1. Hi ! Can we begin this interview with a traditional history of Zero
Mentality ? Where / When / Why did you create this band ? Why did you choose
this band name ?

Hey there! In 2002, Zero Mentality started as a project of current and old members from Death Or Glory and Black Friday 29, mainly from Bochum, Germany. The goal was to achieve a slightly heavier sound than those bands had. In the end of 2003 I (Dominik) joined the band after putting my old band DRIFT to rest. Things got more serious and it became some kind of a full-time band back then. Well, two years later, after a demo and a 7\" we already recorded a full-length album, released by GSR Music. Responses have been overwhelming so far, we could say this is way more than we all expected a couple of years ago.
Actually, our name is taken from a song by a band called Antidote, but there\'s more to it. In short, it should describe today\'s lack of enthusiasm a lot of people show nowadays, whether it\'s in the underground music-scene or in life in general.


2. Your style is a mix between hardcore & pure thrash exhumed from the 80'
s. Bands like Kreator/Megadeth/Metallica/Prong seem to have a strong impact
on your personnality. Are you agree with this description ? How would you
like to describe your style ?

Yes and no. Thrash bands from the the 80\'s definitely had and will always have a strong influence on me, especially Metallica which is my all-time favorite band you could say. I don\'t know if that\'s true for the rest of the band, we all have so many different inputs, may it be punk, metal, hardcore, indie, whatever.
Musicwise, your description fits quite well to me, I\'m fine with that. However, when you listen to the album a couple of times, you may find even more.
It\'s probably gonna be more emphasized on our new material, I guess.
In general, we don\'t wanna have no limits when it comes to writing songs as long as it is heavy and emotional and has some sort of impact, no matter if it is a certain moshpart or a certain melody.


3. Let's talk about your first album \"In Fear Of Forever\". What does this
title mean for you ?

Tough question, it seems everyone in the band relates different to this title. However, we all know the fear of creating something that will last in some way...If you refer to the process of writing music: whatever you do, at the end of the day you\'re gonna be labeled as something. People will try to categorize your music, for sure. So the question is, will you abide those rules in fear of forever being labeled as something you don\'t wanna be or will you try and bend the rules, no matter what people will think about it in the end? That might be one approach to your question. However, there\'s more to it. Your daily life, with all its obstacles, family, friends, job, it\'s hard to keep up with everything and everyone and at one point you probably experienced that you just want to break out of your routine, create something new, reset what you did so far...you see, not too easy to get a straight answer here. It depends on your point of view.

4. Where / When did you record it ? Are you satisfied with the final
result, or you'd like to change something ?

We recorded the album together with Jacob Bredahl from HATESPHERE at Borsing Records in Aarhus, Denm

ark in October 2004. We had a tight time-schedule, allowing us only six days for all the recordings. Having that in mind I\'m very satisfied with the final result. It was hard work, 12-16 hours a day, and everyone who ever recorded something knows what your head feels like after just eight hours in the studio. So, thanks to Jacob and his patience we created an album we\'re kinda proud of, but we\'re never satisfied with ourselves. We wanna push harder the next time to make it sound even better than the last one. there\'s always those bits and pieces you might wanna change afterwards, but hey, we\'re not Mötley Crue or some big ass rock band who can choose their studiotime with no limits. Like I said, the schedule was tight and I think that gave the recordings a raw touch.

5. How do you compose inside the band ?
Usually someone comes up with an idea or a riff or even a complete song and then we try to put it all together with the whole band during rehearsal. Sometimes it takes us two rehearsals and a song is nearly finished, sometimes like ten and you\'re still mocking about this and that with no end in sight. It\'s like that, you can\'t so nothing about it. It\'s somehow funny that the songs we get the most credits for were those who were completed almost within no time...

6. Being german, can you tell me what do your fellow citizens think about
french people (dutch also) who voted No to the european constitution ? What'
s your opinion about it ?

First of all, let me say that I was on tour pretty much the whole may and a lot of June, so I didn\'t get all the news concernig the EU-constitution. All I can say is that Germany\'s politicians regret the \"No\" from France and Holland since our country is strongly interested in European matters. However, it seems citizens don\'t really care about it too much, and I think I can understand why. A lot of European issues depend on strong economical interests to compete with the US and Asia and for a -let\'s say - \"common\" guy like you and me it\'s often just to hard to understand what the hell they\'re talking about. That ends up in a feeling that somehow you\'re not part of the whole integration process but more like: love it or leave it. I think it\'s dangerous, but I\'m trapped inside this feeling myself. No matter what decisions are made, I just don\'t feel like I was asked. That\'s probably the common sense in Germany and probably a lot more countries inside the EU. All I can say is that cultural matters seem to be forgotten in this whole process. Is it possible to achieve one big nation at the end of the day when there\'s so many different cultures involved? Don\'t get me wrong, it\'s not that I say \"it\'s not gonna work at all\". But, each and every country in Europe has its own background, traditions, beliefs, etc. and I doubt that you can just force it and merge it all into one big pot from one day to another.

7. Lyrically speaking, what do your texts deal with (don't hesitate to
give us examples) ?

Well, actually I\'m not responsible for the lyrics but more for the music, but let me try and give you an idea of some of it. Most of them are personal lyrics in which Ben (singer) tries to reconsider daily life, things in the past, things in the future etc. I think he still has a good sense of keeping them in a way that anyone can relate to it no matter

what his original intention or message has been. However, the first song for example is kind of a provoking question of uniqueness. The answer to \"Has Everything We Do Already Been Done?\" probably is \'Yes\' without a doubt. Nothing in this universe is really new anymore, you\'ve heard it before, you\'ve seen it before. Still, that shouldn\'t stop you from struggling to create something new, something that hasn\'t been there before, otherwise you end up in stagnation. The song also has a kind of a sarcastic undertone concerning the hc underground scene. In 2005, it seems that a lot of bands are satisfied with just being a mere copy of what we\'ve all seen a 1000 times before, just for the sake of being part of it. C\'mon, you really can\'t be satisfied with that, can you?
Then there\'s songs like \"Where\'s The Power\", also dealing lost enthusiasm (also take a look at answer for question 3) or \"What I See\", a somehow desperate attempt to understand today\'s modern society. The world\'s turning really fast nowadays and it seems that humanity is just trampling on its own good values. Well, I think you get the point. In the end the listener should feel free to have his or her very own interpretation of our lyrics!


8. Do you have a particular message to spread ? Do you trust in
positiveness through brutal music ?
I think most of your questions before already dealt with that topic. I\'ts definitely not that we wanna spread a particular message, but if you read the lyrics carefully and listen to our music carefully, you will understand what\'s on our minds and in our hearts that we wanna share. A lot of people came to me with totally different feelings about this or that song, so once again, it\'s up to you how a song as a whole touches you or not. I like it that way and we will keep it that way.
And yes, I strongly belive in positiveness through brutal music. It should always be a release for all kinds of fears, aggressions or anything you carry in you. It may sound cheesy, but I just don\'t get the point how media blames brutal music for anything bad in the world. Those kids who shot their school-mates were misguided by a twisted society, not by the last Slipknot record. Well, who am I to blame...My life wouldn\'t be the same without hard music. I started listening to metal and punk when I was eleven years old, 13 years later I still don\'t have no career, I still don\'t have a lot of money, but without the music and the bands I played in there would just be a big piece missing in my life. And I probably wouldn\'t do it any other way if I had to start once again.


9. Do you have plans for touring soon through Europe ? What kind of bands
would you like to play with ?

We\'ve just been on a five-week tour with BORN FROM PAIN throughout the whole May. the tour was great and we will definitely hit the road again this year! Besides Metallica, I really don\'t care about what kind of band we should to tour with. However, it can\'t be bad if they draw some people to the shows haha...

10. Thanx for your time, last words are yours…
Thank you very much for your interest, this interview was really one of the more interesting to answer! To all the readers: if you need more info about the band, our shows, merch, whatever, visit www.zeromentality.com. Thanks for your support!
Rock, Dominik.