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I was damn surprised when I received Profanation's two CDs for review, and I was pleasantly surprised by the supreme quality of the music. Absolutely killer deathgrind! It was done by email between the 26th and 30th of October. Hey there Anton! How�s life? Let�s get things started by you presenting yourself to the readers, so they know who�ll be answering my questions. And maybe you should just present the rest of the members too, hehe. Hi Kristoffer, must admit it's real fine at the moment (thousand times sorry, hehe). Profanation are doing well and also privately I'd say it's a good time (to die). Think I'll have a great time answering your questions... Getting started with presenting the band I'll step back and start that with our vocalist Hippi. He's our grandpa of metal, old as Methusalem. Mainly responsible for the sick artworks and t-shirt designs as he's earning some money w/ tattooing and graphic design. Musically I think he's adding a lot old school thrash influences vocalwise. If you meet some arrogant fuck at a concert, trying to piss you off, that's possibly him... Next would be our guitarist/ vocalist Alex, in a way the founder of Profanation as the band formed around him. He's still the main songwriter and his rhythm guitar play is real awesome. At work he's preparing some fine human delicacies at some restaurants kitchen... The other member, who's in the band since the beginning is our drummer Luxl, who used to play bass the first years. Together with Alex, he's writing our stuff and I think his exceptional drumming is the reason why there's always a lot of groove in our songs. He's totally committed to drumming, nothing more to tell. Latest member is our new 2nd guitarplayer Christoph. He joined in august and was quickly integrated. He's studying at the moment, some toneworks stuff or so. Finally me, ah shit, don't like that...ok, I'm responsible for the bass guitar and work hard to get Luxl outta time, hehe. Other things are some promo work and all that financial shit concerning the band. For earning money I'm nursing people to speed them to their graves... Hope that's enough said about the sick bunch of Profanation. Anything else may soon be brought to you by the yellow press. Oh, so Alex is a chef� So that�s where you got inspired to write the lyrics for Psychopathic Serenity�? Hehe HaHa, know what you mean and I think in a way it's an influence to our lyrical direction. Not actually to the mentioned Psychopathic Serenity but Delicacies of human flesh lyrics are based on some receipt he'd found and I just translated that and added the human part, so to speak...But in general I'm responsible for the lyrics (4 or 5 are translations of german lyrics from before 2000) and Psychopathic Serenity was to me an interesting songtitle, so I created that psychopath hunter/ killer story around that. I mean a lot of our lyrics deal with that cannibal human flesh stuff but I try to keep it diverse with a lot of humorous hints. Thinking of Feasting on knights which is a funny true metal rip off that still makes me smile reading it. Maybe our next record will be conceptually dealing with meat production or so, hehe. Profanation has been around for quite some time now, since �97 even. So I suppose the influences over the years has changed. And �00 you has some line-up changes where you and Hippi joined the band, did that affect the band music wise? Good question, I'd say: Yes, it had a huge effect on the band as from then on there was a steady line-up that really aimed to get some things done. Also musicwise there were more possibilities and the songs got more complex. Same time Luxl switched over to drums and that opened things up a lot. The influences, hm, think there's always a change in that as there's so much great music around (old and new). Over the years you get to hear so much new stuff and you always try to incorporate some other ideas in your music, just to keep it diverse and interesting. I think in the beginning there were more Black Metal influences that you can't find in our songs now. So maybe since 1999 the main direction is brutal Death Metal with some Grind essences and I'd say the groove factor has risen in time. Further you always try to improve your musical abilities and that affects the music as well. On Dead Body Fuck you�ve included two covers, one of Ulcerous Phlegm and one of Exciter. Would you say that�s where your current influences are to be found? Uhm, no. I mean they're both great songs and we adapted them to our style (by the way the Ulcerous Phlegm cover came up by hearing the Dead Infection version of the song), but our own stuff is way from that. To me a covertrack should always differ from the original, maintaining some of the main qualities of the song and add your own thoughts and ideas. If you can't do it more brutal than the original, you shouldn't do it... Well, yeah ok. I get what you mean about doing a cover� But I�m still curious about where your current influences are to be found�? Think they range from old school metal/ thrash to nowadays brutal death metal, some grindcore and very little hardcore. To name some bands I'd say Malevolent Creation, Suffocation, Lividity, Waco Jesus, Slayer, Overkill, Exodus, Deeds of Flesh, Cliteater...could go on for hours. Maybe that's the most obvious influences that describe our current songs in a way... You�ve released two fullength CD�s, and they�ve both been self-financed. How come? Your first CD Dead Man Rotting received good reviews; I�d assume you received some offers from at least a couple of labels� I gotta say we were a little lazy with promoting the Dead Man Rotting cd. It was available through some distros but we didn't send it to labels, aiming for a record deal. I mean Morbid Rec were interested from the beginning and I'll go into depth the next questions... For the release of your second album Dead Body Fuck you�ve arranged some kind of deal with Morbid Records for promotion and distribution. How does that co-operation work? And why didn�t they just release the CD? Yeah, sad story, but maybe not bad at all. Morbid rec offered us a deal for the Dead Body Fuck cd and wanted to release it. Also a first rough mix from the first recording of the album made it to the Morbid Two cd sampler. But we weren't pleased with the results of the recordings so all in all we recorded Dead Body Fuck 3 times. Two times with a guy from Berlin, a friend of ours who's building up a studio and we were the first try...He'd seemed to have underestimated the effort and we were not happy how the sound turned out. So last november we went to another studio in Pirna called Powerrocker rec and had the third try with a guy named Bo. It was a lot of work as we also had to face some problems and spend days mixing it but in the end it turned out great, I think...Back to the label story: Dead Body Fuck was supposed to be mastered by Pluto (Poserslaughter rec) but he didn't like it, so Morbid got cold feet, jumped off and we had to do it ourselves. Mastering was done by Kai of Harmony Dies and the cd was released in april 2005. After the release it may've been not that bad to Morbid, as they fixed some deal with us helping us to spread it. We gave 'em some copies for promo and a lot for distro and at the moment the first pressing of 1000 copies is nearly sold out... I'd say co-operation is ok, but not great. Gotta say the only reviews we got are in zines where I send the cd myself and also the very first interview (all hails to you) was arranged this way so... Another problem was the cover of the cd as Morbid's distributor (Soulfood) wouldn't have accepted that and Hippi had to spend a whole lot of extra time for different designs, but in the way things turned out in the end, we could use the original artwork. A new album will be out next year, will Morbid Records take care of that release, maybe? Things are not yet decided, we also have some other offers and at the moment I like the idea of doing it all on our own. We'll decide that when time is right. This way we're free to do what we want. I�m not saying you should bad-mouth Morbid, but if the current co-operation has been somewhat troublesome, would you �risk� having them release the upcoming album? Or would you feel it wasn�t worth it� Know what I mean? Ahh, tough question, I mean personally we're good friends with 'em and never say never. Maybe they come up with a great deal when DBF is a great success and we can find some common ground. Morbid have good possibilities to make you known worldwide through trading and that but I think this distribution deal we now have earns us more money than a label deal. On the other hand maybe promotion would be better with that,so...We've also another label interested in us and I think their offer is quite ok, so we'll decide that when our next cd is due. Dead Man Rotting and Dead Body Fuck differ a bit in sound/music. At least I get the feeling that the tunes on DBF is a tad less death metal oriented, and more to the grindcore direction� Don�t know if you agree though, hehe. But what can we expect from you on the next album, any change of direction? Have you started working on the new songs? Huh, you really think that? Wouldn't say so in general. Maybe Absentminded and the Consequence cover on DBF are a littly grindy but so was O.C.B. on DMR. Seems I'm too involved in it to notice... Alright, what to expect from the next, hmm, would say another blast with our typical groove parts and vocals. At the moment 6 new songs are finished musically and I'd say some are a little more technical to keep our fingers awake, hehe, and there's also some straight ahead simple old school death metal parts. Vocals are still to be worked out and I think Alex will take some more parts as on the DBF songs...We're also looking for some great coversong again and expect the unexpected... Oh, by the way, what will the next album be called � Dead Man Fucking? Haha.. Haha, right that's an option...To be honest we're really thinking about another Dead one but we've not decided on that, yet. But will you try to do some touring in association to the next album? That would be great, but I think that depends on things I can't figure out at the moment. That would be one of the advantages of joining with a label, just wait and see... How�s your tour/gig activity been in the past? �Cause I know you�ll try to do as many gigs as possible to promote Dead Body Fuck� At the moment gigs concentrate on weekends and our last couple of gigs were just in our area, so that's one thing I'd like to change a bit by sending out promos and that. Another problem is time as I and Alex also have to work on weekends and that's sometimes shitty, too. What�s the reaction to DBF been so far? I suppose it�s gotten a much wider promotion over the world since you co-operate with Morbid. Reactions have been great, we got a lot of real good reviews and through Morbid it's also available in mailorders in the U.S., Japan, Italy, Spain, Mexico and a couple more. It sold real well and there'll be a second pressing to be made, soon. In just two years time it�s your ten-year anniversary, planning on doing something special for that occasion? Hehe� To be honest, we don't think about that at the moment but maybe there'll be something arranged in our hometown or so... What about other bands and side-projects? I think at least one of you is also a member in Cuntgrinder, am I right? Right, Alex, Luxl and Hippi are also playing in Cuntgrinder but we consider both as separate bands as the ones responsible for music and lyrics differ and I think there's not so much in common as it may seem... Christoph also has some small band going but they're not too serious at the moment. And I expand my musical horizon as well by playing some wimped out Pop/ Rock/ Blues with some friends of mine. Could we maybe expect a split between Profanation and Cuntgrinder in the future? Or will you try to keep the bands separated, maybe? Anything's possible as something like that was planned in 2003 but didn't happen. We'll see about that. At the moment the next Cuntgrinder cd is produced and shall be out early next year. Time for some of my less serious questions now. Latest record you bought? Exodus - Shovel headed kill machine Latest record you listened to? Solitude Aeturnus -Through the darkest hour Latest book you read? Baudolino by Umberto Eco Latest show you went to? Morbide Festspiele w/ Dead, Spawn, Death Reality, Criterion... Crappiest record you've bought? Exxplorer - Coldblackugly If you could pick any band, dead or alive, to do a split with � Which would be the coolest band for Profanation? I'd say Malevolent Creation as The will to kill is the best death metal release I've heard so far... Another cool thing would be Terrorizer (hope their upcoming stuff won't damage their status) And if you ever committed suicide, how would you do it? Suicide bomber on G.W.Bush couldn't be a bad death... Well that�s actually it for the questions. I have none left to ask� Anything I should have asked that I�ve missed? Thanks a whole lot for the interview, it�s been fun doing it! I wish you guys all the best with the band and your personal lives in the future. It�s up to you to end the interview with whatever words you find suitable. Over and out! Haha, right, first of all thanx alot for the interview. I had a great time answering it and your questions really covered most things to tell about us. Also thanx to the ones who trash their time by reading this shit, you rule!!! All the best to you Kristoffer, keep up your great work for the music we all live and die for... Related links: Profanation Profanation downloads Cuntgrinder Morbid Records |