SHOSTA interview (part 2)

“… a place of refuge, a community of outsiders.”

With the album “Wandel”, Shosta embed themselves somewhere between dark wave, post punk and eighties synths. We already talked about changes, human copies and throwing pearls before swine in the first part. Now we continue our intensive discussion.

Formative albums:
– ASP – “Requiembryo” (2007) PG: ASP ‘s lyrics and the way the lyrics are written have had a huge impact on me.
– And One – “Aggressor” (2003) PG: The sound aesthetics of this album definitely influenced me too.
– Joy Division – “Unknown Pleasures” (1979) PG: The album captivated me back then and I listened to it up and down.
– Bragolin – “I Saw Nothing Good So I Left” (2018) (MF)
– Ultra Sunn – MF: “The new tracks”.
– Die Ärzte – “Die Bestie in Menschengestalt” (1993) (NF)
– Nocte Obducta – “Umbriel” (2013) NF: This is definitely an album that has influenced my understanding of heaviness to gloominess in music a lot.
– Puscifer – “Money Shot” (2015) NF: I’ve pretty much mashed that up over the years too.

Art as zeitgeist?
Orkus: Why is social criticism particularly important to you in your songs?
Peter Grimm: I find it very difficult to separate art and politics, or art and the preoccupation with our society and our humanity. I have a great fascination for art and music that is extreme, that hurts, that is unusual and points to things that are abnormal or even ugly. Our society is part of this in many respects. The feeling of world-weariness is omnipresent for many people these days and in recent years. Art should pick up on the zeitgeist. And it’s quite unpleasant here at the moment.

Second spring of the scene?
O : What is your personal connection to the black scene?
PG: I came into contact with the scene quite early on through my mother and a good friend of hers. My mother used to be in the scene herself. My mother’s boyfriend was a big Depeche Mode fan and left me his combat boots when I got into the scene at 15. I associate the scene with a place of refuge, a community of outsiders. I feel incredibly comfortable in the scene because there are no boundaries and there aren’t really any guidelines for affiliation. We all simply share a certain attitude to life.
Moritz Fris: I’m still pretty new to the scene myself and would probably never have ended up there without Peter. Before Shosta, I was in various band projects in which we mainly played dub and drum’n’bass. But the deeper I immerse myself in the scene, the more parallels I recognize and I feel very comfortable. Even though I certainly still lack some references, I think that the black scene is very familiar and loving, you are and will be left alone. Compared to the now thoroughly commercialized techno scene, I also see a lot of potential to give the whole style a second lease of life. There are still some ideas that have not been fully developed and opportunities that have been left behind. I am delighted to be able to help shape the future of the black scene with Shosta.
Nicolas Frank: The black scene is still pretty new territory for me, as I come more from the metal scene. The link that motivates me to make music in it is probably that I really appreciate a dark atmosphere in music and that I was very impressed by “Hell of the Birds” (Shosta, 2022) from a purely listening perspective at the time. Of course, I’m currently discovering a lot of new things and have had a great time every time I’ve been in contact with the scene!

Free time?
O: What do you do when you’re not making music?
PG: I’m very interested in fine art and art history and regularly go to art exhibitions. That inspires me tremendously when I write music or lyrics. Apart from that, I like watching movies, especially arthouse films in all kinds of genres.
MF: Cooking, traveling and otherwise music is my life, in principle I use every free minute to make music, usually snuggled up on the sofa with my laptop on my lap.
NF: I like reading philosophy, which could probably be described as a strange hobby as soon as it also refers to Hegel and the like. But in my studies I sometimes read so much that I hardly have time to think about it and the rest ends up in music.

Crystal ball?
O: What’s next for Shosta, what does the crystal ball say about the near future?
PG: Our album “Wandel” will be released on May 10th and then we will go on tour through Germany. We are looking forward to the upcoming concerts. That really is always a great feeling. We will also be releasing our new album on vinyl for the first time. The whole thing in cooperation with Unterschall from Leipzig, where you can also buy the LP. Apart from that, we are constantly writing new music and working on the next release, so to speak. At the moment, we’re still doing everything organizational on our own and in DIY mode. Maybe we’ll get some support from a label or booking agency at some point. We are looking forward to what is yet to come, to the people we will get to know and the experiences we will have.

Claudia Zinn-Zinnenburg

Line-up:
Peter Grimm – vocals, lyrics, songs
Nicolas Frank – Guitar
Moritz Fris – drums

Experience SHOSTA live:
April 27, 2024 DE-Ansbach, Die Grotte
May 09, 2024 DE-Nuremberg, Der Cult
May 19, 2024 DE-Leipzig, Dark Affair
May 24, 2024 DE-Bamberg, Kontakt Festival
May 25, 2024 DE-Braunschweig, Nexus
June 07, 2024 DE-Cologne, 674fm
June 08, 2024 DE-Gelsenkirchen, Here is not there!
June 14, 2024 DE-Gera, Kaiserwerke
June 28, 2024 DE-Hildesheim, KuFa Lösecke
July 05, 2024 DE-Würzburg, b-Hof

Do you already have your tickets?

Listen to Shosta in our “Current Issue” playlist on Spotify:

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