PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Battalion are the Swiss winners of this years Wacken Metal Battle. They play at Wacken along with all the other Metal Battle winners from all over the world to compete for the Over All Metal Battle Champion!
Can you give the readers a quick introduction to the band.
Battalion was formed in 2006 by Silvan Etzensperger and Samy Riedener. After two studio Albums, over 150 live Shows around Europe and some lineup changes, since the beginning, we’re now a solid group of four swiss bastards, with music as passion in our fucking hearts!
Silvan Etzensperger : Lead vocals, Guitars
Clode Hürlimann: Guitars
Alex Gubler: Bass
Samy Riederner: Drums
How would you describe your sound.
A mix of old school thrash metal, heavy metal and NWOBHM.
How would you describe the metal music scene in your country? What has changed over the last few years.
It’s mostly underground! Some bars in big citys, some small venues to play live! A lot of big bands come to Switzerland for a show during their tour! There are also a lot of underground gigs!
No big changes, some bars closed and new ones opened !cheers!
Why did you enter the WOA Metal Battle Competition.
Our friend and manager Martin Anliker has signed us up! We thought it would be a good oppurtiunity to have some cool gigs. Didn`t really thought about winning or loosing, so we just played gig after gig until we ended up at Wacken Open Air. Yeah!
What was your initial reaction when you found out that you have won & you were playing at Wacken?
Cool man! Hopefully Accept is not playing at the same time as we are?! ;-)
What was the best and worst part of the competition for you?
Well, everything was good organised and we had a good time on and off the stage! So there is no worst part, except some headache the mornings after.
Would you recommend the competition to other bands? Any hints/tips for bands that are looking to enter.
For shure! Guess it’s the only way to get to W:O:A for underground bands.
Tips? Mhm, not realy… Just play your own stuff as you always do.
What can the audience expect from you at the festival.
We`re a live band, so we give allways a thousand percent. Get prepared for a real thrash metal firework from 3.20pm at W.E.T stage!
What has been the bands biggest achievement so far?
We opened for Slayer in our hometown Zurich last summer. The show was almost sold out. 1500 maniacs going crazy … what a blast!
Have you ever been to Wacken before? If so when and what did you enjoy most about it.
Not yet… that’s why we looking really forward to it!
What is your opinion of the Wacken line-up?
Absoutly fantastic!
Can you sum up Wacken in one sentence?
Most popular and probably biggest metal festival in the world!
Any message you wish to pass on to the PM readers.
Thanks for reading, folks. If you like thrash metal, you should really check us out. After our performance we’ll support Machine Head back in Switzerland. After that, we’re recording our third studio album, which will be released in spring 2015 so stay tuned!
Links:
Follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/battalionofficial and check out our current music videos on Youtube
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