Raised from Death is a new worship-hard/metalcore band from Andernach/Germany. They released their first ‘selftitled’ EP last March, and also a lyric video for “When Love Gave Hate A Headshot”, which can be viewed below. We had the honor to be the first to interview these gentlemen:
TMR: Hello guys this is´The Metal Resource’ from Holland, how are things going there in Germany?
Summer has finally arrived, so things are going great!
TMR: Will you Introduce yourself and the line-up please [name and instrument]
I am Eddy, i play guitar and do a bit of vocals. Dave plays the drums. Dominik plays the bass. Delta is our vocalist and Stefan plays guitar.
TMR: Tell us the brief history of ‘Raised From Death’.
My friend Dominik and i startet RFD in 2008. We practiced some Riffs and put them together to bigger parts wich ended up being the first songs. A short while after that, our first drummer and friend “Daddy” joined us and some more months after that we asked our friend Delta to jam with us and try if it would work out with him doing vocals for us. Fun times back then because everyone just startet playing this style of music. In this formation we startet playing shows in 2010 and continued till early 2011 when Daddy had to leave the band and move away because of his new job. There was only one guy we thought about who could jump in to fill his place and that was Dave. Meanwhile i got to know Stefan and told him about RFD and asked him to think about playing guitar for us. They both joined in 2011. It was a new start for us, the new boys had to learn all the songs and we practiced and worked hard as a band. We had enough time to work and to progress because we had only a few opportunities to play live. Right after our little break it was like you have to introduce yourself to the musicscene once again as a band, thats why it went really slow with our gigs. In the end of 2012 we finally were able to record our work with all our songs on to a record wich is our first selftitled EP, we released it 25th of February this year together with our single “When Love Gave Hate A Headshot” as a musicvideo. Since then we really feel like people take notice of what we do and its way easyer to connect with the musicscene wich is awesome because thats what we want to do !
TMR: Are you guys full time musicians ? If not what kind of job or school do you do beside the band ?
No we aren´t…Dave goes to school, Dominik is a theology undergraduate, Delta works in a job as a driver, Stefan is about to take his final exams for his law studies this year and i am working as a guitarteacher right now.
TMR: What is your musical background ? [for everyone personal]
Dominik: My musical background is the hardcore scene.
Dave: Hardcore scene.
Stefan: Worship/Metalcore.
Delta: Hardcore / Metalcore , Ambient / Experimental
Eddy: All kinds of guitar music.
TMR: Why the name ‘Raised From Death’ ? Is there a story behind it ?
We wanted a name thats powerful and that holds our conviction in it. It had to sound like the bands statement! It also had to define the bands message of gods love for people and his ability to change lifes for today. For us the event of Jesus resurrection is the most important one in history for all time and for everyone because it brought new life, thats what we recieved by grace and thats what we want to bring to those who need hope, forgiveness and a new life. It all summed up for us ( back then it was just Dominik and me ) in the name “RAISED FROM DEATH”.
TMR: Who writes the music/lyrics in ‘Raised From Death’ ? … how do you get in the mood for writing music? And which bands/situations have influences you for writing music and lyrics ?
From the beginning it was mostly me that came up with the first ideas and structures of songs. Its like i made most of the building bricks and then we build the song thogether as a band. The lyrics were things or topics God put on my heart or just things we wanted to tell people or something we wanted to tell God, like in a time of worship. All of those are kind of combined in our lyrics. The first lyrics ever written were the ones for “Break My Pride”´s Chorus, Daddy wrote them and started the lyrical concept for this song with that. In these days the dynamics for songwriting develop and everyone is coming up with more building bricks for songs and concepts, wich is a new and awesome process for us as a band !
TMR: How do you describe the music of ‘Raised From Death’ the best ?
To speak in genres i gues our music is hardcore/metalcore with some deathcore and ambient elements right now. We love to experiment with elements of those genres and refine them to create something new with a lot of surprising moments to make our music as powerfull as we can! We want to make something authentic and honest that comes from our hearts.
TMR: How does ‘Raised From Death’ stands in life till events in the world, religion and politics and in which proportion stands that till your music and lyrics ?
We think the topics in our songs would matter the same, even in another time or place then here and now.
TMR: For a lot of bands the lyrics are just a accidental circumstance, but for some bands they use them to communicate ! ..can you tell us how that is for ‘Raised From Death’ ?
Definately communication for us ! They carry our message.
TMR: Is there already a highlight you will always remember, since the beginning of ‘Raised From Death’ ?
We are thankful for a lot of good things and highlights that happend to us, especially during the last year. The latest one was our CD-Releaseshow ! So many people came and celebrated with us, it was wild! For the first time we heard the crowd sing along the lyrics so loud ! Video of that is coming soon…
TMR: And the worst thing were ? [if there is one]
So far nothing happend that we would call the worst thing or something like that.
TMR: The last album you bought? [for everyone personal]
Album: Band:
Dominik: Truth And Purpose I The Breather
Dave: Convictions The Crimson Armada
Stefan: Impulse Erra
Delta: Get What You Give The Ghost Inside
Eddy: Pack Of Wolves Days Of Despite
TMR: What makes you laugh? [for everyone personal]
Dominik: The Big Bang Theory, Then I love to have fun with the other band members.
At the last show, we visited a castle. That was very funny!
Dave: Farts, The Big Bang Theory, Teddy Comedy
Stefan: The Big Bang Theory
Delta: Long and loud farts.
Eddy: Delta!
TMR: What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?
Practice is once a week, sometimes twice. Things we do are: Practicing the set for our next show with liveperformance, writing new songs, having a time of prayer and worship, talking about organasational matters, spending time with each other while eating and talking about personal stuff.
TMR: Where have you performed recently? What are your favorite and least favorite venues?
Recently we played a show at the “A Chance For Metal” festival in our hometown here in Andernach. Our favorite venues are the ones with a bigger stage so we have enough space to move, but we play anywhere and anytime, it doesen´t matter what venues look like.
TMR: How do you promote your band and shows ?
We have some merchandising articles we sell at shows and through the internet. The internet is the biggest tool for us to promote the band, especially Facebook and Youtube. To promote our CD-Releaseshow we handed out flyer in our area too.
TMR: How do you prepare for a show? [for everyone personal]
Dominik: I warm up, stretch my legs and pray to God for a nice show.
Dave: Pray with my band and mosh arround.
Stefan: praying, stretching, hang out with my bandmates.
Delta: Breathing and stretching exercises, prayer.
Eddy: Warm up, prayer, thinking about the words I will speak later on.
TMR: Describe your show, visual and musically ? And tell us about your next shows and why we should be there.
There is a lot of movement going on with a big dynamic range in music. It is real, us expressing ourselfs through music. It is passionate, powerful and even if its not your favorite genre, it is entertaining !
TMR: Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you ever play any covers? Do you have a set play list?
If there is enough time we play our whole set wich is exactly our songs in the same order like on our record, if there isn´t we have to cancel one or two songs. No covers.
TMR: What is your favourite ‘Raised From Death’ song to play live ? [for everyone personal]
Dominik: Martyr is a lifestyle is my favourite song.
It´s easy to play, so I can go ballistic for the show.
Dave: Break My Pride
Stefan: Martyr Is A Lifestyle
Delta: Refuse The Fear Of Men
Eddy: Your Beauty
TMR: Name some of your favourite bands to play with live [past and future] and tell us why ?
We hope to play more often with hardcore bands from our region and a dream would come true if one day we could play together with For Today or August Burns Red. We love those bands.
TMR: What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked? [for everyone personal]
There is none : )
TMR: Do you have a life philosophy / favorite quote ? [for everyone personal]
Dominik: —
Dave: Stay smooth but stick to your guns. Bakestone
Stefan: give, love, share, revive
Delta: Don´t just talk about it, do it
Eddy: Know God and make him known
TMR: Are you visiting many gigs and what do you listen to these days? [for everyone personal]
Dominik: The last show I visited was the August Burns Red and The Devil Wears Prada Tour. At the moment I love to hear Volumes. Other Bands I can hear all the time are Architects, Oh Sleeper or The Devil Wears Prada.
Dave: Local Hardcore shows. Hardcore music.
Stefan: I prefer to visit other local hardcore-gigs in our region
Delta: Yes. Both. Local and bigger shows. At the moment I am listening to: For Today, The Ghost Inside and Dayseeker.
Eddy: Since one and a half year only local shows. Letters to the exiles, Dayseeker, Gideon
and a lot of Jazz & Blues music.
TMR: Tell us about the hardrock/metal scene in your area please?
There are many new great bands that get better and learn very fast in a short period of time. More and more new bands value a professional recording and so the quality standart went up over the last years wich is awesome because we love to hear good recordings of bands we know! We hope to build more relationships with other bands in our local scene.
TMR: What’s your outlook on the record industry today?
We do not really have any experience with the industry but like everyone else we noticed that it changed and it probably will change even more in future.
TMR: What can you tell us about your just released self-titled debut EP [such as the recording proces, the songs, who did the artwork, label etc ?]
Our first EP, finally! It took a long while for the songs to land on a record and thats why we refined them all again before we went to the studio. We decided on the Pitchback-studios in Cologne, owned by Aljoscha Sieg, because we had the impression that they are the ones that could help us to get the right sound for our songs and that happend to be right! The artwork is done by Axl Hoffmann Illustration & Design who already did a great job on our logo and shirtdesign before!
This is all produced and released without a label. You can get the CD at our shows or via internet. We do our best to promote this record by ourselfs to as many people as possible, so you can get the MP3 at iTunes and AmazonMP3! Its awesome to see that people pick up the CD which is a great support for us!
TMR: Do you have any upcoming shows?
Yes! We are greatful for getting more chances to play shows since our EP is out! We are always looking for gig opportunities and hope to get more! Check out our Facebook to see the upcoming dates and places we play. It would be awesome to play in Holland someday !
TMR: What are your plans for this year/near future? [New full lenght/European tour maybe?]
For this year we want to play as many shows as possible, write new songs and material as good as we can and promote our record and the band as good as possible! For 2014 it would be awesome if we could record and release a new record, an album would be awesome, maybe with a label that supports us and we hope to play more shows all over germany and europe!
TMR: What advice would you give to fellow bands?
Come to see a Raised From Death show!
TMR: Guys thanks for your time and the interview, we wish ‘Raised From Death’ all the best … Is there anything you wanna say at last? [any final statement
Thanks for this opportunity!!! That was our first interview! Cool! Come to see us live! You won´t regret it! Promise!
Much love,
RFD
Band Members:
Delta – Scream
Domme – Bass
Eddy – Guitar
Stefan – Guitar
Dave – Drums
Album Review of “Raised From Death”
Lyric video below for: “When Love Gave Hate A Headshot”