Interview with Sodom

"No more tours!"

This year, the German thrash metal band Sodom decided to delight the audience with a new album. The album is called "The Arsonist" and contains 13 songs that were recorded using a 24-track analog tape recorder. No studio tweaks, no digital overdubs, or, according to frontman Tom Angelripper: “No plastic! The difference in sound compared to today's standard drums is amazing and has had a positive effect on all instruments. Naturally, the time and effort, as well as the costs, were also higher, but we are happy to spend the extra money for a great result.” Tom also kindly took the time to answer our questions about his creative journey, well-deserved rest, career break, and about history and war.

Hi, Tom! How are you?

I just got our new album, and I am absolutely thrilled to hold this beautiful cover in my hands! It is the hottest time for promotion, and I have a hundred interviews on this. But I am really proud of this work.

Many musicians complain that they get terribly tired of such a promotion marathon and strange or silly questions from journalists. What about you? Don't you like journalists either?

 No, not at all! Sometimes the questions are really the same, sometimes they are different, but it doesn't really matter. It's still my job, and I really enjoy doing it. We want to promote this album all over the world.

If I'm not mistaken, you're from Germany. Germany is known for its bureaucracy, rules, and laws. Perhaps the music you've chosen is a conscious or unconscious protest?

Yes, that's true. Especially when it comes to the 80s or 70s, the time when I grew up. I remember being the only metalhead in my school. Back in the late 80s, other music like New Wave or Deutsche Welle was popular. So I was one of a kind. Also, my parents and my teachers didn't like music. When I came up with the idea of creating a music band, my father was very surprised. He said I should find a job. When I quit my job at the coal mine, my father was very disappointed. I just wanted to spend more time with my band, become a good musician, and learn more. We had a lot of problems in the 80s, but it doesn't matter. We wanted to use every opportunity to make music, and we were with friends and other metal fans.

Many people say that being an artist or a musician is not a real job, that it's more like a hobby.

No, no! When you're a musician, you're busy all day. You're constantly working on music. It's not like you just go on stage for a while or go to the studio to record a track. You're working all the time. Especially in my band, where I'm also the band manager. Every morning, I continue working on the project. And also, if you want to be successful in music, you have to be a hard worker man. People say things like, "Oh, you're a musician? You drink all day, you party, and when you're on tour in South America, you spend all your time on the beach." But the reality is completely different. People have a lot of misconceptions about artists and musicians.

A couple of days ago, I was talking to Marco from The Haunted, and he said that he really likes Sleep Token. Do you have any new music that you really enjoy listening to?

No. I really don't have time to listen to music. When I do have free time to listen to music, I get out my old vinyl collection and listen to my favorite bands like Iron Maiden, Venom, AC/DC, and all the old school stuff. There are so many new bands coming out now, especially in Germany and Europe, that I can't keep up with it all. I can't imagine how much money and time it takes to create all these new songs. There are so many new bands now that it's incredible! Of course, there are some very good young bands. When we go to play at festivals, I have time to watch some shows, and I like some of the bands. But I'm not a fan of these musicians.

Can you call your new album in some way conceptual, or is it just a collection of good tracks that are not united by one idea?

If you look at the cover, you can understand that this is an anti-war album. Like any Sodom album. We would like to live in a peaceful world, without wars. If you look at the picture from the new album, you can see a very peaceful situation: two soldiers sitting on the ground and talking about something...but the plane from above destroys everything; it is a desire to burn the whole world. Some people have asked me. Is this character a reference to someone real? Is it President Putin or President Trump? Or maybe someone else? But it's not a specific person. It's just anyone who wants to burn the world down. I don't want to write songs about a big war or big politicians hiding behind it. I want to write songs about soldiers fighting in a war. In fact, I'm interested in World War I and things like that, and it inspires me to write.

So, can we say that this cover is a reflection of the modern world?

Yes, it definitely reflects the world. And I really like this cover. We worked with the artist for two years before we finished it. He's a big fan of Sodom, and he came to me with some ideas and sketches. I gave him a couple of songs to listen to so I could show him the direction. The album is called "The Arsonist," which I think is the perfect title for this cover. And I have to say that it was all drawn by hand. Some people have asked me if we used AI, but I can promise you that this whole album was made by hand, even though all these computer technologies are available now. I don't want to sell all this AI shit. It's obviously destroying the music scene and everything else. Now you can write a prompt and throw a couple of lines into AI and tell it to create a song for you like Motorhead, and it's incredible! But I strongly disagree with this. If it becomes a common occurrence, we'll soon

Many musicians complain that they feel pressure from the outside world and from people. Do you personally feel this pressure? Is it something that helps you grow or something that makes your life more difficult?

If I'm being honest, I don't feel this pressure. I want to say that right now, I'm thinking about taking a break. I want to stop touring. This is a personal decision that I made last year after talking to my band. I remember the time right after the pandemic, when we were constantly touring. We have a couple of upcoming shows now, and I want to take a break starting in early July. I want to spend more time with my family and old friends, and I have other things I need to do, like hobbies that I want to enjoy. I don't have any plans to return. I don't want to put myself under any pressure to promise people that I'll be back in 2027 or later, or earlier; I don't know. So, what I want to focus on right now is promoting the new album. And we're still working on other recordings.

I heard that you used to be into hunting...

 Yes, I still hunt. And it's one of the activities that I need more free time for. For me, hunting isn't about going out in the woods with a gun and killing things. It's more like a way to relax and go for walks. And I try to go hunting once a week, but more often than not, it's impossible due to the tours. You can go out into the woods 10 times and only shoot once. And it's still not a guarantee that this shot will be successful. But I enjoy being outdoors and observing nature. However, I must admit that it's an expensive hobby! I've already spent several thousand euros on this activity. But if you want to hunt deer, you need all the necessary equipment. And I don't want to use a shotgun to kill a deer! I prefer a high-quality rifle. These hobbies are also one of the reasons why I'm taking a break. I'm 62 years old now, and at my age, I don't want to just waste time. I remember all those tours, like to Latin America, and I realize that we always lost so much time. You can only play one show, but you have to spend a lot of hours flying and maybe a week in a hotel to prepare everything. I know that if you want to play in America, you have to fly there, and there's no choice, but at this age, I want to make a stop. However, I still want to return to some countries. I know that it's not possible in some cases. But I'm a musician, and I want to make music for all the metal fans in the world and play shows everywhere! We are one of those bands that are known in many countries. I know that I have a fan base even in North Korea! It's crazy, but it's beautiful! But they don't have a chance to see the band live. That's the world we live in. I just hope that people will find ways to resolve this diplomatically. I'm not a politician. I'm just a musician, and I can't do anything about it. All I can do is go on stage or go into the studio and shout about it and say with my music, "Stop it." Let's see what happens.

You've been playing for so many years. Do you still have the desire to perform in small clubs, where the audience is so close to the musicians?

Yes! I still enjoy it! We've played on the biggest stages in the world, but we've also had the opportunity to perform in smaller clubs. I love being closer to the fans and interacting with them personally. We always strive to organize meet-and-greets where our fans can attend for free. I know that for other bands, these shows are also a way to make money, and often, the fans have to pay a lot of money. And I hate that. If I have the time and I want to do it, I want to do it for free. I also like smaller clubs because they are more intense, more aggressive, and more sweaty. Of course, when you play at Wacken, it's one of the biggest stages in the world, and I love it! But I think our special purpose is to play in the smallest clubs. Because it's also the place we came from. When we were playing shows in North America for the last time, it was great. Americans don't like to spend too much money, but if they come to a show, they want to have a big party! And they enjoy every second of it, which is incredible. In Germany, people just stand there with serious faces. We call them the "music police" in Germany.

Maybe it's because there are so many concerts in Germany that people are just tired of it?

Of course. In Germany, you can see any band! There's a concert every week, anywhere in Germany. And it's also easy for American bands to come to Germany—you just need a passport. When we need to come to the United States for a concert, we have to prepare a lot of paperwork, get visas, and pay a lot of money.

One song on the album is literally about "the fear of being buried alive as a result of a false death announcement." Where did you get such an original idea for the song?

I'm always on the lookout for words that no one has used before for a song title or an album title. And I found this word when I was watching a documentary about World War I. It's a thing that often happened back then, and it scared people. When you're fighting in the trenches and a shell explodes next to you, you're literally buried under the ground. It's terrifying. It's also something I'm interested in.

It's so hard to find names now, because I think all the words have already been used...

 That's right. Sometimes I have a great idea and I Google the word, but another band has already named their song that way. It's really challenging in today's world. But I think I'm doing a great job at coming up with song titles. We have a song called "A.W.T.F," and no one understands what it means. But this is a song about one of my favorite bass guitarists and singers from the 80s. I don't want to say that Algy Ward is a big hero, but his life was so beautiful and so tragic. It was all because of alcohol and drugs. I lost a lot of friends because of alcohol and drugs.

Do you have any strange fears or phobias?

No, nothing like that.

Would you like to change something in your life?

I've already started changing things. For example, this tour thing. But looking back, I'm very proud of my entire career. I'm also proud of the other band members who have gone solo. But I wouldn't change anything. Looking back, I've often changed musicians, which is always a challenge. That's something I'd think twice about next time. My career has been quite successful. This is the main problem for a musician—when you can't live off music. But I was so lucky in the 80s that I was able to leave my regular job for music. This is a dream for every musician.

Yes, but now it's not so easy for artists and musicians to live. It's not enough to just create art; you also need to do all the promotion work, post on social media, and make five publications every day.

Yes, exactly! When you have a job in an office, you just do it and come home and don't do anything. But I'm always busy. Every day.

It's a really challenging path to be a musician sometimes. But it's also something that brings a lot of joy when you see the whole journey...

Of course! It's especially felt when I'm on stage. And when my fans around the world buy tickets for my concerts and all these CDs and albums. And I'm grateful for that, because all these people are giving me the money to live on, and the band is able to move forward. A lot of musicians don't think about these things. So we want to give something good back, and that's why we're making all the fan meet-and-greets free if we can. Or sign something or take a photo. I'm really proud of our strong fan base, and I know they'll buy this album.

We all change as individuals over time. And our perspective or approach to creativity can also change. Has your approach to creativity changed over the years?

If I look back, my approach to creativity has indeed changed. In the past, I used to write more songs about Satanism or Aleister Crowley. Now, I write songs about real life. And war is real life. It's a form of therapy for me. When I see all this bad news in the newspapers and on TV, it inspires me to write all these lyrics. I'm not a politician, but I can talk about it. And I'm still creative. Even if I stop touring, I'll still be creative. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and all these lines are running through my head, and I have to write them down. Or sometimes I dictate guitar riffs to my phone because I don't want to forget them. If the day comes when I have no ideas, it means it's time to leave forever.

Who was the nicest person in the music industry that you met?

There are no nice people in the music industry. Trust me, most of these people are criminals. When I talk to band members or musicians and they ask for my advice, I tell them, "Don't sign anything!" Instead, find some money and hire a good music lawyer. We signed something because we had a case of beer afterward. I'm not saying that all people are criminals, but many of them are. Of course, if a label signs you to release a song or an album, you'll have a chance to play live. And all of this is quite challenging for young bands. So I haven't met any nice people in the music industry.

And what about the musicians from other bands?

We are friends with many musicians, and they are all nice. We are on good terms with many German bands. Because we all came from the same conditions. There is a strong brotherhood among the German scene. We don't have any problems with anyone. We do our things in one way; they do their things in another way. But we still remember where we came from. Many of us came from the 80s. And I'm very proud of the many bands that are still alive. I think I could write a book about the music business.

Maybe you should write a book like that! I think the fans would be happy.

When I stop writing, I'll create a book about the music business! Many guys are writing their solo biographies right now. But my solo biography would be completely different. It's not just about music. I would like to write about music, about hunting, about private life, and about how I grew up. So, if I have time, I will start writing. But next month I'm taking a break, and I will try to go hunting.

Do you feel like a significant figure in the music industry and history?

Me? You tell me. What do you think?

I think so!

I think that other people can learn something from us or be inspired by our music. But I don't feel like I'm special. I don't feel like a rock star. I just make my music. And I don't want to change anything. Sodom is a band that never changes. We try to be the best musicians, to make the best music, but we always keep the spirit of Sodom. Nowadays, some companies tend to dictate that music should be more commercial. But we don't have any pressure from outside. We make the albums the way we want to. And it's good if people like this kind of music. My record label believes in what we're doing. If you buy a new album, you'll know exactly what to expect. That's how we stay successful. We don't want to disappoint our fans. Of course, we can also make more melodic music and more aggressive riffs, and we can play black metal. But Sodom is still one of the classic heavy metal bands that paved the way in music. So, we like to give people what they've been waiting for all these years.

Jenet Bonishi