Bavarian thrash metal, Dust Bolt released their brutal fourth album, Trapped in Chaos this January. Here, you can catch the inside scoop and behind the scenes stories. Find out what Prince and a hangar in Berlin have to do with the band, along with their latest music videos. With the new album, Dust Bolt asks, are you prepared?
Brutal Planet Magazine: While touring, do you find that your European, Asian and American fans gravitate towards different favorite tracks?
Dust Bolt: Well, its always different every time you play a show and face a new audience. The audience is part of the show and part of the moment, so they actually somehow really have an impact on what the band is doing on stage. What we felt is that American crowds really like the typical riffing. Its more about the riff itself, such as groove. In Europe, people, at least sometimes, go for the more technical stuff. In Asia, people loved the fast songs! Little differences here and there but in the end, every night is a special one wherever you are.
What made your fourth album, Tapped in Chaos, feel like the right outlet to release the ‘ballad’, “Another Day in Hell”?
Self-confidence maybe. Plus the whole way and background this album was created, and how it came together. We really wanted to write an album which captures our feelings, our stories and our thoughts more than anything we did before. It’s all about the songs, not overthink too much but just go for it and tell the story. That’s how “Another Day in Hell” came alive. I wrote the song on an acoustic. The lyrics were written into my small pocketbook, front to back, as they are, exactly, on that day when I felt the need to write my thoughts down. One day, I showed to Nico (drummer) and we went into the rehearsal room and jammed the song a few times in a heavier way and with me, using the guitar effects you now hear on the album as well. We jammed it maybe 5-6 times before we recorded it. Even that felt like a jam and we were really feeling it at that point. To do it like this and trust ourselves that it’s gonna be good at the end. It takes some sort of self-confidence as a musician, which we gained from our experience and lots playing in the last years.
Thinking back, what are some of your first memories tethered to music?
I grew up in a musician’s family, so I am used to having music around me 24 / 7. My father would write songs, play them for us and sing with us when I was a kid so that might be the first memories. But, I remember the first time, when it clicked and I knew that I would need to grab a guitar and go for it ; that was when I saw a Prince live show on VHS. I think it was Purple Rain, the movie. I saw him lying on the floor, playing a solo and making the guitar scream and cry. I knew then that this is what I wanted to do.
“Dead Inside” vs. “Another Day in Hell”: Which video did you enjoy more while shooting? Any funny stories from the set?
I enjoyed both! “Dead Inside” was really exciting, as we teamed up with Andreas Marshall and spent a whole night , 16 hours in a row in a backyard hangar in Berlin. He does a lot of horror movies and he’s an absolute creative genius, so it was mind blowing to be part of it and actually in the middle of it. The dark atmosphere of the video and song really got us and captured us after few hours and it was a real crazy night and video shoot. “Another Day in Hell” was shot with Bloodspot’s singer, Peter, in our hometown, in just one day. It was more of a DIY video and shooting the running scenes out of the backdoor of our van was really really funny!
You started Dust Bolt as teenagers, truly growing along with your music. What are some of your proudest musical accomplishments? Prepared or not, what do you hope to do next?
I mean, it’s the first time we really took the time to look back a little bit and say , “wow we did some crazy stuff and worked our ass off for more than 10 years now”. But, generally I just enjoy getting accepted and appreciated as an artist and musician. I am happy I got to know so many great people on the way. Some of them I call my friends now. Apart from that, I’ve seen many places in the world already, which I would have never seen if it wasn’t for the band. And, I´m excited to see even more places and see how far we can get with Dust Bolt.
Thanks to Dust Bolt for taking time out of their busy schedule as they prep for their headline tour this Spring. #areyouprepared
