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?
-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!
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