I hate the music business, I hate it.

We are here with Debauchery’s Thomas. Thomas, thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Yes, thank you for asking. *laughs*

How are things in your world?

Everything goes its course, everything is ok.

You have just completed your Debauchery vs. Blood God tour, which contained 35 shows all over Europe to celebrate the release of the 2016 album Thunderbeast. Congratulations on that.

Thank you very much.

How was it?

It was great. Everything was ok, a lot of work of course, we had to drive long distances. I don’t know how many thousands of kilometres, but we had no accidents, all concerts have taken place, so for me this means everything was ok. And most of the shows were cool too. *laughs*

That’s very nice! The Thunderbeast album contains 2 CDs.

3! 3 CDs.

We’re going to get to that. *laughs*

Ok, good.

CD1 has Debauchery growls, CD2 has the same music but with the rocky Blood God voice. Why is that?

I have a rock and roll band since 2010, first called Big Ball, if you know it? Do you know Big Ball?

No…

Not? Ok. We were on tour with Saxon and Doro and it was a complicated story with the record label, so I had to rename it and chose Blood God. Because I thought that everybody would know that it’s the Debauchery guy. Thunderbeast is the third Blood God album and they are all 2CD albums like the new one. The first was No Brain But Balls, then came Blood is my trademark and then The Thunderbeast. All had a CD with Debauchery voice, and one with the Blood God voice. I like my heavy metal voice, but I don’t believe the Debauchery fans do. *laughs*

The special edition Digipack of the Thunderbeast album contains a 3rd CD, we just talked about… *Yes* called Kill Mister, which is a tribute to Motörhead. Can you tell us anything about that?

Yes, I like Motörhead. Lemmy died and I had to do something. I thought I would play some songs I really like a lot personally. It’s not Ace of Spades, no hits, but Dogs of War. I like the Snake Bite Love album, I think it’s really good.

Big fan..

Yes, it was my first tour where I saw them, it was in the LKA-club in Stuttgart and that was really cool. And I was also at the last tour by chance. Actually I was at every Motörhead tour when I could, except when I was on tour myself, and I couldn’t go. I have 30 Motörhead CDs, everything imaginable; live, bootlegs, everything, best-off *laughs* 5 best-offs, I’m not sure.

And seen how often?

I’m not sure *laughs*Often.

Some shows where Debauchery and Blood God, does that mean you went on stage twice, or did you combine the music and voices?

No, that was one show in which I sang both, once high, once low and everything combined. We tried it differently in the beginning, so that we first played only Debauchery and after that Blood God, or we started with Only Blood God and then Debauchery. Or we played Debauchery, and within we played a block of Blood God or Big Ball stuff, but that was all bad. So we play everything together, that was the best.

And for the fans?

Yes, also for the fans I think. We play it like that since then.

Some shows where Debauchery only, and some shows were Blood God only, how come?

Just as the organizer wants it. When the organizer said he wants only Debauchery or he wants only Blood God, than that’s ok for me.

So it’s the venue’s choice?

Yes.

You have 13 albums to your name. As far as I counted…

Yes, I think so, yes

You just rounded up the Debauchery vs. Blood God tour last week, and today started a new tour; Wolffest, and you already have some summer festivals confirmed. I think that we can state that you’re a very busy man.

Yes *laughs* Yes, I think so. In the music business nobody waits for you. I always do my stuff, I mean, I do nothing else anyway. I’m living off it, I make music all day, but this whole music business around it, I hate the music business, I hate it. I don’t want to do the bookings, I don’t wan’t to manage it all, but I have to, because I can’t afford to pay someone else for it. So I do it myself.

So you even do more…

Yes. *both laugh*

You’re even more busy then we thought! If I understand correctly the Trinity of Blood Gods exists of 3 bands *Yup*: Death metal; Debauchery *Yup*, Hard Rock; Blood God *Yup*, and German Metal; Balgeroth *Yup*. Why did you split your music aspirations into 3 different projects?

I don’t know. That’s just how it went, it was a process. First I had it all together, always with Debauchery. And than we were in the category grind core, death metal… Actually it’s also because of the music business. If you want to be a tour support in the music business you have to be able to say it’s this or this category. People want to know, they want to assign it to a category. They where never able to categorize what I do, never. That’s why I didn’t belong to anything. I was supposed to tour with this comedy band JBO as comedy metal, I was supposed to go on tour as Grindcore band. So I tried to separate it a bit. The Heavy Metal or Hard Rock stuff, this is the Blood God thing. It’s because of the voice, my screaming Heavy Metal voice.Debauchery is this deep brutal voice. That’s what Debauchery is. The music is also a little bit more brutal too. And 2015 I tried to sing in German too, this has turned out to be so, because I’m from Germany. And I gave this German thing another name too, Balgeroth. Like with the super heroes of the Avengers; Spider Man is a single character, and Iron Man is a single character, but together they are the Avengers; so the Trinity of Blood Gods are my Avengers and Debauchery, Blood God and Balgeroth are the single characters. Or like Warhammer and Warhammer 40000. In a way it’s the same, but with a different setting and different focus. Do you know Warhammer?

Yes.

The one is science fiction and the other is fantasy, but it’s both war with monsters. *laughs*

After the Menschenhass addition on the Fuck Humanity album, you are now working on a new full Balgeroth album. How is that coming along?

I’m working on it, I write almost every day, I practice, I try stuff. Actually this is all I used to do with Debauchery. It’s all going to be on these three albums. This cheerful and positive… with this heavy metal and 80’s power was on the thunder beast album. This Classic Debauchery thing was on the Fuck humanity album, and the gloomy something … I don’t know, that will be on the Balgeroth album. We’ll see, I don’t know exactly, it’s not finished.

There was no date yet, so maybe 2018?

Yes, 2018 it will be ready, definitely. But it is not carved in stone, it was supposed to be ready in 2017, but then The Thunderbeast came first. Things turned out as they turned out. It is how it is.

As far as I know, nobody has seen Balgeroth live yet! Is that correct?

Yes.

Can we expect a tour after the release of the full Balgeroth album in… lets say 2018?

Yes, winter 2018, so this tour will be autumn / winter 2018.

That would be nice!

We will see. *both laugh*

I’m looking forward to it.

It is definitely to come, It should also look a bit different, the concept that is. It will be a bit different both optically and musically, but it still has to fit the concept.

Besides music there are some other projects concerning a Tabletop Wargame, Books on the Debauchery Universe, Comics, Miniatures and Vodka. *Yup* What can you tell us about those?

Vodka is a long story, bad story. A friend and I wanted to make Vodka together, we decided, we’re going to make vodka. He ripped me off, and he made his vodka and I thought, ‘shit I also want to make a vodka.’ We had already fixed everything, so I also made my own vodka. It was just a gag actually. He does it right, I just do it as merchandise. And then there is this tabletop thing. I mean I love Tabletop games and I always played tabletop games and I have always written a lot of rules, and I’m making figures like that and have a lot commissioned miniatures, and do some things myself. I just wanted to do that too.

The miniatures…

Yes, those where the miniatures. Ah, and then the story.The comics… The comic I have assembled just like that for the last album. I thought it would be cool…

And to talk about the universe? The Debauchery Universe?

Yes, I wrote a lot of things, some parts I translated to English, the rest remained in German. And than Graham McNeill, if you know him, he tuned the English part, upgraded it, so it turned out really good. He is a New York Times bestseller. He worked for Games Workshop, now he works for Leagues of Legends.

That’s also a game right?

Computer game, I don’t know it, I’m not sure.

I’ve seen the books about the tabletop Wargame, which contain very nice graphics and well told stories.

Thank you. *laughs*

Can I safely state it’s a Warhammer / Dungeons and Dragons kind of game?

Yes, I think so yes *both laugh*

The artwork, mainly by Adrian Smith, it reminds me of H.R. Giger. Those monsters…

No, this cannot be, what reminds you of Giger is from me..

Ah, you drew that?

Yes, I do that, everything that reminds you of Giger is from me. Adrian Smith makes these crazy zombies, monsters… He makes these Kings of Carnage monster types, and I know him from Warhammer, don’t you know
him from Warhammer or Cronopia or Warzone?

No, not really…

He is the ultimate, incredibly good fantasy artist. There is really no one who paints better than he does.

I like the Giger kind of artwork.

Well, that’s me. *both laugh*

Ok, nice! Is Giger part of your inspiration for music and lyrics?

Yes! Yes but only for art, the optical matters. I love Alien, Alien is the best, Alien vs. Predator. That is why there is also Debauchery vs. Blood God, because of Alien vs. Predator. That’s how it came to be.

But it’s not an inspiration for your music or lyrics? Because there are monsters in it …

Yes, actually it is…

Where else do you draw your inspiration for your music and lyrics?

Science fiction movies, horror movies, and most of it is Warhammer.

Favorites? Films?

Alien… Predator… *both laugh*

You just started touring Wolffest, today is the first show. *Yes* Well, we have already seen it, it was great! Are you excited about the tour?

I don’t know, I think so. I have to think about it first, it was the first show. I have to see if I do that well, we shall see. I believe it’s a chance for me to play in front of a different audience. I can not only play for the Debauchery audience, but also for the Varg audience and the Milking the Goatmachine audience.

How did you prepare for this tour?

Not at all. *Laughs*

Nothing?

No.

You don’t have a *No* special thing *No* you do at home *No* before you leave? *No* Something you do before you *No* go on stage?

Beer! *Both laugh*

I understand you take care of pretty much everything yourself: The merchandise, and setting up on stage… and everything. How do you organize all this in those small timeframes and still have time for interviews like us?

We do that after the show *both laugh* now I have to clean myself, then I have to clean up. I don’t have much time, I always have to work. Every day.

Very busy.

Yes, working every day, always working, working… *laughs*

What do death metal, hard rock and German metal mean to you?

For me it’s all heavy metal. I tried to separate it a bit for the outside, for me it’s all rock and roll and heavy metal, I don’t make any difference between it. I just write songs and at the end when everything is ready, then I try… Then I think about it; how can I sell this? How can I offer it to the record company and any bookers? I think it’s calledproducing. For me it’s all the same, I would not make any difference, I don’t care. I just play my guitarriffs and sing to that the way I like it, sometimes like this; sometimes like that! But I have noticed that it is not so simple, because people want to make a difference, they want it structured.

So if you write a song, you decide afterwords if it’s for Debauchery or Blood God or…

Yes, since a few years, yes. Before it was all Debauchery, and that was bad, for me it was bad. People did not even know, they all wanted the one or the other. I wrote hard rock songs and they said it was shit because it was not death metal. Well no, it’s hard rock *laughs* or what ever? I don’t want to make only death metal. And then I dismantled it. And since then it is better for me, deliberately. I write the songs as I want them and afterwards I categorize it.

That makes it easier for the audience to understand.

Yes, it also makes it easier for me to build the CD’s. I had some songs for the Thunderbeast album already finished for the Fuck humanity album. But I put it on the other album because I knew it belonged on the other album.

So you have also some things in store for the future already?

Yes.

Ok! We’re excited to hear about that. What will the rest of 2017 look like for you?

I’m going into the studio for the Balgeroth album, or probably Debauchery vs. Balgeroth, we shall see. I have some booked shows, and the Wolffest, and some summerfestivals, a few shows in autumn, but just a few. The next big thing is the Balgeroth tour in German.

We are excited about that.

*Laughs* Me too!

Beside the Balgeroth album, can we expect other things in the near future?

I don’t know, maybe… Oh, yes! This year 2017 we release a Blood God album. It’s a Blood God package, all three Blood God albums; No Brain But Balls, Blood is my Trademark and the Thunderbeast. Only in the Blood God version, only for hard rock- only for heavy metal people, extra as heavy metal package.

Just the Blood God voice

Yes, only the Blood God voice, just three CDs, all Blood God, all heavy metal, for the heavy metal audience. Without blood, without monsters. That will be released this year.

Sounds good! We’re going to wrap this up, so thank you for your time.

I have to thank you.

Any last words for our readers?

Yes, Happy Easter, See you at the Wolffest.

Thank you.

I have to thank you, many thanks.