"Рўhere's no place like Bulgaria when it comes to thrash metal!"

German thrash metal icon Schmier talks about Destruction's new retrospective CD, "Thrash Anthems", and his memories of "the craziest fans in Eastern Europe".

Vassil Varbanov: Hello Schmier, how are you doing?

Schmier: Hey, I'm doing great, man, thanks a lot!

V. V.: Well, since your last show in Bulgaria - it was in the end of August 2006, together with Napalm Death - what happened to you guys?

S.: We've been touring the whole year, all over the world. It's been very busy - actually, a great year for Destruction.

V. V.: Obviously, the idea of putting you now on the radio is a new collection of Destruction songs called "Thrash Anthems" (released on January 19, 2007 via AFM Records), but before asking you questions about it, I need to continue with our conversation we did some years ago, when your first ever show in Bulgaria happened. Are you happy today with the idea of changing record labels?

S.: You never know what's next. For us it was a good move to change labels at that point, because we did some albums for Nuclear Blast and it was time for a change. I think that if you stay with the same label and work with the same people every day, it gets much of a routine. Of course, Nuclear Blast is a great company and you never know whether we won't end up there again some day, but now we feel happy with AFM Records.

V. V.: Then what is the force that keeps you working with guitarist Mike for such a long time?

S.: We've got something like an old relationship, you know. We get along really well and know how to handle each other. We just know what the other one thinks and does. When we need to fight - we fight, but when the fight is over, everything goes on, and that's an important thing.. That's what I call a good routine.

V. V.: Let's now focus on "Thrash Anthems". What was the idea behind your decision to re-record all these classics for a compilation album?

S.: The idea was to give the old songs a good sound. Our albums from the 80's didn't sound that great, you know, and the production was not very strong. Destruction has a lot of young fans, and they kept on asking us: Hey, man, we like Destruction, but your old albums sound so... strange. So we thought, why not re-record a bunch of classics and give them new sound?
We also know you have to release compilations every now and then, and the last Destruction best-of CD was in 1991, so it was about time.

V. V.: Do you use some particular technological tricks to give the better sound of today to these old classics?

S.: No. Actually, we used the same gear that we use live. We wanted to keep everything as much as possible close to the original. The only difference compared to the old days is that we've got much better equipment and amplifyers today and we know how to use them. Also, we didn't put much overdubs on the record - basically, it's just two guitars, a bass, drums and vocals. It's all pure, you know.

V. V.: Tell us more about your upcoming tour then.

S.: We're heading for the United States and Canada, and we're gonna tour there for about 4 or 5 weeks - these are big countries and there's going to be a lot of travelling and plenty of shows with no breaks.
We'll be back in the end of February and we'll start planning an Eastern European tour for April, so hopefully we'll visit Bulgaria again.

V. V.: Well, then the logical question is: After three shows in Bulgaria, what was the most disgusting and the best thing that happened to you here?

S.: Oh, we had good experiences. There was nothing really bad. The only thing I personally noticed was that there was too much police and stuff in the country, and I'm not a big fan of governments, police forces and so on. However, everybody treated us really good and we had a great time. Bulgarian fans are maybe the craziest ones in Eastern Europe, I think, and there's no place like Bulgaria when it comes to thrash metal!

V. V.: Actually, Napalm Death are coming back to Bulgaria on January 26. Do you have a special message to Barney and the guys?

S.: Say hello to them, and let them fuckin' thrash the fuckin' place!

V. V.: Ok, I'll give this to Barney, and thank you very much for being with us once again.

S.: It was my pleasure. Hopefully we'll see you in April!