No need for introductions here, because if you don't know about this band you have probably been living under a rock for the past few years. Very proud for having this on the blog, since I consider "Downfall of Gaia" to be under a huge spotlight in my book. Hope you all enjoy reading this interview as much as I enjoyed writing questions for it.
1. Up front I want to thank you for taking a chunk of your time and doing this interview. Please, introduce yourself and the rest of the band.
Thank you as well for this interview. We are "Downfall of Gaia", a four piece band. There is Peter who does guitar and vocals, Toni who plays bass and sings aswell and the both of us are Dominik (guitar and vocals) and Hannes (drums).
2. I remember that "Downfall of Gaia" appeared like thunder from the clear sky, so to speak, quite a surprise back then. What is the story behind the formation of the band?
Dominik: Toni and me started this band back in 2006. In the beginning it took us a while 'till we found our style of music. We had more d-beat/crust - stuff that we played back then. In 2008 Peter joined the band and everything was now arranged with a second guitar. After we split from our former drummer, Sven a good friend of ours took the part of the drummer. Due to private circumstances Sven left Downfall of Gaia and with Hannes we hopefully found our final lineup. Our music developed over the years towards our recent sound, since the new members brought in their different influences and we grew as a band in our musical experience.
3. Could you give me your thoughts about your local music scene? Is there a strong diy presence? Germany gave birth to a large number of quite impressive projects.
Dominik: Germany has got a big and really active diy scene and I think we are all spoiled with good concerts and great bands. There are a lot of people who arrange concerts and keep this scene alive.
Hannes: I guess most people just don't realize how huge this movement in Germany is. We really have a big presence of the DIY spirit. As Dominik said we are spoiled with a lot of good concerts here and people got used to it. So still everyone seems to complain about nothing is going on. I think Germany has a lot of good bands that do everything on their own and this became something as a standart nowadays.
4. And your thoughts about the rest of the world when it comes to this kind of music?
Hannes: I think that the whole scene got bigger and bigger during the last years. A lot of new bands came up and the genres got more specialized. The internet took its part in this, so you don't have a problem finding the perfect fitting band for your taste of music. It's awesome that you can find a lot of very qualitative bands that care for deep and atmospheric sounds and have a serious message as well.
5. "Epos" brought a change of style in contrast to your first recordings, songs became more epic and darker. Are you satisfied with your evolution or do you want to continue it?
Dominik: I think we are all very satisfied with our evolution but of course we still want to continue and go on. I wouldn't feel comfortable if every record would sound the same. We are getting older and we are collecting more and more influences, so our sound is growing and growing. We don't want to set ourselves a musical limit which means we don't want to be trapped in a musical genre.
The Epos had more Doom and Post-Rock influences than our earlier stuff. This is a sound which we feel very comfortable with. Since Hannes is involved in our songwriting we also added some atmospheric black metal parts for example.
6. Which projects do you find to be your biggest musical influence?
Dominik: We all like to listen to a lot of different genres. We enjoy music from pop to electro to indie but related to our music our biggest influences are bands like Cult of Luna, Rosetta, Altar of Plagues, Neurosis or Mono for example...
7. I'm studying the German language, but it is still a bit rusty. For all of us who are not that much versed in your language, could you explain some of the themes you touch through your lyrics?
Dominik: Our lyrics are based on private or political circumstances, daily issues and so called life. Epos was a real personal release. So I think every song has got it's own story and there is enough space for everyone to read something into and create your own song meaning. But for lyrics + song explanations you can check out our myspace-page.
Hannes: Our split lp that is gonna be released in February deals with our world that is ruled by hate, egoism, corruption and violence and it tells the story how the humankind destroys nature and itself with its own hands.
8. What are your plans for the future?
Dominik: There will be a new record and of course we try to play as much shows as possible. In February we will release a 12" split Lp with our friends from Sweden - In the Hearts of Emperors. Hopefully we are able to hit the studio at the end of 2011 to record a new 12". Also we will hit the road in October for a "bigger" European tour. One goal for 2011 was to play the States in October but due to some private circumstances we are not able to do this tour. So we will tour Europe in October.
9. Do/Did some of the band members participate in other side projects?
Hannes: I'm the only one that plays in other bands at the moment.
I founded a Hardcore band back in 2006 called "In A Blind Fury". We are a band with political and social lyrics, but we as well got songs that express personal topics. After a Demo and EP we are writing our first full length album right now.
I as well got a modern death/black-metal band that is called "Grievous Burden". We mix our sound with genres like sludge and post-rock. We formed out of our old band "Beneath A Steel Sky" and finished our first EP that is gonna be published soon.
10. Care to share your favorite releases of 2010? And overall favorites?
Hannes: 2010 was a great year for music in my opinion.
My favorite records this year would be:
Eluvium - Similes
Jonsi - Go Do
Behemoth - Evangelion
God is an astronaut - Age of the fifth sun
Escapado - Montgomery Mundtot
Rosetta - A Determinism of Morality
Dominik: Hmmm...nice question. To be honest - I think I can't answer it because there are so many good records out there and I would forget the half of it.
"A Determinism of Morality" from Rosetta was an impressive release in 2010. All time favorites - let me think - Neurosis - "The eye of every storm". That's a masterpiece of music!
One of my all time favorites is also "Untrue" from Burial. Really great and atmospheric dubstep from the UK.
11. Do you guys have some hobbies outside of music?
Dominik: Of course! I think we are all into vegan cooking, traveling, photography / art and all that stuff.
12. Time for you to ask something!
Hannes: I'm interested in what you do besides this blog and how much time you're investing for Natures With No Plagues?
I'm a student on my final year of studies, with three exams left to finish my education. A lot of my time is dedicated to writing, both here and for other sites, as well as writing some short stories and other fiction work. As for time invested in this blog, it really depends. When people ask me this question I always remember the band "Melete". I never actually planned to write about them, but once I heard their 7'' release it blew me away and I just had to share my thoughts about their music. I guess that is why this blog has a more personal tone, since I try to present my actual momentary feelings about the music. Other times, bands send me their releases and ask to be reviewed, which I find to be very pleasurable and fun, especially since I discovered a lot of excellent bands that way.
Dominik: Do you make music on your own?
Actually yes, since I play bass, but I must admit that my projects never actually came to the phase of recording due to various factors. Most notable was an experimental nintendo band, but a lack of initiative from members killed it. Recently I started playing with my brother and for now this seems to be the most stable project, since we are very eager to create something together and we have a relatively fixed idea where we want to go. We play occult inspired crust/sludge. For now it is just the two of us (guitar, bass and vocals), but once we form the basic structure we will be adding a drummer as well.
13. Thanks so much for doing this interview, very happy to have you on the blog. Do you have some final message for the blog, "fans", friends, bands, the world?
Dominik: Thank you for doing this interview with us! It really means a lot! We are very honored that people care about what we are doing!
Hannes: I must admit I'm not spending a lot of time reading blogs for usual. But I really enjoyed yours and spent some hours reading it, its very nice to see someone putting that much heart into it! So thanks a lot for this great interview, it was really fun. And be sure to have one new person that checks you blog now quiet often.
1. Up front I want to thank you for taking a chunk of your time and doing this interview. Please, introduce yourself and the rest of the band.
Thank you as well for this interview. We are "Downfall of Gaia", a four piece band. There is Peter who does guitar and vocals, Toni who plays bass and sings aswell and the both of us are Dominik (guitar and vocals) and Hannes (drums).
2. I remember that "Downfall of Gaia" appeared like thunder from the clear sky, so to speak, quite a surprise back then. What is the story behind the formation of the band?
Dominik: Toni and me started this band back in 2006. In the beginning it took us a while 'till we found our style of music. We had more d-beat/crust - stuff that we played back then. In 2008 Peter joined the band and everything was now arranged with a second guitar. After we split from our former drummer, Sven a good friend of ours took the part of the drummer. Due to private circumstances Sven left Downfall of Gaia and with Hannes we hopefully found our final lineup. Our music developed over the years towards our recent sound, since the new members brought in their different influences and we grew as a band in our musical experience.
3. Could you give me your thoughts about your local music scene? Is there a strong diy presence? Germany gave birth to a large number of quite impressive projects.
Dominik: Germany has got a big and really active diy scene and I think we are all spoiled with good concerts and great bands. There are a lot of people who arrange concerts and keep this scene alive.
Hannes: I guess most people just don't realize how huge this movement in Germany is. We really have a big presence of the DIY spirit. As Dominik said we are spoiled with a lot of good concerts here and people got used to it. So still everyone seems to complain about nothing is going on. I think Germany has a lot of good bands that do everything on their own and this became something as a standart nowadays.
4. And your thoughts about the rest of the world when it comes to this kind of music?
Hannes: I think that the whole scene got bigger and bigger during the last years. A lot of new bands came up and the genres got more specialized. The internet took its part in this, so you don't have a problem finding the perfect fitting band for your taste of music. It's awesome that you can find a lot of very qualitative bands that care for deep and atmospheric sounds and have a serious message as well.
5. "Epos" brought a change of style in contrast to your first recordings, songs became more epic and darker. Are you satisfied with your evolution or do you want to continue it?
Dominik: I think we are all very satisfied with our evolution but of course we still want to continue and go on. I wouldn't feel comfortable if every record would sound the same. We are getting older and we are collecting more and more influences, so our sound is growing and growing. We don't want to set ourselves a musical limit which means we don't want to be trapped in a musical genre.The Epos had more Doom and Post-Rock influences than our earlier stuff. This is a sound which we feel very comfortable with. Since Hannes is involved in our songwriting we also added some atmospheric black metal parts for example.
6. Which projects do you find to be your biggest musical influence?
Dominik: We all like to listen to a lot of different genres. We enjoy music from pop to electro to indie but related to our music our biggest influences are bands like Cult of Luna, Rosetta, Altar of Plagues, Neurosis or Mono for example...
7. I'm studying the German language, but it is still a bit rusty. For all of us who are not that much versed in your language, could you explain some of the themes you touch through your lyrics?
Dominik: Our lyrics are based on private or political circumstances, daily issues and so called life. Epos was a real personal release. So I think every song has got it's own story and there is enough space for everyone to read something into and create your own song meaning. But for lyrics + song explanations you can check out our myspace-page.
Hannes: Our split lp that is gonna be released in February deals with our world that is ruled by hate, egoism, corruption and violence and it tells the story how the humankind destroys nature and itself with its own hands.
8. What are your plans for the future?
Dominik: There will be a new record and of course we try to play as much shows as possible. In February we will release a 12" split Lp with our friends from Sweden - In the Hearts of Emperors. Hopefully we are able to hit the studio at the end of 2011 to record a new 12". Also we will hit the road in October for a "bigger" European tour. One goal for 2011 was to play the States in October but due to some private circumstances we are not able to do this tour. So we will tour Europe in October.
9. Do/Did some of the band members participate in other side projects?
Hannes: I'm the only one that plays in other bands at the moment.
I founded a Hardcore band back in 2006 called "In A Blind Fury". We are a band with political and social lyrics, but we as well got songs that express personal topics. After a Demo and EP we are writing our first full length album right now.
I as well got a modern death/black-metal band that is called "Grievous Burden". We mix our sound with genres like sludge and post-rock. We formed out of our old band "Beneath A Steel Sky" and finished our first EP that is gonna be published soon.
10. Care to share your favorite releases of 2010? And overall favorites?
Hannes: 2010 was a great year for music in my opinion.
My favorite records this year would be:
Eluvium - Similes
Jonsi - Go Do
Behemoth - Evangelion
God is an astronaut - Age of the fifth sun
Escapado - Montgomery Mundtot
Rosetta - A Determinism of Morality
Dominik: Hmmm...nice question. To be honest - I think I can't answer it because there are so many good records out there and I would forget the half of it.
"A Determinism of Morality" from Rosetta was an impressive release in 2010. All time favorites - let me think - Neurosis - "The eye of every storm". That's a masterpiece of music!
One of my all time favorites is also "Untrue" from Burial. Really great and atmospheric dubstep from the UK.
11. Do you guys have some hobbies outside of music?
Dominik: Of course! I think we are all into vegan cooking, traveling, photography / art and all that stuff.
12. Time for you to ask something!
Hannes: I'm interested in what you do besides this blog and how much time you're investing for Natures With No Plagues?
I'm a student on my final year of studies, with three exams left to finish my education. A lot of my time is dedicated to writing, both here and for other sites, as well as writing some short stories and other fiction work. As for time invested in this blog, it really depends. When people ask me this question I always remember the band "Melete". I never actually planned to write about them, but once I heard their 7'' release it blew me away and I just had to share my thoughts about their music. I guess that is why this blog has a more personal tone, since I try to present my actual momentary feelings about the music. Other times, bands send me their releases and ask to be reviewed, which I find to be very pleasurable and fun, especially since I discovered a lot of excellent bands that way.
Dominik: Do you make music on your own?
Actually yes, since I play bass, but I must admit that my projects never actually came to the phase of recording due to various factors. Most notable was an experimental nintendo band, but a lack of initiative from members killed it. Recently I started playing with my brother and for now this seems to be the most stable project, since we are very eager to create something together and we have a relatively fixed idea where we want to go. We play occult inspired crust/sludge. For now it is just the two of us (guitar, bass and vocals), but once we form the basic structure we will be adding a drummer as well.
13. Thanks so much for doing this interview, very happy to have you on the blog. Do you have some final message for the blog, "fans", friends, bands, the world?
Dominik: Thank you for doing this interview with us! It really means a lot! We are very honored that people care about what we are doing!
Hannes: I must admit I'm not spending a lot of time reading blogs for usual. But I really enjoyed yours and spent some hours reading it, its very nice to see someone putting that much heart into it! So thanks a lot for this great interview, it was really fun. And be sure to have one new person that checks you blog now quiet often.
why isn`t there any question about their religius / christian backround? They are christs and i`m interested what they say about this...
ReplyDeletegreat blog by the way!
really nice interview ! i love these guys !
ReplyDeletewonderful music ! epic and dark...i love it :)
@ NoNoNo: you are wrong. some time ago i talked with those guys at a show about this topic and we had a really, really nice and open minded conversation ! these are just some rumours spread through the scene. if you want to know more about it - there is a statement about the whole thing on their myspace-page. you should check it out !
and what`s about the Jesus Freaks Festival the guitarplayer is organzing? (Freakstock) and his ex Band PREACHER? and his tattoos? (watch the Pics on myspace. "SALVATION", some angel art and bible art everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI know of the fact that there were some religious based rumors or whatever concerning this band, thus I really wanted to avoid the topic. It might be interesting talking about that in person, but I feel it is not for an interview, nor is it in tone with the blog itself.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the interview!