Annisokay are an upcoming post-hardcore band from Halle, Germany. We got the chance to talk to Norbert and Nico from the band about their latest release and upcoming shows!
So, could you please introduce yourself, your role in the band and your favorite album at the moment.
Norbert: Hi, my name is Norbert and I play bass. My favorite record at the moment is “Palisades” by Palisades. Great record and really nice guys. We toured with them and Eskimo Callboy last fall in Europe. Good memories!
Nico: Hey, Nico here! I play the drums, well… at least I try to do so (laughs). Beartooth’s “Disgusting” is currently my favorite. Hopefully sometime we can tell we also have toured with these guys, would be a real pleasure.
You released your third studio album ‘Devil May Care’ back in late 2016, how has the response been?
Nico: We’ve already added many of the new songs to our live set since our last tour in March and April. It was unbelievably amazing to see all the crowds singing along to our new tunes, although we’ve never played them live before. That was crazy!
Norbert: We’ll hit the road soon again with all the new material we’d like to go on sharing with our fans, but we already feel very blessed about all the reactions we’ve got to date.
You have previously said you had very little time to produce the album, what was the writing and recording process like?
Norbert: We’ve recorded the new album “Devil May Care” in summer of 2016 at Sawdust Recordings in Halle, Christoph’s own studio. He produced, mixed and mastered the record by himself completely. William Putney co-produced a couple of songs on the record so he worked with us on song arrangements, melodies and lyrics.
You got to collaborate with Northlane vocalist Marcus Bridge and Christoph von Freydorf from Emil Bulls on the record, how did this come about?
Nico: Northlane are a big influence of us. We played a couple of shows together in Europe and asked Marcus for a feature. Marcus lives in Australia so we had to work via the Internet, but he killed it right away! You wanna tell something concerning Christoph, Norbert?
Norbert: Sure! We were on tour with Christoph and Emil Bulls and became good friends. We had this idea of a feature and it worked out pretty well and smoothly. We all listened to Emil Bulls when we started to learn an instrument, which is why it was and still is an even bigger honor to have him on our record. Christoph and our Christoph worked on that song for about three days. They came up with this Emil-Bulls-ish guitar riff which added such an inspiring and special touch to this particular Annisokay song.
Which tracks out of all your songs are you lyrically most proud of?
Norbert: I’d like to mention our first single “What’s Wrong”, because it was kind of the beginning of a new era for us. We wrote this song way earlier than the rest of the record and it’s also our first song with social-critical lyrics. For a long time, we tried to avoid being a political band and we’re still none, but if you write songs about experiences in life you can’t just write about love and loss. Politics is not only the business of the government, but rather our daily life.
You did your first headline tour in the UK back in March, what was it like and did it live up to your expectations?
Norbert: The UK has so much flair. The cities are full of Rock and Metal history. Many bands and solo artist are from the UK. As a band from a small town in Germany it’s such an honor for us to play shows in the UK.
Nico: You can feel these kind of “UK vibes”, such a great atmosphere. We really dig English people, always very friendly and hospitable — and fish & chips for sure!
What was one standout date from the whole tour and why?
Nico: Every single show has been insane, but for us as a band our hometown show in Halle felt very special. We’ve never done a headline show there before and were blown away incredibly.
What do you think was one of the funniest experiences from the tour?
Nico: Oh, that’s so obvious…
Norbert: At our show in Nuremberg Nico’s train was very late. We were waiting for him and when he arrived at the venue he didn’t know we’d play in a fetish kind of club with strange devices standing backstage. He stared at us and didn’t know what to say anymore!
Nico: I immediately jumped on these weird machines, but we shouldn’t talk about that!
Speaking of shows, you have a whole lot of festivals lined up this summer, which one are you most looking forward to?
Norbert: The ones we’re really looking forward to are Woodstock Festival in Poland and Faine Misto Festival in Ukraine.
Nico: Absolutely! It’s always so much fun to play big festivals, especially in foreign countries.
Alongside your music, you have also created a few great visual music videos. Which one are each of your favorites and why?
Norbert: My favorite music video is the one for “What’s Wrong”. Actually it’s one of our most low-price music videos. It’s maybe not that spectacular, but it feels really
good to me.
Nico: Same here! I really liked the set on this one.
If you could say anything to the people reading this, what would it be?
Norbert: Thank you for stopping by and taking your time to read our little trash talk! The support of every single one of you means the world to us!
Nico: …and is well appreciated!
Make sure to check out their track ‘Whats Wrong’ below!
EUPHORIA OF BREAKDOWN 