Grave Stompers was formed in 1993 in Munich (Germany), a story familiar to many others, friends who wanted to start a band and make the sound they liked. For underground styles, like Metal and Psychobilly itself, we cannot say that it is an easy path, as many are on the road. (leia a versão em português)
In the case of the Grave Stompers, they fulfilled the dream, doing shows and recording albums, having conquered fans of the style all over the world, and continue to carry the flag of Psychobilly, keeping the style alive and active.
We talked to the vocalist/guitarist and founder Gernot, who told us a little more about the history of the band, which is entitled "Psychobilly Old School", taking inspiration from classic names of the style, such as The Cramps, horror tales and even put Metal elements in your music. Check out:
RtM: The Grave Stompers were formed in mid 1993
in Munich, Gernot, would you tell us a little more about the beginning
of the band.
Gernot: A school friend of mine (his name was
Florian) and myself, we both wanted to form a group and play Psychobilly music.
Psychobilly was our Life!! And we wanted to play the sound by ourselves. We
needed a bass player and I knew that Holzi (a tall Psychobilly guy in a town
near ours) had a double bass.
So one afternoon I picked up my guitar, drove to
his house and just asked him, if he wants to form a band with us and that we
should do a jam session right here and now. He said yes and we three became
friends. So we needed a drummer and another guy I knew from former days, did
the drums. After a few gigs we changed the drummer so Martin joined the band.
At this point of time we came in contact with organizers and got the chance to
play concerts and festivals to support many of those big Psychobilly Bands we
used to listen to. It meant the world to us!
RtM: How did this actual line-up get solid?
Gernot: When
we did our first record, “Rising from the Darkside“. After that we did concerts
in Germany and Austria and another line-up change was drawing nearer: vocalist
Florian left the group and I took over to the microphone as well. So the Grave
Stompers are: Martin on drums, Holzi on bass and b-voice, and me, Gerno, on guitar and singing. Since
then the line-up never changed anymore and we are pretty happy about that. We
did a song „Never let you go!“ on Bone Sweet Bone wich was dedicated to our
friendship and musicianship throughout all these years.
RtM: The band has tried to reach a darker sound,
besides, has influences as the classical horror stories. Do you have other
lyrics inpiration beyond that? Tell us.
Gernot: Classic, gothic horror Stories are the main
items in our lyrics. Drinking, Partying and listening to Psychobilly as well.
To be honest, we are more into groove and music than into deep and
sophisticated lyrics :-)
RtM: Talking about your music, beyond this obscure
rock n’ roll do you have other music style that
influences you in composition process?
Gernot: When we started in 1993 we did clean and
rocking Psychobilly. Then we started to incorporate metal elements, heavy
distorted guitar into our music (Rising from the darkside, Funeral Suite). This
was over a period of two or three years, after that we returned to the
traditional style again. The lyrical
concept has always been spooky and sinister.
RtM: The Grave Stompers indentify themselves as Psichobilly
Old School. How much did Metal influence your music?
Gernot:Well, we had some metal influenced years in the
whole existance of the band, but all in all Metal Music has no big influence on
the Grave Stompers. I for myself can say that beside Psychobilly and
Rockabilly, I really like Metal a lot and I´ve been listening to since the mid
80ies. Black Metal especially! And Mötley Crüe and Saxon!!
RtM: Could you list us any bands, any styles, that
influenced your carreer?
Gernot: I would say that the Cramps, the Meteors and
the whole english Psycho Stuff of the 80ies where big influence for us.
Krewman, Batmobile, Long Tall Texans, to name a few. We were totally into that
stuff and wanted to play the music we were listening to!! We also liked 60ies
garage punk pretty much!! That whole sound was also a influence to us!
RtM: There was a curious episode in 1997, when you
released your debut album “Rising From The Dark Side”. Did you shoot your CD photos on a
graveyard, right? Were there any events with the police? Let us know about it. The whole
problem was about your gear (lol) for the
photography session? The axes, bones and skulls
bothered the police?
Gernot: The pictures shown on that album were not taken
from that special graveyard shooting. But it must have been around that time when we had another fotosession on a local
cemetery which caused some trouble for us with the police. One afternoon we
entered the cemetery in full Leather gear, well equiped with skull, bones and
axes to do a foto shoot. If you are into Psychobilly and gothic horror stuff
it´s just obvious that you have to do a foto shoot like that at your local
cemetery (laughs)
After the shoot we went off by car exactly when
we drove away we saw that the police arrived at the graveyard and got in with
guns in their hands. We had no clue that it was because of us. The same evening
our drummer Martin who had driven the car got visited by the police. Some
people at the graveyard who had seen us, obviously felt offended by our
appearance and called the police and gave them the number of our car. So we had
some minor troubles with that whole thing and at the end it was put down
because it was clear that the whole case wasn´t that serious. Today it´s a
funny story from the past!!
RtM: You went through musical sound changing in your
carreer, where did you get heavier and
darker? Did the tours affect you personal and
musically?
Gernot: We started the band in 1993 and around 1996 we
started with that heavier and darker sound. Martin had those Punk orientated
roots and I had my passion for Black Metal, so it was for a few years that this
musical genres got incorporated in our Psychobilly Music but with the "Bone
Sweet Bone" album we returned to the classic 80's PsychoRockabilly style again.
The concerts had no real affect on us – it was fun, we love playing live and it
was like a huge adventure for us when we got into that whole Music/Concert
Thing!! Well, one affect might be that you start drinking more booze than you
probably should – that´s because the drinks are for free (laughs)
RtM: Grave Stompers did a lot of shows in Europe,
you have experienced from 25 years of
hardwork. At the end of our conversation I want
to ask you, is it any chance to announce a
brazilian tour? Have you already had any invitations? Although your restrict
and underground music, we have a lot of fans of yours around the country.
Gernot: WOW!!! We are very very pleased to hear that
there are lot of fans around the country!! We totally appreciate that!! We feel
deeply honored!!! Unfortunately there are no plans to come to Brazil yet...
RtM: Feel comfortable to send message to the fans.
Gernot: So at the end I say a big thank you for the
interest in the Grave Stompers!
I wish you all the best for your future and
your website – keep up the great work!
It´s totally necessary that people never stop
to keep the music scene alive and rockin!!
And at the end we raise our bottles of bavarian
brew to all brazililian Rockers, Metalheads and Psychos - thank you for your support - We salute You!!!
Cheers!!!
Interview: Louise C. Wagner (with Colaboration of Renato Sanson)
Translation and Edit: Carlos GarciaGrave Stompers Facebook
