Accuserfrom Siegen, Germany (more about the origin later at the end of the interview) recently released another very strong album, once again on Metal Blade, which will make any old or new follower of the band happy again. A good reason to talk to guitarist and singer Frank Thoms.
Hello Frank, how are you? Have you been spared from Corona ? How has the pandemic affected the band's situation regarding the release of the new album? Are you also afraid that such a release will be lost because you can't promote it live, or do you think that people will concentrate more on good music to listen to at home, because there's not much you can do at the moment anyway?
Hi Gerald, thanks for asking, we are doing well. We and our relatives have been spared so far. The pandemic had no impact in terms of the release, as we were in the studio until the end of February 2020 and it was clear from the start that the album would come out in November. It was a few days after we were in the studio that Corona started. It was a tight thing. No band can promote anything live at the moment. That's why I think that listening habits are changing again and that people are more likely to listen to a complete album at home again instead of individual mp3 files. With a few responses to our new album, I could notice that the listeners were intensively engaged with the material.
What do you say about the new album ? Now, with a bit of distance, are you very satisfied, or do you notice things in retrospect that you would have preferred to have done differently? The reviews in the press are - as far as I can see - again good to very good. I like it very much as well, except for "Be None the wiser" - I know that sounds a bit narrow-minded, because that's a song that deviates a bit and brings in variety, but I still don't find it particularly successful.
We are very satisfied with the album, even by a long way. We knew from the beginning that "Be None The Wiser" would polarise, because it's really a matter of taste to like or dislike such a song in our genre. For us it was important to have the 17 year old track with us so that it wouldn't be forgotten. The song was written by our guitarist Uwe back then and its content fits to our current Covid-19 situation.
Your "old" guitarist René Schütz is back, who left in 2010 after "Agitation". Why did Dennis Rybakowski, the previous man on the guitar, leave and how did René come back ? Why did he leave back then is something that I'm sure many others don't remember anymore. Did he still have an influence on the new album?
Because of musical differences we were suddenly three again, but we had one more gig to play before we went back to songwriting for the new album. We asked René, because we knew that he still had the classics from our set. And so it was. He played the gig as a substitute for now, but we decided unanimously the same evening to continue together again, because we just rock together.
How did you actually come up with the Agnostic Front cover version ? Did you or someone else from the band actually read the autobiography of Agnostic Front's Roger Miret called "United & Strong", that's really hard stuff...
We didn't come up with the song because of the biography, it was clear that we wanted to have a hardcore or punk classic on the album. I listened to "The Eliminator" all the time after it was released and I couldn't get it out of my head. Also, I thought that the riffing could fit well with us. And since I always liked Agnostic Front, it should just be this song.
What can you tell us about the lyrics ? I think the lyrics to "Be none the wiser" are very thoughtful, even if I paradoxically don't like them musically. Do you believe that mankind will learn from its mistakes or is our species doomed to run into disaster sooner or later, because that's what it's all about?
A lot of different themes come together on the album, but they also form a whole. This time I looked for themes and roughly arranged them. My life partner Carina Baron then deepened the themes and finalised them to my vocal specifications. As I had just written, "Be None The Wiser" fits our present situation and was written 17 years ago. But it's often the case that films can be prescient. Just yesterday I watched The 5th Wave and one of the waves is a virus pandemic. The film is from 2016. Humans definitely have to learn, otherwise our species will be threatened at some point. We have made a lot of mistakes and that is actually enough material that is just crying out for change. It is in our hands.
Do you still look at what other bands are doing, especially in your segment and especially in this country, perhaps in the sense of a little competition? Sodom have just released a new album, and even if they appeal more to old-school fans and are of course much bigger, both bands certainly have a large number of (potential) fans. Whereas followers of the newer Kreator should be much more into Accuser, I think.
Of course, we like to see what our colleagues are doing and judge it according to our personal taste. So not in the sense of competitive listening analysis. We have created our own style over time, which is not typically German Thrash but also not pure Bay Area Thrash. It's Accuser and so every band has its own sound. It's always exciting to see how they convey their trademarks on the current album.
I think you are actually quite broadly positioned as far as potential listeners are concerned, there are mostly metalheads who listen to Kreator, Sodom, Grave, Dismember and Morbid Angel, but also listeners who tend more towards modern things like Hatebreed?Can you say something about your audience, maybe also about the age, more the old guys, haha, or are there also many 18-year-olds in the audience?
We have released several albums over the years, some of which cannot be compared with each other. You also travel through time musically and are inspired by different things in different eras. That came to light more with us than with other bands who stick strictly to their common thread. Well, in the last few years we have also been more constant with our style, but something has developed here too. Our listeners can actually be found in every age group. It starts at 16 and ends at over 80.
Both before the split and after the reunion, you really worked at an insanely fast pace, there was never more than two years between two albums. Are you particularly hard-working or disciplined or simply blessed with an insanely creative streak? There are bands that release only a third of their albums in these periods of time, but it's not at the expense of quality! Or is it simply due to the fact that, in contrast to big bands, you don't have long tours and therefore concentrate more on songwriting ?
After the reunion it was really easy to write songs, because the break before had built up a lot. At the end of the day, you can record any idea and give it an acceptable sound through home recording. You then quickly have the opportunity to judge whether it's worth sticking with the song or whether it's better to start something else. This way you can capture a lot of good material quite quickly. It's always annoying when you have a bright moment and there's no way to record the idea because you're somewhere else! The clothes are usually gone by then. I don't know if our writing speed has to do with touring more or less. I know enough bands who tour a lot and record their many snippets on the road. Then when you're at home, you have material to tinker with. I'm curious to see if the release speed of some bands changes in Corona times. That would be worth a study!
When I was researching for this interview, I also ended up with Scartribe, this rather short-lived project that also only released a demo. Why did you choose this name, did you want to make a complete new start ?
We actually wanted to do something different with more traditional rock. But we didn't really succeed, because we swam more and more into the Accuser direction. When the styles became indistinguishable and we also played old Accuser songs live, the only consequence was to call ourselves Accuser again.
I remember that the Viva (german music TV channel that ceased to broadcast at the end of 2018) programme "Metalla" once did a report on you, but I didn't find anything on the net. Am I right? If so, was that with Markus Kavka on "Taken by the throat"? Funnily enough, my parents recently told me that they heard an interview with Markus Kavka on Bavarian radio during a car journey, in which he said that at that time (probably in the 90s) the whole music industry was still throwing money around and journalists like him flew to the USA for a 10-minute interview with the corresponding bands. Was that also the case with you, that the record company put a lot of money into you and then the expectations were not fulfilled with "Taken by the throat", I think I read something like that once.
We were represented on several platforms at that time. I didn't notice all of them. Well, I remember Hard'n Heavy on Tele 5 with Anette Hopfenmüller well, because I met Ozzy Osbourne for the first time in the TV studio. That was very exciting as a youngster. Our record company at the time, Koch international, gave us the best support but didn't throw money at us. We recorded "Taken By The Throat" in Ithaca/New York with Alex Perialas. He was paid appropriately so that we could get the best out of the material in a 14-day recording period. The album was very well received, but we made a cut with the band until our reunion.
When do you hope to be able to play live again? Did you have to cancel or postpone many concerts due to the Corona pandemic? What are your plans for the future, or do you not think about it at all, because the future of the pandemic can hardly be predicted seriously anyway? Are you planning any (short) tours at all, or have there been any in the last few years?
We still had some plans for the first lockdown, because we thought it would go on soon. But one concert after the other was cancelled until November. Now that we know what we're dealing with, we're also fully aware that nothing can be planned at the moment. Of course, you can try to fix some dates, but you should expect that everything will be cancelled again. At the moment it is very difficult to judge. We should now see with consistency that the situation improves a lot. Then we can look forward again.
I remember two concerts where I saw you, once at the Beastival Festival in Geiselwind in 2013 and once with Napalm Death at the MTC in Cologne, also in 2013. Do you still remember the latter? It was so crowded there, I honestly thought it was outrageous of the organisers to let so many people in, it was pure squeezing, you couldn't buy anything to drink, let alone see the bands from behind, unless you are at least 1.90 metres tall, and there was no way through to the front. After that, I really thought it was better to stay at home with a beer on the couch and watch some YouTube recordings. Because live atmosphere or not, if you can only guess at the bands, it's really a joke.
Of course I remember it. It was intense but not the only concert I've seen at the MTC. The thing is an underground tube and not everyone can get to the front. And so it jams all the way to the back to the exit. Sure, the promoter has Napalm Death on board and wants to sell as much as possible. That just doesn't work in every venue.
How do you see the current and past "pandemic management" of the federal and state governments and how do you see the effects specifically on the event industry and the effects on bands ?
We should have been more consistent and quicker to keep our heads down for a longer period of time. Then we would have been spared a second lockdown and the economic damage would have been less - my personal opinion. For the event industry, all this is an unbelievable catastrophe, because it lives from the presence of many people. The few things that went wrong with hygiene regulations can't save anything. Now we have reached the lowest point again in terms of events and it will stay that way for a while, even if no one wants to hear it. Unfortunately, that's the way it is!
I read in an interview that you also rode a race bike for years and that you took a break from Accuser because of this priority. Was that already on a kind of semi-professional level?
I started with race bikes as a child and then switched to MTB. That is still my great passion. In the Accuser break, I compensated for the music with sport and ended up riding between four and six hours a day. I was so fit that friends told me to sign up for a race, but I just enjoyed it and didn't want to compete with others. Just being in the forest and riding.
In a review of the new record you were called Rhinelanders. Well, "Rhineland" is not exactly defined, but I wouldn't count Siegen as one now, especially since there is also Siegerland. But there are also people for whom Cologne is part of the Ruhr area /"Ruhrpott" (e.g. for some people from Berlin ).
Haha, yes I have seen that. Sometimes I would like to be a Rhinelander, but we are indeed from the Siegerland. Our René was also called René Schulz in a review. It can happen so quickly. One is called Schulz and comes from the Rhineland. No nonsense. These things happen, especially when you have to write several reviews. What you should have, however, is geographical knowledge.
The last words are yours !
Guys, 1000 thanks for your interest, stay well and hopefully we'll see you live again sometime. I think after this time, any live experience will always be a privilege! See you !!!
