Interviews: Klamm

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Atmospheric Black Metal band, Klamm from Germany. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?

Simon: It took me some time to find a fitting name. Something not too cliché with several potential layers of meaning: „Klamm“ is the german word for „ravine“/“gorge“ – still on the outside and deafeningly loud within, with extremely cold water blasting its way through the face of the earth. This was quite fitting for what I had been looking for back in 2005, when I was starting with Klamm as a one man-project at first

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

Simon: It’s just the genre that emerges when I write music. Of course there also is an influence of my favorite bands - although not every musical influence can be heard directly.

Aaron: I was just searching for a band to play with, as Klamm was looking for a new guitar player. The genre is fluid and has a potential for growth. I wouldn't say that Klamm is fixed to one genre, it will change I guess. But I like black metal anyway.

Wolfgang: I am not entirely sure where we currently are genre-wise. However, I would say, the more extreme and avantgarde metal styles definitely have a visceral rawness to them and are perfectly suited to transport emotions (actually mostly vent negative emotions, work with them and process them) and I was attracted and later addicted to this stuff for a really long time before ever considering to join a band.

Peter: I listened to BM before joining Klamm, but I learned about the different shapes and styles/subgenres in this music through Simon and Wolfi. Fortunately that kind of music matched pretty well with my taste...

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Simon: Well, I suppose I knew our new guitarist Aaron before the band was formed, but I had not seen him in years before he joined us last summer. Forming a complete live line-up took quite some time and it was finished about at the time of the release of the "Frostfluss" - Demo.

Aaron: I guess I knew Simon from seeing, but I wouldn't say knowing.

4. Each band member favourite band?

Aaron: Spice girls!

Andreas: Blind Guardian.

Peter: Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath (with Ozzy)... many more... At the Gates, Mastodon etc. etc.

Simon: Opeth. Especially "Pale Communion", "Watershed" and "Heritage" - but the other stuff as well. They've also had quite the musical impact on my songwriting, though we're not actually playing the same genre. 

Aaron: OK... actually too many: At the Gates, King Diamond/Merciful Fate, Dying Fetus, Opeth, Pantera, Belphegor, Immortal, Iron Maiden... and that's just a few, I'm not fixed to one genre.

Wolfgang: Very hard to answer for people who love great music (and lots of it). Therefore I will split it into a few different aspects: My starting point for heavy music: Niravana's Nevermind and the first three Iced Earth albums (all of those are still regularly in my playlists). My gateway drug into metal of a rather similar style to our own music: Agalloch's „The Mantle“ (what a fucking masterpiece!). My favorite band, which we have shared the stage with (apart from a festival lineup): Molok (from Denmark) – some weird and crazy but also absolutely entertaining and funny bunch of fuckers, and of course our tour buddies Nebelkrähe and Saeculum Obscurum!

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Simon: Consciously or unconsciously the music that I listen to inspires me a lot, whatever the genre. I love to start with some idea, play around with it until I've got way too much material for one track. Then I remove, say, 10 minutes, and keep the remaining 10 minutes, maybe split it in two tracks again, etc... For example, "Smokescreen" emerged from some parts in the album's opener "Sun Invocation", which had been growing way too big.I also love to write music for existing lyrics, because this way I can connect to the lyrics while writing the music.And sometimes ideas emerge totally unexpectedly - for example I remember that I got the idea for "Notre Flamme" from our upcoming "Anthropocene" when sitting in a train, during spring about 10 years ago or so, when all the surroundings were flooded. For the "Ernte" album I got inspired by some paintings of Max Ernst and by some stuff by Gustav Mahler.

Aaron: Loneliness. Nature. Rainy days.

6. Where was your last gig?

Simon: Hmm, I think either at the Beaver's in Miltenberg or at our singer Wolfgang's own wedding.

7. Where would you like to play?

Andreas: Ragnarök Festival, PartySan, Dark Easter Metal Meeting

Simon: Party.SAN would be great. But I'd be happy to be able to play any gig at all again, sometime soon.

Wolfgang: Actually any gig, where people came to experience our music, it doesn't matter if it's a small and dark basement or a huge festival stage – the atmosphere and connection to the audience must be intense. Void Fest would be nice! Or something on another continent... we keep hearing, that the crowds in Latin/South America really go crazy during the concerts and really dig live music! 

Aaron: Anywhere, everywhere...

Peter: Inferno Festival...

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Peter: ... with Darkthrone! Or maybe someone less impossible: AFOS/WITTR... 

Simon: Sulphur Aeon, Primordial, Zeal & Ardor, Helrunar, Behemoth, Nocte Obducta

Wolfgang: obviously large acts who never fail to deliver (like Enslaved), but also acts which just incredibly slay on stage. Definitely our companions from The Great Old Ones, Terzij The Horde and whatever arises from the ashes of Wildernessking. We tried to put together a tour with those great guys in 2015, which didn't happen due to organizational reasons (and the flights were incredibly expensive).

Aaron: Betrayal.

9. Whom not?

Aaron: Justin Bieber!

Andreas: Any NSBM.

Simon: Yeah, no NSBM and the likes. And no fuckers who don't give a damn about other people's stuff on stage.

Wolfgang: Phonies and fascists can fuck off...

Peter: NSBM, I agree with the others. Also no band with such a poser & wanker attitude.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

Peter: Sure. Trick is: Exactly 1 & 37$ bottle of beer and also concentrate on the crowds in the 3rd of 4th line which usually are in the dark.

Anderas: Always, sometimes more, sometimes less. If you ever lose stage fright you've lost some of your passion. How to deal with it? Practice and don't be to hard on yourself.

Simon: Not actual stage fright in the sense of "fear of going on the stage". But when shit hit the fan during some gig either because of I messed up some part or because of technical issues, I got fucking nervous from time to time, yeah. So the best thing you can do, is practice until you can play your parts drunk and tired and also take care and know your equipment, so that you can be sure that everything works as expected. Of course there's a lot of stuff that you cannot predict and not prepare for, so the most important part is: Get out there and play a bunch of gigs. Oh, a great tip that I got several years ago is not to look at the audience directly if you're nervous. That would be like looking down when you suffer from vertigo. But also don't look on the ground timidly, but focus your sight slightly behind the crowd.

Wolfgang: I think the first few concerts: Yes, to some extent. However, you are not alone on stage, as soon as the vibrations from your buddies reverberate throughout your body and you start to feel your songs come alive and draw in the audience, you just have the time of your life! Beer might help initially and as I already described: Just make yourself aware, that you are part of an ensemble and try to connect to the mood of the audience, then you will have a great itme. And I can also definitely agree with

Simon: Some shit will go wrong – go make the best of it and enjoy yourselves.

Aaron: Just do your thing, play your songs as you rehearsed them and have fun! 

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Simon: Opeth, Agalloch, Enslaved, Primordial, Helrunar, Emperor, Behemoth 

Wolfgang: I think it is a great thing if a band pulls of making great fucking music and also have great lyrics or a great message/idealism behind their act, like Dornenreich or Iskra, etc. Dull and pointless imagery, like trying to be the most evil shit in town just bores the crap out of me...

Aaron: At the Gates, Opeth, Immortal, Dying Fetus.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Simon: Hmm, some guy wanted to play keyboard in our band, even though we've never planned on having a keyboarder. But I guess that offer wasn't too serious, because later on he ran around wasted & naked in the backstage area...

Peter: ..oh this guy... he asked me to hold his bottle of Whiskey after finding him in the backstage naked. I hate Whiskey... Another weird fan asked me to leave my sombrero in the backstage area... Turned out he was a bouncer of the club where we played and really uncool about us as a band having very civilized fun... 

Wolfgang: Yes both of those encounters were weird... also: some dude wanted us to play on his birthday for some beer as allowance – maybe that request itself isn't that weird, maybe it's just weird that we said yes and did it...

Simon: Oh, I totally forgot about that. Worst gig ever! The location where it took place is pretty nice though, the "Immerhin in Würzburg" - best location in town! 

13. What do you think of your fans?

Simon: I'm really grateful for everyone liking our music and supporting us, because making music is not only about expressing yourself but also about connecting people. Nowadays you've got these amazing opportunities of making your music available to anyone who is interested in your output and it's great to find out that someone on the other side of the world digs what you're doing. 

Peter: I'm very happy about the fanbase/friends we had since the very start. Always supportive, helpful, critical, and ready to celebrate a party with us at any gig.

Wolfgang: ...Yes, sometimes even with a cowbell! We are really happy if our music touches other people in any way. For headbanging and having a great time at a gig or maybe listening to our stuff alone in the woods or whatever. Music helped me throughout all of my life and I hope that our music can be an inspiration, fun, enlightenment or therapy, or something else for someone.

14. What do you think of our site?

Andreas: Pretty cool, I like the formats like a track by tracks and behind the artwork!

Simon: I like those "behind the artworks"-articles and it's great how much underground content you've got on your site. Great work!

Wolfgang: Very refreshing and unfiltered take on a metal webzine. I really like that you give great underground bands a platform and thereby support the scene. Keep it up!

15. Something to add?

Simon: We expect that our next album won't take another 6 years till release. ;) 

Andreas: Thank you for your interest, we appreciate it!

Wolfgang: Thank you for the opportunity!