What is this, a repost? No, after interviewing Thomas in October of last year, I interviewed him again, just before the new Debauchery album ‘Germany’s Next Death Metal’ gets released.
Make the jump for the interview and never forget “Blood for the Blood God!”.
Dose of Metal: Hello Thomas, thank you for agreeing to do another interview with me. You’re the first person to be interviewed twice by Dose of Metal. Do you feel honored?
Thomas Gurrath: No, I don`t give a shit 🙂
DoM: In our last interview we talked a lot about Big Ball, let’s concentrate on Debauchery this time. You’re about to release your 7th album, ‘Germany’s Next Death Metal,’ within only 8 years, how long does it usually take to write and record an album?
TG: About one year, obviously.
DoM: Do you watch ‘Germany’s Next Topmodel’? Be honest.
TG: No, I do not have the TV channel. Actually I do not watch too much TV at all. Sometimes news or history stuff, or a good film.
DoM: In our last interview, you mentioned that there will be “No Hard Rock, no keyboards, no blastbeats” on this album, which ultimately rules out another ‘Rockers & War’. Were you aiming for a specific sound, which might match that of an earlier album?
TG: I thought it was time for another real Debauchery album. Rockers & War was a little bit different. Debauchery stands for groove before all. I tried to make the album as pure as possible: only two guitars, Marshall JCM 800, Drums, Bass, no samples, no keys.
Something different to the other Death Metal bands. No Tampa Death Metal, no Sweden Death Metal, just Debauchery Death Metal. I hope the album reflects this intention.
Debauchery - Apostle of War
DoM: For people who have never listened to Debauchery before, please try to describe this upcoming album in a few words.
TG: Heavy Metal with a brutal voice.
DoM: Who played the the additional instruments on this album? If I remember correctly, Tom Naumann played the leads on the last couple of albums but never officially joined Debauchery.
TG: As always Tom played the leads. Tomasz the drums, the same as on Continue to Kill and Rockers & War.
Sound engineer was Dennis Ward (Krokus, Pink Cream 69, Unisonic)
DoM: Do you want to keep Debauchery your one-man project and only get additional help in the studio and then assemble a live band?
TG: I alwasy tried to get a real band. But it never worked out. So I will continue as a one man band. Have a good studio team and a good live team for all the shows. Never change a running system.
DoM: In 2009, you shot a music video for ‘Death Metal Warmachine,’ a song off the 2005 album ‘Torture Pit’. Why did you choose to shoot a video for a song that was already 4 years old, even though you’ve already released 3 albums after that?
TG: Because Debauchery is the Death Metal Warmachine. It`s one of my best songs and it says everything Debauchery is about. A RockNRoll song with Death Metal voice and a porno video clip. That`s Debauchery Death Metal.
DoM: Can we expect a music video for one of the songs on ‘Germany’s Next Death Metal’?
TG: Yes, at least one video, but it will be something different again. A video with a message, about the song Animal Holocaust.
DoM: Usually, you release your albums with a lot of additional content, like a DVD for ‘Torture Pit’ and a 2nd CD filled with cover songs for ‘Back in Blood’. Can we expect something similar for this next album?
TG: No nothing, only a bonus track.
Debauchery - Lords of Battle
DoM: As someone who bought ‘Torture Pit’ before it was re-released with additional content, I don’t have the two bonus songs. Would you be offended if I illegally downloaded these two songs?
TG: No, because you bought the album and would only download the bonus content. In fact you should not be punished for buying the original.
DoM: All in all, what do you think about people downloading your work? Do you think it hurts you, the artist, who paid a lot of money to record an album, or do you think it’s a positive thing because it gives you more listeners than usually?
TG: If you are not willing to pay for something you are not really interested. A Cd, film, book or whatever is a lot of work. Someone has to pay a lot of money to make it happen. When I`m interested in a movie I will go to the cinema or buy a DVD. If everybody would download the movies than one day there will be no expensive new ones. Only some low budged self made shit. The same with CDs. Why should the label invest a lot of money in a CD, give the artist money for the studio, for a good sound, for good artwork when everybody downloads it in the end – as bad MP3? If no one will buy the albums than there will be no label and no investor for the next CD.
DoM: Roughly, at a Debauchery show, how many people do you think bought and how many people downloaded your work (in percent)?
TG: I have no idea, but I think Metal heads like their Cds, they like the artwork, the package, everything. So I think most of the Debauchery Maniacs buy the albums.
DoM: When you started Debauchery, did you think that it would turn into one of the biggest Death Metal bands in the German scene?
TG: Hah, my big advantage is: there is no big Death Metal scene in Germany. So it was not too difficult to become one of the biggest German Death Metal bands. But no, I never thought about playing Death Metal at all. Always wanted to play Hard Rock or Judas Priest Metal. But my voive was a little bit different to Halford`s. So in the end it became Debauchery.
Debauchery - Germany's Next Death Metal
DoM: Which album of 2010, except the Big Ball album, was your favorite one?
TG: There were a lot of good ones
Halford – Made of Metal, Black Label Society – Order of the Black, Krokus – Hoodoo
DoM: Any last words for your readers at doseofmetal.com?
TG: Blood for the Blood God
Motherfucking Meat is motherfucking murder
and buy Germany`s next Death Metal.
DoM: Thank you for your time.
