A month ago, we featured Somewhere in Nowhere with their great album Rise of the Lost Souls in our new “Have a listen” category. Today we’re focusing again on this German underground gem. We had a chat with drummer Daniel. Have fun reading!
André: Thank you very much for taking the time for us. How are you?
Daniel: Hi there! Thanx, we are fine!
André: What was the last album you listened to before this interview?
Daniel: Lathspell – Reborn In Retaliation; unholy black metal from Finland, on my way to work in the car…
André: There are certainly some readers who don’t know Somewhere in Nowhere yet. Please tell us a little bit about your band history so far.
Daniel: Somewhere In Nowhere were founded in 1996 by bassist André Sievers. One year later, his brother Sascha “Sash” Sievers and singer Lars Brenneisen joined the band. Those three have been the permanent members until today. In 2001, the demo CD-R Beyond All Visions was released. In 2009, I joined the band on drums and we recorded our full-length CD-R Back From Nowhere, Into Eternity. In 2015, Sascha “Olschi” Olschewski, one of the band‘s ex-second guitarists, re-joined the band, and we released six tracks from Back From Nowhere, Into Eternity, again on CD-R, entitled Promo 2015/‘16 to search for gigs. In 2017, we started recording our first really printed CD Rise Of The Lost Souls which was finally released on August 25rd, 2023 on CD via Witches Brew and on tape via Burning Sun Records from Hungary. Now we start searching for live gigs again. Well, and now, here we are!
André: Which artists have inspired you the most?
Daniel: Oh, that‘s a hard one… Our band info says “influences by Iron Maiden, Manowar, Candlemass and Annihilator“. Two friends of mine told me our music reminds them on Iced Earth and Morgana Lefay. All those bands sound totally different, of course! But I think that you can find all those bands in our sound here and there. Our guitar melodies remind of Iron Maiden, of course, but we have heavier riffs and much double bass. Also, our singer Lars has a much deeper voice. I think we create our own sound with all those different influences. We don‘t copy anyone, like most retro metal bands do nowadays. But I also don‘t know another bands that sound like Somewhere In Nowhere (without being arrogant here!). And when I listen to our music, I also don‘t think that we sound like an unreleased album from 1984 either… I think we are “old school, but not retro”, to get the point.
André: On 25 August your record Rise of the Lost Souls was released. Please tell us something about this compilation.
Daniel: Well, it‘s a compilation, but it‘s also our real first album in one way or another because it‘s our first non-CD-R, released by a real label. We wrote 4 new songs since Olschi rejoined the band. On Back From Nowhere, Into Eternity, Sash recorded all guitars alone, but we saw that our songs were made for two guitars actually. So we took one of the old songs, “Sons Of The Sea”, and re-recorded it with divided guitar parts. We also slowed down some tempos a little bit, so that it sounds cleaner than before. And it also sounds like a new song now. The label thought that 5 songs and 27 minutes approximate playing time were a little short and asked for bonus tracks (which we didn‘t have). So we decided to include a remastered version of Promo 2015/‘16 as bonus. So now we finally have all songs we still play live on a really printed CD and can finally close this chapter of the past.
André: How does the songwriting work in your band?
Daniel: I don‘t know how it was before 2009, but for this CD, André, our bassist, wrote all the music and started with lyrical ideas. My English is much better than his, so he asked me to correct and complete the lyrics. The only exception is “Memories” which was written by our singer Lars. André comes up with a home demo recording to the rehearsal room, and then we play everything together. And the songs grow. When André writes the music, it often sounds like Iron Maiden. When we play them all together, they get much heavier. Thats‘s it!
André: Are you planning to perform live in the next months? Are there already fixed dates that we should note in our calendars?
Daniel: Yes, on November 18th we will play as support act for Axxis in Lünen which is already sold out! We also will play a gig in March 2024 in Bochum, together with Biwo and Depraved Entity. We will search for more gigs to promote our new CD properly.
André: On our blog, the focus is always on underground bands. How do you evaluate the underground metal scene in Germany? Are there developments that you don’t regard as positive?
Daniel: I think the underground ist still alive here! In the 90‘s, all bands were rivals and felt better and stronger than the others. Now there are many friendships between bands that help each other with playing gigs etc. So yes, I think the vibes are positive!
André: Have you attended a concert this year that really excited you?
Daniel: I saw Pentagram in Dortmund lately and was surprised how good their singer Bobby Liebling still is! Jag Panzer were great too! Mostly, I liked the bands I saw. Of course, there are some good old bands playing weak setlists here and there, or I‘m positively surprised by live bands that I don‘t like on record… But usually I don´t go home and think I wasted my time.
André: Which albums that have been released this year have particularly excited you?
Daniel: I think Jag Panzer, Holy Moses, Valgrind (death metal from Italy), Frozen Dawn (melodic black metal from Spain) and Cryfemal (black metal from Spain) released some really good albums this year. Also our friends from Fairytale, Black Hawk, Taskforce Toxicator and Cerebral Invasion delivered some great work.
André: Last question: More and more of our old metal heroes are leaving. Is there an artist you would have loved to see live but never made it?
Daniel: Oh yes, unfortunately… I never saw Led Zeppelin (well, because of my age, I guess…). I grew up with Guns N‘ Roses, but never saw them. But I don´t wanna see them today anymore, to be honest… I never saw Aerosmith, Blue Cheer and Jethro Tull… But luckily I saw most hardrock and metal bands I grew up with because many of them did reunion tours (which was not always bad)!
Have a listen: Somewhere in Nowhere – Rise of the Lost Souls – click here.
Somewhere in Nowhere on Bandcamp: Click here.