It took a while for the german group Nierenstein
to answer my questions. But at last ….here it
is…september 2022
Please tell me a little about the history of the
group and the members right now. Age, family,
bands before and on the side
-Hello Peter, first of all we want to thank you
for the invitation to the interview!
We, 4 guys from Dresden, aged between 31 and 33,
founded the band Nierenstein in spring
2018. Fred (vocals) and Benni (bass) played
together in the band A!Sexuell from 2014
to 2017. After the band broke up, the two wanted
to continue making music and so met Robert
(drums), who had played in the band Crackpot
Idea several years ago. Marcus (guitar)
happened to leave his former metal band at that
time and joined the other 3 guys. He also plays
in the hardcore band Hollow Grind.
Have it been many lineup changes?
-No, there have been no member changes since the
band was founded.
Nierenstein, how did that name come up? What
does it mean? You were never afraid that another
band already was called so?
-During the name search Robert was in the
hospital with a kidney stone (ger.
Nierenstein) and wrote us that he can pee and
eat at the same time. We were fascinated and
named the band after the disease. Before
adapting the band name, we checked it and
luckily found no other band with the same name.
Is it still important to release physical
records? Or can you feel that you have done a
record if you only release it digitally?
-We find physical records very important, burned
both our demo and album as selfmade DIY CDs and
released our album as vinyl with the 3 great
labels SM Musik, Elb Power Rec. and Kotzbrocken
Rec. With the exception of fundraising samplers,
we would not release any songs digitally only.
You have never been to Sweden and played or? If
you not have when do you come?
-Unfortunately, none of us has been in Sweden
(except for Benni, who had an overnight airport
stay in Stockholm)...but we would be very happy
about an invitation!
Which countries have had the pleasure to be
hearing the band live?
-All of our concerts, except for one concert in
the Czech Republic, have been in Germany so far.
When you do songs, how do you do, are you
jamming together or do someone comes with a
lyric and some with the music or how do you do
your songs?
-Usually we start with the instrumental parts of
the song. Most of the time one of us brings
specific song ideas, which are then developed
together, part by part, by the three of us. Fred
then writes the lyrics either during or after
rehearsals.
It seems like your lyrics are important, is
there anything you not will write a song about?
-The main focus of our songs is on the social
and political issues that are important to us,
such as corruption, racism, pollution, etc... A
topic that we would never make a song about
would be, for example, soccer teams. But there
are certainly many other topics that would fall
into this category.
Please tell me a little about the following
lyrics
-Sommer, Sonne, Punkrock:
This song is about our love for punk rock
festivals, like the Störfaktor Festival
in Zwickau, the Resist to Exist in Berlin
or the Check Out Festival in Gahro. We
feel these as vacations where we see old friends
and meet new ones.
Markenwirtschaft:
The song criticizes advertising in capitalism,
which is aimed solely at making the biggest
possible profits at any sacrifice. Already from
childhood, advertising plays a very large role
and educates young people so that brands are
more important than social values.
Spielplatzkrieg:
Spielplatzkrieg is about our youth. We all grew
up in villages or small towns, skateboarded,
drank beer and smoked, and rebelled against
authority.
How is it to live in Germany nowadays, racists,
politics, covid etc?
-Fortunately, we cannot complain about our
personal life (as people born in Germany) in
general, because we always have something to
eat, no war and a good social system.
Nevertheless, we disagree with and condemn many
political decisions of the German government. We
did have a change of government this year, from
which we expected a more social policy, but
unfortunately we have been rather disappointed
so far. The AFD, a radical right-wing party is
currently in second place in our state of Saxony
with 28.4% of the vote, which of course causes
us great concern. Covid time was very hard. We
had to isolate ourselves, couldn’t meet our
friends and had no rehearsals and concerts.
Are you calling yourself a punkband,
hardcoreband, metalcoreband or just call you a
rockband? Is it important to mention punk in the
same time you talk about your band? What is your
thoughts about punk when you started and if you
compare with punk today?
-We call ourselves a punk band. Although we
incorporate different styles of music, such as
metal or hardcore into our songs, we see this
more as an important part of the often lacking
variety in punk rock. We think that punk has
become much more political for us, in contrast
to the early days. In the past, drinking and
partying were very often in the foreground.
Nowadays, that's still part of the scene for us,
but a much smaller one.
Beer is expensive in Sweden. I have a very big
interest in beer and brew myself? Your favourite
beerstyle ? You don´t have an own Nierenstein-beer?
Or maybe your straightedge?
-We're very sorry that beer is so expensive in
Sweden, I guess we're lucky in Germany. If we
had to choose a favorite beer as a band, it
would be Sternburg Export from Leipzig.
Currently there is no Nierenstein beer, but
maybe Sternburg will release a special edition
sometime.
😉
Is there any thought on a new LP/CD or something
like that?
-Already since the completion of Human Error we
have used the concert-free time during the
Corona crisis to work on new songs. We hope to
continue making good progress and hopefully
release our 2nd LP on vinyl in 2024.
What is your strength when you play live?
-We love being on stage and getting our
political messages through. For this reason, we
consider announcements on stage to be very
important and feel that this is our greatest
strength.
Which type of people comes to your concerts?
Which type of people do you miss?
-Most of our audience comes from the
hardcore/punk/metal scene, but we would like to
have more teenagers and female audience.
Do you buy much records, or is it only Spotify
and those type of things to listen to music?
-Several band members have a record player and
collect vinyls that they buy at concerts or get
in exchange with other bands. At the same time
we use Spotify, Youtube and .mp3 files.
Are you selling any merch on your gigs, do
people buy it?
-We sell self-printed fairtrade/fairwear clothes
(t-shirts, longsleeves and zippers) and patches,
self-burned CDs and our vinyl records. Merch is
actually bought regularly at our concerts. Since
our concert last Tuesday we don't have any black
t-shirts anymore....
Which is your own favorite song among your own
songs? And which song is the people choice?
-Every member of the band has his personal
favorite song, of course, but actually the
newest songs are always the dearest
😉
According to Spotify, Linksversiffte Gutmenschen
is the favorite song of our listeners. At
concerts it always depends on the audience, but
fast pogo parts certainly have advantages there.
What´s the biggest difference when you plays
live nowadays if you compare when you first
started to play in a band? Or is this your first
band maybe?
-We have definitely become tighter and more
confident (both in dealing with the audience and
our instruments). This also makes it much easier
for us to engage with the audience and have more
fun on stage. And without jitters, the
announcements have also become much more secure
and variable.
Do you care about reviews? Which is the most
peculiar you ever had, with this band or any
other band you have been to?
-Of course we like it when reviews are written
about our music and we like to read reviews. We
are happy about positive feedback and we learn
from negative feedback. But in the end it's not
about a specific opinion, it's about having fun
with the music you write and play live. And no,
so far (we are very curious about yours) there
was not a weird one.
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?
-We would like to play with Fahnenflucht,
Toxoplasma, Slipknot, System of a Down and
Pennywise.
Is music a good way to get out frustration and
become a nicer person outside the music?
-We think it's a good way for a lot of people to
get rid of frustrations. Through music and the
concerts that come with it, you maybe meet new
people with whom you can have thought-provoking
conversations, reflect on yourself and become a
better person for yourself.
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?
-Sure, they've seen it all, but with your own
child it's definitely something else. So: shave
your mohawk, dye your hair, shred your clothes,
drink beer in public and listen to punk rock!
Is it boring with interviews? Is it much
interviews? What do you prefer
Telephoneinterviews, face to face or as this one
via e-mail?
-So far we haven't had that many interviews (I
think this is just our second) and it's not
boring yet either, because it makes you reflect.
We like both so far, but would like to have a
face to face interview in the near future.
You sing only in german or how is it?
-Yes, we sing only in German, because we can
express ourselves best that way.
Any Swedish bands you like
-Yeah, for example we like The Baboon
Show, Millencolin, Anchor,
Victims and Misconduct.
Wisdomword?
-“Merke
Dir Sternburg Bier” (engl. Remember
Sternburg beer)
Something more to add?
-Thanks for your interview request, we're really looking forward to your review (and the invitation to Sweden)!