Interview
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Paradise Noise (2000)
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When BONEHOUSE was formed in 1993 each member already had made experiences in different hardcore-, punk- and metalbands. And every member of BONEHOUSE that was in the band then (and of cause everyone who is in the actual line-up) shared the same urge: to be an active part of the global underground, to refuse living a normal "mainstream" life (you know: go to school, get a job, get married, listen to shitty METALLICA and die) and to play live as often as possible without compromising our musical vision. FUCK THE MUTANT HORDES! We also had the feeling from the beginning, that this band should last a long time and should not split up because of some stupid arguments or problems. From the first days on we were sure that BONEHOUSE is here to stay! Another goal was to release our stuff. Some people might say that only D.I.Y. is the right way, but without the help of some labels we would not have been able to put our records out, especially not on vinyl and CD!
We didn't really plan what kind of style we would play, it was just a natural progression, and someday we realized, that we mixed different styles like Hardcore, Punk, Metal, Thrash and even a bit Rock'n'Roll. And everybody tells us, that we seem to have incredible much fun in playing this music! So yeah, I think that punkrock or hardcore can express massive amounts of positive power, although our lyrics are very aggressive and hateful. We are not one of these tough guy-HC-bands, who like to pose around with their muscles and who tell stories of fictional street-fights. Our aggression is directed at negative things like intolerance, inhumanity, dehumanization or oppression, but we try to keep an optimistic fighting spirit.
We just played a gig at a women's prison, and I can tell you that this was a very strange experience. When our bus left the prison, we saw all the girls behind bars waving their hands - quite a depressing feeling! We do such things from time to time: We played several gigs at a house of refuge in Hamburg, which too was very strange, cause all the homeless guys tried to sleep while we were playing and at the same time all the freaks moshed around... For us it goes without saying to play soli- or benefiz-gigs, when we can identify with the ideas behind such an event. I think that extreme music is a form of protest against conservative structures and protest mens action. It's kind of lame just to talk about things that need to be done, but not actually doing something by yourself. Aside from the band I am teaching german language to foreign people from all over the world, who come to germany. So I am directly confronted with the hostility towards foreigners in germany. It's very sad to see how people, who are discriminated in their homelands, just get sent back, cause the german economy needs only qualified workers. As to your question regarding the Chaos days: We like the idea of a total unorganized punk-party. Some of these events surely got out of hand - it's bullshit to burn some cars of people who have nothing to do with the whole struggle - but the Chaos days we visited were big fun! Even situations when we got chased by cops were exciting, cause you feel a total unique rush of adrenaline then! I just wrote some lyrics about such a situation for a song called "Instinct For Trouble", which will be on the next record. The cool thing about these Chaos days is that they are totally unfathomable - there is no telling what will happen exactly and therefore these days are feared and hated by average citizens...
To me as the vocalist the lyrics are as important as the music! Maybe
this sounds extreme, but since I can't play an instrument the lyrics
are the only way to express my feelings. I couldn't stand to sing ridiculous
bullshit 'bout zombies or armageddon. Punk without politic statements
is a fraud! The day punkrock without attitude gets accepted by the scene
will be the day punkrock dies! That doesn't mean that a gig should be
like a boring political history lesson. No, I am convinced that political
statements and an unrestrained rock'n'roll-orgy can be combined! Just
visit a BONEHOUSE-show someday and you'll know what I mean...
Of course you have to see the differences between nazi-skinheads and redskins or oi-skins! We got a lot of friends in the redskin-movement, who despise nazis as much as we do. A problem to me is the so called unpolitical oi-szene, because many oi-shows are visited by nazi-skins as well, who just pull off their fascist symbols from their jackets! But what can you do? Control everybodys faces is impossible, so it's not guilty until proven otherwise. I think the whole nazi-szene should not be treated with respect, it should be turned into ridicule, so that the kids just laugh about these idiots and not think that they are "cool".
Well, let's face it: Although China is part of the UN and is officially
called a "Volksrepublik" ("republic of the people"?)
it is at least a state, where human rights are endangered. Creditable
performance, the efficiency of a worker, is one of the highest values,
the right to strike was erased in 1982, individual tendencies in art
and literature are despised. Just think about the killings of chinese
students, who demonstrated for democratic rights back in 1989. Or about
the recent intervention in Tibet. It's no wonder the punk- and metal-underground
has a very strong following there. I met a lot of chinese students due
to my work, and they are all very nice people, but very shy. I asked
them one day why they don't ask questions and I was told that in China
students are not allowed to ask questions, cause that is regarded as
a big disrespect to the teachers. Well, it is very difficult to judge
about a foreign culture and quite often we tend to misjudge because
of our western arrogance (and I don't have to tell you that germany
stinks tooo...). But nevertheless I think the crimes against humanity
I mentioned above can't be excused. We released our first demo-tape "No fear" in 1995, which contains 9 songs of very brutal Hardcore mixed with Grindcore- and even Death Metal-influences. Unfortunately this tape is sold out. In 1996 we did our first self-produced MCD "Symmetry Of Decadence", which presents 9 new tracks, which are more straight and very much faster than the previous stuff. Come to think of it, I see now that every release we do is faster than the previous one... . That MCD got the attention of several labels and Earth A.D.-Records re-released the MCD again. In 1997 we released our first longplayer "Dogbite" via Earth A.D. on CD (13 songs) and LP (14 songs). "A totally heavy rockin' style that is perfectly addictive" stated the american hardcore-'zine SLUG & LETTUCE in their 55th issue. I think that "Dogbite" is the record where we found our personal style: total straight in your face, with some rocking vibes, melodic guitarleads, brutal riffs, catchy refrains - speed, power, insanity! Even better reviews received our next longplayer "Steamroller" (14 songs), which again was released on CD and LP via Earth A.D. (1999). "Possessing attitude plus a tight and devastating attack, this is the epitome of what a good hardcore band can do! This german band stands strong among greats like ANTI-CIMEX, BLACK UNIFORMS and DRILLER KILLER" (HARDCOREHOLOCAUST). The songs are a big step forward in regards of earcatching refrains, monstrous killer-riffs and variation, I think. After that album we did a split-7" with SMOKE BLOW (BURNING HARBOUR Records, sold-out) and a split-10" with THE FYREDOGS (OFFENZLINE Records), which presented unreleased songs and coversongs. In a few days we'll enter the studio again to record our next longplayer "Onward To Mayhem", which will be released on Earth A.D. as CD and LP. Look out for this one, we wrote 16 sonx and we try to do a total killeralbum to blow you away...
Uuh, sorry, no techno or HipHop here! No grunge, Nu Metal, Hippie shit, stoner rock, gothic ... either. I only like Punkrock, Hardcore and Metal. Sounds intolerant, but what can I do? I just can't bear listenting to music without balls. Tatoos and piercings have lost their impact a bit, since you can walk into every supermarket and get your dick pierced. Nearly every average schoolkid here in germany has tattoos and/or piercings, so you can't say that these things are part of a subculture anymore. Personally I don't like these pretty tattoos (tribal and that stuff), cause they just look too "nice" I prefer ugly tattoos like anchors or spider-webs. I have no tattoo yet, but our guitarist Pete just drew a cool anchor and I think I'm going to choose this drawing as my first tattoo. But all these things - tattoos and piercings - are not important to BONEHOUSE. We ain't brawny tattooed tough guys, we're your friendly neighbourhood dogs...
In the last months we worked our asses off to write new songs, cause we want to be as good prepared as possible before we enter the studio. Right now we're playing some gigs to check out the new songs in front of a live audience. In june/july we'll concentrate on recording "Onward To Mayhem". Our next plans after the release of "Onward To Mayhem" are massive live-playing, a tour in march/april 2001 and fighting the mutant hordes!
Let me say "thank you" for your support, Dave! Excuse my bad english and all the typos. We'll give our best regards to all your readers. Everybody can write (Philipp Wolter, Holtenauer Str. 145, 24118 Kiel, Germany) or e-mail (kallestietzel@freenet.de or boller@derboller.de) to us or visit or website www.bonehouse.de. Every letter will be answered! Look out for our next record, stay true, fuck them fascist pigs and NEVER SURRENDER!! Cheers, Philipp & BONEHOUSE
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1.
Well, classic question. When the band started and what do you want achieve
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