BLACK SPACE RIDERS (Eng.)

1- Hello, thanks for answering to our questions. What are you guys currently up to?

Hello back from JE (leadvocals, guitar) and SEB (leadvocals) of Black Space Riders.

SEB: Currently we are busy getting prepared for the upcoming release shows. We are going to play a lot of new songs and some BSR-classics. Really looking forward to that.

JE: The album will be released on the 24th of january. So right now is a pretty crazy time filled with promotion-activities, on the side we all have jobs and families who are pretty challening, at least around christmas 😉

2- First off, could you make some history of the band?

JE: CRIP (drums) and me we are longtime friends, we both noticed about 5 years ago that we missed playing in a Heavy Rock Band. So I called another longtime friend, SLI (guitar), whom I haven’t seen for ages. We had done a NWOBHM-Fanzine together when we were in our early teens, written on a typewriter … we have been selling the 25 copies on our schoolyards. SLI brought in SAQ (bass). We started jamming without any further plans and instantly there was a kind of magic in the air. At the first 3 rehersals we finished 4 songs of our debut-album which was recorded in the beginning of 2010 and was released in the summer of 2010. The album was accepted very well. We played a lot of shows and released the second album («Light is the new black») in the beginning of 2012. We collaborated with SEB during the recordings. He did some backing-vocals and later joined the band as our second leadsinger. Now we are sharing the leadvocals which enables us to sound even more rich and colourful than before.

3- How could you describe your sound?

SEB: Massive, hypnotic, moving … spacious !

JE: A mélange of Classic-, Heavy-, Psychedelic and Space-ROCK, some call it «Stoner» in the need to pigeon-hole music 😉

4- What are the band’s main musical influences?

JE: We have 2 generations of crew members on board. CRIP (drums), SLI (guitar) and me we have grown up with the godfathers Black Sabbath and Deep Purple and then have been absorbing the NWOBHM in our adolescence. SLI and me also got into punk and wave … I additionally have a strong affinity for psychedelia. SAQ and SEB are a decade younger. In addition to metal SAQ was into hardcore and punk; SEB was early becomming an «extremist» and took the left hand path towards Death and Black Metal.

5- How is the feedback for your new album being?

JE: Too early for that question. Most of the reviews will be published later in january. The first ones are very positive. We are kind of spoilt … the first two albums were reviewed very well, even if we didn’t sell too many copies HarHar! As a first indication maybe: some of our friends are very critical and questioning with us …. they all love the new album and think that it shows a huge development.

6- And are your personally satisfied with the final outcome?

SEB: Completely. For me as a musician, a finished album is more listened to than anything else. But the duration and intensity of the “heavy-rotation” of «D:REI» surpasses everything that existed before. And that is with many of us … not just a little …

JE: I loved all our three albums after recording. This one definitely took me further than any piece of music that I have created before. I am still not getting tired of listening to «D:REI».

7- How could you describe this opus in just 3 words?

SEB: Epic – overwhelming – breathing

JE: Epic is a good word. Also «balls» and «athmosphere».

8- How has the production process for your new release been?

SEB: We’d been perfectly prepared when we entered Role’s TONMEISTEREI. ……

JE: I believe you can’t be prepared perfectly and additionally I think «perfection» is NO good approach for the kind of music that we are playing. ;). But we knew pretty well how we wanted to sound this time. The songwriting was complete and the arrangements have been finished before entering the studio. We recorded in an oldschool way: live in 3 days! all instruments, musicians and amplifiers in one room at the same time! The vocals and some guitar-solos have been overdubbed in the following days. That’s it! I really like the sound of the record. It’s very clear, open, dynamic at the same time huge and massive, a wall of sound. It sounds very stand-alone and avoids the typical retro-approach of some newer bands.

9- And how do you use to work on the songwriting?

JE: Usually somebody brings in a cool riff or some nice guitar-harmonies, that’s mostly my part, but the others have as well contributed lots of ideas. Then the whole band starts jamming around with that idea, trying different grooves and speeds, getting inspired to develop new parts …. and suddenly we start singing, humming, shouting … that’s SEB’s and my territory again. We are recording every reherseal and discuss every time how to further improve the songs. The last part is the arrangement. We are discussing a lot about different ideas and approaches. At the same time a kind of «overall theme» starts spinning in my head …. call it «concept» if you like. Then we start writing the lyrics, meaning we have the overall story, we have the songs, I have an idea of what the song should be about, me or SEB are beginning with one phrase and then we continue together … alternately completing the pattern. Sometimes especially on the debut I contributed almost finished songs. But the approach of letting the songs grow together helped a lot get to the point where we are right now.

10 – Finally, what are you near-future plans?

JE: No expactions, no disappointments. 😉 no, seriously, we have achieved much more than expected …. five middle-aged friends starting to jam around and now, five year later we have played great liveshows, we are about to release our third cool album and at least some people around the whole world seem to love what we are doing.

SEB: It would be great to get even more well known with the new album and to play more and a little «bigger» shows (NOT meaning really BIG). But most important is that we love what we are doing.

JE: We will continue developping, playing shows and recording albums. I hope there will be a rising «awareness» following the new album helping to book some cool tours.

11- That’s all from our side, thanks again for taking your time to answer our questions. If you now want to add some final words; feel free to do it.

JE: Thank you for caring about Black Space Riders! Spread the word! May the force be with you!