Got-A-Nerve?

12/17/2011 | Berlin’s finest hardcorers FINAL PRAYER followed-up to their last full-length “Filling The Void” with 3 tracks EP (which includes 2 brand new tracks and a cover) available on digital form through Acuity music / Let It Burn records, and as 7” vinyl on Demons Run Damok. “Berlin” is the title of this EP and kinda embodies the strong and deep bonds the guys have with this fast growing/changing city and all good/bad shit that come along with process.
Awaiting a new lengthy effort, we caught up with them to talk about what they’ve been up to since our last interview, which dates 2008, the new EP, being active and other things I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading about.

GAN!: Hi, how you guys are doing?

FP: Hey, it's been a while, but we're still doing good. I think the last interview we did for Got A Nerve was some years ago. A lot of things happened since then. We played a lot of shows, many of them at places we've never been before, and we have been working hard to write some new songs.
Beside that the perhaps most important shift was that our bass player Felix has left the band due to personal reasons. It was the first lineup-change for Final Prayer in seven years and thus not easy for everyone involved. He's now living with his family in Birmingham. If you're a geezer and want to do a Oi-punk-band, hit him up!
In exchange for Felix, Dennis Sommer of former Black Friday '29 has joined the band. He's a longtime friend of the band and a great musician. We're looking forward to play our first shows together with him.

GAN!: After three years since the release of “Filling The Void” FINAL PRAYER is now out with a new EP. Can you please give a bit of a low-down on how things moved for your band from the release of your sophomore effort to today?

FP: Things went very well. The “Filling The Void” got great attention and we were able to promote the record with a lot of shows and tours. We made a big step forward and could play many places we haven't been before. We played south-west Europe with Walls Of Jericho, eastern Europe twice and dozens of shows in between. It was a great time for us and we made a lot of good experiences.
On the other hand we were a bit lazy when it came down to writing new songs. We already wrote some stuff earlier, but weren't satisfied with the result and therefore started again from scratch. All in all I would say it took us some time to define and try out where we wanted to go with our next album. The result of this process was the “Berlin” EP, with which we're really happy.

GAN!: The new record is titled “Berlin”, the city you guys hail from. How has living in this city influenced you as human being and musicians?

FP: I think this city has a deep influence on us personally and music wise. It's one of the fastest changing cities in Europe with a very eventful history, lots of cultural and sub-cultural events and tons of shows. It offers us so many things and has got a very special atmosphere, that you can hardly find anywhere else in Germany. That's great on the one hand, but on the other hand you can at the same time see many contrasts. Gentrification is for example one point. Felix already talked about it in our last interview we did with you some years ago. It seems like an old issue, but it's now more up to date than ever. The whole city is turning into a hipster party town and the people responsible for this process of course like it, because they make money out of it. But on the other hand it drives many people of out the city because the cost of living is steadily increasing. That has resulted in lot of protests against gentrification processes. This and all the other historic struggles, revolts and protests in this city always produced people with great ideas, which inspired us to the idea of the concept of our EP.

GAN!: From what I’ve learned off your press-kit the third track “Berlin” is a cover from a German band called Ideal's Neue Deutsche Welle. For those not in the known (like me…) can you please introduce this band and tell us how did you come up with the idea to record this tune?

FP: Ideal is a Berlin based band from the early 80s and was part of the “Neue Deutsche Welle” movement. NDW is a genre of German music originally derived from punk rock and New Wave music. In the beginning NDW was a small thing, but it quickly developed into an original and distinct style and became mainstream.
One of the most famous songs of Ideal was “Berlin”, a song with which most of us grew up with. We really liked it and also liked the idea to reinterpret it in our style. Our drummer came up with the idea when we were on the “Berlin Angst Tour” with our friends “War From A Harlots Mouth”. That was also the reason why Nico, the singer of WFAHM was involved from the start. We had the song already recorded, when Bernd of the famous “Beatsteaks” got on board and helped us with his characteristic voice. We're really happy with the result and the fact that we managed to get people from different musical backgrounds involved into this project.

GAN!: What’s the concept behind your cover artwork and who’s the artist that made it?

FP: The artwork was done by Vuki. He's a really nice and talented guy and a good friend of us. He already worked for several German bands like Deliver, Teamkiller, Crisis Never Ends etc… When we talked to him the first time, we told him that we'd like to have a very simple, rough and striking look. The idea was, to show what we really like about our hometown beside all the nice spots, bars and shows - the diversity of thoughts, a free spirit or whatever you want to call it what is all around in this city.
After a long discussion how the artwork could look like, someone came up with the idea to put fragments of faces from people of different eras of Berlin together to a new face. Our Idea was to point out to the ideas and the actions of these people, which were products of a certain time and context. We used the faces of key figures of the early workers movement, the anti-fascist resistance under Hitler, the student uprisings in the 1970s, and from current attempts to reclaim the city from becoming another boring hipster town. We didn't want to evaluate or glorify what they did. And some of them were in their time more or less unknown, some of them became unknown over time. But every name has a story to it, which had an impact on how Berlin as a city is today and on what we are today. This is what the “new” face, which consists of different fragments, on the artwork stands for and that's what we wanted to express with this EP. We're very happy with the result and think that Vuki did a great job.

GAN!: The last record was out through GSR music but now you moved to Let It Burn records. What led to this change?

FP: Hmm, that's not quite true. When we first had the idea to release an EP, we only wanted to release it on vinyl as a seven-inch. For that we contacted Demons Run Amok, who already did the LP-version of the “Filling The Void” album. Later, Chris came up with the idea to release the EP digitally on his new label “Acuity Music”, too. For us it was worth to give it a shot and we learned a lot about distributing music online. We're very happy with the result and especially all the effort Chris put into this release, but this was only an EP and we're so far not sure where we will release the next album. This question will hopefully be clarified within the next weeks.

GAN!: During my last interview you had the chance to get your view on the problem of racism straight. How do you think kids react to the efforts of those trying to offer more than music and entertainment?

FP: I'm not quite sure about this. Mostly I think that the kids just get bored when you talk about stuff on stage. Anti-fascist announcements are always well received, but everything more than “fuck the fascist scum” seems too much for most of the people. Many like the image of bands with a message, or maybe the corresponding shirt prints, but on shows they just want to be entertained and don't want to listen to political rants about everyday problems.
The other thing is that many bands seem to have adapted to this attitude of the audience. There only a very few bands with a real message, or maybe better with their own message. In the current hardcore-scene it seems to be more important to rub nobody up the wrong way and earn your claps for your standard anti-fascist announcement. That doesn't mean it's wrong to say something against fascism, especially in times when right wing parties are gaining ground all over Europe. But it's no help to anyone if words become buzzwords.

GAN!: I understand (and hope) this new EP to be kind of an appetizer for more stuff to come in the future. Did you guys write other tracks and plan to release them anytime soon?

FP: It's been quite a while since we released the “Filling The Void” album and due to some personal changes in the band and the circumstance that Felix had to leave the band, things took more time than we expected.
With some great songs already written and the good experiences we made with the Alcatraz Split, which was a kind of album-teaser, too, we wanted to release at least some songs previous to our new LP in the format of the “Berlin” EP.
Now things have evolved and we're almost done with the songwriting for the upcoming album. We will hit the studio in January and record about 10-12 new songs which will hopefully be released this spring.

GAN!: In closure of the last interview you stated “get active!” Do you wanna suggest some practical ways to get active for the younger kids who perhaps have just got involved with hardcore and are now more attracted to loud music and sheer adrenaline you feel at shows?

FP: I was always impressed by all the different activities within the hardcore-scene. It might sound cliched, but it always felt more like family than a professional show or even business. Everyone was involved, cooked, helped at the entrance, housed the bands or whatever. All these are things, which enrich the scene and everyone can do. But I think Felix meant it more generally and of course outside the scene, too. If being into Hardcore means shutting yourself off from the “real” world, then that's not a development I'd consider to be a positive one. While I totally agree with the HC catchphrase “can't change the world, but you can change yourself”, changing yourself usually happens in the context of interacting with other people, exchanging ideas etc... And there's so many more ideas to be explored outside the scene, that I think it is important not to stay in your little HC comfort zone or bubble.

GAN!: A bunch of bands from Berlin you would like to suggest us checking out?

FP: Of course, there are some great ones! First of all our buddies “War From A Harlots Mouth”, which you most likely already know. Other ones are Punishable Act, At Daggers Drawn, The Ocean, Nothing etc... You can check most of them yearly at the “Berlin Hardcore Fest” in Berlin.

GAN!: That’s really it. Thanks a lot for taking the time. Wanna add something?

FP: Within the tradition of our last interview: Stay active!

Check: facebook.com/finalprayer facebook.com/acuitymusic

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Category: Interviews
Posted by: marcs77