German Death by Dissonance called themselves for a modern metal band. I can agree but I hear much old deathmetalinfluences here too. The interview was done in june 2020.

Please tell me a little bit history of the group?

-Death by Dissonance was founded in 2013, at that time with a slightly different cast. We already made music in different constellations before but with Death by Dissonance we wanted everything to be “more serious” this time. We formed a lineup and quickly achieved some popularity in the local scene with our first shows. From the beginning we wanted a band with two front singers. With the Release of the Antisyndrome EP in 2017 we released our first recordings. DbD is also closely associated with the crew around the band and celebrates shows, excess and musical creativity with them. After a bad setback, the death of our guitarist Nico, we released our first album Epitaph by the end of 2019. We are back on stage with our new family member Robin for some time now and are very hungry for rehearsals, shows and songwriting.

Please tell me a little about every member in the group right now, age, family, work, interests and something bad about everyone? Earlier bands? Other bands on the side? What happened to Nicolai?

-Jona: 26, studies audiovisional media and is doing his masterthesis about audio, acoustics & artificial intelligence. Loves to listen to music als well as making music by himself, he is also a producer of electronic music as „Jona Davis“. As he says, his zest for action can sometimes be annoying as well as his and Deans stupid ideas, when they get drunk.

Johannes: Age 24, music producer / mixing engineer. Interests outside of music: chess, red dead redemption 2, skateboarding like a god.

Dean: 25, Carpenter, like to go camping with his girlfriend and VW Beetle, nature man, can ignore everything around him very well and can't spend an evening with Jona without getting drunk in the end.

Max: 27, educator and interested in hiking or being outside in general, Tavla, eating good food, Krav Maga and of course beer. He claims to be annoying everyone else with his unreliability, sometimes he's a lazy dog! Before DBD he did vocals for another band with a few guys from my school called Naturtrüb. That was their first musical attempt, “we had little ideas, but really wanted metal”!

Robin: 30, is a Media designer for reasons of survival and a passionate bartender. Otherwise he loves to drink, music and drink a little more. Before being a Part of Death by Dissonance, he used to take part in various bands and projects.

Jan: 27, studies classical Music and conducts an sings in different choirs and plays in Orchestras. Nearly his whole life is all about music, although he's politically active, enjoys drinking just as much as all the others and loves being out in nature, if there is any time left. Is also called the „Bandhitler“ because of his very strict ideas, how something and especially DbD should sound.

Nicolai increasingly suffered from depression and the influences of the material world. DbD have always been a perfect place to turn that off. Unfortunately, Nico decided not to continue his life at last. That hit us all very hard.

I can hear much different influences but mostly old death metal music? Favorites from the past?   You call it modern death metal?

-Actually there are few concrete old school death metal influences that are part of the songwriting. At least, there is a certain roughness which is typical for the sound of DbD that is also part of many old school death metal sounds. Since there are also elements across other genres we are transporting traditional death metal into something new.

Death by Dissonance are you satisfied with the name? How did it came up?

-We really like the band name. I think Jan came up with the idea and we found the name pretty cool right away. It’s actually quite shocking how well the name fits, considering what happened to Nicolai.

What´s the best thing with playing live?

-During the shows there’s an insane energy in the venue, between us and the crowd. Every show is unique and therefore it’s a great experience every time. We’re in love with all the people at our concerts, so it’s great to meet new people and catching up with friends.

And where is best to play? And the worst place?

-There’s no bad place to play a show! We already played in many different locations. Playing open air shows is very cool, but so are the small club shows where the band and the crowd are very close.

How is to play this sort of music in Germany right now?  Which types of bands do you have concerts together with? 

-We have an incredible large and diverse metal scene in Germany, no matter what your preferences are, you will always find a band that fits your taste. In our hometown Stuttgart there is a lively hard core scene and besides us also a bunch of other bands playing metalcore, death metal and modern metal.

How would you describe your music in three words?

-Raging, bleak and heavy. Sometimes also emotional.

What does punk mean to you, is it only a word or is it a lifestyle?  I know you´re not a punkband but I think deathmetal and thrashmetal isn´t so far away from punk in some ways?

-Punk has many different meanings to people, so it’s lived individualism. For us it means living the way you really are and saying out loud what you think not being led by constructs like state, capitalism and materialism. And sometimes maybe it’s just sitting at the bar all night, having a good times with friends drinking as much beer as possible. And then stumbling home in the early morning with a strong alcohol breath and sunglasses on.

Which song/album or group was it who took you into music and to play music yourself?

-That’s a far variety of bands and artists for each of us. Ranging from Green Day, Black Sabbath, Suicidal Tendencies and KoRn to Tchaykovski or Bach.

What shall a young guy do today to shock their parents as the way we did when we were young? They have already seen everything ;-)?

-Be away for 3 days and turn off your cell phone. When you come back, climb drunk on the roof at night because you don’t find the house key. Also our drummer Vougi says he’ll never forget the look on his grandma’s face when he told her he’s going vegan.

If you’re cool with your parents, just take them with to show the middle finger to the world!

How is it to live in Germany right now? Politically?   Fascists?  The Coronavirus?

-Living in Germany is quite comfortable, but the political shift to the right in Europe also exists in Germany. Sadly, we have problems with racism, antisemitism and sexism here. The alt-right movement managed to shift the whole political discourse far more to the right wing than it should be here ever again.

About the corona virus: From a political point of view, the virus leads to many conspiracy theories, which are often a breeding ground for dangerous right-wing movements.

Is there any good bands from Germany right now?  Is the punkscene/metalscene/hardcorescene big? How is it in your hometown?

-There’s several very good bands that play similar styles as ours. The most recognized ones would be Heaven Shall Burn, Caliban or Neaera. But there’s also strong newcomers such as our friends in Unredd, who just released a really sick album. Other great bands are Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Deathrite and Downfall of Gaia.

We have a pretty strong scene in Germany and we especially love the scene in our home base in Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart.

What do you know about Sweden?  Have you been here sometime?

-We heard that buying alcohol without financially ruining yourself is absolutely impossible. Apart from this Sweden is a beautiful country, has a very friendly and calm vibe. Jona and Johannes have already been to Sweden on holiday and really enjoyed their time.

Have you heard any good bands from Sweden?

-We don’t know where to start, there are so many great bands from Sweden! In Flames, Meshuggah, Bloodbath, Soilwork, Entombed, Disfear, Morbid, Dödsrit, Skitsystem, Grave,...

Your lyrics, who does them and what influences you?  You sing in german sometimes, why not always german??

-Jona and Max write the lyrics. We process the darker sides of life, often in a metaphorical way. It does serve as a valve for all the negative energy you have to face in life. We never had the discussion to limit ourselves to one language. We think sometimes the English words are the better fit for a certain expression, and sometimes it’s the German ones.

Is there any subject that you never will write anything about?

-There won’t be any “peace, joy and pancakes”-songs for us, the world is way too fucked up for that. Also you’ll never hear any of that patriotic shit from us.

Politic and music, does it goes hand in hand?  Which is your most political song?  Is it important to get out your opinions in music?

-In our music we express what concerns us: Emotions, Angerand also social or political issues. We have some songs that thematize political issues, hard to say which is the “most political” track. There is, for example, “We Are The Rats”, which deals with the subject of gentrification, “Spit on you”, a Song about police brutality or “Slaughterhouse”, which is about animal rights.

Best political band/artist?

-There are many great Bands, some of them international known, some of them from Germany in very different genres: Ton Steine Scherben, Rio, Waving the Guns, NoFX, Hanns Eisler, Rise Against.

Do you think that music(lyrics and so on) can change anyones life, I mean people who listens to music?

-Sure! Music can act as an amplifier for whatever emotions you might feel or sometimes even change your mood completely. If it can change the way you feel, there’s no doubt it will affect whatever you’re going through in life! Especially combined with strong lyrics!

Your favorite recordcover alltime?  Who does your recordcovers?  And do you have any good recordstores in your hometown?

-Deep Blue by Parkway Drive, The Dusk in us by Converge or Meta by Car Bomb are great artworks.

Our Guitarplayer Robin did the Artwork for our Album! He’s a graphic designer so that’s not too surprising. He took some cool shots of Regina (our merch-mannequin) and we really liked how the photos looked so we put them on the cover. We think that it’s a good visual fit. And it makes sense metaphorically, since we dedicated the album to Nicolai, who was also the one that got us the mannequin and styled it.

There are two great record stores in Stuttgart, Cheap Trash Records and Second Hand Records.

Is it important to get out physical records of your stuff? Why or why not? Vinyl, CD, cassette, what do you prefer if you could choose whatever ?

-Yes, it is absolutely  important to us to offer physical recordings. In addition to all the streaming services, it is also great to hold a CD in your hand or flip through a booklet. After producing an album it is a great feeling to have the final product as something haptic. Our singer Max also likes tapes, but there are probably not enough people interested in tapes or records that it would make sense for us to produce them.

Please tell me a funny thing which have happened during your career and under some gig?

-One time we rented a van to drive to Weimar to play a show. After hours of fun and driving, we finally arrived but weren’t allowed to enter the venue for some odd reason. So we went for food and drinks, taking a tour through the city. On returning, we set up and started playing. The room was quite small and packed with people. After a few songs, there was the most insane moshpit I’ve ever seen in my life, a pool of blood, picture frames falling from the walls, a guy being thrown into my drumset, it was pure violence. And then the power went out. We somehow got it back on and continued. Then the power went out again, and no one there was really trying to help us fix it. Then there was some serious tension between one of us and the guy at the bar, which ended in some mean words, spitting and us being thrown out. We ended up driving all the way back to Ludwigsburg the same night. I’m not sure if that counts as a funny thing, but it was an unusual concert experience for sure! I still have a cymbal with some guys blood on it from that night.

Another time we played at a band contest in our early years and got disqualified, because Nicolai wanted to play totally naked, which was his form of artistic expression that evening. Everyone in the Audience loved it, except for the judges.

How does your audience look like? Which people do you miss on your concerts? Which is the biggest band you ever have played together with?

-We have a very diverse audience: Metalheads, Punks, Hardcore- and Slam-Dudes, every age, every gender. Just how we like it. At some shows we also met moms who asked us about merch for babys, that’s great!

Please rank your five favoriterecords, five favoriteconcerts and five most important things in life?

-Records:

Jona: Suicide Silence - The Cleansing, Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar, Slipknot - Vol. 3 (Subliminal Verses), Chelsea Grin - Desolation of Eden, Parkway Drive - Deep Blue

Jan: Anaal Nathrakh - The Whole of the Law, Igorrr - Savage Sinusoid, Vulfpeck - The Beautiful Game, Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma,
Drown in Sulphur - Blackwind

Johannes: Citizen - Everybody is going to heaven, Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist, Bloodbath - the fathomless Mastery, descendents - Everything Sucks, Emil Bulls - Phoenix

Dean: Linkin park- meteora, Green day- American idiot, Bring me the horizon - suicide season, Architects--lost forever/lost together, Death by Dissonance-Epitaph

Max: leeway- Born to expire, all out war-self titled ep, adolescents-blue album, ton Steine Scherben- keine Macht für niemand, motorhead-ace of spades
Robin: Deftones: Around the Fur, Korn: Follow the Leader, Tool: Lateralus, Nine Inch Nails: The Fragile, Marilyn Manson: Antichrist Superstar

Concerts:

Jona: As Blood Runs Black, Neaera, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Despised Icon

Jan: Gustav Mahler, 2nd symphony, Anaal Nathrakh, Thy Art is Murder, Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms, Death by Dissonance

Dean: Metallica, Green day, 30seconds to mars, Architects, Marylin manson
Robin: Korn, Slipknot, Frontierer, Tyler the Creator, Foreign Beggars

Life:
Jan: Music, Selfcare, Care about others, Hedonism, Individualism

Dean: Food, Love, Nature, Music, Food

First, last and most expensive record ever bought?

-Dean:

First: Green Day - American idiot

Last: Unredd - Second Self

Max:

First: Unleashed-where no Life dwells 

Last: HC Baxxter- Self titled 

Expensive: I don’t know

Jan:

First: Nightwish: Over the Hills and far away

Last: Super Satan - Menetekel (preordered)

Is it boring with interviews? Is it much interviews?

-It’s not boring, we like talking to people who are interested in our music.

Do you care about reviews? Which is the most peculiar you ever had, with this band or any other band you have been to?

-We don’t like when critics write about something they obviously won’t enjoy listening to, to begin with. Why bother? That said, we got away pretty good so far, our biggest and least expected review being in the Metal Hammer! We like reading them, because you get a new perspective on your own music. If something is constructively negative, you always learn something from it. It tells you the stuff your friends are probably too polite to say to your face!

Which bands do people compare you to, is it boring that people compare you to other bands or is it understandable?

-There have been many weird comparisons, in most cases we feel honored to be compared with well known Artists. From a musical point of view, some of these comparisons seem to be a bit unfounded, but everyone has own impressions, so that’s okay.

If you could choose five bands from the past and the history and nowadays and both dead and living bands to have a concert together with your band. Which five have you been chosen?

-Jona: Early Suicide Silence, Slipknot, KoRn, Neaera, Rage Against The Machine
Johannes: Slipknot, Parkway Drive 10 years ago, Blood Incantation, Code Orange, Converge

Dean: Old Bmth, old Suicide silence, In other climes, Marylin Manson and Lady gaga

Robin: Korn, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Static X und Sevendust… 2000er New Metal all the way!

Jan: Igorrr, Anaal Nathrakh, Portishead, Lantlôs, Flying Lotus.

Is music a good way to get out frustration and become a nicer person outside the music??

Johannes: Metal is a vent for many people, but I don’t know if it really correlates with being nice. Most metal fans I know are nice people, so maybe? I guess it depends 100% on what you feel and what you’re listening to. For me, the best music always intensifies whatever I feel. Being in this band, where all the songs are the result of someone feeling helpless, angry, disappointed and hurt just tells you how much this a way to cope with life.

Which is the most odd question you ever have got in an interview?

-This one.

Which is the question you want to have but you never get. Please ask it and answer it?

-Question: “Can I give you my house, my studio and all my money?”

Answer: “Yes”

Futureplans for the band?

-World domination!

For yourself?

-World domination with DbD.

Wisdomword?

-Johannes “It’s what it’s” (- Future Franz)

Dean: Let the rain fall

Jan: Communism will win.

Something to add?

-Maybe nutmeg. This gives many vegetables and stews a special touch.

Jokes aside: Thank you for the interview! Hope to see you at a concert in Sweden sometime.