"I wanted to free myself from the role of victim"

Your new album "Bad Blood" is out - how are you doing with it?

Jules: I'm feeling very relaxed right now. The album has caused me enough stress recently. It was a real struggle to write it.

Why?

Jules: We had very little time to do it and I put so much heart and soul into it. When I got the mastering, I had a nervous breakdown and was completely out of it. I thought everything had just gone horribly wrong and we had to start all over again. But now I've calmed down and I'm really pleased with the end result.

Why were you so unhappy with it?

Jules: I tend to criticize myself a lot. The problem here is mainly in my head. I know I'm not mentally healthy, and when you're struggling with self-doubt anyway and then you hear the final product, you tend to destroy yourself over it. It took some time for my boys to convince me that what we produced wasn't as bad as I initially thought it was. Since then, everything has been fine again and we are already working on our next album.

You mentioned earlier that you were quite short on time. What was the reason for that?

Jules: Well, we're signed to Napalm Records, and of course that comes with certain obligations. Mainly because we have a co-headlining tour with Rising Insane coming up and we have to release an album before that. We also played a lot of shows after the release of "Nightfall" two years ago, and I've been telling the guys all along that I need enough time to write the new CD. But everyone said that we could still go on tour with Lord Of The Lost and do a lot of other things. In the end, we were left with only three months to deliver the new album (laughs). I then had to work remotely with our producer Julian Breucker - I was based here in Cologne and he was in Hamburg. We worked on it for four hours a day using different programs.

Were you still doing your normal job in youth welfare during this time?

Jules: Yes, every day. At first I was working on the album from morning to noon and then I was at work for eight hours.

Now you've started on the next album much earlier, as you mentioned earlier.

Jules: Absolutely! I had to, especially because we're going to play even more shows this year than last year. I swore to myself that I didn't want to get into the same time crunch again, so I started writing early.

In this case, did you write "Bad Blood" on your own again?

Jules: Yes, I always write the lyrics and the vocal melodies myself. Especially because we had so little time, it was difficult to get the guys involved. André(note: André Alves, guitar) and I wrote "Nightfall" together, and we're planning to do that again for the next album.

Besides André and you, there are now two new members in the band. That opens a new chapter for Setyøursails, doesn't it?

Jules: Correct! "Nightfall" was created with a completely different line-up. Back then we had a different bass player and drummer(note: Dominic Ludwig and Pascal Schnitzler). This phase is now in the past. We now present ourselves in a new constellation(note: Nicolai Hoch on bass and Henrik Kellershohn on drums). I don't want to say that they're necessarily legacy, but we were definitely determined to bring a new impetus. And as for me, I wanted to free myself from the role of the victim - away from the idea that I'm just mentally unwell and everything is characterized by my depression. Instead, I wanted to show with "Bad Blood" that we are stronger and more motivated than ever before, despite some setbacks in recent years. Sure, the depression is still a part of it, but at the end of the day we're still here, fighting through it and nothing can stop us.

Can you explain to us why Dominic and Pascal left in the first place?

Jules: There were various reasons: One of them became a father and understandably wanted to concentrate fully on his family. For the other, it was more about musical aspects. The level we were playing at no longer corresponded to what our former drummer had to offer. Precision is crucial, especially with drums - if they're not perfect or don't sound like they were recorded in the studio, it's problematic. With Henrik, we have now found an extremely professional and outstanding drummer who will take our band to a new level.

Apart from the new line-up - if we now compare "Nightfall" with "Bad Blood", what makes the new record so special?

Jules: It's definitely infused with a lot of rock'n'roll elements. Personally, I'm a big fan of AC/DC, so as a songwriter I have completely different structures in my head than someone who only listens to metal. I wrote the vocal parts first and sent them to our producer, who then composed the instrumentals. So the whole thing is based on the vocals and not the other way around. This means that I didn't just get pre-written instrumentals and then have to try and find vocal parts to go with them. At the same time, "Bad Blood" also includes a lot of pop influences, and I'm totally into that. So we're not the metalcore kids we used to be.

Will this style continue on the next album?

Jules: It's hard to predict. I just sit down and let the inspiration flow. So far I've already created nine new choruses that are similar to the style of "Bad Blood". But I don't think we'll go back to that. It seems more likely that our music will evolve, possibly in a more punk and rock direction. But it could just as well be that some really heavy metal songs will end up on the next CD. If one of the guys should ever fuck me off, I might write a brutal death metal track (laughs).

Unite & Conquer
w/ Rising Insane
12.04.24 DE - Lepizig / Naumanns
13.04.24 DE - Oldenburg / Amadeus
14.04.24 DE - Berlin / Cassiopeia
19.04.24 DE - Rostock / M.A.U. Club
20.04.24 DE - Münster / Sputnik Cafe
21.04.24 DE - Köln / Gebäude 9
10.05.24 DE - Hamburg / Headcrash
11.05.24 DE - Hannover / Bei Chéz Heinz
12.05.24 DE - Wiesbaden / Schlachthof
17.05.24 DE - München / Feierwerk
18.05.24 DE - Karlsruhe / Die Stadtmitte
19.05.24 DE - Nürnberg / Z-Bau