
1. Hello my friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages 'zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.
Hello! Thank you very much for having us and cheers to all headbanging fellas out there! Because of some private obligations we lately coudn't take care of our Band as we want to. But now things are getting done and we started to rehearse more often and intensly again. Long story short: Anyone seeking for us personally will find us in our Rehearsalroom writing new stuff. Anyone who want's to check out our music can visit our Bandcamp-Page.
2. You are a band that has just one year of formation. How do you think your musical development has been so far?
Acually our Album "The Sea Of Trees" was finished about one year ago but Tobi and I make music together since a longer time. We had fun messing around and playing Jamsessions that usually got completely out of control. The idea to form a Band and write songs came spontaneously. If it did't work out we'd have stayed with our sessions but it fortunately worked out really well. Our "heavy" direction came because I liked playing very loud and noisy. Primarely we were straight easy going and made the music that felt natural to play.
The style we have now was not planned at all. We will surprise ourselves with what happens in the future and will not set ourselves under pressure with that.
3. If you could go over your whole career as musicians and pin point the events that you are most proud of what would they be? Have you played in other bands previously?
Basically every rehearsal is very enjoyable because friendship, creativity and beer come together. Our first gig and recording our album were amazing moments for us, we learned a lot from that. Beside TranscomaR I have no other Band running at the moment. Only a project of my own where I do Ambient- and Dronestuff but which is currently resting. At the moment I'm focussing on our Band. Tobi is also playing Bass and drums in a local Punkband called "Nochsowat" (Ruharea-Slang for "some more of that").

4. Is it hard to play as a duo? Was this intended or it just happened to not find more members for the band? And how do you guys get along with each other?
No it's not and honestly very comfortable. More people mean more coordination and sometimes even more compromises which makes it harder to write songs. It's great beeing completely free to experiment with loudness, highs, lows and mids.
Originally I was a bassplayer before getting into guitar. Lately I started integrating an additional Bassamp to my rig to get more Bottom-End what fills everything up better. As our drummer Tobi is absolutely with me here. And of course it's about personal bonding. Tobi and I personally come along very good, talk a lot about and laugh a lot about everything. Nothing works without humor for us. So even our music seems to be quiet dark and depressive we are actually pretty funny guys.
5. Let's talk about your debut album, what were the goals you had in mind when you started to record it, any elements you definitely wanted to have on the album?
Getting everything recorded was important to go on with new material. "The Sea Of Trees" deals with depressing and abysmal matters. We wanted our Album to have a monolithic but floating character and to be felt like a dark ride. We did't overload the songs with technical details and nonsense but gave them an opressive athmosphere.
I was strictly against recording anything without tubeamps to keep the sound powerful but kind of dirty. Tobi focused his drumming on the vibe of the songs then playing to much details. Simplicity is power for us.
6. There are different musical styles on 'The Sea Of Trees'. To my ears it came in somewhere between sludge, grunge with a healthy dose of post metal. What have been your primary inspirations (either music or non-music) as you've written material?
Hard so say. Everything I personally like and listen to can potentially be an influence. In that case I don't really have a specific style of music. I listen to a lot of metal, but also hardcore, Alternative and even electronic music. ConcreteInfluences for my guitar playing are quiet diverse. I really like the ,,Seattlesound-Era" and the Bands that took Metal into an modern Era like Tool, Deftones, Fear Factory and so on. Tobi likes a lot of Stoner-, Doom- and Psychedelic-Stuff. Non musical influences can be everything I experience and see in my everyday life, Tobi spends much time exploring nature.
There are many things that inspire us when writing music but we can't name concrete non-musical artists or public figues. For us making music is a cosmic form of communication and a possibility to handle things that touch you emotionally in every way. It's great to deal with troubled thoughts that way so they don't become a threatening reality for you.

7. How do you create your songs? Is it predetermined process, or do you leave
substantial space for improvisations?
Our songs arise from jamsessions. If we have a good idea we play through it again and again. If something feels right to play we start to work everything out, give it a structure and work on making everything atmospheric with ,,only" two people.
Improvisations make a big part of the process. The lyrics primarely start with me screaming something into the mic to create a certain mood. It's like with a little child singing along to a song not knowing the lyrics. When concrete ideas come to my mind I write them down and figure out if it still fits the song. Tobi is very supportive about that method.
8. Do your music and lyrics have any comprehensive ideological background, or it rather reflects your immediate moods and ideas when it comes to composing music?
No, we don't follow any lyrical concept or ideological construct. And vocals are primarely an additional instrument for me and yes, follow immediate moods and ideas. Basically they deal with inner struggles, selfdestruction and beeing alone in this world. In the end their interpretation oblies to the listener.
9. And what about inspiration outside of metal music in general? What else fuels your inspiration? What kind of art do you enjoy in your spare time? Literature, cinematography, theatre?
As already mentioned there are many things that inspire us when writing music but at this point we can't name concrete non-musical artists or public figues.
10. If you were able to put one of your songs into a film or television show, what song would you choose and what type of film or series would it go with?
I'd like to play Alternative Foodporn on the TV Show "Germanys Next Top Model"
11. There has been a massive resurgence of vinyl, and even cassettes to an extent. How do you feel about the re-emergence of these formats? Do you have a preferred medium for listening to music?
CD, streaming and sometimes vinyl. At home I have classic analog stereo-rack, I'm fine with that. And I really like listening to music in my car. Although I'm not deep into that retrostuff listening to albums on vinyl can be a complete different breed. I
listened to Morbid Angel (Covenant) and Jeff Buckley (Grace) lately which was amazing! Tobi is very much into vinyl and buys them at every concert where he likes the band. If you enjoy the music listen to it the way you want.
12. What is the heavy music scene like in North Rhine-Westphalia? What are some other bands from your country that we should be paying attention to?
Germany and NRW are full of good heavy music. Sodom and Kreator come straight from the Ruhr-Area where we live. They opened the way for a lot of other Bands.
They took a big influence on the worldwide Metalscene and especially Extreme-Metal too. To mention two good local Acts from NRW: Japanische Kampfhorspiele (english: Japanese Combat-Radioplays), a Deathgrind-Band from Krefeld that deals ironically with the Metalscene and social issues. And Ultha, a very athmospheric Black Metal-Band from Colone, that makes no secret of their political left and humanist Attitude. For more Bands just seek the Internet.
13. Many thanks for your time and your effort! The last words to our readers are of course yours!
Well, thank you for inviting us! To all the readers: Stay creative and keep rock'n'roll alive! And don't give a shit when people tell you that you can't move something. It's about your personal freedom and experience. Thank you for your support and only the best for you. Love and peace from TranscomaR.
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