Thomas Göttlich
Rebellion
Hi Lior, first and foremost I would like to say, that is it really good to get in touch again. I really enjoyed my time in Israel and will never forget it. I am well enough and very happy to do this interview.
The shutdown caught me quite unaware on the Philippines where I was taking a training to become a Divemaster. I barely managed to finish the course before I had to struggle back to Germany. Believe me it all was a really big adventure and became really scary when I realised that not making it back was a realistic option and would have left me stranded on the Philippines. In the end, I was lucky enough to catch the last plane.
The way we see the pandemic here in Germany is that we are finally looking towards the end of it and with that towards the end of all the measurements that had to be taken to achieve that. Yes, I am very hopeful that the vaccination will even increase and that we will gain the upper hand.
Rebellion made the best of the given situation. With all gigs cancelled, we dedicated the free time to writing that album. It gave us the chance to work really intensely on the material and by that process also to integrate the new members perfectly into the band.
We did choose to focus on modern times because we feel that the rise of nationalism here in Europe should not go uncommented. There is far too much at stake. We did focus on Germany because we are German and on France because the hereditary enmity between Germany and France has played a major role in both world wars. We are of course aware of the fact that there are other very important elements that we left unmentioned but a CD offers limited space so we did not see any other way.
Yes, I truly believe that at least Europe has learned. It all began with the reconciliation of France and Germany. It was indeed possible to build trust and friendship between our people. I can very well understand that this looks different from your perspective, we talked much about that when we met in person. That was indeed one of my main reasons to visit Israel, I wanted to understand how you think and why your government acts in the way it does and I must say that I do understand your situation much better now.
It took us Europeans generations to understand that even after such extensive wars like the two world wars the other people will still be there no matter how hard you hit them. Maybe one day the people in Israel and Palestine will also understand that and will hopefully draw the right conclusions but in the light of the present development that day may be in the far future.
Yes, I really do, I know I am a die-hard optimist but then again what alternative do we have? The only plausible alternative you witness yourself in your country and I pray that things here in Europe will not become that bad even with the conflicts between the EU and Russia. I think no side wants another world war, after all we all profit much from peaceful trading and we live in relative safety, which is not granted to many others outside Europe.
First of all, I do not believe in the concept of good or evil. That is a Christian (and Jewish) concept and it has ever served the purpose to divide people, us the good versus them the evil. All humans bleed red no matter of what race, color or religion. I believe that our action turns things into directions, what we do pays, so it is us that decide what becomes and what not. If there was an essence of evil, it would be easy to identify and root.
That is the principle of religion, to abandon the evil, that is why religions need that concept but in my conviction you cannot burdens some god to deliver you from evil. That is impossible since it all is inside you, it is part of you and it is not by nature good or evil it is your actions that decide what becomes of it. You must take that responsibility yourself and not leave it to some god.
The European Union is a great experiment, which has never been undertaken before, as I wrote in the introduction words to the album, there is no blueprint. Things never develop in a straight line but in sideways moves and sometimes even take steps back, that is natural.
The Brexit is indeed a heavy blow and it remains to be seen, whether that was a smart move. The economic status of Greece is not really a question of survival for the European Union since the economy of Greece is small enough to leave Europe economically undamaged even in the unlikely case of a total collapse. It is rather a matter of solidarity and responsibility to stabilize Greece and support it to master its problems. I think that Greece has passed the peak of their crisis some years ago, numbers show that the economy is stabilizing year by year.
To me it shows Europe after the two world wars. I do not believe that there is much that is worth enough to shed blood for it or even to sacrifice one's life. I know that many Metal songs say so in their lyrics even our songs from other albums do. But these are fictional stories, like movies if you want but in real life there are very few things that I would sacrifice my life for.
Since the Corona situation gave us enough time to really focus on the process of songwriting I did give the two guitarists a long leash. So we did try out some unusual harmonic or disharmonic structures, not all made it onto the album for it is still a Rebellion album but I do like every album to sound unique.
There are far too many bands out there that keep releasing the same album over and over again. I have always tried to keep Rebellion off that list. I believe that each album develops out of a specific situation and as with children it is the job of the parents to give those developments room to grow and only cut back developments that really go into the wrong direction. Of course that is easily said but all in all we do have two new guitarists and I want the band to become their band so I must allow some influence. I cannot say how the next album will sound for again I will leave room enough for it to grow and become unique. But it may well be that what you claim to be "next level songwriting" will remain.
Definitely no, I have always followed the principles mentioned above; I have done so as a bandleader, as a teacher and also as a parent. I may have grown a bit wiser with the years and maybe trust those I lead more to allow them more room but that has nothing to do with my abilities as a songwriter but rather as a leader.
Well, that was not the first considerable lineup change and it may not have been the last though I hope it was. The new members are all much younger than myself and that makes it difficult but also can be seen as a great chance. I believe we have successfully combined the advantages of the youngbloods with the wisdom of age. That does not only concern songwriting but also the organization of the band. We have distributed the work on my shoulders fairly amongst ourselves and younger people are much better suited to manage important topics such as promotion via the new media. They are hungry and willing to work and that feels really good.
Myself and Uwe have always remained in touch after he had left the band. So for me it did not really feel that special, it was very special for the three younger members though, after all Uwe does have a big name. But they warmed up soon and were surprised how cool and down to earth Uwe is. Uwe does have a completely different approach to recording than Ollie had, which is another factor that has shaped that album. I really appreciate the work Uwe has done for Rebellion on the new album.
No, there were no such talks and I do not see that happening.
Concerning Shoa it was not difficult, I simply told the story from my perspective. To tell it from the perspective of the victims would have been a farce since no one can seriously claim to take that point of view. As you know I have dedicated much time to investigate the Shoa, I have even travelled to Israel to see Yad Vashem. And I work with students at the memorial site of Buchenwald annually. So the lyrics were not really a problem, the music was. After two fruitless attempts I decided to take my two guitarists to the Buchenwald memorial site and gave them an extended tour. We spent a whole day there looking at the site and discussing how that song could sound … well you have heard the result and I hope you like it.
I cannot say which of the tracks is dearest to me that is like expecting a parent to point out one of his children, they are all so different and each is great in his own way. The same I must say about my songs. The extra time we dedicated to the songwriting process as already mentioned above we used also to adapt lyrics and music better to each other, both new guitarists really worked hard on their songs and constantly changed details to make them fit better to their topic, it is great that this come across.
We hope that the crisis will be over in a few months and we have some gigs scheduled so we do hope that we will be able to play live again this year.
Tomi, many thanks for your time for this interview, I know that it is long but I had a lot to ask, it could have been way more, trust me. It was great to
witness the powerful influence of Rebellion once again and this album is simply mesmerizing. Thank you and cheers.
Lior, thanks a lot for your warm words, it was really great to hear from you again and I am more than happy that you like the new album. I will never forget the time we spent together in Israel, the long discussions, over too many beers and the friendliness you and your wife showed. I wish you all the best and hope we will meet in person again. Greetz, Tomi
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