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In Words: Gun Barrel



- Silver - Jan. 2010 - Claudia Ehrhardt -
- Tomcat - March 2012 - Lars Bjørn -


www.gunbarrel.de








Gun Barrel
© Gun Barrel


Tomcat - March 27th 2012 (by email)




Wonderful to hear some good and solid old fashioned heavy metal by a band who know how it's done without any hocus pocus. We give Gun Barrel the opportunity to explain a little about their new album was made, and Tomcat is giving us the details.



First, congratulations with your new album, Brace For Impact. There are many different directions in the way metal are played today. You have stayed loyal to the style that saw the light of day in the 80's, can you please tell us more about how you chose your playing style?

Hey, this is Tomcat, the bass player. Thank you. There is no mystery story about that. When this band gets together to play some new tunes everyone gives what he has got to work it out. It's only these two hands you see. We like to play the music we were raised with, so it is easy for us to do it this way. We didn't choose it – it chose us.

Please tell us a little about which bands / artists who inspired you in the beginning? And which bands / artists are you listening to these days?

For me it was a lot of Queen, Motörhead, AC/DC, Kate Bush, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Sammy Hagar, Black Sabbath, Mötley Crüe, Guns'n'Roses, Scorpions, Gary Moore, Alice Cooper, Accept, stuff in the beginning.

Nowadays I listen to bands like D.A.D., Lynyrd Skynyrd, Slipknot, Rhino Bucket, Billy Talent, BLS, Chickenfoot, Korn, Subway To Sally, Tori Amos, SIXX A.M. plus the old heroes and a lot more stuff.


You are very active to produce songs, when did you start writing songs for the new CD Brace For Impact?

We started writing almost 2 years ago. Our producer had several obligations and so the process took it's time to get finished.

How long did the recordings take? Where did you record Brace For Impact? And who produced this monster album?

The recordings didn't take that long. We had 20 our 21 days of recording time. Yenz Leonhardt, our producer, recorded at several places. We had one location (our little ThunderTimingStudio) for drums and another location (StraightArtRiffsStudio) for bass, guitar and the Flying Dane Studio for vocals and choir. It was mixed at Impuls Studio in Hamburg and mastered by Tommy Hansen at Jailhouse Studio in Denmark.

Who made the artwork? And how is it tied to the album title?

The artwork was created by Steve Santana. I saw some of his work and I was like: Oh my god! I love it! I contacted him and asked if he was interested to create the cover artwork. Luckily he was. We gave him the title and he sent us a great sketch. There was not much to discuss when we had a first glance on it.

I wonder how you got the idea to name the album Brace For Impact. What was your thoughts about finding the title?

As always, Rolf came up with the title. To tell you a secret... He named every Gun Barrel album because he is a creative monster. He read a story about an aircraft emergency. The last word you hear from your captain is: Brace for impact... Then you have contact.

We all thought this could be a great title for a Gun Barrel album. This album will crash out of your stereo directly into your brain. So you better brace for impact.


I guess you already got some feedback. Are you satisfied so far?

Right at the time we get more and more good news. Reviews are awesome so far. Rock Hard, Metal Hammer and many other magazines gave us great reviews. We get positive reactions from our fans every day. They love the album. And we played six songs live on tour. The people went crazy with the new stuff. It was a blast.

What about playing live? Are there any more news in that department?

We just came back from a short tour with Freedom Call and In Legend. There are gigs to come. Some festivals. Date by date the schedule fills up. Keep an eye on www.gunbarrel.de for tour dates.

About promotion via the internet.... Social network is both a blessing and a curse. What's your opinion about it?

I love it. There are so many people we would not reach without this technique. People all over the world listen to our stuff, take part on reviews, concert photos etc.. Without internet we had to drive by their houses and pick them up from their couch. This would take a lot of time.

The curse: Some crazy fuckers are messing around with something what was made to help people. But that's the way we are. You can use things like the internet to make things better or worse. It's up to you what this world is about. Never stop to ask the guy in the mirror in what kinda world he wants to live.


What's next on your schedule? Anything you want to add to the interview?

Next thing is to promote the album with all we got. We will play a lot of shows this year. We already started with songwriting as well. There is no time to breathe, I hope.

To all you readers of Ice Vajal: Don't forget that Gun Barrel is a real live band. Metal up your ass and move in front of our stage to get a dose of handmade, old school dirty metal. Check out our dates and Brace For Impact!!!




Thanks a lot for the answers, we already look forward to the next album from Gun Barrel, see you on the road.



Lars Bjørn

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Gun Barrel_ Silver
© Claudia Ehrhardt


Silver - January 7th 2010 - Cologne (D)




"Rock music has to go from head to toe, it should be fun and make you forget all necessities and differences" - that's the motto of the Cologne-based band Gun Barrel. And they showed that very well at their last released Outlaw Invasion which was released late October 2008. Meanwhile they had to face a line-up change and so I took the chance to talk to their new singer Silver. Listen to what he has to tell you!

The audio file is hosted at another website, you will be re-directed. The interview is approx. 9 minutes long.

Click here to listen!



Claudia Ehrhardt

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