The Innsbruck-based hardcore/punk band T.B.C.
What? was founded in 1986 and played its first
concert at Christmas in 1988 at “Zirmbach Alm”,
a rather cosy, traditional place in the Tyrolean
mountains. The founding members were Lemy
(vocals and guitar), Kermit (bass), Roberto
(drums) and Gonzo (guitar). In 1990 the first
album “Rette deinen Arsch” was published on
tape. In 1991 Gonzo’s little brother Fredi
joined the band and substituted Lemy as second
guitarist. From then on Lemy concentrated on
singing only. In 1992 the second album “Angriff
der Killerkakerlaken” was published also on tape
and in 1994 the first CD “Lärm, Tumult und
Trubel” was released. After playing about 50
concerts Kermit left the band in 1995. He was
substituted by Hubsi with whom the fourth album
“B.S.E. What?” was recorded in 1996 on tape. In
1998 the second CD “Zehn Jahre Bitumen” was
published, celebrating the 10th stage
anniversary of the band. Drummer Roberto left
the band in 1999 in order to fly helicopters in
Canada. It took quite a while to find a new
drummer. Between 1999 and 2006 the band tried
its luck with a few drummers but wasn’t
successful. Most of the time Rene Gadner helped
out. Around 2006 Lippo joined the band playing
keyboard and experimenting with the drum
computer. As nobody was really happy with the
drum computer it was a relief for the band when
later in 2006 Christof completed the band again.
Another substantial change for the band occurred
in 2007 when Lemy handed over the microphone to
Lippo who as a consequence put the keyboard
aside. After this time of “consolidation” the
album “Barhocker” was published in 2009.
Unfortunately, Lippo decided to leave the band
in 2009 after the presentation of the album due
to private reasons and the band had to start the
search for a new vocalist. In 2010 Thurni joined
the band and since then the band has been
playing in this formation. At the end of 2016
the album “So geht’s nicht” celebrating the 30th
anniversary of the band was released.
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?-
-GONZO: age 49, married, four kids, electrician,
interests: finding music, lost his driving
licence 5 times
FREDI: age 44, married, no kids, electrician,
gesticulates wildly with his hands, former
bands: “Mörtl Simulated Pussy Lickers” from
1986-1989
HUPSI: age 45, single, 1 kid, logistician,
interests: outdoor sports, constantly knocks
over beer and other things, former bands: “Mörtl
Simulated Pussy Lickers” from 1986-1989
CHRISTOF: age 41, no information on family, job:
“asphalt mafia”, interests: protection of
nature, very stubborn, former bands: “LEECH”
1992-1998, “ART.231” 1998-2002
THURNI: age 39, in a relationship, three kids,
electrician, interests: football (supporting the
local football team Wacker Innsbruck),
hyperactive, side project: SKA-project since
2019
I can hear much different influences but mostly
punk, early hardcore and a little bit of metal?
Favorites from the past?
-That’s right, the influences are mostly punk,
hardcore and a little bit of metal. Favourites
from the past are: at the beginning “The
Accused”, “Circle Jerks”, “Bad Brains”,
“Suicidal Tendencies”, “Anthrax”, “Gangrene”;
later on “Gangrene”, “Bad Religion”, “The
Exploited”, “Razzia”, “Tankard” and in the last
years “Rykers”, “Madball”, “Dying Fetus”,
“Ministry”.
T.B.C.-What? 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?
-We are satisfied with our band name.
Originally, the idea for the band name was “The
Bloody Chicken Heads” and everybody asked
“What?” So we decided on “T.B.C.-What?” We are
not afraid that some other band would also use
this name, why should they? The best band name
we know is our alternative band name “Das
künstliche Gelenk” (= “The artificial joint”).
What´s the best thing with playing live? What´s
the biggest difference if you compare with 33
years ago?
-The best thing with playing live is the
audience that goes crazy and the band feeling
(being together). The biggest difference in
comparison to 33 years ago is that the technique
(sound) became better and that the audience is
more experienced and more critical.
And where is best to play? And the worst place?
-The best place to play was on a boat at Lake
Constance in 1997. There is not really a worst
place for playing, we have seen everything and
considered no location as really bad.
How is to play this sort of music in Austria
right now? Which types of bands do you have
concerts together with?
-In our area the scene is pretty small but still
the gigs we are playing are always ok, even if
sometimes scarcely visited. We mainly have
concerts together with punk, hardcore or metal
bands, sometimes also with rock bands.
How would you describe your music in three
words?
-We would describe our music with three words as
not categorical, loud, fun.
What does punk mean to you, is it only a word or
is it a lifestyle?
-For us punk is a lifestyle with no connection
to various fashion trends.
Which song/album or group was it who took you
into punk/hardcore?
-These song/albums/bands took us to
punk/hardcore: GONZO “Bad Brains”, FREDI
“T.B.C.-What?”, “Tankard”, HUPSI “T.B.C.-What?”,
“Iron Maiden”, CHRISTOF “T.B.C.-What?”, THURNI “Rykers”,
“Bad Religion”.
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
?
-To really shock us a young boy would have to
start playing electric jaw’s harp ;-)
How is it to live in Austria right now?
Politically? Fascists?
-In general it is ok to live in Austria right
now although politically we experience a strong
turn to the right in the people’s opinions.
Is there any good bands from Austria right now?
Is the punkscene/metalscene/hardcorescene big?
How is it in your hometown?
-Good bands in Austria we know right now are
“Insanity Alert”, “Only Attitude Counts”, “Spyder
Crew”, “Analphabeten”, “I.Q.’69”, “Silius”, “Stockkampf”,
“Punchline”. The punk/metal/hardcore scene in
Austria as well as in our hometown is not big
but still alive.
What do you know about Sweden? Have you been
here sometime?
-None of us has been to Sweden but we have
already shared the stage with some swedish bands
like “Clawfinger” and “Bonafide”. By the way,
Kermit had a girlfriend in Sweden once and
visits the Sweden Rock Festival every year.
Have you heard any good bands from Sweden?
-“Hammerfall”,
“Fudo myo”, “Raised Fist”, “Millencolin”, “Amon
Amarth”, “59 Times the Pain”, “The Hellacopters”,
“Satanic Surfers”, “Royal Republic”, “Clawfinger”
Your lyrics, who does them and what influences
you? Which is best to sing in deutsch or
English?
-Our lyrics are normally written by the vocalist
but sometimes also by other band members. Mostly
they are influenced by politics, life in general
or things that piss us off. Singing in German or
English is ok for us, in Swedish it would be
quite difficult though ;-).
Is there any subject that you never will write
anything about?
-There is no subject we will never write
anything about.
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 opinion music and politics don’t
necessarily go hand in hand. Nowadays listening
to punk music does not require living a punk
lifestyle, meaning it does not make you a punk
anymore, that is not realistic. Our most
political song is “World Wars” from the album “Lärm,
Tumult und Trubel”. You don’t always have to
express your opinion in music but if something
annoys us we will comment on it.
Best political band/artist?
-For us the best political bands or artists are
Konstantin Wecker, “Dead Kennedys”, “Jello
Biafra”.
Do you think that music(lyrics and so on) can
change anyones life, I mean people who listens
to music?
-Music can change your emotions in the moment
for the time you are listening to it, lyrics can
only stimulate you to change your life.
Your favorite recordcover alltime? Who does your
recordcovers? And do you have any good
recordstores in your hometown?
-Our all-time favourite record covers are:
Sepultura “Arise”, T.B.C.-What? –“Lärm, Tumult
und Trubel”.
Our album covers were designed by different
artists. Unfortunately there are no longer any
really good record stores in Innsbruck.
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 definitely think that it is very important
to release physical records of our music because
it is nicer to be able to hold something in your
hand, to touch it. And you can later digitalize
it anyway.
We prefer tapes (cassettes)
;-)
Please tell me a funny thing which have happened
during your career and under some gig?
-One time we were all so drunk that we performed
three different songs and our drummer got so mad
that he got up and left the stage, therefore
efficiently terminating the concert.
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?
-Our audience is sometimes naked in front of the
stage, many times older truthful fans. Therefore
we are very happy when we see a 15-year-old punk
among our audience every now and then. So you
can see, what we are missing a little bit on our
gigs is the young generation.
We cannot list only one band, we played with
Madball, Sick of it All, UK Subs, Hard-Ons,
Clawfinger and Knuckledust.
Please rank your five favoriterecords, five
favoriteconcerts and five most important things
in life?
-Records/Concerts/most important things
Christof: Dying Fetus - ? (title
unknown)/Milking the Goat Machine/dope
Gonzo: Ministry – Rio Grande Blood/Biohazard in
Innsbruck with an audience of 50 people/beer and
dope
Fredi: Suicidal Tendencies – Art of Rebellion /
Biohazard in Munich/life itself
Hupsi: Circle Jerks – Wonderful / Bad Religion –
Generator Tour / outdoor sports and dope
Thurni: Madball – Set it Off / Bad Religion –
Against the Grain Tour / family
First, last and most expensive record ever
bought?
-First / Last / Most expensive record:
Christof: Rykers – First Blood / Debauchery - ?
(title unknown) / Belphegor – 35 euros although
the CD was packed into a gas mask
Gonzo: Motorhead - ? / Mars Volta - ? / do not
remember, music cannot be measured in money
Fredi: Tankard – Tankwart / Jingo de Lunge - ? /
do not remember, music cannot be measured in
money
Hupsi: Kim Wilde - ? / Madball – For the Cause /
do not remember, music cannot be measured in
money
Thurni: Roxette – Joyride on Vinyl and Michael
Jackson – Bad on CD / Rykers – The Beginning /
do not remember, music cannot be measured in
money
Is it boring with interviews? Is it much
interviews?
-Normally it is not boring to do interviews,
most of the time it is very funny because you
learn a lot of new stuff of the others and you
relive the good times you had together, even if
we actually should be practising ;-). We do not
have a lot of interviews, only one or two per
year.
Do you care about reviews? Which is the most
peculiar you ever had, with this band or any
other band you have been to?
-Reviews in magazines are always cool and the
critics have never been so bad that they
affected us in a negative way.
Which bands do people compare you to, is it
boring that people compare you to other bands or
is it understandable?
-People hardly ever compare us to other bands,
maybe sometimes the singer’s voice. It is
understandable that people normally try to
compare what they hear to songs of other bands.
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?
-Thurni: Bad Religion
Gonzo: Slander
Fredi: Gangrene
Hupsi: Gorilla Biscuits
Christof: ABBA
Is music a good way to get out frustration and
become a nicer person outside the music?
-Music is a good way to release frustration; we
think that applies to most musicians. That does
not necessarily mean that you become a better
person outside of music.
Which is the most odd question you ever have got
in an interview?
-The oddest question we ever got in an interview
is the question above ;-)
Which is the question you want to have but you
never get. Please ask it and answer it?
-Do you need financial support? Yes, immediately
please.
Futureplans for the band?
-Future plans for the band are: next gig, next
album, to rock the stage as long as possible
For yourself?
-Future plans for ourselves: less drinking,
longer lives, more drinking ;-)
Wisdomword?
-Wisdom words: No panic about T.B.C.-What? and
don’t forget the beers. Las famosas últimas
palabras.
Something to add?
-THX to all the people who supported us and to
those who still do.
By the way, since November all of our “old”
albums are available for download on all the
common music platforms (amazon, spotify, itunes,...).
AMEN.