Den 12. marts var RockZeit i Pumpehuset og høre 4 bands, hvor ét af dem var August Burns Red, et band som er overbevisende i dets musikalske udtryk og har originalitet i sangskrivningen. RockZeit har erfaret at alle bands arbejder utroligt forskelligt, og vi ville gerne høre lidt om, hvordan et efterhånden veletableret band som August Burns Red, arbejder i dagligdagen. Forsanger Jake Luhrs svarer på spørgsmålene;
RZ: Hey guys. Greetings from RockZeit.
Thank you for letting us do this short interview, we are looking forward to review the concert at Pumpehuset.
Away from home
RockZeit: How do you cope with being away from family and friends when you´re on tour? You must feel great about having possibilities to present your art around the world, but how is it to get on tour?
Jake Luhrs: We just try and find things to do each day to keep us busy. If you sit around in dressing all day the chances are you’ll miss home more. If you find things to do you’ll have a better time and time will fly by.
RZ: Do you create new stuff on the road, or do you mostly compose in rehearsal room at home?
JL: We usually just write at home unless we are forced to write on tour. Lyrics can get written on tour, but it’s pretty rare that music does.
RZ: Do you sometimes change tracks in the set on tour, or do you stick to the setlist always?
JL: We keep the setlist the same each night because we create click tracks for each song we are playing on each tour.
Christianity
RZ: As a band of Christian beliefs, is it difficult to put such aggression into your music? Are there any inner conflicts in this process?
JL: We haven’t been a Christian band for quite some time now. We like to keep it positive, and some of the guys are Christian but others are not.
Politics
RZ: Does politics influence your lyrics or the expression in you music. Especially we are thinking about the political changes in America the past year?
JL: We try not be too political in our songs, but we do have one song on Phantom Anthem that dives into my personal distaste of our current administration. I’ll let you figure out which one that is. :)
Technique
RZ: Do you practice certain rhythms and riffs to get better technically, or is the techniques just obtained by practicing your songs?
JL: Our songs are fairly difficult to [do]so we end up just practicing them because it’s hard to find time to practice anything else.
RZ: Do you use metronome in rehearsal?
JL: Yes we all play to click tracks.
Inspiration
RZ: There´s some progressive elements in your music. Do You listen to progressive rock and metal? Any favorite bands in the category?
JL: Everyone likes Between the Buried and Me a good bit, but a lot of people aren’t listening to a ton of music lately. I guess Dustin is quite into Intervals lately.
RZ: Thanks. Have a nice tour out there. We are looking forward one day to see you in Denmark again.
For dem der ikke fik oplevet August Burns Red i Pumpehuset kan man om ikke andet læse anmeldelsen her.