It’s one of those fluke moments that you live for. One of those moments you absolutely can’t foresee happening, but one that you’re sure glad did.
The first time I was lucky enough to see Destruction was at the largest metal festival in the world, Wacken Open Air 2007 in Germany. That show in front of upwards of 70,000 people was absolutely earth shattering, setting the bar pretty high for all future shows. It happened to be the band’s 25th anniversary featuring members from throughout their storied history; including the infamous Mad Butcher. Beginning in 1982, Destruction have made their way to legendary status, boasting a loyal fan base worldwide.
On their tour bus in front of the Red Room on a rainy Vancouver evening, I got a chance to catch up with Destruction’s lead singer and bassist Schmier.
Schmeir was unexpectedly soft spoken and sweet, a far cry from what I had expected of the brutal band’s frontman.
With a heavy German accent, he starts by saying that Destruction’s reception in Canada has been good so far, with the exception of one show. “The show in Calgary was kind of a disaster,” laments Schmier, “we couldn’t play there because the equipment wasn’t there. So that was kind of a sad thing. But so far it was really nice.”
Destruction are a band with undeniable longevity, perhaps even more so than fellow thrash pioneers Sodom and Kreator, particularly given the underground nature of their music. Schmeir says there’s no real secret to their success. “We always did what we do best. We never listened to any other bands. I mean, we had our problems when we split up at the end of the 80’s because we’d been listening to other people. So when the band went without me for several years they also learnt their lesson. Now we’re back together we know what we want, and we know what we don’t want. And that makes us unbreakable somehow.”
Schmeir prefers intimate gigs at smaller venues as opposed to large crowds such as those at Wacken. “A big crowd can be very, not so much thrilling. They’re more anonymous this way,” he explains. “If someone is very close to you and is staring at you from two meters or one meter, it’s more intimate, it’s totally different. So I think small clubs are always great to play. The atmosphere is more close; it’s more of a rock and roll atmosphere.” He continues that that certainly doesn’t rule out playing to larger crowds. “The big shows are great of course because the audiences have a fantastic goose bump feeling. But the more intimate shows for metal are still a great feeling; and the small venues just usually sound better.”
The burly bassist loves to tour, and admits that he would likely go insane if not in constant motion. “We play a lot of shows every year because we need to be on the road to survive, but we also love to tour. When I’m home for more than three weeks I’m getting bored,” he laughs. “So being home for two weeks, on tour for four or five; that’s the perfect thing.”
I was surprised to discover that quiet, but opinionated thrasher owes a debt of gratitude to the king of rock and roll. “The first rock and roll experience was definitely “Jailhouse Rock” from Elvis Presley,” Schmeir reflects. “My father had all these rock and roll singles and I listened to them and they were not bad…but then this Elvis song, “Jailhouse Rock,” was just so much better than the rest. And from that point on I was looking for rock and roll.”
That was the beginning of the end for the young Schmeir. “Then I bought my first Status Quo live album and then it started to be rock and roll, AC/DC and all that. Without the Elvis though, I wouldn’t be sitting here. For me, Elvis was the start of everything that came afterwards; the rebellion. Elvis was a rebel for his time.”
Thrash is one of the most extreme subgenres of metal, faster than most others and heavily rooted in punk and hardcore. To draw a few parallels, the big four of American thrash includes Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and of course, Slayer. Schmeir says that that he and many fellow thrashers are indeed indebted to punk. “Without punk…for us when we started we had the fastness of punk rock mixed up with the new wave of British heavy metal. In metal there were solos and the guitars were better played, but we wanted to keep the energy from GBH, the Exploited, Dead Kennedys…bring that into the metal, and that’s how we started the band basically.”
As they progressed, both scenes became heavily influenced by each other, bands even crossing the boundaries of genre to play together. “We played with the Exploited back in the day; 1985. It was the first maybe ever punk and metal show together. It was kind of difficult, because the punks are not very tolerant. The Exploited show wasn’t that great, there were a lot of fights and shit.”
And Destruction had the same problem playing with hardcore bands such as the Cromags for many of the same reasons. “When I was growing up there wasn’t even one of those genres, it was just metal. And for me it’ll always be like that.”
“I always try to be open minded with the scene,” he continues. “We’re all fucking underground and we need to stick together. It’s one metal scene, and I’ve been through all the ups and downs in the last 25 years, so I have a lot of respect. For me, metal’s a lifestyle, not just listening to music.”
What can one expect from a Destruction show? Schmeir smiles, “well, we’re named Destruction so we’re going to leave a destructed crowd for sure.”
