Greetings from Metalheads Forever Magazine, how are you doing today?
I’m doing fine, thank you very much for asking. It’s scorching hot over here but everything is just fine. Thank you so much for doing this interview with us.
Give us Life your third full length album is scheduled to be released on July 16th, can you tell me a bit about the songwriting and production behind the album?
By the end of 2019 we had almost finished a record but when we listened to the demos we realized how unhappy we were with the material. It was boring at parts sometimes we just tried to be too clever and that’s never a good thing. So we decided to start all over again. It scared us but at that time we still didn’t have any pressure as we still didn’t find a bigger label yet. And that was clear from the get-go that we want to release our third album thorugh a bigger label. We just had no idea how we’d go about. When Metal Blade showed interest mid 2020 we had 4 Songs finished – well 5 but the vocals for the 5th one just weren’t there yet. Than the offer came and we had to work our asses off. But I think the result is the best Space Chaser ever had sounded. For one Song for example (Army of Awesomeness) I finished composing the drum parts 2 days before I hit the studio. But maybe that’s why it all sounds so fresh and exciting to me. The production itself went incredibly smooth and easy. Everything worked out just the way we wanted it. For the most part
On May 25th you premiered a beautiful video of “Remnants Of Technology” can you tell me about the making of the video and the concept set behind the song?
The song itself has very little to do with the story of that video. It’s about conspiracy theories or rather about ‘truth seekers’ who always see prove of being lied to in everything. The concept for the video was lying around for a couple of years already but we never had the resources to do it. Due to the pandemic everybody in the Berlin film and art scene was forced to not work and when our man Lucas Fiederling from Peregrine Films pitched the
script to his friends everybody was on board. And the project grew and grew and got more insane by the minute. More and more people offered to help. And by the end we’ve had more than 60 people working for us. It was mind blowing really. We all have ten years less to live because of months of stress and worries but 24 hours
before release the thing was finished and it turned out better than we ever allowed ourselves to dream.
What was the entire concept set behind this album?
It’s not a concept album at all. We just love dystopian sci-fi stories so that’s what we are trying to tell. But every song can stand for it’s own and is not part of a bigger concept or anything.
Siegfried Rudzynski voice is almost like listening to the voice of Bruce Dickinson, and to be honest the vocal range is outstanding, what do you feel as a band about the vocal part?
We know exactly what we have in Siegfried. And we get so many comments that we sound like Iron Maiden if they were a thrash band. Which is probably the best thing you can say about a band. He’s got the perfect mix of melodic and aggressive and is able to pull it out whenever the song calls for it. This guy is just a wild card.
10 years of making music and 2021 is your celebration of 10 years, how do you feel about the accomplishments in the last 10 years?
Well i’m sure we could have gone a bit further earlier in our career but we decided to keep everything under our own control and always refused to go into dept. So that’s why we always kept it independent. Until Metal Blade found us and said: You guys keep on doing what you’re doing. So finally we get the attention we always wanted and we’re working again our asses off to make the most of it.
Space Chaser as a band has been growing into an amazing Thrash metal act since it was started back in 2011, “Give Us Life”says it all , how powerful and precision has been put in the album to make it sound one of the best, how do you feel about the outcome?
Thank you so much for the kind words. We’re absolutely in love with that album. Normally after you listen back to your album once it’s pressed on vinyl you find so many little problems that you wish you could change now but it’s too late. Be it something in your performance or a part that you wish you had changed the feel. On the split LP we have a song that, in hindsight, we just recorded 15-20 bpm too slow. It felt ok at the time but when
the record was out we just hated it. With ‘Give us Life’ that’s not the case. I’m sure at one point when again we’ve grown as musicians enough there’s parts we’d like to change – and maybe we do – but for now we’re happy.
What would be the next plans for the band?
We definitely need to tour more. We’re anxious to leave Germany or even Europe for that matter. We want to be able to play for our fans everywhere. So many people keep on writing us that we need to come to the states for instance that we hope that at one point the demand is big enough to make someone book us on a tour over there. We would love to take our new album on stage and thrash out with cool people again. And working on new material should start really soon. To make sure there is not again a 5 year gap between albums.
The band has been inspired highly on Science Fiction and driven through Cosmos, your song writing has been a living proof of this, why did you choose this topic and what would be some of the things that you will like to bring more in the future?
We should expand more on the sci-fi themes rooted in real life physics that we’ve been establishing on some of the tracks on ‘Give us Life’. There is still so many great thing one could talk about and it’s such an incredible subject. We just can’t get enough. Maybe even go more scientific. I think that works pretty well with the dystopian future theme that we also love so much. I can’t see us changing our themes too much, we should definitely be
staying en route with what we’ve been creating thus far.
Technology has become a boom to our society, it has caused good and in the same way, it has caused destruction to human kind and the planet, what according to Space Chaser we are going through and how this situation can be changed, or do you feel the technology is a need of time?
Technology is the logical development as our civilization gets more and more advanced. And i’m afraid that the depletion on our planet is also what comes with that. And you’re right a lot of our stories derive from the fear of that change. We’re headed towards a great technological uprising comparable to what happened back in the industrial revolution when the world has changed completely in a matter of years. By that comparison we’re all horse traders. If it’s considered good or bad is just as with every change. I personally don’t like change so it’s really hard to keep up but at the same time I think it’s thrilling to see what’s happening and at what pacing. To think the military is at least 40 years ahead with it’s technological advancement makes one curious.
What would be some of the great moments you had over the years?
Among the most memorable was when we released Watch the Skies. Your first album is always special and it was received very well in the scene. That was a very important mark.
Another one that comes to mind quickly would be when Rock Hard Magazine (one of the 3 big metal mags here in Germany) invited us to open their annual festival. That was our first bigger appearance and the support of the community was overwhelming. First band on Friday and the place was already crowded. And the metal heads from Berlin (some of them only came to support us!) were busting with pride, since it’s rare that a band from
berlin gets much attention. The merch guys said that they never sold so many shirts from an opening act.
Our own festival the Space Fest is also something that i’d like to point out as great moments. As it is just us with our friends putting up some wild old-school metal shows. And to see that baby grow is also extremely satisfying.
And lately the signing with our dream label Metal Blade Records that marks the second act of our career. Probably the biggest step we’ve been able to take.
What would be the plans for the next 10 years, how do you look into the future?
We’re working as hard as we possibly can to continue that path. I believe that with enough hard work it is possible to get even better and give the fans back what they have given us by showing us their incredible support. Alone that so many people give us so much of their time by listening to our music is making us work harder and more. Our goal is to grow into an act that has a strong enough following that we can tour places on our own and keep on doing what we’re doing. And to establish that thrash is far from over.
If you want to change something, what change would that be?
If I could change one thing it would be that everyone get’s proper education free from religious beliefs or political biases. If everyone had the chance for a proper education regardless if they were poor or wealthy ,and people would be scientific literate, things like religion or hating people because they were born somewhere else would disappear over time. Or at least become a lot less. Well at least in my mind that would change a lot.
Finally what is the word of message you have for the fans around the world?
We’d like to thank everyone anywhere in the world who listened to our music, wrote us a mail, wears our t-shirts and supports us in any other way. It’s the best thing in the world to have you on our side. And we will do anything to give back as much as we possibly can. Or to say it with Tracy Morgan: Live every week as if it was shark week.
Cheers. Thank you so much for the Interview.
