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Just as in soccer teams,
bands have to deal with some transfers too. Although,
most of the time one of the bandmembers tells his
teammates that he will leave in stead of another band
purchasing him. I was rather surprised to hear the news
that Golem 101 vocalist Reza has left the band. Reason
enough for some exclusive interview!
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Hi Reza! I must say I was really surprised to read
the latest news on the Golem 101 webpage! Tell us what
happened.
Well, the very few of you who may have visited our
official Golem 101 website, were perhaps a little
surprised too when you saw the latest Golem 101 news on
the portal site of our board. The message was or is (as
you can read it for yourselves on www.golem101.de):
“REZA 287 is quitting - leaving the band for good”. A
short and indeed surprisingly odd message coming out of
nowhere. Sad, true and a final decision, i have to admit.
This may sound as a surprise for you guys, but for me it
is nothing more than just a logic consequence and the
only way out of a intern struggle.
Could you please explain to us why you decided to
leave Golem 101?
People who know the band or who know me, can tell, that
I didn't just quit out of the blue but that my quitting
process took like a year or even two. In the end I just
couldn't bring the two worlds together, it was
impossible in the end altough I always tried. You know,
James (the keyboard plaer and sound creator of Golem
101) and I were always a wonderful team and the work we
created together was always something special... I still
think that he is an outstanding and gifted musician and
producer, but I think I grew too fast for Golem 101.
Imagine it like this: a band comes togehter, than they
do some songs and after a while the go into a studio and
record their material. then they get an record deal and
you know - the usual - party, live gigs and lots of rock
and roll... and then after a while they record new songs
and try to develope themselves and push the envelope and
all that stuff. expanding limits, or in word simple
fuckin word: ‘grow’. But I think I grew too fast
compared with the rest of the band... Let me give you
one clear example: I came to James and I had a wild song
idea which I already recorded, you know... some real
cool stuff, that kind of shit that could teleport you
right to the top because its fresh, new and crazy. James
and Dave (Golem 101 guitar player) liked it but as we
recorded the song, James couldn't help it and tried to
degenerate this great song into a lame fucking
heavymetal thing, like with a chorus and a verse and a
third C part etc... the same old shit everybody does...
Just like you give me me a Tool album, I'll produce it
to death and in the end it's Rammstein again and again...
That’s what I mean when I say ‘I think I grew too fast
for the band’.
So how do you look back on the times you have spent
with Golem 101?
I had a great time of course, but there were so many
situations where I wanted to quit the whole thing and
never make music again. I remember times, when my best
friend and ex guitarplayer Evil Andy (now playing the
bass at "black abyss" and "paradox") and me stood in the
fucking freezing cold of winter in our little garage and
rehearseling the Golem 101 songs until I couldn’t sing
anymore because of the ice cold air and Andy’s fingers
were stiff and totally fucked up. And there was a time
when him and me drove all the way from Stuttgart to
Karlsruhe (you can look up the distance!) twice (!) a
week just for rehearsals and when we wanted to drive
back after the rehearsals, James got mad at us because
he wanted to stay and drink some beers because he (of
course) was living in Karlsruhe or in the close area.
So looking back on what you achieved with Golem 101,
what will be a specific thing you will never forget and
still makes you proud?
The only thing that makes me incredibly proud are the
lyrics I wrote for Golem 101, because it is the only
thing I did the fully 100 percent by my own and refused
to change for the others! For example - about my vocals,
I always wanted to sing clean vocals and everytime I
started experimenting or doing clean vocals, James
turned down the volume and said I have to sing like I
did on Titanium or nearly all the early songs we wrote.
I still think it a little bit embarrasing, my way to
sing... I always wanted to sing more like Burton C Bell
from Fear Factory. I know I can do it, I once did some
‘casting’ for a new singer to join a death metal band
from near Stuttgart and they liked it very much! But,
because of Golem 101, I said I can’t take the offer to
join them as their new singer because of my other band
Golem 101... stupid fuckin me!
So what will happen with Golem 101 now?
Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't speak to James in
personal since I told him that I quit, but Dave told me
that he wants to search for a new vocalist so the band
will be able to continue. As far as I’m concerned, I
will check my rights about them singing my lyrics or
using my songs, since all the lyrics are made by me as I
said and the most parts of the newer songs too. I am not
sure if I let them sing my lyrics (guess that depends on
how they behave hehehe...). But there are some very good
new songs waiting to be finished for the second album...
these are mostly complete songs done by me with
including the lyrics! Those songs are my creative
property and I will not let Golem 101 use them! Those
are my songs and I am the only one with the rights to
finish them or release them or whatever!
So you are saying that you have made some future
plans too?
Damn straight! There is going to be a single project
which I am going to do on my own, which will sound like
a lot of very very heavy and dark industrial elements
united with blackmetal and clean vocals like Opeth. The
projects name for now is “The Great Eternal Darkfalls”,
but this is just a working title. Think of a darker
version of Frontline Assembly where I can finally mix in
all the crazy elements I like. Next, there will be a
real band (I already have several musicians wanting to
participate) named “Groundcontrol”, which is going to be
a mixture between Tiamat’s "A deeper kind of slumber"
and metalcore and progressive elements. Then, me and Don
Satotti (founding member of the deathmetal-heads of "Black
Harvest") are going to do our first full lenght album of
our grindcore project "Gehirnfotze" of which we already
released a sick EP several years ago. And last but not
least, I am going to work on a project that I just call
"Dark side of the spoon". I named it after a Ministry
album, because I want to capture the essence of
Ministry’s slow psychedelic heroine blues drug songs. I
just love the aura that you feel when you hear stuff
like "Where did the time go?" or "Nursing home" from
them. A really very underrated album!
Well, then I am already looking forward to hear some
future stuff of you! Thanks again for the interview, and
as usual, the final words are yours.
In the end, I just want to let everybody know that the
free and energetic feeling I got since the day I quit
Golem 101, shows me in a way that my decision was right
and a big step to the next level as a musician. For me,
I don't really care what happens to Golem 101. Everyone
get's what they deserve, so if they succeed then good
for them and if they don’t, well... bad luck. As long as
they don't try to fuck me up by using and abusing my
material, they can do whatever they like. I have no hard
feelings for them and appreciate and say thank you to
James, for so many years of his friendship and musical
co-work. I will be working on my projects for some time
but I promise, I'll be back with music that will be so
much larger than Golem 101 and life itself! Be very
excited, because for me Golem 101 was only the beginning
of a musical journey - the best is still to come!!! Oh
and by the way, every musician wanting a co-op on some
projects, feel free to write me an email to alfromhell@gmail.com.
Thanks for the interview, and we will see eachother back
in the future!
Interview by: Gerardo - July 2006 |
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