Dezperadoz
Friends Until The End

23.03.2007

This “cowboy metal” act from Germany first infatuated fans and critics back in 2000 with the release of their first album “The Dawn Of Dying”, which offered an excellent mix of thrash metal, melodies and atmosphere of spaghetti western movies, and harsh vocals of Tom Angelripper (Sodom, Onkel Tom). Everybody was eagerly waiting for a follow-up, but “The Legend And The Truth” only saw the light of day six years later and brought about some changes in the music, band name spelling and, most notably, line-up. Tom is no longer handling the vocal duties, but his long-time friend and colleague Alex Kraft is still the main driving force behind the band. We hooked up with Alex by phone a month after the band’s first appearance in Moscow and tried to find out a bit about the long and windy road the band has been following…

Everybody is asking you how you came up with the idea to create Dezperadoz and mix country music with heavy metal. But we would like to go back a bit further. How did you first get interested in the early American history, the Wild West and other things like that?

It was years ago, during my time at MI, the Music Institute in Los Angeles. I studied guitar technique there, and I spent 1.5 or two years in Los Angeles. That was when I got very interested in this Wild West thing. But I’ve been a spaghetti western thing since I was a kid, I like all the Sergio Leone movies. When I was in the U.S., it became clear for me that Hollywood movies are total bullshit. (laughs) Life back then was much harder, and if you go to towns like Tombstone in Arizona or to the Sierra Nevada desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, it’s a totally different flair.

Lots of people in the early Wild West time were normal European people, there were lots of people from England, Ireland and Germany. So it’s interesting to me that most of the music from back then was Irish music. The beginning of the Wild West was a criminal time, that’s when the Silver and the Gold Fever began, people were trying to get money and find their luck, and none of them was a hero like in the old Hollywood movies.

But can you name a few books or movies that still tell the truth about what was happening in America in that period of time?

I spent a lot of time with Tom Angelripper in Arizona. In 1998 or 1999 we stayed there for a few weeks, and we spoke with local people. At the same time, we were interested in museums and things like that. That’s most of my information on that time is coming from. As to books, I suggest that you read autobiographies, for instance, the autobiography of Wyatt Earp, and the flair that the book has is completely different to that of Hollywood movies. If you see the town Tombstone in a movie, it looks like a typical Hollywood movie town. But in fact, it’s much dirtier, the truth is always much dirtier and much more criminal. You have to see it with your own eyes, it’s hard to put it in words. Arizona is such a beautiful country, but it’s also very hard, the history of this country is very tough.

Why did you decide to make Wyatt Earp the main hero of your album? Why this particular person, and not Doc Holliday or any other legend of the Wild West?

It’s very important for me that Wyatt is not a hero. He was a human, and he was an asshole at times. His life was a little bit like a part of my life in the past six years. I also lost my wife, and after that I was a complete asshole. I wanted to quit my music career, I quit the job with Tom Angelripper, but I have good friends, people like Tom, who told me, “Hey Alex, come back!” At this time I also went to the U.S., I was alone in Arizona, where I searched for a new life. I thought a lot about Wyatt Earp, about things that happened to him and to me, and I figured out that life can transform an asshole into a hero or a gambler into a family father or a boozer to… a guitar player. (laughs)

You’ve been to the United States many times, you say that the concept of Desperadoz was born in 1993, which is 13 years ago. What do you think of present-day America? And in your opinion, how has America changed since the day you first went there?

Mmm… Don’t get me wrong, I love the United States as a country, but I don’t like the people as much. Long ago I came to the U.S. for learning guitar, it was a very good time, but a typical American person is not my kind of person. There’s not much difference between what was years ago and what is there now, it’s basically the same. I don’t like it when you are in a supermarket, and a sales person says (imitates a high-pitched irritating female voice), “Ok, come here, blah blah blah!” (everybody laughs) It’s a typical American thing. And I also don’t like the politics of the United States, I don’t like Mr. Bush and most of the people who think in the same say. Back then when I studied at the MI, the only difference was that the old Mr. Bush was in power. But it’s the same bullshit.

What kind of response do Dezperadoz get from the States? What do American metalheads think about your music?

American metalheads like it, but they know I’m a German, and it’s not so easy for me. They think this German guy is trying to destroy the Hollywood image of Wyatt Earp. The United States is a big country, and there are a lot of people who like my music, but there are also people who say I don’t have the right to say that Wyatt Earp was a boozer, and not a hero. It’s true, he wasn’t a hero, he was a hero like you and me, and he was an asshole like… me. (laughs)

Your combination of metal and Hollywood movie music is quite unique, there are not many people who try to do this. What inspired you to bring these two different worlds of music together?

I think it’s not American Western music, it’s Ennio Morricone, who’s an Italian. But you’re right, I love Western music, I love Irish music, and I can’t listen to “dragon and knight metal” anymore. In Germany it’s horrible, lots of bands have the same theme – “the night is coming, the dragon is flying in the air” – and I can’t stand it. At the same time, such singers as Johnny Cash or such composers as Ennio Morricone – they make the music that’s real. And as I’m a metalhead, I immediately thought of this combination.

We heard that you were planning to record a cover version of “Ring Of Fire” by Johnny Cash for “The Legend And The Truth”, and you even played this song in Moscow. Why wasn’t it included in the album?

The song was indeed recorded, but it’s only for Japan, it’s a Japanese bonus track.

On “The Legend And The Truth” you have a completely new line-up, there is nobody from “The Dawn Of Dying” involved. How did you find the new people?

They are not really new people. Alex W., our bass player, I’ve known him for 20 years. I’m an old man, I’m 38! (laughs) Sascha Tilger, our drummer, is the drummer of Onkel Tom, so we’ve known each other for a few years as well. Dennis Ward, the guitar player, didn’t play on the album, he’s only for live shows, but he doesn’t have the time anymore. But I’ve known Dennis for 20 years as well.

And how did you persuade Dennis to join Dezperadoz, when he’s such busy musician and producer?

But he’s an old friend. He’s not a real guitar player, it’s OK for live shows, but not for an album. All the people I work with live in my hometown, Dennis, Sascha and Alex live Heidelberg or near it, so it’s fantastic to make music together and have some booze together. That’s the dream of every musician – to make music with his friends.

A lot of friends have told us I must ask you the next question: will you continue collaborating with Tom Angelripper in Dezperadoz in the future?

Tom is also a very good friend. “The Dawn Of Dying” was a really cool album, and I started to work on the second album, but at that time I lost my wife. Tom heard the first songs that I wrote for “The Legend And The Truth”, he heard my voice, and he told me, “You have to do it by yourself. It would be better for this kind of songs.” Tom is also very busy with Sodom and Onkel Tom, but he says that he will try to record vocals for two or three songs on the next album. The two of us fit very well together.

A lot of people like it very much when you sing together. We remember that in Moscow, when Tom appeared with you onstage, everybody in the audience went crazy!

Yeah! I don’t want to say too much about the next album, but I can tell you that its story is very important for me, just like the second album. It’s about a man who killed another man at the end of the Wild West era. He’s sitting in his cell and waiting for his death at the gallows on the hills. At that time the United States had the law sentencing a man to death for killing another man. How can they kill a man as a punishment for killing another man? It makes no sense to me. I want to make an album similar to the “Green Mile” movie, I want it to be a bit like a musical, and Tom wants to be part of it, so hopefully he will be singing two or three songs.

Speaking about concepts – usually when a band makes a concept album, they say the lyrics are very important. But the lyrics for “The Legend And The Truth” are not included in the booklet. What is the reason?

That’s a real problem for me, too. We tried to get the lyrics on the website, and I think it will work in two or three weeks. I decided not to include the lyrics in the album, because I wanted to have enough space for the story and present the band Dezperadoz to the people. The album is very important for me, it’s a kind of relic, because after that fucking period of my life I needed to put the album out and tell the people what I wanted to say. I wanted to tell the people how important it is to have friends, real friends. Mitch and Tom are friends of mine, and they will stand behind me until the end. And that’s what this album is about.

In Moscow you said that the most important Dezperadoz song for you personally is “Deadman Walkin’”. Can you say a few words about this track? How did it come to life, and why is it so important?

(sighs) For me it’s the most important song, because some day in your life you lose things. Every one of us loses friends, loses people we love. A big part of myself was gone at that time. I don’t remember two years of my life at all. With “Deadman Walkin’”, I wanted to tell the story of Wyatt Earp, how he lost his wife and got mad, turned into a boozer, drinker and probably even a murderer, though I don’t know for sure. You have to die before you get reborn.

And that’s also the reason why you never released the stuff you composed at that time, the so-called second Dezperadoz album, right?

Yes. I think it might take long before I realize that the time is right for that stuff.

OK, let’s pass on to other, more pleasant things. As a bonus on “The Legend And The Truth” you have a sort of promotion video with interviews and stuff. But do you have any plans for a real video clip?

This bonus is exclusive to the Russian edition only, you can’t get that in Germany. Germans can download this video from the homepage, but it’s not on the CD. But to answer your question - my dream to make not a music video, but a movie.

Yes, with such a cinematic music as you have it’s gonna be very interesting to SEE what you’re singing about alongside with hearing it…

I agree. My dream is to make a real spaghetti western with Tom and all the friends participating. I hope it will be possible for the next album. As to this album, in February we will be making a video for “Hillbilly Square”. It’s not the video that you’ve seen as a bonus, we’ll try to make something in the vein of “Rawhide” in “The Blues Brothers” movie, the same sequence. We are also planning to shoot a video for “Deadman Walkin’,” but I don’t know exactly, because it takes a lot of time and effort to come up with the story for such a video.

You had to change the spelling of the band’s name due to problems with a very popular brand of beer. Can you say a few more words about this story?

I got copyrights for the Desperados trademark, but only in the sphere of music and arts in Germany. After the first album, this beer company came up to me and said, “OK, we’ll try to support you.” I said, “Wow! Great!” And Tom was happy about it, too, so we were waiting for a check. But we never got a check, instead we got a lot of troubles. (laughs) They have more money that I do, so it’s not a good idea to spend time on fighting with them. After that I started thinking about a new name, and I took the Internet into consideration. If you go on the world wide web and look for Desperados, you get a lot of references to beer before you get a reference to the band. So I wrote the word down with two Z’s. The funny thing is that some people told me the original spelling of this word has to be with Z’s, it’s a Mexican word. But I found it out only after I chose the name.

By the way, do you like this “Desperados” beer? Is it worth checking out?

I don’t like it! (everybody laughs) I like the name, but not the beer. It’s not a real beer, it’s a funny drink for 14- or 16-year-old disco fans.

And what beer do you prefer?

It’s the same as Tom prefers, I’m a Diebels fan. It’s a real good German beer.

Speaking about Onkel Tom – it’s been years since you recorded the last studio album. Do you have any plans to come back to the studio some time soon?

Yeah, absolutely! I think it’s important for Onkel Tom to have fun. If we go to the studio and record a new album, the main thing is that we gotta have fun together. Without fun it’s gonna be a stupid thing, clown music. I think the time is right next year to have some beers, to have some party nights and make a new album next year. In the previous years it was impossible for me to go to parties, it just didn’t work, I told you the story.

With Onkel Tom you played at Wacken Open Air many times. How was it like playing there with Dezperadoz in 2006?

We played in Wacken two times with Dezperadoz. The first time was in 2000. Playing with Dezperadoz is completely different. With Onkel Tom it’s more of a beer drinking party, the music is not the main thing, the songs are only entertainment. And Dezperadoz are playing for special people, those who are fans of this music. Onkel Tom is much more commercial.

Speaking about your live shows, we cannot but ask you about your impressions from playing and visiting Russia. How did you like the country, the shows and the audience?

For me it was clear since last year that the audience in Moscow is absolutely fantastic. But for me it was much more than that. I don’t know why, but I love the Moscow people very much. They are not in other big cities, they are human beings like me and you, and I have the feeling that I can get everything from them. I have the feeling that I can speak to everyone, and they will tell me the truth. A year ago it was my first time in Moscow, and it was so fucking great! Everything was great!

At the first show in Moscow with Onkel Tom you did something that only one person did here before you – you stopped playing because the security were too tough on the fans. This was an incredible thing, this shows that you truly care for the fans. But doesn’t it ever upset you when stagedivers get too wild, when they tear off cables or grab the musicians by their hands?

(laughs) I think it’s OK. It’s better to stop because of a torn-off cable than to stop because of security men. The audience are fans of our music, it’s an honor and a pleasure for me to play for them. For me it was such a great moment to stand on stage in Moscow and play my songs, when people have a smile on their face and love the music, it’s so cool!

How was it like performing with Onkel Tom and Dezperadoz on the same evening? Would you like to repeat this experience in the future?

(laughs) I hope so! For me it was fantastic! I don’t know if it was as good for the audience, but I have a feeling that it was more than OK for them. I love Tom, he loves me, we are old friends, it’s so great.

What do you do in life apart from Dezperadoz and Onkel Tom? We heard that you are also a school teacher…

Music is my life. Apart from Dezperadoz and Onkel Tom, I write music for little commercials, and I have my music institute, it’s not so big, but it’s big enough. I teach people to play keyboards, piano, and bass, I teach in hard disc recording, I teach in singing and playing jazz, classic and rock guitar. I also write songs for companies, and it works. (laughs)

It is known that you are also very much interested in politics. In your opinion, is the situation in the world changing for the better or for the worse lately? Are you an optimist or a pessimist when it comes to politics?

(whistles) A good question!

It will take you 15 minutes to answer it, right? (everybody laughs)

I think if you are interested in politics, and if you have a good knowledge of history, you will say that we live in a fantastic time. But the problems are here, and we have to do something. I’m an optimist, but the main problem for me is that the United States has too much power. We have to do what they say, and I don’t like that and I don’t want that. It’s not OK to make too many wars because of God, Allah or Mohammed, or because of 9/11. People die, kids die, women die, and that’s what I want to say with the next record of Dezperadoz. You can’t kill a person, that’s not OK. The only thing that will help is to have a smile on your face, to speak with people and to make friends with people from all over the world. At the end, even though politicians’ goals are to make war to each other, what most of the people want is peace. It’s a good question! (laughs)

One more question about music before we round up with interview. People on a Russian Internet forum were recently discussing Dezperadoz, and a girl who likes the band very much asked the people to advise her something similar to Dezperados. It turned out a very difficult question, and only two names were mentioned – Jeff Walker and Rebel Meets Rebel. And what would you personally advise to the people who like your music and want to listen to something in the same vein?

(whistles) Ohhh!!!

We’ve saved tough questions for the end!

I really don’t know. I listen to completely different music, I listen to Frank Sinatra, for instance. Maybe they should try “American Recordings” by Johnny Cash. They are hard albums, it’s not the country style that is usually associated with Johnny Cash, they’re different. These albums were produced by Rick Rubin, who previously worked with Slayer. Most of the songs are cover songs, but I hope the flair is the same.

Dezperadoz on the Internet: http://www.dezperadoz.com

Special thanks to Irina Ivanova (CD-Maximum) for arranging this interview

Roman “Maniac” Patrashov, Natalie “Lynx” Khorina
November 29, 2006
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