Here is another interview by COMAs own Adam Burton. This time with Vas & Loopy of Hanzel und Gretyl before thier show in Ybor City, Florida.

Interview written, conducted and transcribed by Adam Burton.

[COMA] - So when did you actually get into the music scene?

[Loopy] - When?! many many years ago..
[Vas] - Oh in the middle ages.. in the 1500's actually 1666
[Loopy] - I mean if you mean this band we started in about 1993, we just kind of like bought a drum machine, made a demo, made little tiny cassettes took em to our local record store and asked if they wanted to sell them. They bought a hand full of them. We sold them for like 2 bucks each and then uh somehow or another we got a record deal like 2 weeks later or something it was just.. it was a fluke.
[Vas] - Yeah it was like destiny, it was very cosmic how it all....
[Loopy] Then we played out first like 3 shows and then we got very lucky and we were on tour with Marylin Manson. It was just weird.
[Vas] - Yeah very strange how easy it was.
[Loopy] - It happened very quickly and we don't even know how it happened. Just very lucky.
[Vas] - It was cosmic.. planetary, as I look at the moon right now.
[Loopy] - Thirteen short years ago, you know... when you guys were three [Laughter]
[Vas] - Aww god.. [Laughter]

[COMA] - What brought about your decision to get into the kind of music that you do?

[Loopy] - Like I said it happened by default. We just like we, we were in other bands they kept breaking up and we were just like trying to hold a band together. People together or get the right people to be in the right band its so difficult. And so we just kind of resorted to like you know drum machines etc. etc. We never set out to be an industrial band It just we knew we liked metal, I mean I liked Kraftwerk, we liked technology and we like heavy metal and we smushed it together and thus we are an industrial band.
[Vas] - And hence the saying machines good people bad from our first album. Still people bad, people worse now.
[Loopy] - We don't even like machines anymore, even their difficult
[Vas] - Were just cranky [laugh]

[COMA] - So did the music your parents listen to when you two were growing up like inspire you or influence the music your making?

[Loopy] - [laughing]
[Vas] - My parents were listening to mountain Greek music as I was growing up. [laugh] Yeah because we do have some Greek music on our CD's so there's some influence there.
[Loopy] - Yeah I mean my parents listened to mostly like Glen Miller like big band stuff so I'm gonna have to say no.
[Vas] - [laughing]
[Loopy] - In fact you know my parents generally hear what we did and basically know that they failed as parents. Which you know is good.. thats how we know we are doing our job anyway. If that answers you question [laugh]

[COMA] - How did you two end up meeting anyway?

[Loopy] - We we're in a band together before this band called...
[Vas] - The Cycle Sluts from Hell.
[Loopy] - Yes.
[Vas] - And then that broke up and we continued on.
[Loopy] - It kind of splintered out into little tiny bands and one of them was us.

[COMA] - Yeah I was reading you were both in Cycle Sluts from Hell but I didn't know if you had met through the band or...

[Loopy] - Yeah pretty much.. pretty much how we met, in the band.

[COMA] - After started Hanzel und Gretyl what kind of challenges did you guy's face getting started exactly?

[Loopy] - [laugh] None!
[Vas] - [laugh] To start was the easiest.
[Loopy] - Its very strange, yeah we were lucky we got off to a very quick start so you know the beginning was kind of like unspeakably lucky for us. But since then there's been a lot of challenges, most of them would have to be with transportation I think.
[Vas] - No!.. Most of it has to do with the business. The music business can destroy you. its not the creativity its the business.
[Loopy] - You certainly have to have to stomach for it. Theres a lot of you know. A lot of lawsuits, rejection, and difficulty. A lot of people who feel unfulfilled and unsatisfied and want to take you down with them.
[Vas] - You have to be sort of a masochist to be in this business... or just really believe in what your doing.
[Loopy] - Or have no other job skills.
[Vas] – Exactly. I mean I've tried to get out of this so many times. I've gotta do something else
[Loopy] - We've gotta make this work or else were in serious trouble.
[Vas] - I figured this is just our destiny. This is what I was born to do.

[COMA] - Did you guys have any other career interests besides music?

[Loopy] - ...No.
[Vas] - I went to college you know, I was involved with the radio station there and stuff like that and... languages. I was a French major in college.. and marketing.
[Loopy] - As long as I remember I was like "If I cant be Hugh Hefner then I want to be in a band." So like you know thats it. That slot was not available.

[COMA] - What was your guy's favorite place to play so far?

[Vas] - Chicago was pretty hot. Very hot. Uh Vancouver was... like amazing
[Loopy] - Canada's always great.
[Vas] - People were destroying the stage. They we're like crying I mean you can't walk though the audience without having your arms ripped off of you.
[Loopy] - Something about what we do makes Canadians very violent.
[Vas] - Yeah.. they love the HuG.
[Loopy] - Thats another affirmation for us if we can make Canadians like tear each others limbs apart you know then once again definitely a job well done.
[Vas] - Yeah the Midwest so far was the best and the Canadian shows.

[COMA] - Do you two have any regrets in getting where you are today?

[Vas] - Regrets? [singing] Regrets I have a few... Umm no I mean its all a learning process you cant foresee that things are gonna happen to you. You can't..
[Loopy] - Definitely things like ahh man I would have liked to zig instead of zagged, you know. The only regret we have is losing a lot of time because you've made maybe some bad decisions. Most of them are like business decisions that lead to very difficult situations. Sometimes lawsuits and... these are things you wanna try and avoid. Be very specific about who you involve yourself with [laugh] and I cannot impress that unto you without anymore enthusiasm or yeah..
[Vas] - Don't trust anyone...
[Loopy] - But by the same token you gotta get your hands dirty you know what I mean. So you know it's a double edged sword. You gotta get in there and get your hands dirty but be careful out there cause its crazy. Its brutal! Brutal!
[Vas] - [laughing]
[Loopy] - I don't know what band your in but be careful.

[COMA] - Who was an important influence in your musical careers?

[Loopy] - Certainly our attorney. [laugh] He's a good influence.
[Loopy] - Yeah I'd say the usual we'd answer Kraftwerk, Slayer... etc. Kind of like a vast array of a lot of different stuff. Just kind of like noisy noisy obnoxious.. loud.. you know meticulous, bleepy bleepy German stuff. You know like those two things for me.
[Vas] - Anything loud and metal and makes you want to run through a brick wall or makes you want to cry.
[Loopy] - We shared a similar interest in German stuff and we don't even know why we don't even know what our obsession is but we just know when we hear it spoken it just kinda like adds to the guttural kind of angry vibe. For some stupid reason the language lends itself to like "aahh errr" like take stuff from here to here.
[Vas] - It's like a fetish.
[Loopy] - Its very therapeutic to yell German on stage. I would suggest this as like therapy for people. Just learn like five or six German words and just start yelling them and stomp around.
[Vas] - You feel like you will have more power.
[Loopy] - Yeah it will keep you sane.. you know but you know.. be careful don't get to German, don't get too carried away... cause... we all know where that can lead. [laugh] Sorry to all our German friends.

[COMA] - Also how did you two come up with the name for Hanzel und Gretyl cause I know a little bit on that story but not too much.

[Loopy] - Yeah, generally my mom. We were like running around and we knew we wanted to start a band we were kinda like running around my mom just like "your like Hanzel and Gretyl." and we were like thats awful... lets take it.
[Vas] - We are the fairy tale...
[Loopy] - Were living the fairy tale were not out of the woods...
[Vas] - Were lost children, lost in the woods, always like always lost in the woods trying to find their way out. Its always a constant battle. We live a fairy tale. Trying to fight the evil witch.
[Loopy] - ah hah! They can come in many forms.
[Vas] - Yeah, so...
[Loopy] - But uh yeah, We've thought like such a playful fairy tale name kind of juxtaposed what we sounded like so we went with it but now we have this problem like how do we get big angry biker dudes to wear a t-shirt that says Hanzel und Gretyl so now like we're stuck with that problem.
[Vas] - That stupid name..
[Loopy] - Yeah, so we're just like ahh we'll have skulls and wings and angry stuff... and you know it will say Hanzel und Gretyl. [laugh]
[Vas] - [laugh]
[Loopy] - and then big angry bikers won't buy it. [laugh]
[Loopy] - So yeah were faced with that dilemma but beyond that we're happy.

[COMA] - I think it works so..

[Loopy] - We like it. Were going with it theres no turning back now.
[Vas] - No this is it Unless we do a side project.
[Loopy] - Hanzel und Franzel! Yep so thats how that happened. You know when your mom names your band its not too cool.. maybe I should leave this for off the record [laugh]
[Vas] - Ah.. what're ya gonna do?
[Loopy] - So yeah thats how it happened.

Hanzel und Gretyl's new albumn "Oktotenfest" is available now.
Visit Hanzel und Gretyl's official website at hanzelundgretyl.com

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