Björn Müller from the band Complex 7 Interviewed

This is Lee Walker from www.PlanetMosh.com conducting an email interview with Björn Müller from the band Complex 7

LW – Hi Björn , for all of those people who are just coming into contact with Complex 7 as a result of this interview, how did the band come into existence ?

Björn – In 1990 Arne, Guido, Marko and I started the band Demimonde, a prog-metal band which existed until 1997 and released only one demo tape called “Soliloquy”.  You can download it from our homepage for free.  Then Arne and I wrote some more complex music without having a band.  In 1998 Guido re-entered the band and in early 1999 Norbert joined and Complex 7 was born.

LW – What bands/artists have been your influences over the years ?

Björn – We grew up with the 80´s big metal bands like Iron Maiden or early Metallica.  Then we listened to more bands like Testament, Megadeth, Fates Warning, Dream Theater, Watchtower, Coroner, Mekong Delta, newer Death and such technical stuff and we wanted to play this kind of music. Over the years the band members developed their own personal taste of music, which seems a bit different today. So you can find now jazz parts or such things in our music as a result.  Sometimes we try to combine different styles of music, provided that it works as a Complex 7 song.

LW –Throughout the years that the band has been together its musical “sounds” seem to vary from being thrash orientated through to prog rock based.  Do you think that the band have now settled on a definitive sound ?

Björn – I think we have our own sound since our first release.  You have mentioned the range we are moving in.  The sound of Complex 7 is the result of the used instruments, which is mostly very basic with drums, bass-guitar and guitars and the voice of Norbert.  We have developed our style since the early 90´s trying to make ambitious rhythm figures and crazy guitar things where every instrument has enough room to unfold. Also the vocals don´t need to follow the riffs.  There are no borders for us, but the result is always Complex 7. It seems to be in the range between prog rock and thrash metal consistently.

LW – I believe you are currently working on a new album.  Can you tell the Planetmosh readers what to expect from it ?

Björn – We are working on new material since late 2009.  We are working some things out now before making the pre-production to reconsider the stuff we´ll have created.  The basics for up to 10 songs are finished.  The new material will include a higher bandwidth and maybe we will work with interludes between the main tracks.  It will be at least a full length album and it will be Complex 7 style.

LW – How do you think this album compares to your earlier releases such as “Water”, “Process” and “c7.09” ?

Björn – It will be very heavy and deep with 7-string guitars and so on. But there will be some fragile acoustic things too. We try to make some new things with a combination of the craziness of “Water”, the melodies of “Process” and the heaviness of “c7.09”.

LW – Besides the pending album release do you have any more plans for this year ? Are there any plans for a tour to promote the album?

Björn – A tour would be great, but I think this is out of reach.  If a good label would be interested in Complex 7, maybe there could be a chance.  Otherwise we try to play some festivals in Germany this year. But up to now nothing is confirmed.

LW – Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to your fans ?

Björn – I thank you for giving us the chance to make this interview.  I thank all of our fans for the support so far. And to all the people out there: Please visit our Homepage www.complex7.de and get an idea of our music on myspace, facebook or reverbnation – discover it and give feedback.  Good luck to you all.

Follow Complex 7 on Facebook or check out their website at http://www.complex7.de/