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In Words: D.A.M.N.



- Antonie Mrusek - Feb. 2010 - Mike Thompson -


www.damnmetal.de








D.A.M.N.
© D.A.M.N.


Antonie Mrusek - February 3rd 2010 (by email)




Diary About My Nightmares are a female-fronted death metal band from Germany who have recently released their second album, Forbidden Anger, on an unsuspecting Asian public. The European release will follow soon. Singer Toni was kind enough to answer some questions for us.


First off congratulations on the new album and thanks for agreeing to this interview for Ice Vajal!

Thank you very much!

There have been four years since the release of Vermächtnis, how would you say your sound has progressed since then? Did you approach the writing and recording of Forbidden Anger any differently?

We wanted to make the songs more compact. On Vermächtnis we have very long songs with a lot of different riffs. Today we maybe would make more songs out of them. We used not that many different riffs in one song now so we could concentrate more on them and give the songs more dynamic and 'flow'.

Why has the European release been delayed?

It is the Labels choice to set the release date and there were good reasons for that it has been delayed. We both agreed in that.

All the song titles and lyrics on Vermächtnis were in German so what made you write in English for this release?

Everybody should understand me, haha! I still think it is somehow easier to write lyrics in your mother tongue though I wouldn't say that I have big problems in writing in English. German is also a good 'singing-language' when you make metal music, but of course there are not that many people that understand German. But English is the language where you can reach most people with and we wanted to do that.

What's your favorite song from the new album?

I am pretty much into Deathinfection and I think Forbidden Anger is one of our best songs we have so far. But there is not really a favorite song – I like them all except for one.

The cover art for Forbidden Anger is really striking. Is it based on any of D.A.M.N's lyrics?

The whole artwork fits both the band name and the lyrics. The cover is most based on the song Forbidden Anger – the headline of all the songs on that album. The meaning is that on the dark side what often is a metaphoric way of saying evil and so 'forbidden' side you are like everyone wants you to be. But when you come into the light where everyone can see you they just see an unkind and maybe evil side.

You've got a few shows in the near future. Any plans for a full tour around Europe?

Of course we want to travel around the whole world if that is possible but there are no plans for a tour. We are not big enough to headline a tour where a lot of people would come. And we can't and don't want to pay a lot of money for touring with big bands. I don't see the good thing in that. We don't want to earn money by touring but we also don't want to pay for it.

What is it like on the road for D.A.M.N? Is every night a party or are you really sensible?

I am very sensible. I am the first one that goes to bed and the first one who stands up and wakes the others so we can drive home. ;o)
In general we all like to party – and some can't find an end, hehe – but I don't like to wake up with hangovers. The day after we have to play another show or I have to drive all the way home to Denmark. Both things are not fun with hangovers or when you are too tired. Fortunately I am a woman and everyone expects that behavior so I don't have to play the cool guy. ;o) And besides that I look like Bud Spencer, if I don't get enough sleep. My eyes get so swollen and sometimes I even grow a beard.
The guys are better in drinking and still being ok the next day. It probably has something to do with the Y-chromosome.


What's the weirdest thing that has happened to you on tour?

Hm, there are different things. Some years ago we had a show and the people didn't really know much about vegetarians and vegans. And after we had explained what that means they asked, if they should put some grass on the bread. But there was also some trouble with Nazis later so it fit somehow...
Another weird but very funny story was our bass players riverdance. We were on our way home after a festival and I didn't feel well. Actually I was pretty drunk and they had to stop thousand times because I needed 'fresh air' (as I said: no Y-chromosome). One time our bass player crawled over me to get out of the car. Unfortunately he was full and I didn't move so he stumbled over me, couldn't find the balance and fell into a small river. That was pretty unexpected. Not so unexpected was that he tried to change clothes on the middle of the street while there were cars driving. After that I had it much better and we drove home without any more interruptions.


So what do you guys like to do when you're not rocking out with D.A.M.N? Anyone with unusual hobbies in the band?

Not really unusual hobbies. We have our jobs and the music and then some other interests. We are boring. ;o)

I read that you were all school friends before you started D.A.M.N and from my experience I think its pretty unusual for a bunch of friends to still be into the same type of music, let alone still playing together. Do you think this makes you guys stronger as a band?

I don't know, if it makes us stronger but I think it is a great feeling to be together with people you know and like. When we have shows we are together a whole weekend and drive hours in a car, sleep in the same room and so on. That would be pretty annoying if we couldn’t like or didn't know each other. We all have our bad moods but we know how to handle them. But most important is that we have such great times because of all the fun we have besides the concerts.

What was it that first attracted you to metal and extreme metal in particular?

The guitar sound and the vocals. That was different from what I had heard before.

In a previous interview Toni said that she didn't like the current trend for pig growls and walls of death and to be honest I agree with her. Is this a view shared by the band?

We never really talked about wall of death but these pig-screams could be part of our music, if I wasn't the singer, hehe. I don't know if they all like them but some of us think it is cool to make these weird sounds. I really really tried to understand that but I still think it is one of the most stupidest things in Metal we have right now.

Thanks again for answering these questions, is there anything else you'd like to add?

Thank you for the interview and have a nice time!
I am pretty sure that the guys are not standing behind what I am saying but hey, they wanted me to answer your questions. ;o)


All the best for the future, we at Ice Vajal wish you every success!

Thanks a lot!



Mike Thompson

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