Times seemed very rough for Deadlock in the last couple years. Events occured that would usually bring a band to it’s swift end…but the German metalcore outift prevailed and came out more passionate than ever to create an album. We speak to founding member Sebastian Reichl about Deadlock’s difficult times, and the brand new album ‘Hybris‘.
As a founding member Sebastian knows Deadlock in and out, and now has arguably seen it all. The toughest times in which a band could possibly go through, he has experienced it. Departures of members, death of a former member and close friend, and personal events within the band all contributed to a turbulent era in the world of Deadlock, but somehow they’ve come up on top. We interview about the new opus ‘Hybris‘, and just how Deadlock made it through…
So a brand new Deadlock album after 3 years – I think that’s the longest it’s been in between releases. I know there has been a lot happening in that time, how did the band find the energy to write an album?
It was the hardest time we have ever experienced as a band. Joe and Gert left, Tobi died, Sabine wanted to concentrate on her family and left the band… It’s not easy to find the energy it takes to keep a project like this going on.
But you have to know that the night before Tobi died I was sitting on his deathbed and he wished me all the best with the future of Deadlock. He wanted that we continue this project against all odds and he hoped that I will get the success he thought I shall deserve.
I often thought about that moment when I was sitting late night at the studio and tried to compromise this tragedy and the past years of DL in words and music.
I know you are the only founding member left of the band, are you still driving the Deadlock vision? Or have the new members contributed to the evolution of the band?
It’s true that I still drive the vision musically but without a working team and band I only could make some music in my little studio no one would recognize. John is a hard worker when it comes to social networking and marketing. Chris co-produced our DVD “The longest Road” and our two new music videos. Ferdi is the one who takes care of the money things and Werner and Margie had a huge impact on helping me to write this album.
We’d love to know a little more about the album ‘Hybris’ – what does the name mean?
It means “Hubris” or arrogance, presumption… These things are the root of all evil of mankind. It’s some kind of the opposite of humility. Everyone knows what we have to do to save this planet. No more greed and money driven economy. I hope for future generations that we can overcome this destructive, systematic spiral.
It also has a huge personal meaning concerning the death of Tobi and the band’s past.
Having listened to the track ‘Berserk’, it sounds like there is a lot of darkness that surrounds the album – it sounds like it has been an outlet for everything that has happened over the past couple of years…
To be honest… it is a very personal song about me and the past. I am the Berserk sitting in the studio without sleep and working till I am going berserk. Joe our former singer once told me that Deadlock is dead after all the changes and his departure. So I asked “Are we still alive – let’s slit and see”. There were a lot of situations when I was alone and therefore I stated “You spoke of friendship – but you meant worship”. We were all broken men founding each other in the dark. And what shall I say. We went berserk.
But you have to know that we finally found peace and for me personal I have a lot of fun with the new Deadlock and I hope that we will continue this path for a long time.
An interesting point in Deadlock’s music is that the band switched to using 8-string guitars in ‘The Arsonist’, and has continued with ‘Hybris’. What made the decision to use lower tuning?
It’s very simple. I wanted to have a wider range to use and I wanted to challenge myself with this “new” instrument.
And of course the most significant change is the new vocalist in Margie – was it difficult to find a replacement for Sabine? Did the band ever consider going forward without a female vocalist?
There was a moment when I thought “Hey let’s continue with this melodic male vocals like in I’m gone”. But it’s hard to perform songs like Code of Honor and other classics that way. Despite of that Deadlock is the coalescence of really poppy female vocals and harsh male vocals combined with death metal/metalcore.
When Sabine was pregnant Margie replaced her already live. Margie and Sabine studied both at the Regensburg Music College. A teacher of both helped us to get connected back then. After it was clear that Sabine will leave the Band because of her Family we immediately asked Margie if she would step up as a fulltime member. She delivered live and also off stage with her great personality so it was some kind of a natural evolution.
She is also vegan and convinced me with her excellent baking talent, I think that was the crucial factor…hahaha!
This album includes a documentary movie about the making of ‘Hybris’, but the title ‘The Longest Road’ sounds like there is a bit more to it – can you tell us what to expect from the movie at all?
As you said it’s a documentary movie. 90 minutes of our longest road. You can expect a deep look inside the DL Family and the process of walking across the hardest times we have ever faced. After the movie a lot of questions will be answered and we hope that our old and new fans will understand our decision to continue with this project. Giving up was never an option.
Will Deadlock be touring to support the album? What are the 2016 plans?
There are some festivals to come and we are planning to tour at the end of the year and the beginning of 2017. We will announce it as soon as possible.
So hopefully we will meet at a show in the near future.
Take care of your children. Stay brave and kind.
