Sometimes I like to take a break from reviews and interviews with poets and talk more about lyrics in music, with artists I like to listen to.

One band that has got my attention lately is Synthattack from Germany that mixes eurodisco from the 90-ties with really hard ebm. The result is a kind of innovative and their music is perfect to listen to at the gym or if I just need some extra energy.

Bands I have interview in englished earlier in similar genres are for example with Sascha Klein (Neuroticfish), Rikard Tengvall (A PROJECTION) and Wayne Hussey (The Mission). You can find links to those interviews and some others artists in the end of this interview.

But right now, let´s dive into the world of Synthattack!

Hello Martin. My first question for you is how important is the lyrics for your Synthattack songs?

– The lyrics are pretty important I think since they give a song it’s identity and sometimes even create a deeper meaning for the listeners.

We have higher standards than most bands too and I want them to always rhyme and flow well even if it’s just a party track, so it can be tough to get them right sometimes.

Your music is very physical and also the lyrics. Which bands has inspired Synthattack the most?

– Uh thats a hard question. Of course everyone is influenced by his surroundings, so growing up in the 90s surely had its touch on me but more so the harder Dark Electro bands like Suicide Commando, Agonoize, Combichrist back from the early 2000s.

I know many poeple say we produce Eurodance – Dark Electro and that is certainly true on some tracks i mean we even have our tributes to Insomnia and Mr.Vain right. But we also produce other different styles thou sometimes even very dark and aggressive, it’s just that often the dancy clubtracks tend get the most successful 😉

How much time of writing a song for Synthattack goes for the music and for the lyrics? Is it 50/50?

– Ye well lyrics take a decent amount of effort but i like to produce rather slow and use some time to develop a track and perfect it rather than doing it all in one or a few days.

So usually i split it up into several sessions while having a good melody and good sounding chorus is totally enough for me to end up with the first day. Then I add more and more parts, create a good mix during that and finish with the tranistion effects before it goes to the mastering.

I’m also a firm beliver in creating songs one by one to really give every track all your attention and effort before you move on to the next, since noone needs more bad filler tracks right?!

It seems like alot of music (mostly mainstream) has a very low threshold on their lyrics. I mean, could you ever imagine yourself singing something that is not meaning anything or are just clichées?

– Ye I mean it is already bad to me when the lyrics does not rhyme and just are a stream of phrases, but even worse are tracks that doesn’t have a sense at all. But some people consume music just in the background without valueing it too much and then it is sufficient for them I guess, that’s not for me thou.

If we look little at your lyrics in Synthattack. There is alot of action going on there. What would you say is the red thread through your lyrics?

– Well initially I mostly wanted to produce powerful bangers with big melodies and hard bass to party in the club to, so we got quite some clubtracks with lyrics about it.

There is more in life than party thou and even thou I mostly try to stay out of politics, we created quite some deeper tracks with topics that touched us in the past such as euthanasia, suicide, break ups etc.

I guess what keeps it all connected in the end is that we never give up and rather keep it positive or at least energetic since even thou life certainly is a bitch sometimes it also can be great 😉

I like the power in your songs and think the music and lyrics mix perfect. The song The fire in my veins are for example my favoritesong at the moment, when I go to the gym 05.00 in the morning. How does that feel for you, that I guy in northen Finland uses your music to get some action at the gym?

– Haha ye that’s great man. It is always nice to see other poeple even far away enjoying my music and that keeps up my motivation even on times where I am not in the mood and rather uninspired.

Isn´t ebm and harder synthmusic in general pretty good workout music? What music do you listen at the gym?

– Ye I think so too. I mean that’s where I usually listen to music as well mostly in the gym or in the car, so I mainly like energetic music.

Since I am not just a Dark Electro lover but also a proffessional music producer thou, I have to look over the edge and also dive into other genres sometimes to extend my skills.

Sometimes I listen to Hardstyle in the gym too and I improved quite a lot when I was producing Hardstyle on my sideproject Sound Warriors back then.

Besides from lyrics in music. Do you read poetry and tell me about some poets that you like in that case?

– For me music has the power to create emotions to a topic and it’s lyrics so I am not too much into pure poems without that.

Since I have some other hobbies too I barely even have the time to read books nowdays and mostly use audio books there, so I can´t say too much about this topic.

(Photo: Kai Kestner)

If you want to know more about Synthattack, you can find information here: https://www.facebook.com/synthattack

Some other inteviews in english:

Sascha Klein (Neuroticfish): https://nickopoet.com/2019/06/29/nickos-lordagssoffa-62/

Rikard Tengvall (A PROJECTION): https://nickopoet.com/2022/02/21/interview-with-rikard-tengvall-a-projection/

Wayne Hussey (The Mission, Sisters of Mercy): https://nickopoet.com/2019/03/23/poetens-lordagssoffa-50-wayne-hussey/

Justin Sullivan (New model Army) : https://nickopoet.com/2018/09/08/poetens-lordagssoffa-24-justin-sullivan/

Jeremy Cunningham (The Levellers): https://nickopoet.com/2021/07/13/interview-jeremy-cunnigham-the-levellers/