### Deadlock - Tobi

#### 17/05/07 || Lord K Philipson

Deadlock’s from Germany. I know, I know, I feel for them as well. Either way, they have their shit down, which their brand new album, “Wolves”, shows. If you are into some quality metal, you should definitely check these assholes out. If you don’t like quality metal, you should still check them out becoz of the incredibly nice vocals of Sabine. That’s a reason as good as any. If you still aren’t convinced to check them out, you could always read my review of their latest album. That should do it. Anyways, I had quite a long chat with drummer Tobi about the usual stuff; penises, music, Sabine and NHL. So, dive into this one, bitch.

Global Domination: First things first. Exactly how much do you guys worship In Flames? Don’t you even dare to try to convince me that you are not huge fans of the Swedish metallers… Your sound gives it away to some degree. Agree? Disagree? Pedigree?

Tobi: Second things first – who are In Flames? Never heard of them. You say they´re from Sweden? Ok… Let me check their MySpace site, give me two minutes… Haha…. I have to admit that the mighty songwriters in Deadlock (Sebastian and me) listened to In Flames a lot when we started making music the way we do now. You know, since we’ve existed for ten years, you’ll notice that it´s the older releases of these Swedish metallers that could possibly have inspired our version of melodic, hard, rocking music.

So, for a band as good as yours, “Deadlock” is quite a shitty name. Who’s to blame for thinking that up anyways, and are you fully (emphasis on “fully”) satisfied with it? It sounds a bit too New Wave of American Bullshit Metal to me.

When we started the band 21 years ago, we’d been around for 11 years without having a official band name. It´s been a huge problem for us to find a fitting and catchy name and it took us 11 years to finally do so. So, how dare you to criticize it, my friend? We usually wanted to take “Project Hate”, but realized that there´s a band from Sweden with that name. I heard that they´re playing this NWOABM style… Do you know them? They are probbaly big fans of In Flames as well.

When I heard “Wolves”, I was almost floored thanx to some of the elements you use. While not saying that you are the best shit I have heard since Blümchen came out, you guys definitely have some good shit going on. You feel kinda fresh even though you are doing nothing new. How the hell does that add up together? Do you guys believe you are original in any way, shape, penis or form?

Thanks for your kind words, man. It´s good to hear that you know Blümchen. I really believe that we sound original, I don´t know any other band who´s playing exactly the same style. We´re doing nothing new, that´s true. But no band can create something new, everything has been done in the past anyway. As a band, you can try to find your own style to sound original and innovative though. Through Sabine we´re kind of unique, I think. She´s really inimitable…

While on the subject of her… Sabine’s got a fantastic voice, that’s for sure. None of that irritating operatic bullshit that most female vocalists think they can pull off. Where did you find her and have you guys made a move on her yet? You gotta treat the lady nice you know coz without her you guys would be a hella lot less interesting. How do you rate her compared to her colleagues anyways in the field of girls singing in metal bands?

We’ve collaborated with Sabine since our first album, “The Arrival”. We saw her perform with her band and were exalted by her voice. So we asked her to do guest vocals and some keyboard lines on our upcoming record. She agreed, and so our cooperation was born. We often thought about taking her into the band as a full member, but since she was working as a professional singer in so many bands, there was no chance for us to get her into Deadlock. 2 years ago she had a baby and had to quit the other bands… So we asked her, last year, if she could imagine to be a constant part of Deadlock, and work with us on the new album… You can hear her answer and see the result, now. We know, ofcourse, that we have to treat her very nicely and that she´s something close to a trademark for DL. I´m the only one who’s made a move on her so far. I´m married, but when we´re on tour with Sabine I can´t resist the temptation, you know. That´s a secret, so please don´t tell anybody, ok? To answer your last question… For me there´s no other female vocalist around with a similarly good voice like Sabine’s. Compared to her, they all lose. That´s my personal opinion.

And still while on the subject of Sabine, why the fuck didn’t you guys let her participate with a line or 2 on the new TPH album that we just recorded? Who the fuck do you guys think you are? Metallica? Oh, I forgot… Metallica sucks so I guess another band would be more fitting. But hey, answer the fookin’ question, goddamned rockstar-wannabe.

If you would be Metallica, maybe we would have thought about it. Since we spread the news about Sabine´s full time membership in DL and upon releasing the first song off the new album online, many band asked us if Sabine could appear on their releases. So you´re just one of a hundred, man… No, please understand that we want Sabine to start making an impact on this scene, but first – only on our new album. Maybe we can talk about it in the future, if TPH still exists after the flop of your new record. Oh, no… Won´t Sebastian have a guitar solo on it? So at least one song will be good, at least for a moment…

Suck my cock, cunt. Does it feel ok to be from Germany and finally be a band that produces something of value in these days of metal? Fuck knows Germany is mostly known for shitty power metal and nasty porn. Do you guys draw inspiration from any German bands? I can’t say I hear much of Kreator, Sodom or Destruction in what you do, and I’m fucken happy for that. What’s single-handedly the best fucken German band in the history of metal?

It definitely feels ok to be from Germany, although it seems that people don´t recognize you that way as if you´d be from Scandinavia, Australia, USA or anywhere else. Metalcore, Thrash Metal and Power Metal are the three big trademarks for Germany, with many bands, high selling rates and stuff. So it´s not that easy for a melodic death metal band to get that huge support from the press as other bands do, I´m afraid. Although I like some German power and thrash metal bands, I can say that we´re not influenced by any of them. If you´d call Rammstein metal, I would say that they´re the best and most successful metal act from Germany. If you say that they´re fucking popstars without the right to call themselves M.E.T.A.L, then I think Scorpions are the first band to name here. You´re loving me now, right? ;-)

Yeah, like a blister on my cock. So, while on the subject of German metal, rate these Swedish bands on a scale from 1-10, where 10 is naturally the highest point you can give out. Also, describe each band with one word that you seem fit.

One word… hmm… I write down my first thoughts of them, ok? One word for describing bands is not enough, dude.

Amon Amarth: 6 – Traditional. Dark Funeral: 6 – Fast. Grave: 7 – Underrated. Entombed: 7 – Legends. The Haunted: 8 – Rocking. Sabaton: 6 – Smoky. Leif Edling Orchestra: 5 – Candlemass. Unleashed: 6 – Old school.

I must say that the production on “Wolves” is fantastic, except for the little annoying fact that the drums are way too triggered, but I can live with that. Who handled the production duties? Where did you record and will you use this very same studio for the next effort, whenever that one is to be made?

We also love the production on “Wolves”, even the fact that the drums sound very triggered. I like clean and “non-dynamic” drums sounds… “Wolves” was recorded by our guitar player Sebastian in his very own studio, Slaughter’s Palace, where we did guitars, vocals, bass and keyboards. The drums have been recorded by Denis Richter in Gaia Studios. Jacob Hansen was responsible for the mixing and Ziggy at Zigzound did the mastering. It all worked very well and I guess we´ll do it the same way for our next album. But we´ll see, it’s all in the future.

That goddamned chorus of “We all shall bleed”... I recently decided I wanted it as the ringtone for my cellphone. Are you flattered? Who came up with those extremely catchy vocal lines anyways? I wanna work with that fucken person. I actually think I wanna sleep with that very human being. Is there a possibility that you guys can write nothing but choruses like that for the next album, coz if you do I will tattoo your logo on my ass.

We definitely feel coaxed if you have a DL-song as a ringtone for your cellphone! The vocal lines were arranged by Sabine herself. But don´t try to sleep with her – I will kick your ass, man (Note by The Lord: You and what fucken army?) . You know, I promised to take care of her and I´ll kill all fucking groupies who try to touch my baby! So better be aware… But as I said before, we can talk about a collaboration in the future. I absolutely would love to write a real pop-album, with nothing but sweet melodies and choruses, but since we´re a metal band we have to include some brutality and hard riffing, you know. The god of metal commands that of us. Hey, I definitely would love to see DEADLOCK on your ass, dude. So don´t hesitate to download our logo and go to your favourite tattoo studio. If you want, I could do the tattoo for you. I guess it wouldn’t be that professional, but I can do it cheap!

At the time of conducting this interview, I didn’t even know what the fuck you played in the band… Care to inform me? And then also, what kind of gear do you use? And I’m not talking about cars here.

Why do you want me to do this interview if you don´t know who I am? I should stop answering right here… I´m just too nice to stop though. So I’ll introduce myself: I’m Hans Meier, plays the trumpet. My gear is a Sonor T-223 with a golden mouthpiece that makes me feel like I’m giving a blowjob every time I’m playing my instrument. That´s amazing… If you´ll check our website now and look at a picture of me, you´ll notice that I just lied. I’ll clear things up and let you know that I’m playing the drums. Pearl Drums, Paiste cymbals, Tama pedals, Remo heads, Ritex condoms, Vic Firth sticks, Danke toilet paper, Remo heads and blablabla…

I seriously have a hard time coming up with questions here, is there anything you’d like to ask me for a change? It’s ok if you mention how fucken fantastic my band The Project Hate is while doing it.

What are you wailing about? I´m the fucking loser who has to think about the answers and waste my time on this sunny Sunday, trying to act funny and make the answers a good read at least since the questions suck as hell. You´re playing in The Project Hate? I didn’t know that… I’m speechless now. Can’t think of any questions I’d like to ask you… Wait.. I have one. Would you like to do an interview with us, I heard that you’re running a webzine… Would you be interested?

No. This “beauty and the beast” thing with vocalists of different genders have been used for years and years now. Some think it’s an abomination while others (I included) completely adore it, as long as the vocalists are good at what they do. What’s yer stance on this matter? Obviously you like the idea of having girls sing in metal bands, since you obviously have one in yours. What makes Deadlock’s “beauty and the beast” thing different compared to other bands who do this? If anything, that is.

We don´t care if anyone says that girls singing in metal bands suck. We love Sabine´s voice and find that it´s an enormous enhancement in quality and variety to our music. We never thought about that “beauty and the beast” thing. I can´t compare our male/female concept to other bands either. I don´t know any act who is doing it the way we do. Either the male vocalist is singing like a girl as well or the music itself is fucking boring. Please tell me if you´d know any bands who sound like we do, I’d probably be a fan of them. Furthermore, it´s been very crucial for us to have tits in the band. We love to see boobs bouncing on stage. The fact that she has a good voice is just a very positive side-effect.

One thing that I don’t dig at all about “Wolves” is the inclusion of “To where the skies are blue”. That tune does nothing for me. It’s not like it’s needed to show off Sabine’s skills or whatever either since she obviously proves to have some real sweet vocal capacity in the rest of the tunes. What the fuck are you guys trying to do, become the next Evanescence?

Definitely yes, we’re trying to be Evanescence and show them that we´re better than them. That´s the only reason why “To where the skies are blue” is on the album. They already wrote us and asked if we could trade Sabine for their singer, since we sell way more copies of our new album than what they have with all of their releases combined. But we didn’t agree, so they can see themselves in the row with everyone else requesting Sabine’s appearance on their records. As I said before, we´ll be doing a pop-album next. It’ll sound like Kelly Clarkson and stuff. So, you can create a new band like “The Project Deadlock Hate“or something like that, and we don´t care. But to be honest, “To Where The Skies Are Blue” is completely written by Sabine. She should get an own song on the record and I’m a big fan of it. Because Joe has a “solo-song” in “Loser’s Ballet”, we decided to have a solo thing by Sabine as well. I will tell her that you don´t like her work, so chances for a guest appearance on one of YOUR releases are getting smaller and smaller. You better shut up.

I haven’t heard anything from you guys prior to “Wolves”. How does your older material rank up to what you are doing today? Will I like it, you think? How’s the progression in the band been over the years, both playing wise and writing wise?

It´s been a long process and a constant advancement during all these years. We made big steps from album to album, in technical as well as songwriting aspects. I can´t listen to the older material now. Except for our last album, “Earth.Revolt”, which is still sounding ok to me. Our style has changed from release to release, but we have developed some typical DL-elements that you can hear on every album. These trademarks make you sure that you are listening to Deadlock when you put one of our cd’s into your player.

Who’s the leader of the band anyways? The one who makes sure that you guys sound as good as you do? The one with the last word when it comes to discussions about Deadlock? Don’t give me any bullshit about you guys being a democracy and bla bla… There’s always someone pulling the strings in the end. And it’s fucken needed as well, you know. This is metal, not kindergarten.

Sebastian is our main songwriter, so he’s responsible for our sound. Sabine and me are arranging some last details in the songs, but Seb is the chief when it comes to music. I’m organizing all the other things; management, finances, contacts with our label, our booking agency, merchandise, final decisions (and so much more) is incumbent on me. A leader is needed, that´s a true fact, and I’m holding that office…. Not always an easy job, but there´s nobody else who could do that since my bandmates are fucking impotent, all of them.

Who of you guys gets laid more often? I’m curious coz we at GD have some staffers that might wanna help out the one who’s not getting any poontang on a regular basis. Bottom line is (or could be): Is metal better than sex?

Metal ain’t better then sex, man! Metal means work for us. Sex is fun! We´d better quit our jobs… Every support from you guys is welcomed. We´re always searching for nice guys with big cocks and accessible “posterns”, if you know what I mean.

I seriously have no fucken idea what a “postern” is, but hey, I’m not German, thank god. Have you guys ever seen any royalty checks? Seriously… If you did, what did you spend them on? You better say “crack” and “whores”... How many albums do you guys sell anyways? Are you big in Germany? Do you even fucken care?

All the money we´re getting through royalties, merchandise and fees has always been re-invested in new merch-stuff, stage equpiment and stuff like that. I won´t tell you any numbers, but I can proudly say that we sold quite a lot of copies of our last album, although we haven´t played a big tour yet. The sales always could be better/higher, no matter how much you have sold, you know. In the end we´re pretty satisfied as is the label, so everything’s cool. Our status in Germany… Phew… It’s hard to estimate for me. I think we have a demanding position, as we’ve never been a part of any hype or trend. We´re aware of the fact that we´re playing too ambitious music for some people, though we’re quite popular and well known, I think. We play good and big shows/festivals, have a lot of real fans and can´t bewail the progression during the last years. But I have to admit that we probably wouldn’t give a fuck if this wasn’t the case. We love what we do as long as we are assured of what we do. Music is a passion for us and we won´t give up until we lose that passion, or have to because of unfortunate circumstances.

The downloading issue is a huge thing these days. I can safely say that I wouldn’t have discovered you lot if it wasn’t for the fact that I got hold of yer album over the net. What’s your take on this? I got the album for free. I think it’s ok in my case to get albums for free like that since people download my own albums anyways. People who do not record their own records and still download should be shot though. Agree? The internet is a lovely thing.

It’s a difficult topic. I’m really not into that downloading thing and I hate to have burned cd’s or tracks. I can´t listen to them… But that´s very personal, indeed. I can’t “love” albums that I haven´t bought, including artwork, jewel case and stuff. I don´t like the fact that everyone’s able to download full albums of every band around. The internet is fucking lovely, you´re right, and it´s great for bands to get known by people you probably wouldn’t reach without that platform. It would be ok for me if everyone would use the online-services to check out some samples or single tracks of a band to get an idea of the music they´re playing. Then they should go out and buy the records!

I was thinking, would you guys be interested in joining our forums? We only host the best of the best of the best (and some shit) so you guys would fit right in. I bet you have a skanky looking forum somewhere that no one visits anyways. Why don’t you guys come over to GD for? You’ll like it here and being on the best fucken site in the universe will surely get you guys some more well-deserved attention. Just tell me you want in and I’ll sort it. I’m cool like that.

Thank you so much for this offer, my amicable master. We don´t have a forum hosted anywhere. So we should think about this unique opportunity. Let´s talk about it further by email, ok? Probably you only wanna make money with our famous name…

Obviously you guys are quite decent at yer instruments… Rate all the members in Deadlock according to their individual skills. Use the 1-10 scale and don’t pussy out on me here.

Ok, I’ll try to judge all members including me with my unbelievable functional expertise:

Sebastian: 10. Sabine: 10. Joe: 8. Tom: 7. Gert: 7. Tobi: 6.

This is question 21. What NHL player is the only one worthy of having this number on his jersey?

Peter Forsberg. He´s really good and should play for the Penguins instead of the fucking Flyers.

Impressive. A German who knows something about NHL... Why is it that Germany can’t bring some decent players into the league? Uwe Krupp? Get the fuck out of here. Olaf Kölzig? Right… You love the NHL, don’t you?

I’ve been playing hockey for many years and if I wouldn’t have been injured, I’d probably play in the NHL and show these cracks, what a real slapshot is. I really don´t know what´s going on with German players right now. Maybe it´s better you ask our singer Joe… He´s working as the manager of the pro-team “Eisbären Regensburg” (second national league).

I almost forgot… If people who never heard you guys wanted to check you out, what single tune is best representing Deadlock?

I think, they should check out “Code of Honor” or “We shall all bleed”. Both songs represent our current style and should be worth listening to.

I’m getting fucken beat here and need to shower, is there anything you’d like to reveal that I might have forgotten about? Maybe yer cup-size?

Fuck off, man. I feel like I’ve written a book. I never did such a long interview. You asked everything that needed to be asked. Except “how would you describe your style of music” or “please tell us some words about the band´s history” hahaha… And please don’t, I’ve heard those questions too often. I wanna stop now and I don´t have anything more to say.

I sincerely hope you have been fucken enjoying yourself during this interview. If you haven’t, I’ll slap your ass when I’m touring Germany. What’s next in store for Deadlock anyways? Any gigs planned? Wanna play Sweden? I do run a club you know.

I said you shall stop now. I´m really pissed at this point and hate you for your stupid questions. Seriously, I enjoyed doing this extraordinary interview and had great fun answering your questions! More interviews should be done this way. Maybe you should work for some big metalzines or radio stations… We´ll play a lot of shows in the next weeks, we will also appear on several summer festivals, plan a tour for the end of the year, maybe get a forum for our website and so on. We´d really love to play Sweden, but NOT in your club. I heard, that you´re only inviting bands you really hate to rip them off. We better play somewhere else. No, please let me know, if you want us to rock your venue. We´ll sort it out then.

Promise me you’ll never play Wacken. Wacken can go fuck itself. If I send you matches, can you burn it down for me?

What´s up, man? Didn’t they want your band to play there and you´re trying be added to the bill again and again? Let me know…

I almost made it to 30 questions, congratulations to you and YAY for me. Round this fucken thing up now and lemme just tell you that you better have spent some hours on this interview or I’ll go apeshit. Cheers, fucko.

Fuck, Ive been sitting here for five hours now. Shiiiiiit!!! I really hope that millions of readers will check this crap out and then buy our album after reading it. Thank you my master, it´s been really cool and I hope we´ll meet in person soon. You’re a cool guy! Take care.

Deadlock’s website.