The New Black" title="Search for The New Black">The New Black's debut album was very convincing, an excellent reason to fire away some questions on Christof (guitars). By email he was available to answer the questions.

Hey guys, I would first like to congratulate you with your debut album. I have to say I enjoyed myself a lot with it and I can’t wait to hear the next one. What are the overall reactions towards the album?

'Hi there. Christof here from The New Black. Thanks for listening. Glad to hear you like the album. Cool. The overall reactions were pretty good, and we're not just saying that: even the pre-production got "Demo of the month" in 4 big German magazines. Most of the reviews were very favourable; in fact, we waited a little for someone to rip it apart. But of course it came, haha, and ripping us apart they did! But the reactions were really really good.

We started it just for the fun, because of THE MUSIC, and had no clue how far this would go. We booked our first show before the songs were all ready, and then we somehow got a deal, and year after that the 1st show we played with Volbeat in Leipzig in front of 3000. So there must at least be SOMETHING right... :-)'

Can you introduce yourself to our readers? Who is The New Black  (TNB) and where does the band stand for?

'TNB was formed by Fabs and me at a festival, Earthshaker '06, I believe. We talked about all the heavy riffs we had laying around, then we got drunk - and decided to start a band. Surprisingly that plan survived the hangover. Fabs is a terrific guitarist, who has been playing with a lot of bands, among them Stormwitch, Runamok (still active, still thrashing), Paradox, Fallen2Pieces etc. I also play in Sinner and used to be in The Traceelords. Fabs brought drummer Chris and found bassist Günt a year later at the same festival, probably as drunk as we were (very!). We tried something with Chris Birx from Motorjesus (great band!!!!) on vocals, but he was too busy. So we got reaaaaally lucky - and found Fludid, our singer.

We're a nice little heavy rock band that never looses sight of the real reason: THE FUN OF IT. But since we're no newbies, we know what were doing. And it shows, I guess.'

'What the band stands for? You mean the name? Well, I had this name for a while, because it sounded cool. Black is cool, but a name like Black Mass, Black Rain or so is lame. The "new" reminded me of shit like "There's a new gang in town". The fact that TNB is also an expression for "Hot new stuff" was not important.'

One thing I noticed in my review is that the music of TNB differs a lot compared to the music of the other bands you play / have played in. What’s the reason for choosing a music style so different?

'Because we like the heavy rock stuff A LOT (dude, I love Zakk and Stuck Mojo!!!!), but couldn't use it in our other bands. And we're not 23 anymore, we're interested in a lot of different styles, and we even can play some! :-)'

Singer Markus Hammer is quite the find. How did you find Markus and how important is he for your music?

'Thanks. I agree. He is VERY important, because he gave the heavy, groovy stuff a "sheen", if you will. It's not only sweatbeerscream rock'n'roll. He can bellow like Anselmo, but he can also SING, and damn good, too. Plus he's an experienced frontman.

He was active for more than a decade with Motion Control Foundation, an alternative rock band from the band's hometown Würzburg. Fabs has known him for forever, and he knew that MCF was over and Fludid started to getting bored... our luck!'

How is the music in general composed? Do you rehearse as a band or is one person mainly responsible for the music that’s written?

'We live in 3 different cities. Rehearsals are very rare! :-) 80% of the music is Fabs, he is the director, with me contributing riffs and a lot of smart ass comments. Fludid does vocal lines, as do I (sounds horrible, but I don´t care, haha), and I write 90% of the lyrics.'

How does TNB combine with some of your other bands? Is it easy to take time of to go on the road with TNB?

'Well, all the other bands aren't doing that much. And TNB aren't doing 200 shows a year, either. So far the scheduling conflicts were minimal. And having more than one band is just a question of the logistics, and we're doing fine.'

A lot of bands say that they don’t listen to metal very often anymore, except for their childhood heroes. How’s that in your case? Do you still follow the nowadays metal/rockscene? Do you think that there are bands that deserve to be heard?

'Yep. I work in the music business, even, and especially Fabs, Günt and me are interested a lot in the metal/rock scene - and beyond. That doesn't mean we like everything, haha. And our tastes differ quite a lot, in fact, including Chris' and Fludid's.'

I compared your music with that of Black Stone Cherry a relatively new band. What are the influences of TNB?

'I understand that comparison. Cool band. They have more classic rock, though. We played with them in Cologne, and they ROCKED. (We did, too, haha.) Influences... a billion, but mostly: Black Label Society, Pantera, Nickelback, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Metallica, a lot of Thrash, a lot of Classic Rock.'

I read on your Myspace that you mainly will perform on festivals. Is this a deliberate choice or do you prefer club tours?

'We play everything we can, but in summer there are only festivals, one could say. There's no use in doing a club tour, if people are going to the open airs every weekend. We have no preference, if it's a cool gig, we're there - indoor or outdoor. So, nope, not a deliberate choice, it just happened that way - so far.'

How is the crowds reaction towards a new band such as TNB? Are there fans of bands like Sinner, Runamok and Paradox who are also picking up TNB?

'Mostly good. (Wow, I sound like a show-off here!) We played a bunch of support shows (Volbeat, BLS, BSC, Life Of Agony) or early slots on festivals, and it works. It's, after all, good head-nodding rock stuff, and we try to put on a good show. I guess some fans from the other bands picked up TNB, because they got to know about us that way. But it's not that our shows are swarming with Sinner shirts. Would love to do a double show with TNB & Sinner, though!'

Do you have any final words, that you want to share with the readers of Metalrage?

'Yep. We all shouldn't forget one thing: "It's what a song stands for and which scene it belongs to, it's what it sounds like. A good song is a good song is a good song - and can be found anywhere."

I would like to thank you for your time and keep on rocking!

'Thank you!'