 Jimmy K here, Metal Voice. Look at this. The Metal Voice shirts are now on sale. Just go to the video description to find out on how you can purchase one. Metal! Welcome to the Metal Voice today on the show. Oh, yes. Here we go, all the way in Germany. I think, at least, I think you're in Germany. You're in Germany, Schmerz. Yeah, I'm in Germany, of course. All right, all right. Maybe you're here. I don't know. Maybe you went to somewhere else in Europe. Maybe, you know? No, actually, at the German-Swiss border. So it's still Germany, but Switzerland is just a couple of meters away from here. You got it. Today, Born to Thrash Live was released on May 8th, and the physical version is coming out July 17th. Plus, the shows are coming up. Very interesting. Schmerz, first time on Skype, it was actually not a Zoom interview with me on the Metal Voice. So tell me about the new album versus being digitally released. And after that, you're getting a physical copy. Tell me all about that. Yeah, basically, the album is very spontaneous. You know, you did it because of Corona, and it was important that you can bring it out immediately, which is what we did, basically, with the streaming release. And the physical takes time. You know, it's up to three months or so to produce a vinyl nowadays. Yep. So that's why the album is coming out now in actually four weeks from now on, like physically. Yeah. All right. And you're also playing in Switzerland, right? One of the first social distancing. I mean, what does it look like? Is it like five people in a club, like all far away from each other? I have no idea. It's our first one to do, you know? Well, it's actually, there's a security concept from the government. You can maximize, maximum put 40% of the capacity of the club. So this club, we play, holds 1200 people, but they only allow 300. So there will be enough space, basically. And that's all about this. Switzerland will, in the future, do bigger shows also up to 500. But this is the first trial of shows, see how it goes. They do it since, I think, two weeks already. The first shows are rolling. I think we're the first international band that maybe plays in Switzerland now, and it's our favorite club also there. It's a great place, and it will be weird. We all know it's going to be different, but we have to start at one point, and it's also exciting at the same time. So what are your feelings on, okay, I go on the internet and I see thousands of people protesting, which is fine, which is fine. I don't mind if people protesting for good reasons. It's fine. But then I see bands not playing. I mean, it's hypocritical, right? You can have one and can have the other one. I also understand the need that people need to protest and stuff. Me too. Of course. Like our whole industry is on hold since several months, and we can do shit, and it's kind of, of course, feels wrong. It's also everybody been sitting home for three months now, and it feels wrong then that thousands go out there and might spread the virus again. On the other hand, of course, also some experts are saying, hey, we need this immunity of the masses also. Heard, yeah, herd immunity, yes, yes. So how are we called in English? Heard immunity, herd immunity. Exactly, herd immunity. And some parts of Italy, they have already reached this herd immunity. And there, the virus is completely worthless. It's not hitting anymore there. So I guess it's maybe good that step by step you get. And at one point, the vaccine only is not a solution because to vaccine the world, first of all, it will take three years at least. And second, not everybody wants to vaccine. I understand those people who don't want the vaccine, they don't have to take it. Do you think the right measures were taking place, like everybody, or it should have been different now that we look back? You know, I'm not Nostradamus. But I think it's okay that we try to take care about the world, you know? This is the first time something that just extremely happens in the modern world. So I understand we had to take some cautions. Maybe to lock down for three months was a little long. But on the other side, if thousands and thousands would have been hospitalized, like it was in New York and some other cities, all over the world in the same time, it would have been total chaos. So I think there was some sense in this. And I think some countries made some better steps. Some other countries didn't react. You know, you can also see now a country like Brazil having more problems because their president didn't want to go for the lockdown, you know? And also you see in a country like Sweden, it was the only country in Europe that didn't do the lockdown. They're having massive problems now with a lot of people dying at the moment. So I guess, you know, we will know later what would have been the best thing about this. But I think, you know, to be cautious was not the stupidest stupid thing, you know? Of course, it's important now that our governments and the rich people are helping the world to come back. You know, this is a very important step for the future that, you know, we have to help each other now. And it can only happen when those who have a lot give a little bit more of what they have to the people who are poor, you know? That's the only concept that's going to work to bring the world back, you know? Because the poorer countries and the poorer people in this world will suffer hardest from this. Do you find that because you've been locked down, a lot of bands are writing material now and writing albums and being inspired by the political climate, right? I mean, there's a lot of that going on, like a lot of craziness in the world, a lot of inspiration to write new music. Do you find that now? You know what? I think I'm going to write a new album because of all of this. And actually, I'm always inspired. I don't need this bad inspiration, actually. It's, for me, it's rather like, at the moment, I'm not really that inspired to write yet because we have been writing the album just not so long ago. We were supposed to tour. We have a great album out. Born to Perish, sorry. Born to Perish is the album, yeah. We will start writing this summer because we're going to be bored because we're not going to have all those festivals this summer. So we're going to start writing. But I don't see us having an album next year, really, because everybody's writing at the moment. Everybody's writing albums and there's going to be overflow of corona records next year. Who's going to buy all this music, you know? People have no more money, so I don't know. What about Drive-ins? You've seen Doro. Doro Pass, she did a Drive-in show. No, no, no. I'm not playing for cars. You know, it feels like it's wrong. It feels wrong. You know, if this is the last step to do, to play live shows in front of cars, I might think about it, but at the moment, no way. You know, it's not working for metal. Metal people have to move and, you know, you want to feel the bass. You know, this auto, this auto concerts, the music is on your radio, on your stereo in your car. There's no PA system, you know? There's no, it's not a live impression, really. You sit in your car and, you know, I understand people doing this now because people are desperate, but not for destruction. We had the offer to do this, actually, but I don't want to rip my fans off with shit like this. I'm sorry. Well, what if a guy like, you know, the cars could, like, drive as you're playing? You know, maybe you could do some sort of, or people jumping out of cars. I'm going to pay for the accidents. You know? Like, it's your fault. You know, that's a good point. I mean, let's say you play now, right? And I just thought about this. You play your first show in Switzerland and it's coming up. Is there, somebody gets sick, right? Yeah, it can happen, of course. Does everybody have to write a paper saying, okay, I'm coming to this show and if I get sick, it's not on, it's not on the band? I mean, is there something like that? I don't know. It's actually something you have to ask the Swiss promoter and the Swiss authorities, because they are, they're having the first experiences now. I, you know, I think everybody, when, and just a venue agrees on the, that they can't sue the venue because of getting corona. Of course, everybody should be aware, when you go out in people, and when you go out with a certain mass of people, that of course, there is a possibility. But in the end, it's up to common sense, you know, when you keep distance to people and you go into a venue that holds 1,200 people and you're only 300 people in the venue, everybody has personal space, you know. And when you go into the front and into the mosh pit, it's on your own risk. It's just common sense, I would say, you know. So, I think that's why this concept is all right and that I'm sure at the beginning, there will be a certain distance also in the crowd. It's not going to be like a normal concert, I think. It's going to take a little time, this comes back, but it's okay, you know. I don't want people to stand tight and be uncomfortable, you know. That's why we have this concept. There is space, there's going to be space for people. If you feel like you're weird about masks, how about masks? Of course, go in the back. You can wear a mask, of course, exactly. And you can go in the back of the show and still, you know, this place is a huge stage. You have a big PA system. It's going to feel like a real show and you don't have to come so close, you know. So, I think the possibility is there that people will feel comfortable and there might be some crazy marchers, but they know the risk and, you know, and if you go in the market, maybe wear a mask, you know, then I think the risk is very close to zero unless somebody coughs or vomits on you, you know. Yeah, throw it up. You have too much beer. What about... Yeah, that's actually the biggest risk at the show, but people get drunk, you know. When they get drunk, they don't care anymore. It's true. It's true. And they start coughing all over each other. Thrash anthems three. Oh. Would you ever consider doing a thrash anthems three? I don't know. I don't think we have the songs for it. We've been using like... We've been using all the classics on the first one. The second one has like the second row songs, basically. And I think there's not much left from the early days that are cool songs. I think... I don't know. And, you know, all the newer albums, they sound good already, so I don't think we have to really re-record them or something. So I don't really see this to happen, but never say never, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no. To me, I kind of enjoy those thrash anthems. I mean, you know, back in the 80s, the sound wasn't the best and that's why you did it, right? You did it because you wanted to... And the aggression is still there. Yeah, you know, when we recorded those... We recorded those albums, it was basically a demand from the fans. You know, we did the one... We covered ourselves, you know, on... Since the comeback album, since 1999. We always... First one, we covered The Curse of Gods, and then we did Total Disaster and so on, Eternal Band. And the people really loved those bonus tracks. And then the fans, back in the day when we still had forums on the website, the fans of the forums started to ask like, here, why don't you do an album with all those re-recorded songs, you know? Yeah, yeah. And that's how thrash anthems one came together. And I know not everybody likes the re-recording, but a lot of fans like it, though. And for us, it was a way to produce the albums in a more... In the way that we have more control of, you know. Back in the day, not all the recordings, as you said, were perfect. And now the band, of course, is more skilled and you can play those songs how they're meant to be also, you know, and how we play them live also. So that's why the thrash anthems two made sense for us also, also to re-discover songs. You know, when you re-record songs, you dive really deep into the songs again, into the meaning, into the harmonies, into the lyrics also. You have to relearn everything from the song and that helps you really to kind of play them also live again later. In a good manner. And yeah, it brings you back, you know. And I think... What do you think about the lyrics today versus back then? Like when you wrote your lyrics? I had a funny time doing thrash anthems two because I was singing Satan. You know, it was funny. When we were singing, we were making fun about it. But, you know, those lyrics were... When we were young, we were 17. We wrote those lyrics. We wanted to be evil. We wanted to break out of the routine and the conventional life. We were watching a lot of horror movies. And yeah, it was part of the concept of the band, you know. And of course, I wouldn't write those lyrics again like this because now I'm an old fart. But when you're a young musician, you know, you want to be young and wild. And then of course, you write lyrics like this. So I didn't feel like bad singing to start. It was just a little funny here and there because, you know, we're 17 years old. It's a different one. Absolutely. But I look at, like I look at the Mad Butcher and, you know, you look at these album covers. Would you release an album cover like you did back in the day? I mean, it's so politically correct today, right? Today, everybody's, don't talk about this. Don't talk, not too much. You know? Yeah, but we actually, we actually, you know, we did some covers like the release on Agony cover actually from 1888 was a shocker back in the day. It was, I remember when the album came out on the profile records in America. Yeah. The label got a lot of calls from like parents, you know, that felt like threatened and they complained about the album cover art and stuff, you know. So back in the day, it was a shocker. Nowadays, the cover is like nothing, nothing evil. But, but inventor, yeah, go ahead. Back in the day, they were something crazy. But nowadays, it wouldn't be a shocker anymore. So I think, you know, stuff changes also. But you're totally right. You know, in some points, the political correctness of nowadays is kind of crazy too. And you got to see what you put on your cover. Otherwise, you're whatever, you know, it's easy to be nowadays not politically correct anymore. And I don't think we're going in the right direction. I mean, we, you know, live and let live, you know, and we're kind of going in weird ways at the moment. Yeah. What about, I know I asked Millie this, you know, the Teutonic Four, you know, the German Teutonic Big Four. I mean, I'm sure you've been asked this question so many times and there has been shows you guys play. But recently, in recent times, has it been any discussions? Yeah, we actually talked lately and I was, I felt good about, you know, talking to those guys about it and making some plans and, but then Corona came and stuff became more difficult again. So it doesn't look like it's going to happen so, so, so soon. But we've been talking. So there's a really big demand from the fans. So I really hope that one day our ways will cross and we have the same time schedule and then we can do it because now we're all still fit. You know, we're doing great albums. We're, we're also out there and who knows in some years, you know, we're not getting younger. So I hopefully, hopefully we can do this soon. I mean, in the end, it's up to the fans. You know, when the fans are demanding it, the other bands will also stay on it. You know, and I was the driving force between this and the last years trying to get this together again. And at the moment, it's not up to me anymore. I tried my best and it's up to the other guys. If the destruction is ready, we want to do it whenever, you know, if Miller from Creator calls me tomorrow and says, let's go on the road, I'm ready. I packed my stuff on there, you know, so I'm waiting from the call from the other guys. You know, the destruction wants to do it and hopefully the other guys will be ready too one day to do it again before it's too late. You know, Sodam and Tankard, I mean, they're there. I don't know if they do this all the time. I don't know if they will do it full-time musicians. Yeah, they don't. Yeah, that's that's one of the complications about it. They don't. Whereas, you know, destruction and and Creator, you know, these guys are full-time musicians. So it's a little, I guess it's a little challenging, right? Yeah, it's different because some of those guys have jobs. You know, when they take so much holidays, they lose their jobs, you know, and they need their jobs to feed their families because it's difficult. It's difficult to live on music. So that brings us into difficulties, you know, and that's why it's not so easy to plan all this. All right, so what about that's pretty much it. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about in regards to the live album? No, actually, we touched all the topics. We wanted to come to the States this year. Of course, again, we had a tour lined up in October and we actually postponed everything now to next year. And hopefully, we'll see how it goes. We'll be planning on March, February or March next year, depending on how the situation goes in America, of course, and depending on how I think, you know, the next weeks here in Europe will be very important once to see how live concerts will go and how the virus will still be spreading after this. And then we hopefully can make better plans for the future. But I'm positive that we can come back to the States hopefully next year. You're pretty much an honest guy when it comes to social issues and politics, especially in your lyrics. What do you make out of all this Seattle, you know, the takeover of the, you know, that area in Seattle where the protesters are and that's some good music right there. That's some good song inspiration right there. I actually have to tell you that, you know, now that this is going so crazy and the media is picking it up like crazy and there's like almost like a race war going on, I kind of switch off the news, you know, because it's too much negativity going on in the world at the moment. And as much as I love to write lyrics about it, but the last couple of months been tough, you know, been tough for us, we lost our jobs and there's been a lot of weird vibes on the internet also. I don't know, you saw Facebook, you know, people were, you know, all this conspiracy theories and people going crazy. And I actually at the moment, I also like to switch off the news sometimes and just don't hear all this bullshit going on, you know, and America has this problem going on at the moment and I think America should solve this problem alone and the rest of the world is not involved, you know, I think it's important in America solves their problems and we solve ours and we have still Corona going on also. And I really hope for peaceful solutions, you know, it was never a solution to use your rifle, not even in the big wild west, you know, even if Americans likely use their guns, but I think we need peaceful solutions for all this and I think Corona times also made the world a little crazier. You know, people sitting home for three months or longer. Yeah, doesn't help, you know. So let's hope some peace comes up and, you know, I always try to find good things into bad times and I think hopefully also those complicated times will bring out some positive stuff also. Do you think metal unites, metal unites reason? I mean, for me, metal always unites. I, no matter where I go, you know, I play in Muslim countries, I play in countries where people have different color and I see my brothers and my sisters in the same way. There's no race war going on in my metal world at least. And I've been into most of the countries of this planet, you know, we've been touring so much in the last 20 years and he plays a lot of crazy places. And what I see in between metal is a lot of unity and no matter what color you are, you're a metalhead, you're a friend, you know. So of course there's idiots too in every scene. That's normal, I guess. But at least the metal scene I know is a cool one and people are accepted of any kind. All right, on that note, born to thrash, live in Germany, pick it up July 17th. You can even pick it up now digitally, right? You can download it, you can stream it on all the portals. And people around the world go to Switzerland, they're playing a show with poltergeist. Get on that plane, wear your mask, what's that? The problem is nobody can come to Switzerland except if you're European, so don't take the plane. Everybody stay home, only the Europeans go. All right. At the moment it's European exclusive, but that hopefully will change in the next week. All right, Schumer, thank you so much. Thank you so much for taking the time out. Everybody go check out, check them out live and buy the album. All right, thank you, sir. It was a pleasure. You got it.