
MATTHIAS WEINER - POWERGAME

šæ Hi, itās a pleasure for us to have on Hardrockheavymetal MATTHIAS WEINER of POWERGAME! Welcome!!
Thank you very much, my pleasure! Itās an honor to ask your questions. My name is Matty, Iām the singer and one of the guitar players of POWERGAME.
šæ Can you tell us somethināabout your early days of your career? When is this all begun? Which bands have influenced you?
The band was founded in 2012. I play in a Thrash-band called Lost World Order for 24 years now, and I wanted to do something different in addition. I love classic Heavy Metal, and I always wanted to play music in the style of the NWOBHM, with all the raw vibes, great melodies and twin guitars.
So I started the band, wrote some songs, and after a 3-track-demo-CD called āRaw Heavy Metalā we recorded our first full-length āBeast On The Attackā in 2015.
I still like the album, but it sounds more raw than our newest effort, and the songs donāt really come to the point in my opinion.
šæ Your new full-length āMASQUERADEā is hotānāready and it will be available next January. Can you tell us about its composition process? We have the pleasure to listening to it in preview and weāre very impressed!
Thank you very much, Iām glad you like it. Actually, in 2016 the whole band broke up. Weāve had several line-up-changes, and I wasnāt happy with the allover-situation.
So I decided to write a new album myself and reform the band at the same time.
That means except for two or three songs that had already been finished I wrote everything alone in my mancave. The songs were recorded by two different drummers, KG and Jƶrg, and by now we already have a new drummer called Stefan.
We got some serious Spinal Tap going on here, hahaha.
šæ The real ānewsā in music industry is the return of vinyl; Whatās your feeling about this classic format and the current music ābusinessā?
The music business is not the same as it used to be, thatās for sure. But thatās just because the world has changed in many ways with the internet, so it is easy to download music everywhere. Great parts of the business havenāt really recognized the trends before it was too late.
The possibilities of e-marketing are endless, but in the music business, everything is still a little vintage. For the underground this is not that important, but it is very hard to survive as a label nowadays, no matter if independent or major. Well, vinyl is a passion of mine since 1991 when I started listening to Metal and collecting music. I was lucky enough to start collecting in the 90ies , when literally everybody wanted to get rid of used vinyls, so I managed to gather main parts of my classic collection for little money.
I still collect vinyl, but the prices have been raised in a manner that can be called perverted.
In my opinion, vinyl is not a new trend, it has never been away.
I think vinyl will last longer than CDs at the end of the day. Iām happy to announce that āMasqueradeā will be released on vinyl via Fucking Kill! Records, a small independent label. Only 200 pieces will be made, one half in black and the other half in red vinyl. And they will be available at a fair price.
šæ āMASQUERADEā will be out via IRON SHIELD RECORDS. Can you tell us somethin ā about the birth of relationships with them?
That was really a classic thing. We put a promo-CD in an envelope and sent it out.
They got in touch with us because they liked what they had heard. The rest is history, haha.
šæ What do you think about the renewed interest for NWOBHM and Traditional HM? Love for vintage or a new golden era?
A little bit of both Iād suppose. Of course there are many older Metalheads (like myself) who still love the classic style, but there are lots of new fans and a whole new generation.
Thatās a great thing, and itās a natural thing. I can never imagine having grown up without the possibility to visit concerts of Motƶrhead, Dio and many more. But I also never had the opportunity to see Rainbow or Queen.
So, the new generation will see Skull Fist instead of Iron Maiden, Sulphur Aeon instead of Morbid Angel and Sacral Rage instead of Nevermore on stage.
That means the Metal scene is alive and well, but it slowly returns to the underground.
I think thatās a good development although it is very sad that the classic bands have already gone or will leave in the next years .
šæ Can you tell us somethināabout your next live projects?
Yes, there are already 5 gigs confirmed, all of them in Germany and 2 of them in our hometown Bielefeld:
08.12.18: Bielefeld, with Metalmind and Torian 15.12.18: Villingen-Schwenning, with Excruciation, Blackslash, Bitterness, Matterhorn and Kriegszittern 18.01.19: Bielefeld with Space Chaser and Charger (our Release-party) 03.05.19: Osnabrück 25.05.19: Wuppertal
šæ We love the cover of your new album. Can you tell us somerhināabout?
Great to hear that! The cover shows our mascot āEl Demonio Negroā a Mexican wrestler.
He was already on the āBeast On The Attackā-Cover and will appear in the future as well.
I always wanted to have an own version of Eddie, Vic Rattlehead or the Snaggletooth, and El Demonio Negro is the result. The cover was drawn by Timon Kokott, a great artist who has done lots of great artworks. The cover will be available on T-shirts.s
šæ Thank you so much for your time! See you soon on Hardrockheavymetal!
I have to thank you for the interview! It was a pleasure to answer on your questions.
Hope you all like our record, please get in touch for gigs or feedback, everybody is welcome.
You want it, you need it ā POWERGAME!
