AB:NORM INTERVIEW

--ab:norm--

The untimely demise of Crematory was a heavy blow to all metalheads around the planet. However yet before the band played its last show we found out that members of the gothic metal legend were already involved in tons of other project. Singer Felix, for instance, currently performs in AB:NORM, the band that is worlds away from Crematory both musically- and lyrically-wise. We managed to contact Felix and his mates via e-mail and here is what they told us about the latest developments in the AB:NORM camp. .

MetalKings.ru: Whose idea it was to form AB:NORM? What is the idea behind the band's name?

Michael: Martin and I are the formers of AB:NORM. Ab:norm is a German word for unusual, exceptional. The colon is to emphasize, it was the idea of Michael Ronellenfitsch (Ronelle) the guy who arranged our cover...

MetalKings.ru: Your biography says that AB:NORM was set up by ex-members of Extrepating Extasy and Crack Brain Society. What kind of music did those bands play and did they record anything?

Gianni: Extrepating Extasy was the band by Martin and me. We called its style "Psychedelic Grindcore". Extrepating Extasy was the initial stage to AB:NORM. We released three demo tapes at this time.

Michael: Crack Brain Society played Hardcore/Crossover. It was my band before AB:NORM and we released one demo tape...

MetalKings.ru: How did you hook up with Felix? Did you invite him to join the band or was he willing to do so himself?

Michael: I have known Felix since 1987 and we are very good friends. One day I asked him to join AB:NORM and he agreed directly.

Felix: Yes, I have always been a great fan of Death Metal and Grindcore. Unfortunately I never found the correct people to make this kind of music.

MetalKings.ru: Did you record any demos before making a full-length CD?

Martin: No, "Inside" is our first AB:NORM output. We already collected enough experience with our other bands and so we decided to make a CD immediately.

MetalKings.ru: Who did the cover for the "Inside" album? Is there any meaning behind it?

Felix: Ronelle from www.micro-mediadesign.de is the creator. He is a professional designer and he is the Webmaster of our website. He's doing a very good job. We are more than impressed by his work.

Michael: The cover represents the fusion between humans and machine. The machines have a growing influence on our activities and that's the topic. The four symbols mean ab:norm seeing, ab:norm hearing, ab:norm feeling and ab:norm thinking...

MetalKings.ru: As far as I understand, you produced the album yourselves. Why did you do it?

Martin: We have been very interested in recording for a long time and we have bought a lot of equipment. We wanted to collect experience and so we decided to produce the album.

MetalKings.ru: Did you use any guest musicians of the CD or did you record everything yourselves? Are you satisfied with the end result?

Gianni: On "Inside" there are no guest musicians, but we want to use some on the next album. We had some problems with the drums during the recording of "Inside". I used an electronic drum-kit, because we had no other possibility to record drums at that time. The problem was the high rates. We had many spurious signals and we had much to correct.

Felix: Yes, the whole kit very strongly vibrated...haha

Michael: But, we are content with the CD. Surely the sound could be better, but it is not our last disk... .

MetalKings.ru: Your CD was released on the ShowNoMercy Records of which I don't know much, I'm afraid. Did you receive proposals from other labels and why did you choose this one?

Felix: ShowNoMercy helped to publish our CD. 1000 copies were produced. ShowNoMercy is a very small label and in our situation it is sufficient.

MetalKings.ru: I hear that you are looking for a new label at the moment. Aren't you satisfied with co-operation with Show No Mercy?

Felix: We are very satisfied but now we need a label with more power.

MetalKings.ru: You describe your style as "Next Generation Music". In what way it is different from other styles?

Martin: We play progressive music with an extreme and brutal sound. And we want to enrich our own kind of music with modern styles and complex song structures and arrangements. That is the style we called "Next Generation Music"

MetalKings.ru: Can you name any bands that influenced AB:NORM's music?

Michael: We don't want to be influenced by other bands. We are not the musicians who made it easily and copied other bands. We like sick and brutal staff, also technical and experimental music. AB:NORM tries its own style. We are the founders of our own interpretation of extreme music and we don't like boring rehashes.

MetalKings.ru: Now that Crematory does not exist anymore AB:NORM is bound to attract a lot of attention from the media as "the new band of Felix"? Do you consider this extra attention a bonus or a problem?

Michael: No, but AB:NORM is not the successor of Crematory. AB:NORM is a constant band since 1997. And you cannot compare AB:NORM with Crematory. Our music styles are too different.

MetalKings.ru: Did Felix's involvement in AB:NORM contribute in any way to the break-up of Crematory?

Felix: No, because I've been a member of AB:NORM since 1997 and this fact was never a problem for Crematory.

MetalKings.ru: Have you made any tours after the release of "Inside"? What kind of bands do you prefer to play with?

Martin: We had played with Kronos (France), Profanity (Germany), Belching Beet, Mortified and the Blood.

Michael: A tour would be great. But we have no supplies at present. Some gigs in Russia would be great, too.

MetalKings.ru: You say your live performances are different from what other bands put up. What effect are you trying to produce with them?

Gianni: Do we say it?? Our live performances are not really different from other bands.

Martin: We want to play our program as perfectly as possible and have fun thereby. We always give 100% to the people who have paid for us.

MetalKings.ru: Where can I buy your live video? How long is it and how many songs does it contain?

Michael: We took up unfortunately only one song ("Upstairs"). More would be too expensive. A friendly company (Jimmytex) produced the video and they did a very good job. The video will be contained as a multimedia-file on the Canadian release of "Inside" at Skyscraper Music this summer.

MetalKings.ru: Do you play any cover songs live or do you only perform your original material? I guess many people will soon be asking you to perform some songs of Crematory during your concerts? Have you considered doing it?

Michael: No, why? AB:NORM have nothing to do with Crematory...

MetalKings.ru: Have you heard any bands from Russia? And Crematory was planning to visit Russia last year, but something happened and you didn't visit us. Please clarify the situation!

Felix: I'm sorry, I don´t know about Russian bands but I'm very interested. About the plan to play in Russia: the organizer in Russia suddenly jumped off. It was not our fault. We would have played very gladly in your country.

MetalKings.ru: When is the next record coming out? In what way it will be different from the first one?

Felix: We hope next year, and the difference will be more brutal, more speed, more groove, more slow-parts, more of all...

MetalKings.ru: Please say a few words to your (possible) fans in Russia.

AB:NORM: We hope to play some time in your great country, stay brutal and support your underground... extreme music will strike back...

(Felix the Katt, Roman the Maniac)