Pesticide interview: I recently found the band Pesticide on MySpace & was absolutely amazed by how much I liked their music!! So it was really great when I got the OK for an interview with members of this awesome band!! This was done via e-mail with J. Stealth (vocals) and Spooler (guitar). Thanks alot for the interview and the great music :) 6/07
DML: After reading your biography, many questions came to mind. First of all, Martin (lead guitar), Thomas (drums), Olaf (bass) and Stephan (rhythm guitar) had been playing together for over 15 years.
What was the name of this band, how did Sunny (keyboards, samples, percussion) and Dominic (vocals) become involved in this and why was the band name changed?
J. Stealth: Well, the predecessor of Pesticide was called 'Fright Night'. A hard rock band that had its roots in the glam-metal era of the 80's and undoubtly influences of Bands like Guns n' roses and Ac/DC.
In the early ninetys GnR was the hottest Band on earth and inspired the kids worldwide. 'Fright Night' was a typical 90's garage-teenage band that played on partys and youth-centers. Well... they never made it big and grew up some day. Job, business and family became more important. Thomas (Jeff Gaarden) became a dad in the age of twenty and had to take care for his education and his young family. So finally the boys decided to quit music as long they have to arrange their lives.
Sunny was a musician from the industrial and gothic szene. He had several projects and was on tour all over europe. He even made a club hit that made it big in canada. It must have been 2 years ago that Martin (Spooler) asked him to join his reunited band. But this time it would be totally different. The time has changed, new bands and styles had conquered the business and so should we.
I (Stealth) was the singer of several local Bands and was very related to Crossover and Nu Metal. After I quitted my last Band 'Kilt' I thought my career as a musician would be over. Incidentally I read the advertise of a band called 'Pesticide' that was looking for a singer and called them. After I recieved a demo I knew that this is the shit I was always looking for.
The name Pesticide was choosen inspired by a Cyber-Punk szenario written by Spooler and Sunny.
DML: I am also curious about the names you guys have given yourselves. What was the reason for that and how did everyone come up with the name they have?
J. Stealth: Well most of the others already had their names long before I met them the first time. Sunny and Martin took their
names from storys the created. My name was given to me by Spooler and by myself after he wondered that I was online at icq. I answered him that im always going online in 'Stealth modus'(invisible mode). So he started calling me Dr. Stealth. Cuz im a huge fan of Jason Popson a.k.a. J.MANN of Mushroomhead, I added the 'J.' to it. So J.Stealth
DML: Although the term, "NuMetal" seems to amuse you, I have the impression that this is not quite the term that you feel
properly describes your music. What term would you use to describe Pesticide's sound?
J. Stealth: Well, the amusing thing is that 'Nu Metal' isnt new anymore. But its true; The typical Nu-Metal sound was bolded by
low tuned guitars, doublebase beats and depressed vocals. We were breaking with this 'tradition'. In my opinion 'industrial-rock' is the closest thing to describe our sound. So I like to call it 'Industrial Crossover'.
DML: Who does what during the songwriting process? Where do ideas come from?
J. Stealth: Spooler is the human idea-factory! When he has nothing to do he writes the coolest Riffs and songs. He puts it on tape or
cd and shows us his new creations. I do the lyrics at home or while rehearsal then.
DML: What is the reason for using English lyrics instead of German? Doesn't this make songwriting more difficult?
J. Stealth: Well I always wrote English lyrics. Im not even experienced in writing German lyrics. haha! English words sounds shorter but powerful. And if i would say 'F**ck' in a German text it would sound ridiculous. English is a world language. So we can reach people everywhere.
DML: Since you do use English lyrics, is there any chance of getting your music released in the US? A tour would also be very nice :)
J. Stealth: Hmm..I dont think so. A tour is unfortunately still far away.
DML: Speaking of tours, what "gimmicks" do you use to make your stage show more interesting?
J. Stealth: Well I think the main-gimmick are the outfits and facepaintings. But sometimes we use little gimmicks like
laserpointers. Looks good in artifical fog on stage. But we're already thinking about more decoration on stage.
DML: Your bio mentioned that you're already thinking about album 2. How far along are you in that thought process? Have songs been recorded yet or is it even further along than that?
J. Stealth: A few songs are already recorded. I hope that we can release the new stuff next spring. Some of them were even written while doing the first album and we were pissed that we did'nt make it in time to
record them.
DML: A fanbase of "Pestboys" and "Pestgirls" was also mentioned. Do you have a fanclub or do you just mean regular fans?
J. Stealth: Well its not a real organized fanclub, but a friend of us made a cool fanpage. you can check it out here:
http://www.myspace.com/pestifan" target="_blank">www.myspace.com/pestifan. There is a bunch of fans who visited every single show we had in this year - this is awesome! The name 'Pestboys' was my idea after I heard this word in an episode of 'married with children'.
DML: What are your favorite Pesticide songs and why?
J. Stealth: We all have our very own favorite song. Most of the others favorize 'Tranquilizer' or One-2. My favorite song is 'walking Ghost Syndrome'. It was the first song of the demo the guys sent me and it made just 'click'.
DML: What have been your best and worst experiences while playing with Pesticide?
J. Stealth: The best experience is the feedback of the people who like our stuff, or to see them listening to our songs or
sing them with us at our shows. To see kids you've never seen before wearing your T-Shirt. This is awesome! The worst experiences until now are that someone stole my shoes while we were on stage (LoL) and that we realized that some so called 'fans' just want to hang around with us to get backstage and drink our beer or whatever... grr We lost a fan recently after he was really getting on our nerves. We just wanted to have more space for ourselves to have a rest before we got on stage. Now he's pissed and thinks we're arrogant. It does not feel good to lose friends.. and I rather prefer to say friends instead saying fans.
DML: What band would you most want to play with and where and why?
J. Stealth: Rammstein, Slipknot - important influences of Spooler and Olllo,Mushroomhead, Motograter (my fave Bands), Guns n' Roses - Jeff's alltime favorites. Haha! Oh.. I forgot GWAR!! We had the chance to support them a few months ago but unfortunately our drummer was on business travel to this time. Arrgh!
DML: What great things can we expect from Pesticide in the future (aka: what are your goals & dreams for the future)?
J. Stealth: Well, we will release a lot of cool albums. We'll have more stuff for the people with our side projects and hopefully
more funny videos. And finally... world domination!!! haha
DML: Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview! Is there anything you'd like to add?
J. Stealth: Yea! To all our Homies and Friends out there, never forget:
It's cool to be a loser with the additude of a winner!
P.S. Dont free Paris Hilton! LoL
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