German thrash band Tankard have had a long career, going back to the early 80’s. They have a new album called “Rest In Beer” which we talked about in our latest interview with Andreas Gerre Geremia.
Metal-Roos: Tankard has been around for 30 odd years, how did you form?
Yes, well, we formed in 1982 and it is amazing that we are still around after 32 years. I think that the main reason is that we still have a lot of fun to play thrash metal – to play that kind of music and, yeah, that has kept us going. So our 16th album is coming out. It is something that I had never expected when we started Tankard… that we would still be around after this amount of time. But we have a lot of fun and we will keep on going.
Metal-Roos: With so many albums released, how do you keep on finding new ideas to keep recording new material?
Yes, like I mentioned before, we still have a lot of fun. We decided not to have Tankard as a 100% professional band; everybody in the band has a regular job and the guys all have families. But when we get free time, we put it into the ban. You know, we can still play up to 100 shows a year but we try to play as often as we can and now we are making our first trip to Australia. I was in Australia once – I was 17 or something like that in ’85 – but we have never played as Tankard in Australia before and are really looking forward to it… to have a big party with you!
Metal-Roos: Do you know much about the Metal fans in Australia?
I don’t know much about the fans and metal scene in Australia, but I think there still will be some crazy thrash metal maniacs over there. This is one of the things that we are really looking forward to see at the shows.
Metal-Roos: How did the recording process for the new album Rest In Beer go?
I would say, comparing it to our album “A Girl called Cerveza”, I think it is a little harder – the songs are more straight to the point and the songs are shorter as well. I think, we found a good sound on this album. On one hand, you have very heavy guitars and on the other hand, you have very transparent sound… you can hear every instrument and yeah, we are very satisfied with the results of it.
Metal-Roos: Tankard has always had great artwork, how did the idea for Rest in Beer come about?
We really like our artwork – the idea came from our manager who came up with idea of having the crazy professor who failed and was unable to stop a chemical invasion. Now he is back taking revenge on mankind, a typical crazy Tankard story. Tankard has always been about having fun and enjoying ourselves. Hopefully we can share the fun with fans in Australia.
Metal-Roos: How has the heavy metal scene changed since the beginning of Tankard?
When we started with Tankard, a lot of the bands were coming out of England. We grew up with it. It was something new, but yeah, the metal thing is still great and I’m a still a big metal head. It was a bit of a revolution thing when it started and we are lucky to join the beginnings of it all.
Metal-Roos: Did you expect Tankard to last this long?
No, we never expected this at all. When we started, we were like 14 or 15 and we were the only metal heads at our school. But we are happy that Tankard is still around after 32 years. That was a crazy time but we kept on going and could not imagine life without Tankard.
Metal-Roos: I have been reading about the German Big Four, what do you think about that?
So a few years ago, the media were only talking about the three German big bands but about 2 years ago, Tankard grew this list to four. We are so glad to be among such a great group of bands. Last year was the first time that the Teutonic Big Four performed together on one stage and one day I would love to repeat this again (The Teutonic/German Big Four consist of Tankard, Sodom, Kreator and Destruction)
Metal-Roos: Now to get serious with some questions: Tankard is renowned for a drink or two, what is your favourite beer?
Laughs …ahh beer… Well, the best beer is the beer that you get back stage at show around the world because it is for free. We have heard that Australia makes some good beer, so we are looking forward to coming over and tasting it.
Metal-Roos: What’s the worst thing you have done while being drunk?
The worst thing for me while drunk was the time at a festival in Lithuania. I had too many beers and our flight back was in the evening. I was on the plane and fell over and the captain said I had to get off the plane because I was too drunk. We wrote a song about that called “Somewhere and Nowhere”.
Metal-Roos: What is the strangest thing a fan has given you?
A female fan threw her underwear on stage one time. I thought that was a bit strange but very funny.
Metal-Roos: What was the first album you ever bought?
The first album I ever bought was AC/DC If You Want Blood in 1978. We heard a song on a radio program in the US, so I went and bought it – that was my first metal/hard rock album.
Thank you for all of the support from our Australian fans and we look forward to sharing some fun time soon when we get there!
Interview Date: 2014-06-09
Interviewer: Adrian ‘Dren’ Barham
