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You want more Rockharz? Check out my reports on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4!
It’s the year 2014, I’m 17 years old and just returned from several months abroad and all my friends at home are going to a weird festival called Rockharz… One look at the line-up shows: EQUILIBRIUM are playing! What am I waiting for? Accompanied by lightinmirror.de, we went the 15km to Ballenstedt. Never mind that we had never visited such a metal event before, let alone in this size. What could possibly go wrong? So past crowds and the crowdsurfers we fought our way into the middle of the crowd and were really stoked for this band! But suddenly the crowd split, leaving a large, empty space. What was going on here? The inclined Metalhead knows: „That was a Wall of Death!“. If you grow up as sheltered as we did, you wouldn’t know something like that… So the first Metal festival was directly combined with the first near-death experience! But we stayed free of any PTSD symptoms and nowadays we are of course smarter. All the more beautiful then that we were allowed to witness a significant point in the band’s history at the same venue this year. Are we going to see EQUILIBRIUM 2.0 now? Find out, because exactly this question, among many others, has been answered by guitarist Dom Crey!
Huge thanks to lightinmirror.de for the pictures, for which she had to leave the pit in order to be able to photograph properly!
Shieldmaiden’s Voice: What makes EQUILIBRIUM unique?
Dom Crey: Definitely the composition of the music! EQUILIBRIUM has never fixed itself to one genre, even if we were of course packed into one genre by the fans. Turis Fratyr and Sagas were more Pagan Metal. Even at that time EQUILIBRIUM had many influences! Just think of Unbesiegt, which has clear influences from the Caribbean. It’s exactly the same today. We are always trying to do new things, be it instrumental, be it now with the new singer or just overall as far as the sound is concerned. I still think EQUILIBRIUM has a very unique sound. You hear us and you know, „Yeah, that’s EQUILIBRIUM!“
SV: What do you think are your biggest musical strengths?
Dom: The biggest strengths are definitely that the music is very catchy, you have these catchy choruses and at the same time you have this heaviness in the newer EQUILIBRIUM songs. I think with the new singer we will make a very different statement. We will generate a new influence and then use it to create something even more unique.
SV: Now, maybe the most obvious question: Who is your new singer?
Dom: Our new singer is, to put it clumsily, not well known from other bands. His name is Fabian Getto. We deliberately chose him because he can and wants to develop alongside us. We have a clear idea of where we want to go as a band in the next few years and what we want to achieve. We would like to realize that with Fabian. We are extremely confident that Fabian brings the right things: He has talent, he is motivated and he fits very well into the band on a personal level!
SV: You just released your new single Shelter and Fabian had his first appearance here at Rockharz. Is that the beginning of EQUILIBRIUM 2.0?
Dom: Definitely! A lot has happened for us. As you say, we have a new single, new singer and a big show! This is definitely going to be EQUILIBRIUM 2.0. We are working on a new album and we are very enthusiastic and ambitious and we are doing our best!
SV: What do you hope to gain from this new beginning?
Dom: We clearly want to push EQUILIBRIUM forward and raise it to a new level. I don’t want to talk about a revival here, because we never left, but we would like to realize our musical influences, which we share, in this music. We want to realize ourselves, because music is a „product“, that comes from the heart. If this product would not come from the heart, it would be a bad product! We read a lot online and we already realize that there are people who want Turis Fratyr or Sagas again, but we also know that as a band we wouldn’t be able to do that in 2023. We believe, after all we are talking about it internally, that it wouldn’t be the right thing to go back to our roots. EQUILIBRIUM has never lost its core identity with the orchestral elements, with these flutes, with all the things that made EQUILIBRIUM and the sound unique! Of course the vocals are different now, the guitars are heavier and you can also say that there is a Metalcore influence, but that’s exactly where we put our heart and soul behind it. A band must always stand behind its own music with heart and soul!
SV: What would you say to all those who have written you off now after the singer change and maybe also after the last album? Who say that EQUILIBRIUM is now finally dead?
Dom: Then we find that very sad, of course, but I can only refer to my previous statement: We as a band, and from our point of view this actually applies to all artists, have to stand behind our art. With the euphoria and ambition, we very much hope that people will like us again someday, even those who liked the earlier albums better and who have now written us off. As unfortunate as it is, bands will always continue to evolve.
SV: That’s true! You just mentioned that you’re working on a new album. How will this material differ from your last album Renegades?
Dom: It will differ in that we will revive a little more Folk influences. In addition, some core elements, such as lower tuned guitars or the heavier drums, will continue to exist. We try to unite the core identity of EQUILIBRIUM with our new identity.
SV: When can fans expect the new Album?
Dom: We are trying to release the album next year. I am quite confident about that. Currently we are working hard on the album as well as on new songs. 2024 is a realistic year for the release. We’re also going to step on the gas again in terms of music videos and we also have a lot of live plans. Today, for example, we also played with Taiko drums. We want to constantly perfect and expand that.
SV: So the taiko drums will remain and were not just an element of your performance today?
Dom: If the shows permit that, then yes!
SV: They are not very handy afterall…
Dom: We definitely need the space if we’re going to use them, because they have their own riser and at club shows that’s not going to be possible. We were talking yesterday, just for fun, that it would be cool to set up more of those drums. It would be awesome to tour with strings at some point and take a brass section with us. But these are goals we are working on and they require that everything develops the way we imagine it.
SV: That’s a good cue for my next question: Where do you see the band in the next five to ten years?
Dom: It is my belief that in five to ten years the band will be on a completely different, professional level. I’m not saying that we weren’t or aren’t professional, but I think that we can push the band much further. The band will have a stronger presence in other markets, or other continents, such as America or Australia. We’re working with a lot of vigor to get a foothold in those markets as well. There are a lot of things in the pipeline that I’m not allowed to reveal yet, and it’s an enormously important goal. EQUILIBRIUM has been a very European band so far, even though we’ve had tours in Russia or Asia. So we are definitely expanding the whole thing.
SV: If you could wish for one thing in EQUILIBRIUM’s future, what would it be?
Dom: That we can realize all the goals we have set ourselves with the current line-up and that we actually continue to have as much fun with the music in the long term as we are having right now. For us personally, and you’ve already asked that, this is a departure, at least that’s how we feel now. There is an incredible amount of euphoria in us and we want to keep it up. I am also sure that we can do it!
SV: What is something you always wanted to mention in an interview, but never had the chance to?
Dom: Mhm… good question…
SV: Another band once complained about the bad quality of the beer in other countries, for example. But you’re, of course, free to tell whatever you want!
Dom: What is always a bit problematic for a live band, no matter what size, are festivals that completely ignore the safety aspect. I don’t want to name specific names, but we’ve had stages with cables soldered together on stage, with amplifiers flying into the air and all that kind of stuff… This kind of thing is life-threatening for the artists and it’s no fun anymore either! So that’s something that some people can take to heart: For some festivals bands are flown in that cost an incredible amount of money, but the band doesn’t feel like playing at the time of the gig because you have to be afraid that something will happen or that you’ll fly home the next day with broken equipment. Something like that definitely has to be improved! Of course I don’t know if this is financially feasible for some people. But it is a very important concern for me, because I have organized tours myself in the past, played a lot of concerts and also did tour management for EQUILIBRIUM. When such situations occur, the safety of everyone involved, including the fans, always comes first. For this reason, something like this must have priority!
SV: Afterall, we don’t have to take Death Metal literally! In closing, maybe this question: If you could send one message to your fans, what would it be?
Dom: Of course we really hope that you like our new song Shelter, that you can also share the development that EQUILIBRIUM goes and has gone through just as euphorically and with the same joy. We also hope to experience many great evenings and gigs with you in the future, because that’s what really pushes us!
A very fitting conclusion, don’t you think? So it remains exciting in the house of EQUILIBRIUM and it will be interesting to follow the further development of this band! But while we are on the subject of „following“: This interview was the prelude to a whole series of exciting interviews with incredibly talented people. So keep your eyes open for what’s to come! Tomorrow it will go on directly…
Shieldmaiden's Voice 