melodylane

MELODY LANE: First of all, also if it can sound a bit expected…Can you tell us where does the name Septagon come from?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: Oh, it’s always hard to come up with a new name and we had the same problem. It has no special meaning, a Septagon is a seven-sided polygon in mathematics. At least it reflects in the logo.

MELODY LANE: The line-up of the band is confirmed, is it the same from the beginning of the band…or have you had changes in the last years? Can you tell us anything about the roots of Septagon? And where the band was born?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: We had one line up change at the drums. The band was born a few years ago. I released some albums with my old band Lanfear but always wanted to do something a little bit more thrashy. I knew our singer Markus and when I met him at a festival I asked him if he would be interested in something like that. He said yes and so I started with some ideas, wrote the first few songs and everything started to roll.

MELODY LANE: Can you list us 5 songs, from Septagon ‘s discography (including new material), that can define the sound of the band … 5 songs that can help our readers to know Septagon at the best.
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: I would take „Revolt Against the Revoluton“, „Home, Sweet Hell“ and from the new album „How to Kill the Boogeyman“, „Ekke Nekkepenn“ and "Gardens of Madness“.

MELODY LANE: Tell us something about the creative process of your music. Is there a main composer or we can talk about a team work? The songs come from ideas of a single member and then the band works on these ideas in the studio jamming together, or your songs are written in the studio and all the members compose together?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: When the first album was released I had written almost all of the music and Markus added lyrics and vocal melodies. In the meantime our other guitar player Stef also writes music for some songs. Most of the time we record demos at home, send them out to the rest of the band and then start practising them at the rehearsal space. Sometimes our singer wants to add a verse or change some bridge passages here and there so it fits better to the melody lines he has in mind, but more or less the song writing process always happens in our home studios. The rehearsals are just for fine tuning and to get the right feeling for everything.

MELODY LANE: Can you tell us something about contents and messages of your last album ? …Can you tell us anything about the whole concept of We Only Die Once? And please tell us where does this title come from?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: The title is of course a play on words to „you only live twice“. The lyrics itself deal with what you would expect. You only have once live so do whatever you want to do with your live. No matter what happens, keep on going. The whole album is not a concept record. Some lyrics deal with everydays live and are socially critcal while some other are just pure fiction. „Ekke Nekkepenn“ for example is kind of an interpretation of Rumpelstiltskin. The people from the northern regions of Germany have a saga called „Ekke Nekkepenn“ which is very similar to the Grimm’s fairy tale. „Strange Times“ deals with the situation right now.

MELODY LANE: …After time, are you totally satisfied with your choices about sound and the writing of your previous albums? If you could… would you change anything? What did you focus on to make the sound better and perfectly consistent with the musical ideas you had in mind?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: It’s pretty normal that you always would change stuff, but I always say what’s done is done. We weren’t that happy with the sound of the last record since we had some problems during the production process. We really made sure that nothing like that could happen with the new production and are really happy how it turned out.

MELODY LANE:  So apart from the covid/pandemic situation…will you tour in the next future? Have you already a touring schedule? Any chance for us to see Septagon playing live here in Italy in the next months/year?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: No plans at all right now. Of course we’d love to do that but right now it just doesn’t make sense to plan anything. It seems like all the festivals that were confirmed will be cancelled anyway, so at them moment all we can do is to wait and see and probably already start writing new songs.

MELODY LANE: Could you tell us two bands, from the actual international scene, you’d like Septagon to tour with?... Two bands that would represent a perfect line-up for Septagon to play with. And why these bands?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: To be honest, I don’t really care. I am in bands for a very long time and played with a lot of different other combos. There’s not something llike a dream line up for me, though almost everybody asks you that all the time. It should just fit musically. Tours nowadays work totally different than they did in the old days and I’m happy to play with everyy band that consists of nice people that are down to earth and easy to deal with.

MELODY LANE: We know that ‘to define is to limit’… but how do you define  Septagon sound? Are you a Modern Thrash band…a Speed Metal band… an Heavy Metal band…Or…?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: It was founded as kind of a US influenced, melodic Thrash band. We like the thrashy riffs but also prefer strong melodies over simple shouts. Some songs are pure Thrash, some of course are more Speed Metal or even regular Heavy Metal. We like the diversity but I would say the sound we’re known for is melodic Speed/Thrash.

MELODY LANE: Which musicians are/have been your main musical inspirations? And which are your favorite bands nowadays?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: I was influenced by musicians like Mike Oldfield and bands like Rush, Yes or King Crimson but also loved the thrashy U.S. stuff like Forbidden, Heathen etc. So many great bands out there. In the end I don’t care if it’s Pop, AOR, Jazz, Prog Rock, Thrash or Death Metal as long as it has the vibes.

MELODY LANE: As a musician, what has been your biggest achievement to date and what do you want to achieve in the near future?
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: I did some great tours with my other band THEM and of course we also had some success with my old band Lanfear. Lots of great memories. In the end every new album is kind of the biggest achievement. I always have to move on and really don’t look back.

MELODY LANE: In the end…A message from you to all MELODY LANE readers.
MARKUS “ULLE” ULLRICH: I always hope that this isn’t the last question since everybody asks that and it’s hard to come up with something new after dozens of interviews ... So I say the same all the time. Thank you so much for your interest, check us out if you like and always be true to yourself :)

 

WEB: https://www.facebook.com/septagonband

ARTICLE BY: MIKE MATTY