Subway To Sally- interview met Simon Michael
Simon Michael: “This time we thought it might be experiment enough just to sound like Subway To Sally”
Subway To Sally is één van de Duitse pioniers in de folkrock scene, soms met een vleugje metal. Dertig jaar zijn ze al populair met hun hymnen in de Duitse taal, maar even stokte de dertig jaar draaiende motor na de pandemie. Gelukkig zijn ze er terug bovenop, met het nieuwe album ‘Post Mortem’ als bewijs. Vlak voor de band alweer volle zalen trekt in Duitsland, konden we drummer Simon Michael nog spreken om hen ook in Nederland en België wat aandacht te geven en dat werd een zeer leuk gesprek.
Vera Matthijssens Ι 19 december 2024
With predecessor ‘Himmelfahrt’ there was a rumour going on that it should be the last album after thirty years. What made you change your mind? How did that happen?
(chuckles) I will try to make this long story short. Being in a band – being together for about three decades – you are not that young and fresh anymore. It is not a huge flame of creativity burning anymore, especially in Subway To Sally. We used to be such big innovators and some kind of inventors of all this folk metal. We were just coming out from the pandemic when producing ‘Himmelfahrt’ and to be honest, it was a pretty hard piece of work. For us we were not handling the situation very well. It had a huge impact and we weren’t seeing each other, no shows to be played and having no real rehearsals, just working remotely. So we were close to – let’s say – splitting up the band at all. Then we published ‘Himmelfahrt’ and however, when we were writing the songs, some kind of magic happened, because we did a pretty good record and people were saying that it is going to be a classic Subway To Sally record, which is amazing, because usually you do the best records at the beginning of your career, but after thirty years… you get compared with what you did before. When we released another record, people used to say that it is okay, but not as good as the classic Subway To Sally’s, but releasing ‘Himmelfahrt’ was different. The people liked it, the fans liked it. We went on tour playing the new stuff and people were asking for the new stuff and that kept the flame burning within the band. We had some push from it. It was bringing back some positive energy to the band and the band decided to keep doing our stuff and to write on and perceive new material as well. That’s how ‘Post Mortem’ happened and it happened within such a short period of time, which is remarkable for Subway To Sally, because between starting writing the songs and the master, it was just a year and now ‘Post Mortem’ is going to be released just after one and a half year after ‘Himmelfahrt’, which is a special thing for a band like Subway To Sally. I think ‘Post Mortem’ is not a bad album at all. I think the opposite, it is pretty good.
I like it, because there are a bit more medieval folkloristic elements in it…
Yes, we thought it might be a good idea to stick with the strengths of the band and not doing that much experimental stuff. We have been experimenting with different kinds of music, lyrical concepts and so on. This time we thought it might be experiment enough just to sound like Subway To Sally.
I also applaud that Subway To Sally appeals to metal fans as well. I think besides the folk elements being shiny, on the other hand we also have a kind of step towards that metal world, by going on tour with Warkings and also cooperating with them…
Yes, we did this cooperation because we are going on tour together. We have our Eisheilige Nacht tour this year which happens to be our very own tour. It is happening every year and we asked Warkings if they wanted to join this tour. After that, we got the idea to write a song together. It was not that easy, because I think they are from a different universe. They have a different background and they are more into power metal and Subway To Sally is more into folk metal or folk rock and so we were thinking about how we could combine these two universes. We came with the idea of the song ‘Stahl Auf Stahl’. We thought it might be a good idea to write a hymn for people who were doing live a role play, making role plays on the Internet or on the computer or on Play Station. It turned out to be not our worse song, the opposite I think, it is a pretty good song. Our universes were working perfectly with each other. It is also because we chose these English lyrics, because they are an English speaking band and said it was pretty cool. So we stuck with English and combined German with English in the end. It works very well, it is something we are very proud of the result.
In the end music happens to be an escape from all the daily problems. In despite of that imago from entertainer, there is also a lot of depth in the lyrics with criticism on social problems. Can you tell something about that?
There are a lot of things to discover. It is hard for people who do not understand German to get a view what we are singing about, I know that. There is a first level, where you can listen to the stories we are telling and we usually tell stories about ancient times or medieval things. We use old-fashioned German language which sounds medieval-ish in a way. There is a second level, where you have a big room for interpretation and usually that is about things that are happening around us at this point of time. Nothing old, nothing medieval. If you take a look at the song ‘Wunder’ for example, this can be just a story happening in the Middle Ages, at some town or some village, but you can also transfer it into nowadays. That is the good thing about Subway To Sally. The lyrics are pretty deep and there is a lot to discover and a lot to get connected to the music.
This album should focus on a view at the present, you don’t go back to the past, you don’t look at the future, it is the here and now that is counting… Is that true?
Yeah. Being an artist means that you are influenced and get inspiration from anything. You cannot shut your eyes from what’s happening around you. So if you read the newspaper or just watch media, all the shit happening in this world has always an impact on you being an artist. In some ways you need to handle that stuff and then some lyrics or some songs are just happening. On the first side you are medieval rock or folkrock/metal band, but what you are saying always has to do with things happening at this point of time, of course.
In the Middle Ages, troubadours also sang lyrics about their adventures and what happened to them and about what was living in that society… they were also sometimes a poetic reflection of life…
Of course, I had a very interesting conversation a few interviews ago. We were talking about the lyrics and the journalist asked why we sing so much about the dark times of the Middle Ages and I was like: ‘I don’t think that the times were even darker than today’. We are living in pretty dark times, if you are looking at developments and society and politics and the environment, economic crisis and all that stuff… it is a huge adventure being alive in these current times…
Let us talk about the poetic ballad ‘Herz In Der Rinde’…
This means ‘Heart In The Bark’ and I would say it is a classic Subway To Sally song which starts pretty small with more folky and medieval elements. You can hear a lute and big drums, then starring some hurdy-gurdy. If you listen to the beginning of the song, it sounds pretty medieval-ish and then it finishes with the whole band and orchestra, the whole emotion of the song explodes towards the end and there is so much to discover and so much to have a listen to many details within this song. The story is about love, but the bad parts of love. It is about loss, about people dying and preserving their names in the bark of a tree. It is a pretty dramatic story and we are going to publish a video as well which is even more dramatic and you should give it a try, give it a spin. Please watch this video. It is an animated video and it is so dark and so amazing. I am pretty sure you will like it. It is going to be published on December, the 19th. A day before the release of ‘Post Mortem’.
What leaps to the eye is that you don’t mind about playing live with the band between Christmas and New Years Eve…
No, we are doing this for about 25 years. It is a usual and common thing for us, to be honest. I think we will do this until we are finished with the band.
I think you would miss it if you don’t do it…
We skipped the tour during corona and it also felt pretty good being at home and spending time with the family during Christmas, so it always has two sides and together with the fans between Christmas and New Years Eve is also a good thing.
‘Atlas’ should be about Greek mythology. About what exactly?
Yeah that is the first meaning of the lyrics, about Greek mythology. If you take a deeper dive, it is actually about depression and about carrying all this shit and handling all these bad things around us. So it is a pretty actual theme within the song to discover.
When talking about appreciation of the metal crowds… was it a rather easy thing to do or step by step for years before you succeeded?
Subway to Sally is such a crazy mix of different styles, rock music, metal, anything… so that we used to play so many different festivals. Metal festivals, rock festivals, even mainstream festivals… and being a part of this community I think the metal community is pretty open-minded. Every metal fan has a sheer border, but he respects other kinds of music, usually. That is always a good thing for a band like Subway To Sally who has not one stamp on our heads saying ‘folk metal’ or ‘heavy metal’ or ‘Heavy rock’ because we are so diverse. We just like what we do and we like to cross borders and make things differently. I think it wasn’t hard at all to become a part of this community, because people are friendly and people are open-minded in this community.
Bands like In Extremo and Saltatio Mortis also played many times at Summer Breeze, I think at least in Germany it is a common thing…
Yeah the medieval folk rock scene in Germany is pretty good connected. All the bands you mentioned, I was writing messages with them, even today, so we are pretty close friends. Almost a family.
What are for you the highlights in the 30 years career until now?
There were so many highlights. We have been playing for about 2000 shows in three decades and it is pretty hard to talk about some highlights. I think for me – I joined the band twenty years ago – and that is more than the half of my whole life, I spent with this band. Being successful and hungry just turned into being grateful during the last few years. I am looking back on so many things, I met so many people, I have been to so many places and countries. I have been able to make a living out of it during this twenty years, but what I love the most of it, is playing music. I think that is a gift, a gift given by some higher power I get from the universe or something and I am just grateful for any show and everyone I met on this journey. So I cannot pick one special highlight of twenty years and playing a shitload of shows.
But what did you feel when you landed for a tour in – for instance – the US or China or Russia?
My stomach was hurting every day when we were in China, because the food is so different, but in the first place I remember… if you are planning a travel, just for fun or vacation, China would not be the first choice of many people and if you go to an agency and ask ‘where can I go for vacation?’, they probably won’t suggest China, but I am so grateful that I have made it to this country. Without music, probably, I would never be able to visit China for example, but then again, it has such a long and rich tradition and such a huge history and being there I was lucky enough to see some touristic spots like the Great Wall or the Emperor’s palace in Peking and that was one of the most impressive things I have ever gone through in my whole life. It is so huge and if you take – even if you watch the successful movie from the 80’s or 90’s, it is called ‘The Last Emperor’, and it was filmed on location, you don’t have a clue how big this palace actually is. You need to go there, you need to learn about the culture and you need to have a travel with the people there. If you usually read some news about China, it is usually about politics and human rights, which is also important, but in fact being there and meeting the people and realizing how open-minded they are and how friendly they are and how huge their tradition is, that is very important. That had a big impact on my life, getting the opinion of the people.
Did you experience that also in Russia at that time?
Yeah of course. When we were playing in the USSR back in those days, I booked a vacation doing a road trip through the country and I think it is pretty important to understand how things work on this planet to stay open-minded and to travel and to see other places, meet other people is the best thing you can do in your life. I could do this without any effort, because I’ve been visiting these countries anyways because I had a job to do there, play concerts, so it is just a bonus. It was a gift that I visited so many places and got some impressions.
I read that you guys from the band, do not like social media… can you tell something about that?
(laughs hard) Where did you read that? No, that is not true at all. At least, you know we are older, we are lame. The younger generations of bands are just better in that. There are some developments, because social media are not about music that much. It is about being entertaining and there were people coming up, agencies and managements, saying: ‘you need to be funny on Tik Tok’, ‘you need to make fun videos on Tik Tok’ and that was a border we don’t cross. I am not going to do that. I am a musician, I am not an actor and not a clown and I won’t do funny ten second videos on Tik Tok. I am not going to do this! And that is what I don’t like about social media. We love social media to stay in touch with our fans, and to stay connected with the whole world, and spreading the word with our art. That is our main profession; doing art and making music. And not making funny seven seconds videos on Tik Tok. So we are all hated on social media. I use it for my profession, not for my private life, because I think it is broken as well because when I look at Facebook – I have a private account on Facebook – I usually visited that because I want to stay in contact with old friends, but they are all retired from Facebook. They still have accounts, but they don’t use it. When I read postings from France, there are two posts and eight ads for anything. Actually things you are not interested in and for me, it is just like what you have when watching TV, a lot of trash. Social media are broken in a way.
What are the plans for the near future and 2025?
There are always plans for the band, so we are going to do this tour with Warkings, starting tomorrow. The next thing is this tour in Spring, the Post Mortem tour, we are playing the new stuff live and between that we are going to have a show in the United States on the cruise ship 70,000 tons of metal. Then we are going to play festivals and then we are going to play Eisheilige Nacht tour 2025. That’s enough plans for us for the next year and we will see what the future might bring.
These are your famous last words. Thank you for your time and have a very nice tour!
Thank you Vera. Thank you so much for your work, for your passion doing this, keep music and keep the flame alive and hopefully we’ll see each other some day at festivals or anywhere around. Probably we will come to Belgium or the Netherlands, who knows…
