EMQ’s with VANISH
EMQ’s with VANISH
Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with German based Heavy Rock/Prog Metal band, Vanish. Huge thanks to drummer, Ralf Nopper for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Hi there, my name is Ralf and I play drums. VANISH has been in existence since 2000 but in the first ten years it was more like a side project of Basti (Bastian Rose – Vocals and keys) and me. We played in other bands, but in 2010, we decided to focus on VANISH and professionalize this band. So, we began to write our first real record “Come To Wither”, which came out in 2014 on Massacre Records, and was quite a good kick start. In 2017 we released or latest album “The Insanity Abstract”, which we are still touring with.
How did you come up with your band name?
Before VANISH, I played in a Hard-Rock Band called Heartaway. In the late 90’s we wanted to change our direction and the name. By the way, that was long before the pink cleaning products came on the German market! 😉
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
We are from South Germany / Stuttgart. There are many awesome bands around, but more and more clubs are closing. At the end of last year our home-metal-club “Rockfabrik” in Ludwigsburg had to close because the ground was sold. Sad times for our local scene. In summer, we have many good festivals around where the scene meets.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
We released our first single “We become what we are” feat. Tim Ripper Owens in February, the new EP will follow at the end of March, 2020. The EP is a special limited edition for our fans. We re-released 4 VANISH tracks, with a different singer on every track. Additionally, our frontman Basti did an awesome “Heaven and Hell” DIO cover. The EP is limited on 500 copies, so be quick to get one.
Who have been your greatest influences?
Hard question. We are five friends in the band, everybody has his own preferences and his own background. Andi our bass player is the True Metal guy, 100% Iron Maiden fan. Philipp our lead guitarist loves the symphonic and orchestral bands. Ben, our other guitar player, and I listen to more evil sounds and progressive music. Basti listens nearly to everything! So that is a kind of wild mixture that you can find in our sound. Ultimately, we try to get a common sense in our songs and place a VANISH trademark on our music.
What first got you into music?
As long as I can remember, I wanted to be a drummer. My father is a Jazz musician, my brother listened to Blues and Rock. In my childhood there was always great music and live music around.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
For us dreams come true, doing a song with Tim “Ripper” Owens, so this can be checked off! DIO passed away, so I think I would choose Jorn Lande as a singer, I love his voice.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
We are German, so WACKEN is one of our goals for sure. I would like to play Prog Power in Atlanta because most of the bands there are on my top list.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I can´t remember a weird gift, but we played a weird birthday party some years ago. It was an Austin Powers themed Party, the entrance was a huge vagina, and the acts where all playing gangster hip hop except us, we did our Metal thing. Very weird but funny as hell! 😊
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Support the metal! If you want to get new music from your favourite bands, buy their stuff, CDs, LPs, Merch, and visit their concerts. We need money to bring out new releases and videos and go on tour. It´s a hard business and its more than hard to survive.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Dio, my all-time favourite singer.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I love playing live and having a good time with the fans. I hate the business behind it, you have to invest a lot of time and money to stay present.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Force the Streaming portals to pay adequate fees to the musicians.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Ghost Brigade – “Until Fear No Longer Defines Us”
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
I like CD’s, I am too young for Vinyl, but I think the revival is great. You can see in metal there are many real fans that love their music.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
We were on tour with RAGE and Serenity over Europe last month. Many gigs were awesome but the best one was the gig in Praha, CZ. The club was packed and the people very partying like crazy. A night to remember.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
As my day job I am an IT Consultant, I like what I do, and it gives me a lot of flexibility to have enough time for VANISH.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Only five??? So, I would take my four bandmates Basti, Andy, Ben and Philipp and a chef. This guy can prepare an awesome meal for us while we get drunk with our favourite beer, Dinkelacker, from Stuttgart.
What’s next for the band?
We just released our EP on March 27th 2020, a new video will also be released soon. After that we will play some shows in Germany this year and we will record our new album.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
We use Instagram, Facebook and Youtube mostly. Our music is available everywhere, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon,…
Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?
I hate that crap. A soft cake with cheap chocolate and a chemical jelly inside, come on. I prefer a solid apple cake or European biscuits.
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you for the Interview, was a pleasure. And don´t forget to check out social media profiles and our songs.
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | WEBSEITE | YOUTUBE | TWITTER
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