Zeit - Interview - PETE'S ROCK NEWS AND VIEWS.COM

Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

Zeit: Rotten Urban Misguided Scum

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

Zeit: We started to make music while we studied together. A bit later our bassist joined the ranks and ZEIT was officially formed in 2010. Fur and Flakmann already had a musical history together.

PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?

Zeit: All three of us are musically quite open minded. We tend to use those broad influences to create something more unique and personal. Even though we started as a black metal project we used to add different genres to the blend at an early stage of the band.

Our driving force is the urge to express our own idea of what metal can sound like and also to experiment with different structures and approaches. Out of this context we also started to dive into new genres like funeral doom (“Nullpunkt”) and grind punk (“Betonkrebs”) on our EPs, simply to see if we can manage to work them out.

Lyrically we focus on the struggles of a life between forced boundaries and the aim of seeking sense in existing generally. You could pin it down to urban themed lyrics combined with a critic of social and economic situations.

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

Zeit: Keep calm and carry on, really. It’s about creating music we like and so far that worked out quite well. It’s always great to get a wider audience and to be able to perform our music live. We also started to widen our DIY approach by working in our very own 357 studios. That helps us to get a sound we are happy with, save money and keep our creative freedom. If we are able to continue that, it’s good enough.

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

Zeit: Being proud does not really work as an attitude for us. We are in our tenth year as a trio – that’s a good thing.

PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?

Zeit: It has become a lot easier to create, distribute and promote music these days. Technical solutions are more affordable than ever and everyone has the chance to find their own way to express their musical vision. While this is a good thing, it also has become more difficult to stand out of the pure mass of releases.

A band nowadays has to decide for itself, whether they want to be commercially successful or if they would rather stick to their own ideas and ideals. Both ways can work, but it’s always a question of how determined you are. For us, playing our music live still is the best marketing tool.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

Zeit: We take care of booking ourselves – it’s all about keeping contact with bookers and befriended bands. Play live, be as tight as possible and don’t be too serious about yourself. If you are consistent and humble it mostly will work out.

At the moment we are planning a record release show at our hometown Leipzig. Before that we will play at a festival in Cottbus supporting our good friends ARROGANZ.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

Zeit: Spotify itself is a rip-off. The company is constantly losing money and doesn’t have a working business model. If you are part of Spotify you just support the big labels and big artists. It makes people rich that don’t give a fuck about the real value of music.

Streaming in general is simply a necessity nowadays. We do believe that a physical format is important and most of us are collectors of vinyl and cds ourselves. But being able to provide your music online is important to reach out to new listeners. Platforms like Bandcamp, where you specifically can support the artist you like, play an important role in this concept.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

Zeit: Any Beatles song, maybe? They are the foundation of todays rock music and a perfect example of a band that didn’t give a fuck what the audience expected them to do. Otherwise – everything Tom Waits did, does and (maybe) will do.

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

Zeit: It kind of lost it’s fuck off Attitude. Especially metal has extremely developed skill wise and a lot of people seem to be more interested in a show off than to create good music. Also it has become quite monotonous regarding the sound of most records. Everything is sampled, quantized and optimized until it sounds like everything else.

It seems that most bands and labels are craving a sound that feels mechanical for us. We kind of disagree with this development but in the end everyone can decide for themselves if they want to participate in this machinery.

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

Zeit: At the moment we are rehearsing our upcoming record for some exclusive live shows. Besides that we are working on the promotion of our recent release “Ohnmacht”. And of course there is always the next riff on the horizon.

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?

Zeit: We have our headquarters over at bandcamp. You can find all of our records there, stream them and buy merch if your eager to do so: rumsdiezeit.bandcamp.com