Feuerschwanz
Dragon Dance

16.04.2010

German folk metal band Feuerschwanz, having released three studio albums and one live CD, made a real sensation in Moscow in December last year, performing an intense show and playing catchy music that can easily rival In Extremo and Schandmaul. Having witnessed that, our webzine decided to contact the band and find out more about their art. We managed to get Prinz Hodenherz, who is responsible for vocals and various wind instruments. For about half an hour he was telling us about the band’s adventures in Moscow, their latest album and an unusual name…

First of all we would ask you about your recent Moscow gig. What do you think about this show and Moscow fans?

The gig took place on the 19th of December. It was a great show, we had about 300 fans, and it was totally different from Germany. I liked it more than the shows in Germany, because Russian fans danced around and did their own party in front of the stage. It was very nice to look at the fun they had.

We remember promoters gave you a big cup of beer. How often do you drink on stage? Is it a common thing at Feuerschwanz gigs?

We’re not one of the bands who play really drunk, but some beer is good for playing this kind of music, because we sing about drinking and having a party. The best thing is to have a party, too, and to drink a bit onstage.

It was a pity that there wasn’t any of your merchandise on sale at the gig– there were no CDs or T-shirts available at all. Why?

We had problems with the airport, they have limitations on the weight on the baggage, and it’s expensive to carry things to Russia. We still had to play extra money for bringing in our equipment, that’s why we didn’t take it with us. We did bring some CDs in our bags, perhaps they were gone very quickly.

As long as your website is only in German, could you tell a little about history of the band for those who don’t speak this language? How and when did you decide to form Feuerschwanz?

(laughs) Do you want me to tell you the real story or the legend?

Whatever you’re willing to tell us.

I will tell you the real story. The legend is available on the website anyway, and I think some day we will do it in English. The band was the idea of Hauptmann Feuerschwanz, who came up with it some time in 1999-2001. Back then he played in another medieval band called The Merlons, they were one of the best German medieval bands in the 90s, they played with Subway To Sally, In Extremo and the likes. When The Merlons stopped playing, Hauptmann Feuerschwanz got the idea to make funny medieval music. He started writing songs, and in 2004 the band played the first gig. I wasn’t in the band back then, I only joined in 2007. In the beginning band members changed very often, you can read about it on the website. The band played at medieval markets, then came festivals and clubs.

And what about you personally? How did you decide to become a musician and play bagpipes and flute?

I have been making music since I was 6 years old. I have tried different instruments, now I’m playing piano, medieval bagpipes and flute and also singing. I decided to play bagpipes when I was 13 or 14 years old. I listened to In Extremo, Subway To Sally and Schandmaul, I loved medieval music and also medieval history and fantasy literature. So I decided to play medieval instruments. I started with flutes and tin whistle, and then I started to play bagpipes, too.

Our next question is very obvious, it’s about the band name (the English translation of it would sound something like “Fire Dick” – ed.). Did Hauptmann already have the name before he put the band together, or did he invent it specifically for the band? In general, how did the band name appear?

Hauptmann Feuerschwanz invented it for the band. He was looking for a name that sounds a little bit medieval, and indeed, when you hear the word “Feuer”, you imagine something like a dragon. He also wanted the name which conveys the message of our music, so he came up with “Schwanz” – you know what that means, right? (laughs)

By the way, have you had any troubles with promoters in Germany because of this name?

It’s a very good question! (laughs) Yes, we had, and we still have troubles with promoters. When they read “Feuerschwanz”, they don’t want this band to play at markets or concerts. They think the shows are really hard, something like porn shows (everybody laughs). But we can also play at medieval market in the midday sun in front of little children and make funny music for them. We don’t destroy their hearts. (laughs)

What kind of response do you get at medieval markets? Do you get accepted easily by the visitors of such events?

It’s still not as easy to be accepted at medieval markets as it is at big festivals or club concerts, because people sometimes think we’re only making fun, and then come our texts with some lines which make them think, “Oh, what is this?” (pause) I’m thinking about a medieval market where we weren’t accepted, but I can’t recall a single one. Most of the times people understand the message of our music and make a party with us. Sometimes we play at midday in front of families with children, then we put the hardest songs out of the set list (laughs), and it also works.

As far as we know, Feuerschwanz are from the city of Erlangen, and there’s a big festival in this city called “Bergkirchweich”. Have you ever played there?

No! It’s difficult to explain… It’s a great festival, I think it’s the best party I’ve ever went to, but we don’t play at such events, because it’s more like “Oktoberfest” in Munich, it’s not a music festival. It’s more about beer drinking and climbing a giant hill, and we don’t play at such events. But maybe some day…

On stage in Moscow you dressed as medieval knights. Is it hard to play a full show being dressed in armor?

(laughs) Yes, it’s really hard. Metal plates are heavy and very uncomfortable. Mine is cheaper than the one of Hauptmann, it oxidizes during the show, and I get this brown stuff on my skin. (laughs) But we like playing in medieval armory.

Your concerts are famous not only by your music but a great show too. And part of this show are two pretty girls as cats. Where did you find them? Are they real band-members?

We found them… I don’t know! (laughs) We searched among our friends and people we know, and some of them are action role players. We found them at some events, in the street… I don’t know. They’re somewhere between band members and dancers. We have more than two “Cats” in our band, and we can choose two of them for every show. It’s too much for these girls to go with us for every show and do their dance, especially given that they’re not only dancers, they’re something in between.

These girls are very beautiful and they go down the stage into the crowd to dance with fans. Have they ever got into trouble with some rowdy fans?

No, never! The fans always look at them, they wanna have sex with them (laughs), but they always respect them and don’t touch their bodies or get them in trouble. This has never happened. But I got into trouble one day, when I went down into the crowd. They carried me on their hands, and I fell down. The funny thing is that one fan put a helmet on my head before I fell down, I don’t know why he did it, but I fell down on this helmet. That’s the only trouble I’ve ever had in the crowd.

Can you tell us a few words about your lyrics? They are in German and I think a lot of people in Russia can’t understand them well enough. What are the main themes of your songs?

The new album is called “Metvernichter”, it means something like “Mead Destroyer”. The main message of it is to have a party, drink and have sex a bit, but we pack it in medieval-style stories. For instance, “Hurra hurra die Pest ist da” means “Hooray hooray, the disease is coming”, and we sing about a village which knows that in three days a great disease will come, and they do something like carpe diem, arrange a party, drink and enjoy the last three days. We use stories like that in our lyrics.

The song with title “Feuerschwanz” is a real anthem of the band. But how did you get idea to base it on Manowar’s song “Carry On”?

(laughs) I have to say it’s not our idea, we were not the first to use this Manowar song. The first ones were JBO, they’re also from Erlangen, and some of them are friends of us. They’re a really great German fun metal band, and in our early days we covered some of their songs, so we just sang “Feuerschwanz” instead of “JBO” along the music of Manowar.

The song “Der geile Prinz” from your previous album “Met und Miezen” (2007) – is it about you?

No. It’s a funny thing, but the song was written before I joined the band. When I think about it, it could be about me. (laughs)

Who is the main lyric writer in the band?

It’s Hauptmann Feuerschwanz, but for the new album I wrote lyrics, too. Still Hauptmann Feuerschwanz is the main writer.

And how do you work on music – do you write songs together?

Yes. We develop ideas alone at home on a guitar – or sometimes I do it on the piano or something like that, and then we meet and put them together. We discuss the ideas and make the songs complete.

You style is often described as comedy folk. But do you have any serious message in your music?

Sometimes yes. We’re not political or anything like that. But one of the main messages of our songs is to live your life and spend each day as it’s your last one, as in the song I mentioned before – “Hurra hurra die Pest ist da”. Another message is to accept each other and to accept yourself as you are, be happy, dance together and don’t worry about your problems.

Have you ever thought about singing your songs in English to carry the message across to a broader audience?

(laughs) No, not really seriously. For the gig in Moscow we thought about translating one song into Russian, but this will sound very funny if Hauptmann and I sing it. (laughs) We have had no plans so far to sing anything in English. Perhaps it will happen some day. But I think German medieval fans don’t really like English songs, they don’t sound medieval for Germans, they sound like music from the USA or something like that.

But there’s a German band called Fiddler’s Green, which is also a medieval band, but they sing in English…

But that’s a different thing - they sing Irish songs!

OK, we see. Let’s now go back to your latest album “Metvernichter”, which came out last year. What you can say about fans and press’ reaction to it? And now much is this record different from the stuff you did before?

We had very good reaction to the album in the press, many webzines and also big medieval magazines wrote very good things about it. At the same time, I have to say that Metal Hammer and Rock Hard don’t really like us, they wrote really bad things, and I think the journalists there hate us. (laughs) But in general, journalists liked it, and as to the fans, when we played the songs live for the first time, their reaction was very good. We played some of the songs live before album release, and some songs were hits already then.

Hauptmann said about your guitarist Hans that he practices for 12 hours a day. I think he must be like Yngwie Malmsteen then. So why Hans don’t play any shredding solo in your songs?

On the CD there aren’t any shredding solos, you’re right, but live he plays a really great solo in one song. In the future we plan to give him a single solo spot so he can show his skills on the guitar. As to the album, we don’t have any shredding solos, because we’re still more of a medieval band than a heavy metal band.

In 2008 you released a live album called “Drachentanz”. Where was it recorded?

It was recorded in our home town of Erlangen, in a very cool location where we did one show and recorded it.

And what do you think about this CD now? Do you think it’s still a good representation of the band?

I think it transports our message in a very good way. It’s clear that you can’t represent the whole band with one album, but it represents most of our aspects, our lyrics and our style.

A live album is great, but do you have any plans to release a live DVD as well?

Yes, but it won’t be before the next album. In two or three years, we are planning to make a live DVD with backstage specials and things like that, so that everyone can see how funny Feuerschwanz is. (laughs)

Every musician in Feuerschwanz has a very catchy image and stage name. But how does a person get this stage name? Does a person choose for himself, or does Hauptmann Feuerschwanz decide on it?

The very first stage images were more developed by Hauptmann Feuerschwanz, when he was planning the band. But today stage images are developing with time. When I was joining the band, there wasn’t a name for me, we didn’t plan it, and after three or four times we played together, everyone said, “This is Hodenherz”. Somehow our images have developed with time, and they fit in with what we are in real life, though in just some aspects, not in everything.

There’s a very famous website called “Last.fm”, and if you type in “Feuerschwanz”, it shows you a page which reads that Feuerschwanz make fun of such bands as In Extremo, Subway To Sally and Saltatio Mortis. And we’ve recently heard that you will be playing a few gigs with Saltatio Mortis in February. What do you expect from these gigs?

Saltatio Mortis are big friends of ours, we played a tour with them in 2007 and also did some gigs last year.

So they don’t mind that you make fun of them, do they?

No, no. We don’t make fun of any bands in particular, we make fun of the entire music style those bands play. We don’t say, “Hahaha, Saltatio Mortis!”

You travel with the band a lot and do many gigs. Are there any funny things happening to you? Can you tell us some funny story from the road?

When we were boarding a plane to Russia, our drummer – I think you saw his helmet onstage, a big helmet with a big red punk-style thing on it – didn’t have enough space to put this helmet in his hand luggage. So he had to put this helmet on at the airport and then as we arrived in Moscow, he also had to walk through the airport with the helmet on. (everybody laughs) We made photos of him, it was really cool.

And what about the normal life of the band? What do you do when you’re not on stage or in the studio with Feuerschwanz?

I study music and mathematics in Nuremberg to become a teacher. I don’t know whether it will really happen, I would prefer to be a musician with Feuerschwanz.

Well, we have run out of questions this time. To round it off, is there anything you would like to tell to your Russian fans and readers of our webzine?

The first thing is that I hope to see Russian fans again some day, because the Moscow gig was one of the most powerful concerts we’ve ever had. Perhaps we will play in Moscow again next October, and maybe also in St. Petersburg and some other Russian city. I’m looking forward to see the Russian fans. Always remember: we are all Midvernichter!

Feuerschwanz on the Internet: http://www.feuerschwanz.de

Konstantin “Hirax” Chilikin, Roman Patrashov
January 9, 2010
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