When did you start writing the material for the new album ‘Silhouettes Of Disgust’ and did you have intentions for a slightly different approach before writing this material?
Yes, the writing itself went pretty fast to be honest. We started in October 2021 and went to the studio in April 2022. That was a really fast process, but that’s probably also because Peter Wolff is back in the band and there was again new wind in the sails. For the last two albums, I wrote everything on my own and now Peter – he is also a founding member of the band – we just split it in half. So it was less work for each of us, so of course everything went faster as before. We had some plans. We exchanged ideas and talked a lot about the direction we wanted to go and take on the record, because we felt somehow like running around in circles. We needed some new, fresh air in our sound. Basically the new record is a blend of two worlds: the Downfall Of Gaia we became in the last few years, combined with our roots where we come from in the early days: the crust scene.

As you said, Peter came back. How did that happen? I remember he left the band to focus more on family matters… How did this new cooperation come into being?
Peter left in 2015 to focus on family, business and all of that stuff, also on a solo project he did, some electronic music on his own in the last few years. When Marco left in 2019, it was basically our only option, because we were a little bit tired of adding new people to the band just to have someone. Our only option was just Peter. So we gave him a call – we were still friends in all of those years, so it was nothing new to him, he always knew what was going on in the band – and he thought a few hours about it and said yes. That is basically the whole story. If Peter wouldn’t have joined the band, I don’t know what would have been now. We would probably do this as a three piece or it would be done.

And he did a lot of things, because he was also responsible for the artwork…
We did it together indeed. Peter is an editing pro, he is doing this as a job and I am just there for the input. I see things in my head and then Peter is the guy who is putting it on the screen.

Ah so, but before we go into the symbolism of the artwork, I like to talk with you about the lyrics, because they should be quite an intriguing concept… Every song – eight ones – is representing a person in a fictive town, with his own problems…
As you said, it is eight different persons with eight different stories and eight different problems (if you want to call it like that). The main goal wasn’t to write a concept album again, but I always need some kind of red line when it comes to writing lyrics, so in the end I ended up in the same corner: a concept album again (chuckles). The last few years, what’s going on, on this planet, everything is turning in the wrong direction. It had a huge impact on all of the lyrics. This fictional story about fictional city came up with eight different people, suffering because of how the world is becoming. Weltschmerz, but not as big as that, it is more the regular day stuff which has an impact on their lives. You are just forced to play the game, you are forced to continue, it is just the way it goes.

If you could put this concept in reality, do you have a real city in mind where this can be situated visually?
It is basically Berlin. I live there. I wrote the record in winter and Berlin is a pretty depressing, dark and grey place in winter, so it was the perfect inspiration for all of this. The winter is something completely different as the summer. In the summer everyone is on the street, everyone is happy, but in winter everyone is just depressed, it is dark and grey, everybody is angry.

How did you end up with an American drummer?
You mean Mike? (Michael Kadnar – Vera) We met on a tour in 2013. We were touring together. Mike with his other band, Black Table. After that tour, our drummer left the band. So we had no idea who should be our drummer. We were still in contact with Mike and his band, we became friends after wards, and he was just joking around: ‘I will do it’. Then we just gave it a try and it worked out pretty well, because we also didn’t find someone over here who would fit, because it is always important to get along on some levels, so we said: okay, why not? So we don’t play any more weekend shows anymore, just touring, no rehearsals anymore.

Isn’t that difficult?
No, these days not really because we have the internet. We are always in touch, we write our music on line, we write demos at home and then exchange them back and forth. It is super easy, it is just expensive, that is the only thing that is really bad about it.

Also for real human contact. I mean, when I think about rehearsals I think of four guys who come together having a beer and try out things…
Exactly, this is exactly what we don’t do (laughs)

Maybe that’s why your music is so serious…
Maybe, because we are not getting wasted one time a week (laughs)

You returned to shorter songs than before. Was this a plan as well?
Yes, we also talked about this before. We were kind of tired about those ten minute tracks. It wasn’t a kind of commercial move; it was just personal taste I would say. I guess nobody in the band is listening to those long songs anymore, at least I don’t. It was also something we wanted to change to have new wind in the sails, to do something different. I mean, the songs are still five minutes, but the old ones are longer.