Undertow pour l'album "Milgram"

Hi! This is an interview for the French webzine http://www.thrashocore.com . Thanks in advance for your answers!

Hi there! Thank YOU for your interest and the possibility to present Undertow on your page! By the way: great site, I like the layout, reminds me a little on that Chimaira-“Impossibility of reason”-artwork. Couldn’t read too much of the reviews though, cause my french is not that good (I can remember my french teacher crying a lot about me and my poor results – no joke, she was veeeery sensible!

First, could you please introduce Undertow to our readers, your main influences and the style which could best define your music ? I had a hard time doing this, since your music is not pure Hardcore nor Metal to me...

TJ: Undertow is a threepiece-band from southern germany. We started back in 1993, did some demos and later got a record deal. “Milgram” is already the third album for Silverdust Records and our fourth official release overall. Defining our music is very difficult for me as it is for you. Like you mentioned we are neither pure Hardcore nor Metal but we like them both very much. Doom might be another word that comes to your mind by listening to some of our tunes, cause we have a melancholic side too. I guess we are somehow the product of our influences, and they are, like I like to call them, grownup Metal-bands like Helmet, Machine Head, Prong, Life Of Agony, bands with no clichees, a lot of groove and melody and also quite some Hardcore-elements.

What are your main influences? I love so much this mixed kind of melancoly and energy, and i strangely enough can't found any bands sounding the same as you...

TJ: Hey, thanks for the flowers! ;O)= So I hope that there is no other band, that sounds the same, cause we don’t want to be labeled as a clone or copy another band. I mentioned some of the influences already above. And when we started the band, we never imagined that it would last that long, we just love music and wanted to play together. And step by step (uuuhh baby – excuse my pop-polluted brain, is that a New Kids On The Block-song? Jeeeesuuus!!) we made it from the first demo, to shows outside our hometown, to the first record-deal, to the first tour, to shows in foreign countries, to the first tour in a nightliner and so on. We’re just in for the music and the fun of it, we never wanted to sound like another trendy band and we surely don’t earn money with Undertow.

What's the meaning behind this title "Milgram"?

TJ: As you might have seen, there is no such song on the album and the word is also not included in one of the lyrics. You should check google or wikipedia for the phrase “Milgram-Experiment”, it would really take too long to explain the experiment but check it, I bet you will be shocked! The whole thing stands for the general readiness of people to do whatever they’re told, as long as someone says it is for the wealth of humanity, science, religion or whatever – and that sucks! You should think for yourself, check various sources of information and make YOUR decision. And although that sounds really cheesy: the world would be a much better place!

Could you give us a few hints about the subjects expressed in the lyrics?

TJ: We share the lyrics-job in the band, that means, that I did most of them and our singer/guitarist did some too. I mentioned the “Milgram”-thing above and that is an idea that can be found in some of the lyrics. Relationships were and will always be a source for lyrics and although not many people live through the exact same situations in their lives, I guess people will recognize themselves in some of the lyrics and that is very important for me. Music gave me so much over the years – through good and bad times – and I like the thought, that other people dig our music and lyrics...

How does the writing process goes?

TJ: Before our new drummer came into the band two years ago our singer/guitarist did most of the songwriting with his acoustic guitar at home and came to rehearsals with almost ready songs. Since Rainer is with us, that changed a little, the main influences still come from Joschi, but we work on them together now more often, than we did in the past – and I think that can be heard, the new songs are a step further...

Will we have the chance to see you playing live in France one day?

TJ: We are very happy, that the first tour we do for the new album will lead us to France for the first time! We will tour as a support act for Pro-Pain and the dates are as follows:
20.04.2006 POITIERS (F) BSC Cafe w/ Pro-Pain and tba.
21.04.2006 COLMAR (F) Le Grillen w/ Pro-Pain and tba.
And believe me, I’d like to play there again soon, maybe we meet some people on the two shows with Pro-Pain and that will lead to more shows?

What do you do for a living apart from the band?

TJ:Oh man, I bet you will hardly believe that... I’m a librarian – very un-metal I know – and I manage a public library in a town in my home-area. Our singer works at a hospital and our drummer becomes a teacher these days.

What is the best (and the worst) memory you have from your musician’s life?

TJ: Wow, the best memory... that’s hard to say, like choosing a favourite band, movie, book or something. There have been so many good things connected to the band, I was happy about every little step we took but if you make me choose one, it would be the two-week-nightliner-tour we did for our last album “34CE” together with our labelmates and friends End Of Green. The worst memory would probably be the moment when our ex-drummer told us, that he will leave the band.

Do you know the French metal scene? What do you think of it?

TJ: Frankly, I don’t know many french bands. Although I listen to a lot of music, cause I also do a lot of journalism besides my librarian-job. I received two very good albums by french bands in the last year: one was from Overmars and I think it is called “Affliction, Endocrine...Vertigo” and the other was Gojiras “From Mars To Sirius”. And in the last few days I heard that we will play in august together with Gojira on a big german festival called “Summer Breeze” – I hope we play on the same day and I will meet the Gojira-guys!

What are you listening to these days? Any good metal / non metal albums to recommend?

TJ: Concerning metal and new albums I like the new In Flames and the upcoming Katatonia very much, “Leviathan” by Mastodon still rotates frequently in my player as well as the latest albums by The Haunted, Thrice, Waterdown, Cameran, Nine Inch Nails, Oceansize, Dredg and Coheed and Cambria. Non-Metal stuff: I recently got the debut of a young swedish singer/songwriter called Anna Ternheim, I also like the new album “Tenchari” by spanish band Ojos De Brujo and to name a hiphop-band: the new Ugly Duckling album “Bang for the Buck” is great too.

If you could change something in this fucked up world, really anything you want, what would you choose?

TJ: Huh, fairy-question and only one wish? Hmmm... I guess I could come up with something really great with a little more time, but the first thing, that comes to my mind is: I would erase televison. Not that I don’t watch some myself and I am a really big movie-addict but I think many people work their ass off every day and when they return home to their life that they earn by doing whatever crappy job they do, they just switch on their TV-set and get blasted by tons of shit. I often switch the set on and simply can’t believe that that can be entertainment, fun, or even news that most stations broadcast to anybody. Switch on your brain, read a book, talk to your friends or – if there’s no other option: listen to the new album of a certain metal band from southern germany!

Last words are yours!

TJ: Merci beacoup for giving us the opportunity to present our band and taking the time to think about some questions (this last one was new and thus great, because so often interviewer come up with the same questions – I know this lies in the nature of the game, but anyway, I like to be surprised!). Check out our new album at the end of march, look up the Milgram-experiment at google or wikipedia and maybe we’ll meet at one of those Pro-Pain-shows! Our webpage www.undertow.de will be relaunched at the end of march and there should be found some songs of „Milgram“ then too! Take care,

UnderTOM