Interview With Truth & Tragedy

What was the beginning point of your music career? Where did it all start?

Well all five of us have been making music our whole lives, but Truth & Tragedy is definitely the point where things got serious for our music careers! Aaron (vocals) and Freddy (guitar) actually began the project as a duo back in September 2020, right at the height of Covid restrictions. It was basically a way for us to stay sane during the lockdown months! But Covid really gave us the opportunity to focus solely on music for the first time, and before we knew it, we had an EP, single and a debut album out! Then once live shows became a possibility again, we were joined by Kai (guitar), Vitali (bass) and Domi (drums), and that makes Truth & Tragedy the 5-piece it is today – and we haven’t really stopped since!

Were there any bumps in the road? What kind of challenges have you had to deal with?

Well a big one is obviously Covid – it was both a blessing and a curse for us! Without it, who knows if Truth & Tragedy would be what it is today. But also it’s had a huge and lasting effect on the live music scene, which is something a lot of bands, us included, still have to navigate. A lot of venues have closed or changed, and there is still a huge backlog of shows at festivals and events that already have lineups carried over from the last few years. So that was, and definitely still is, a challenge – but we have persevered, and we still have a calendar packed full of live shows for 2022 and 2023!

What was the most fulfilling and satisfying moment so far?

It might sound dumb – but we think anyone who has been in a new, upcoming band will understand – the most satisfying part of our careers so far has been to start getting responses from renowned venues, festivals and bookers, as well as opportunities to play alongside bands we have always admired. We are now working with some brilliant and established names in the business, and we can really start to see doors opening for us – which is a very exciting and humbling experience!

How would you describe the music you typically create?

We have labelled Truth & Tragedy as post-hardcore, because we tend to flit between the subgenres of hardcore, metalcore and punk, and post-hardcore is a nice, vague genre we can use to name our broad style. Typically our music is pretty raw and vulnerable, and our lyrics deal a lot with trauma, substance abuse, alienation and PTSD, stemming from our singer Aaron’s experiences serving with the US Army in Afghanistan. Our music isn’t over-produced and we’re not huge fans of putting too many effects on our tracks – we like it to sound a bit rough around the edges!

What is your creative process like?

Generally, our guitarist Freddy is the one who writes the music to our tracks – although our other guitarist Kai has written a couple of bangers too. Freddy is a big fan of using different moods and movements in his songs, so you’ll hear a transition into different styles, speeds and moods, all within the same track. Once Freddy has a basic score for the track, it’s sent to Aaron to write and record lyrics, and when we have the bones of the song, we start recording. Us musicians live near each other in Bavaria, Germany, so we get together to play and record the soundtrack – but Aaron currently lives in the UK, so he records his lyrics over our soundtrack in his home studio (he’s very popular with his neighbours!). And then once we’re all happy, it goes off to be mixed and mastered, and then we start the task of finding album artwork, organising promo and setting a release plan!

If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?

There’s a lot of debate about streaming platforms which is really interesting at the moment, and it’s a tough question about whether we at Truth & Tragedy would change that, because there are also huge advantages that you would lose if the system was changed. Take Spotify for example, a pillar in the music industry today – it can be both an artist’s best friend and worst enemy. Artists invest all this time, effort and money to create professional quality music, just to upload it onto Spotify for free, while Spotify makes a huge profit on it – it doesn’t seem right! But also, it has never been easier to get your music out to every corner of the world, and you can argue that Spotify pays you back with exposure, getting your music in front of people who would otherwise never hear it. So it’s hard to say – yes, we’d love to get 15 euros for every album people listen to, but also we don’t want to go back to the days of standing outside a supermarket trying to sell demos! But we do live in hope for a fairer system for artists one day.

If you were asked to give a piece of advice for upcoming bands, what would it be?

Something that has drastically changed even since we were kids, is the way releases work now. When we were growing up, a band would release one massive album every year, year and a half. Now it’s all about frequency, and we’ve learned that singles and EPs every 6-8 weeks is the best way to stay current, to keep up with content, and to keep fans happy!

What has been the best performance of your career so far?

Well since forming in the middle of lockdown, we haven’t had too many opportunities to play live until now! It was definitely great to play in our home city of Bamberg at an open air festival, and that was also the first show we’d ever played live – so that is definitely one we won’t forget! And we have also been really honoured to share a stage with some amazing bands like Oceans, Our Mirage, Marathonmann, Sperling and Watch Out Stampede at Dislike Magazine’s festival! So although we haven’t had loads of opportunities to play, we have been spoiled! Plus, in 2022 we are more than making up for it, and will be headlining Wacken Foundation’s Rock Das Ding festival in July, as well as setting off on our first international tour in September and October! Check our socials to see if we’ll be in a city near you, and come hang out!

If you didn’t become a musician, what would you be doing now?

Crying in a corner somewhere, but would probably be a lot richer! Guitars cost serious money!

What is new with the band at the moment? What are you currently working on and would like to share with the world?

We are working on loads of stuff right now, including a new pop-punk number and a really brutal EP, both of which are planned for release this year! We’ve also got more music videos in the pipeline, have a bunch of live shows throughout the EU in 2022, and are already starting to fill 2023 with shows and tours! So watch this space! In the meantime, be sure to check out our latest EP ‘Blood on Blood’ which we released this May – and reach out to us! We’d love to know what you think.

You can find our music in all the usual spots, otherwise head to truthandtragedy.com for all our music, videos, news and merch – and thanks as always for your support!

Much love,

T&T