German thrash veterans Destruction are delivering a treat for fans stuck at home and unable to attend live shows: “Born To Thrash – Live In Germany” is the band’s first live album with the current line-up and will be released digitally on May 8th and physical versions on CD and vinyl on July 17th. We talk to frontman Schmier about the new live release and how it came to be.
We start our conversation with the obvious that’s affecting the world right now, the frontman giving us some great insight into how Germany and Europe has dealt with the problem and how recovery is slowly on it’s way with things starting to look positive before we continue further in the interview.
Andrew: I’m sure Destruction has been affected with all the touring being cancelled and postponed right?
Schmier: Yeah exactly, that’s how we came up with the live album basically because our tour got cancelled. We were supposed to start the tour when covid came up, we finished our first part of the European tour. Our Italian show got cancelled, that’s when the covid started and the the second part of the tour that was supposed to start a couple of weeks later but it got cancelled and then the shit hit the fan and all the festivals started to cancel and now our whole schedule this year is fucked up because we were supposed to come to Asia and Australia in September, also United States and South America, everything got postponed until next year. So basically we were supposed to promote the new album as it’s not that old yet but we couldn’t tour yet so that’s why we came up with the live album that we recorded last summer actually by accident, it was a very spontaneous recording and it turned out so good that, why don’t we use this time to bring out a live album because it’s a way to connect with the fans. We give something to the fans, we connect with the fans, we get some income and something to do and now I’m sitting here doing interviews. I’m busy, I’m not sitting home being depressed! It was a much important thing to do and I think it was a great decision with the live album because the reactions have been great from the fans and also because we did an unusual way that we release the album this Friday on streaming portals everywhere and the physical release takes time because it takes time to produce vinyl and everything. So there’s two release dates, the first one this Friday and then in the summer in July the physical product will come out.
Andrew: It’s obviously a great idea to have the album come out in place of the touring that you originally had planned but what I like about this release that you are doing is also the fact you have made it interactive with the fans where you are letting fans let you know where they have seen Destruction live.
Schmier: Yeah the plan was we wanted to make something special on this release so why don’t we make this interactive map where people can put their first Destruction performance in and put their name, the date of the performance and the country. We didn’t know how it would be received but the reactions were great and we were at the point where the webmaster called me up and said, ‘Dude you already have 1500 people contributing! It’s getting tight for the map, how are we going to do this.’ So at the end it was almost 2000 people that write [in] and 1500 will be on the poster. There was also other people writing the wrong things, some people didn’t read everything right and they wrote ‘I saw Destruction 2020’ which is not really possible because we didn’t tour much in 2020. So at the end it was a great thing and what came along with this of course is that people are on social media posting all their pictures and old concert tickets or telling old stories from back in the day so it was a lot of memories coming back right down memory lane. It kind of made a little sweet taste into this covid-19 situation.
I had this idea when I was locked down on holidays because I flew out on holidays after the tour and then the lock down started and I was locked on the island and there was no more people left. Me and my girlfriend and a few people were the only ones left because there was no more flights going nowhere and then I was like, ‘Ok we’re stuck on this island’. It’s a beautiful island but it doesn’t really matter because we have no job, we have no income, we didn’t know how to get home and then I came up with this idea of the live album. We already had this live album in the studio because we already gave it to the studio last summer to make a rough mix of it and then I called the studio guys to mix it. I called up the label and everything and they said you have to release it right away and while it’s mixed you’ll have to not promote the album the normal way for 3 months, it takes too long. You have to announce it on social media and get it out for the streaming people so people have something positive in these times of no concerts. This was a good plan because it was received well but the trouble with a live album, normally we record several shows and we choose a longer setlist, put some songs that we haven’t played in a while to give the fans something special. But also then what happens is you cut several shows together, you choose the best songs and it’s never a whole show overall, that’s the problem with too much technology nowadays. This show that we release now is 55 minutes of pure Destruction, it’s a whole show, no cuts, there’s no interruptions, there’s no fade in/fade out. It’s a really honest best of Destruction, there is some new songs on this one. So I think it’s something cool for the fans and hopefully it helps everyone get over this covid-19 depression.
Andrew: It’s a great idea and I had a preview of the album before you called me up and it sounds fantastic. Sonically, production wise it’s got all the trademarks of what Destruction sounds like so it’s a good little release.
Schmier: Yeah and of course some fans complain on social media that they’re missing their favorite songs but you have to understand this was a live performance at a big German festival with 55 minutes so we kick it out there and that’s what we did. The good thing is we have 3 video clips coming along with it, the first one being released on Friday already so people can have some visuals with it. We don’t have the whole DVD thing, we didn’t record the whole show but there was a film team filming us for a movie and they filmed a little bit of the show and we’re going to release that also for promotion of the live album.
Andrew: Oh cool! Obviously Destruction has released live albums in the past so did you have any sort of idea on what you wanted to particularly do with this one or was it just get it out there quick and that’s it?
Schmier: No we knew we wanted to do better than on the last live albums because on the last live album we got a lot of complaints because we were cutting 3 different shows together. We were cutting a show from Japan, a show from Los Angeles and one more into one double live album and when fans complained and said, ‘Yeah it sounds good but it’s not in one shot. I don’t like fade in/fade outs on the live album’. Also we kind of let Jacob Hansen produce the album and mix it and he made it sound a little bit too good so we said in the end we have to learn from the mistakes, release it from one shot, it has to be rough, people want an edgier sound. Also we did not retouch it, in my vocals for example I’m mixing up the vocal parts in “Bestial Invasion”. It’s the little stuff that isn’t planned that’s real, it’s what makes a live album special so I think that’s what we learned from the last time. Of course this is the first live album with the new lineup and 2 guitarists since 1989 or 1988 where the last live Destruction album had 2 guitarists so that’s something unique that we haven’t released in a long time.
“Born To Thrash” available on iTunes & Spotify now
Andrew: Now you had that on the last studio album “Born To Perish” as well and that came out sometime last year so what’s the feedback been like on that album so far?
Schmier: Yeah I think it’s the best reaction we’ve had in a long time for a new album. People were of course surprised that we had a new guitar player and there was a new lineup that was strong and the songs are cool. I don’t know the last time we had such great reactions on the songs live was maybe 2001 when “The Antichrist” album came out so people really like the new songs. It was also funny to see on the internet that some people wrote that the tracklist on the live album that they wouldn’t mind some new songs, ‘Oh they don’t play “Inspired By Death, it’s not on the live album, too bad’. So it’s an honour that people demand new songs so I think that I’m looking forward to getting back on the road at one point when this covid-19 runs out and present this to the fans, this new live album. Because everybody is already asking me now in interviews, ‘Hey are you guys planning a new record and writing a new album’, and I’m like, ‘Wait a second, we’ve only just got an album out, we haven’t even promoted it yet and I want to play those songs live now from this album’. It’s not going this fast but we’re going to come to this point in summer and we’re going to be bored at home and not be able to play and we’re going to start writing and see what comes out of it. You have to be in the mood for writing but I’m sure we’re going to be productive when we can but at the moment I don’t think about new albums.
Andrew: No “Born To Perish” is still pretty new, especially to a lot of fans. But taking this out on the road, and maybe it’s going to be difficult to answer but do you have any idea on when you think you might be back on tour again?
Schmier: I just talked to my booking agent and he said it looks like certain countries are going to open up much earlier than expected and some countries are going to be on lock down longer so now you have to do some patching and adjust certain things. It might be possible that smaller festivals that have 5000 or 1000 people might happen this summer so not all is lost. There’s been new hope out here, we had one tour booked for November and December in Europe that 100 percent will happen. Beside that everybody else cancelled, we have the cancelled North America tour and postponed for February now, our Latin America promoters just cancelled the tour and postponed for next year. Also an Australian and Asian leg was supposed to be September got postponed and we haven’t got new dates yet but I think now that everybody is getting more positive advice from the government, I think 2021 will line up quick. Maybe some shows will happen this year, that will of course be amazing.
I just got the news also from the girls that I manage in Burning Witches, they had a tour with Ross The Boss postponed and a new tour just got announced today for October/November I think so it seems like something is happening. I mean you never know, there could be a second wave of this bullshit in winter but at the moment you gotta look at the positive aspect and stay positive about everything. I’m hoping we can get back to as close as normal as possible, it’s not going to be back as it was but at least we have to get our lives back and our jobs back. Hopefully the world will have learned from this and I’m hoping we can have some positive aspects out of this covid-19 crisis. In Germany for instance the cars on the street wants to have help from the government now but it only makes sense when we help people to spread the cars like electric cars, if the new thing will be an electric car is a must in the future and people start selling those fucking poisonous cars that kill our environment, then the covid-19 has at least one good thing. Of course the other aspect is the electric car is better I believe at least for our environment it’s for sure a thing to have as I see how much the world recovers at the moment when there’s no cars on the street, it’s lovely.
Andrew: It’s all been a learning experience and I think as you said, hopefully when we come out the other side of this that everyone will learn something very valuable in the hope for a better future for the world.
Schmier: Yeah it’s just about the little things in life like having your friends and stuff. Sometimes you appreciate the little things more, you couldn’t give anybody a huge anymore, hugging became more important again all of a sudden. You got to appreciate the little things in life and sometimes humans forget about this, we get too much of a routine in our life and maybe this covid was a good thing for us to wake up again and say, ‘Hey we’re all humans, we have to stick together and we have to work together first of all. This is something we have to learn from this, that we’re one world and not different countries and hopefully we’re going to have a good impact even if it’s a difficult time.
Andrew: Definitely, well it’s certainly a time to remember and to learn as well. It’s been an absolute pleasure as always to be speaking to you and the new live album sounds fantastic as you always do. We really hope we get to see you in Australia again, maybe next year.
Schmier: Yeah I hope we can present the new live album with 2 guitars and kick some ass in Oz, we always love to come and I think the possibilities are looking pretty good to come next year with a new record and the second guitarist to kick some ass.
“Born To Thrash” available on iTunes & Spotify now
