Since The Day, strength is diversity

interview with Dan on 12-03-2005

Please give us a short introduction of yourself?
Hi there, we are Since the day, consisting of me, Dan on vocals, Seb and Friedie on guitar, Andi on bass and Bastian on drums. We are from Germany and play the new German breed thing called metalcore in the vein of bands like Heaven shall burn, Narziß or Under Siege, maybe with a more melodic edge than the mention bands.

Since the day what?
Well, there is no special meaning behind the name. We choose the name because we thought it doesn’t fit into a special genre. Nowadays maybe I can say: since the day music became a major part of our life...

Why did you use a Spanish album title? What is the deeper meaning behind this?
Actually, it is a quote from the film “Stigmata”. Translate into English it means “The messenger is not important”. For us, it means that we want to deliver a message, but it is not that we want to make the people to copy this attitude but to start thinking on their own. We want to make them see some stuff that surrounds them every day, but which they maybe haven’t seen from that point of view. We don’t want to be preachers, so we, the messenger in this case, are not important! Beside, we were curious to see the reactions on the Spanish title, because everybody expects an English title, because they are used to...

What are you favourite Spanish bands?
To be honest, beside Standstill, I don’t know any other band from Spain! But I am digging many south American bands like Point of no return, Carather, Nueva Etica or Confronto, just to mention a few of them...

What can STD add to the metal music scene?
We are aware of that we can’t re-invent the wheel! Hard guitar music is around for probably forty years, so it is hard to come up with something totally new. We try to write songs which are sincere and from the heart, which satisfy us in the first place and don’t take that much care if we are hip or trendy. We are into music for the fun and not the fame!

Is it interesting to put labels on bands for musical genres? Will it limited the creativity?
I think it is helpful if you haven’t heard of a band before and get a short impression of what the may sound. But as you can see these days with the term “metalcore”, it’s sometimes confusing! We were announced by our label as “metalcore”, but in many reviews we read that we are in a way metalcore, but not typical for. So, there are always two sides of a coin. I don’t think that it limits the creativity of a band, as long as they don’t try to force themselves to fit in a certain genre, but than they want it to be that way...

Is song writing difficult? Do you spend a lot of time changing the songs?
It really depends on the song. Sometimes we have a song completed within one rehearsal, sometimes it takes us a little longer. And than there are these songs that we thought we already have finished but than we realised that there is one part or another that would sound better, so we start to work on them again until we are satisfied with in the end. We always try to merge all the influences of the different members in our songs, so that’s sometimes a little bit hard, but we decided to do it that way and are happy with the diversity that results out of that.

Is it possible to write THE perfect song? How would it sound?
I think it is possible, but it is hard right now to describe it with words, because it think the perfect song would transport a special mood or emotions that you can’t put into words, you have to listen to it!

How is the live experience for the band? Lots of gigs? With settled names?
We made a lot of nice live experiences throughout the last year and are happy with most of the shows. We are looking forward to play as many shows as possible this year, and so far there are a lot of weekend shows and festivals confirmed, so check the shows section ion our homepage for further information. Among these dates will be shows with Hatesphere, Cataract, Mörser, Undying and many other bands, so be there, be square!

What can people expect? If they are disappointed can they get a refund?
They can expect a lot of action and posing on stage and for sure a good live performance. A refund from our side is not possible, but so far there were no complaints about that, so we hope this won’t change in the near future!

Does STD have groupies?
I have to disappoint you, we are not that famous to have a bunch of sweet girls around us on every show, but would be nice! There are some friends of us that try to visit as much shows of us as possible, but we won’t call them groupies...

Do you use subliminal messages in your songs? What are they about?
I think they are not that subliminal, more apparent. Summarized, I think the print on the back of our shirts describes it pretty good: “young and free, take this opportunity, our strength is diversity”. Don’t try to limit yourselves, be open-minded for any kind and always take the best out of the situation. Don’t take that much care about the limits a society wants to impose you as long as you are young, make you experiences and realize your dreams before it is too late. There is enough time to settle down and live an ordinary life when you get older, but as long as you have the vitality, go for example abroad for a time and see the world with your own eyes or anything else. Through that, you will learn much more than any school will ever be able to teach!

Ever thought of seeking a sponsor to get commercial success?
No, not at all! I don’t even think this is possible.

What jobs do you have to pay the bills and the band? Hope you ever can live from the band?
I am studying a thing called “Literary, Cultural and Media Studies” and because of that, I am always short on money. But I am searching for a part-time job right now to earn a little money. I am not sure if we ever will be able to make our livings out of the band, but it would be a nice thing to be. I think every musician is dreaming about earning money with the thing he or she likes most. But it is hard to achieve that point and I have no clue if we ever will be at that point...we will see. Right now we don’t have to play for the Band.

What did you expect when joining STD? What do you expect from the future?
For me, it was all about the fun! It was and still is probably the coolest way to spend the weekends in the practice space or on the road and I don’t want to miss that ever. No matter if we have to drive hundreds of kilometres for a show, we always have our fun going on in our bus and enjoy ourselves. Because of that, we are looking forward to get a European tour booked for this summer, but so far nothing is confirmed yet. But we want to play as much as possible live this year and than maybe start writing on new songs at the end of this year, but we will see...

Had some unexpected response about the album?
The response was great so far. It was interesting to see the comparisons the people mentioned with our music. They varied from bands like Botch to Heaven Shall Burn to At The Gates and lots of other bands, even some we never heard of before! Of course there were a few not that good ones, but we never expected to satisfy the whole world.

What are the plans for 2005? Any statement you wanna make?
We just want to play live as much as possible and hopefully we will do another European tour.

Last rites?
Thanks for taking the time and keep rocking!