Pyro: Hey Mille. How are you going?
Mille Petrozza: Pretty good man.
Pyro: Thanks first of all for your time. I really appreciate it as I'm a massive Kreator fan. First of all, I've gotta say I never expected I'd get to see Kreator play live in Australia. [Note to readers, I was about 9 years old when Kreator last came to Australia]. So I appreciate that I'll finally have the chance to see you live. Have you been planning to return to Australia?Mille Petrozza: Yeah. We've always planned to come back to Australia. It's a little hard for us from over here to organise a tour and we need to find a good promoter to help us come over, but yeah we have planned on coming back - it's just the business side of things that kept us from playing there.
Pyro: Endless Pain is as old as I am and you are a founding member of Kreator (who were originally known as Tormentor and formed in 1982). After so long, do you honestly still feel the same passion for creating and playing music that you did decades ago or has it become more "work" these days".
Mille Petrozza: Definitely. If we didn't have the drive we wouldn't do it. It's as simple as that. If you play music you can't do it without the drive and passion. Otherwise you would have to fake it and people will notice and that's not what we're about.
Pyro: Have you ever gone through a period where you considered giving up Metal, or just wanted a break?
Mille Petrozza: A break? Yes, but never giving it up.
Pyro: Is anything special planned for Tormentor/Kreator's upcoming 25th anniversary?
Mille Petrozza: 25th? Not really. We're not big anniversary people. It is what it is. The fact we've been playing for so long doesn't really have anything special about it. It's just time passing really.
Pyro: Now, for possibly the most predictable question I will ask. When can we expect a new Kreator album?
Mille Petrozza: I honestly don't know.
Pyro: Have you started writing any material for it yet?
Mille Petrozza: No. The be honest we've been touring for 'Enemy Of God' so much that we haven't really had the time to sit down and write some new material yet. For me it's important to wait for the right moment to really be inspired before I start writing. We definitely want to top that album so we don't want to put out an album that's not as intense as 'Enemy Of God'. We want it to be just as good.
Pyro: So it's a case of waiting until you're ready and have time, rather than pushing to meet a specific recording target or release date?Mille Petrozza: Yeah.
Pyro: Are any other releases such as another DVD or live album planned?
Mille Petrozza: We're doing a DVD version of 'Enemy Of God'. It's almost finished. It's going to have several video clips and some interview footage and a 5.1 mix of the album. Its not a full-blown DVD, it's kind of a mix of DVD and album.
Pyro: A lot of positive things have been said about the 'Enemy Of God' album artwork. I actually recall getting an email from one of the staff who write for PyroMusic.net with a big image of the cover before the album was out said something to the effect of "Holy shit, check out the new Kreator cover" and I agreed that it was fantastic. Can fans expect a similarly styled cover for the next Kreator album perhaps from the same artist?
Mille Petrozza: We're not sure yet. Leutke will definitely do the DVD which is like an extension of the album art, so it will be similar in style but different.
Pyro: When you're in Australia do you think you'll have much time to sign stuff for fans and/or will there be any in-store signings?
Mille Petrozza: Depends. We play two nights in Melbourne so we might have some time there, but we're basically in-and-out as usual.
Pyro: Any signings?
Mille Petrozza: I think there's one in Sydney actually.
Pyro: Sweet. Looking back into the middle-section of Keator's career and albums such as 'Renewal', 'Cause For Conflict', 'Outcast', 'Endorama'...honestly speaking, now that you can look back on them, do you feel they are weaker than other Kreator offerings or are you personally really happy with how they turned out?
Mille Petrozza: Lyrically, yes. Those were very experimental albums too. Maybe they could have had better production, but other than that I'm quite happy with the fact that we did these albums. We had to get them out. We started when I was like 16 years old and the first album, I was quite young when we went into the studio to record and our music never had a chance to progress early on. There was no time to explore so that's what we did with those albums. I think it was necessary to get where we are now.
Pyro: Yeah. A lot of fans abandoned Kreator in the 1990s. I remember when 'Violent Revolution' came out a lot of those fans jumped back on board and 'Enemy Of God' really hammered home that rejuvenated interest. Do you think that 'Enemy Of God' brought on a lot of new fans who have heard the album and since worked backwards through the older material and loved it?Mille Petrozza: Oh yeah. There's been a lot of people who have discovered the band through 'Violent Revolution' and 'Enemy Of God'. Those albums are the most successful ones in a long time. They've had the same impact (in different ways) to albums like 'Coma Of Souls'. You're definitely right. When a lot of people heard 'Violent Revolution' they ended up checking out older stuff and loving it.
Pyro: So 'Violent Revolution' and 'Enemy Of God' have sold well compare to their predecessors?
Mille Petrozza: Yes.
Pyro: What's your view on the current state of the metal scene?
Mille Petrozza: Well over here in Germany there's a couple of cool bands coming out. Newer stuff like Maroon and Heaven Shall Burn. They're pretty good. There's always really cool stuff, it just depends what you're into. The scene is definitely still huge.
Pyro: Are you in contact much with Germany's two other most prolific Thrash bands, Destruction and Sodom and do you get along well these days? I believe there was some rivalry with Sodom many years back?
Mille Petrozza: There's never been been any rivalry. I've never had any problems with those guys. We don't hang out much either, you know? Some people think that we're always hanging out but it's not the case.
Pyro: Do you have any stand-out memories, good or bad, whilst on the road with Kreator?
Mille Petrozza: I have a lot of them. Especially bad memories. Like when I have to wait 8 hours for my connection flight at the airport. Stuff like that is definitely bad. It's mostly the traveling that gets on my nerves. I don't like being on planes, I don't like being on a tour bus, they just get on my nerves but the shows always make up for it. They're great and I would never complain about this. Sometimes it can be a little bit stressful but the fans and shows are great and I have a lot of good memories too. The shows and fans are what matterrs, not the waiting around and the boring stuff.
Pyro: I suppose it's worthwhile in the end. Do you listen to much Thrash metal yourself?
Mille Petrozza: Yeah, some.
Pyro: What have you been listening to lately?Mille Petrozza: I listen to a lot of stuff lately. Anything from Arch Enemy to Sentenced, The Haunted, most of the new stuff.
Pyro: So you don't mind modern, melodic thrash/death metal?
Mille Petrozza: Yeah and a lot of so-called "Metalcore" too. I like heavy music in general.
Pyro: I've noticed a lot of melody crept into the recent Kreator releases. Would you say that was influenced by other bands you had been listening to or was it a natural progression for Kreator?
Mille Petrozza: I would say it was just a progression. I've heard this a lot and also stuff like "Oh you've been influenced by Swedish metal." and I'm like "No, they've been influenced by us, sorry" [laughter]. If you listen to 'Coma Of Souls' you can hear it there already and that's before those bands were even around. I respect a lot of the stuff that comes out of Sweden. There's some great stuff played there and some amazing musicians.
Pyro: Just a quick question. Will Ventor be doing vocals on any forthcoming material at all?
Mille Petrozza: Not on albums, but live yes. He doesn't like singing.
Pyro: Ok. There are a number of fans who believe some of the tracks he has done vocals for are among the best Kreator have written. For example 'Riot Of Violence'.
Mille Petrozza: Well, we'll still be doing that live, but not in studio.
Pyro: What the future hold for Kreator? Say in 5 years, do you plan on being writing, recording and playing live?
Mille Petrozza: In 5 years? Of course.
Pyro: 10?Mille Petrozza: Yeah man. 10 years is not a long time. it passes so quickly you don't even realise.
Pyro: That's good to know. It's great to see so many of Germany's Thrash metal bands still kicking and pumping out material.
Mille Petrozza: Well to be honest, it's not about being part of a certain genre. it's all about being a musician. If you have the chance to be able to record yourself and write new stuff and go on tour, you do it. It's a way of expressing yourself and I think that'd very important. Once you decide to become a musician and work at a creative level, and work as an artist, it's something that just has to come out of you. It's more like an inner drive to come up with new ideas and new albums.
Pyro: Do you try and push yourself with each successive release to come up with better lyrics, better riffs etc?
Mille Petrozza: Yes. Otherwise I wouldn't do it. I always have to top the previous album. That's why we take our time and will continue to take our time for the new album (which will probably come in in 1 or 2 years). Otherwise, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to do something you're not 100, no, 150% happy about. It's got to be the best you can possibly do. I take my own music way, way too seriously to come up with a release that's just mediocre. We want the new album to be more brutal and more intense than the previous.
Pyro: Cool. Whether or not the Aussie tour goes great, will Kreator be back again in the future?
Mille Petrozza: Absolutely.
Pyro: What sized venues are you used to playing?
Mille Petrozza: We've played in front of almost 10 000 people in South America headlining, then there's also places like Kansas or something in North America when we play in front of 300-400. It really depends on where we are.
Pyro: I think most of the Aussie shows are at venues with capacities of 400-850. Hopefully they'll all sell out but we'll see. Any clues as to how long your sets will be on the Aussie tour?
Mille Petrozza: An hour and a half. Maybe some will be a little longer.
Pyro: What material can we expect? Perhaps a bunch of tracks from the killer early albums up to 1990, then one or two odd tracks before the more recent stuff from 'Violent Revolution' and 'Enemy Of God'?Mille Petrozza: Yeah. Pretty much. A bit of everything.
Pyro: Will you be playing fan favourites or do you chose songs based on what you dig?
Mille Petrozza: Mostly fan favourites. It's mostly stuff that fans want to hear really but it's all stuff we would want to play live anyway because it's the same thing. The great thing about Kreator is the fact that our fans like the same songs that we do so it works out well.
Pyro: I want to go back to the early years of Kreator and even Tormentor. When you were writing the early material who were you drawing influence from as far as your music goes?
Mille Petrozza: Mostly early metal stuff like Merciful Fate, Venom, Bathory and stuff like that. Slayer, Metallica and other American stuff and some of the German bands too. All kinds of metal stuff and some Punk Rock/Hardcore bands like Exploited and Dead Kennedy's.
Pyro: One last question, what's your favourite alcoholic beverage?
Mille Petrozza: You know, to be honest, I drink some red wine and that's about it. If I wanna get real fucked up, which doesn't really happen that often, I go for Jägers.
Pyro: I'm actually enjoying a glass of red at the moment.
Mille Petrozza: Oh really? [Laughter]
Pyro: Yeah, love it.
Mille Petrozza: It's evening over there, right? [Laughter]
Pyro: Yeah, 8:30. [Laughter]. Cheers for your time, hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up in sydney. Seeya.
Mille Petrozza: Ok. Thank you very much.
- Pyro
