Dominik Ziegler

Nothgard

Epic' is by far the best word to describe German Melodic Death Metallers NOTHGARD. Notable for making use of vibrant orchestrations on top of a triple guitar assault, their initial performances at festivals such as MetalFest Open Air cemented their sound for enthusiastic audiences. 2014 saw the release of their sophomore album, "Age Of Pandora"; Matt Coe spoke with drummer Dominik Ziegler about the new album and the band's exponential growth as individual musicians.
By Matt Coe
March 31, 2015
Dominik Ziegler - (Nothgard) interview
Tell us about your own personal musical journey: what early memories do you have surrounding music, heavy metal, and how you made the progression from being a music fan into picking up an instrument and forming your own band(s)?

Actually I wasn't inspired by heavy metal. I've always listened to music when I was young, just regular MTV stuff haha. I started playing drums when the instrument was introduced at school, as soon as I heard the instrument I knew I had to become a drummer. Over the time the musical taste has changed into heavy metal and I've had my first bands, typical first cover bands. Over the time I've switched bands, got more experienced an now I´m with Nothgard.

Nothgard began in 2008 under the name Nordavind – what were those early years like, and why did you have to change band names?

I wasn't in the band at that time, but the name had to be changed to Nothgard as Nordavind was already used by several bands and so they thought of a new one. The early years were full of line-up changes, writing demo songs and playing the first shows.

You recorded and released a three song demo in 2009 – how did the recording and songwriting sessions go for this effort, and how do you feel about this product after all these years? Did you make this available to the public or was it purely a promotional release to gain a record deal?

Mainly it was the same procedure at that time. Our lead guitarist and singer Dom R. Crey is responsible for the compositions. Even more at that time. When the demo was recorded there were just Dom and bassist Vik in the Band. Nowadays Dom composes anything and then everybody is able to put in his ideas.

Your first album "Warhorns of Midgard" came out in April of 2011 on Black Bards. What are your feelings on this effort, the highlights in your mind, and what improvements do you think you'd make in hindsight either from a songwriting or recording standpoint?

Even though I wasn´t in the band at that time I have to admit that I´m very proud of what the band has created with that album and what we have achieved with it. Warhorns of Midgard is a great album that is cool listening to, and it is really great fun playing the songs live J. But I think with Age of Pandora we have created something that is on a much higher level, and not just sound-wise. All the songs are more mature and more technical. We took our time writing songs with which we are 100% confident with.

The new album "Age of Pandora" is exciting, dynamic, and very appealing to fans of not only Melodic Death Metal, but also those into Epic, Folk, and Symphonic strains. Where do you think the band improved upon the first album, and how did Trollzorn Records come into the picture?

Thank you. We all have developed regarding our instrumental skills, and I guess that´s one thing you can hear on the new record. We also took our time writing songs with which we were 100% satisfied, and those songs are more techniqual, faster and more mature. We have heared a lot about Trollzorn before and so we applied for a record deal. It all worked out very well and we are very happy that we made that decision as these guys are very nice and good persons working with.

In the past you've had a couple of keyboardists, but currently employ a three guitar lineup with Dom R. Crey handling the studio keyboards. Is it a difficult process to decide who covers what parts- as you end up performing folk and epic/ orchestral elements all with electric instrumentation? How does this work in a live situation (because I would think you would need backing tapes to sometimes reproduce the songs fully)?

Yeah that´s right. First of all we decided to choose a third guitarist as we wanted to be able to perform the songs live as powerful as in the studio and didn´t want to leave out guitar parts. Actually everything you hear on the cd you will be hearing live, as we sample e.g. the orchestral parts.

What have been some of the best live Nothgard shows in your history? And what has been the best personal show or festival you've witnessed as an audience member through the years?

Wow, in gereally this is hard to answer as we had quite some shows . We´ve had some very great shows with awesome people and an awesome organisation, like the Metal Frenzy or the shows we played in England or the Netherlands. But I think I´d go with both shows we had in Austria in Attnang. Even tough the organisators weren´t professionals but just a metal-club consisting of young metal fans, everything worked out perfectly. The same goes for the shows and the organisation and the people. But I have to admit, there aren´t many shows that sucked haha.

As an audience member... wow... can´t name one as I don´t visit metal shows/festivals that much. But I had a blast with Nachtmystium and Blasphemer at the Ragnarök festival.

Where do you stand on the power of the internet, digital music, downloading and social media? Do you prefer physical product (vinyl, compact discs, t-shirts, other merchandise) over MP3's?

Personaly I love having a digipack in my hand. I don´t like jewel-cases that much, as I think they look quite boring. But in this time you always have to offer a digital music download I guess as you have to go with the time. But I have to admit, that I´m quite suprised that there are still loads of people that actually buy a physical copy, which makes me very happy.

How do you balance the music responsibilities with a personal/ social life? Is it a struggle as well to make a living currently through Nothgard, and does your primary source of income work-wise understand and support your music endeavors?

Well if I´m honest from time to time it can be difficult handling the band, the work and the social life. As for me it´s not as near as hard as for Dom as he plays in three really active bands (Nothgard, Equilibrium and Wolfchant). You definately need a good schedule as it helps to manage all the stuff you have to do. But all our families and friends are very supportive and know what we are doing and most of them understand that this is what we want to do and that we sacrifice all of our time doing what we love. Most of us are students that go to university and study

What concerns do you have about the world that we live in currently? Where do you think the leaders of our world need to place their focus on to make society stronger/ better over the next 5-10 years?

Tough question, but I really don´t want to go into that that much. I think there´s quite some stuff going wrong in this world... Isis, Russia and the Ukraine, Gaza, child abuse... Just to name some current events... I think the people have to change in general. Respect e.g. is a word most people don´t know anymore.

Have you already started writing material for the third Nothgard album? If so, will there be different dynamics/ nuances that you will add to the mix or are you pretty happy with the direction the band has been taking through your two previous albums?

Unfortunately not, until now we focus 100% onto our upcoming album and the promotion. But until now we are very happy how the band has developed, especially musical and sound-wise.

What are your top 3 bands of all time, as well as the most underrated heavy metal albums that you think need to be heard by all fans of the genre?

For me without any doubt: Marduk and Mayhem (as I am quite much into black metal ) are and will always be the best black-metal bands out there. Hard to decide on a third one... Guess it would be a decision between Slayer, as Decade of Aggression was my first metal cd I´ve ever heard, Metallica, as St. Anger was my first metal cd I've owned (Decade of Aggression was given to me by a friend), Nachtmystium or Fäulnis... But I´ll leave the third one open.

As for the albums I will go with any Marduk and Mayhem release (not really surprising I guess ). Especially Steel Inferno of Marduk´s Plague Angel is one masterpiece I would love bombing into some faces... In the car I´m currently listening a lot to the latest Nachtmystium and Fäulnis album

Any final thoughts you would like to let the readers know about? How excited are you for the upcoming tour with Equilibrium in the fall in Europe?

We can´t wait playing the upcoming tour with Equilibirum, as it will be an awesome event in great clubs round Europe and we can´t wait to see and meet some fans that enjoy our music! So be prepared to party with us and get your beers ready

Also thanks to Matt Coe for the interview and to YOU for reading this interview!

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