Hate Force One is ready for take off

Hate Force One is a death metal band from Westfalen, Germany and founded in the Winter of 2008 by drummer Manuel and bassist Florian. After filling in the other band positions the writing began and in 2011 the first promo was released named "Ready For Take Off". Followed with opening slots for Bloodwork, Contradiction, Ulcerate and Svart Crwon and more. Recording of their debut "Wave Of Destruction" began in Autumn of 2012 and released in 2013 by Bret Hard Records.

First of all, please introduce yourself so we know how is answering.
Hi everybody, my name is Oempfi and I'm the bass player and one of the two founding members of Hate Force One.

As you are not the only member please say something short about the others. Good and bad habits.
Hate Force One currently has four members. Manuel is our drummer. He likes to bully Phil as much as he can. On the guitars we have Phil and Degi. Phil is famous for kneeing in front of his amp to create feedback. Well... at least he tries to! Degi on the other hand is the greatest junk food fanboy on the planet. Since we recently parted ways with our former singer Alex, we're searching a new frontman at the moment. For the last two shows, our friend Dome helped us out.

Hate Force One is that inspired on the plane Air Force One? And which attitude does the name stand for?
No, the name was inspired by the movie Flight 666 by Iron Maiden. Manuel and I had a band meeting (in fact, we were the only members at that time). After some beer and a bottle of Jägermeister we changed “Ed Force One” into “Hate Force One” and liked the sound of it. When you hear this name, you automatically think of forceful music and number one hits, don't you?

So congrats with the debut album and how does it feel to see the product in your hands or on the shelves?
Thanks! It's really awesome to actually have a physically copy of our work! The whole production including recording, mixing, mastering etc. took nearly one year. It was a really interesting and exciting process. To hold the final product in our hands is incredible and somehow unbelievable. And of course we are proud to see our self-made record in stores and at iTunes or Amazon. You should look there for yourself.

Did you re-record the songs that where recorded on the "Ready For Take Off" and the 2012 demo? Or pimped them up in mastering?
The two previous releases were recorded with a single guitar during a rehearsal. Besides Voices and Zombiefield all songs are on these demos. For "Waves Of Destruction" we recorded all songs again at Hate Force Studios, belonging to Manuel. We did some little improvements and changes at these sessions. The Mix was done there, too. For the mastering we trusted Eroc, who did some great work for Opeth, The Gathering and other big bands.

Did you record the old fashion way, recording individually or did you do some 'live' recording?
I think we took the best of both worlds. At first, we tried live recording, but we were disappointed with the results. So we recorded all instruments individually like in most productions today. But it was kind of old fashioned, since we used real tube-amps with microphoned cabs. So you don't hear any Modeler.

Looking back at the recording time, what was the hardest part and what was the most laughable?
The hardest part was to play tight and the same track over and over and over and over. We had songs with hundreds of tracks, including doubling and drum sounds. The most laughable was our guitarist Phil trying to sing death metal vocals. We are very happy he only plays guitar at live gigs. Did I mention he is forbidden to have a microphone onstage since?

And having the album out you must have some high expectations about the flowing royalties. What will you do with the first paycheck?
Haha, yeah, we'll buy lots of drugs, jewels, cars, baby unicorns and stuff! No, to be honest: I think the first step should be to minimize our costs. Everything on top of that would be saved for future recordings.

Trying to sell copies to people while touring must be fun. Now you can autograph CDs instead of boobies. Right?
That’s right! But we are all sadly looking back at the good old boobie days even if there were some very hairy ones!

So how did the past shows go? Arranged the dates yourself? Got good audience at the different places?
The last shows were very exciting. As mentioned before, our friend Dome helped us out and we had no idea how it would be. But we were all very pleased and the reactions were mostly positive.
In general, we are looking for gigs to play ourselves, but sometimes we are asked to play a show. The size of the location isn´t important for us as long as it is full of people who want to have fun and some beers!

Tell us how a Hate Force One show looks like? What can we expect and what absolutely not? And what is the wow factor of the show?
Some dudes on stage who play some nice tunes and do weird stuff, that's basically it. We have much fun on stage and don't take ourselves too serious. Instead of talking about and reading it, you should go to one of our shows and see for yourself. One little teaser: the wow factor is how much one of our band members can drink between 2 songs. 2.5 liter beer in a single show!

Which show was the most memorable one? Why?
Every moment the audience gets insane and bangs to our songs is memorable. To see some persons watching us for the third or fourth time is a real good compliment, too. So I can't take a single show!

Beside the good times on stage you must have some good laughs for us with backstage stories. Don't worry, everything will be kept secretly here.
One funny story is about our guitarist Phil. Sometimes he seems to be invisible, because nobody recognized him after the show. That happened 10 times in a row! We aren’t sure where this comes from, but it happened at least 5 times he was asked how often he has seen HFO. There was even a guy from a band whom we played several shows together who couldn’t recognize him. And Phil had lend him his amp at the very last show! This seems to become a running gag.

What are the plans for Hate Force One for the rest of this year and the ones to come? What are you hoping to achieve? And what are willing to sacrifice?
At the end of this year we will release our music video for 'Zombiefield', so you can be curious! Our plans for the upcoming year is to find a permanent new singer and go on a small tour next summer. The first gigs are already booked. Generally we are looking to be on the road more often than in the past.

Coming from NRW must be something special as the scene there is well known and vivid. But how do you stand out of the other bands?
We have by far the best looking, smartest and funniest bass player.

Beside the band you must have an ordinary life. What do you do outside the band/music? And what are your hobbies?
Two of us are students and work in a music school. The other have regular jobs. I for example am working in an iron foundry, so I’m into metal at work, too.
Besides I’m a big soccer fan! And of course we are all big fans of different kinds of music.

Humor is important in everyones life. What is your kind of humor and remember the last time you had pissed your pants from laughing?
The band itself is a very funny bunch! We can laugh at ourselves and we aren’t too serious about us. So everyone has a great time at rehearsals or backstage. I think this is important, otherwise five persons in one small car, about to travel hundreds of kilometers together, could have a bad time.

Can not imagine I forgot something to ask but if I do please answer it yourself.
That’s a good question! We don’t have a clue why we weren’t nominated for the last grammy either!
But more important: You can find us at Facebook, just look for HateForceOne! There are the latest news and information about upcoming gigs or further grammy nominations! And of course: buy our music, it helps a lot!

Your last chance for shameless self promotion and thanks for answering and good luck with Hate Force One.
I have to thank!
Last to say: We wish you a good time with our new record "Wave Of Destruction"! Hopefully we will see you guys at the next shows, maybe to drink some beers afterwards.

Horns up and stay brutal!!!