11 minute read
Brainstorm
BRAINSTORM: Climbing
Above The Wall Of Skulls
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Interview by Ken Morton
Wall Of Skulls by Brainstorm is the 13th epic release from this famed German heavy metal collective, and it’s a thrilling sonic adventure well worth seeking out. Featuring the mesmerzing vocals of Andy B. Franck and produced by Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann of Orden Ogan infamy, Wall Of Skulls presents Brainstorm in their finest hour! Highwire Daze recently interviewed the one and only Mr. Andy B. Franck to find out more about the story behind Walls Of Skulls, and working not only with Seeb from Orden Ogan but Peter “Peavy” Wagner of Rage as well on the album. Also discussed was Andy B. Franck’s time spent within the ranks of Symphorce and more! Read on...
Is there any overall story or concept behind that title Wall Of Skulls?
No, not really. It’s just the idea I had months ago when Torsten our guitarist came to me and said he wanted to have a title which was really catchy, which sounds really heavy. And I had this idea about Wall Of Souls, which is really more less what I think happens in all our minds – especially over the last couple of years with all this social media stuff and all the religious problems we have in the Far East for example. You could take a look down at Israel and Palestine for example – you have dead bodies on both sides every time – so it’s people getting killed because of rockets – because of bombs and everything. There’s so much hate and anger and fear – everything on both sides – they’re really not able to talk to each other anymore. I have no idea what will happen in the future, because they’ve built up a wall in their head – no one is able to climb above it. And I call this wall a Wall Of Skulls because it’s built out of dead bodies. So that’s more or less the idea behind the album title. But it’s no concept album.
Let’s talk about some of the songs and some of people you worked with on Wall Of Skulls. Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann of Orden Ogan was the producer – what was it like working with him?
I’ve known Seeb for many years now. To me, it’s my third album working with him, and for Brainstorm it’s the second – and I think what makes the big difference working with Seeb to all the other guys we’ve already worked with is that you can call him a real producer. I think the real difference is that more or less he becomes the sixth member of the band for the time we’re in the studio. He’s not just sitting there behind
the mixing desk saying, “Okay, let’s start recording. So, it’s good. No, it’s not. Try again.” For example, what I’ve had, there was somebody sitting behind the mixing desk saying, “Okay, Andy, that was good. Could you do another one?” “Yeah, okay I can do another one.” “Yeah, that was good” and I would “No, it wasn’t good!” If you call yourself a producer, you have to work with the band. It is work! Nothing more – nothing less. You should take care about the band. So, this is what Seeb is really doing – he’s listening to the songs very carefully. He knows the songs before we go into the studio. This is really important. He knows exactly what is going on and he tells you what he likes or what he dislikes. It’s fun, it’s amazing to make – but sometimes it’s definitely tough anyway! (Laughs)
Sometimes there were instances where I was “Okay, it sounds good to me. It sound perfect!” And he’d say “No, it’s not good.” With the computers, you can just work on the tuning, but you cannot work on the feeling. And that’s the main difference. And he left you standing in this booth so long recording this one simple sentence – recording it over and over again for 1 ½ hours – and I was so angry after a while. But after a while he said, “Now you’re angry enough and now it sounds good!” (Much laughter)
Seeb also performs on the song Turn Off The Light. Tell me about the inspiration behind that song and having Seb perform on it.
You know, the funny thing is, we haven’t done this is so many years – since I’m in the band we’ve never had a guest musician on an album. We’ve always wanted to have a guest musician on it. Then I told Seeb about it and then he asked me who I would want to have to be part of the album. We talked about people from the US, from Great Britain, from Sweden. And he said “Okay, Andy, the funny story is really you’re talking about so many musicians from all over the world, but a German metal icon lives more or less next to the studio, and you guys have known each other since so many years. Why don’t we ask him?” And I said, “Okay, do you think that’s possible?” And then we called him, and Peter “Peavy” Wagner of Rage just said “Yes, I’m fine with it.” And Peavy did his part on Escape The Silence.
When this was done, I looked at Seeb and said “Now we have an old German metal icon being featured on the album. But now I would like to have a modern one – a new one – a guy that people have known for 4-5-6 years ago.” And then he looked at me and said, “Like who are you talking about?” And I said, “Seeb, come on. Do not ask silly questions if you don’t want to have a silly answer.” Then he looked at me and said, “What’s next?” And I said, “Now you will go inside, and you will record, and I will kick your ass!” (Laughs) What came out at the end is just amazing. To be very honest, it makes me absolutely very proud – and it fits really 100 percent. or less “I will turn off the light and then you are alone, and you will have the fight your own demons.” It made so much sense – and to me it’s one of my favorite tracks of all time on Brainstorm history.
You mentioned Escape The Silence. Let’s talk more about what it was like working with Peavy.
Peavy is really a German metal icon. Peavy is really this kind of guy – you must love, or you must hate him. In Germany we call him an original. He really is an original. He takes no prisoners – he tells you exactly what’s on his mind – whatever comes to his mind, he tells you – he lets you know! If he hates you, he’ll tell you. If he loves you, he’ll tell you. To me, that’s just so cool – as we’ve known each other for so many years – and then having him sing on the album is such a great feeling to me. This makes so much sense to me because this is something that happened because of friendship. It wasn’t a decision just because of selling records or promotion – it really happened because of friendship. And that are really cool!
The lyrics are really very dark, because it’s about a guy called Blaise Ferrage, and lived in the Southern part of France in the 18th century – and he killed many people and started to eat them. That was a very dark time for the French people down there, because they did not know what was going on, and in the end, he came to the villages and took the people and brought them away. After years, they found so many dead bodies all over the hills. It was very dark times. It was just one girl – she survived this, and she escaped the darkness and escaped the silence. So that’s it.
The lyrics are more less written from two sides. It’s about all the religious stuff – what happens when all the walls are closing in, and they leave you alone. And the master says more
Ambiguity, your debut album for Brainstorm, had its 20th anniversary last year. Looking back, what you think of that particular album and the fact that you’ve done anything for
20 years and counting?
Ambiguity, that’s a long time ago. It was the time when I just started my own band Symphorce at the same time. And then I got this phone call that there’s some cool guys living next to my hometown searching for a new singer. And I was really like, okay, so then I listened to their... I think was their second album, and I thought, okay it doesn’t sound too bad. And then we met each other for the first time in their practicing room. And the funny thing is they started to play the song, Beyond My Destiny, and they had no, no vocal lines. No nothing, but I started to sing on it, just with not really words, no real lyrics. And then we came out in the end. It’s really more or less let’s say 90% of what you have on the album as the vocal lines. And there were some friends of us in the practice room, they said, “this sounds amazing, the voice fits perfect to the music” and I was like, “okay, do you really think so?” It was a beginning of a now long-lasting friendship, let’s say this. So, it’s amazing.
But I still think that Crush Depth, the opening track, is definitely one of the heaviest songs we’ve ever written, It’s so really intense. It’s so in your face. It’s so aggressive. And I do remember the time when we’ve been on tour, I think it must have been the tour we play together with Armored Saint from the old days. And every night we started our set with Crush Depth, with this song, and I screamed out my lungs just for this song, I loved it. But for the next two, three songs, I was totally dead. I love the song, so I screamed the hell out of it. It was good times.
When you look back on your time with your other band Symphorce, what do you think of all that music now in retrospect?
With Symphorce, the dream for me came true for me to be very honest. And I always had this dream to form my own band. And I always wanted to play music as diverse as possible. And I think we reached this. I still think that the albums like Become Death and Twice Second are totally highlights in my career to be very honest. I’m so proud of these albums. Sometimes when I look at the old recordings, the DVDs, for example, the live shows - I do see such a heavy band, all long hair, full hair, always head banging, we looked like sex monsters to be very honest. We looked really good. We were cool. But I think for the main audience, the music was a little bit too diverse. Some said, yeah, it is too heavy, said others said, it’s too melodic. A good friend of mine, he bought the Become Death album and then he called me and said, “Okay, more or less, I can throw away my entire CD collection.” And I was like, “so why should you do that?” And he said, “Yeah, because in Symphorce, I have it all.” This was, in one way, an honor. On the other way, it showed me exactly the problem we had. hairspray metal heads, we’ve been too thrashy or whatever. But at the end, to be very honest, I never expected to bring my own band around the globe. And this is what I did. We played several tours. We also played in the U.S. It was just one show, but we did it. We did way more than I ever expected. And I think I made my partners in crime really proud as well. And I think we’ve done a good job. It was sad after 7 albums that we have to quit, but if you have nothing to say anymore, you should not record anything more. I think with the seventh album, everything was said and done, but I’m still proud of it. I’m still listening to those albums. Nobody can take this away from me. It was a cool experience definitely.
Do you have any messages for Brainstorm fans out here in the States?
Of course. We do receive so many emails and messages from the fans, or from the States to be very honest. And it’s a shame for us that we haven’t been over for so many years now. But I can tell you that it is definitely one of our main goals for 2022, and for the entire Wall Of Skulls tour, that we will be back in the States because it always has been, and will be always my dream to play an entire Tour all over the U.S. From east coast to that west coast, and the only thing I can say so far, thank you so much for their support over all these years. And I can tell them, listen to and get your copy of Wall Of Skulls.. To me, a stunning album to be very honest.
For the thrash metalheads, we’ve been the softies. For the
