Dust Bolt
22 April 2014
MG: Hi great to chat to you...
Lenny: Hi, thanks for having us! Looking forward to the interview!
MG: 'Awake The Riots' has been out a short while, how have the new songs been going down live?
Lenny: Actually it is not released yet, but we played some of the new songs live already! We did a tour with Dr. Living dead from Sweden in December 2013 and played two new songs of the new record and they went down really good! People really liked it and we can't wait now to play all the other new songs, too!
MG: It's fucking heavy and I love the whole album, I love 'Living Hell'.
Lenny: Yeah cool, that's probably also one of my favourites and the first song on the album. It's quite heavy to play but it's fun! We wanted to put a very fast and aggressive song as the opening song for the album to show the people what kind of record they are holding in hands now ha ha ;-) Living hell also kind of summarizes the album lyrically quite well, so I'm really cool with that one :-)
MG: do you have a personal favourite on the new album?
Lenny: As I said I really like Living hell because it is quite a challenge playing it on guitar and singing at the same time but it's hard to point out one special song. I think every song has its own meaning to each one of us and its own background. We're actually really content with all of them and looking forward to play them live!
MG: Dust Bolt is a unusual name, does the bands name have a specific meaning?
Lenny: Actually no ha ha ;-) I've been asked that question many times, but there is no special meaning behind it. We were just looking for a band name years ago and someone came up with that one and we just took it ;-) There has been some guy at a party who told me that it actually has a meaning in some scientific context but I can't remember what it was exactly ..
MG: I really like your albums artwork, do you guys have a lot of input with that?
Lenny: Andrei Bouzikov did both of our album artworks! For us it is just important to have painted artworks instead of some computer formed ones.. We also really like the colours in the artwork which makes it very unique I think. We also had people catching up our CD just because of the artwork and they really became fans of the band, but that wouldn't have happened without Andrei's great work.
MG: Are there Plans to go on a UK tour and do you have any festivals lined up?
Lenny: We already have set up some shows for Germany, Austria or Switzerland for 2014 , but we are currently planning to have a tour at the end of the year or early 2015! So for this year we are focusing on our near environment and to have played each possible corner there and in 2015 at the latest we'll be doing way more other countries, too. So we are going to play nearly each weekend this year and also some Festivals in Germany like Out and Loud Festival, Rock im Betonwerk and other smaller ones, one Festival in Netherlands and one in Czech Republic.
MG: If I was new to the band which songs would you have me listen to first ?
Lenny: That's a hard question.. but I would decide between Toxic Attack from the first album, or Living hell or Beneath the earth from the new album.
MG: What can we expect from a Dustbolt show?
Lenny: Chaos! Headbanging til death! We are always pushing more than 100 percent each show! Doesn't matter whether in front of 5 oder 5000 people. We always say like, if you're not choking for air and totally done with yourself, you didn't give everything. Thrash metal is live music and way to express pure energy, emotion and aggression I think.
MG: I am a big fan of German Metal, which bands from your country influenced you growing up and now
Lenny: Kreator definitely has had an huge impact on us and especially on me, as far as it is my favourite band I think. They really changed my way of thinking with their lyrics when I was still a young young kid but I'm still listening to their music very often! But also nowadays there is a big metal scene in Germany and also some great Thrash bands coming up again! Really hoping to start a new wave of German Thrash Metal together with some other bands!!
MG: What bands have you been listening to recently?
Lenny: Wow, many many bands!! I'm a music junky and listening to music all the time! Currently I'm not listening only to metal music.. you know when we're driving to shows you cannot listen to metal music every minute, so we are often listening to bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. But I'm still into Thrash metal of course and I'm always exploring new bands! As far as we also played a tour with them I'm a big big fan of DR. Living dead´s music! I'm also really into Hardcore Punk/ Crossover Thrash like Suicidal Tendencies or Cromags and I think Dr.Living dead combine that tunes with old school Thrash perfectly.
MG: What has been the biggest highlight for you guys so far?
Lenny: I don't think it is possible to point out one certain event or highlight. It is just in general, all the people we met, new friends we met and places we've seen, all that have been highlights! Of course, doing a 4 week European Tour with Heathen last year was a really big experience for us!
MG: Three words to describe Dustbolt.
Lenny: Awake the riot
MG: Beer or Sauerkraut ?
Lenny: Beer!!!!! definitely!! no compromise! ;-)
MG: Finally is there anything you would like to say to your fans and our listeners?
Lenny: Thanks for having us and for reading the interview! Hope to see you soon at our live shows! Awake!
Interview by: Seb Di Gatto