Interview: The Retaliation Process: Homey in Hamburg - STALKER MAGAZINE inside out of rock´n´roll

The Retaliation Process: Homey in Hamburg

THE RETALIATION PROCESS present with "Downfall" a strong modern album which could help them to the big breakthrough. No wonder that the band is glad about the forthcoming activities.

Congratulations to your new album „Downfall”. Are you satisfied with it or are there any things you would change in retrospective?
Certainly we’re glad with it, haha...we did in fact put much effort and thoughts to realize what we wanted to achieve, a straight, brutal but melodic album which connects old school and modern art. I guess we definitively succeeded and some thrasher, deather should like it! It is also clear that you find always something you don’t like, which gives you the feeling that it’s not that perfect album. And that’s good! Otherwise you could stop making music. You just need this little dirtiness which should be part of brutal music anyway. Maybe these punk parts might even be important, haha....

Who created the cover?
It was Patrick from Azrael design. He made a lot of good artwork for Heaven Shall Burn, Six Feet Under or Scar Symmetry, besides many others..He also created our shirt artwork and our Myspace design, a nice guy!

The cover and the album title had me think of a concept album, right?
No I don’t think so…it’s much more of a guideline instead. But you can’t call that a concept. “Downfall” is a word for the negative things that all band members had to deal with in the last 2 years, put into our lyrics. The topics range from personal stories to global idiocy.

How important are the lyrics to you?
I think they are important. But we’re musicians in first place and no story tellers. I’m not a fan from bands, taking themselves too seriously and act like poets, only talking about the same things. So I don’t like concept albums, they appear to inflated... however the lyrics and music should express the same things and fit together. The right word in the right moment is important, to make the music more powerful. It’s vice versa, a good text gets more power with the right riff. It’s more a flow thing to me and a good opportunity to write important things and pack it into a creative thing...

How long did it take to write „Downfall“? Is it the classical thing by hanging around in the rehearsal room, or do you work differently?
It did take a lot of time, the first fragments existed before TRP even existed, when Micha, Kummer and I still played in Nayled. We continued to work out many ideas under the name TRP, we took new members to the band and we wanted to play harder stuff. This wasn’t possible for Nayled. It was just cooler to start with new members, a new name, and a cool longplayer. The songs came in the rehearsal room to existence but also by brainstorming with Pro Tools. The first fragments came by homework, when everyone liked it, it’s transferred to the rehearsal room and will be shaped until we’re 100% convinced. Sometimes it goes fast, sometimes it takes forever.

What makes Hamburg liveable?
Just a lot! I’m an absolute Hamburg Fan, have been even before I living here. Grilling in the park is just fine, and soon it will be the right time for doing that. In the market hall or in Logo club there are many cool concerts, we have the Kiez and the Hamburg rock with cool pubs like Lunacy, Headcrash or the Cobra Bar. Hamburg is a big city which has lots to offer. After a couple of years it has something familiar, or at least I feel like this. The fishmarket is worth seeing, the harbour also...there are also some good bands in Hamburg! Ok this should be enough so far....I could continue forever like that .

And Kaiserslautern?
Only the wind knows, may be they have good fire fighters, or the best dog breeding club in Germany?

At last some greets, shoutouts or good thoughts?
We’ll what should i say?....thanks for the interview! To all metallers out there,
Wanna have a good cd? Go get “Downfall” and support the German metal-underground!
Book us and check the links:
Myspace: www.myspace.com/theretaliationprocess
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Retaliation-Process/274412010359
LastFm: http://www.lastfm.de/music/The+Retaliation+Process
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TRPhamburg
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/Deathstarful

Thanks and cheers from HH!

Author: Markus Seibel, transl. Fabio Sgarlato, photos: RT
Date: 2010-05-01

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