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Hi and thanks for reading. I have been blasting records for a change. I have also been getting blasted drunk every night for like three weeks, and my body is without a doubt feeling it. Instead of writing about records I have been listening to, I am going to write about the 185 Miles South podcast Daniel was just featured on this week. I guess I’m not really writing about the podcast too much, but more about VORKRIEGSPHASE, who is pictured above and talked about a bit in the podcast.
So, I can’t tell you how many times I yelled out, “Oh my god…” while listening to this podcast. My opinions differed so often from what was being said. Not every time, of course, but goddamn sometimes I was like, “What the fuck?” haha. But that tracks, cos I think that SOA 7” they praised in passing pretty much sucks, so it makes sense we’d have significantly different opinions on hardcore. I know it came out in 1981, and stuff coming out that early usually means something to me, but in this case it does not. Now something like the KAAOS/CADGERS split 7” that also came out in 1981, that is right up my alley… straightforward, raw and pissed off, with political lyrics and not Henry Rollins’ buff ass singing about wanting to die, straight edge, or girl problems. I don’t mean to dog the podcast, so I hope it doesn’t come off that way. It was a good listen, and I appreciated the shout-out in the beginning.
I kinda wish I was there to interject with some nerdy trivia, and that brings me to talk about VORKRIEGSPHASE here today. So, when talking about VORKRIEGSPHASE, like most people I encounter, they raved about the insane guitar tone. Something I find so funny about that is how the band’s master did not sound like that, and it was Rock-O-Rama that changed the sound, to the band’s disliking. In the podcast they talked about the LP and EP, and they weren’t sure which came first. If I was there, I would have interjected and let them know the LP and EP are from the same session, and they were released on ROR at the same time (they are just one catalogue number apart). They actually mentioned this bootleg with their demos that came out a few years ago, and inside that bootleg the insert has an interview with Frank, the guitarist from VORKRIEGSPHASE. At some point I learned where this interview was originally published, but I can’t remember for the life of me where that was. I can’t type out the entire interview here, but I will add these few bits that I found the most informative.
Q: So, tell us about this legendary guitar sound of yours—how did you manage to play your guitar with so much distortion? What effects did you use? What guitar sound did you try to re-create, if any?
Frank: I used a tube screamer and distortion and had a Marshall amp, plus Ariana pro II guitar with DiMarzio pickups. And yes, I liked to create a powerful distorted guitar sound that sounded mean while playing fast.
Q: I’m assuming the biggest influence on VORKRIEGSPHASE sound was the golden bands of UK82 (i.e. DISCHARGE, CHAOS UK, DISORDER, and G.B.H.) What bands did you listen to at the time? What was the inspiration for the unique VORKRIEGSPHASE sound?
Frank: DISCHARGE, BAD BRAINS, and MDC were some of my favorite bands at that time and they were a big influence. We did want our own unique sound and so our drummer had a big impact on this regard.
Q: In retrospect, it is very tempting to group VORKRIEGSPHASE with other hardcore bands from the early 80s with similarly distorted guitar sound such as CONFUSE, GAI/SWANKYS from Japan, or the chaotic sound of Italian bands like EU’s ARSE, IMPACT, and WRETCHED. Or the “DISCHARGE” bands from Sweden like SHITLICKERS and ANTI-CIMEX, or indeed the bands from Finland like TERVEET KÄDET, KAAOS, TAMPERE SS etc. Were you aware of these specific bands at the time?
Frank: Ha ha ha, “SHITLICKERS?”… Yikes… haha… no I did not listen to any of these bands.
Q: OK, so how did the Rock-O-Rama thing come about? Did you send demos to Herbert Egoldt or did he “discover” you? Did you sign a formal contract with him?
Frank: We did send a demo and yes he liked it—yes we had a contract… we sold our souls haha.
Q: As the story goes, Hebert Egoldt remixed your studio recording “behind your back” and this ended up on the records. What really happened?
Frank: Yes—the master tape we listened to at the end of the recording session was different from the final album release. He added some kind of overdrive to the guitar sound, too much buzzzzz for my taste—I love crazy distorted guitar sounds, but there is no point in creating a sound that eliminates the chords we played. An example is “Neue Heimat”—listen to the start of the song, that’s exactly how I liked the way the guitar mixed. The drum sounds pale, it’s kinda lost…
Alright, I’m outta time, and I don’t have it in me to type out any more tiny text haha. I will try to find the source of this interview and where it was published originally. Check out the podcast if you have not yet! They talk about a ton of killer records. Cheers and thanks for reading.