Interviews: Destillat

This is a new interview with the Black Metal band Destillat 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 plan it or came out just like that?

To be completely honest, I have no idea :-D The band has been around for a long time and I haven’t been part of it from the beginning. I think it comes just from a general excitement for booze.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

To us, heavy music, and extreme music, in particular, is a platform that allows us to bring out our emotions and also approach topics that concern us in a natural way. From a musical perspective, we also think that it can be one of the most progressive and unrestricted genres, which gives us incredible freedom to express our musical ideas in many different ways.

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

Most of the band members know each other for a long time and all grew up around the same scene. The only member who didn't know any of the members before he joined was me. I met the band through some online musician platform when I moved to Leipzig in 2014.

4. Each band member's favorite band?

From a viewpoint that is not necessarily connected to the music we play, the taste might reach from something like Anaal Nathrak (Stiffler) to Dire Straits (Nick), to Him (Schweiner), to The Offspring (Lucas), to Opeth (Olli).

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Inspiration can come from every form of art that surrounds us, like books, films/documentaries, music, paintings, etc. For this record, we were actually researching topics before we went into the songwriting process. This helped a lot to develop a storyline first and then put the music to the different dynamics of that story. Almost like scoring for a movie. One book that really helped us to develop the overall concept of the album was an animal farm by George Orwell.

6. Where was your last gig?

Our last show was the record release show for "Under Black Horizons", which was initially planned for Dec. last year, but got postponed to the 20th of April this year, due to the pandemic. The show happened at the Moritzbastei in our hometown in Leipzig.

7. Where would you like to act?

Not sure if I get the question, but in terms of touring, I think we would all love to play/tour in Scandinavia. We all love these countries and the music scenes speak for themselves I think.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

I think we'd all be interested to work together with artists that don't come from a metal-related genre of music. It's always a great experience to see how people, that don't have the same musical background as you, approach music. Also, there are so many layers that can make music dark and heavy than just loud metal music and it would be great fun to collaborate with someone who can add a different take to this.

9. Whom not?

Justin Bieber

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

Yes totally! A tip might be to tell your bandmates about it. As a band, you are a community and it's much more than just playing music together. It's a family. So trust your bandmates and tell them about it, because only then they'll be able to understand and support you.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

In general, I would say, bands or artists that were keen to cross genre boundaries and create something very unique and new. Bands that fall in that category could be Opeth, Eluveitie, Ihsahn, Watain, Leprous, Between the Buried and me, but also artists like Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, or Myrkur.

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

No idea :D Signing stuff still feels weird but I guess is kinda normal. Usually, people that like our band are very polite and very supportive when we talk to them.

13. What do you think of your fans?

They're confused :D no just kidding, they're the best people in the world and we appreciate every single one of them.

14. What do you think of our site?

Not sure if I understand the question, but if you mean what we think of ourselves, I think we're really normal people. Maybe a little bit strange a seclusive but in general really kinda loveable person. We love being around each other and our friends and families and we're really grateful for the community that exists around the band and all the people that care for us and support us.

15. Something to add?

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us! We appreciate you and everyone that cares about our band and our music. Thank you!