:: INTERVIEW TO JOERN
“KANNIXXX” FROM TORMENT - versione italiana
Surely, Torment is a cult band, even if there is someone who doesn’t know
who you are. Can you tell us in few words the story of the band?
Due to massive alcohol abuse I need to consider the band info... TORMENT
were founded in 1984 in the spirit of the first generation Thrash-Metal
bands. The remaining founding members Kannixxx (vocals, bass) and Tumanix
(guitar) were joined by Moulinix (drums / ex - Minitaur) in 1994 after several
line-up changes. In 1987 the first strike hit the metal scene with the 5-track
EP “Bestial Sex” which was produced by the band itself. Without any distribution
and promotion more than 2000 copies were sold. The single is still wanted
by collectors. “Das Neue” (1989) was only released for promtional purpose
because the record label Steamhammer took the chance to sign the cult band.
So TORMENT entered the studio again to record their first full-length album
with the maybe longest titel in music history: “EXPERIENCE A NEW DIMENSION
OF FEAR. THE HORRORS OF THE PAST WERE JUST A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME. PAST
EVENTS HAVE BEEN MERE HINTS OF FUTURE TERRORS. EVERYTHING SO FAR HAS ONLY
BEEN A WARNING…” (released in 1991). Even the band has serious problems
to remember the whole title. Now our beer-lovers went out to present their
material to a grown audience. 10000 people at the Millerntor-Festival (Hamburg)
enjoyed the new THRASH´N´ROLL of TORMENT besides acts like “Die Toten Hosen”
and “Slime”. This was followed by a successful tour with “Messiah” and “Assorted
Heap” where the clubs were as full as the beer mugs. Immediately after this
tour the live-burner “SIE KAM ZU MIR AM MORGEN” (1992) was released as a
7”, followed by a split-CD with “Minotaur” and “Desert Storm” (1993). In
1997 the now constant line-up had lots of beer and some recording sessions
in the Lautmeister studios. The result was “SPERMATIZED” and included four
new songs and four cover versions. The release party was celebrated live
at the Wacken Open Air right after “Hammerfall” where the already injured
bangers were totally blown away by a devastating pyro-show. The “SPERM OVER
EUROPE TORTOUR” was continued to the beginning of 1999. After a contribution
on the Unbroken Metal sampler (1998) with the track “We Still Die” the 15-vears-anniversary
of TORMENT was marked by another release with the fitting title “NOT DEAD
YET”. And again destruction and violence were supposed to be seen on the
stages all over Europe, being highlighted by the Wacken Open Air 1999. TORMENT
contributed on the “New Generation Of Rock”-sampler with the track “NATURE`S
REVENGE” in the year 2000 and recorded four “Motörhead”-coverversions for
the Motörmorphösis – A Tribute To Motörhead Part 1 + 2 ("Ace of Spades"
+ "Stone Dead Forver" for Motormorphosis Part1 and "No Voices in the Sky"
+ "Orgasmatron" for Motormorphosis Part2). To promote the sampler, TORMENT
performed several gigs as “MOTÖRMENT” and played only Motörhead songs on
these gigs. 2003 TORMENT returned to the stage to lay the Metal Bash Festival
in ashes with an outstanding gig including lots of pyros, destruction and
chainsaw massacre. For the 20th anniversary in 2004 TORMENT will enter the
Eikey Studios with producer Eike Freese (Dark Age) in may to record their
new album “Kings Of Thrash” which will be released as limited Digipak-CD
and limited 2-Picture-LP.
Kannixxx, Tumanix and Moulinix! These are very bizarre pseudonyms; why
do you call yourselves this way?
You know about Angelripper, Graveviolator, Witchhunter and these famous
pseudonyms. To go over the top we decided to name us with the "meanest"
pseudonyms inspired by the Asterix Comic Books.
Have you ever asked yourselves why your first EP “Bestial Sex” sold so
much copies to become an object for collectors?
The reasons are: Sperm white vinyl, Bestial Sex Cover Art work, Our friend
the cow ....., especially our reputation in the underground as a very rough,
raw and hard live band that´s not on tour all the time. A bit like Venom...
Is it almost improbable to think about a reprinting of “Bestial Sex”?
We got two editons of it. The first one in sperm white vinyl and the second
in blood piss yellow and thats it. Otherwise we would cheat the collectors.
...Then, you published your first full lenght with a very long title...
Did you have the idea to reach a record?
Yes we had the idea with the Guiness Book, but finally it drowned in Guiness
at the next pub.
From Wacken ’99 till Metal Bash 2003; What do you remember of these two
experiences?
We had a great show on both events especially the pyro overkill at the Metal
Bash nearly burned our ass. But as usual we never remember so much of our
live (gigs) because we're always drunk. There´s even a strictly limited
DVD of the Metal Bash gig filmed with one digital camera and digital recorded
2-track sound recording. No overdubs, just the raw live show. If someone´s
interested in it, just contact me at joern@remedyrecords.de.
You recorded four cover version of Motorhead, but how much do you feel
close to Lemmy’s band attitude?
At all we released nine Motorhead coverversions yet "Motörhead" on Experience.....,
"I´m The Doctor" + "The Hammer" on Spermatized, "Iron Fist" + "Da bin ich
zu doof zu" ("We Are The Roadcrew" with new german lyrics) on Not Dead Yet,
"Ace of Spades" + "Stone Dead Forver" on Motormorphosis Part1 and "No Voices
in the Sky" + "Orgasmatron" on Motormorphosis Part2 . Sometimes we perform
a Motorhead Show using the pseudonym Motorment which is always a big party.
Like Motorhead we are born to loose but live to win.
How do you judge last Motorhead productions?
For me the last real good Motörhead album was "1916". I like every Motörhead
album and they have some real good new songs like "We Are Motörhead" but
the classic albums are still the ones with the original three piece lineup.
What’s in the future for Torment?
We become famous Rockstars! ;-) We will enter the Eikey Studios with
producer Eike Freese (Dark Age) in June to record our 20th anniversary album
"Kings Of Thrash". We´ll release it as limited Digipak with bonus track
and limited double PicLP. Street date will be in July or August. Further
we will co-headline this year´s Metal Bash Festival ( www.metal-bash.com
). The 20 years anniversary show incl. big pyro show and lots of damage
and destruction will be filmed professionally for a DVD.
Just one more question: what’s Torment phylosophy?
Beer² x Metal² = Torment
Stay Tormentized !
Joern "Kannixxx”
R
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