When the Frankfurt thrashers Tankard visited the Groove Bar in Cologne-Wahn for the second time towards the end of March, it was a good opportunity for an interview with frontman Gerre. Due to an unforeseen delay, and the fact that both Gerre and myself didn't feel like doing an interview under time pressure, we decided to make a second attempt a few days later via video link. Read here what the likeable frontman has to say about the lyrics of the last album "Pavlov's Dawgs", the Corona pandemic, the social skills of metal fans and his, even after all these decades unbroken enthusiasm for metal and new albums.
What was going on in Cologne? Why was the start of the concert delayed? At least this way people could enjoy free beer, which was given to the people in front of the entrance, haha.
There were some misunderstandings, the PA wasn't really up and running yet, someone got sick at short notice and then we had to improvise a bit, so nothing serious.
Now you have already played so many concerts, is there still joy and desire there every time, or do you think in the meantime that you would have rather spent the weekend at home more relaxed? How much routine is there nowadays ?
Well, we do the whole thing because it's fun to go on stage and party with the people. It's fun every time again. Of course, sometimes you're a bit exhausted when you're on the road so much and don't get much sleep. But when the first note sounds on stage, all that is gone and we look forward to the gig and the time with the fans! Then you know what you're doing all the hard work for!
The first contact happened in advance of the corona concert in 2020, where only 60 visitors could be there under very strict conditions, still with mandatory masks, safety distance and fixed seats. In the past, we often played at the "Underground" in Cologne, which was a very cool place that unfortunately no longer exists. And now we played there for the second time, this time under normal conditions with a real concert atmosphere.
The current album "Pawlows Dawgs" as well as the previous one were recorded in the Gernhart Studio in Troisdorf, which is only a stone's throw away from the concert location. Did you maybe go to the beautiful Wahner Heide ( a large beautiful nature reserve at the gates of Cologne) during that time?
No, but as you said, the studio is just around the corner from the concert location. We knew Martin Buchwalter (owner of the Gernhart Studio), and then there was the idea to record an album with him for some time. This happened for the first time in 2017 with "One Foot in the Grave", which worked well and in this regard we came back to Troisdorf for the current album. Perzonal War, the band Martin is part of, is also a very cool band, which unfortunately never made the breakthrough or at least never got the recognition they deserve, although the guys have released so many great albums. So if you want to hear some good German metal, check out the discography of Perzonal War!
I'll put it this way, it's always good for the reputation of a band to appear in the charts. The fact that we made it into the top ten for the first time is of course also due to the fact that our label Reaper Music, and especially Florian Milz, have really stepped on the gas for us and the record. The last albums have also been in the charts. In terms of sales, you don't have to sell very much nowadays, you can't even begin to compare it with the 80s or 90s. Financially it doesn't matter anymore, you hardly earn anything as a band through record sales nowadays. But it's still nice to get so far with this kind of music and to be prevented from reaching seventh place only by Roland Kaiser (a very famous german schlager artist), haha. That makes you a bit proud, of course.
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„We don't have to do it, we do it because we want to!“
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That's a good point to tie into the next topic. In the interview in German Legacy Magazine about the new album you said that shortly before the Corona pandemic you had thought about quitting your jobs to concentrate on the band, and then you were glad you didn't do it when Corona came along with all the consequences like concert bans. I was very surprised about that, I would have rather thought about that in the 80s or 90s, when you could still earn money with the record sales.
I think Andy and Frank weren't really serious about that. Well, we're all going to retire soon anyway and then we'll just do Tankard, haha. So, when the pandemic started, we all made a phone call and took some time off from the band, which was good for us. We didn't rehearse for a few months and we didn't see each other. But the issue of not wanting to make a living from music was something we already decided at the end of the 80s. That's always a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, if you don't live off the music, you can do whatever you want with the band and be independent and have zero pressure, and that's a good thing. The other side of the coin of course is that you can never be on the road as much as the fans want to see the band, you can never really satisfy the demand. But for a band of Tankard's size, that's not an option these days. The way we handle it, we still have fun doing it, even after more than 41 years of Tankard. And that's the recipe for success, I think: We don't have to do it, we do it because we want to!
Yes, I think you don't really realize that, but of course that's always very nice when you hear something like that. Of course, that has a lot to do with the fact that we are a band from the 80s. We didn't have a reunion, we just kept going, especially in the mid to late 90's, when heavy metal in general and thrash metal in particular wasn't that popular. We've always been around, and that's probably one of the reasons why we're mentioned when it comes to important bands or influences. The thought of having influenced any bands on this planet or even having motivated fans to form bands is of course something nice.
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„Then I said, the Schlager artists sing about love, but metal is love.“
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Let's move on to something else. Since I know that you are a social worker, I would like to have a hypothesis or theory from you, to the circumstance observed by me, that above average many metal musicians are working in social, helping and medical professions such as social pedagogues, teachers, educators, psychologists or doctors, even those who play in bands with rather less philanthropic statements or images. Do you have any spontaneous thought(s) about that?
Well, metal in general, especially thrash or death metal is a very aggressive form of music. But all the people who listen to it or make it are 99% nice, kind and peaceful people, and so it's certainly reflected in some people's choice of profession. The other day we had an event where we auctioned off a few things for the benefit of two charitable institutions. A lot of Eintracht Frankfurt stuff, but also our guitars, which we had played at the Berlin Olympic Stadium in 2018 (Tankard performed there with the unofficial club anthem "Schwarz-weiß wie Schnee" which means "Black white like snow" at the DFB Cup final in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, Eintracht Frankfurt won 3:1 against Bayern Munich. The band already played there in 2017, final Borussia Dortmund: Eintracht Frankfurt 2:1, and in 2006 with the final Eintracht Frankfurt- Bayern Munich, result 0:1) A buddy of mine, who is already such a big Schlager singer in our Rhine-Main area, who is pretty hip here (it's the Frankfurt singer called Roy Hammer, a top pseudonym, I think, which contains associations to both Schlager and metal-note of the author) had taken the role of the auctioneer. He came in like that, we introduced him, and I just said that everyone must be wondering now what metal has to do with Schlager. Then I said, the Schlager artists sing about love, but metal is love. I think that describes it quite well and answers your question at least to some extent.
Speaking of image, you also wanted to get away from this beer-drinking band image. Does it still bother you that critics, listeners and fans always need a label? Or to put it another way, that it seems to be a bit unthinkable for many people to write funny lyrics about drinking beer and partying on the one hand, and to be a reflective person on the other hand, who thinks about a lot of things and also puts social criticism into lyrics?
Well, I'll put it this way, we also contributed a lot to being put in the corresponding category, especially in the period 1987-1989, with the albums "Chemical Invasion" or "The Morning After". Then we wanted to get away from this image a bit and of course we failed miserably. We make fun of that a little bit nowadays. Today we are always asked and asked about the fact that we also have socially critical lyrics on the album. But we've had those kind of lyrics since "Chemical Invasion", I'm excluding the debut of course, with "Zombie Attack" we were just 14, 15 years old when we wrote the lyrics, it was really just horror movie style and some nonsense. So, these kind of socially critical lyrics are nothing new and have basically always been present. Those who don't know the band that well, quickly reduce us to this beer-drinking thing, according to the motto, you can't take them that seriously anyway. But I can live with that, especially since we, as I said, are not completely innocent of that, especially at the beginning of Tankard. But if we were to make a new record today and everything was deadly serious, even with a completely different cover design, that wouldn't be Tankard anymore. In this respect, a winking eye fits us quite well.
Yes, at some point this no longer has anything to do with real life when you're only living in the virtual reality. Of course, we are all dependent to a certain extent on technical innovations: If you give your smartphone away for repair today and don't have access to it for three days, you'll realize what's going on, and you'll be lost. WhatsApp, Instagram are used, I personally don't have Facebook now, but the band needs that too. It's all well and good that people are using the new media now, but especially young people, 13-16 year olds, can get lost in it.
It ends well in our song, but criticism is of course appropriate. In any case, this self-dramatization has nothing to do with reality - or it's a completely different form of reality. On the other hand, one shouldn't forget the old people, who are partly completely left out and also robbed of many possibilities, because many things can only be done digitally today.
Sadly, there have already been people who, in search of the perfect picture for Instagram, hoping for virtual affection in the form of lots of likes, have found their deaths by falling off a high cliff, for example. That sums up the absurdity of it all.
Let's move on to the text of "Memento", which I find remarkable. It describes someone in a crisis situation who pulls himself out of it and appeals to his own ego not to fall into self-pity.
Yes, exactly, the main thing is not to look back. I always catch myself looking back too much into the past, wallowing in memories, along the lines of "everything was better in the past anyway". And it's about motivating yourself, just turning your head forward, just going straight ahead and taking everything into your own hands.
Yeah, me too, totally. But as it also says in the text, "garbage of the past", that came to my mind. You just like to live in the past, and you really have to be careful that you don't glorify situations, circumstances and people from the past.
Especially when you've had some beers. There is the fraction that then becomes aggressive faster, and the fraction that then becomes nostalgic-melancholic, I just assume you then rather belong to the latter.
Yes, I know that, after the fourth beer it comes through what you want to change and do differently in the future, and then you're back in your hamster wheel, haha.
Some people also like to call people from the past with whom you haven't had any contact for ages. I don't know if this is well received a four o'clock in the morning, haha.
As you get older, you have less time to cultivate friendships and are more caught up in the hamster wheel than before, when everything was probably a bit more carefree. But as I said, we're probably back to glorifying the past. Not everything was better in the past, and a lot of things used to suck. In this respect, as I said, the text is a little motivator to look forward.
Let's come to the lyrics of "Lockdown forever", you have also taken a time out as a band, which has done you good.
Yes, "Lockdown forever", the theme of a never-ending lockdown is of course very exaggerated in an ironic way. That quasi such a blatant pandemic would come that you would be locked up at home for the rest of your life.
I found the lockdown situation very gnarly, and also very double-edged. I was one of the first to have a pass at a real curfew, because of the systemic relevance of my profession. We had a pass before the first lockdown came. We only had real curfews once or twice, if I remember correctly, where you were only allowed to be outside until 10:00 p.m.
I didn't think it was such a bad thing that everything was shut down. For children and young people in particular, however, it was of course a complete catastrophe; they were robbed of two years of their lives, without wanting to blame anyone for it. But for me personally, I didn't think it was so bad that everything had been brought down a bit.
I didn't think it was bad either. Of course, it all depends on your life situation, your hobbies, how you spend your time, and your living situation. Nevertheless, I believe that, with exceptions of course, it already went in the direction that the younger the persons, the more serious the effects, apart from small children of course.
You also have to say that it's now slowly coming to an end, that it's no longer being discussed at all. Before that, the topic was discussed without end in talk shows for almost three years. I would like to see a proper reappraisal of the subject and a critical examination of everything that has been done.
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„And I didn't like this complete exclusion of non-vaccinated people.“
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Particularly in view of the fact that it is not that unlikely that there will be another pandemic at some point in the future.
That's all being swept under the carpet a bit now. I would have liked to have seen politicians say at the beginning: "This is something new, we don't know it, we're doing our best, but mistakes will happen. That would have taken a lot of wind out of the sails. Or is a politician not allowed to say something like that? But I also didn't like this unvaccinated bashing. Don't get me wrong, I am vaccinated myself and I let myself be convinced that I will most likely not be infected by the vaccination and that I will not pass it on. Well, and in the end almost everybody had it at least once, okay, maybe not as strong in the effects as unvaccinated people. In this respect, there are things that one could critically question retrospectively. The Swedes, for example, were dealt with very harshly for their way of dealing with Corona, they hardly did anything about it, at least not in the sense of mandatory regulations, and now they are just like us.
China shut down everything, completely isolated residential areas, and in the end it did nothing, not to mention the disproportionate nature of the measures.
As I said, I am vaccinated myself and of course the Corona infection was a bad thing, which was deadly or at least very dangerous for some people. But as you rightly say, that will not have been the last pandemic, and a critical examination should be good for that alone, in order to be better prepared next time and not to have to buy expensive masks in China, that's all happened. And I didn't like this complete exclusion of non-vaccinated people.
I see it the same way, or also these limitations to ten people at funerals in the open air. At the time, I subjectively had the feeling that I was on the safe side if I was vaccinated, and that I could not then pass it on. This wasn't the case as we now know, perhaps it should not have been called vaccination then. I'm not a swindler or a conspiracy theorist, but I am a fundamentally liberal person, and if someone doesn't want to be vaccinated, then he or she will have his or her reasons for doing so and, in my opinion, shouldn't be nailed to the wall in the way that happened in some cases. In this respect, I can only repeat myself at this point and would like to see an open and critical discussion of the topic.
Let's go back to more pleasant topics towards the end of the interview, what about your enthusiasm and interest regarding new releases? Is there still stuff that totally excites you or makes you long for the release date?
I'm still a metal freak and spend quite a bit of money on physical records. I also listen a lot, every now and then you discover something new. A small example to illustrate this: We were sitting in our tour bus to Cologne, and Buffo, our manager, listed which releases are current now. A new Jag Panzer is coming out, then I heard the first song on the Internet, it knocked my socks off, I think it's so cool, and I'm so looking forward to the new Jag Panzer record. Of course I also ordered the new Overkill album, the new Savage Grace and now I could go on listing those for another four hours. So you see, the whole thing still interests me a lot and I also blindly buy a lot of new stuff.
One track I found quite good, and another I found a bit boring. But I think there is already a third pre-release song to listen to.
I have a theory about some of these new tracks, that if the band wasn't Metallica, but some random newcomer, nobody would be interested, and I say that as someone who even liked "St. Anger".
Tankard are often in the newspapers because of their connection to Eintracht Frankfurt. Are you often recognized in the city or also in the professional context?
That's rather seldom, in the stadium, however, every third person knows me, of course, so I'm often recognized there.
I'm sure you appreciate the fact that you're left in peace, especially in the situations mentioned first.
I can actually handle it quite well, I'm just as much of a metalhead as the others. Person hype, even with the big stars, I always find quite exaggerated. They all only boil with water!
Some people pay about 5000 euros to be able to shake Ozzy Osborne's hand and take a selfie. Apart from the disproportionate price, what does a fan get out of it if it's all done for purely monetary reasons?
Well, we also like to do meet-and-greets, but not for money. Especially in South America you have to be careful as a band that there aren't some weird tickets being sold for a lot of money. We as a band fight tooth and nail against that and as long as I have something to say, that kind of shit won't happen, that's just a lousy rip-off for me.
That's a good closing word.
Please take as a headline "They also only boil with water", haha.
I will, I promise.