Okay Uber Rockers, let’s get a few things out of the way here; firstly 2013 hasn’t just been a decent year for new records, it’s been exceptional. One of the reasons it’s been quite so exceptional is because Lucifer Star Machine have released a career best in the shape of ‘Rock N Roll Martyrs’.

 

If you haven’t checked it out yet then do so immediately, it won’t be something you regret.

 

One of the reasons 2013 has been so good is because LSM are back and frontman Tor Abyss was kind enough to speak with Uber Rock and tolerate my ramblings. Currently residing in Hamburg, Germany, in any spare time when not rocking and rolling, he can be found tattooing bodies with some pretty sick artwork which is also worth checking out. So don’t be a dick, join the legion of fans and get lucified with your new favourite band – ladies and germs I give you, Tor from Lucifer Star Machine….

 

The new album is upon us. Tell us a bit about it? You decided to go for a more melodic approach on this album. Who’s idea was that and why now?

 

It was a natural progression. We just wanted to write music that we’d hear and buy ourselves. Something that’s not just heavy and powerful but also catchy and tuneful. If you play music for a long time you want to move forward and do the best you can. We also took a lot more time to work on the details this time. Sometimes it took a few months until we were happy with a song. We always write and work on the tracks together in the practice room. I write the lyrics on my own but the music is absolute team work. We always worked like this. There might be different members in the band now but the approach to write music was always the same.

Is it difficult having the band live in different places, with you in Hamburg and the rest elsewhere?

 

When the album was written and recorded I still lived in London. However, even though I’ve moved away it’s not as difficult as it might seem. It’s just me who lives abroad. The rest of the band all live in London and can practice without me. I fly to London quite frequently though, to see the boys and to rehearse. It’s just one and a half hours by plane so it’s all good. Once we start writing again it might be more difficult but there’s always a way.

 

-You must be delighted with how the album turned out. It’s a really strong album and some of the songs are quite commercial (if you know what I mean), there are wider influences coming through. Is the end product what you set out to achieve?

Thanks mate! I take “quite commercial” as a compliment even though a better word would be “intuitive”. However, we didn’t set out to write a “commercial” album. Like I said, we just wanted to write good fucking tunes. If our music will appeal to a wider audience then that’s a great thing. We are still doing what we’ve always done. We play kick-ass Rock ‘n’ Roll, but the song writing and the musicianship is just much better now as it was in the past. It’s still full-on and we didn’t make any compromises but this time we just wrote fucking melodies to die for. This is exactly how we wanted this record to be. If I wouldn’t be in this band, I’d be the biggest fan.

The last time we spoke you said you wanted someone to produce the record other than the band, how did that work out for you on the new album? Was it how you expected it to be?

 

In Andy Brook we found the exact right person to produce our album. He’s got such an understanding of music itself and knows exactly what you want as a band. On top of that he works really fast and is a really nice and genuine guy. A producer and engineer I can highly recommend to any band. This year he was nominated in several categories at the Music Producers Guild Awards. One category he was nominated in was UK producer of the year. That says it all really. He gave our album the sound it needed to have. It’s really powerful with loud and dirty guitars but without losing the transparency.

When can people expect to see some live dates? You’ve done the album launch in the Pipeline, how about a tour?

 

We’re touring Germany in November but the Pipeline show will be the only UK date. There’s gonna be a lot more shows next year. We’ll be touring the album in 2014 and we’ll play several festival gigs.

Did you have much material left over when recording this album?

 

No. We’ve written 12 tracks for the album. Other bands might write 30 and then choose a few for the album whilst the rest goes out of the window. That’s not how we work. We wrote 12 great tunes, where each one could be released as a single. So call me a big headed wanker but the truth is, we just don’t write weak songs.

What have the new band members brought to Lucifer Star Machine?

 

A lot of energy, great musicianship, an immense musical understanding and every one of them is a stand up guy.

What is the music scene like where you live now? Germany has always been a great place for Rock and Punk is that still the case?

 

It’s still the case. Germany’s the biggest music market in Europe. Rock, Punk and Metal is pretty massive here. Our label and our distribution company are both German too and they’re doing a great job so far. Here’s shit loads of Rock ‘n’ Roll related magazines and fanzines who gave our album rave reviews. Saying that, the music industry is still pretty fucked. Record sales are generally down like everywhere else as well.  Anyway, the night life here in Hamburg is really great. There’s a lot of clubs and bars that play cool music. Anyone should have been to Hamburg. It’s a great city. I love living here.

What other bands have you been listening to recently?

 

I always got the same shit on my iPod as I always forget to change it, but I like listening to Wolfbrigade, Disfear, The Brains, Ghost (B.C.), Smoke Blow, Mad Sin, Bob Wayne, The Hex Dispensers, Dean Dirg, Koffin Kats, Tragedy and some Swedish band called Märvel. I dig the last Mastodon record and I never get tired of Zeke, The Dwarves and Blood For Blood. I like the last Turbonegro record too. Best thing they’ve done since ‘Apocalypse Dudes’.

 

I recent purchased one of the band’s shirts and the artwork is that dark looking monkey in a helmet – what’s that all about?

 

Haha! That’s Gustav Faust, the half-retarded German war monkey. He was trapped in an ice block since the first world war. We figured if Iron Maiden got fucking Eddie, then he could be our little dick headed mascot. So we cut the ice block open and put him on our fucking T-shirts.

You recently played a role in The Brains’ ‘Stay Back’ video and the ‘Dead and Gone’ video wasn’t just a straight performance shoot; is this something you enjoy doing or a necessary evil? Can we expect another acting role for you? Some of the stills from the video shoot look like you guys had a good laugh doing that one.

 

Well, when I was little I wanted to be either an actor or a singer. I destroyed my acting career by getting tattooed to fuck, I guess. Haha! I don’t have stage fright and I do enjoy a bit of acting here and there but I’m not following up on this. The Brains are friends of ours. Their singer, Rene, is also a sound engineer and producer and has mastered our album. When they were on tour in Europe, they wanted to shoot a video in Hamburg and they asked my girlfriend and me to act in it. My missus arranged the shoot for them too and the rest is history and can be seen on YouTube!

With the new album out on CD is there any chance it will get a vinyl release?

 

I’d really like to push a vinyl release but it’s up to the label. I think nowadays Punk vinyl’s selling probably even better than CDs. I hope there will be a vinyl version soon.

Finally, what next for yourself? Can we expect a single or a split maybe over the coming months?

 

There’s no other releases planned at the moment. We just wanna promote this record now and hope to reach as many people as possible.

 

 

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To pick up your copy of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Martyrs’ – CLICK HERE