How were the demos Fog of Avalon and Lost in the Ages recorded? On a cassette recorder 4 or 8 track? Did they land you a deal on Merciless Records? Are you still friends with Volker?

“The Fog of Avalon” was recorded on tape directly with a stereo microphone, so everything was recorded live at the rehearsal place in 1993. “Lost in the ages” had a better sound because we went to a studio to record it in 1994 and we were very satisfied with the outcome of the recordings, for a demo it has a great sound. Yes, many record-companies showed their interest for Desaster after they had heard „Lost in the ages“ and because we liked the stuff Volker already had released via Merciless Records (UNGOD, MORTEM etc.) we agreed and signed a deal with him. First a split-7” with UNGOD was released in 1995, followed by our debut album “A touch of medieval darkness” in 1996. We are still friends with Volker, we work together for re-releases of the old stuff and meet here and there on concerts. The best thing about Volker is his birthday: He was born June, 6th 1966 !!!!

Question 2:
After Merciless Records you were a long time loyal to Iron Pegasus, how did you form a relation with the owner Costa Stoios, is he the one that helped you get discovered by Metal Blade?

We knew Costa already for a long time, even before he started his label. He was releasing a fanzine called “Tales of the Macabre” and also is a founding member of the “Hellbangers” Metal club. When we were young we spent several nights on castle ruins listening to Black Metal - great memories! At the end of the 90s it simply was time for a change, with Costa there was some fresh blood flowing around which is very helpful from time to time. Iron Pegasus was also a small underground label, so after Costa had released album No.3 and 4 we recognized that the bad point about underground labels is that they don´t have a good distribution, so that a lot of real maniacs from all around the world always complained that they can´t find our albums in their countries and that they don´t have money to order the shit in Germany, so we hope that this problem could be solved by METAL BLADE. There were no bad feelings between us and IRON PEGASUS, we are very thankful for the support Costa gave us and we are still friends!

Question 3:
How many years are you signed to Metal Blade now? Any thoughts of changing label or are you safisfied?

We are still satisfied with Metal Blade, they give us total freedom since we signed to them for the “Angelwhore” Album in 2005. The only thing we had to criticize are the too many vinyl version of our last album “Churches without saints”! That was a bit over the top!!!

Question 4:
I’ve seen Desaster live 2 times, great live sound assaults, what are some of the biggest names you shared the stage with throughout the years?

Of course we played many many festivals, also bigger ones like Wacken, Bang your Head, Summer Breeze…so one could say we have “shared” the stage with nearly all big names in extreme Metal music. Biggest “name” was Slayer, but no chance to meet them backstage and drink a beer or two with Jeff!

Question 5:
Tyrants of The Netherworld is one of your best albums, will you ever record something like that again?

Haha, I really think that our latest album has a lot of similarities to “Tyrants..”, which is by the way also my own personal fave DESASTER album, too! I really liked the dark and evil sound of that album from 2000, so in 2021 we tried to go in this direction soundwise again. But of course we don’t want to copy ourselves and we are also another band like we were in 2000 or in the beginning in 1989! But I can understand people who prefer the early albums of a band, I´m also a fan of for example “Endless Pain”, “Infernal Overkill”, “Obsessed by Cruelty”…and prefer these albums to the newer outputs of the bands.

Question 6:
What was your best selling album so far?

Oh, I don´t know about sales, and I really don´t care. We sell quite good for an underground band, but of course its not enough to live from the music.

Question 7:
Does Hellhangers Moselfranken still exist?

Yes, since 1996 the Hellbangers organize parties and concerts in our region around Koblenz, although nowadays the over 30 members of the club don´t meet that often any more.

Question 8:
In my opinion you play pure metal, are you also sometimes influenced by 70s hard rock?

Well, I must say that when I started to listen to Metal in 1986 I soon discovered the extreme and harder bands for me, so the older bands were some kind of “grandfathers” Rock shit which I laughed about. So the old DESASTER stuff has absolutely no Rock influences. But the older I get the more I get back in time musically, I already reached the 60s right now and listen to The Beatles from time to time! So, a few Rock influences might be recognized in the newer DESASTER stuff.

Question 9:
Are there any secret recordings of Desaster no one knows about, like unreleased demos?

No, of course there are some not finished recordings and fragments in my cupboard, but nothing ready or worth to release. Also our old rehearsal tapes from 1989-1990 were to bad to release! You can listen to the “best” songs of that time on some anniversary compilations we did, the rest is really childish shit, harhar! We were 16 year old kids which couldn´t play their instruments.

Question 10:
Are you busy working on a new album for Metal Blade?

Yes, songwriting is the most enjoyable thing for me being in a band, so we are constantly writing new songs and we already have written a lot of stuff again! We plan to record that shit in autumn, so beware of the 10th DESASTER album in 2025!!!

11:
Final words are yours, feel free to do some promo…

I wish to thank all the loyal fans out there who supported us within the years! To all who buy our albums, Shirts etc. and visit our shows – you rule!!! We will soon meet for a beer!!!! Cheers and BANG…OR BE BANGED!!!!!!
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BANG OR BE BANGED !!!

INFERNAL KUSCHKE
Master of the six silver strings of hell