"We're definietly a live band and this is clearly our focus for the near future. We have three outstanding albums out now so it's time to promote them on- and off-stage around this planet before we release some more stuff"
Wanting to accept or not, but Switzerland is a country that some very influential metal bands came out from. Many of them were highly underrated thrash metal bands in the past. From this country are Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Coroner, Tryptikon, ... Surelly, its place on this list deserves the band Battalion also, but not only because of the fact that they are from Switzerland, but because they are fucking awesome! Under this name, they exist since 2006 (from 2001 till 2006 they played under the name Corpus Delicti). In their discography there are three full length albums, together with the album Generation Movement from april this year. At the moment they are one of the hottest bands in Europe and you just cannot avoid them. For years they are holding top spots on Swiss webzine Metal Factory's list as the „best Swiss band“ and „best show in Switzerland“.The most recent news from the Battalion camp is that Switzerland's label Miner Recordings gor rights to distribute all three albums in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia. This interview is conducted through the label Miner Recordings and thanks to Milan von Stone, the label director. All these are good enough reasons to have a word or two with them... well, just a bit about everything.
At the very begining, please introduce the current band's line-up.
Our current line-up, since three years now, consists of Silvan Etzensperger on vocals and guitar, Samuel Riedener on drums, Clode Hürlimann on guitar and Alexander Gubler on bass.
All the way back in 2006, two brothers Etzensperger (Silvan, vocals/guitar and Cyril, guitar) started with jaming with Samy Riedener (drums). How good or bad for the band can be the fact that two brothers are playing in the same band, and the same instrument?
At this early stage it was an advantage becuase they have spent nearly every free minute jamming together, even when their were at home. While Cyril provided solid rythm guitar lines, Silvan focused on the melodic parts, so they have always complemented great.
The same year, The Fight for Metal demo was released, gathered some good feedback. Gig activity followed. Who played bass in that time for three years, because I know from your biography that Lukas Marti became the band member in 2009? How did you manage for three years without full-time bass player?
For Silvan, Cyril and Samy, playing in this band was priority number one. It turned our as a challenge finding the right personality on the bass but also to drive forward the band, so we had a few changes over these three years. With Lukas we've found the right one for it.
In February 2010, first full-length Underdogs was released. Please, compare the demo and first album? Where do you see the bands development in between two releases? Why have you choose to have almost the same cover-art on both releases?
When we released our demo The Fight For Metal in 2010 trough the Swiss independent label Quam Libet Records, we were thinking of releasing our debut album. We got this awesome cover art from Paul Raymond Gregory which was designed for Saxon's album Metalhead. Fortunately they've decided to take a different one so this was still available. After the release we've gathered live experience and developed ourrselves further. We've decided to demote The Fight For Metal into a demo and re-release it in a simiar form as our debut album. We were still unknown and it would have been a shame to burn this great art, so we decided to use the same one as base for our first worldwide released album trough the German independent Label Silverwolf Production. As you can see and hear, the quality of Underdogs is more advanced, in every aspect.
Only six months after the release, original and founding member Cyril Etzensperger passed away by suicide. How have you guys survived that period? High respect for the decision to keep the Battalion flame burning?
That was a very tragic moment for all of us. In his farewell letter, Cyril encouraged us to look forward and continue with Battalion. This is what we did. Worth mentioning in this regard is, that many tracks on our albums Set The Phantom Afire und Generation Movement are still influenced by him.
Only two months after this, you guys were back on stage, with live-guitarist Leandro Pacheco. How hard must have been for him to fill Cyrils boots in such a short time?
Cyril's suicide was an enourmus setback for us, but cancelling shows was and is never an option for us, so with Leandro as temporary guitarist we've bridged this depth. Due to different priorities we were aware that this interim solution does not last forever, so we started relatively early to look for a successor which we've found in Clode Hürlimann.
In 2011 Clode Hürlimann (guitar) joined the band and the line-up was complete again. First European tour called „Underdogs Over Europe Tour“ followed with shows all over Europe. In 18 days 14 succesfull shows! That is a lot. What was the hardest thing during that tour? Who did you play with? Any interesting stories from the tour?
It was the first time for us that we've played so many shows in a row, so it was kind of a new experiace to deal with it. For example, we wont drink alcohol before the show... but I guess you know how impossible this is in Eastern European countries. We were driving ourselves in our band bus, so next to all these great shows and great people we've met.
At the beginning of 2012, Lukas Marti left the ranks, and got replaced with Alexander Gubler. Tell our readers, how those line-up changes in such a short time span influence the music of the band? Do you see any changes in bands music because of that?
Finding the right bass player was an issue since Battalion exists. So between the release of our demo The Fight For Metal and our debut album Underdogs we've been trough several changes in this position. The fact, that we wanted to promote Underdogs after its release brought us to the point, where we needed a reliable and good bassist. Lukas turned our to be the right chioce.
After „Bloodstock Open Air“ in England, the second album Set the Phantom Afire was released (september of 2012). Previous effort went through Silverwolf Productions,but this one went independently. What happened? How did you get the promotion for it?
After a few months, Silverwolf Productions went bakrupt. We first struggled to get the rights for it back, but finanally got them and started promoting the album ourselves. In the first instance we were trying to find a new label, without any success as you can see. Meanwhile we're built up our own network and are positioned quite well. We have a distribution in Europa, America and Asia, which we now working on to expand even for individual countries.
In that period you've played with bands as Slayer and Machine Head in Zurich, and at Wacken Open Air. Tell me something about that experience? How does it look like to play with thrash gigants like Slayer and Machine Head? Give me you inpressions on your Wacken appearance?
These shows were great expeariences. Such opportunities as supporting Slayer or similar bands confirmes, that we're doing everything right. In addition, its an awesome feeling to see people – who do not know us beforehand and which are most likely came to see the main act – going crazy infront of the stage. That's exactly why we're doing this. Also, it has shown us, that bands who have achieved something are much more down to earth than many other (unknown) bands. Great people, also due to the fact that Kerry King was keen on a shirt of ours. Playing at Wacken Open Air was on of our highlights so far, tough we won the Swiss metal battle to play there. The organisation of this festival – no matter what other people say – was outstanding. Also was our audience. You can watch our full performance of this show on YouTube by the way. With great pleasure again, but it would be nice to play there without needing to win a contest first.
Generation Movement was recorded in September of 2014, and got relased in April this year, also independently. Does it means that you gave up on finding a label, or that you as a band would like to have full conrol on everything conncted with the band and its music?
We had long discussions regarding this topic, but we decided to act without any label. For us it's more important to deal with people who are supporting us for what we do, and not primarily for how much money we bring them. We're open for cooperations like this one with Miner Recordings and appreciate them very much, but in general we try to do the distribution of our albums and also merchandise ourselves.
How are you satisfied with how Generation Movement came out? If you could, would you make some changes, do something differently?
We are very satisfied with the final result and can stand behind it hundred percent. Generation Movement is just great!
Do you allready have som feedback on the album? How are your fans happy with the new material?
After the release of Generation Movement, we played more then twenty shows in ten countries to promote our new material. The feedback there was enourmous and this is the main reason we're doing what we're doing.
Where do you see Battalion in near future?
We're definietly a live band and this is clearly our focus for the near future. We have three outstanding albums out now so it's time to promote them on- and off-stage around this planet before we release some more stuff. We'd appreciate if you help us to!
"We played a few shows in Serbia and Croatia and the audience was awesome there. With this cooperation we aim to promote our three albums and buil up a fanbase in these countries"
Switzerland based label Miner Recordings got right to distribute all three sof your albums in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia. What do you expect from this project?
We played a few shows in Serbia and Croatia and the audience was awesome there. With this cooperation we aim to promote our three albums and buil up a fanbase in these countries.
Any plans for coming to Balkans and play in front of thrash metal maniacs in Serbia, maybe?
No concrete plans for early 2016, but if we notice that the demand is there in the near future, we will take it in mind of course. As said before, we had great experience in this part of Europe so we'd really look forward to have a thrash metal party with you.
It was my privilege and pleasure to do this interview. Any finishing words for this interview?
Thanks for your effort, Igor. For all thrash maniacs out there: Check out our three albums if you're into old school thrash metal – you will love 'em. Support us by following us on Facebook and YouTube and we hope to meet you all very soon at shows in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzogivina, Macedonia and Serbia. You'll be the next to get infected!
Words: Igor Vlad Zivic
All Right Reserved by Milan von Stone @ Miner Recordings
Date: 27.11.2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nERt139ihgU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP03nc81yN8
https://www.facebook.com/battalionofficial/?fref=ts
