Interview Euer Album „Psychogenocide” ist seit eniger Zeit auf dem Markt – wie ist das generelle Feedback?



Barney: Fantastisch! Wir als Band sind mit dem Album sehr zufrieden und bekamen einige Killer-Reviews von überall auf der Welt. Alle scheinen sich einig zu sein, dass „Psychogenocide“ ein erwachsenes extremes Metalalbum ist, das immer noch die Intensität des NERVECEL-Sound und –Aggression in sich trägt.



Wie lange habt ihr den Songs gearbeitet? Wurde das Album so, wie ihr es euch vorgestellt hattet?



Rami: Wir sind mit der Produktion und den Songs sehr zufrieden. Wir haben eine komplette Pre-Production gemacht, die uns sehr weitergeholfen hat, um die Richtung der Songs festlegen zu können, dafür haben aber wir natürlich unsere Zeit gebraucht. Ich habe die Aufnahmen und das Engineering für das Album gemacht, was eine große Verantwortung war, die ich aber gerne übernommen habe. Ich habe viele Sachen gelernt und die ganze Band ist glücklich über das Ergebnis. Mix und Mastering hat dann Wieslawscy Bros im Hertz Studio in Polen (BEHEMOTH, VADER) gemacht, mit dem wir schon auf „Preaching Venom“ zusammengearbeitet haben. Es hat uns ungefähr ein Jahr gekostet, die Riffs zu schreiben und zu Songs zusammen zu fügen; für die Texte haben wir sechs Monate gebraucht.



In welchem Studio habt ihr das Album aufgenommen?



Barney: Das Studio war ganz neu, es wurde vom aus Dubai kommenden Label Spellbind Records aufgebaut. Wir waren also die erste Band, die dort überhaupt etwas aufgenommen hat – komisch, aber die Wahrheit. Wir fühlten uns dort sehr wohl und auch sicher genug, um den Job selbst zu machen. Wir haben in dem Studio schon seit zwei Jahren geprobt, also war es sowieso so etwas wie unser zweites Zuhause.



Wovon handeln die Texte auf „Psychogenocide“?



Rami: Der Titel besteht ja aus zwei Worten: Psycho und Genocide. Die Texte drehen sich hauptsächlich um die Massenvernichtung des Menschen Geistes und der Psyche durch viele Faktoren unseres Lebens. Jeder Song hat sein eigenes Thema. Das ganze Album diskutiert im Grunde, wie die menschliche Rasse eine Gehirnwäsche bekommt und dazu gebracht wird, das zu tun, was andere wollen. Ein sehr komplexes Thema, weswegen ich den Hörer nur auffordern kann, die Texte zu lesen, um alles zu verstehen. Die Texte sind für uns sehr wichtig und bedeuten uns viel, da es um die Realität geht und viele persönliche Erfahrungen in sie geflossen sind.
Wer hat das Artwork gestaltet? Hat das eine Verbindung mit den Texten?



Rami: Das Artwork wurde von Björn Goosses/ Killustrations (ABORTED, ZYKLON) gemacht und ist sehr stark mit dem Konzept verbunden. Wir wollten das Konzept des „Psychogenocide“ auf eine metaphorische Art wiedergeben und nicht nur buchstäblich, weswegen er diese Maschine konzipiert hat, in die menschliche Züge eingearbeitet wurde und die wirklich „brainwashen“ kann mit Werkzeugen und Instrumenten. Wir haben Björn eine ganze Weile daran gearbeitet und er hat einen guten Job gemacht.



Was ht euch denn damals zum Metal gebracht?



Rami: Ich habe mit fünf oder sechs Jahren mit dem Gitarre spielen angefangen und mit zehn Jahren Rockmusik entdeckt. Vier Jahre später habe ich dann durch Tapetrading und Metal-Videos auf MTV mehr über Metal herausgefunden. Metal war damals in unserem Teil der Welt nur sehr eingeschränkt zu hören, es war extrem schwierig, Metal-Alben in Plattenläden zu finden – wenn sie nicht sowieso verboten waren!
Viele Dinge machten Metal für mich interessant: der Sound, die technischen Aspekte der Musik, die Heaviness und die Einstellung. Anfangs war ich natürlich beeindruckt davon, wie gut Metal-Bands ihre Instrumente spielten und wollte wie sie sein! *lacht*



Wie groß und aktiv ist denn die Metal-Szene in Dubai? Gibt es bei euch viele Shows und viele Bands?



Barney: Es gibt einige Bands, aber die bleiben in der lokalen Szene und kommen nicht wirklich aus dem Mittleren Osten heraus. Ich denke, dass sich das in ein paar Jahen ändern könnte… Viele lokale Bands scheinen aber auch zufrieden damit zu sein, eine lokale Band zu bleiben, wo niemand von ihnen erwartet, gut produzierte Alben zu veröffentlichen oder auf eine größere Tour zu gehen. Die Verpflichtungen, die wir als Fulltime-Musiker heutzutage haben, ist kein Lebensstil für jedermann, da es viele Risiken gibt und Opfer gebracht werden müssen. Es ist verständlich, dass es da nicht so viele Bands gibt, die es so ernst nehmen. Glücklicherweise haben wir ein Management und ein Label, die uns viele Dinge abnehmen.
Die lokale Metal-Szene ist viel größer als noch vor sechs Jahren, besonders dank des Desert Rock Fest in Dubai. Da das aber seit zwei Jahren pausiert, gibt es immer mehr alte Metalheads, die sich mittlerweile in trendigen Clubs rumtreiben und Dubstep hören. Ich würde sagen, dass aber immer noch einige hundert Leute immer noch in der Metal-Szene aktiv sind und nach Gigs Ausschau halten. Wir werden immer da sein und die Flamme für die extreme Musik am Brennen halten!



Wie wird denn Metal in den lokalen Medien dargestellt? Und wie die Fans?



Barney: Sehr gut, in der Tat. Dubai ist eine sehr multikulturelle Stadt, die von Langhaarigen in schwarzen Klamotten nicht schockiert ist. Es wird immer besser und die Medien beginnen langsam zu realisieren, dass Metal auch nur eine andere Form von Musik und Kunst ist. Wir haben schon Interviews mit lokalen Medien gehabt, beim TV, Radio und bei Zeitungen. Ich kann sagen, dass wir nicht als Satanisten oder Psychopathen gesehen werden. *lacht*



Ihr habt im April in Europa getourt für einen Monat. Wie war the Tour?



Rami: Das war unsere bisher beste Eruopa-Tour. Wir waren mit SUFFOCATION unterwegs, mit dabei waren noch FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, BURNING THE MASSES und ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY. Es ware unsere dritte Europatour und die mit den meisten Shows. Wir haben in beinahe jedem europäischen Land gespielt, inclusive UK, was eine wirklich tolle Erfahrung war. Wir haben in vielen Städten alte Freunde getroffen, was toll war. Die Fans waren großartig und wir hatten mit den anderen Bands eine tolle Zeit. Jede Band hatte ihren eigenen Stil und wir kamen mit jedem davon zurecht. Mit SUFFOCATION auf einer Tour zu sein, war eine echte Ehre für uns, da sie uns sehr beeinflusst haben. Wir haben durch das Touren mit dieser einflussreichen und legendären Band sehr viel gelernt.



Hattet ihr auch Zeit für Sightseeing?



Rami: Wir haben das immer gemacht, sobald wir etwas Zeit hatte, ja. Ich bin immer dafür zu haben, gerade in Ländern, die wir zum ersten Mal besuchen. Selbst wenn wir nur ein paar Blocks vom Club weit gehen können, machen wir das, hängen da ab und machen ein paar Fotos. Es ist sehr cool, die Sehenswürdigkeiten einer jeden Stadt zu besuchen und bei der Tour hatten wir das Glück, das wir in den meisten Städten genug Zeit dafür hatten.



Was sind eure Pläne für den Rest des Jahres?



Barney: Wir sind durch Asien und den Mittleren Osten getourt und werden bald wieder nach Europa kommen: im August werden wir beim Summer Breeze, Brutal Assault und Rock im Betonwerk spielen. Danach wollen eine Headliner-Tour in Europa machen, so gegen Ende des Jahres. Im Grunde wollen wir so viel möglich on the road sein.



Weise Worte zum Abschied?



Rami: Thank you for having us and we hope the readers do check out our new album “Psychogenocide” which was out on Lifeforce Records all across Europe May 2nd 2011. We will be playing some European festivals in August and we hope to see you all there! For our full tour dates do check our website www.nervecell.net

InterviewRichard, the venue you're gonna play later on might resemble something like a sauna tonight, are you prepared?

I am so ready to rock!! We are on a tour to get the ball rolling again in Europe and I don't wanna waste any time, I wanna deliver the goods, go back to the States, do about eight weeks there and then hopefully come back to Europe. We're talking to the guys from IN EXTREMO and maybe doing something with those guys in December, which might be cool.

That would be a really diverse evening, your music and their music. And quite some mixed audience.

Yeah, well, I don't know. I'm trying to figure out what works best for FILTER. We opened up for Papa Roach in Cologne two years ago and when I asked last night whether there was anyone at that show with Papa Roach only about two people raised their hands. So I don't really know if opening up is our thing but... You know if you have a huge band like In Extremo saying like "Let's tour!" you don't take it lightly. It's bizarre because I think that I actually get more work done headlining shows on my own.

Well, as a headliner you can put up a show like you want to, not only thirty minutes with limited lights.

Yeah, but we have limited lights, compared to a big full production. Our band is a punk band ethicly - like the way Nirvana-age grunge was - with a computer. So our first record was this bizarre bastard child. It didn't have a refined production like Nine Inch Nails. It was this angry, unrefined, loud, bitter, pissed-off, drunken, grunge-alike record with a computer playing drums.

(Me, cutting in on him) ...but you now have a live drummer!

(Richard, going on undisturbedly) ...but I love it! I love "Short Bus"! Well, and then it was like "ok, we finally found a drummer, so let's add some real drums". And then it became this rock band. It's this kind of situation that dictates what we are doing and I think it is important, that the fans know it's just FILTER. Of course I can throw on a leather jacket and start writing some songs that sound like Rock'n'Roll or whatever is hip at the moment. And I could play the game and try and follow that trend. Or I could just stick to my guns. And that is what "The Trouble With Angels" is all about. "The Trouble With Angels" is a hybrid of all the records that we've done before, packed on one record. And I think it's important that this record gets pushed the way it's supposed to. And I think the only way to do that is to tour. It took us so long to get out here. We released this record one year ago. But I think what we're going to do is to relaunch it again out here with a live record attached to it. So it would be "The Trouble With Angels" with a live record. That might be an idea that we might do.

So how do you keep the spirit high in the band with changing line-ups?

It takes the right kind of persons. For instance I love Mitch Marlow (former guitar player 2008-2010) and he wrote a lot of music on that record. But Mitch doesn't like to tour. He just gets home sick really fast. So he'll play a few things, but he doesn't want to go on tour and sweat it out and "be in a band". Rob Patterson (current guitar player) on the other hand lives for the road. He loves the road. Same with Phil Buckman (current bass player). Mika's similar (Mika Fineo, current drummer). I like this version a lot. But I tend to work with everybody nowadays. You know, if Geno (Lannardo, guitar player 1995-2002) called me up, and he said, "Hey, I think I've got something really great for FILTER and want you to have a listen", I'd have a listen. Brian Liesegang worked on the last record. Essentially it's kind of a Bruce-Springsteen-situation. Or Tom-Petty-Situation. But I don't like to have all of the attention, I don't really care about getting all the attention.

So how did you get Brian Liesegang in again?

I was calling him: "Hey Brian, what are you doing? Hey, I need some programming, would you like to do some stuff?" - "Yeah, great! Hey, what's the song?" - "It's called "Fades Like A Photograph" - "Great, wow, that's beautiful." That's just it. He tripped down on it and went to town and did his famous Liesegangian things. Well, there was a lot of ego involved ten years ago. And now it's all just like "Let's just work and make music" - it's way more of a collaborative kind of excitement. I like working with everybody again.

It looks like you're working a lot for motion picture soundtracks. Is it kind of by accident, so that you have already written them and somebody picks it?

No, we've always been working with producers and directors, all the way through the years. In the beginning I ran into Ben Stiller at a show, and he said "I love 'Hey Man Nice Shot' and I wanna put it in a fucking movie" and I was like "Ok, cool" and than the next thing I know is – hey , there it is, in the score for "The Cable Guy". I always loved collaborating with film and it's important to me. Especially now, you can spread yourself everywhere. It's not only film, but video games, ring tones and commercials. That changed from ten, fifteen years ago when I got blamed by the guitar player in Soundgarden, who asked me "Hey, did you do that fucking Reebok commercial?!" - I answered "No, I turned it down." He went on "Well, someone ripped you off and did it for the commercial. They got a sound-a-like." And I was like - "Damn!" How much flag could I get for not even doing it! And he was literally pointing his finger at me!

I turned down stuff like JC Penny and all these different things because it was just not cool to let people use your music for things that you wouldn't even buy yourself. But when the Hummer H3 commercial came out, I thought "Hummer H3, that's a fuckin quality product and they bring my niece and nephew to school." It's just a changing world and it's good to constantly make sure your name's out there at any capacity, and that's why.

Doesn't it make it easier to ask someone like Sonja Kinski (daughter of Natassja Kinski, granddaughter of Klaus Kinski) to be part of your video for "Fades Like A Photograph"?

Sonja Kinski was asked by a friend of our director and she was like: "Hey, I'll do it." She's a very beautiful girl.

She looks like her mother back then. Isn't it funny that those actors working with you are 20 years younger? What was it like to make the video, did you need some real acting skills to do it?

They used a little Canon camera. It's amazing, it's HD and it looks like film. The director put a little transistor radio with a cd player right on the scene, then he took his little camera and told us "Ok. Fall in love with each other! Sing! And act!" So we acted and did a video. I don't know if the age element is in there at all. I'm 43 but - when you're older you don't really feel like you're older. The only thing that is that your body starts fallin apart which is strange. For example I can't get rid of this ankle problem I've had for the past week or two. I've hurt my ankle and it just won't go away. Probably because I go crazy on stage, you'll see it tonight. Yeah: Your mind is constantly growing and developing and changing – but your body falls apart. That's the weird thing about getting old.

Many people realize they are getting old when their own kids grow up. So you mentioned a niece and a nephew?

I've got nieces and a nephews, but that's a different story. My kids are two and three. I've got two little babies snd I'm married to my wife Tina for like four years now.

And you are back on the road now.

Yeah, I have to work. I did a record, it was falsely launched. We didn't do the right single. Nuclear Blast needed us to come over here but we didn't get enough dates here. I think we gonna spend a lot more time out here, I really do need it to keep building our fanbase in Europe.

You've done some dangerous business, at least some people would call it like that, you've played for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan...

Not in Afghanistan. We played in Iraq, we went there twice. We played the Mid East three times, we played Bagdad once, we went to the Joint Base Balad they call "Mortar-Rita-Ville" (LSA Anaconda) because of the mortars that constantly come in. They're under attack because it's right in an area they call the Sunni triangle. We were attacked, we were shot at a few times.

How is it like to come there? You of course wear vests?

Yeah, you wear body armour, it's called flak jackets, and they say: "Get on your battle rattle, we're going out. We're gonna go get off the plane." And then you wear your helmets and all the other stuff. Luckily they didn't shoot at us when were getting off the plane. It's really important that the troops know that people care about them. I don't know about the wars. I tried to fight against the war with my record "Anthems For the Damned". And no one in America cares. America is like: America is at war with Irak? The marines are at war, the Army is at war, and the Americans are at the mall. Or in the unemployment-line. America's got a lot of shit going on right now and everyone is fuckin hurt.

And then the hurt come back home. In Germany it's a new experience. We haven't been at war for about 45 years, and when the soldiers are coming back from Afghanistan traumatized or hurt, the care for those has to be newly established. Is this an issue in the US?

It's called Post-Traumatic stress disorder. You know, when you shoot someone, the bullets are that big on a 50-kaliber-machine gun, so the bodies just explode into a million different pieces. And seeing a human beeing... Especially the sad thing is that there's always civilians and animals involved. From what I've been told by the troops themselves that I've talked to, the trauma is not only about the enemy, which is what you're there to kill, but there's all these little kids that get into the way. They're like: When a 3 year old get's in front of a convoi and won't move – you can't stop the convoi. It's fucking terrible. That's the part that they hate. They don't mind killing the enemy. It's when they run over small children in their vehicles and stuff like that. It's the women they kill. It's the human shields: When a guy's got a rocket launcher and there's two or three people standing right next to him that are women or kids – hey, the guy's got a rocket launcher and you've got to protect your tank.
It's shit. The world's shit. You know, the Middle East is shit. It's total shit. They're fucking crazy. They've got a fucked up religion. They're uneducated. They don't follow any logic. And they've got all the oil. It's just this insane place. 60 years ago they've been living in tents, riding camels. That's all they want to do, that's all they ever wanted to do. Read the Quran, fuckin chop each others heads off and be warlords. Now they've got all the oil and now they're getting nuclear bombs. Iran, the Ajatollah – it's a theocracy.

I'm an atheist. So when I see people with power who believe in superstition and fantasy – that scares the shit out of me. Scientists like Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson – those are my heroes. And when I see things like fucking Ahmadinejad saying "Gay people should be hung" that's like hanging people because they have brown eyes. It's their sexuallity, it's just something that you're born with. I agree with Lady Gaga here. It's like Hitler killing all the retarded people or clearing out the Jews. It's the same shit. Bin Laden thinks everything should be his way. And then when you go in and you fucking kill him – and you realize he's a dope fiend?! He's got a bunch of pot and he's got poppy and he's got fucking opium?! And he was an egomaniac watching himself on tv. These are the fucking people that fucking rule the world. These are the people that fucking kill people on 911. That's the problem with the world!

Their basic power of terrorists is to scare people.

The world is a fucking crazy place. America's crazy, everybody's crazy. Even Obama can't admit that he believes in nothing. About 40 percent of all people living in the US are Atheists, but 100 percent of our representatives in Washington are Christians? Of course not, but they all want to be re-elected. This is a crazy hypocrisy! I think we're about 2000 or 3000 years from evolving to a point of "maybe it should be about humanity helping each other and maybe that's what it should be about." Maybe we're just about 10.000 years away from being awesome. And we've got the technology to do so many amazing things but – I don't know. "The trouble with Angels" is my new record and I address a lot of these issues on that.