Interview - Robex Lundgren Musik Blogg

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(Robex Lundgren, 07.02.2015)

What´s the name of your band?
InfiNight

How was the band formed?
Three of us wanted to form a heavy metal cover band, you know, as a starting point and so we started looking for a drummer and another guitarist. It took some weeks to get everyone together, but soon after, InfiNight was born. Also, after just a few rehearsals we discarded the cover band idea and decided to start writing our own songs.

Can you tell about your band?
InfiNight was formed in 2001 and we´ve had no changes in the line-up. So we´re one of the very few bands in our region, and genre, I guess, that still exists in its original form. We´re trying to create original, unique heavy metal, although of course you´ll recognize some of our influences, such as Iced Earth, Metallica and sometimes even Iron Maiden. We´ve even been compared to some of them in reviews.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?
Vocals: Martin Klein
Guitar & Backing Vocals: Dominique Raber
Guitar & Backing Vocals: Marco „Grewe“ Grewenig
Bass Guitar & Backing Vocals: Kai Schmidt
Drums: Hendrik „Harry“ Reimann
At the moment, we all live in Saarbrücken, Germany.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started?
First of all, we wanted to write some great heavy metal music, and of course play some really cool gigs. Recording albums almost came as an afterthought, but after some time we thought it would be cool to have something to hand out to the fans. And now we´re really comfortable in the studio.Fun fact: Our main goal in the first few years was to one day play Wacken Open Air. Our first show was even opened with the words „Hello Wacken!“

Could you explain your music to someone that haven´t heard you?
You could either try to describe InfiNight´s music as modern US-style powermetal with low tuned, heavy Guitars, savage doublebass Attacks and powerful, yet melodic Vocals or simply call it "pure hard´n´heavy".
Bands such as Nevermore, Iced Earth or Brainstorm are often cited in Reviews when trying to describe the Music of InfiNight, yet the Band has managed to find their own Style.
Critics praise our unique Trademarks such as great melodic Arcs, mighty Choruses that will stick to your Ears, all held together by precise Drumming and powerful bass Guitars and topped off with flawlessly executed complex vocal Arrangements.

Where was your first gig?
The first Gig was at JuZ-Illingen (Germany), 22.12.2001.

Where was the latest gig?
The latest Gig was at Kurt-Esser-Haus, Koblenz (Germany).

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics?
We write most of our songs together during our rehearsals. Most riffs are brought in by Dominique or Martin comes in with some lyrics and after some jamming we usually have the basics for a new song. Then we flesh them out, add or discard parts or melodies. It used to be not unusual that we would throw out whole songs, keeping just a single riff or chorus and writing a completely new song around it. All lyrics of our songs are written by Martin, although Grewe has delivered some ideas as well.

Who has the best since of humor in the band?
I guess we´ve all got the same sense of humor, that´s what´s been keeping us together all these years. It´s probably most visible to the outside when Martin adresses the crowd at a gig, which can be pretty funny. We always joke around between, and sometimes during our songs. I think it´s important to have fun on stage and not brood around all day.

What´s good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are?
Worst thing first: We´re incredibly slow at writing songs. Some of them took months to finish. I guess we could also be better at marketing ourselves, but then again, we didn´t want to invent stage names and personas. We still think a band should be about the music, not the image. Sadly, the rest of the world doesn´t think so.
The best thing - we´re still friends, we haven´t lost our vision, we still try to create the songs that we love, without bowing to trends.

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about?
We decided to play this kind of music, because that was what we used to listen to ourselves. There are many nuances of metal music, but our kind of “American-Powermetal” is the one we prefer the most. Some growls, some screams, mostly clear vocals, cool riffing and various speeds. Everything is possible… Perfect!
Our Songs are partly introspective and most socially and time-critical.
But they are often filled with lots of emotions… best example is our new concept EP “The Vision”. It deals with the topic of the “Five Stages of Grief”.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers?
We write and play our own material, but we usually have some covers in our live-set to get the crowd going, which, frankly, can be difficult in Germany.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?
We have recorded two full length albums and a short concept EP.
Our debut Album „Sea of knowledge“ was released in 2005.
The second Album „Like Puppets“ followed in 2010 and was re-released in 2011 by 7us media.
In 2013 we released our concept EP „The Vision".

Do you have any clips on YouTube?
We released the title track of our latest EP as Video on YouTube.
You can watch it here…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e22MypmV_hQ&list=PL0C7C2A5D9C712B99

How old are you?/What got you started in music?
Most of us are in our mid-thirties now, which means we´ve been in InfiNight for close to 14 years. However, we´ve all had bands before, although most of them didn´t last very long. And I guess we all started in music because we grew up with it, we liked it, and what teenage metalhead doesn´t dream of becoming a rockstar one day?

At what age did you start playing?
That´s very different for us. Kai and Dominique started out very early in their lives, although Kai used to play piano. Grewe is self-taught, Hendrick had his first drum lessons around the age of ten. Martin, on the other hand, had his first singing lessons around the time InfiNight started.

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage?
Again, very different. Some of us had their first gigs at fourteen, others at twenty.

What year was the band started?
InfiNight started in spring 2001.

Best/worst gig you´ve played?
We´ve had some of our best gigs when we were supporting Bands such as Children of Bodom or Blind Guardian, but also some smaller open airs that we were headlining. And of course, when we played at the Wacken W.E.T. stage! One of the worst gigs was when we played at a youth centre near Saarbrücken...we had stepped in on short notice when another band couldn´t play, and these guys hadn´t done any advertising. So nobody knew about that gig, and long story short, we played for two people. And the stage was about the size of a kitchen sink.

What places will you be playing in the imidate future?
Right now, we have no gigs planned because we will be entering the studio in May and we need to focus on writing songs. But we´ll be playing and promoting the new album a lot in the second half of the year, so stay tuned!

Where have you played from then till now?
Mostly in Germany, from the Southwest, where we come from, all over the country. We also had a gig in Belgium and we would have played Austria, but then our singer got sick and we had to cancel.

Which band is the best you´ve seen?
All band members of InfiNight have different favorite bands. We can usually agree on bands like Dream Theater, Nevermore, Iron Maiden or Metallica, but apart from that, our musical tastes range from 80´s hair metal to death and prog metal. It´s even been rumored that some of us listen to music that´s not heavy metal at all!

Is it always the same songs live?
No, it´s not, we change the set list according to the venue, the audience we´re expecting, the time we have and of course our own preferences. Sometimes you just don´t feel like playing a song over and over again. But then, of course, some of the fan favorites, such as "Goodbye, cruel world" are almost always in the set.

What has been the best/most promising gig so far?
This is a simple question for me. 2006 we played at Wacken Open Air and I think, playing there is one of the greatest experience a heavy metal band can have.

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now?
We don´t do longer tours because we´re all working, and none of these are jobs where you can just up and get away for two weeks, at least not on short notice. It´s sometimes difficult enough to schedule five people for a normal gig on a weekend.

How big crowds do you usually play for?
That depends heavily on the show. On certain Festivals we’ve played for more than 4000 people. But we play club gigs with only 50 guests too.

What are the plans for the rest of the year?
At the moment we take a rest during the x-mas holidays, taking the time to prepare our next album. So we mostly sit at home now and record the tracks for the pre-production.

Where do you usually play?
Depends on where we get booked. We prefer the big stage, if we can get it. But if it´s a club and the stage is a billard table, we will rock that club just as good.

How do you get psyched up for a gig?
I guess everyone´s got their own little rituals, from Grewe and Dominique tuning guitars over and over to Martin warming up his voice with strange sounds. But there is no special "psyching up" ritual. Everyone just prepares and then we get on stage - and that´s where you release all the pent up energy.

What are your goals with your music?
To create the music we love and have people really listen to it. There´s so much crap out there on the radio, we try to make music that´s worth listening to. Apart from that, it´s mostly playing some cool shows and having lots of fun on the road. Oh, and of course, we want to become the biggest rock stars in the world.

When did you decide to go all in for the music?
Actually, we never did. We work normal jobs, in order to be able to finance our music. And from what we´ve heard at our gigs with "bigger" bands, that´s actually what most of them do. It´s difficult nowadays to make a living on heavy metal, if you´re not either an 80´s Icon like Iron Maiden or hop on any trend that comes around. There are so many bands out there today - it´s simply not possible for everyone to have enough fans to support them.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern?
Both, older and modern bands are very useful for inspiration and attitude.
Old bands can teach you about durability, modern bands show you new ways.

What are your sources of inspiration?
Lyrically, it´s mostly what is happening in our lives or around us. That´s what we write about. Dragons and magic swords and stuff like that don´t show up in our lyrics. Musically, it´s a mix of our own ideas and also pretty much what we are listening to at the moment. Since we rarely listen to the same music, we usually get an interesting mix of ideas.

What´s the first Step when making a new song?
Like we said above, usually Dominique or Grewe present some riffing ideas. Sometimes Martin provides a vocal melody. It´s usually just a small idea that we start on together.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums?
I for myself always prefer buying music on cd.
With a CD you also buy a booklet with cool artwork, lyrics and so on. And that´s an important part of an album. Usually the bands pour a lot into that as well and they want it to be seen. On the other hand, downloads are much faster and easier. So, probably the best way is to download a song, and if you like it, order the physical album ;).

What would be your dreams for the band?
A dream would be to be able to focus on the music completely. No job, no marketing exec, just doing what you love and telling the stories you want. Indepence. But, that´s probably really far off.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to?
As I said before, all band members of InfiNight have different favorite bands. But we all prefer heavy metal bands like Metallica, In Flames, Nevermore, Savatage, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, etc.

What would be your greatest fears for the future?
To have to give up the band for some reason.

What songs and what years were they released?
Have a look at our website for our discography…
http://www.infinight.de/discography.php

Have you been in any other bands?
Kai, Harry and I performed some Gigs with my former band „Inner-Logic“.
Dome runs at the same time a prog-rock band called „Pocket Lint“.
Martin used to have another band called "Silver" and appeared in a theater version of the Ayreon Album „The Human Equation“ last year.

What do you work with outside of the band and the music?
That´s very different. Some of us work in IT, some at banks or universities and some have really delved into the world of rock´n´roll by becoming event managers or stage technicians.

What would you do if there was no music?
Invent music!

How important are your fans? Most important, what other answer would you expect?
They´re the ones we write our music for, they´re the ones that appreciate it. And not making a living from our music gives us the opportunity to talk to them on a way more personal and honest level. We don´t have to cater to trends and scare away older fans.

What´s the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you?
When they founded a fan club called "Rocking first row" and even had shirts and a website made.

How often do you rehearse?
We normally have two rehearsals a week.

Where do you rehearse?
We’ve rented a rehearsal room in small town nearby.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment?
- „Here to conquer“ – from our second album „Like Puppets“
- „The Vision“ – the title track of our EP

What do you feel is the best live band you´ve seen?
Again I can only speak for myself…
The best musicians I’ve seen are certainly Dream Theater. I’ve seen them three times and I love it.
The most powerful band I’ve seen was definitely Nevermore. I’ve seen them 14 times on tour…
Other bands Symphony X, just an incredibly powerful voice even without any studio tricks and bands like Queensryche or Motorhead that simply have an awe-inspiring stage presence.

What drives a band that isn´t all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing?
The fact that this also gives us a lot of freedom. We don´t have deadlines for finishing a song or an album, we don´t have restrictions on what we can write about, we can simply do whatever we feel like. The EP is a good example - it´s a very different style of music from what we usually do, but we wanted to give it a try and so we did. In today´s world of commercialized music, even in heavy metal, labels, your image and stuff like that don´t really give you that much room. Of course, they have other benefits, but we have freedom to do what we like.

Do you have any webpages?
http://www.infinight.de
http://facebook.de/infinight
http://myspace.com/infinightband
We are proud to be on wikipedia…
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfiNight

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there?
Decide early who you want to be. If you want to be true to yourselves, it´s gonna be hard, but you´ll be able to look yourself in the eyes. Otherwise, I´d advise you to choose a catchy name and persona and sell yourself as a product. You´ll be rich in no time.

Describe your show, visually and musically
It´s very energetic. We usually have a short intro and then start of with a fast song to get the crowd going. Sometime after that, we often play a cover version so people can sing along and party. We always try to keep the energy level high by moving around a lot, having people bang their heads or sing along, keep them focused on the songs. Visually, it depends on the stage and the light technician, but we prefer colorful lighting and some strobes over a brightly lit stage. We´re all dressed in black, but that´s all in terms of stage costumes. Overall, it´s all focused on presenting our songs and less on performing a "show"               

How do you view the music industry of today?
Um, critically? Too much image, too little originality. But then I guess that criticism isn´t very original either. The biggest problem is probably that everything is so short lived. Your fifteen minutes of fame can nowadays be over in fifteen seconds. And of course, originality suffers from countless clones of that one act that set the newest trend.

What advice would you like to give other bands?
Probably the pearls of wisdom above. It seems that those are really the only options you have today.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band?
Sticking out of the mass of bands. Finding a unique trademark that is, at the same time, more than a short-lived gimmick. There´s no use in getting people´s attention for a minute, you have to be able to keep it. We actually manage to do that at our shows. Very rarely do people walk out while we are playing. That´s actually something we´re really proud of.

What is best/worst with playing the clubs?
Clubs usually have a nicer backstage area compared to open air festivals. But they also usually have smaller audiences and stages. And sometimes the owners can be difficult...

Tell us about upcomming gigs and why we should be at them?
Right now, we´re focusing on the new album and therefore don´t have any upcoming shows. But, if we had, you should be there to experience the energy of an InfiNight show, to rock out, sing along and generally have tons of fun with us.

How would you describe your sound in one sentence
Heavy, real, and passionate.

What is your favorite crappy instrument?
Different brass instruments.

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band?
The time we recorded „Like Puppets“ was the most quarrelsome time for our Band. We’ve had some technical problems while recording and so the recording session, planned for four weeks, dragged on for nearly six month until we decide to change the studio.

Whats your Pre-show ritual?
We don’t have a real pre-show ritual. We almost always sit together backstage, talk with each other, warm up our fingers by playing guitar and warm up voices by doing some refrains.

Do you have anything to add?
Thanks for the interview! And a shout out to our fans - stay tuned, you´ll be hearing from us soon about the new album and the next shows! Thanks, as always, for your support.

Writer: Robex Lundgren
Date: 07.02.2015
URL: http://ghgumman.blogg.se/2015/february/





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