Got-A-Nerve?

11/28/2009 | I got to know Potsdam based WE ONCE LOVED thanks to a split put out by Major Threat records (the CD featured the now disbanded Winston&George as well) last year which follows up a now sold-out demo released in 2007.
The guys play some old school influenced hardcore with a positive edge, thought provoking lyrics and a solid antifascist backbone.
Sure, we have tons of bands outthere who work their asses off but there’s something (…perhaps their hilarious band’s bio hehehe…) about this five-piece that seems to me just as urgent and important as any other group that already made quite a name for themselves.
We Once Loved and I talked through email about the split, new stuff, the upcoming tour with Bedtime For Charlie and the celebrations for the fall of Berlin’s wall.

GAN!: Hello WE ONCE LOVED what’s up?

Hey Marco, hey all you GAN! readers!

GAN!: To start this off, can you please give a brief (or lengthy) low-down on We Once Loved?

Yeah, of course: Hello again. We are We Once Loved from Potsdam. We, this means Dave (V), Greg (G), David (G), Richie (D) and Chris (B). We started making music in 2006 and play old fashioned positive and old school hardcore.

GAN!: What means the moniker “We Once Loved”? Any deeper meaning or just a run of the mill band name?

Our band name expresses the loss of everything we loved to do during our childhood. Climbing up trees, not thinking about the future, playing soccer for fun and not to loose weight. It’s sad that we all had to give up so many things we’ve done or facets of our personalities when we grew up just to become an adult. So, we all should try to save the inner child and let it out as often as possible.

GAN!: You guys shared a split CD with Winston&George last year? Did you write any new stuff since the release of the split? Do you have plans as to record and release new shit anytime soon?

New songs, hehe…, that’s a story for it’s own. Our band life is a nice little roller coaster ride with periods of heavily band practising take turns to periods of not seeing each other for weeks caused by private stuff such as work and studying. But actually we have a couple of new songs and some great ideas but we didn’t find the time to finish them yet. We hope that we can record new material at the beginning of 2010 to release at least a 7” later on.

GAN!: So We Once Loved hails from Berlin, right?. What’s going on in Berlin right now? Any bands we should check out and cool venues to go and see some good hardcore-punk shows?

Actually we are based in Potsdam, which is close to Berlin. But we go to shows in Berlin very often and some of us used or use to live there, which make us kind of expertise in this topic.
There are a lot of great bands and venues in Berlin. When you have the chance to visit Berlin you should definitely check out the Cassiopeia. That’s a great spot of alternative entertainment with great people working there and a huge spectrum of things you could do, from skating to dancing and so on. You also get the chance to see great bands playing there. The “Lokal”, the “Subversive” and the world famous “Köpi” are also great alternative hotspots, which we often check out. You should do that too. When you visit Potsdam you should go to the “Black Fleck” and the “Archiv”! Or when you more into Champaign and wine you can also go to the “Nachtleben”, he he...
Bands from Berlin you guys definitely should take a listen to False Friend, At Daggers Drawn, From This Day On, Ape Attack, Predict and A Bit Of Braindead. These are all great bands, which you guys should check out. The “biggest” band from Berlin is, as far I know “Final Prayer” which is also worth to check out. When you are more into softer music you should check out The Driftwood Fairytales, which are awesome in my opinion.

GAN!: Checking your myspace I saw you guys are hitting the road with Roma’s Bedtime For Charlie beginning of 2010? What are your expectation on this tour?

We expect a great time! We love the music of these guys and we were stoked as their decided to join our tour. I’m very snoopy about how we’ll fix the communication problem. We are all not that good English speakers and I think this will cause a lot of funny situations.
We are all very exited to hit the road with BFC and we can’t wait to jump in the van, pick them up from the airport and see awesome places and enjoy great concert evenings.

GAN!: What is your favourite about playing live?

The greatest thing about playing live is seeing great and unknown places and meet up with old and new friends. Concerts are always fun, from moving your stuff in, to drink afterwards.
Playing live also generates a feeling, which is hard to describe. A mixture of excitement, joy and energy, far from everything I experienced so far. I would recommend that, if you have not founded a band yet, you should do it right now. Start a band and play shows!

GAN!: What made you want to start a hardcore band in the first place? Any interesting story about your early days and expectations you had back then that you want to share with us?

We Once Loved started as a far as I know as a band with three singers scratching Hard-, New- and Metalcore. I sadly joined in later on but I think that was a very VERY funny time, hehe...

GAN!: What were some of your influences?

Caused by the different individual music taste of each of us, we are influenced by so many things. Richie listens to Beatdown, David to Metal, Greg and me love Pop Punk and Dave our singer loves to listen to German folk music. So it’s a wild mixture. But luckily there are bands we all like such as the Comeback Kid for a standard example.

GAN!: In two tracks featured on the split you had some guest appearances (i.e. Vik from False Fiend and Carsten from Cobretti)? How did this collaboration come about and how did you choose the songs for their contribution?

Hui, good question. We knew that there would be two songs, which should have guest vocalists parts and the choice who should sing wasn’t that hard to make. We know both Cobretti and False Friend for such a long time now. We are glad to have had so many opportunities to share one stage in the last years. Carsten and Vik are great singers, which have also great personalities. We love these guys and they’ve been so kind to follow our request and that’s why there are parts of our songs.

GAN!: This 9th November Berliners celebrate 20 years from the fall of the wall. How do you guys live this event?

Actually, none of us celebrated it in any way. We know that what took place 20 years ago was fucking huge, meaningful and good, but there are so many things going wrong in this country which doesn’t create a feeling of “hey, let’s party all together and celebrate ourselves”. It’s great that there isn’t a Berlin wall anymore and we all are free to go wherever we want to but as far as there is still a wall in people’s minds, prejudices and obvious differences, such as different wages for same work, there isn’t any thing to celebrate in my opinion. Maybe in 30 years when it’s time for the 50th anniversary.

GAN!: 2009 is almost over and it’s approaching the time to do some ‘end of the year’ pool. What’s your favourite hardcore-punk record come out in 2009 and why?

We all love the new Set Your Goals album. I think it’s been the outstanding album for all of us. I personally enjoyed also the new album of Patsy o’Hara from Bielefeld (Germany). It’s so evil and epic. I love it. The new Tackleberry LP is also some sweet bit of music. And “The Unquotable A.M.H” from Shook Ones is a great, heavy rotated album as well.

GAN!: What do you guys do for a living? And what are your hobbies beside playing hardcore music?

Actually we have two students, two working class heroes and one apprentice in our band. So we are sadly in a position to make something else despite music to get through the days. Hobbies, puh, Richie loves to ride, haha...

GAN!: That’s about it. Thanks for taking the time to reply my questions. Anything else you want to add in closing?

No, we have to thank you! Most of all thank you for waiting so long for our answers. Normally we are faster. We are so sorry that it took weeks for answering these questions.
In closing we want to add also that every one of you guys is more than welcome on our upcoming concerts. Enjoy the shows and say “hi” to us. Bye bye!

Check: myspace.com/weonceloved

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Category: Interviews
Posted by: marcs77