interview with CLUSTER BOMB UNIT

interview with CLUSTER BOMB UNIT d-beat legend from germany

domenica 2 maggio 2010 14.25

another interview, this time with CLUSTER BOMB UNIT, d-beat legend from germany active from 1989.
also this interview is in english...if someone want to translate it in italian....

question R.(me) - answer Oliver(drummer/singer and former member of CBU)

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R- For those who are too young can you tell us the history of the band starting with the early days?(past/present members,
discography and everything you want to let us know about CBU)(feel free to copy/paste!!)

-Oliver: oh man ... after 20 years, there's some story haha ... but I keep the basics: formed the Band together with Werner in 1989 after our other Band FURIOUS RANKNESS disbanded. People were coming and going during the years. But we always had a small range of people involved in CBU. The actual Line-up is:
Julia - vocals
Werner - guitar
Roland - guitar
Moritz - bass
Oliver - drums / vocals

there are only 5 more people playing a role in the history: that's Marc and Sven who did vocals ... Theo who played guitar guitar in late 90s and early 00's ... Kelly who joined us on bass during his stay in Germany for a few years ... and certainly Mike who was our former bassplayer.
Released records all over the world ... too many to mention here ...
you can find all the details on our website www.clusterbombunit.com



R- what do you do in yours life in addition of playing?

Oliver: Most of us do have regular jobs the more or the less haha ... apart from that, I do have 2 Kids and Julia also has a daughter.



R- someone in the band have any side-project?

Oliver: Apart from myself, pretty much everyone has musical side projects. But those have nothing to do at all with Punk or Hardcore. I don't even know all the Bandnames ... the most common are "Monsieur Morio" and "Metabolismus". You can find them on our MySpace in our Topfriends: www.myspace.com/clusterbombunit




R- how many times have you toured the south-east asia and what's the biggest difference that have you found between european
and south-east asia "scene"?

Oliver: We toured two times in SE Asia and for us it's by far the best place to go on tour. The Scene is still very fresh and enthusiastic. People really like to on shows and the Punk Scene is the biggest I've ever seen so far! We never ever got more people on each show than in SE Asia! Also they are very good organised and they take care about everything! I can only say good things about the SE Asian Punk Scene, and I hope we will be back for a third time in the near future! The difference to europe is that they aren't overfed with shows. They do have hundreds of Bands, but they also have thousands of people who like to go to shows. Even in areas which you don`t expect ANYONE showing up, you get a couple of 100 people ... when we play in Germany, we hardly get 10 haha!




R- same question but about u.s.a. ....

Oliver: USA was also a great experience. But the difference is, that it's very tough to go on Tour there. There are a lot of huge distances to drive between shows. In SE Asia, you can go by plane, since it's very cheap, but in USA we did all by a small Family van! So, sometimes you end up in driving 23 hrs. from one show to the other. We made it, but looking back on it, it was quite difficult, and a lot of people thought we never can do that!



R- and same about japan....(hey is not my fault if you have toured the whole world!!![isn't it?australia too?])

Oliver: there are STILL a lot of countries to explore. But at the moment we don`t have the time and especially not the money to do it. Basically we always lost a lot of money going on Tour, but never cared that much about it! We are a DIY Band, and we never did this because of making profit.
As for Japan, it's moneywise a nightmare. You should have a show every day, as an off day would cost too much haha ... we stayed there for 2 - 3 weeks, but only played 6 Shows. It was still a good experience and certainly we also want to go back one day.



R- which is the best and worst concert ever done and why?

Oliver: huh ... the best? I don't know ... I mean playing in Jakarta/Indonesia in front of 4000 crazy Punks was probably a big highlight in our "career" ... but we also like smalle shows ... as long as everyone is jumping around, we always have fun - no matter if there are 4000 or 4 people! But I have to say, the best shows have been in SE Asia!
One of the worst show was in Mannheim a few years ago. We weren't good prepared and pretty much all members including myself totaly drunk while playing and some were even filled up with speed ... so we totaly fucked up pretty much every song. There is even a Video on You Tube on it. Very embarrassing haha ...



R- Punk im Dschungel (the dvd documentary about south-east asia punk scene and CBU tour) is out from about 2 years now.
how it was accepted from the people?what reviews that had?

Oliver: Most people liked it. And a lot of people hated our music haha! I don`t really know how it is accepted in "the scene", as I don't read too much about it and also don`t care that much! It's not "OUR" Movie ... we are just that bunch of wankers who walk through the picture from time to time. We had nothing to say in the endproduction, so we are not happy with every scene in it! The director is still a good friend of mine, but I wished, we could have been more involved in the whole thing! The strange thing is ... he also gave interviews about that movie, but NOONE ever asked our point of view. Some people even said, we are just a bunch of tourists! We spent a lot of time with the people down there and all you can see in the movie is us buying stuff! The director concentrated on it to show our private part of this tour instead of the interaction with the Asian people, which I think doesn't really fit into this movie! But that's the way it goes!



R- which are the band future plans?

Oliver: at the moment we should get our asses back into the practise room/studio to do new songs ... also we would love to go back on tour. But at the moment there are no realy plans. Everyone has to fix his own life first!




R- there is a lot of repression in germany for squat and antagonistic reality in general?are you
active in/connected to some collective or squat?

Oliver: no, we are not involved in any of that. Certainly we played a lot in squats and do have friends in that scene, but basically most of us live on the countryside of Germany.



R- you're active from the 80's...in wich way the "scene" is changed during all these years in your opinion?

Oliver: maybe it even didn`t change that much. There are still a lot of people taking care of shows and releasing records. We don`t hang out at every show, and sometimes I feel like a stranger, when I go out to Punk Gigs. Back in the 80s you always met the same people on the shows. Like I said above, we are not THAT active anymore and especially in Germany still hardly anyone really knows us. We could maybe do better, but we aren't 20 anymore and it's very hard to get 5 people in their late 30s and early 40s in a car to go on Tour haha ...



R- free space to tell us everything you want....

Oliver: we are still here - even we are not playing on every corner during the year. Less is sometimes more haha! Hope everyone still stays in touch and let us know what you think! Cheers'n'Beers!

   
          
                                 CLUSTER BOMB UNIT Official Homepage
               
                    www.clusterbombunit.com
               
                    Cool crust-core band from Germany. The site contains loads of infos, Real-Audio-Streaming, MP3's, pictures and much more. Real worth to check it out!