REBELLION (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with REBELLION? I’ve seen you will soon start touring Europe so, are you warming up and rehearsing for this upcoming tour?
Yes, we are very busy preparing for the upcoming shows and we are looking forward to playing our new songs alive.
– First off, though you were formed a decade ago, could you please share some history of the band? As I guess there may be still some people who aren’t familiar with you yet.
Rebellion was founded in 2001 by Tomi Göttlich (bass) and Uwe Lulis (guitar) aftertheir split from Grave Digger. The band´s debut album „Shakespeare’s Macbeth -A Tragedy in Steel“ was released in 2002. It wove Metal hymns and passages from Shakespeare’s original text impressively into one another, so that it received outstanding reviews and even today enjoys cult status. A headliner tour and a tour as support for Running Wild followed as well as some festival shows, among others the Wacken open air. „Born a Rebel“, the Band´s second album, was published in 2003, it shows a rough and groovy face of the band. This release was again followed by a headliner tour, a tour as support for UDO and some festival shows (such as the Metal Daze in Spain).
The band´s third album „Sagas of Iceland -The History of The Vikings volume I“ was released in 2005. “Sagas …” is the first part of the historically investigated and opulently arranged trilogy about the history of the Vikings. It is a brilliant and powerful Metal album as are the two following albums „Miklagard -The History of The Vikings volumeII “(2007) and „Arise: From Ginnungagap to Ragnarök -The History of The Vikings volume III “(2009) which completed the trilogy. This trilogy won the band a solid reputation as masters of historical concept albums and received outstanding reviews (“Arise …” made it into Rock Hard´s “10 times Dynamite”). The first two albums of the trilogy were again followed by headliner tours taking the band beyond Germany into Switzerland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands and various festival shows.
In 2008 Uwe Lulis had a motorcycle accident and was injured so badly that the band had to take a break of a year. In 2009 Uwe still suffered from the accident and thus there were very few shows which were played with Uwe sitting on stage. At the end of 2010 Uwe Lulis consequently left Rebellion. Gerd Lücking (drums) and Simone Wenzel (guitar) decided thereupon likewise in order to
concentrate on other musical projects.
It seemed as if the band had come to an end but encouraged by numerous fan comments Tomi Göttlich (bass) and Michael Seifert (vocals) decided in the beginning of 2011 to let Rebellion live on.
Oliver Geibig (guitar), Stephan Karut (guitar) and Matthias Karle (drums) filled the gaps. The new Rebellion are a band of friends who have known and jammed with each other for many years and who are very determined to lead the band onwards.
In October 2011 Rebellion played their first show with the new members. The Band was frenetically celebrated by their fans, many of whom had travelled long distances (Ireland, France and others)
Their new album will be released in October 2012.
– You have just released your new album, «Arminius: Furor Teutonicus», What are your expectations on it?
I do not expect anything. After having completed an album you always feel that this is the masterpiece, the best you have done so far … of course this leads to very high expectations and these might not be fulfilled which leads to frustration. I rather do not expect anything and take whatever comes with a broad smile.
– This time you’ve gone to the Roman history with your lyrics so, why did you decide to explore this path and share this history with your listener?
We have gone into the history of the Germanic tribes!!!! Smile!!! The incidents described on the new CD happened close to where we live, that alone is quite some motivation. Furthermore the character of Arminius has always fascinated me. He was used as a symbol for the national pride of Germany and I found it very interesting to strip the fiction from the facts and create a new story from it. This process is also documented in a pretty extensive text in the booklet.
– This new opus has a great German strength but it’s also emotive, with a huge dose of epicness. Was this contrast something you were looking for? Moreover it seems to fit perfectly with your lyrics.
I personally do not find that epicness and strength have to be contrasts, think they go together rather well. And yes of course we tried to compose songs that have melodies and strength. And thank you very much for your compliments on the lyrics, I and Michael did indeed invest quite a lot of work and it feels good to know that somebody acknowledges.
– I also think on this effort we can find more melody; did you have clear since the beginning you wanted to bring these melodic touches to contrast with your usual heavy and thick sounds or did it just come out naturally?
It came out naturally and maybe that is due to the fact that we did rehearse all songe in the practice room before we started to record the album. This is actually pretty unusual for a professional band. Most albums are written int he studion and I find that this fact makes some of them sound a bit … maybe constructed and unnatural?
– The band has been through some kind of regeneration after the departure of 3 of its members with an important line-up change. Has this affected the band in any way? Has the songwriting change at all due to this?
Concerning the songwriting, yes, as I have mentioned above. Ther new band rehearses once or twice a week which is only possible because we have chosen local musicians. I wanted it to be that way.
– The cover artwork has been crafted by Felipe Machado and is, once more, a superb illustration but, what did you want to express with it?
Maybe this will become clear once you read the lyrics, to me it is actually pretty obvious.
– If I’m not mistaken you are working on a video for the song «Ala Germanica», in what point is the process right now? What are we going to find on this video?
The video is released on youtube, our cannels name is “Rebellionmetal”.
– All this about «Arminius: Furor Teutonicus» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
POWER NOISE BLOOD
– As I said before, you’ve been around for a decade now so, what have been both the best and worst moments with/for the band so far?
This can not be answered adequately, sorry. A very sad experience was Uwe and the others turning their backs on the band. A very special moment was when I first entered the stage with the new line up about a year ago.
– You are hailing from Germany, a country that has always had a strong Metal scene and is still growing each day but, how do you see it as an insider?
Due to our history we Germans tend to be rather careful with “hailing” our country. The Metal is strong here, I do agree, however I do not think that it is growing, I believe it is underground and it will remain underground and that is a good thing for the music.
– And finally, what are your musical future plans?
To play the tour, after the shows I will need a break to refresh and to gain new strength.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
KEEP IT METAL KEEP IT ALIVE
