When it comes to “retro” 70’s Rock, Germany’s Kadavar is as good as it gets. Sounding and dressing the part, the power trio delivers an energic live show and beautifully crafted records. Their 5th LP, For The Dead Travel Fast, recorded at Blue Wall, their own studio, might be their strongest effort to date. Darker and heavier than its predecessor Rough Times, it offers a more complex, layered sound that flows and seems to tell a story. Harder to predict and stepping outside of pure 70’s Rock, we find them leaning early Metal riffing a big more than usual. At times, the album can also sounds like a convincing attempt to rewrite history by creating “the lost heavy hippie band that influenced Black Sabbath”. Not a bad proposition, if you ask me!
Kadavar is currently starting the second leg of their world tour, in support of For The Dead Travel Fast, available through Nuclear Blast.
What have you been listening to the most lately?
There’s a German band called TOCOTRONIC. They’ve been around since the 90’s and I would say they were the leaders of the German Alternative Rock music movement. I think when NIRVANA got big, they were drawn to the intellectual side and that’s the way the lyrics were. They just released the new record with an interesting producer from Germany and they sound different now. They are 30 years in their career so for me, it was very interesting. I was never a big fan of them before but I kind of discovered them with this record.
I thought they were okay but I never listened to them myself. It’s like when you hear it, you get why people like it, but I was not interested. My brother listened to them. He listened to OASIS and BLUR and Britpop at the time, but I would rather listen to NOFX, RANCID, DEAD KENNEDYS, rather Punk music.
Do you remember the first time music had an impact on you?
Definitely my mother’s record collection but the very first – now, when I think about it, I get goosebumps- is when I think I was five years old. I was checking out my mother’s record collection and I found an ELVIS record. It was a greatest hits, and he had the golden suit. You know the way covers were retouched back in the day, almost like a painting, his face looked super nice and he had the black hair. Already, I thought he looked extremely cool and then, I put on the record and I think the song that I liked the most was Teddy Bear. I hadn’t heard anything like that before and I was completely fascinated by it.
Then the next thing was the BEATLES. This is the big musical constant in my life. I loved it already as a kid, then as a teenager, and to this day.
Which part of it caught your attention? Was that the early Beatles or the later versions?
At the time, mostly Beatles For Sale and Help. Not as much the first few ones. Then later on, when I was in my 20’s, I rediscovered the Beatles and I had one year where I was extensively, obsessively listening to the records over and over again, every day. Because, coming from my early phases as a record producer, being confronted with bands desire to have a very edited and produced sound, listening back to this was an eye opener for me. “That’s how you make music!” That’s what I thought. Be who you are and play the way you play it. I don’t excessively use those modern tools. For myself, I think this was a very important ingredient to becoming a part of this band later.
It’s incredible a band like this who had so many different lives, so many different phases where you can pick up on it at some point in your life and later discover something else that gives you a whole different appreciation of the band. There’s not too many artists in that category.
Yeah, and one of the craziest things is, I’m 35 years old now; George Harrison was 27 when the Beatles split up! *Haha*
What’s the record that you’ve listened to the most in your life?
I would say Revolver and Rubber Soul by The BEATLES. Blonde on Blonde by BOB DYLAN. Probably those two. Blonde on Blonde I can listen anytime and it always puts me a good mood. I am a person who has some basic things that I really like and I can listen to it over and over again. It never gets boring.
How does touring affect your playlist? Do you listen to the same few records again and again or do you mix it up? What makes you pick one type of music over another?
On tour, it’s different because, for example, when I go to bed, I mostly go a little earlier before I want to sleep so I can listen to one record that I don’t know. I have this app SoundHound that tells you what song is playing and whenever I hear something that I don’t know or I get a recommendation, then I download it on Spotify and it’s on my list for listening later when I go to bed. That’s what I do on tour mostly. We also have a speaker on the bus that you can connect to so sometimes, we sit on the bus and everybody can DJ a little bit. That’s how we listen to music. I also made a playlist for this tour where I just put stuff on there that I picked up with the SoundHound app, and it links up directly to my Spotify. All songs that I’ve been listening to in clubs or in a restaurant or whatever.
Is this your favorite way of discovering new music these days?
It is one good way. Because this playlist, it’s not my favorite music, you know? It’s just a diary. I know a lot of those songs but not all of them and they don’t necessarily fit together. That’s what was playing wherever I was.
What makes a song stick out for you like that? What is it that catches your attention first, when you listen to new music?
It’s hard to explain. It’s just everything that catches me somehow. Sometimes, you are curious because it sounds like a good melody and you don’t know it. Sometimes, the atmosphere of something catches you, but you don’t know what it is. It can be the catchiness that mostly refer to everything that’s Pop music or close to it, like, easy in the song structure. Or for example, once I heard a song by AMENRA that I didn’t know and that’s no Pop music, it’s heavy music but it sticks out in the way that it has a very certain atmosphere. Another example, I could not listen all day to downtuned, Stoner music. It gets boring after a while, but there are certain bands that create a very distinctive atmosphere and I would say Amenra is one of them. Anything that speaks to you, really.
To the contrary, is there anything that will make you discard a band? If there’s bad drumming for example, are you still able to appreciate it?
Bad drumming can be a good thing. For example, this band THE MASTER’S APPRENTICES from Australia, it’s a band from the 70’s. I wouldn’t say the drummer is bad, but he has a very simple way of drumming and it’s also a very cool 70’s drum sound and that was enough for me to really like the band. They have a couple of really good songs too. A particular drum sound is also something that speaks to me because, obviously, I’m a drummer and also a recording engineer. So sounds are also something that can catch me when there’s something that I don’t know,
What are some of the most well produced records that you can think of? Obviously, you’ve mentioned the Beatles, but aside from them?
There’s many, many, many. I would say a big milestone was Dark Side Of The Moon at the time. I also think, now that GREEN DAY Dookie is playing in the background, it is a very good example for well produced 90’s Punk Rock. In more recent time, Songs For The Deaf by QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, I think it’s close to a perfect sounding record. In whatever mood you listen to it, there’s never anything that sounds wrong to you. It’s always just very very well written and well recorded and mixed music. I also really like Time To Die by ELECTRIC WIZARD, if we talk about the heavy sound. That was, to my taste, the most brutal record. Obviously, it’s retro music by the approach but it has a slightly more modern sound than Witchcult Today for example, or Black Masses. All the record they’ve been releasing afterwards, which was a very strong statement to DIY and self production. I think Time To Die by Electric Wizard is also one of my favorite records.
At the other end of the spectrum, what are your favorite badly produced records? Do you have a harder time getting into something that’s very raw?
No, because sometimes it needs to be like that. I mean, early BLACK KEYS, or inspiration for them, JUNIOR KIMBROUGH, I think they didn’t give a fuck how it sounded. They just hung two microphones in there. The drummer just follows Junior Kimbrough and lets him do everything and it sounds amazing.
Or someone like RL BURNSIDE. I think those rootsy Blues musicians always benefit from a rough sound because it’s not about state of the art recording, it’s just about the music. It doesn’t mean like you have to produce it bad on purpose. Maybe they didn’t have the time to set it up or it was in a living room or somewhere on the porch and they just had two microphones but that’s all they needed. Sometimes, it carries the message that that’s all you need to make it sound good and even if it sounds shitty, the music still speaks.
What are some of the most memorable shows that you’ve seen in your life?
I saw the MELVINS in 2011 in Berlin, in my hometown, for the first time and I just knew that I was going to like it somehow because you know, Bullhead, Stoner Witch and Houdini are records that are really like. Just the way that they are themselves. They have a very distinct sound and have released multiple good records so I thought I should go. I didn’t know what to expect but it was so fucking amazing. Two hours of jaw dropping. Probably the best heavy show that I’ve seen in my life.
Then I saw BOB DYLAN once in 2005. You know, it is what it is nowadays. He doesn’t really sing anymore. For me, it was mostly because it was on my bucket list and I was really happy to be able to witness that.
Are you into the way that, live, he changes his songs completely?
I am into it now. Ten years ago, I wasn’t because I was very into his early electric phase and everything before. But the more I listen to it, the more I appreciate. For example, the Rolling Thunder Revue on Netflix now, explained to me a little more how, already in the 70’s, he always had this constant urge to renew or rethink himself. Even if for myself, it is not as legendary as the first records, I really respect the approach and I also understand it more now. Maybe not as catchy because you don’t know what to expect but I think in the end, it’s just a very respectable move to kind of never give a fuck about what you built for yourself and destroy it again and always try something else. I like that.
Back to when you were younger, growing up, what was the best local band in your hometown?
I am from a small town called Ibbenbüren, which is close to the Dutch quarters, in the middle northwest of Germany. The next university town was Müster. There were a band called The DONUTS. They’re from the same town as I am. I think they formed when I was 10 years old and by the time I was 14, they had that first record that made it further than just the local region. It was mind blowing to see guys from where I come from, and they even had the video on MTV, which was crazy at the time. I think they had their 25th anniversary not so long ago and they’re still doing what they do. I was a big fan, especially when I was a teenager.
What is the most impressive band you’ve toured with? The one that you just had to watch every night?
Definitely ELECTRIC WIZARD. We supported them for three shows in Germany in 2012 but I think I’ve probably seen them like 10 or 15 times, my whole life. Yeah, definitely Electric Wizard.
Also DANAVA. I’m very impressed by the way they are a super underground band and they strictly stick to what they think is the right thing to do and they don’t change their music or their approach for anyone or anything. Greg’s guitar playing and the riffs that he comes up with is completely crazy and also very fun to watch live. I think they are a great life band.
What typically makes for a perfect song in your mind? What do you think is the magic combination of elements?
I think John Lennon once said that when you cannot take anything away any more from the song, then it’s perfect. But I could also straight up say, sometimes it’s the number of good ideas that make something great, like in the progressive sense. If there’s 1000 parts and it’s still interesting to watch, that can also be perfect but myself, I’m rather on the minimalistic side. When you cut it down to the barest essence of what you need, that’s a good approach. You can still add things on top. I would say the QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE record that I mentioned before is very close to that, in that sense. Songs are not super long but there’s also many things incorporated and it always add something until the end of the song. It’s always high energy.
Sometimes it’s also just the spirit of the group that makes it so perfect. For example, MC5, I wouldn’t say they were the best songwriters but the music is so transcendent. It’s spiritual. There were ideas behind it that went further than just playing music, there was spirit. I think it’s also good music if it expresses something.
Coming back to BOB DYLAN, the way he was singing about his time, with his guitar and it’s so touching for so many people. It’s not really the music, it’s what it says or what it does to you. In the end, I would say that’s the greatest thing you can do, touching people with the lyrics or the way you say something that goes in everybody’s mind. That’s great art.
Do you have any favorite Bob Dylan lines or songs? Is there anything that sticks out or it’s just his entire body of work that impresses you?
I have to say for full disclosure, there’s so many good lyrics but I think something that is so simple and yet so poetic is She Belongs To Me. “She’s got everything she needs. She’s an artist, she don’t look back.” All those verses. It’s kind of just throwing some small sentences together, but it’s powerful.
Masters Of War also for example. Being so pissed off with the establishment and writing a song like this, not everyone can do that. There was the anti-war movement and everyone in conversation would probably say the same things but the way he says it, it makes it understandable to everyone.
Do you have any unpopular music opinion that you would like to defend? Something that you love and yet can hardly find anyone to agree on how great it is?
On tour two years ago, I was listening to a lot of outsider music and I came across a guy called ROBERT ALBERG. He cannot really play guitar so he just does something with this hand and strums with this hand. He sings about finding quartz crystals in the creek and about mountains and what a sunny day it is. Most people probably think it’s not even music at all. He probably has some sort of mental health issues too.
Do you have any up and coming artists that you’d like to recommend?
I don’t know if you’ve heard of ALTIN GÜN? They’re a Turkish band. They became very popular Europe in the last years. They are from the Netherlands with Turkish members and they play this Turkish Psych music, influenced by the 60’s and 70’s, but with a modern approach, you should check them out.
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