1. So at first can you introduce your band, members,
age, work, hobbies and tell us how you met each other?
Hello
Peddy! Thanks for the Interview and the opportunity to talk to the Czech crowd.
ACW:
Martin:
I‘m 28
years old, the guitar-player and vocalist at ACW.I Like music, my friends and
football-culture with everything including.
Marcel:
I'm 22
years old and play drums at ACW. I like to listen to music, playing at ACW,
collecting vinyl and also going to concerts, doing sports, meet my buddies at
the weekend and have a good time, go out with my dog (named Eddy-Spaghetti) and
something like that.
And Sebastian:
I´m 27
years old and play the bass at ACW. Because of working outside from Magdeburg
there isn’t a lot of space for other hobbies beside the music, sports and a
little bit reading. At the weekend I like to meet my mates and to have a little
session with ACW.
ACW:
Marcel
and Sebastian know each other since 6 or 7 years. In 2006 Sebastian was playing
in another band. Sometimes they all hang out at the practice-room, play a
little bit music and had a good time. It was more to kill the boring time than
a serious band. Than Sebastian gets to know Martin, who was searching for a
band, and brings him to the practice-room. They covered a few songs from bands
they liked. These were for example Last Resort, the 4Skins, OHL or the
Lokalmatadore. In 2007 it became more and more serious and a real band.
2. When and why you came with idea to start a band and
why the name Anti-Clockwise.
ACW:
After
covering a little time our favorite Oi! and punk-songs in 2007 we try an own
song. It was “Es blutet mein Herz”. This was a song about a guy who had his
heart broken by a bitch: a love song. But now we don’t play this song anymore
because it´s annoying….
The
best names are finally given away. So we had to think about a creative name for
a band with a special kind of attitude.
3. I know that your bass player is playing also in
Rampage...have any of your other members play in some different band or did
they have any experience with playing in different band besides ACW?
Sebastian:
That’s
right, I´m also the bass-player of Rampage. To have two times practice a
weekend is sometimes difficult. To have two concerts a weekend is much more
difficult. So I try to manage that Rampage can play at an ACW-Gigs. So I did in
Brno. Thanks for the opportunity!
Before
ACW, I played in some little bands since I was 17 years old. It was an
opportunity learn my instrument and to make some experiences. The problems in
those bands were always the lazy bastard- some of the other members. It was
very frustrating. I always put my energy and my love in the music and these
scumfuckers aren’t able to come to the practice at time or to spend time with
their instrument on their own. What a waste of time. I hope ACW don´t became a
band like that.
Martin:
Before
ACW I was playing in a small Oi-band near Magdeburg. We had one gig and a short
demo CD.
Marcel:
So I'm
only playing drums at ACW. My first experience on drums I had got at a little
"fun-band" with some mates before seven or eight years(?!). We played
music just for fun and now, since ACW, it's getting more and more seriously ;)
4. You have out demo, two split EP´s and one regular
EP...so I think that you are more into vinyl stuff then CD´s, am I right? And
who did release it? It looks like more DIY underground stuff...
ACW:
We like
vinyl more than cd´s. Vinyl in this time became very rare and something
special. We think it´s a better feeling for a band to hold a piece of vinyl in
their hand than a cd´s. Later we will show the vinyl our children and tell them
that we were great rock-stars in the 1970thies hehe, just kidding. We think
we´ll make a few EP- releases in the near future.
Last year we were searching for label (we ask for example “Une Vie Pur Rien”, “Bords de Seine” etc.) or someone who wants to publish an EP with us, but nobody wanted to make it. So we managed it on our own. That means a lot more work, but at the end you can be proud when everything fits in. You became independent and no bastard can tell you what to do because he wants to sell more records. DIY!
5. Your releases are also very limited...can you explain why?
ACW:
Our
demo-CD is not limited, you can have as many as you want. This is another thing
with the EP´s for sure. The “Mitteldeutscher Untergrund”-EP, with “Open
Violence” is very rare. “Mitteldeutscher Untergrund” always includes only 150
pieces.
The
split-EP with our mates from “Rien Ne Vas Plus” and our regular “Vol.1”-EP are
limited on 250 pieces and we still have a lot of them. In this times you can´t
sell a lot of vinyl. No one has a player for this kind of music-history. 10
years ago the market for vinyl was better, but now you have high costs for
making it and it becomes harder to publish it. Therefore we made only 250
pieces. Who wants to have the songs on a
burned cd or something can send us a message…
6. What are your musical influences? Can you describe
your sound to our readers and tell us something about your lyrics?
Marcel:
I'm
influenced of a very different kind of music. So I like the old school sound of
Warzone, Slaphot, Sheer Terror, Sick of it all. I like the Oi! Sounds of The
Templars, Condemned 84, Evil Conduct, Marching Orders, Business,…, the
"german beats" from Kampfzone, Endstufe, Brachial, Rabauken, …, the
ska/early reggae classics like Judge Dread, Toots & The Maytals, Symarip,
Specials,…, and also the great rock'n'roll band Motörhead. For me is important
that the music has got the right statement and gives you a special feeling in
every condition of life!
ACW:
Of
course our influences are the bands which we like to listen to. In our daily
life’s we´re often surrounded by music. When we´re at home, at the training, in
the car: everywhere we´re listening to music. Sometimes we ´re hearing a song
and we think: yes, that’s it! What a good riff, what a good idea and so
on. The bands we´re take as our
influences are those who we all like...the Templars for example.
We try
to separate from most of the German bands of these days. We don’t like their
lyrics and their music. The older bands
are better. Today they all want to be very tough and hard, too many poser and
something-core. That’s plastic in our eyes. Oi! Music is about real emotions, a
good melody, a singer you can understand, a good riff, a nice beat, real
feelings and honesty. Not about only hate and about trying to be as hard as you
can. Harder isn’t better. At one point it is only non-melodic trash.
Our
lyrics are very important for us, because of the meaning. A lot of bands are
singing always about the same shit: drinking, violence, police…we´ve heard that
so often. Why should we copy that crap again and again. Oi!-Music is about
having a say! We put a few historic themes in our songs and try to talk about
some serious things that really happen. Of course our opinions and stuff that
should be said. Sometimes we sing only about our daily lives and problems: Fear
of being unemployed, brainwashing medias, our love for oi!-music, about friends
who became wankers or alcoholics, the love to our hometown, the need to
separate from the stupid crowd, prejudice and pride.
Honesty:
How often in the week you get in a drunken fight and then dogged hard by a
policeman :P
Not so
often, except you have too much time and nothing to do.
7. You come from Magdeburg city...I know Rien ne vas
plus band from your split EP...can you describe the scene in your area? Other
bands worth listening, clubs, pubs, zines, crews...
ACW:
Yes,
that’s right. “Rien Ne Vas Plus” are from Magdeburg too and are our export pop.
They are way bigger and better known in Germany than ACW, I have to say. Another pure Skinhead Band is not active at
the moment.
Most of
the skins from Magdeburg are not lazy and like to organize concerts, little
sport-events, nighter, parties and other happenings like that.
There
are is also a bunch of punk-bands and bands that are afraid to take position
because of maybe getting in trouble…streetrock or whatever they call their
music.
There
are a lot of people in Magdeburg who like or listen to oi!oi!-music, but not
everyone has the balls to be a skinhead or a punkrocker.
We have
also a big label in Magdeburg: Bandworm Records. At this place you can buy,
beside a bunch of very useful things, any kind of garbage that nobody needs:
lanyards, cups, such as skinhead stands on it, boxer shorts and things like
that usually get only from their teeny-popstars. I have to say: the guys from
this label are way ok and in farmer times they produced a lot of great stuff,
but now only trash came out.
We´ve a
very good fanzine: Magdeburg-Punx (don’t be afraid be the name, it has nothing
to do with crust- or anarcho-punk). It includes much local content. Buy the
way: the bands don’t get only kissed. Jan makes a good job. He was also in Brno
at the Streetkids party. Bullocks to everyone who wants to fuck him because he
has balls!
Special
bars or pubs don’t exist, I´m sorry. A crew with special names and so on doesn’t
exist, only different groups of friends. These groups stick together and that´s
fine. Friendship is much more important than a lot of things.
8. What about football? Are you interested in terraces
culture?
Martin:
Sebastian is not very interested in football, Marcel like the Sport. I‘m in the fan-scene of the footballclub 1. FC Magdeburg. You can see me every matchday in a football stadium.
¨
9. What about the gigs in your area/Germany...it is
problem for skinhead band to find the venue for playing? How many gigs have you
play in your country?
ACW:
Oh,
when you have no problem with sucking cocks you can have a lot of concerts! In
that case it would be no problem to play at the largest stages and the police
is your biggest fan. And nobody spreads lies about you at the internet. If you
don´t want to swallow their cum you can get a few problems.
The
police finds always a paragraph which fits in and at the internet you can read
news about your band that you don´t know yet.
But now
let’s quit with the cliché and the crying. In fact we had some concerts. Most
of them were in Magdeburg and organized by the local “Bootboyfront Magdeburg”.
Concerts that don´t get organized by a mate are really rare. Generally you find
no flyer or other commercials for the concert. It will be spread mouth to mouth
or by SMS. In Magdeburg already a dozen gigs, outside our area maybe 8.
Generally
it becomes harder to find a location that fits. Often you’re in some kind
addicted to one good bar. If this bar is closing you got a problem.
10. You played here in Czech republic for the first
time this year on Streetkids Party...how do you like this festival? Are there
some differences between the gig here and in your country? And also do you know
any Czech bands or something about our country in general?
ACW:
In Brno
it was fantastic! It was really fun! Nice people, good bands and a hot summer
sun. It surprised me that you can organize gigs like that in the inner city!
The band Sebastian most liked was Konflikt! Way good musicians and a cool attitude
they have.
Brno
City we all liked too and a few of us want to coma again next year.
Your
mentality, as far as we can say, rules ok. It has a little bit of our
DDR-charm. You are just down to earth, yet not so effeminate west, that fine!
Now
time for the cliché: the Czech girls are very cute, we have to say!
The
landscape, the cities and villages are good looking, the nature too. I hope it
won´t be raped by the industry for the profit in the future.
Unfortunately,
I know too, that Czech has great problems with unemployment and criminality
since the capitalists rule your country. As we arrived at the location,
somebody told us to park our cars in another area because of the gypsies. Hm,
what can I say…
11. Where we can order your records and other stuff
(maybe T-shirts...)?
ACW:
No, we
don’t plan to have shirts in the next time... Who really needs such
merchandise-stuff? Be proud to yourself, stand your ground, be true und dress
smart- that’s better than an ACW-shirt or you can say: that´s the best ACW-shirt.
But you can have our records, if you want to!
anti_clock_wise_md@yahoo.com
5 € an
EP + costs for the post. The Demo CD you can get for free and if you want a
burned CD with the songs plus the EP, just ask, mate.
12. Plans for the future...
ACW:
At the
moment we prepare some songs for another regular EP and maybe a split. Don´t
know about a potential other band. When the songs are ready we will enter the
studio. Later we put maybe all our EP-songs on a collection. Time will tell. We
hope to stay active but there is no need for pressure.
13. Last words...
ACW:
Thanks to Operace Artaban and the Hardset-Crew for the
possibility to play in Czech. Greetings to all czech skins and punx: Be
consequent, honest, stand strong and don´t forget: skinhead don´t means only
hate, it means too to have an own opinion and that feeling that you can´t
describe with a thousand words!