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Beer Soaked Bliss: LAGERSTEIN Return Home To Lay Waste To Australian Livers · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ahoy, Heavy Magazine and Chris Peters. I'm the majestic beast
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: from Lagerstein and here to have a jolly old chat.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Fantastic, mate. Nothing better than a jolly old chat on
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: a Wednesday night.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Exactly, a bit of beer and chinwag.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Hell yeah, bro.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: So we're here to chat about the fact that Lagerstein
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: are three quarters of the way through your long time
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: between drinks Australian tour with only one show at the
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Corner Hotel in Melbourne remaining on September.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: The 4th, so... How have the shows been going?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, three quarters of the way through and it's been
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: freaking bonkers. Yeah, like Brisbane was a sellout show. Absolutely pumping.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: 550 people at Crowbar and just that was insanity. Yeah,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: it made our return down to Sydney and that was
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: one of our biggest headline shows we've ever done and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: same with Canberra and they were awesome. I just So, yeah,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: it's been that too long between drinks feeling like we
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: just haven't seen so many people for ages and, yeah,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: catching up with all the old fans and from over
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the decades. Well, yeah. Decade and a half, I guess.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Decade and a half.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad that you mentioned the fact that it's
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: a long time between drinks because the tour is called
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: the Long Time Between Drinks Tour, but I imagine you
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: guys would consider two weeks a long time between drinks.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: It's a bit like that. Yeah, we certainly love beers. Yeah,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and basically, yeah, getting back together with the lads, yeah,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: that's one of the, one of the main reasons why
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: we play in Lagerstein. It's all about, you know, just
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: mates getting together, having a beer and playing some heavy metal.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Hell yeah.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Your first headline tour of the country since 2022, bro.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: So what's changed with Lagerstein in those four years?
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: We got a couple old members back. So our drummer, Daz,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: like he was the original drummer on the first two albums.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: He left in about, yeah, 2017 and Um, we've had, yeah,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: a couple other drummers since his departure. Um, and that's
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: been bloody awesome playing with Daz again. Like now there's
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: three brothers back in the band again, um, which is
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: something real special. Yeah. And then, um, our bassist, Torsten Steele, um, he's,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: he was in the band in 2017, 2018 period. Um,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and he's, like he's from Adelaide, um, and was living
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: down there back in the day, and we used to
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: always play with this band called Laced and Lost. And, yeah,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: so he's moved up to Brisbane, and we were needing
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: a bassist at the time, and it just, all the
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: stars aligned perfectly.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, nice. Nice, nice, nice.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: And you've described your live sets as more of a
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: full pirate party experience than a standard heavy metal gig,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and a lot of that's got to do around the
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: old SSD, plundenberg stage set up in the stage ship
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: so what sort of goes into refurbishing and preparing the
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: old ship mate after after so long away.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Definitely the the ship wheel at the front of the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: front of the deck uh has seen better days but
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: she's still turning taking quite a few falls and um
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: it's real funny like i flying down to the cities
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: and uh checking in uh uh steering wheel, a big
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: ship wheel through the airport. Then we have our Larga
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: phone as well, which we've got to like plastic wrap
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: it together. And yeah. Attached to a ship wheel, like
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: stick with all these rusted beer caps nailed to it.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: We get a few looks at that, but all the
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: airport staff, they all have a good laugh about it.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: And You've never not been let on the plane or never,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: never been threatened with not being.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Let on because of it?
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: No, they've always been like, just piss themselves laughing and yeah. Well,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: jump on board.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: So that should fly the centerpiece of your live shows
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: in Australia, mate.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: But when you play overseas, what do you do? Like
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: you assemble something just for that or do you sort
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: of strip down?
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Every time going overseas, we've had to strip
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: it back. Yeah. We've made like a few things over
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: there and just got rid of them. Um, But, yeah,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: it's definitely a stripped-back version. Yeah.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Did you find that's harder to sort of get in
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: the swing of things when you're doing the stripped-back when
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: you're used to just a full production?
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Um, no. Like, we've been doing it for so long,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: so it doesn't really matter. Yeah. Like, we played some
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: of the small stages, like seven people, where you've got
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to play your guitar vertically and like a cello.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Rubber in the toilet.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: So on this run, mate, you've teamed up with some
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: incredible local acts like Avalanche, Nucleosaurus Rex and Buckhorn. So
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: as a sort of seasoned band, I guess, in the
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Australian industry now, like how important is it for Lagerstein
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: to uplift and party alongside the local bands to sort
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: of nurture them on their way through?
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's absolutely crucial for us. Like that's one of
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: our favourite things is... yeah, discovering bands and, like, finding
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: bands that would be a great fit to perform with
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: us that bring just real high-energy performances. And, yeah, like,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: this run, yeah, hadn't heard of Avalanche before, and they
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: shot us an email asking if we needed support. And, yeah,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: checked them out, and I was like, holy shit, this
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: is good. Yeah, phenomenal band. Um, and they just came
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: off the back of, yeah, doing a European run with Airborne. Um, uh, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they brought the absolute, yeah, hard rock and roll energy that,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: that we've always strived to, to put on whenever performing
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: just real high energy crowd participation. Like, um, for instance,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: like the, their lead guitarist, um, she would run around
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: in the crowd, just soloing in people's faces. And yeah,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: it's fricking cool because like that, We strive to do
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: that as well, like get down in the crowd and
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: really treat everyone as a part of the crew. So
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: like if you come to a Lagerstein show, you're on
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the ship with us and you're a pirate for the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: night and you're rowing with us together. You're on port
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: side or your starboard side. Yeah.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: You've already confused me with port and starboard.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: I've got no idea.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: So they're the two different sides of the ship.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: All righty, here we go.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: No, port side is the left-hand side of the ship.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Starboard is the right-hand side of the ship. And basically, yeah,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: throughout the show, we have different, I guess, games and
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: challenges where it's really port versus starboard. And yeah, so
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: like we'll do the wall of death and yeah, We'll
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: be yelling out, starboard, starboard, or port, port, port, port. Yeah,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: it's freaking cool.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I'll write them on my respective hands when I come
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: to a show then, so I don't forget.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the way I used to remember was, yeah, like,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: port side is on the left and starboard's on the right,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: so it's like, yeah.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: That sounds like musician's logic to me, mate.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: LAUGHTER You guys are known for your love of a
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: party and a good time, so have you ever been
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: out on the road with a band, either local or international,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: that's been able to keep up with you drinking?
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: That's a good question. Yeah, a band that really loves
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: to party is a band called Kegan from Melbourne. They're
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: like a goon-themed punk band, and Yeah, they just love
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: the drinking and partying as well. So I would say
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: they're nearly number one drinkers that we've met up with.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: But usually we're the last ones at the pub and.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: First to arrive, last to leave. Too many times. As
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: you sort of mentioned, bro, you've.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Spent a lot of time overseas lately, so you've played
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: over 450 shows across 22 countries, including massive slots at
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: festivals like Wacken Open Air, mate. So how does the
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: energy of an instrument-rowdy Australian pub crowd compare to the
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: massive European festival grounds?
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Um... The cool thing, yeah, about Australia is we just
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: got the absolute die-hard fan base where they just come
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to every show, so it doesn't matter. It's been really
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: cool seeing the fans in all the shirts from over
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: the past 15 years. Yeah, seeing the old-school fans... Yeah,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: some of the shirts that we first ever printed. And, yeah,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: basically going through all the different tours and seeing all
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the different shirts, which is really, yeah, it's freaking cool.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So, like, the Aussie fan base is real diehard
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: because they've been on the journey with us. The Europeans, like, something, like,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Europeans just have that awesome, like, shows are happening all
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the time. So it's very... community heavy and like they
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: just well first of all they freaking love drinking over
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: there they drink culture is i'd say even more than
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: australia these days yeah right um like just so yeah
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: especially like when you go to czech republic and germany like.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: They freaking fucking glasses that.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Big yeah exactly yeah.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: You know, a band like yourselves that likes to party
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: and get up to a bit of mischief invariably has
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: some fun times on the road, mate.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: And I remember reading something from Captain Gregor once.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: He had a story about the band casually playing I
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Spy for three hours while waiting for a tow truck
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: in the middle of a broken down tour road trip.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: So has there been anything to top that since then?
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Like what's the most chaotic road mishap?
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: So I guess on this, little leg um after Canberra
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: like we we booked accommodation for the night um we
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: got there at check-in at 5 p uh 2 p.m
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: so took up my my luggage at 2 p.m then
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: we're like oh shit like we should probably head to
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: the venue so took it back down again five minutes
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: later and that was all the accommodation I saw for
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: that night because we ended up going to the while
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: drinking at basement hotel till kick out then we went
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: and hit the town and got out of the pub
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: there at quarter to five then 5.15 was lobby call
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: and straight onto the plane back to Brisbane so that
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: wasn't probably our smartest move booking a comp for five
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: minutes no well.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: The bright side of that mate is you can just
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: avoid booking accommodation next time and save yourself a fortune.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah exactly especially when there's Yeah, crew of nine people, so....
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Now you're back home, mate.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: In the past, you've hosted your own multi-city festival called Lagerfest.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: So is reviving that on the cards in the near future, mate?
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: I would love to bring it back, but at this stage,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: we're just taking things pretty easy at the moment. Like, just, yeah,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: we'll only be... Like, we've got this run of shows
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: and we want to get focused into... getting the new
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: songs and new material album out because it's been quite
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: a while since we've dropped new music. So like having
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: new music just really helps with touring and yeah, all
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the press and everything to go around with it. And yeah,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: it's been a long time since we've released the album.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: So people are very, very keen for new music and
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: same likewise with us as well. Like we're just so
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: ready to start playing some new songs as well. Yeah.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Tell us more about the new music, mate. Have you
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: finished writing it and tracking it or?
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: We got, oh, there must be 20 to 30 different
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: song ideas at the moment. But basically they're just as demos.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: So where they really come to life is start rehearsing
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: them together in the jam room and really like, yeah,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: fine tuning it in the jam room. So, yeah, that's
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: what our goal is. And yeah, really shaping it. get
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: the concept in, intact and yeah, make the next Pirate
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Adventures together. It's also a lot of fun when creating
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: it together too. So like, that's what we've always done
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: in the past is like, start off with a few
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: ideas that we've all done and then bring it to
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: the jam room, put real drums on it and really
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: bring them to life and, you know, play with different
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: vocal melodies and yeah, in the jam room you can
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: just go, oh, what about if we try this, try
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: this and, and really brings them to a life a
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: whole lot further than the individual just creating it. Right. Sure.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: And then what sort of direction is it going to
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: be taken?
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Is it what people would expect from Lagerstein or are
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: you going to, your international wisdom that you've got now
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: is going to creep into the album a little bit more?
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Um, essentially it's, yeah, keeping a Lagerstein vibe and real,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: we're like, we just love, well, essentially the whole goal
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: of Lagerstein was, um, there wasn't enough drinking songs out
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: in the world. So that was our goal from number one,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: where it's just songs about drinking and having fun where
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: you can put on the CD. And every time, you know,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: you mentioned alcohol, you can play like drinking games to it.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: So that's always been the focus.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: What better world can a man live in?
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Exactly. And I still feel the same that like, There's
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: still not enough drinking songs in the world.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Hell yeah. Do you remember the first time you heard
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: one of your songs on radio? And what song was it?
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: Where were you?
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, shit, it's gone. Because we released Drink Till We
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Die in 2012 or 2013. So that's going back a
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: few years now. But I think it was Pirate Music
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Piracy dropped first. I remember hearing it on Triple M
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: used to have a metal show and yeah, it got picked.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I was working at Brews Brothers at the time. If
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: you remember that brewery, micro brewery in Brisbane near the Gabba.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I do. Yeah.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So I was working there at the time and, uh,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: just finished shift and turned on the radio and, um,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the metal show was on like a weeknight. Um, and, um,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Pirate Music Piracy was on, and I thought it must
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: have been the CD in the car. I'm like, no,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: this ain't the CD. No, this is on Triple M.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: What the fuck?
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: Fantastic. All right, Brian. Well, thanks very much for your time.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: You are definitely a majestic beast indeed, my friend.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: And like I said, I have one show left this Friday,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: September 4th at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: Where can people get tickets if they want to come along?
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Head to oztix.com. Yeah, like tickets are flying and Melbourne
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: always delivers the party. So we're very excited to meet
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: up with all the crewmates down there again. Freaking awesome lineup.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: We've got Blaze and Pizza Death on the lineup for
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: down there.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: How good are Pizza Death?
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's going to be so good. Hell yeah.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I might even jump on a plane and come down.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, do it.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Great chatting with you again, my friend.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: We're going to have to catch up for a beer
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: one day soon.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Definitely. This one's to you.