Check out this great interview with Patrick from Caliban (+ occasional input from Marc, in Orange). The interview was conducted on Sunday 6th March by street teamer Dave Musson. Welcome back to the UK. You went down a storm on your recent tour with label buddies Machine Head. Was it hard to win over a set of notoriously partisan fans? No, I think it was pretty easy to catch all these people because I think our kind of music is very close, they’re the same, maybe, like Machine Head, you know, the style. We were on tour with In Flames and that was much harder to get those people, you know? Your name is taken from a character in a Shakespeare play. Are Shakespeare’s plays widely read amongst German metalcore bands? Is it? Oh, I don’t know. What made you chose Caliban in particular? I think we just wanted to have a neutral name, you know, not like Cannibal Corpse maybe or stuff. When you know Cannibal Corpse, you think, OK this is death metal, but Caliban is neutral. It’s just a name, so the people are not influenced by the name as to what type of music we play. Your move to Roadrunner has bought your music to a much wider audience than you had previously reached. How soon after the release of í¢ä‰åñThe Opposite From Withiní¢ä‰åŒ did you notice the increased interest in the band? I think, with the new album we got a lot more people, you know? Roadrunner is a much bigger label, so they have more opportunities to show the people the music and stuff. The press immediately placed you in with this í¢ä‰åñNew Wave of Metalí¢ä‰åŒ when your last album was released. Do you see yourselves as a part of that scene or do you still see yourselves as more of a hardcore band? I think Caliban has been doing the same music now for years. I have been in Caliban now for two years, but when I hear the older albums I think it’s quite the same music. So it’s just a natural progression? Yeah it is. – We don’t care what category you want to put it in, it just our music. Who is the most annoying member of the band to be on tour with? I don’t know, I think Marc! Haha! M í¢ä‰åäóì Fuck you! No, because he’s a very strong character and sometimes I think we come together because of it, but it’s in a positive way. (Tells Marc in German that he loves him really) What was it like working with Anders from In Flames on your last album? It was very good. Anders is a very cool guy, a very nice guy you know? He was very easy to work with. He’s very, very good and very perfect in everything. Apart from Scorpions and Rammstein, there isn’t exactly a load of German bands that achieve popularity in England. Has your nationality been a help or hindrance in making it in the business? I think that it’s maybe more difficult as a German band to get a good audience, or a lot of people in foreign countries. It’s much harder than for an English band to get to the US or to different countries. I don’t know about for us, but it worked! Is the German metalcore scene healthy enough to produce bands that can follow in your footsteps in terms of gaining success abroad? Yeah I think so, because we have a lot hardcore bands and metalcore bands in Germany and there are a lot of goods bands but they have to be heard, you know, so that the record labels can get them. I think we have a strong metal scene. Do you have any tips for the future? I like Datsoil (?) í¢ä‰åäóì it’s the band of our old bass player. M í¢ä‰åäóì Heaven Shall Burn Heaven Shall Burn of course, but they are on a bigger label, they are on Century Media. There are a lot of, I call them smaller bands, very good bands and I hope that they will get the chance to sign to a big label. Who would play with Caliban at your dream festival line-up? All the other guys played with Slayer in Japan, but I wasn’t in the band at that time so I want to play with Slayer, I want to meet them, and I want to play with Slipknot. What do you think has been the key in you going from a small, localised fan base to having your music heard and appreciated all over the world? I don’t know. We just make good music maybe? Haha! Maybe we just did something that a lot of people liked. Is your set list for this tour mainly made up of songs from í¢ä‰åñThe Opposite From Withiní¢ä‰åŒ? Yeah. Sum up Caliban in three words. Metal, core, brutal! Haha! REMEMBER: Caliban are currently on tour with Hatebreed CLICK HERE to view the dates To join the street team simply follow this link