Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

What's the name of your band? Ancient Prophecy
How was the band formed? We started in 1996 with three musicians, Florian Kraus (guitar), Daniel Keck (bass guitar / vocals), and Michael Slansky (drums). After a while, Michael left and Lynn André Neissner became the drummer/manager. Later, Andrea Busch (vocals) & Tobias Buss (guitar & vocals) joined, and we were complete. In 1998 we released our first demo CD “Days of Doom.” In the ensuing year we spent a lot of time practicing, playing concerts, and participating in interviews and CD reviews. There were some more line-up changes, and now Timothy Bostick and Jacki Kunz are the most recent members of the band.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?
Timothy Bostick from Orlando, Florida, USA (now lives in Fernwald, Hessen, Germany) - Bass guitar, text editing, spoken word parts.
Tobias Buss from Butzbach, Hessen, Germany - Guitar, main and backing vocals, songwriting.
Florian Kraus from Hüttenberg, Hessen, Germany - Guitar, backing vocals, some songwriting, track recording and editing.
Jacqueline Kunz from Bad Endbach, Hessen, Germany - Vocalist, keyboards.
Lynn Neissner from Pohlheim, Hessen, Germany - Drums, band management, some recording and editing, some songwriting.
What were the ambitions of the band when you started? To make good metal music that expresses our faith in Jesus. None of us wanted to be a pastor or study theology; we’re just followers of Christ and want to spread the good news and play music for our Savior.
Could you explain your music to someone that hasn't heard you? Melodic progressive power metal, in short.  We primarily have strong, powerful female vocals but also growling and screaming male vocals, and clear male background vocal parts. The groove is progressive, and we combine other metal styles. We nicknamed it “Prophecy metal” :-)
Where was your first gig? Rockwurstfest Hüttenberg, Hessen, Germany, in 1998. It was a small gig at Chrischona Gemeinde, where people could eat good barbecue and hear good Christian rock/metal.
Where was the latest gig? In August 2013 we participated in the “Quo Vadis Rock Night” in Bad Endbach. Between then and now we have been working primarily on recording and mixing. We just had a record release party/concert at Knubbel in Marburg, Germany with the bands Profet and VAX on 10 April 2015.
Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? Tobi writes most songs and lyrics. Lynn and Flo have written some as well. Tim, a native English speaker, edits all texts and has written a few unpublished lyrics.
Who has the best sense of humor in the band? Tobi in German, Tim in English :-)
What's good/bad with the band? Good: We work very hard and are passionate about and love our music. Bad: We don't have enough time to quickly achieve our goals or keep up with the band members' creative ideas. If we had limitless time and resources, we could probably put out another CD or two.
Why did you pick that particular style? What are your songs about? We all love metal!  Our songs are about our faith, about how we face the challenges and suffering life throws at us, and about how Jesus has helped us through the tough times. We all sometimes do bad things and make mistakes, and we are all eventually going to die. God tells us that nobody is able to escape this condition or fate without His help. Jesus Christ is the one who showed us the way by being punished and executed for our sins, like a sacrificial lamb. It’s His blood that will make us right in God’s eyes and bring us to Him. All we have to do is trust Him and believe that He’ll save us from eternal separation and death. That’s the message our songs try to convey.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? We write all our own material.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? “Days of Doom” and “Pounded by Our Sins”
Do you have any clips on YouTube? Yes. Concert videos, band history, and one for our CD release party on April 10^th.
How old are you? What got you started in music? Tobi, 34. Tim, 38, I trained in piano as a kid for ten years and then picked up a bass guitar at 17 and have been playing it ever since. Flo, 36, I came in contact with music  when I was 4 years old at a music school and played the chimes and flute for 3 years. After that experience I played classical guitar for 9 years and later picked up electric guitar. I also studied classical guitar, drums, and singing at Justus Liebig University. Jacki, 24, I started music when I was old enough to sing, mainly in church projects. I started learning the piano when I was 8. My first band was founded at the age of 10 – a Christian rock/pop band. Lynn, 38, I played the recorder (flute) as a kid. When I was 13, I wanted to be a guitar player, but my hands were too small back then, so I learned to play drums instead. Since age 16, I’ve been self-taught without any lessons. I also prayed to God and trusted in His blessing, and His power through the Holy Spirit has enabled me to keep learning and improving.
At what age did you start playing? Tobi – 10. Tim – piano at 6, bass at 17. Flo – classical guitar at 7. Jacki – not sure, pretty early. Lynn - 13.
How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? Tobi – 12. Tim – first piano recital at 6, first concert as a bassist at 19. Flo – 7 with a guitar prelude. I think it was at Christmas. Jacki – at the age of 8 (a kind of Christian musical). Lynn – I played a recorder when I was 6 for our church. When I was 15-17 I played drums for the school band.
What year was the band started? 1996.
Best/worst gig you've played? Best gig so far was at Franzis in Wetzlar in January 2011. We had a huge turnout and didn’t mess up our parts! The worst gig, one of the first ones in 1998, was at a small youth club, and some members of another band did not like that we were a Christian band and tried to intimidate us. One even said that our band was not welcome and that Satan would destroy us. Needless to say, it was a cold atmosphere there, especially after seeing all the empty faces in the crowd. After that experience of feeling like a bunch of sheep among wolves, we pray before we go on stage, asking for security from spiritual or physical attacks and for the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us clearly get our message across to the audience.
What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? We have a gig at on 5 September at a small open-air festival near Giessen. We’d love to play more gigs, but time is our worst enemy. Some band members have families and children; some have time-consuming jobs, so there’s just not enough time to play all the concerts we’d like to.
Where have you played from then till now? We’ve played all over Germany and once in Switzerland.
Which band is the best you’ve seen? Tobi – Dream Theater and In Flames. Tim – Saviour Machine. Flo – Nightwish and Delain. Jacki – Iced Earth (the last gig with Matthew Barlow). Lynn – I can’t decide, sorry.
Is it always the same songs live? Pretty much – we’ve added a few to our repertoire here and there and taken others out.
What has been the best/most promising gig so far? See above
Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? Not yet.
How big crowds do you usually play for? It varies from 50-250.
What are the plans for the rest of the year? See above.  Plus we’re promoting our new CD and trying to get the word out.
Where do you usually play? We have a practice room in Wetzlar, Germany and have played concerts throughout Germany.  
How do you get psyched up for a gig? Bandpractices together, especially the ones close to the concert when everything just clicks in place, get us motivated.
What are your goals with your music? We’d like to play at Wacken, a huge metal fest in North Germany, and maybe perhaps start turning a profit so that we can focus more on music instead of day jobs.  We also want to encourage people who are suffering or struggling with questions about faith, because everybody goes through these sorts of crises in life – both real-world problems and questions about our existence, death, and the meaning of it all.
What are your sources of inspiration? Tobi – probably metal bands, Kobra and the Lotus at the moment, but also movie scores or classical music. Tim – Saviour Machine, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Linkin Park, etc. Flo – I listen to music, bands, films while driving, or I enjoy the silence until new riffs and ideas pop into my head. Jacki – Janis Joplin, P!nk, Tamplin - . Lynn – listening to CDs, MP3s, and being at live concerts to observe the drummers whenever possible. I get lots of ideas after praying or jamming. I frequently get an idea in my head and have to quickly drive to Wetzlar where we practice so that I can try it out.
What's the first step when making a new song? Sometimes we start with a guitar riff and expand from there, adding the text later. Sometimes we start with a good text and work to build the music around it. Lynn approached a song from his background – drums and rhythm – which resulted in a really awesome song we’re using as our new opener. There’s no set formula for doing it.
How do you feel about downloading music instead of buying albums?  As long as you pay for the download, we’re all for it. Albums are nice because of the artwork and written lyrics, however.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? Tobi – Kobra and the Lotus In Flames, Linkin Park, Trivium, Camelot…also movie scores and popular music. Tim – I listen to metal, industrial, hard rock, reggae, hip-hop, classical, and now tons of children’s songs (I have two little kids). Flo – I listen to classical scores from films such as Pirates of the Caribbean and bands such as Running Wild, Helloween, Nightwish, H-BlockX, Delain, August Burns Red, Amaranthe, Still Remains. Jacki – I listen to every kind of metal, reggae, hip-hop, electronic, industrial, rock, hard rock, Irish folk, pop, dub step, “medieval music,” Turkish folk, hippie-music, rock ’n’ roll, rockabilly, classical, Native American inspired music, punk (nearly every kind), rap. Lynn – metalcore, power, progressive, melodic death, speed, some 80’s heavy metal, and classical music.
What do you hold most dear? Tobi and Tim – (same answer) my Savior, my wife, and my children. Flo – my Savior Jesus Christ, my family and friends, playing the guitar, making music, and sports. Jacki – God, my family, friends. Lynn – Jesus of course, my parents, managing the band, sports, and watching TV and movies.
What would be your greatest fears for the future?  Tobi – not being able to make music anymore. Tim – getting decapitated by Islamic terrorists on video. Flo – going deaf :-) Jacki – That’s a topic one shouldn’t think too much about ;-). Lynn – that the band would break up and we couldn’t make music together anymore.
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Tobi – that the audience isn’t having any fun. Tim – I fear nothing on stage. I come alive there! Flo – with God, I don’t fear anything! Jacki – forgetting the lyrics. Lynn – I fear not being able to hear the click of the metronome in my headset, causing the others to lose tempo, or I fear running out of energy and not being able to maintain my speed, especially on the double bass drums.
What songs and what years were they released? Metal Is Still Alive, The New Chapter, True Trinity, Pounded, Look Into My Soul, Brightness In The Dark, The Fall Of Vanity, Still Dying, Eternity. All were released in 2015, but we’ve been playing them for quite some time.
Have you been part of any other projects? See below.
Have you been in any other bands? Tobi – Tharn, Existence Failed. Tim – I was in a band, Loose Hinge, in college and have helped out playing here and there whenever a bassist was needed. Flo – some projects at the university and two bands at my church. Jacki – I was in Lightning first, then Die-die vier sprotzigen Badenixen und der Bademeister- Band (The Four Lively Bathing Beauties and the Lifeguard Band), Crossnotes, Gates of Immortality, Maurice and the Pussycats. Lynn – my school’s band for 2 years, and 3 years with various acts. Then I met Ancient Prophecy and have been with them for the past 19 years. It would feel like cheating to play with another band at the moment.
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Tobi - Gardener. Tim – I work as a translator and proofreader at the University of Giessen and am an instructor in Wing Chun Kung Fu. Flo – I am a junior high school teacher for ages 10-16 and also work in a special needs school. Jacki – I am studying archaeology at the University of Marburg. Lynn – I work at Alternate, an electronics store.
What would you do if there was no music? Make our own! Actually, if there were no music, that would mean there was no God. Everywhere you turn you can hear His music in nature.
How important are your fans? All important! If a tree falls in a forest and nobody’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?  If a band plays in a basement and nobody’s around to hear it, do they make a difference?
What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? Tim – Someone came up to congratulate me on my bass playing and sought advice on how to do it.  Bassists don’t usually draw the most attention in a band, so that was pretty nice! Jacki – (HE) threw his pants on stage (just for fun). Lynn – Many years ago when we played in Switzerland some guys had come up from Italy to watch our show because Germany was too far away. They still had to drive hundreds of kilometers for only an hour of entertainment.  It was a marvelous feeling!
How often do you rehearse? Closer to concerts, at least once weekly together.  At home on our own, we practice when needed.  Frequently we’re recording in our band room. Everyone should rehearse as often as possible because if you don’t, you start losing speed and dexterity.
Where do you rehearse? Wetzlar, Germany  
Name which of your own songs you like best at the moment? Tobi – Look Into My Soul, New Chapter. Tim – True Trinity, Still Dying. Flo – Brightness in the Dark. Jacki – Pounded. Lynn – Metal Is Still Alive, Look Into My Soul.
What do you feel is the best live band you've seen? Tobi - Trivium. Tim – The Rolling Stones in Soldier Field in Chicago in 1997 was off the hook! Mick Jagger was an old guy but he had that entire place moving (and many smoking). Flo - . Jacki - don’t know. Lynn – I can’t decide, sorry.
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? The love of music for one.  If the band meets with success, that is a definite motivator. If there’s a lot of encouragement from fans, though, that is the primary one, which goes hand-in-hand with success.  
Do you have any webpages? We’re on Facebook, MySpace, ReverbNation, and we have our own page. We’ll soon have our own web shop for our merchandise.
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Be patient, don’t have an ego, and remember there is a lot of background work unrelated to music that goes into success. Stick together and be ready to forgive each other any time you have an argument. Most bands split up because people with their egos couldn’t forgive.  We’re a band of individuals with different opinions, which will inevitably lead to arguments, but with Jesus’ help we can forgive each other. That’s one reason why we’ve been together for so long.
Describe your show, visually and musically. We usually have a short intro while we walk onto the stage, then we start with a pretty heavy song and the crowd goes wild. During the set, we’ll give our message about why Jesus had to die for our sins and let the audience know about our faith in Him and the good news of peace He brings. By the end, they’re asking us for an encore, and we usually conclude with another loud song.  Honestly, almost all our songs are loud and fast, so it’s easy to get the crowds moving!
How do you view the music industry of today? It’s basically the same way it’s always been, only the music styles change. With the digitalization of everything in life, a lot of bands can produce and publish their own music directly without much assistance from major record labels, which can be a plus; however in order to get really famous, the major record labels are still the gatekeepers.
What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Time, impatience, laziness.
Tell us about upcoming gigs and why we should be at them? Our gig in Knubbel, Marburg, will be the first one where the new CD is available for purchase.  We’ll also have some awesome shirts available for the first time that tie into the artistic theme of the CD.
How would you describe your sound in one sentence? We play all kinds of metal you can dance to.
What is your favorite crappy instrument? Tobi - Ukelele. Tim – the cajón!  It’s just a wooden box you sit on and bang its sides in order to produce rhythm. Nonetheless, it’s fun to play! Flo – I don’t know. I’d agree with Jacki because I respect every instrument and its sound. Whether it sounds crappy or not depends on your sound need. Some instruments will suit your fancy better than others. Jacki – every instrument is special in some way, so I can’t really answer the question. Lynn – not sure.
What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? We quarrel from time to time over the usual things – differences of opinion on how a song should be played or written and such – but I don’t think the five current members of the band have ever had a real fight. It helps that a kung fu master walks among us, ready to stop any fights before they start.
What’s your pre-show ritual? We pray together before we go on stage that we’ll set a good example, get our message across, and that we won’t mess up our parts! We also limit our alcohol intake so that we remain sober and play our instruments correctly.
Do you have anything to add? Thanks for the interview!