interview with belgian fanzine
Posted March 14, 2006
I got More Than Ever's debut full length album Give Us Our Hearts Back from their label Guideline Records. I listened to it a couple of times and the guys from Stuttgart, Germany surprised me. Not only with the cool artwork, but also with the music. I found it hard to believe this was their debut full length. So I had a little chat with Daniel, who plays bass...
Let's start of with a stereotypical question for those who are so
unfortunate that they haven't heard from you yet. Who are you, who is More
Than Ever and how did it all start?
Hey Ingmar! My name is Daniel (Zol) and I play bass in More Than Ever, a hardcore band from Stuttgart, Germany. Then we got Taner and Uli which are both shredding the guitar, Orhun is doing the vox and Daniel (Niedrich) is playing drums.
Now that we know who is who, perhaps you can tell me something more about More Than Ever. How did you come up with the name More Than Ever. Is their a story behind it? If so, tell us all about it.
The name is from the chokehold song More Than Ever, but it has no deeper meaning. We just thought it fits to our music. We used to call our band Refuse To Fall but soon after that we noticed that there was an US Band which released a 7 on Equal Vison in the late nineties with the same name so we decided to change it.
When we contacted eachother I saw you (the vocalist of the band Orhun) is straight edge. Is MTE a SXE band?
No, only Orhun is nailed to the x. The rest of us is drinking.
I see. How would you describe the music you play?
We have some moshparts, some melodies, screamed vocals, some backups here and there, some parts sound more metal... some more old school, all in all we sound very meloldic but not emo.
Hmmm....you could say we sound New School. If you are into comparing us to another band, I would say Shai Hulud with an own twist.
Give Us Our Hearts Back is your first full length album. What can people expect when they want to listen to it?
It has eleven songs full of melodic and moshable New School hardcore in a little less than thirty minutes. We recorded in Stuttgart @ Thin Roof Studio (Oppositon Of One), let Mike Bukowski do the layout and released it through Guideline Records. We are really happy the way it turned out!
The cover is a drawing. Something you don't see so much anymore, the most albumartwork are very much photoshopped. You choose a 'simple' drawing. Does the cover have a special meaning?
The cover refers to the album title Give Us Our Hearts Back which is a line of the song The Tragedy. The song deals about realizing that you sold yourself out (for example work, money or love) and that you want to make things undone. The cover which Mike Bukowski did a perfect job in my opinion shows on the front human zombies which want to grab a heart that is kept close by a robot (the heart that they gave away in trade for something).
On the backcover you will see that the zombies smashed the robot and hold his head up in the air as a sign of triumph.
Well, let me tell you, it looks great. Let's talk some more about Give Us Our Hearts Back. What do the lyrics handle about?
The lyrics are all on a personal level and deal mostly with frustration and being disappointed ('I Take Regrets For Granted'), some songs are about hope and love ('Broken', 'Silent & Cold') while others deal with not giving up on certain things and to look forward and not be afraid about what may come ('Spark', 'Tonight Tomorrow Next Year').
How comes a song together? You come together and jam or does one person in the band write all the music?
Well, mostly one of our guitarist Taner or Uli come with a whole song, idea or riff then we put the drums and the bass to it. After that we try to put the lyrics on it which are written either by myself, Taner or Orhun.
I saw on your site that you played with some big names in the HC scene. How did you manage that?
When we started the band, we played every show that we could and we really worked hard to play as many shows as possible. We asked promoters to let us play, e-mailed clubs if we could open up for band XY and after a while people started to ask us for playing shows. 'Till now we book 80% of our shows by ourself and have no real booker who sets up shows for us. We just have two guys who just started to help us out with shows here and there which is super cool.
Can we expect you in Belgium soon?
We are planning to tour twoweeks in late November / early December. Hopefully we can make it to Belgium then. If anyone can help us out with a show just drop us a mail at morethanever@gmx.de. We are easy to work with and dont bite ;-)
What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on stage?
A bad hip hop MC that is freestyling while we were playing.
What's the most embarassing thing that has happend on stage?
A bad hip hop MC that is freestyling while we were playing
Haha, original answer. Is there a big HC scene where you live?
Its not that big but its a quite solid and active scene. We have many bands, labels, online zines and dedicated people here. Being a part of the so-called Southside / Stuttgart area scene is really cool. The only thing that sucks is the lack of new kids who are definitely missing in these days.
Are there any bands you would like to tour with in future?
We will tour twoWeeks in Nov/Dec. together with Life In Your Way, an US Band on Indianola Records which I really love. We already toured (mini tours ;-)) with Comeback Kid and Alove For Enemies which was both great.
I would love to tour together with Hot Water Music and Gorilla Biscuits because they are my heroes! Beside that its alway fun to play shows with bands that you are friends with so I alway enjoy when we play with for example Crisis Never Ends, Come Closer, Oppositon Of One or Turn Away wich are all from our area.
What do you like the most when you stand on stage in front of an audience?
I like when kids sing-a-long and people, especially girls, are dancing and when I feel that the people in the crowd have a good time and we are not just the background music for some shittalking.
What do you hate the most when you stand on stage in front of an audience?
When I broke a string, when one of our guitar players broke a string, technical problems with the drumkit, and tough looking kids standing around with crossed arms
Some questions to end: What are your biggest influences?
Personally: Hot Water Music, Lifetime, Johnny Cash, Comeback Kid and Battery.
And for the band?
For the band i would say: old Poison The Well, Comeback Kid and Hopesfall
To what cd's are you currently listening to?
In the last few weeks those following records are in my heavy rotation: The Clash best of, Verse Rebuild, Rumbleseat Is Dead, Killing The Dream I Rewrote It, Sublime best of, Modern Life Is War Witness and Johnny Cash Solitary Man.
Are there any bands/ friends of yours we should keep an eye out for?
Make sure to check out our local friends Crisis Never Ends (metalcore), Opposition Of One (NY HC like Dodgin Bullets), Come Closer (emocore, like a hc version of Boy Sets Fire), Right Here (old school like Turning Point) and Turn Away (HC like Champion) all those bands can be found at myspace.com
We ask this to every non-Belgian band: What's the first thing you think about when you hear the word 'Belgium'?
Jean Claude van Damme, Good Life Recs. and Pommes Frites ;-)
A last shout-out, word of thank or message for our readers?
Thanks for the interview! We really apreciate it! Support European bands and stay core! Please check out our new record Give Us Our Hearts Back on Guideline Records and visit our sites www.morethanever.de and www.myspace.com/morethaneverlbc
Again, if anyone is interested in doing a More Than Ever show in Belgium, just drop us a mail!
Stay Gold!
Interview by: I.V.
11.08.2005
More info: http://www.morethanever.de/
