Location: Bang Your Head!!! festival / Balingen / Germany
Interview date: 14.07.2011
Cripper are a German metal band from Hanover. The quintet, made up of Britta Görtz (vocals), Christian Bröhenhorst (guitar), Jonathan Stenger (guitar), Bastian Helwig (bass) and Dennis Weber (drums), has been going under this name without a break since 2005. So far they’ve put out the EP “Killer Escort Service” (2006), the studio debut “Freak Inside” (2007) and its follow-up “Devil Reveals” (2009). The band builds on the legacy of Teutonic thrash metal classics like Paradox, Vendetta, Kreator, Sodom,… but Cripper inject modern metal elements and technically more complex arrangements into that mold, and their special trademark and recognizable charisma come from the vocals of singer Britta, who dishes out brutal, extreme growls. So if you think Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy is the only girl who can spit fire and snarl bestially with extreme vocals on the metal scene today, sorry, but you’re wrong.
The fact that Cripper are getting more and more recognized and appreciated, despite a relatively modest number of releases in six years of existence, is confirmed by their regular appearances at the biggest European metal festivals. Among other things, Cripper played Metal Camp in Tolmin three years in a row, in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and they also took part in last year’s 70.000 Tons of Metal festival and cruise in Florida, and now the doors have finally opened for them at what is probably the second biggest metal festival in Germany, the traditional yearly Bang Your Head!!!.
And where does the hint about a Christmas edition of “Jack the Ripper” come from? If Jack the Ripper were killing at Christmas, he’d be called Jack The “C” plus “Ripper”…
You’ve just stepped off the stage here in the Messehalle in the middle of the Bang Your Head festival in Balingen. How does it feel?
Britta: We’re really surprised ourselves at how packed the hall was and at the audience that came out to cheer us on. This was our first time playing this festival in our career and a reaction like that means a lot to us. At first we had our doubts, we wondered how the response would be, we were skeptical, but the crowd and the energy of the audience literally gave the band wings, and everything went the way we’d hoped.
It’s been two years since your last album, “Devil Reveals”. Which direction is your material for its studio successor heading?
Bass-T: With the next album we’d like to be even faster, even more aggressive, and at the same time even groovier. The problem is that we don’t know when we’ll be going back into the studio. We don’t have any plans for that yet.
Christian: You know, it’s hard to predict anything, we haven’t actually even started writing material. I can’t even tell you what the new album will look like. It’ll definitely be colorful, though, because we band members grew up on different musical platforms. As for comparing “Devil Reveals” with our earlier releases, that’s the album where we kind of defined our sound. It’s a lot more polished, rich in sonic texture, grooved out. We’ll definitely keep digging in that direction.
Britta: “Devil Reveals” is the album that brought us together as an even more coherent unit. We kind of matured on it, grew up as a team, as a band, as friends. Around the release of this album we played our first European tour, appeared at some of the biggest European festivals, and during that time our guitarist Jonathan became a father.
Britta, how do you look after your voice so that the extreme singing doesn’t damage it?
Britta: Uhm… I love radio scandals, ha, ha, ha,…
But seriously, what’s the secret to pulling out vocals with such horrifying, sinister content, especially since growls aren’t exactly a trademark of the gentler sex?
Britta: Honestly, I don’t see anything special in it. I think anyone can sing like that, anyone who can “cough”. It doesn’t matter if you’re a guy or a girl, but of course training and practice are important. Without that, nothing happens. As for taking care of your voice, it’s a kind of vocal sport. It’s a different technique, like the technique of singing in opera, for example. With both you can hurt your vocal cords, so you have to master the technique. If you can cough, you can also “growl”, because coughing uses the same muscle structures as “growling”.
What are the musical backgrounds you grew up on and developed from as individual musicians?
Bass-T: As a kid I started with German folk music. Right now I listen to a lot of blues and blues-oriented stoner rock, a band like Clutch, for example, and I adore Primus and their bassist Les Claypool…
Dennis: Old-school German metal, surf punk, skate punk, electronic stuff, and also more serious things like Jona Baez,… for the last few weeks I’ve been listening to a lot of American hardcore. So very, very mixed.
Jonathan: My musical background is pretty boring. I listen to thrash metal, speed metal, I like classic rock, progressive stuff like Tool, and on the other side Jethro Tull, and I’m really into stoner rock too, like Kyuss.
Britta: I don’t really bother with that. If a song grabs me, then that’s that. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a band from the absolute underground or a song by a famous group.
Christian: I won’t say anything special either. I’m a boring metalhead (everyone laughs). I listen to a lot of thrash metal, a lot of different death metal, and just a tiny pinch of black metal. If I had to put it somehow, I’d say I listen to music that’s connected one way or another to “Cripper metal”.
What has the audience reaction to Cripper’s music been like so far?
Christian: Believe it or not, I couldn’t care less. When I go on stage, all I want is to completely switch off and play our music all-out. To get into the feeling and hit them with our whole repertoire at full force. I enjoy playing with passion. I’m really happy, though, that thrash metal in general has been coming back to the scene over the last few years. People are packing out thrash metal shows again. Of course, there’s no overblown hype in the media, and in the end that wouldn’t make any sense anyway.
Britta: If you’re honest about what you want and how you pursue your goals, and you really work your ass off, then it all pays off and comes back to you. The response from the scene has been positive and encouraging. We achieved that, even though we can’t live off music as professionals. Each of us makes a living with a regular job that has nothing to do with Cripper. But one basic thing connects us: love for what we do. And that’s creating and playing our music.
Dennis: There was a bit of luck in it too…
Britta: You can say that, but I think it was first and foremost a lot of hard graft, and only then luck.
How did you get in touch with CMM Records, who look after your music, and what perks does the label offer you?
Jonathan: The metal scene in Hanover is small. We all know each other well. Björn (Björn Van Öttingen, head of CMM Records editor’s note) lives a few kilometers from me…
Britta: The collaboration started when we recorded our first EP. We mailed our EP around to media, labels and any other potential partners our music might manage to catch the attention of. As for getting in touch with Björn, we even saved the money on a postage stamp.
Christian: Yep. We just rode our bikes over to the label’s office.
Dennis: Björn is actually our sixth band member. He does most of the really important stuff for Cripper. He’s a huge supporter, he loves our music, and most importantly, he’s a great friend we can always trust.
Are there any deals in the works for a new tour, maybe with a bigger act?
Britta: Yes. Talks are going on all the time, but it all depends on when we release the new studio album. Of course, we’re still too small to headline a tour, so we’ll definitely play as a support act on a bigger band’s bill when a tour happens.
So what exactly is the problem that there’s still no material at all for a new album?
Everyone in unison: There’s no inspiration (everyone laughs).
Britta: We’re lucky to have CMM Records, who don’t put any pressure on us. So we decide for ourselves when the time is right, go off to write material and then head into the studio to record. Of course, the delay also has to do with the day jobs that every single member of the band does day in, day out.
You’ve played in Slovenia three times, at Metal Camp in 2006, 2007 and 2009. What are your impressions of how the festival is organized, and what do you think of the festival grounds there?
Bass-T: Metal Camp was the first metal festival I ever attended in my life. Before that I used to hang around reggae festivals. It was incredible, my first visit to a metal festival was also a show with Cripper. A gorgeous valley tucked between the Alps. Gorgeous views.
Britta: Slovenia is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever had the chance to visit, and the same goes for Metal Camp. The landscape there is stunning.
Christian: Metal Camp is a venue that can turn from paradise into pure hell in an instant. When the lightning and storms gather there, they just won’t leave the valley. When the downpour comes, everything on the grounds looks like a total Armageddon. The place is heavenly, and the weather there can be downright hellish, but we definitely don’t blame you for that (laughs).
That’s where we’ll wrap up our chat. Thanks a lot for your time, and I hope we meet again soon, e.g. at Metal Camp, where the next round of beer is on me.
Everyone: Thank you too, say hi to the metalheads in Slovenia.
interview conducted, translated and edited by: Aleš Podbrežnik
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