1. Hello Torsten, how are you? How do you feel now; new album is out, so you must be satisfied, am I right?

Beside a little cold and a surfing accident two days ago (a girl drove with her board into my face and I have now a nice blue swolen left eye) I am very good, thank you. Hell yes I am very satisfied with the new album! After months of (sometimes very long and hard) work the album is finally released and I got my copy over here in Sydney (where I currently live)... This is just a awesome felling and I am very proud of the final result.

2. Artwork of “16[485]” seems like conceptual work? Also the name of the album looks mysteriously. Is there any story behind the album? Maybe you can tell more about the lyrics and songs-names, because everything is in German, so… ;)

No problem. Well, there is no story behind the album (in terms of an conceptual album). Every song has an own topic. All the lyrics (except “Brücke aus Glas”) are written by myself and they deal with my thoughts, things that makes me angry or sad, experiences I made and so on. I am not into these typical “evil black metal” stuff like satanism/ paganism etc. My lyrics are about isolation, depressions, nightmares (and sleep in general) and this fu**ed up society... I think this world is a very cold and evil place and the modern society is doomed... We destroy ourselfs and we are not able to stop this behaves. It really pisses me off/ scarres me what I see/read every day in the news(papers). Some lyrics are about this daily madness and my experiences with it.

I also have phases in my life with really intensive repeading nightmares or I just can´t sleep at all (insomnia = agrypnie). Some lyrics are about these nights... It is really amazing and fascinating how big the impacts of those things are. Sometimes the whole next day is kind of unreal because your still captivated by this one dream from the last night or just a sequence of it...

The name of the album is a really personal story and I don’t explain it. I was searching for a long time for a good title and I had a couple of ideas, but none of them really satisfied me... And one night this number suddenly apeared on my screen and I knew this would be the title of the album. Sound weird, I know ;) But it is definately the most personal title of an agrypnie album so far.

3. What’s the reason for singing in German? Is it the best way how to realize your imaginations or you simply like German?

Actually yes, it is the best way to realize my thoughts and ideas. I don’t know why but I never thought about writing English lyrics... And I guess I will never do. I am really critical with my lyrics and it is really important for me to write very good ones. I pay a lot of attention on them and it takes me ages to finish a text.

4. “Exit” has received mostly good responses all over the world, was that an inspiration for your composing of new songs? Did you change anything in your working-process?

Well, I just love playing guitar and writing songs. So even when the responds for exit wouldn´t have been that good I still would write new songs and would release them, haha. It is my passion and my only way to express myself in a very own and intimate way. I can write songs and lyrics about thoughts I would never share in a direct communication with other people. But I can treat this things in my music. This is a very liberating process. If I would stop making music today then just because getting bored of it or if I wouldn’t be able to write good songs anymore. If none of this happenes, I will problaby do music for the rest of my life... Maybe not black metal but definately writing songs...

No, I didn´t changed anything on my process. It is still the same like I wrote every album. I am sitting down (mostly in the evening or the night) and play till I have some recordable riffs. I start working on the basic structur, add other riffs and some basic drum tracks to see what kind of drumming fits to each part. I add lead guitars, or delete them again if I think a rhythm guitar is enough at a certain part. And soon or later I reach the point where I think to myself “this song fucking rocks”. At this point I start working on the keys and the lyrics. Sometimes I already have an idea about the lyrics while I still write on a song. Then I start writing a storyboard or a very very rough version of the text. But mostly I start writing the lyrics when a song is complete written.

But even when a song is completly done, some parts are going to change in the studio while the recording process. Suddenly there is this very new idea while recording and it sounds just awesome. I really love these very last little changes and it is very refreshing for the final version of a track. It is a very floating process till the end when you write a song, I really love that!!


5. Work on the “16[485]” started directly after release of “Exit” or not? How much time you’ve spent with making of the songs and with recording? Was “16[485]” the hardest work you’ve done for AGRYPNIE?

Yes, the work on 16[485] started more or less directly after Exit... So I didn’t had a break in between or something. But like I already answered in the last question... I love writing music and I can’t do any longer break from it... Then it starts to itch in my fingers. ;)

However as far as I remember it tooks me a while till I had the first good ideas for 16[485] (I started completly from the scratch and didn’t used any riff which where left over from the exit session) and I worked round about a full year on this album (recording the very first riff till finishing in the studio). But I wrote much more songs then I finally released on 16[485]. So a couple of these left over songs will be on one of the next albums.

Well, in terms of time I have worked on this album... Yes, it was definately the most and hardest work so far. And due my plans to move for one year to sydney/australia I also had a lot of work and stress with this topic... Both at the same time... Believe me, I had days (and nights) in between where I almost completly freaked out due all this pressure and where I thought about to stop the work on the album till my return from australia. I am very glad I continued. ;)

We recorded 16[485] two weeks in the studio and worked basicly the whole two weeks without any break... Somethimes 10 hours a day. René played the drums, I did all the guitars and vocals. I recorded the keys already at home to save time and the producer phil played the bass because Carsten (the bass player at this time) was to busy... In between I had problems again with my throat and we had to do a break... Which we needed anyway because we had a listening session with the press to the new album on the summer breeze open air... A couple of days before I left germany (and actually I should have spend these days with my beloved girlfriend) I had to return to the studio to finish the vocals. I was already in sydney when I listened the pre-mixing and I had to send phil all my changes over the internet, instead sitting next to him. Hell is was stressfull but I love every second of the album!

6. From your view; where’re the biggest differences between “Exit” and “16[485]”? You’re definitely more mature musician and composer so you maybe changed your access regarding something. ;)

I fucking hate this question, haha. I think 16[485] is much more agressive and has a darker atmosphere then Exit. There are two songs on exit with kind of “positive” lyrics and atmospheres and there aren´t any songs like this on our new release. I also think the vocals are more brutal then on exit. But this is only my personal view. I really don’t like this question because I don’t care at all about it and don’t thing about the differences between album X to album Y. This is just unimportant to me. I also don’t have any distance to the songs to give a differentiated answer...

But well, in terms of “behind the scenes”... This is the first album where I wrote all the lyrics on my own (except “Brücke aus Glas”), we tuned the guitars way deeper then on any album before (which was a good decision to make the atmosphere more aggressive and darker) and I played all the guitars in the studio (on the albums before we prerecorded them to save studio time and budget). So in a tecnical view this album is definately again a step further...

7. Means AGRYPNIE some kind of self-expression for you? I mean that lyrics, music etc. reflects your life experiences (good or bad) or something like that… Is it a personal act for you? You’re the leader of AGRYPNIE, right?

Precisely. I am the leader of Agrypnie and I write all the music and lyrics. Agrypnie is definately self-expression and honestly I don’t know what other “activity” could be more self-expressing then writing music (maybe just painting). I love writing music and this is my only way to express myself, to deal with all the bullshit around me, to deal with my fears, thoughts, desires... With my dark side in general.
Like I answered on a question earlier, I write really serious and personal lyrics. There are stories behind some lyrics I would’t talk about to any person... But I could write about all this stuff in my lyrics without reveal to much... It is still a lot of space to interprate my lyrics in a very own way, without getting my thoughts/story behind it. It is like wearing a mask and nobody could identify you.

8. “16[485]” is the next album under the wings of Supreme Chaos Records, so it means that you’re highly satisfied with their work? I don’t know much about the label so you can maybe introduce Supreme Chaos Rec. little bit.

I know Robby, which is the main person behind Supreme Chaos Records, since my time with nocte obducta. After Nocte Obducta splited up I decided to start with agrypnie. The demo was not released on scr, but every album till our new one (which means 3 in total so far). To be honest the work with him is not always the easiest (Sorry Robby haha), but every time we have a arguee it is just a question of minutes till we bury it and laugh about it. We are not just guys who work together we are also friends. But well, if you wanna have a closer look then just check out the website: http://www.s-c-r.de/


9. Do you play live? I saw that you’re searching musicians so is possible that you’ll make a tour for “16[485]”?

Yes, we definately play live!! Currently we are searching for a new bassplayer because unfortunately carsten can´t continue playing with us. He has his own band cheeno and also he is getting soon a parent. So he has a lot of work comming up ;-) We also search for a keyboard player, because it would be great to have some keys on stage. If we don’t find one, we maybe play via keys from the laptop... I am not quit sure yet.

We are going to play a couple of concerts in the end of 2010, but I don´t think we will have a tour in this year. One of the reasons is I my current time here in Sydney/Australia and I won´t be back in germany till august. So I also have to deal with a new job, new apartment etc. and can´t start directly with a tour or something. Here comes the stress again ;-)

10. I work for German company so I’m in your country really often. What do you personally think about Germany and its temperament etc.? Because to be honest, I have much more better experiences with Belgium or UK companies and people. But it’s not directly towards you ;).

Haha, well… Like I said, I am currently living in sydney. So don´t ask me about germany ;-) To be honest, I am not that big fan of germany. Don´t get me wrong, it is definately a good place to live and there are a lot of other places in this world I wouldn´t trade against living in germany. But on the other hand I don´t “love” germany or love to live there. It is ok, not more and not less. If I compare germany with australia (especially the nature) I definately prefer australia. I am a huge fan of the ocean and my apartment here in sydney has a view directly toward the ocean. I love being here and there aren´t any spots in germany where I can say something similar...

And yea, I also found something here in australia which is as great as writing music... Surfing... I am really in love with this sport (actually I was already before I ever stod on a board), even when I just do it since a couple of weeks. I have never felt that free and alive like standing on a surfboard and riding on a wave (or getting really badly smashed by a big motherfu**ing one). It is a great feeling and a great exercise (but somethimes a bit dangerous as I figured it out two days ago). Well, not really black metal I know... Haha... But I really prefer this beach life instead being in a dark winter with a lot of depressions in germany.

But germany is still my home country and (unfortunately) I am going to return in a couple of moths... But I am not quit shure if I really want to spend the rest of my life in germany. There are much nicer spots all over the world and I think through my time here in australia my senses for adventures are awake. ;)

11. Ok, man, thanks for the interview and all the best with new album, I really enjoy the listening, because you’ve done something that is musically close to me..

Hey man, thanx a lot for your words, your patience and the interview!!