Harm/Shelter is a german hardcoreband which makes me very happy and angry in a positive way and that´s the way hardcore should do to me. May 2016

Please tell me a little bit history of the group?  
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Hi! Thanks a lot for having us! Long story short: Harm/Shelter was founded in early 2011, with the intention to have fun and play a ton of shows. After some line up changes we finally recorded our first ‘DEMO’ in early 2012 and caught the attention by bookers and the crowd totally got into the band. Since then we had an amazing time playing sick shows, finding an amazing label and releasing more than we ever thought we would. 


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?
-Alright let’s start with Friedrich then. He is the drummer of the band and he is working as a tattoo artist. He also is doing a lot of designing work (merch, logos, artworks) which he is really deep into. Kris is the guitarist of the band. He is a student and a real musician. His hobbies are sports so he spends a lot of his time in the gym. If he ist not pumping that iron bar he will be doing a lot of songwriting at home. He plays drums, guitar, bass, and even sings a bit so he is recording a lot of stuff at home, which is a huge profit for the band itself. Daniel is our guitarist as well. He is relatively new to the band but already has played base for us back in the early days of the band. He is working as a
 paramedic and likes music of course. Together with Kris and Gordon he is running a punk rock side project called "Zementfabrik", where he and Kris are singing. Which leads me to Gordon. He is our energetic base ripper, of which you can find proof in nearly every live video of us. He is a student for engineering and works as a test driver besides. Cars and motorsports are one of his hobbies, which he also shares with kris. They always can have a nice chat about cars and tech stuff, while the rest of us will try to understand what the heck those guys are just talking about. And finally there is me, Jay. I am currently working in a supermarket and will be back at the university soon. I like music, book stuff and sports, even if I do not really go to the gym a lot. I have a few bands that I am active in, for example WortschatzProjekt, which is rap, and PolarLights, an acoustic/indie project I am working at together with Kris. We all are in our twenties now. 


I can hear much different influences , much hardcore and a heavier and slower one, and a german hiphopsong? Favorites from the past?  
-All in all we share all of our influences. Everyone has a type of music or a band that he might call his biggest influence but I just couldn't say which one is the biggest one. We just do what we do.

Harm/Shelter are you satisfied with the name? How did it came up?  You weren’t afraid that some other band would be named like this. Which is the best bandname you know?
-Yeah, we all are pretty happy with this name. It came up when we talked about what the name should express. Harm stands for struggle, fights and wars, so to say all the harm mankind does to itself. We slaughter and fight each other but on the other hand there is the fact that we Shelter the ones we love, or the things or ideologies that we support. Together the band name stands for the 
inconsistency of the human race.Since those are topics that often play a major role in our lyrics we thought it might be a good name. Of course we searched the internet for a band with this name but couldn't find one, especially not in Hardcore. 


What´s the best thing with playing live?
-The energy and the people. You release a lot of stress and share a good time with friends. Of course there might be trouble, fights or assholes on some shows, but for the most part we are having the time of our life’s when we are playing live. It just feels right and pure to be on stage, with no dresscode, code of behavior or role you have to fulfill. You just are the person you are, which can be a huge release from every day struggle.
 

And where is best to play? And the worst place?
-Best shows are usually smaller locations with great audience, cause the power is just intense. A lot of flying bodies in a small fully loaded pit – amazing (as long as there is no extreme crowd killing)! The worst place might be a festival or show of other music styles, cause people won't be sure what to think of you and your music and will just walk right by. As far as i am concerned locations in which smoking is allowed during shows is a horrible place to play. You can hardy breathe and your voice turns into smoke as well. I really hate that. Luckily we do not often play in such venues.
 

How is to play this sort of music in Germany right now? Which types of bands do you have concerts together with?
-It is really cool. We have a lot of shows going on here with a HUGE variety of bands, and we often play with hardcore bands of course. We got a strong scene and there are a lot of cool bands coming up nearly every year.
 

How would you describe your music in three words?
-Heavy, Flow, Aggressive

What does punk mean to you, is it only a word or is it a lifestyle?
-It is not only a word. I think it is the one lifestyle that started it all. It's the root of the hardcore scene we know today. And it's still a lifestyle, an attitude that stands against commercial bonds and is very political. I think most hardcore bands of today are still not doing all that for money. It's about having fun and sharing a good time with friends, getting away from jobs, profit and spreading a message with your lyrics and music, even if you don't get rich by doing it. You might even invest a whole lot of energy and stress or work into this thing for this special reason, that's a lifestyle to us!
 

How do you see on downloading, mp3 and that stuff?
-For me it's cool, but I also appreciate it, when people buy physical releases or downloads to support the bands or labels. Hardcore is a closed world, in which people have just each other to support the music, shows and bands, cause listeners from outside of the hc scene will hardly like or support it. Downloading is cool to spread the music, make it
 
accessible for everyone, maybe even for non-hardcore listeners or testing out bands. But support is also important. 

How is it to live in Germany now? Politically?   
-It has become more difficult over the past years. At the moment we are having a strong growth in the right political wing and the national oriented parties are gaining a lot of strength. Especially in the east of Germany we have a lot of national thinking people, which are extreme in their opinions and very violent. I think that we should have learned by now, that extremism and nationalsocialism just doesn't work and that it is stupid and outdated to believe in such a world view. That shit ain't cool.
 

Is there any good bands from Germany now?  Is the punkscene/hardcorescene big? The metal scene?  How is it in your hometown?
-There are a lot of amazing bands and we got a lot of crowded shows going on everywhere, thanks to a lot of dedicated bookers. It is always unfair to be naming just a few bands since there are so many, but my favorites atm are bands like Human Touch, Gone To Waste, Nasty, Deluminator, Felony and many more. Metal is also really big but I don't know a lot of bands in this genre. If we talk about our hometown Gießen, it is kind of difficult. Back in the day we had a lot of great shows and a lot of local bands. All this has slowed down a bit now, but there are still people setting up shows and booking bands from all over the world, for example the guys of Fourth Crusade – a great band as well. Same with the bands. Luckily Grey City has got a fresh new band coming up, called "Torch It" which you guys should really check out.
 

What do you know about Sweden?  
-I have never been there unfortunately but I heard that it is a really nice place to live with a beautiful countryside and a lot of great advantages if it comes to social care and jobs, taxes, family planning etc. My father usually spends his holidays in Sweden. Also Gordon has already been there.
 

Have you heard any good bands from Sweden?
-Grieved, Meleeh and Dorena

 

Your lyrics, who does them and what influences you?  Is it easier to do lyrics now or was its easier to do it when you was younger?  
I am doing the lyrics. Most of the influences come from what I see in my daily life. I think I will never stop writing, it's just my way to deal with problems and anger. The older I get, the more problems I have to face. So I have even more to write about with every day.
 

Is there any subject that you never will write anything about??
-I don't know, I might never write about Sex or stuff, cause why should i. Anything else is open to the future.
 

Politic and music, does it goes hand in hand?  Which is your most political song?
-At the moment it is Mr. Brown from our upcoming record "Paycheck". I think music is the most common way to deliver political views to listeners. But it doesn't always have to be political. If you have to say something – go ahead and do it. If not, don't.
 

Best political band/artist?
-No favorite.
 

Do you think that music(lyrics and so on) can change anyones life, I mean people who listens to music?
-I would say so, yes. You can get in touch with other lifestyles and attitudes that might make you think twice about certain views or facts. This might of course change you or the way you handle things


Your cover on your CD looks really nice, is it important to have a record cover which shows people which type of music you play? Your favorite recordcover?  Who does your covers?  And do you have any good recordstores in your hometown? Is BDHW Records a good label?
-I think a cover is kind of important, cause it is the first impression people have from your cover. We all live and think or act with all of our sences – if you see something before you even hear it a nice cover is of course better than a cover which has been done with paint. That is just the way people are. Our Artworks are done by Friedrich, XXXX – a really great artist!!! - and our Label Boss Toni, who did a really good job designing the cover of "Paycheck"!


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 ?
-We mostly stick to Vinyl and CD. It is the most common medium to release music for us and it might be nice for people to collect records in this form, especially Vinyl.
 


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 will play a really sweet tour with CDC and World Of Pain this year, which might be our biggest thing so far, we really can't wait to get this thing started! We don't really miss people on our shows, anyone is welcome and we are happy for everyone who watches us!

Please rank your five most important things in life?
-Live in the moment
Enjoy your life as much as you can
Do and support what you have fun with
Share time with the people you like
Gucci, Prada, Polo, Armani getrichasfunk

Is it boring with interviews? Is it much interviews??
-It is quite enjoyable, we are happy to answer questions concerning our band!

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

-I don't know if you get nicer, cause problems don't stop if you get off stage. They are there and they are pre10sent until you solve them. Music can be a way to deal with them and to get away for a few hours. I think this is a really important fact for everyone who loves music. 

Which is the most odd question you ever have got in an interview?
-This one. Just kidding. So far we haven't done a lot of interviews, so this one special odd question is still missing.
 

Futureplans for the band?
-Touring, and keep playing gigs. To be running the band as long as we can and to take as much with us as we can. We won't be young forever and not everyone has the chance to be living this thing, so we are really amazed and happy with how things are right now. And hopefully we will still have a lot of good times to come.
 

For yourself?
-To stay healthy and get through life as good as possible.
 

Wisdomword?
-Fool me once – shame on you.
 
Fool me twice – shame on me.
 

Something to add?
-Thank you very much for having us again! We hope to read/write you guys again in the future and that we might meet on a show in Sweden some day! Take care!