DESTRUCTION Frontman: 'I Love The American Way Of Life'

October 12, 2003

DESTRUCTION bassist/vocalist Marcel "Schmier" Schirmer recently spoke to ElectricBasement.com about the negative feedback the band received over their decision to make available for download their version of THE EXPLOITED's "Fuck The U.S.A." at the height of America's war with Iraq (see previous coverage: story#1, story#2).

"You know I was a little disappointed that people were making such drama about that," he said. "I think we've never been a war-supporting band. I think for me growing up with punk rock, it's important to say something with the music. I didn't want to diss the States there. I have so many friends there. I love the American way of life, there [are] so many great things there. It's just in general I think there are a lot of people making mistakes. I don't support everything that Germany is doing and I'm not supporting everything that the United States is doing. And as long as I have a free mind, I can say it. The scary thing was that people were calling us Nazis and stuff. People just didn't understand that we have nothing against America. This is something that is scary to me. And everyone should have their right to their own opinion. Certainly war is never good. For us in Germany, heavy metal has nothing to do with politics, but it always has freedom of speech. We didn't want to piss off any American citizens — we just wanted people to know that this war isn't right.

"We will definitely come back to the States [to tour behind the new album]. A lot of people are positively reacting to the new album. And for me, music is honest and my opinion is honest. If you don't like my opinion it's OK to me, but that doesn't mean I am doing shitty music.

"I think [DESTRUCTION guitarist] Mike was a little scared [about going back to the U.S.] because people were calling us Nazis. It's scary to hear these Nazi things. And several people told us that they would kill us if we came back to the States. It wasn't very comfortable. But this is a new album, a new game and it's all about metal. There have been a couple of [tour] offers [for the U.S.] already. If there is a cool tour that's worthwhile to do it, we will come over. It's all about the metal, and that's what's important." Read the rest of the interview here.

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