“We’re still the kind of irrational people that we always were” – interview with End Of Green

During Summer Breeze Open Air we had the pleasure of interviewing guitarist Michael Setzer of End Of Green. They are releasing a new album this year!

I’m here with the amazing End Of Green. How are you doing today?

Michael Setzer: Doing great. It’s quite sweaty, but I mean I’m not the only one here in the sweat. So, I’m doing really great. Can’t complain.

For sure, absolutely. So, you have a new album coming. How did watching the world slowly break shaped “Ashes & Gold?”

Michael Setzer: Well, actually it’s been nine years since we did our last record. We were not aware of the fact that it’s nine years. There was a pandemic, there was like typical stuff you have to deal with in our age. So, I became a father, for instance, seven years ago. We didn’t think it has been nine years since the last record, but also in these nine years a lot of things have happened. There’s been, as I mentioned, a pandemic, there’s been like economical problems, there’s been like social problems, there’s been the rise of the right-wing assholes and everything.

“We did a record called “Songs for a Dying World”, and this is really long ago. Maybe today we should call the record Songs for a Dying World” again. That’s kind of strange, but I think we just try to be as human as we always were. Trying to sense and capture what’s around us and let it come into music, so it doesn’t feel as shitty as it is. Yeah, it’s like I know the world is not going to turn better because we’re doing a record, but maybe we can be some sort of safe space for people who want to know they’re around decent persons with manners and everything. That’s what we’re trying to do right now. To tell everyone, “You’re not alone. Come with us. We’re also confused, so join our journey“. That’s probably what we should do as a band or as artists. Watch our surroundings. A lot of people in bands, they act like they’re not part of the environment. We are part of the environment. We are part of that world. Everybody’s feeling probably the same way as we do.

Am I mistaken or is “Ash & Gold” the album number 10 by the band?

Michael Setzer: I think it’s album number 10, yes.

So, looking back to the beginning of the band, what has something that it’s not changed from the first to the 10th album?

Michael Setzer: I think we’re still the kind of irrational people that we always were. When we started out as a band, people were telling us, “Guys, you’re pretty cool, your singer is great, your guitar works cool, but you should do more of that“. And we were like, “No, we don’t want to do more“. When we started out, people thought we were too soft or too wimpy. We were like, “So what? That’s what we like to do“. And I think we stuck to this feeling in our stomach. We were like, “This feels right. It might be not the most popular decision, but it feels cool for us. So we do it like that“. When there were a lot of bands like Evanescence and all these gothic type of bands, people were trying to persuade us into doing songs together with a female singer. And we were like, “Oh no, we got a singer.” “Maybe you should do more about love and not about suicide“. “Yeah, but my friend killed himself. I want to sing about that. I don’t want to sing about love“. We were kind of stubborn, this has always been like that. Over all these years, over 10 records, we were always figuring out what do we want to say. What are we trying to let other people join in, and this is what we do. So probably it’s not different than the first record we did. Of course, we grew older, we grew up, we’ve seen way more things than we did 30 years ago. But the main thing was always, it’s us, we try to say something. So we should say something we could stand behind. Which is our feelings and not feelings that might be good for success. That’s what we always were chasing. It’s like we have to portray our feelings and then everything is alright. If it’s not popular, maybe it gets popular in three years. Not our problem. It’s our band, it’s our music, it’s our rules.

And I think that if you’re doing something genuine, people will go for that.

Michael Setzer: I can’t get behind the idea of “We’d like to play to way more people, so we should do more of the pop songs“. Because there’s massive bands and they have no pop songs. I mean a band like Knocked Loose, they have no pop song, but they’re one of the biggest bands right now. We would sound like shit if we tried to be like those bands. And those bands have an audience because they seem real for them. It would be real if we do it. So we stuck to what we like to give away from us. Hopefully it gets recognized. If it doesn’t, it’s not our problem. When there’s an End Of Green record, I always want to say, “Yeah, that’s us“. It’s not, “Oh, that was the idea of the record company, I hate that song, I hate that one as well“. No. This time I think we got ten songs on the record and each one of them is our idea and our way to be artists.

That’s amazing. And speaking of shows, you’re playing the release show here in Stuttgart, right in December. So how does it feel for End Of Green to be able to play the debut show here in Stuttgart?

Michael Setzer: That’s kind of strange because when we play in Stuttgart, there’s a lot of people coming to the concerts that are not really fans of our music because they know you from somewhere. So my colleagues at work, they go like, “Oh, I want to see your band live“. I’m like, “Okay“. And so then you’re having a concert where all of a sudden your boss shows up and your neighbors and they go like, “Oh, we always want to see what you are doing“. It’s kind of strange playing at home. On the other hand, there’s a lot of people that have been to our shows since we played like the smallest youth clubs in the Stuttgart area. And so it’s a kind of a wild mixture of people coming there. But it’s always fun if your neighbor shows up and he goes like, “Oh, this guy is my dad. I know the guy who lives like next door. He’s like, oh, smoking in front of the house“. Yeah, that’s me. And that’s funny. But it’s kind of a strange kind of playing music because you know so many people in the crowd. Even my mother shows up. I mean, the first time my mother and my father came to a concert, like after the show, it wasn’t like, “Oh, well done“. It was like, “Did you drink wine out of a bottle? You take a glass“. Sorry, mom. It’s probably next time my mother will also show up. So it’s fun playing at home.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Is there anything else that you want to add to our viewers and readers?

Michael Setzer: Actually, just I hope you enjoy the record. I hope you enjoy life and hope life treats you good. If life doesn’t treat you good, check out some records that might brighten up your day. End Of Green records’ are always good