Getting to Know… FleischKrieg | Interview 🎤

For our 197^th interview in our Getting to Know… series, we get the goods from L.A.-based industrial metal, ‘brutalwave’ band, FleischKrieg.  

“Our sound… is a combination of 80’s style synthwave combined with heavy guitar rhythms.  We affectionately refer to our style as ‘brutalwave.’ Now, that sounds incredibly cool 🎙 FleischKrieg! And guess what, while answering our initial burning question regarding their uniqueness, they weren’t done yet! The band had three valid points, truly selling their craft. On 🎤 Getting to Know… FleischKrieg: Interview No. 197, it’s easy to buy what they’re selling! So, rather than summarize it for you, why don’t you hear it – rather read it – right “out of the horse’s mouth!” And NO, I’m not characterizing the band members as horses! 😆

Starting things off, for those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes FleischKrieg distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 There are a few aspects that I believe separate us.  First, our sound is definitely a different type of mash-up.  It’s a combination of 80’s style synthwave combined with heavy guitar rhythms.  We affectionately refer to our style as “brutalwave”.

Secondly, we’re very much a visual group.  Our music videos are pretty top notch and are almost like 4-5-minute-long movies.  We love having an almost military, dystopian aesthetic for our performances.

Lastly, our shows are energetic yet interactive.  We’re going to make you want to headbang and dance all at the same time.  Kinda like Patrick Dempsey’s weird dance in the movie 🎦 Can’t Buy Me Love.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your FleischKrieg form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

🎤 I [🎙 Thomas Crawford] met 🎙 Richard Cranor while sightseeing with some out-of-town friends in Seattle. I called an Uber to take us back to our car and he happened to be the driver. During the drive we both discovered we had a love for European music and both in solo music projects. Richard was just starting the idea of FleischKrieg, while Thomas was performing instrumental music under the moniker Ceraphym.

Richard came out to watch Ceraphym perform and apparently liked what I did. We started collaborating on FleischKrieg material from there. In the middle of it all, we decided to relocate to Los Angeles in the middle of the pandemic. Given there wasn’t much else to do, we wrote our debut album, entitled 💿 Herzblut, which was produced, mixed, and mastered by 🎛 D-Punk of DK-Zero.

While finishing the album, we were introduced to 🎙 Nick Mason (Living Dead Drummer) who’s resume is beyond impressive having played for The Rhythm Coffin, Pretty Boy Floyd, V2A, The Deadlights, and many more. After meeting and jamming with him, we knew we’d found the right drummer.

More recently, FleischKrieg collaborated with 🎙 Kaylie Cortez of Nuda for an intro for our song, 🎵 “Reach”.  The result inspired us to include the intro in our music video, and ultimately asking her to join full time as their synth and keyboardist.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 Definitely!  In the beginning, we honestly didn’t know what would come of FK and was just kicking out a few jams to see what stuck.  However, we started getting some attention in random places here and there with the initial demos.  It was the most attention I’ve seen with any project I’ve ever been involved in.  That’s when I pushed Richard to double down on FK and go all out.

Now our goals are to tour the world and perform our music to as many different places as we can.  Ultimately, we’d like to play music full-time and maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 Richard and I definitely have different musical tastes and influences.  Richard is more inspired by 80’s pop music, especially those songs with strong synths like Depeche Mode, and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.  He also likes German hard music, like Die Krupps and Rammstein.  However, I’m more into the extreme metal side of things, like Machine Head, Behemoth, Gojira, and Whitechapel.  But I’ve always wanted to have industrial elements to my music, and we definitely bond over Rammstein.  I believe this is what makes our music so unique.  It’s often described as if Rammstein and Depeche Mode had a baby and named it FleischKrieg.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to tour yet.  But we did have a crazy week where Nuda and Cryptamnesia were visiting for music video shoots.  This week is where we actually asked Kaylie to join the band.  We were shooting a video for our cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s 🎵 “Relax”.  There happened to be a blow-up doll with a detachable penis we used for some of the scenes.  One of the performers caught the doll with his mouth by the penis and continued to dance around with it. Check back next year for more crazy tour stories.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 For me, it’s a toss-up between 🎵 “Reach” and 🎵 “Bloody Prophets”.  I really enjoy “Reach” because it’s our fastest and heaviest song on this record.  But it’s also really well balanced.  Even though I’m the guitarist, I know that you don’t need guitars for the entire song and “Reach” has a lot of breathing room.  When the guitars come in, they’re more intense.

“Bloody Prophets” is also up there because of the pre-chorus and chorus.  It was one of the first songs that got the hair on my arms to stand up when I play guitar over it.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?  

🎤 Richard is hardcore into the UFO world.  He’s witnessed and even documented a couple of sightings within the last year.  He’s also directed a feature sci-fi thriller film called 🎦 Star Leaf that’s available on Prime Video.

Closing things out, what is FleischKrieg currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.   

🎤 We’re currently looking to start touring now that things are beginning to open up.  Additionally, we’re finishing up a couple of music videos in support of our 💿 Herzblut release throughout this year.  We’re also starting to work on demos for our follow-up. 

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

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Getting to Know… FleischKrieg: Interview No. 197 🎤 [📷: Brent Faulkner, FleischKrieg, The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay]