NOVEMBER 25th 2018
DAWN AHEAD EXCLUSIVE
Welcome to MetalTitans, Guardians of Music Entertainment, Worldwide. Our very own Metal Mom had the opportunity to chat with Thomas and Marcel of DAWN AHEAD out of Germany. This Thrash Metal band originally formed in 2011, however it took sometime to form the entire band, which didn't happen until 2013; these guys aren't you're average old school thrash band, they incorporate elements of groove too, to add that little twist to a classic sound. Check out the rest of our interview for more on these guys.
Interview By: Metal Mom
1. You started to put the band together back in 2011, what made you decide to form a band?
Thomas: In 2011, I played in a coverband and it doesn`t satisfied me. I wrote a lot of songs and the next step was to form a Metal Band.
Marcel: I joined the band shortly after it was formed, so I can´t really answer your question, but I was looking for a band that played really heavy stuff and found it with these guys.
2. How did you come up with the name Dawn Ahead?
Marcel: Fun fact for you: the initial idea actually was “Dawn Instead”. I don´t really know but at some point the idea was just there and I liked how it sounded. The only problem was that it puts question marks in your face. Dawn instead… of what? Then we all met and discussed and it morphed to “Dawn Ahead”, meaning – at least for me – you´re towards the end of the night where it´s the darkest but you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Thomas: Really? I don’t remember that Name. Dawn Instead? Good that we drunk enough Beer that night to change the name into Dawn Ahead.
3. Tell us how each of the members came to be in the band ?
Marcel: I read an ad from Thomas – of course online since it´s 2011. I came by and jammed some solos onto a couple of the first demo songs and joined shortly after. Pretty unromantic story.
Thomas: Every one of us is a founding member. Marcel, Pocho and myself were the first, but we never had a real singer before Chrischaan and we never had a real drummer before Jan.
4. Who was your inspiration to do Thrash, instead of all the other genres out there?
Thomas: I was thrash Metal Fan since the early 80`s. It was a great time when Metallica, Slayer, Dark Angel, Exodus, Testament, Kreator, Possessed, Annihilator, Megadeth and many more released their first Albums. But I didn`t know if I could find fellow musicians for this extreme style of Metal. Fortunately I found them.
Marcel: As I remember the first demos were a little more wide spread with some slower, melodic and alternative stuff besides the thrash songs. But since we were a complete lineup and everything was coming together I think it came naturally to us because the heavier stuff just felt better.
5. What kind of bands did you grow up listening to?
Marcel: From pretty early on I grew up on Metallica and Dream Theater. Later friends showed me more and more extreme stuff and since I found Opeth everything changed for me. It was a musical revelation and I started liking screaming vocals. So this was the door opener for extreme and experimental music.
Thomas: I listen to a lot of bands. But if I had to name the top 5 it would be. Machine Head, Slayer, Exodus, Metallica and Opeth. But I also listen to dozens of other bands across all metal and Rock styles.
6. 7 years later, after starting up in 2011, did you expect to be where you are now?
Marcel: In the beginning I never thought about where I want this band to be in this or that year.
Thomas: The plan was to write songs, play live concerts and release Music on CD. And we did that. Everything more is Bonus for us.
7. You released a new EP "A Trip of Violence", released Apr 14 of this year, how was the reaction for it?
Marcel: The feedback we got was pretty positive so far. But the amount of feedback was a weaker than I hoped.
Thomas: It is very hard to sell your stuff if you don`t have a big name. But every concert we sell a few CD`s. The more concerts we play, the more CD`s we sell.
8. Why an EP, instead of a full album?
Marcel: That´s a good question. Since the approach for our first EP was to show the whole spectrum of the band we wanted a second EP that made the statement that we now know where we belong musically. Of course, we could probably have done that with a full album also. And one thing is sure – it was not our lack of material. We just felt this is the right choice.
Thomas: In my opinion it was a mistake. We have more than 40 songs, maybe 20 good enough and ready for release. It would have been better to release an album
9. You have a new album I heard about to be released in 2019? Can you tell us anything about it?
Thomas: Yes, new stuff mixed with unreleased old stuff. It will be the hardest and heaviest Dawn Ahead release ever.
Marcel: Our next release is going to be a full length album. We have written some songs and right now we are starting to put them together in rehearsal. With 2019 we definitely raised the bar for ourselves. We have no studio booked yet, so it can maybe take until late 2019 to start recording and then it would be 2020 when it´s released.
10. How long does it take from writing to finally getting it down to CD recordings?
Thomas: Much to long. Most of the “Trip of Violence” songs were written 4-5 years before.
But for our next release most of the songs will be not older than 1 or 2 Years.
Marcel: It takes years! :-D I always add the date to a new song when I finished writing it. And recently I looked at it and found out that for example the bonus-track “Capturing Hell” from our 2018 released “A Trip of Violence” was written in 2013.
11. You have some tour dates in November, are you excited about that?
Marcel: I am really looking forward to it and we are in the middle of preparation for this.
Thomas: Yes. We have 4 concerts in November and we are eager to play live again.
12. Where they something you wanted to do, and places you wanted to play?
Marcel: Not a definite place, but I would like to play a tour including gigs in other countries at least once.
Thomas: I would like to play an open-air concert. That's still missing in my collection.
13. What is the craziest thing that has happened to you guys while doing shows?
Thomas: We played for friends at a wedding. In the middle of the set they spited on our Singer. ??
Marcel: From me it was at a gig outside in a forest with a cool stage that had stairs going down to the audience. And when we started playing “Whiplash” from Metallica our bassist Pocho just went into the audience and started moshing with them. We didn´t know he was going to do it – and I think he didn´t either. He just went for it when felt like doing it.
14. What has been the best concert you attended, and what made it so good?
Marcel: Maybe not playingwise, but the best experience we had was probably to open at the “A Chance for Metal”-Festival in 2017. We were the first to play and considering that there were quite some people and I felt like they were hungry for heavy music.
Thomas: For me it was the long heavy night warm up 2016, because I never had more beer before the concert ??
15. After your 2019 release, will you be doing tours to support?
Marcel: We´ll have to see, but this is the goal yes.
16. Is there anything you would like to say to the people out there?
Thomas: Never stop to support the Underground.
Marcel: Besides checking out our new songs, which you can do online at all the known platforms, you should check out the new “Halloween” movie also, when you are a fan of the series like me.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with us here at Metaltitans. Much appreciated.
Thomas: Thank you guys for supporting underground Bands around the World.