The band: Messerschmitt
Country: Germany
The Man: Maik Jegszenties (Guitars,
Vocals)
Interview by Vpower
Hello friends,
Messerchmitt is a young band, formed in 2010. They have just released their
first album, No Dread to Kill, a Speed Metal attack in the Thrash & Heavy Metal vein but with
several more ingredients added to the broth that make it very tasteful. They are
young and full of energy and they have many things to tell us.
Hello Maik, thank you
for your time. Tell us a little about the beginnings of Messerchmitt
Hey Alberto, well, we aren´t as young as you think, ha! Our
oldest member is 33... But you´re right, 5 years is not that much. The band started
as a project with our drummer Kris and me. I wrote some songs a few years
before when i was playing in another band. So I asked Kris if he´s able and
ready to record these songs for me. After the drum-recordings we decided to
hire a bass player and Dani joined the band for one year and Messerschmitt was
born. So our first demo "Demo´lition" was released to mankind.
Very interesting, but
sorry about the age, I still you are young hahaha. For a no German spoken guy,
may be for a German too hahaha, Messerchmitt is a quite hard name to pronounce.
Why did you choose it and what it means?
What the hell?! In german it´s really really simple, haha.
But i also can imagine that it´s hard to spell in any other language. The name “Messerschmitt”
sounds dangerous and fits perfectly to a speed metal band. It´s an old german
airplane factory who built one of the fastest airplanes in WW2. That´s why!
Pretty cool, who said
Metal is no culture?? After two demos you have your debut album out on the
streets, I suppose this is a very important step for you?
Of course. You wrote and recorded some songs and finally you
can enjoy them in a good quality, that´s a big step. It was a long way but I
think we did it right.
Basically, you
practise a very amusing Speed Metal, seasoned with some Thrash riffs and tempos
and even with some Heavy rythms (for example in Hell for Leather) that enriches
your songs and make them very enjoyable. What do you think?
Bad question, haha. I always say "I never will and i
never wrote any songs that i don´t like". But indeed, you can´t say it´s
pure speed metal. It´s combined with some other genres what´s simply based on
the music i listen to. I don´t listen to much speed metal, i prefer US Metal like
Chastain, Omen and Iced Earth and most of the time i enjoy prog
rock/metal like Dream Theater, Queensryche, Toto, Rush &
Psychotic Waltz for example. So all in one it´s a mixed style in my mind and
out comes speed metal!
US Metal rules and those
great bands you have mentioned, a good mix. How did you work out he album?
As I said we took a lot of time. All 6 songs from the demos
had enough time to prove themselves over the years and the new songs also had enough
time. We didn´t hit the studio and wrote the songs or just a few weeks before.
We hit the studio when every single note was right, every break tight even the
backing vocals were discussed right at the recordings. There was no room for
failures. And it was a long process to work out all the subtleties and I think
most of the listeners wont figure out some of them. But that´s ok because the
songs themselves should be harmonious and the small things count among them as
well.
The German eficiency,
I would say, everything is ready to fit in its place. If I’m not wrong you have
edited this “No dread to kill” with no label, just by yourselves. What is the
reason for this?
There´s no specific reason, we just wanted no label for the
CD. We collected the money for it and thought it will be the best for us to release
it on our own. Sure, maybe we won´t get any promotion but we hope it will pay
off some day. The underground is strong and always supported us!
I think so,
congratulations for your courage. By the way, I like very much the cover art,
it reminds me of classic albums from the 80’s, as Megadeth, Evil Dead…, how did
you get it?
Yeah the artwork is awesome. We are so thankful that Martin
Hanford did it for us. We know him because he drew the artwork for Slough Feg´s
“Traveller” for example. We just asked him and he sent us some ideas. We chose
one of that and talked about some details and then we got it. Absolutely
awesome work!
Yeah, a great artist.
All of you guys make a brilliant execution, but I cannot avoid to mention that
the work of Kristian Tamm on drums is really impressive. You give him freedom
to play or just have to tied him a little? Where did you find this guy?
He will be happy to hear that, haha. I known him from my
school and he played in a band with my brother. Jesus... that´s 12 years ago.
Anyway, 95% of the riff´s i have written and i always have some drumbeat in my head
for that riffs. So I tell him what kind of beat i like and then he goes. So he
tells his idea, then we work it out and so on. In the end it´s a 50/50 thing.
For example “A Tribute to the Clowns” was just a jam
of him and me. We drank a lot and the song developed over
some weeks. He came up with an idea that day, I had an idea the next day. That
was a cool and funny time!
Friendship is a
treasure, my grandma always tolde me. You, Maik, use a clean voice most of the
time that reminds me of some classic German bands as Stormwitch, for instance,
but you harden it from time to time. The background vocals are well worked too.
What are your influences in this subject?
It´s pretty hard for me because i´m a guitarist not a
singer! But i always try my best. I like to sing clean but try to be aggressive
at the same time. James Hetfield did it pretty well on the first 3 Metallica records.
That´s the style i like to have for Messerschmitt. At home i always practice
with my clean voice and sing along with some music i listen to. At the
rehearsal i am always putting the pedal to the metal!
Training is
important, even M.Jordan knew it. I suppose you have made some gigs around, but
you plan a wide tour around Germany, may be some dates out of your country?
It´s always hard for us to go on tour. We all have our jobs
and it´s pretty difficult to plan our free days at the same time. But maybe
next year there are some cool gigs outside Germany. We´ll see!
Hopefully so. We are
living a wave of Thrash/Speed Metal, with so many bands and
albums. This is good
but also has its problems, being the main one, in my opinion, that the scene is
a bit swamped and the less original albums are fast forgotten or almost never
noticed. What is your feeling about this?
In Germany there´s now a occult and heavy metal wave and it´s
not easy for us to shine between all those names. I think it´s good in one way that
metal still exists and carried on by younger bands, but there´s also the other
side. Many venues and organisers book cheaper bands or some who play for free
and take the slot away for good bands. I don´t
know in which way it will go in the future, but we won´t pay
to play. Everytime it´s a difficult theme, but at the end the bands will
survive who recorded an album that you will listen to again and again.
OK, let’s worship the
Metal legends. You grew up listening to…?
Queensryche, Toto, Queen, Dream Theater, Boston, Pink Floyd.
You see there is a bit of prog in it, haha.
A wide range of music
and sounds, it’s good. Not everything is Metal in life, well, there is a 10% of
other things, more or less hahaha. So, what do you put in that basket?
Work and family. But too much work in my eyes, haha. But
everyone has to earn his money right?
No other way, man. We
continue with that 10%, imagine you were elected as President of the most
powerful nation in the world. Your fist decision would be…?
Difficult question... but there´s one small thing which
annoys me quite a bit is: changing the clock to summer-/wintertime! What a
bullshit!
Hahaha, no sense, you
are right. OK, let’s go back to the most interesting 90%. If you could choose,
you would like to open a show for…?
Flotsam & Jetsam, Overkill, Queensryche, Riot and Omen.
Just for example. There are so much great bands i'd like to open for!
Big names...Now that
you have you first album released, what are your plans for
the future?
Playing a lot of gigs and slowly write some new songs. The
the next album has no deadline again, could be released in 5 years, haha.
Well, let’s hope you
don’t make us wait that much... Thank you for your time, Maik, and the best
luck for Messerchmitt. If you wish to add something…
Thanks a lot for the interview Alberto! Keep supporting the
underground and don´t mess with Messerschmitt!
Of course, the
underground rules! I say good bye with a track from this great band. Hope
you enjoyed it, metalheads.
great interview! raw and funny, very great band
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