also in Denmark and Switzerland. In our hometown and in the nearer region we are well known and people like to come to our shows and enjoy it every time, in Germany and some parts of Europe we are a part of the underground metal scene for years. When you play a metal show, metalheads always come together and fill the clubs or venues. So it is always fun and worth to play anywhere. We also supported some bands like Destruction, Napalm Death, Tankard, Dew Scented, Deserted Fear and many more and the reactions are mostly very good. Often people like the melodic part of our music, especially when we`re playing with some death or black metal bands.

Olaf: We always try to vary the setlist a bit and play some new cover tunes as encores. We don`t want to bore the fans with the same setlist over and over again, like many other bands do.

8- Are there any upcoming shows or tours you can tell us about?

Olaf: Our release show is on December 2nd 2022 at the KufA Braunschweig.

Another gig this year takes place in Hannover two weeks before on November 19th 2022.

Next year we play some festivals (Helmfest, Rock in Rautheim) and a show with Tankard on March 25th 2023 at the Westand/Braunschweig.

Till: We hope that the new album will enlarge the circle of listeners and maybe bring us some interesting gigs or even a tour who knows…

9- Thanks for your participation, finally, what is the best way to get a hold of the band, in case someone wants to book or promote the band? Any final words?

Till: Feel free to join our social media channels and get in contact:

https;//headshotmetal.de – homepage

#headshot.metal – Instagram

headshot.metal – Facebook

or contact our label MDD Records

We would appreciate it when you lend us an ear to check our music –

Stay metal and support the underground. Cheerz