Hailing
from Germany Dezperadoz have created an interesting spin on the old
Spaghetti Western theme with their latest album 'An Eye For An Eye'.
With our spurs a-jingling we head over to the OK Corral to catch up with
head honcho Alex Kraft to find out more ...
MM - Tell
us how did Dezperadoz first come together?
Alex - Howdy, In the studio production to the Angelripper album
"Ein Tröpfchen voller Glück" in 1996 or 7, I asked Tom if he
would sing a few western songs for me. Tom is also a big western fan and
was totally happy with that idea. So we started the Band.
MM - The whole Spaghetti Western theme is quite unique, how did you come
up with the original concept?
Alex - I
was born 1968, right at the end of the great "italowesternmovietime".
Movies like "Il grande silenzio", "The Good, the Bad and
the Ugly", the "Few Dollars trilogy", for sure "Once
Upon a Time in the West", you know all the movies, with actors like
Klaus Kinski, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Charles Bronson, made a
real "Western fan" since I was 4 years old.
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All
this great music, it's not country music, no, real dirty and
hard Western stuff by Ennio Morricone. This was my main
music influence. I started my first Band called Jail in 1983.
Music between Metal and Southern rock.
In
the 90's, on my MI time in Los Angeles (I studied Jazz guitar there),
I've found my way of a new "crossover". I saw a lot of the
American west. The country, the old ghost towns, silver mines.
Dirt and dust of the desert and this young history. Sometimes I felt I
can smell the dust of history there. I'm a collector of old
weapons and stuff and a kind of hobby historian and it's more for me
than only the music.
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MM - Where did the story of Hank come from and was he factual or was he
fictional character?
Alex - During the work on my last
album "the legend and the truth" I saw an old letter from a
young gunslinger in a museum. His story was mostly similar and the
inspiration for this story. He was on death row and wrote it to his dead
mother. Revenge is a weakness, a never ending story. A nation and its
justice must be considerate and confident. Isn’t all the experience of
the human race enough to know this? For me it is unbearable to see
people who kill each other, trying to force their opinions on others in
the name of religion, ideology, a "holy war", god, justice,
insanity, politics or different races. Killing is unholy in every
religion! That is why I wrote and composed this album.
MM - What was it like working with Tom Angelripper again on the album?
Alex - We work all the time together as
friends in the studio and in saloons ;-)
MM - Do you foresee you’ll be working again with Tom in the near
future?
Alex - Yes we have some "Onkel Tom
Angelripper" Shows. I'm guitar player and producer of that and we
try to get the time for a new Onkel Tom album.
MM - Why did you
decide to cover The Doors classic ‘Riders On The Storm’ for this
album and are there any other covers you’d like to on future releases?
Alex - I
love this song and it fits perfect in the story. I think I made my own
version this great song. For this song the Doors were inspired by the
cowboy song "Riders in the Sky". Riders on the storm tell's
the story of a murderer.
MM
- On the band's first album Tom Angelripper did the vocals, but on the
second and this album, you (Alex) took over the vocals. Do you
find it easier writing for your own vocal style?
Alex - After
the first album I, right away, started writing for the second and
already in 2001 I went to the studio; Tom was still on the mic here,
though. During this studio session fate slapped me in the face quite
harshly and I had to go on with my life without my wife somehow. In this
time I sank quite low but I luckily also learned what truth, friendship,
pride, grit and compassion meant.
| I
wanted to start a new life, cut off my long hair, broke up the
band, told Tom Angelripper and the others that I wanted to leave
the whole scene, retreated into my own shell and started,
between self-pitying and boozing, to write a diary to be somehow
able to assess myself before I would turn into a complete
asshole. Boggi (Drakkar) released me from all my duties. |
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Tom
Angelripper, Manni Eisenblätter, Michael Kleanthous offered me help in
every way. Well, the guy's didn´t leave me alone. Took me,
dragged me with them to tour with Sodom around the world until my
spirits were revived again. I never touched the tapes of the second
Dezperadoz again. I wrote the second record all over again in 2003
because I began to see the topic of Wyatt Earp, especially the big
changes in his life, also as a part of my experiences.
So I changed the name in Mexican authentic "DEZPERADOZ" (It's
also better for search on the net without getting drunk before you find
the Band ;-) On the search to the "legend and the
truth", I was in some museums in Tucson, Arizona. There I saw a
letter from a man on death row, wrote to his dead mother. This
letter was the idea for the new album "An Eye For An Eye".
MM - Do you have any tour dates lined up
for this year to promote the new album?
Alex - First we jump tomorrow to the
Rage Tour. After that we make a for all free big Wild West DEZPERADOZ
Release party on 10th of May in Bruchsal "the Fabrik" Germany.
After that we start directly with Festival "Pfingstfete Albersdorf"
near Wacken. After that we make a JAILHOUSE Tour (that's a cool thing!).
After that a Club tour, some single Shows also in Europe and Russia and
hopefully a Support tour with a bigger Band in Autumn.
MM - Going back to the Spaghetti Western thing, do you see yourself as
the lone gunman, a man with no name, the Clint Eastwood figure or the
Sharp Shooter out for revenge, the Lee Van Cleef figure?
Alex - Haha, I want to be like Clint
;-)
MM - Have you started working on the next album yet? If yes can
you give us an idea what to expect from it?
Alex - Yes for sure a "VAMPIRE-ITALOWESTERN-HEAVYMUSICAL!”
MM - What's the most memorable thing that’s happened to the band so
far?
Alex -
8 Hours before a DEZPERADOZ Show in St Petersburg the drummer Sascha
told me about his extremely fear of flying. We arrived St
Petersburg with no drummer, after a sleepless night on the telephone to
organize a Russian drummer, who knows our songs perfect. We found
him! After my longest rehearsal in an old Russian factory we made
a real great show in St. Petersburg with our Russian
"one-day-guest-drummer". Yee-Haaw!
MM - Who
or what keeps you grounded and focused in this dog eat dog business?
Alex - I live for the music, for art.
It is a honor for me. The rest is not so important for me!
MM - Finally do you have any words of
inspiration for all the young guns out there who hope to live the rock n’
roll dream?
Alex - Do
your own thing, your own ideas of music. Forget the cliches.
MM - We'd like to thank Alex for taking the time out to chat with us
today and wish him and the rest of the band happy trails as they ride
off into the sunset as all good cowboys always do. With that we
wish them a hearty 'Yee Haw!' and look forward to seeing them out on the
road some time soon.