Atmospheric melodic post hardcore band FORGIVE ME have joned our ranks to say hello, discuss their more than solid debut demo and premiere their new DIY music video! be sure to check these guys out – one listen to this EP shows that FORGIVE ME are more than capable of pulling it off. Dig it!
Hey guys! Thanks so much for taking some time with us. Please introduce FORGIVE ME to our readers, give us some details on your background, previous experience with punk music and what led you to start this band?
Hey, thanks for having us.
We’re a new band from Offenburg, Germany and I guess you could say we play melodic hardcore, maybe post hardcore? Don’t know. You be the judge.
Ben & me (Kevin) met a few years ago and when his screamo band needed a bassist he asked me if I wanted to join. We played some great shows in Germany and also did a short run in Italy with our pals in YOUNGER US. After that band broke up we knew we wanted to continue to make music together. So this is our second band since then. We then met Chris through Facebook and asked if he wanted to join us on drums. He was previously bassist in a couple of rock bands from our area.
What do you want us to forgive you? Tell us about the band’s name.
Well, there isn’t really a great story to the name. Finding a name for a band is the worst part of it all. We simply felt that of all the ideas we had this one fit the music best. We’re trying to pour our hearts into it and in many ways that can be difficult.
I would like to have a better story about the name but that’s it.
How about your local scene of Offenburg? Did you draw influence from any other bands coming from your local independent music environment?
The scene here in Offenburg isn´t really that big. But thankfully there are a lot of other cities near by with some great bands though I don´t know if any of them influenced us directly.
We listen to all kinds of music.
Of course there´s the obvious influences like a lot of the Holy Roar bands from the UK and stuff like that.
How does the geographical proximity to the French border influence your local culture?
There are a lot of great bands in France so that is definitely a plus.
And it’s nice to be able to go over and get some cheese.
Haha, cool.
Your debut record sounds really amazing. What draws you to this melodic and exceptionally dynamic type of hardcore?
Thank you.
I think it’s the result of the different styles of music we listen to. It’s really important to be open minded and draw influence from different places.
It might also be because we never really learnt to play our instruments. We just play what feels right to us without overthinking.
Composing wise, what do you feel when you’re looking at a blank page?
Up to this point we never really had to deal with a blank page. All the songs we have written to this point came very natural. At least the music part.
When it comes to lyrics it can be a little more difficult. Most of the times we get a feeling what theme a song should have. And then we have a notepad on our phones where we write down phrases that we COME up with. Usually there is something in there that gets the lyrics started.
Photo by Makesfa.
What surprised you the most as you worked on these songs? Did you face any particular challenges?
When we wrote the first songs together we had a pretty different sound. More like BASEMENT or TITLE FIGHT maybe. But we weren`t happy with the songs when we recorded them.
So we started from scratch and came up with the songs that ended up on our demo pretty fast.
After that the main issue was time. Ben was busy with his master thesis and Chris is working. So finding time for recording and mixing it all was actually the hardest part.
Tell us a bit about your lyrics. Why share such pessimistic thoughts? What inspired you to ditch such moods in favor of other topics?
I guess you could say that our lyrics are pessimistic. But to us it´s much more about letting go. It´s a pretty personal thing to spill your guts to an audience.
We also found that this is what draws us to a lot of our favorite bands. And honestly it´s really hard to write happy lyrics to this kind of music.
On a concluding note, is there anything else you are working on now? Tell us abut your touring plans and other missions for the next couple of months?
We are still writting new songs and we would love to record them sooner rather than later and maybe get a real release this time.
We are always up to play shows and have a few things in line already, but hope to get some more shows soon.
Great, thanks a lot for your thoughts guys! Feel free to drop your final words and take care! Cheers from Poland!
Thanks for having us.
Guess our final words are: Don’t be a dick!
