The Blackout Argument

E-mail Interview done on july 27th 2007
with guitarist Chris

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Anglais

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Hello, can you first introduce yourself, your Band and your music ?

Hey, this is Chris. The Blackout Argument started in late 2005. We played our fist show in March 2006 and since then things went very well for us. We played a whole bunch of amazing shows all over Europe, released our debut mcd “Munich Angst” on Engineer Records, got signed to Bastardized Recordings who are just about to release our new mcd “Munich Valor” along with a re-release of “Munich Angst” and in September our debut album “Decisions” will be out on Lifeforce Records.
In addition to that had the honor to support Boy Sets Fire on their farewell tour in May, which was the coolest thing.

The line up of The Blackout Argument is: Raphael (vocals), Sascha (bass), Philip (drums), Chris18 (guitars) and me, ChrisX (guitars).

Musically we do not try to reinvent the wheel but I am convinced that we manage to tear down some genre-barriers by mixing hardcore music with some melodic / catchy rock elements without sounding “emo”.

Can you tell us a bit more about the beginning of your band and how did you meet the other guys ?

It all began when I called Philip, who just left Flyswatter and asked him if he was interested in starting a new band. We started practising and writing songs, only the two of us, and soon found out that this combination matched well. The rest is history.

Do you play in other bands beside Blackout Argument ?
What about the other members ?

Right now The Blackout Argument is my only band.
Our singer Raphael also sings for For Heaven’s Sake.

So, you guys come from Munich, how is the Alternative music scene there, are there any interesting bands and cool places to play there ?

The scene in Munich is rather small but very active. There’s quite a lot bands from all kinds of genres. Some names to watch out for: Ghostchant, Blank Promise, Heartbreak Kid, Lofi Inferno, Promise Broken, From Constant Visions, No God Innocent and a couple more. There’s a lot of cool places to go to and we regulary have shows.

I read that all members are deeply involved in the alternative music scene, what are your other activities beside The Blackout Argument ?

I run a record label called Let it Burn Records and I prepare for my post-graduate studies right now. Philip is running a recording biz and procudes bands. Sascha is a software engineer, chris is programming dvds and other multimedia stuff and Raphael works as an educator.

You released 2 ep’s with 5 and 6 songs on each one and this almost simultaneously and on the same label, why haven’t you simply realesed one full length album ?

One of the 2 eps (“Munich Angst”) was a re-release, that’s why. The first press of the Engineer-Version of “Munich Angst” was sold out pretty fast so we asked them to repress it. Unfortunatelly they were not able to do this due to financial problems they were going through at that time, so we agreed with them to find another label who runs the repress. Since we did not want to have 4 releases on 4 different labels the idea came up to do the repress via Bastardized. We redesigned the artwork, added a bonus video and some lyric-explainations to upvalue the mcd a bit. “Munich Valor” and “Munich Angst” are a perfect match (not only the title), so we decided to release them as a special 2-disc-set as well.
The Album “Decisions” is going to be out in September on Lifeforce Records.

The title of both Ep’s are very similar, same about the artwork, can you explain the concept ?

While “Munich Angst” lyrically (and if you listen carefully als “musically”) deals with a certain feeling of alienation and oppression, “Munich Valor” is more aggressive and straight forward. Both mcds match together perfectly and show all aspects of an individuals life in a society that denies uniqueness and trys to destroy all concepts of alternative lifestyles.

Can you tell us more about the names you have chosen: « Munich Valor, Munich Angst » ? Do these names have a particular meaning ?

Munich is a perfect example for a place where people who have alternative ideas and feelings tend to be alienated by society. The city almost clinically takes care of opressing alternative and independent lifestyles. But you could also use any other bigger city to express this feeling of alienation.

Can you tell us how Zoli Jakab got involved in the making of the backing vocals on the “So Much You And Me” Song ?

Zoli has been a friend of mine for years now, I released his band Bridge To Solace on Let it Burn Records, we have been on tour etc. He’s an amazing dude and one of the coolest singers in Europe, so I asked him if he wanted to contribute some guest vocals and he agreed.

Why did you choose to include this song on “Munich Valor” and also on “Munich Angst” ?

We wanted to have another version recorded of this song with our own singer. Zoli took a huge part of the song and left only the chorus to our singer. We wanted to offer the listeners 2 interpretations of “So much you and me” since we love the song.

What are the main subjects you are talking about in your lyrics ?

our lyrics are influenced by our own experiences. In my opinion it is the most honest and upright way to write song-texts, noone can take away or negate how you feel inside. It is just there and writing it down makes you vulnerable and untouchable at the same time. Hard to explain… I personally regard my lyrics as some kind of therapy, a way express my inner-self without a direct response from a certain person but with the knowledge that they will be heard / read.

So you recently signed a deal with Lifeforce Records, How did you get in touch with this record label and why did you sign up with them ?

The story is not very exciting – we sent them our stuff, they liked it and offered us a deal. From all labels that were interested in us, we had the best feeling with lifeforce. They are a well known and acknowledge european underground label and we feel very well working with them.

What can people expect from your new album « Decisions » which will be released in September 07 ?

Chris: The album is going to be more diversified than the 2 eps without losing the musical focus. We just got more into the extremes, made the heavy parts even heavier and the melodic parts more catchy. There’s also some “special” tracks on the album. It’s all one big concept about making decisions and dealing with the consequences. The artwork, the music, the lyrics, the linernotes… everything is connected.

Do you know any good Swiss bands ?
If you do, which are the ones you like best ?

Oh well there’s quite a few. In the first place we need to name CATARACT. It is amazing what they did for the European scene and the reason why swiss bands always have a good reputation as hard-working and sincere acts is based on their existence. DARK DAY DUNGEON also was a great band. I personally like FATE IS DYING a lot too.
There’s too many to mention.

What is your current top 5 Albums ?

EVERGREEN TERRACE “Wolfbiker”, NODES OF RANVIER “Defined by struggle”, TIMBALAND “Schockvalue”, BAD RELIGION “New Maps of Hell”, DAMNATION A.D. “In this life or the next”.

Would you like to add something to this interview ?

Thanks a lot for the support we really appreciate it. To all readers: feel free to get in touch. Check out our new song on myspace and stay tuned for videos and more stuff coming soon!

Chris Z. for THE BLACKOUT ARGUMENT

Interview : Lucien

More Infos :

Style : Screamo, Metalcore

Country : Germany

For fans of : Estate, Bridge To Solace, Boysetsfire

Label : Bastardized Records and Lifeforce Records

Website : www.theblackoutargument.com

Myspace : www.myspace.com/theblackoutargument

Label website : www.bastardizedrecordings.de et www.lifeforcerecords.com