 WITHIN REACH
Bremen, Schlachthof, 3.10.2001
Still
screaming 2001! Together on tour with „raised fist“ and „nine“ WITHIN
REACH
rocked the schlachthof basement in Bremen on the
3rd of october. Their new record
„complaints ignored“, out on bad taste
records is far beyond new school hardcore.
The mixture of melodic sounds on the one hand and
dark black metal riffs between evil
and fantasy on the other creates the fantastic,
manyfold sound on this record: one song
makes you want to dance while another might cause
nightmares...this one is signposting!
We met the new singer Denny and drummer Jocke,
talked about music and lyrics, life in
sweden, the world trade center and about
satisfaction which will hopefully
never be achieved...
text and photos by jonas follmann and jan
gloystein
When
did you form within reach ?
it
all started in 1996.
I
read, that there was a band before, what was the name and did you all play in it ?
Jocke: Right, there was a band before called lifeless image. It was almost the same line
up.
But in the beginning with WITHIN REACH there was
a different drummer and an other guy
on the guitar, but the same singer and bass
player like in Lifeless image. That time there was
the first within reach show. I did the vocals. A
couple of days after we rehearsed the first time
and I decided to play the drums. The drummer that
time left the band, so we were contacting
the old singer of lifeless image and asked him if
he would do the vocals. That’s the way it went.
 |
Why did you change to a
drummer? Is it just more fun for you to play the drums or isn`t it so important to you, to
do the vocals ? Jocke: I have always been a drummer, you know, I took control
over the drums and nowadays I just do some backing vocals with Danny. The other guy,
our old drummer, got married, has a kid and got tired of playing in a band. |
Did
your style of music change with the change of your line-up ?
Danny: From the start it was very, very kind of ripped off different bands, and then we
said
like “we take this and that band and mix it
up like we want” and then we were open and said:
yeah, we are going to take that riff and that
riff and do what we want (…) …we wanted to
do a new thing, try to get our own sound, and we
would like the people to listen to it and say:
hey that sounds like a within reach part, and not
like gorilla biscuit and judge us as an oldschool
band. we tried to build a new sound.. (…)
(017) Everything changed, the way we start writing
our stuff. What is still the same is the name of
the band and now when we are getting older,
we think in a different way when we do lyrics or
songwriting.
What
about your lyrics? Are they important to you ? What themes are you dealing with ?
Jocke: Of course it is important. People can hear it and maybe they will get their own
ideas
and thoughts how things work. We write for all
people. Sometimes it are our problems and
thoughts we are dealing with, but there are more
things and bigger problems.
Such as the world politics.
So
you don`t want to give certain answers and advices how to deal with a special
situatiion,
you just want to show up the situations and make
the people think about it in their own way ?
Danny: Exactly! …What do you think about it? We would like the people to have their
own
point of view but some of them think we want them
to think what we think. We are not trying
to say you all gonna think like that cause this
is the problem. We just write what think about
the problem. we don’t wanna say you should
do this or that, like a lot of political bands.
We have our own point of view.
What
does your daily life look like ? What about working?
Danny: We rehearse 2 or 3 times a week but sometimes we don’t exercise for
weeks.
There is no certain rule. Besides playing music
we also do jobs or go to university.
What
is your profession
Jocke: I learned net working with computers. I have a litte son and I am divorced to my
girl.,
so I take care of my son. I am unemployed.
What
about the swedish scene?
Danny: The scene in sweden is kind of dead, actually there is no scene !
That’s strange, cause there are so many band s from sweden touring in germany.
Danny: Yeah, but if you look it are almost the same bands who played back to the good
old
days. A lot of bands started playing around 1995.
If you look at Millencollin for example,
they play in Sweden once or twice a year. And if
they play, they play at “Hulsfredfestival”
Jocke: If we do a show in sweden, at the best there would be 150 or 200 people. and that
is
a good show. when we came down to Europe like
Germany, Italy or Spain it was different.
If swedish bands come down here, people are
interested and now we are touring with
3 swedish bands.
Danny: The more southern in Europe you go, the more it is like a time machine. in the
northern
of Germany it is like Sweden in musical
way. But the more southern you come you feel like
getting more and more back to it like in `95,
like skate punk, rock, like old school.
Have you played in eastern Europe
yet ? Jocke: Yes it was on
the first tour
with within reach with our old
singer and it was like after the
second world war. We played in a
city called Schikkanowitsch (???),
a very little city; and there are
more horses and waggons than
cars. We were going with a Toyota
and they were staring at us
because they only had seen
one of this on TV. |
 |
But I
think the people are really open for music ?
Danny:
Yeah… for sure !
Did you have a producer for your new album or did you
record it on your own
Danny: Yes, we had a producer. mieszko from nasum.
A
that’s a grind core band ?
Jocke: Yes, but he wasn`t like a producer, like a producer does, you know.
Millencolin had
a producer from new york who went to see them and
when they rehearsed and everything.
we haven`t had a producer like that, a guy who
comes to our rehearsal. we have been doing
the music by ourselves and we are standing at it
like it is our own music.
Danny: Everything we did on ourselves. That time we were in studio, mieszko helped us
out,
maybe he said try this or try that . that’s
the only thing had helped us out, excect to that we
have made everything, lyrics and every musical
part. it was mischeskos and Matthias
(millencollin) studios.
Is it
right that the swedish government supports newcomer bands in sweden ?
Danny: Yes there are many rehearsal rooms for free and sometimes they put them in
small
studios so that you can record your own demo
tapes. That is good to keep it cheap and
to get in touch with the business and how to do
in studio and stuff like that.
 |
If we come back to the
swedish scene: do you need do be well known or has a record company to organize shows
? Danny: It is possible and of course a few people would show up. It is not
big like in here Europe. You have to have the right names on the poster. it is the same
all arround the world. If there is a booking agency with a bad reputation nobody
will show up.
Jocke: do you know the cover
artists mady by possets, you know ? |
no we
don`t …
Jocke: He did the misfits skull and covers for integrity and metallica. some people buy
the
rocords only for the arts of possets. Some
fans do not even like the music but they buy
the cd for the cover artwork
Danny: if you go with a certain label like fat wreck chords or epitaph it can’t fail.
people will
show up. Just because it is the right band.
Jocke: All these guys like Bad Religion and Pennywise and stuff like that. If they see a
band
with a Epithaph logo on their record for them it
is a trademark for good music
Danny: Exactly! If you have a bigger label, it makes things easier.
Lets
talk about your deal with Bad Taste Records. How did it come like that ?
Danny: It wasn`t more like a phonecall. We asked them if they were interested to release
our
next Cd and some Singles and they said like
– yeah of course
What
do think about the world trade center crash?
Jocke: It is horrible !
Danny: We have followed it everyday on Tv. The day it happened was the day before we
should go on tour. We stayed at home and watched
the news. We had to go to London
but all flights were cancelled. We said:
Fuck.
Jocke: On the one hand I really believe that if the tour was cancelled because of this and
the
things that happened. Maybe it`s gonna be a World
War Three. Maybe if we are back to
Sweden we could not be drawn into it in the same
way as we would be in Italy. There are
members of Nato in Germany and all over Europe
and there could
be an attack from Afghanistan.
Danny: I think swedish people are really into it and afraid of getting involved.
Jocke: If we find Bin Laden not guilty in Sweden, maybe America won`t do this
international
deals anymore. and if we find him guilty (:::)
In
Germany people are talking about inner security much more. There was an election in
Hamburg short time ago and a guy on the right
wing got 20 %. I think many people are going
to decide now if they want to stand on the left
or the right side. What kind of influences on
music and the punk & hardcore scene will it
have in the future ?
Jocke: If you think a right wing guy will take control over germany it is nothing
positive.
I know what you meen about the music situation.
Of course there will be lot more protest
bands and a again more protest lyrics that
already exist. On that side it is a good thing.
But in that way we are only humans even if we
play in a band or not. We have to do the best
for our own existence If you compare todays news
shows to a show 10 or 15 years ago.
They didn’t show when people get executed
and shot their head off, but now they show it.
And I don’t think it is right. Even in the
afternoon they can show it and maybe children can
watch it. They are growing up in this world in a
twisted way. That kind of shows the can
show at 22.30.
What
are your plans for the furutre ?
Danny: As a band or a person?
As a band Danny: We will go back
home and
see where it takes
us.
Jocke: We are not gonna stop play
until we think it is boring.
Danny: Now
we going to make new
songs and achieve that goal to
have our own sound. |
 |
You
are never satisfied with your songs ?
Danny: No. There is always something. And if you are satisfied with your sound it gets
boring.
It feels like your standing on the same place.
You should always have a goal, something that
you want to do better.
Jocke: The drummer of Entombed said when they recorded their last album, the best entombed
album I heard, he left the band after that. They
did a couple of shows and he left and people in
magazines and radio shows asked why he quit.
Because it was top of the career.
He said " I can`t do a better record than
that." So he started in another band: Hellacopters.
He`s now the singer and guitar player. It is the
same thing with Turbonegro,
they stopped when they were at the peak.
Danny: As long as we feel like we can do better, I think we will go on…. I
hope…
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