by   Salvo "Lovedeath" Russo ___    

18.12.2007

organized by Mr. Matthias Schenk and Salvo Russo

www.shylockmusic.de     www.myspace.com/shylockmusicde 

SOME WOULD CALL THIS "SPIRIT"

Hi Matthias! For our readers, can you shortly present Shylock?

Hello everybody! We’re a Rock ‘n’ Roll band from Franken, this is a little county in Bavaria/Germany. We play together since 1998 and after three albums and a lot of live shows all over Europe we are proud to present our fourth album called “Devotion”.

Shylock is: Matthias Schenk (vocals) and my buddies Hannes Amrhein (guitars), Achim Thiergärtner (drums), Oliver Thiergärtner (keys) and Steven Wussow (bass).

I want to underline that Shylock are a very original melodic power rock that keeps alive the spirit of old melodic rock into a modern key…but with an unmistakable style…which is the secret?

A really good question. I think the answer is that we are straight guys and don’t make things too complicated. We keep things easy, bring our melodies to the point and we always try to give our songs that kind of special touch with pure emotion…so some would call this “spirit”.

Your new album in my opinion is a confirmation, even if I think that the best till now is “Welcome to illusion”…can you explain the difference between these two albums, in particular concerning the composition phase?

The songs on “Welcome to illusion” are definitely more melancholic. I wrote these tracks in a very desperate time. Just listen to “Lose U” or “Late night show” and you know what I mean. The guitars are very dominant and the complete album is produced very rough. “Devotion” delivers more positive power and it’s certainly less melancholic. Partysongs like “Ocean” or “Eternal life” are full of this new creative power, pure emotions and I honestly tell you the truth when I say the composition time for this “Devotion” was the best I ever had.

As I said before your songs gets a particular charm that can like to  all those who listen to bands like Alter Bridge, Nickelback etc…but the essence of Shylock is the 80’s hard rock...is it true?...and what do you think about new modern rock bands and electro-rock?

I think that’s right, because I grew up in the 80’s with bands like AC/DC, ZZ Top and even the Beastie Boys. Just remember songs like “No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn” (Beastie Boys), “Gimme All Your Lovin’” (ZZ Top) or “Who Made Who” (AC/DC). Oh yes, I miss this time and these are definitely my roots!

The new modern or as you call ‘em “electro-rockbands” got some few interesting songs, but I’m really not up to date with all these releases and this rock scene. But I really doubt if all of those modern bands will get so famous as the big rock stars of the 80s…

A personal question…Your voice is great, and in my opinion it gets a very personal timbre, who’s your inspiration?

Thank you for the words and this kind compliment, Salvo! To tell you the truth: Life is my only true inspiration and that’s all I can say about it!

In Germany there’s an important dark-ebm scene, which is the consideration given to melodic rock bands?

Well, it’s a hard time for melodic rock, the 80’s are over and we can’t turn back the hands of time. You see, it’s not easy to keep the melodic rock dream alive but we won’t ever give up fighting! :-)

Can you tell us how your songs are born?...Who is usually the one that present the melodic idea?

To keep it short: Songwriting is my part in the band and I really love it.

I write about 99,99% of all the Shylock songs, I just take my acoustic guitar and let my inspirations flow. After that I record some kind of demo version with electric guitars, bass, vocals and drums…and then we’ll work it out. Just simple and plain but it works great ;-)

Please explain us in your opinion the best five ballads ever realized (Shylock ballads included..of course!)

My five favourite ballads are:

·        Keel – “Tears Of Fire”

·        Treat – “Learn To Fly”

·        Bryan Adams – “Heaven”

·        Richard Marx – “Right Here Waiting”

·        Whitesnake – “Is This Love?”

And, of course, I like every Shylock ballad :-)

Which are the bands or artists you like to listen to in this period?

At the moment I listen to bands like “The Rasmus” (especially ”No Fear”) or “Sunrise Ave” (I like their song “Fairytale Gone Bad”). And certainly I listen to anything that rocks…e.g. the new Scorpions “Humanity Hour 1” – awesome!

Ok…let us explain if there’s a project live tour for this 2008? if yes…where?

We will see, in the next few days we will have some important and interesting conversations about our touring plans for 2008. But I can’t tell you more right now…all we need is just a little patience ;-) If you wanna be up to date please visit our homepage www.shylockmusic.de or www.myspace.com/shylockmusicde. There you will find everything you need!

Which songs do you prefer to sing in live performances?

Right at the moment I’d prefer to perform the whole “Devotion”-album! Because I wanna play the new songs to spray the positive power all over the fans!

Ok…our storical final question is the Game of the Tower…You’re on a high tower, and with you there are 3 bands…You have to push down two of them, saving the third one….with you there are:

BON JOVI    DANGER DANGER   EUROPE

Hey man, I´m a musician, not a killer… *haha*! O.K., but if I have no choice I would push down Danger Danger and Europe because I respect Bon Jovi a lot. He’s doing a great job over those long years.

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