Necronomicon (DE)
Last One To Represent The Band

23.01.2010

Germany’s Necronomicon were among the bands who gave birth to Teutonic thrash metal. In the 1980s they recorded three albums full of raw, aggressive but also melodic material which could really catapult them to the top league of the metal scene, but unfortunately, it never happened. Very little was heard from the band in the 1990s, so just a few years ago seeing Necronomicon in Russia was a thing that was hardly believable to anyone. However, in 2009 the band came to Moscow and a few other cities already for the second time. This was a great chance to talk to Necronomicon’s singer and mastermind Volker Fredrich (or just Freddy, for short), and we wouldn’t forgive ourselves if we had missed it. Especially given that Freddy was such a forthcoming and energetic interlocutor ready to answer any questions…

This is your second visit in Russia but let’s speak about the first one. What are the best memories you have about your previous visit? What can you say about Russia now?

Last year was the first one and it was absolutely new for us. We saw some people who are absolutely enthusiastic – here in Moscow or Nizhny Novgorod or wherever we were. Absolutely friendly people! And this is the reason why we came back here one year later. The reasons are: the people are absolutely friendly, they are metal orientated, they love Neronomicon.

You released your latest album “Revenge Of The Beast” (2008) as a double CD. What are the main differences between the sound of the regular and the bonus CD?

The bonus CD is a “thank you” to all fans all over the world and it’s produced like the 80’s. It’s a “thank you” for waiting (I think for 5 or 6 years) for the next album “Revenge Of The Beast” – “Construction Of Evil” was produced in 2002 or 2003…

In 2004.

Oh yeah! And it’s a meant to be a “thank you” for the whole time you waited for a new Necronomicon album. So we decided to make 2 CDs. One is original production like new stuff with new possibilities. And we decided produce the second CD like it was in the 80’s.

So I think it must sounds very rough…

It’s a very rough! I’m very satisfied with these 2 CDs. The original CD has absolutely modern sound, it’s kicking in your face, and the second CD, I think, sounds like the first Slayer albums, like the beginning of thrash metal. And that’s the reason why we decided to produce this CD – it’s a great attitude for all the fans.

And why did you take such a long break between “Revenge Of The Beast” and “Construction Of Evil”?

I think you know – we got some personnel problems. Jogi, our guitar player, got tinnitus, and you know what it means. And we lost our bass player. And now we lost Axel! I’m only one of Necronomicon and this is the first tour when I’m the only one to represent Necronomicon. And I’m not feeling very well, because I’m the last one of the band. So in the past we all got personal problems. We had to find a new guitar player and it’s not easy to find a person who is… is…

Fits good to the band?

Yeah! You can find good guitar players all over the world – it’s not a problem. But I’m looking for a human, who is speaking in the same language with Necronomicon. And this is a problem. It took 5 or 6 years.

You said that you’re the last original member of the band. So do you feel any responsibility for the band? Do you feel as you have to be the leader?

Of course, I’m the leader because I’m only one of the band. I’m first one who built the band in 1984 or 1985 and now I’m the last one. So I would say, “Yes! I’m the leader”

Let’s talk about changes in the band’s personnel, if you don’t mind. Why did Axel leave the band this year?

There are 2 reasons. The first reason is he wanted to make business. He decided to do money in another way. As a musician – it’s a hard way to earn money, it’s VERY hard. The second reason is that he’s burned out. On the last tour in spring he told me after Barcelona, “Freddy, I’m burned out. My head is absolutely empty and I don’t feel like I should be in Necronomicon. I need a break.” And I said: “Ok, Axel, you can take a break any time you want.” After 2 or 3 weeks he came to me and said, “Freddy, I’m gonna split. I’m gonna split it all. I decided to make a cut”. And… yeah… (sighs)

What a pity…

Yes! These guys have been my friends for 30 years! Not even 20 years! For 30 years these guys are among my best friends. Oh my God! And now it’s not easy for me to represent Necronomicon as the only one. I’m thinking about these guys, “Hey, on my left side there’s Jogi standing, and behind my back on the drums – Axel!” So it’s not easy for me.

I would like to ask you about another past member, Christian Engler. How did you get to know him and why did he leave the band?

Hmmm… What is his name?

Christian Engler. He was a bass player in the so-called Neo-Destruction.

Oh, OK! Oh my God! (laughs) We tried to start a project with Christian – only tried. A new project with singing in German and it sounded like Rammstein. Fuck off! Forget all this. It was only a project! We only did one rehearsal.

So, he never was in Necronomicon, right?

Yeah!

The main themes of your lyrics are various occult things. Do you believe in this or are these  just lyrics that fit nicely to your music?

As a Necronomicon fan you may know that we grew up as punk band. In the early 1980s we were a punk band. And all the stuff we talk about is a little bit political, a little bit social. I hate lyrics like “Satan is coming for you”, I hate this – it’s fucking shit. I think about what’s going all over the world. Terrorism or political situation over the world - this is what I think about ant this is what I want to write about. If it’s OK or not – I don’t want compromise, but this is what I think about. And I don’t want to sing about some things that I don’t catch. We’re living in a whole world and as we came in Moscow we saw some new things, some new faces, and Russians are gonna go all aver the world. You get these opportunities with your new system.

Please tell us about your song “Skull & Bone” – is it about the secret society of the same name? What do you think about the rumors around this society?

It’s a good question! You know that “Skull & Bones” grew out of the U.S. and its government – George Bush, Kennedy, Clinton – and that’s the reason why I’m talking about it. This is the actual situation and this is really interesting for me to write about this.

Have you heard the song of the same name by Overkill?

No, no, no! Skull and Bones has its own history and all leaders in the USA are in the circle of this society. It’s very interesting so that’s why I wrote this song.

And how did you get the idea to write the song “One Universe”? I think this is an unusual song for the band.

Absolutely!

And what is the main message of this song?

This is our whole history. You know, that our history is not good, I think so. You can see this – Hitler, or Vietnam, or… Stalin. In every century we had a leader who killed a lot of people. For example, Caesar. And these leaders were evil. This is my opinion. Every country has a leader marked by evil. This is real fucking shit.

Do you plan to film a live show for DVD-release? I think it would be a great gift to your fans.

We are planning to make a live album, a live DVD, but there is a little problem – we got no rights. Next year we are planning to reproduce “Escalation” (1988) and “Screams” (1994) albums.

You’re from the town of Baden-Wurtemberg. This region gave birth to bands like Destruction and Stormwitch. Please tell us about the metal scene in Baden-Wurtemberg in the mid-80’s.

You know, in the 80’s it was very interesting. We had the South – Baden-Wurtemberg, and we had the North-West with bands like Sodom and Kreator. But the metal-scene in Baden-Wurtemberg was totally fucked up. If you wanted to play a concert near Frieburg – forget it! It was purely a punk orientated area. But we live near Switzerland and this country had a very interesting metal-scene, it’s good for us. But Baden-Wurtemberg, were we live – forget it!

What do you think about your fellow countrymen Finsterforst?

Sorry?

Finsterforst. They play viking/folk metal.

I don’t know this band. My friend, I have to tell you one thing – I’m only orientated on thrash music. This is my music. I’m not into this scene as much as maybe I should be, but I’m only orientated on thrash metal. Sorry about your question.

Don’t worry – I have a lot of them. So, if you like only thrash metal, do you keep an eye on the thrash metal scene of today?

My absolute favorites are Testament and Slayer. I grew up with this music. But Necronomicon doesn’t sound like these bands. My roots are in the punk scene and bands like Discharge and GBH. And I mixed both these styles – hardcore punk and fucking great bands like Slayer. I hope that the thrash metal scene will grow and grow. Listen to this band on stage (Contradiction). These guys are pretty cool. I hope that young bands will listen to this sound. I hate this fucking American modern sound like Korn – fucking shit! This is not metal!

The sound of the album “Screams” has more to do with punk than with metal. Am I right?

No, I don’t think so. I like this album, but it has absolutely fucking production. And this is the reason why we want to reproduce “Screams”. A lot of people in Russia ask me about this CD. I wanna reproduce these songs with the sound like “Revenge Of The Beast” and you will hear that this album is absolutely great.

Ok, I hope so. I would like to ask you about one song from this album. The lyrics of “How Long You Think” are about your negative attitude towards to fascism. Do these ideas still exist in Germany?

Ok, I’m proud to be German. We grew up to become a very democratic country now. Fascism in Germany is going smaller and smaller and smaller and this is a very good sign. People think, “Hey, I don’t feel bad to be German”. The history of Russia was bad too. The history of America was bad too. In every country you can see bad history. Russia and Germany had bad relations in the past, but look at you and me! We are the guys who are grown out of this. We are the future! Our minds are open!

Yeah! I think “How Long You Think” is about the Berlin Wall and unification of Western and Eastern Germany. What did you feel about this at that time and now?

As the Wall was falling down I saw it on TV. I screamed and I thought, “Wow!” It was very hard to see, because it was a historical situation. I think you’ll never see it again in the future. This gave us the possibility to go to Russia, and I think Russia is a very-very interesting country. Now we can come to you as friends! Now we can play, drink some beers, and say, “Fucking great! We are the future!” This was a perfect situation.  

What happened with the band between 1994 and 2004? I heard you had some problems with the record company.

We go so much trouble with the record company. Last week I phoned the guy from this company and said, “Hey, what about our rights? You can sell Necronomicon all over the world and I don’t see any euro! What the fuck is going on?” We lost all the rights as we quit our contract after the “Escalation” album. And if we’d started to produce new Necronomicon album, we’d have to pay money to this record-label. We decided to wait for 10 years. We could to take a new name, but I didn’t want to take it. I’m in Necronomicon and I like this.

This label – it was Gama Records?

Gama! It’s fucking shit!

Bands like Stormwitch…

(interrupting) Yeah! Stormwitch, Darkness. On the big festival I met the guys of Darkness, we’ll drive next year in Russia with Darkness. The guys are in the same situation – they lost all the rights because of this fucking Gama!

I heard that Darkness changed their name…

Eure Erben.

And now they sing in German.

They decided to go back. I spoke with Lacky and Arnd and they told me, “Freddy, now we decided to go back - to the old Darkness stuff, to sing in English”

If you see them, tell them please that they have a lot of fans here.

I know! I’m gonna talk with Dmitry (Ulybin, the promoter from Draug Management, the company who brought Necronomicon to Russia – ed.) about tour with Darkness next spring.  

Good news! And I have only two questions left for you. When Battle Cry Records re-released those three albums in 2006, why didn’t you include any bonus tracks in them? You had two demos before the first album and another one in 1992 – why not put them on CD?

We didn’t get in touch with Battle Cry Records. Battle Cry Records called Gama to get the rights and we didn’t know about this. This was not my decision. Last week I spoke with the guy from Battle Cry Records and I said, “This is a totally fucked-up situation. This is the problem we got – we lost all our rights. And now every person who likes Necronomicon can take out our CDs with old stuff.” This is what I hate. I don’t see any cent from these re-issues.

And my last question is about sports. Do you love sports in general and especially football?

I love sports. I tell you that I’m working as a snowboard teacher in winter. I love football but I like winter sports much better.

And what do you think about the two games between Russian and German national football teams?

I think the Russian team played so well, but out team is always result orientated. A typical German thing! (laughs)  

Please, say a few words Russian readers.

I can only say thank you, thank you so much! As we coming here, all the people come to me and say: “Freddy! Freddy! Freddy! Freddy! We love Necronomicon!” Thank you so much!

Necronomicon on MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/possessedbythrash

Special thanks to Dmitry Ulybin (Draug Management) for arranging this interview

Interview by Konstantin “Hirax” Chilikin
Photos by Polina Zavorotnyuk
November 20, 2009
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