interview with Thy Bleeding Skies
What´s the name of your band? Thy Bleeding Skies
What made you call the band "Thy Bleeding Skies"? I was inspired by a photography I found in the internet. It showed a puddle and red drops of blood falling from a blood red sky. The whole picture looked like heaven would cry tears of blood. The picture combined with the christian believe of a son of god who died for our sins let me thought about the name THY BLEEDING SKIES as a symbol of each humans acting thru his whole lifetime. No matter if good or bad you are responsible for what you do.
How was the band formed?/Can you tell about your band?
“THY BLEEDING SKIES stands for irresistible, modern Death Metal with no musicial limits“. This was the basic thought when I started to compose songs back in the year 2006. After just 8 months of intensive songwriting and searching for band members we recorded their debut album “Chapters of downfall“.
During the recording session for our debut the band was noticed by the Dutch label “Dark Balance Records“ and they decided to work together.
The Debut-album “Chapters Of Downfall” (Rock Hard 8/10, powermetal.de 8.5/10) was released worldwide in May 2008.
We played a tour through Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Czech Republic in the same year and plenty of single live shows until today.
The constant activity of the band made it impossible for one band member to continue his work within the band and so he left Thy Bleeding Skies.
After a short time Oliver Großhans (Ex-Sacred Steel, My Darkest Hate) joined the band in 2009 as 2nd rhythm guitar player.
Straight after their tour and the Line-up change they started the songwriting for their 2nd album “Autumn Souls” (Rock Hard 7.5/10, powermetal.de 8/10).
With the new record in their hands the band has decided to sign a contract with the German label “Whirlwind Records“.
Shortly before starting the recordings for the third album Oliver Großhans announced to leave the band due to private reasons. The band decided to record the new album first before start searching for a new guitar player.
In March 2012 the band started the drum recordings of their 3rd album at CCPC Studio in Helsinki of Mikko Herranen, who is known from the TV show VOICE OF FINLAND.
From May 2012 until January 2013 the tracking of guitars, bass, vocals and some programming stuff was done by Wolfgang Nillies in the Finger Print Studio in Stuttgart.
The album was mixed in the beginning of 2013 also by Wolfgang Nillies and mastered in May 2013 by Thomas Johansson at The Panic Room studio in Sweden.
The final result is named “Seconds Of Immortality”.
After the album was finished the band announced Andreas Mettler as the new guitar player at Thy Bleeding Skies.
The new record “Seconds of Immortality” will be released in the end of 2014 thru the label “soundmass” from UK.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?
- Claudio Enzler: Vocals, Guitar (GER)
- JJ Kontoniemi: Drums (FIN)
- Wolfgang Nillies: Guitars (GER)
- Thorsten Brandt: Bass (GER)
- Andreas Mettler: Guitar (GER)
What was the ambitions of the band when you started?
Well I just had song ideas that didn´t fit to my other bands (Sacrificium & My darkest hate) so
I decided to start a new band to release my ideas.
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you?
We don´t limitate are music to some genres because we wanna just play what we like no matter which genre it is.
Basicly it is a mixture of Doom-/ Deathmetal with Rock 'n' Roll influences and lots of melodies. Most of the band members grew up with the 80´s and 90´s metal so our rhythm parts are most of the tiem pretty old school and heavy but we also use electronical parts or clean vocals if we think it supports the song.
Where was your first gig? I think it was back in 2008 in a small heavy metal bar in East Germany.
Where was the latest gig? We played 2 shows during one weekend in Switzerland and Germany
Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Most material is from Claudio and Wolfgang, but everybody can bring in ideas.
What genre do you feel you are? Due tho the fact that I don´t like that almost each they you can read about new subgenres in music and people start to argue about which band belongs to which part of the scene I have to say that we are simply DEATH METAL no matter what other people think we are.
Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? I simply like the Death Metal a lot because there are so much emotions in it. The songs are most of the times about personal experiences or inspirated by world affairs.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? So far we just wrote our own material but for sure we would do a cover aswell in case the members will agree with one or a few songs but so far nothing is planned.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?
Chapters of Downfall (2008 Dark Balance Records / Netherlands)
Autumn Souls (2011 Whirlwind Records / Germany)
Seconds of immortality ( end of 2014 Soundmass / UK)
Do you have any clips on YouTube? Yeah there are a plenty live recordings made by some fans or festivals we played but nothing official.
How old are you? between 26-39
What got you started in music? As all kids: The dream of beeing a rockstar
How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? I do not know about the other guys but this year I have my 20th anniversary so my 1st show was when I was 16 years old.
Best/worst gig you've played?
The best show was the last show of our tour in 2008 at Elements of Rock Festival in Switzerland.
We didn´t played a perfect show but for me it was a special feeling on stage between the each member and the band together with the crowd.
Well the worst....? To many to number them... hahaha...
No to be honest there is no worst show because there are always people who like our music and support us even if we have a bad day and don´t perform in a good way.
Where have you played from then till now? Clubs, bars and festivals thru europe.
Which band is the best you´ve seen? Defently Testament
Is it always the same songs live? No, we choose different songs from our repertoire
How big crowds do you usually play for? In clubs and bars it´s usually around 100 people but it always depends on the promotion in front of the show. I really wonder sometimes about people who think a show works without any promotion.
What are the plans for the rest of the year? Due to the fact that Wolfgangs girlfriend is pregnant we will not play much shows until the end of the year and focus on songwriting for the next record.
What are your goals with your music? There are no specific goals except to have fun and perform as good as possible because this is what we owe the people out there. Beside this we will take whatever comes our way.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? It doesn´t matter because there are very talented older and modern bands aswell. I think it is more important to find your own way within the music no matter if your way is old school, new school or a total different genre.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? I prefer buying albums, even if it's not a illegal download. I like to have the cd with a booklet etc. in my hands.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? All different kinds of music as pop, classical and rock etc
What would be your greatest fears for the future? To lose someone close or get sick and be unalbe to do the things I like.
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then?
No fears at all to be honest... it will happen what will happen
Have you been part of any other projects/bands?
Sacrificium, My Darkest Hate, Deuteronomium (as a session bass player for 1 year), Might of lilith, Mighty D. and some unknown bands back in my youth.
At the moment I am involved in a swedish and a german project aswell but so far we didn´t release anything
What would you do if there was no music? I guess I would enjoy my freetime and train a lot with my 2 dogs, drive my motorcycle more often and do much more sport again
How important are your fans? Very important, if there wouldn't be fans, there is no reason doing it.
How often do you rehearse? Not constantly together, cause we don't life in the same area but we have a fixed date each week where Wolfgang, Andreas and I meet to listen to the ideas of each other or arange some song ideas.
What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Well as I mentioned before: We just enjoy what we are doing!
Do you have any webpages? Check out our Facebook page
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Keep on practicing, be organized, prove each offer before you believe or sign something
How do you view the musicindurty of today? I think the industry is changing, it's easier than ever to record good stuff for your own, but with that there is also a regression of quality. At the same time it's pretty hard to get a good recording contract and make money out of the music. I hope there will be a time, where it will be easier for musicians and bands to live from the music, and don't be ripped off cuz this is what most of the labels are doing nowadays
What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Mostly you play in front of only a few people and therefor you have a great effort. But if the location is cool. What doesn't mean all small gigs are shitty, far from it!!
Do you have anything to add? Thanks a lot for this interview and the support. We truly apreciate it!!!