Interview: Eremit

Thanks for the interview guys.

No problem, we’re always open to talk about Eremit.

Where did you grow up? And where do you live now?

We are all from Germany, northern Germany to be more precise. Kalle and I (Mo) grew up in the same town and spend a lot of our youth together listening to death metal and after a while also stoner and doom stuff. Marco grew up about 15 minutes away from the city and moved to Osnabrück when he was 21. He was more into Black Metal back then. The metal community is not super big in our city, so one more or less automatically knows each other. So yeah, we all already knew each other before the band came to be.

Why do you love Doom Metal?

For me, I love the thickness and physicality that comes with doom. The darkness itself and the drowning in it, are for me, not comparable to other (metal)-genres. I think one of the earliest and most impressive influences for me was Moss. I came from Grind, Death and Brutal Death where songs are either super short or 3 to 4 minutes long. These 30 minutes Moss songs, the repetition , totally blew my mind. And I fell in love with Sunn (O))) when I first heard them too. The pure worship of the tone is fascinating for me.

How long did it take to compose the new album?

Hmm, good question. We have been a band for about four years now. But the first year only Marco and Kalle where in it and did not rehearse frequently. When I moved back to Osnabrück after I studied in another city, I got into the band (which was planned already, haha) and we started to work frequently on Eremit. Shortly after another friend of ours joined the band on bass. But he left shortly before the studio. Since then we were a three piece, and now that Kalle is traveling the world, for the time being its Marco and Me, who are running the band as a two piece. But yeah, you asked about the time it took to write the first album. I would say one and a half years since we started to rehearse frequently till we entered the studio. We have since then never really stopped writing and we have a lot more material already recorded. Our music is slow, but we are working hard and are moving forward quite fast in this regard.

What is the story behind the album?

There is quite a monstrous story behind it actually. Eremit as a band is telling a continuous story of a lonesome Eremit (German for hermit) who is sailing on an seemingly endless ocean. “Carrier of Weight”, our debut record, encompasses the first three chapters of this story. We also have released a small book which we call “Pamphlet” in which the actual story is written down. So, our music is working on its own off course, but for those who want to dig deeper and are enjoying dystopian fantasy/sci-fi stories, you will find a whole world, to which our music is only the soundtrack.

What other projects have you been involved with?

Uff, quite a lot actually, haha. All three of us have been making music for quite some time. Before Eremit I released a massive 80 minute concept record under the name “Dragged” with a very close friend of mine. I am also active in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-Themed Punk/Sludge Band “Muckman”, and I am doing solo ambient/drone under the name of “Cleansing”. Kalle has also a stoner rock band called “Blue Pope”. Marco was drumming for the black metal band “Under that spell” and also for the heavy metal band “Blackevil”. He is currently also active in “Doc Idiot”, another straight forward two-piece. Kalle and I were in a Death Metal band called “Dejection” and had a death/doom project called “The Shamans”. I personally always had five or more bands and projects simultaneously, but with Eremit now, I am channeling all my energy into one band. This is rather new for me, and I like to work hard on this endeavor.

Where would you like to visit the most?

Places we as a band would want to visit? Hm, we saw some epic monuments in southern Germany as well as in Sweden where massive swords are involved, and as there is a sword quite prominently placed in our logo and we´re using swords in general as our emblem somehow, these would be places we as a band would love to visit. Besides that, there are off course a lot of amazing festivals where we would love to play, if this counts as places we want to visit.

What is your food of choice?

If we as a band had to answer collectively, it would be Japanese food I guess, as all our band-dinners took place in one specific Japanese restaurant here in Osnabrück.

What is your drink of choice?

Water. Pure, simple, essential.

Do you partake in any rituals that you can talk about?

That’s an interesting and rather unusual question. I like that. And yes I would say we do. Our performances are pretty intense, for us personally. We are using a lot of fog, the volume is insanely loud, there is more or less no light. So I´d say playing a show is definitely a ritual for me, or us. It takes something from us, but it also brings something for one. Quite ritual-like.

Where is the coolest place you have been?

I think it is only fair to say: “Die Tonmeisterei” in Oldenburg, Germany. That is the studio where we recorded all our material. Role is the sound engineer and we really enjoy and love working with him. Staying there for a week is always super special for us. A really intense phase for the band; staying in one place for several days, eating together, sleeping together, making music all day, being focused on the band completely.

What is your ultimate goal?

Uh wow, another extremity question. I can’t say if this is the ultimate goal, but being able to make the music we love, and tell the story that is more and more expanding as we are continuing writing music is absolute amazing for us, and we would love to keep going, but yeah, were just as the beginning right now.

Would you go on a trip to Mars if asked too?

I actually just finished the amazing Graphic Novel “Biomega” by Tsutomu Nihei, and after finished it I would say: Nope, rather no Mars trips for me in the foreseeable future.

Do you like Fantasy or science fiction more?

That’s a tough, or better; confusing question for me. Even though I love to put things into categories, and also enjoy debating music genres; I think a clear distinction between those is not really working for me, especially if I had to pick one. Movie wise I am enjoying science fiction more I would say, but I am not strongly focused on technical stuff. Book wise I am absolutely a Lord of the rings guys, which would count as fantasy. I like elements of both, and also our story is including elements of both. Overall I like stories that are expanding and are going beyond the usual frames in which stories are usually moving and in which we are living.

What books do you like to read? Favorite author?

“Lord of the Rings” I just mentioned. For me personally I only have to add one more book to have mentioned my two most important books ever: “Die Leiden des Jungen Werther” by Johann Wolfgang Goethe. But I am also huge on graphic novels. Blame, Biomega, Watchmen, TMNT,…

What other jobs do you have? If any.

I am studying Political Science besides being an artist. Marco just launched a YouTube channel and is working in postal service.

What character in any world would you like to be and why?

Intuitively I would choose Gandalf. He got so much knowledge of things I am endlessly curious to know.

What can we expect from you in 2019?

First and foremost the release of our debut record “Carrier of Weight” through Transcending Obscurity Records in February. Besides that, we already have a good string of shows lined up and are continuously working and booking more. We are also planning to visit the “Tonmeisterei” again later this year.

Do you like to climb mountains and the outdoors?

Definitely. Marco has worked in the forestry for years. I am also deeply rooted in nature and find her endlessly beautiful and frightening at the same time.

What about fishing ? Do you like to hunt or fish?

I am vegan, so no I don’t like it at all haha.

I see you have a tour coming. How do you think the tour will be?

It’s not a really big tour but yeah, I guess it counts as a small-mini-tour. We think we will continue to totally confuse sound-mixers with the amount of amps and cabinets we are playing. And we will probably melt some brains and faces when we play really really slow and really really low and heavy doom metal. You can physically feel our music, your teeth will probably rattle a lot in your mouth during our performance.

Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview.

Thanks for asking and your interest.

Thank you,

Robert”Meddlefan”Darling.

Get some weight onto you right here!

https://eremitdoom.bandcamp.com/album/carrier-of-weight-atmospheric-sludge-doom-metal