Folowing the release of their excellent new album 'Trash Anthems' we catch up with bass guitarist and vocalist Schmier to find out the news from the Destruction camp.    

MM - Hey Schmier, thanks for doing the interview. How are you? How is the tour going?
Schmier - So far so good! Well we haven’t gone to the UK so far, just one UK show. We've had some problems with promoters, it seems that Manchester has been cancelled so everybody's in a bad mood today but yesterday we had a great show in Dublin and hopefully tonight will be fun too. The first shows were really great so hopefully we'll get over those problems and the next days will be fine. 

MM - You've been in Destruction for over 20 years. Is there anywhere that you still want to tour that you haven’t been to yet?
Schmier - I think it's always a challenge, you know. Like China for example is one of those countries where I've always wanted to play, one day when they're ready. We had the offer this year but it just didn’t work out. And like, Indonesia, Malaysia, all those countries have a lot of metal kids, it's just hard to play there because they have such low income so it's really hard to bring the bands. And of course all of the Arabian countries would be interesting because there's more and more metal heads down there, and there's a big festival now called Desert Rock, and I would really love to play there one day. Of course there's all these exotic countries that are just getting into metal now, or let's say metals just allowed in the last years there. We played in Turkey 8 years ago, and it was really hard to play at that time, but now there's more and more shows in Turkey, and things are getting easier everywhere, so one day we're going to have hopefully a possible country to go to those countries. 

MM - As you know, there's a current revival of Thrash metal, what do you think of the guys now compared to when you started out in the 80's?
Schmier - Everybody asks that question! *laughs* It's different because in the 80's, it was the beginning of something new. I still don't really see this revival as everyone else is seeing it. I mean, there's definitely a whole new generation of young kids getting into thrash metal, but it's not the flavor of the month or something like some other styles right now. I'm really glad to see that a whole new generation of kids like this old style, because it's honest music, because of all the lyrics, and it's not commercial music, so it's great to see that, but I don't think that it's as big a revival as everyone is making it out to be. 

MM - This year you released "Thrash Anthems", why did you decide to re-record the old songs?
Schmier - For us, when we play those songs live, they sound different back in the day because for us because we were 17, we were young, the recordings were kind of low budget, they just don't sound really good, and the band wasn’t very tight at that time. We made some bonus tracks in the last few years that were actually old songs, and we had great reactions to them, so we thought that it would be a good idea to do an album like that some day. Also, a lot of the younger kids asked for it because they are more familiar with Destruction since the comeback in 1999, and they prefer the aggressive new sound compared to the old stuff, so for us it's just an update on the bands sound.  

MM - How do you feel they compare to the originals?
Schmier - The 80's had it's own vibes, but of course we're living in a new century now, and I look forward, I don't look back all the time. That's a big mistake in peoples thinking, if they think that the 80's sound was meant to be like it was, that's not true, it was just because nobody could really produce stuff in the 80's, and now people are trying to sound like the 80's and they make me laugh, because sorry, if it would have been possible in the 80's to sound better then we would have, but it wasn’t at that time, so we're basically just trying to put our live sound on the record, and that's a clean, aggressive sound, and I don't care that people are still crying about the 80's, I'm living in the new century. We're defending our old school style, but that doesn’t mean that we have to be old fashioned. 

MM - So, you hate power metal.. Or "Kindergarten" metal as you call it, why?
Schmier - I don't hate power metal, I love Metal Church, Vicious Rumors and stuff like this, but I hate all these kindergarten melodies and those choruses, they remind me of my youth. I have nothing against gay people, but even gay people wouldn’t listen to something like this. It's a matter of taste, for me metal needs some balls, and a lot of those melodies are just too cheesy. It needs to have some balls, and not just some silly harmonies.  

MM - You' played the huge festival shows back in the summer, how do you feel about playing small venues like this?
Schmier - This is where it all started, and where it belongs, thrash metal always was a sweaty thing and it works best in small clubs, with a great moshpit, where people are sweating their asses off in the front row, with an aggressive atmosphere. The festivals are great, because the audiences are fantastic, and it's an opportunity for a band to play to a lot of people, but on the other side I like these small clubs. This is where we come from.  

MM - The classic question - Who makes better thrash, the Americans or the Europeans?
Schmier - I guess it's a matter of taste, I love the American bands. I'm a really big fan of Forbidden, Testament, and Exodus of course, but you can't compare as the American bands have always been a lot more technical, and the European and German bands have always been more aggressive. You can't really compare, I like both styles. The Americans have always been a little more glammy with everything; their thrash is a bit more melodic.  

MM - Back in August you played Wacken. How do you find Wacken compared to other festivals, do you think that the atmosphere is different at Wacken?
Schmier - Wacken is so good, not because it's in Germany, or because we've played it so many times, Wacken is good because of all the international people coming there and making it a unique event. You can meet people from all over the world at this one festival, and no other festival is the same. If Wacken was only a German festival with only German people then it would be fucking boring. What's great about Wacken is that everyone’s from the last fucking place on this fucking planet, like this year I talked to the crowd in German, and then started talking in English to show respect for all the foreigners, and the reaction was crazy. People laughed because all the other German bands were speaking German, but I felt that it was important to show some respect. You could see from the reaction of the crowd that at least 40, 50% were not from Germany. 

MM - Are there any plans to release that show on DVD?
Schmier - Yeah we recorded it, so it looks good. We're going to do a DVD next year featuring Wacken and some other stuff, and it's the 25th anniversary so we're going to have some specials featuring some interviews with old members and things like this, so it's going to be fun. 

MM - At the moment there's huge support for the old school metal scene, do you think that in 20 years time there'll be similar support for the metal that's around now?
Schmier - I think everything is going in circles anyway, it's just that now people are supporting the old school again, because before it was all this fucking nu-metal crap, so it's a normal thing, there's always these waves, if something is very commercial, then there will be a very uncommercial wave next, and if something is very technical then there will be an easy going vibe in the next scene. Music is just like this, even if you watch the mainstream market, like the 70's are popular again. I guess people just forget about the music, and then start to discover it again, so that's why it works like this. 

MM - Modern technology, Internet, downloading, myspace, is this a good thing for Destruction, or would you rather go back to the days of tape trading again?
Schmier - It's definitely a good thing, you can connect with the fans in just one mouse click, you can talk to the kids, they can ask the band stuff, you reach everybody for shows, if they get moved/cancelled. I like the internet, it's a very good thing, of course it hurts the bands in the selling aspect, that we're off course suffering from illegal downloads, but on the other side more people are coming to the shows because they're getting better promotion. 

MM - 25 years of Destruction, what's been the best moment?
Schmier - There's been a lot of good moments, definitely one of the reunion shows, perhaps Wacken '99, it was fantastic to see that after all those years people were still into it, it was one of the great moments for sure. There's been a lot of great moments in the last few years, like when we went back to South America, or Greece, where the people were so wild and enthusiastic it felt like the heroes returning home. There's been a lot of great moments, it's difficult to say what was best, but definitely the comeback show at Wacken was outstanding. 

MM - Any maybe a lowest moment?
Schmier - There's been a lot of low moments also, because some shitty promoters are canceling the shows and blaming us for it, we'll see, hopefully we can still save the Manchester show somehow. It's pretty low when you're doing a tour, and you're traveling a long way, and some fucking promoters cancel your show at the last minute. You're there, you want to play, but you can't, that's really shit. Sometimes you've got to cancel a show because of difficulties with a promoter, like not having enough equipment or something, but as you can see, we try and do small shows in places like this tonight, all you need is some effort and the band with the promoter can make the best out of little shows too. People are paying a lot of money to see the band, so they deserve at least a small show. 

MM - Destruction has had a lot of different line-ups, what do you think of the current one. Is it the best?
Schmier - This line-up has been together for 6 years now, that's actually a really long time compared to the other line-ups. When you look at the early history of the band, every 2 years there was line-up changes, another drummer all the time, and this is really stable now after 6 years and it's really good. The band is much tighter than ever, we have a really great chemistry, and people accept Marcus as a drummer, he's not the new guy anymore. He's even able to sign some of the old records sometimes, not everybody likes it but they do let him sign the old records, which shows how he's accepted by the fans. 

MM - What kind of stuff are are you listening to at the moment?
Schmier - A lot of different stuff actually. I have a pretty open view on metal, so I'm listening to everything to Power metal (breaks into laughter) to.. Actually what's in my car at the moment, that's a good question.. Of course I love a lot of thrash stuff, so I have the new Exodus in my car, but also stuff like Nevermore, or Annihilator, or a lot of melodic stuff, I like some hard rock bands too. I think it's important to be original, I'm not the kind of guy who only likes a certain type of metal, I like an original singer, original style, and that's a lot more than just one certain style. It has to have some special feeling, so therefore from black and death metal, to progressive. Even going back into to the 70's, bands like Rush, Uriah Heep, Kansas, stuff like this. I have a big variety, but course I love the heavier, crunchier stuff, (Marc - And Thin Lizzy also!), Yeah thin Lizzy for sure, and Rory Gallagher, Mike is a really big Rory Gallagher fan. A lot of people just listen to whatever is the flavor of the month, and that sucks.  

MM - The German Metal scene.. Do you think that there's a good scene in Germany?
Schmier - There used to be one. There's a lot of selling out going on, it's one of the biggest metal markets in the world, so the labels are just signing whatever is trendy, and a lot of bands are following all the trends, and originality is gone. It used to be original, a lot of the old school metal bands came from Germany - Grave Digger, Running Wild, a lot of thrash bands came from Germany, but since Scandinavia took over, German bands are just following Scandinavian and American trends. It's pretty boring because we used to have a really original style and bands who came up with original styles, but at the moment I don't see that really.  

MM - Well, we're having a beer; you really enjoy the rock star lifestyle don't you? Do you ever feel like you want a break, maybe go to bed at 9 0' Clock?
Schmier - No we never drink, just today. My bedtime is 9 in the morning! Of course sometimes when you're stressed out on tour, you need a break. We don't drink 'til we fall down, we like to drink but in moderation, we like to have a good time, and basically when you come back home you need a few days to relax. We like to enjoy life, it's too short, musicians don't get paid that well, so we at least try and have fun on tour.  

MM -You've been on a lot of record labels over the last 20 years, Nuclear Blast, the big German record label...
Schmier - Yeah, the best actually. The best label in the world. It's a fantastic label. It's definitely a lot more focused on the music than a lot of other labels. We left the label and still have great contact with the people working there, there's a lot of metalheads working there who really appreciate music, but of course it's about money, it's a huge label and they have to get their thing going, they have a lot of employees and stuff. I would always go back to Nuclear Blast. When we went away, we wanted a label who would take care of us as a top act.

When Nightwish and other bands get signed by Nuclear Blast, those bands are just selling a hell of a lot more records than we do, and we didn’t want to get lost underneath that, so we said that we'd look for a label that will take care of Destruction as a top act, so we went to AFM. But basically, I would always go back to Nuclear Blast, because they supported us and did a great job for us with the comeback albums, we were there for 6 years, and maybe one day, you never know, we might go back. It's definitely a great label, with great people and a great spirit behind it, not just money. 

MM - A couple of years ago you toured with the big German thrash bands, Sodom, and Kreator. Do you think it'll happen again, maybe in Europe?
Schmier - If it's going to happen in Europe again, it's going to happen in those countries where we didn’t do it yet, UK, and Ireland would be an opportunity for sure. We want to do it in the states in 2008 or 2009, and also maybe South America. Everybody has a busy Schedule, we have to get everyone on the same channel, but it's going to work. I don't know about the UK, it's always a matter of promoters. I'm sure that we're going to come to Ireland but I don't know about the UK yet!  

MM - The European and South American audiences, are a lot different to UK Audiences, do you think so?
Schmier - I have to say, we just played in Kingston, and it was insane. It was pure insanity, the crowd was wild as fuck, it felt like South America. I didn’t feel a difference, seriously, I was surprised. You know, Kingston, suburbs of London, it was a small venue but it was a really really good crowd. People like to stage dive again, they like the moshpit, but of course South America is always going to be a bit wilder. I've got to say though, the Kingston show was surprisingly wild and it didn’t feel like England, there was really a lot of freaks and thrash metal heads at their best.

I saw Blaze Bayley in England, and people didn’t applause or anything, when we did the tour with him and Motorhead, whenever Wolfsbane finished a set, it was totally quiet. Every now and then there were screams like "Fuck you!", "Get off the stage!", and we were watching the show like.. "Ok, this is the English crowd.. Very interesting!".. I will never forget, it was Brixton Academy in London, and that was my first impression of the English crowd. Before we believed after hearing No Sleep til Hammersmith that the English crowd was wild, but there I could tell that they're very selective, if they don't like you then they destroy you. It's a good thing, because there are no asslickers.  

MM - Since 1984, you've released a lot of EP's, and you've toured all over the world. Is there anything you still have to do?
Schmier - Well we've got to play in China, and we want to play in some different cultures, that's the biggest challenge for the future for us. We're not going to make some album that goes to number 1, come on, it's thrash metal! We just try and write the best music we can, I don't believe in any number 1 hits for us, Metallica had to sell out to make it big so we do our best, and our challenge is definitely to see the world!  

MM - So, is there anything you want to say to the readers of the Mayfair Mall?
Schmier - Your time is over, sorry, fuck off! Haha, it's great to finally play in Ireland, we played Day of Darkness, but this our first time in Dublin and Cork, and it's really good because people are really happy to finally see us here in the country, and hopefully we can come back next year, and maybe play more up north, Belfast possibly, it's great to have such a great reception!   

MM - Thank you so much for doing the interview Schmier, and thanks for the free beer! Have a great show.
Schmier - No problem man, it's my pleasure!

Interview by Shadow Warrior.

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