• Hi! Can you tell me about Sterbhaus and your previous musical experiences?
Hi! Woo… that’s quite the whopper of a topic. I can’t very well sum almost twenty years of total band devotion up like that. But I’ll do my best.
The band started in 2007 with the idea to play “At The Gates” Metal and not take ourselves – or most anything quite that seriously. It was fun as hell but eventually things evolved and after some line-up changes and the band becoming a quartet with me on vocals as well that whole first intention of the band was almost gone. We kept some of it but the members who remained were not into At The Gates and wanted to do Metal a little differently. Some of that humour and charm were kept though and is an integrated part of especially our videos which are all entertaining and a recommended watch.
Sterbhaus released a first full-length in 2013 and toured Europe with Vader and Melechesh and later that same year with Shining. The band toured South America and played festivals such as Way of Darkness, Rock Harz, Blastfest etc. We released the second album in 2015 and got totally stabbed by the powers that be because we got pulled from four tours and got banned for videos etc which gutted the band quite fiercely – to be honest. And I don’t think we quite survived it because after releasing Christmas EPs, doing exclusive shows and filming them professionally we ended up dissolving in 2019 but with the intention to finish what we started. So since then we’ve released stuff and we kind of wrap it up now with what seems to be our final album “Next Akin to Chaos”.
• Why did you choose your band name, how did you form, and what led you to play the genre(s) you do (Metal Deluxe sounds exciting, haha!)?
I think I probably answered most of that in the previous question. But regarding the name it was due to me purchasing an apartment in which the previous owner had died. That translates into the Swedish (but halfway borrowed from German) word “Sterbhus”. We we’re looking for a name at that time and just thought its sounded terrific if we stuck with a German version of it with “Sterbhaus” – which we learned later on wasn’t perfectly logical. But who cares right?
The band was actually started by three guys who came to quit or be fired within the first three years. The intentions weren’t that serious and these guys already had about two bands each. They wanted this band to play a specific genre and they each wanted to play other instruments than what they did in the other bands. It was more about having a very good time – which we had. I was asked to join just some weeks after it formed and was elated as I had spent almost a decade up until then releasing album as a one-man project in Elvira Madigan – which had become tedious due to the isolation.
After that whole “At the Gates” direction went out the window it was mainly me and guitarist Jimmy who wrote the songs – and we wrote the kind of Metal that comes super natural – even though it takes some effort - being so tricky and all. When we tried to define it we ended up listing five or six genres and listed just as many – or more bands, as references. Which made it kind of stupid so we named in “Metal Deluxe” – because it’s not really innovative genre-wise but doesn’t quite sound like anything else either.
• Can you tell us about Next Akin to Chaos?
We started working on this album around 2016 I guess. But we’re in a tricky spot with how the previous album “New Level of Malevolence” – although a totally killer album, was ridden with so much bad luck when it came to promotion. So it was a schizophrenic period and when we finally split up I just didn’t want the whole thing to fall into oblivion, because I could hear this new album's potential even though just about half of it was finished and the rest was rather undeveloped. I was currently at that time a member of the Swedish band Shining and the rest of the guys were off doing other things as well. I knew the album had to get released, so once I quit Shining I set off again to finalize it. This time the album was only going to be produced by me (since there were no members left) and there were no real time restraints so it took a while. But due to that it ended up as I had envisioned – or probably actually better!
In early 2025 we released the first single “Deth Bü Wolfe” which has been followed by additional singles “Wrecking the World” and “Master of the Hunt”-
• What kind of feedback are you hoping to receive for your album?
Fantastic – of course... What else does an album releasing musician want? I would be happy if people somehow could recognize that it is actually quite a lot better than most albums released today - which goes to show that maybe Metal and musicians in general should focus on better songs instead of just having a career that needs new albums to take them to the road again – so they can sell merch. Even if that makes fewer albums and more time spent creating stuff that actually matters.
• Do you plan to embark on a world tour in the future? Do you think touring the world is an option available to every band, or what does a band need to do to achieve this opportunity?
No. Actually – c’mon, that’s a weirdly naïve question. Touring the world is for an extremely lucky select few who are the cream of the crop and make shit loads of money, or make no money but have a thirty year career of constantly playing small shows that provide scraps enough to barely cover costs – and having crew and members fed on Ramen noodles. The rest of us has to pony up the dough just to make an album these days – and people don’t even buy physical that could hopefully provide just a little cash flow to enable investing in touring. So where would the funding for that come from?
I’ve toured the US with Shining and know a little what that entails regarding expenses with work Visas etc. I didn’t get payed for one single show over there and had to pay for being fed myself and we toured there twice. And look at how much flight tickets are to Australia for that matter? It’s just not in the books for more than 99% of the bands to tour like that. And it’s usually somewhat of a catch 22 scenario too – because bookers and promotors want a decent crowd turn out (of course - as do the bands!) and how is that guaranteed? Well, it can’t be really, but at least the promotion for music and albums needs to be on top – and today most labels rely on bands being able to promote themselves by playing live – So you can’t get the live shows without the album promo, and you can’t get a record deal releasing an album without playing live.
• Do you believe in a heavy music scene without money?
Yes, of course. I rather think that it actually thrives better without money. To some extent at least – I mean, the mother of all inventions is a lack of funds. The music world we live in today is too much about money and the labels that were once “independent” aren’t really independent anymore since they’re owned by Warner, Universal and the other big players. And they only look at sales. Almost all the well known labels care shit for the actual music and just looks at what that possibly could bring in when it comes so actual sales – which leads to stuff being labelled and sold as Metal but it’s more about Eurovision music with distorted guitars, childrens music, and bands fronted with chicks in corsets being pirates and dwarves or whatever. This appeals to people outside of the Metal realm so the sales then increase substantially – Cause Metal heads are in general a minority. But the music that comes out and generates sales sounds completely watered out and irrelevant.
But luckily – to every reaction there is a counter reaction and a grass movement that is just fantastically interesting these days. There are A LOT of younger bands especially in the NWOTHM movement and also Speed/Thrash Metal scene that are terrific!
Having said that – I’m pretty much broke these days and it’s due to me pouring my finds into this album. It’d hard not to beat yourself up for not doing more but then I just have to remind myself I can’t invest more than I am doing atm – cause there is no money! So money still matters then.... So it is what it is.
• What are your thoughts on online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free, and if so, why?
Everyone of us is giving away our stuff for free. Whether we realize it or not. People never want to hear musicians bitching and I totally get that. Man, it’s just not that fun to hear the bands that you like complaining about whatever. But come on, Streaming HAS gutted everything – thereäs no denying that. And no smaller bands can afford Not being on Spotify – whether you take a moral stand against it or not. We’re just held hostage because that’s where the music consumer resides. Every label looks only to how many followers you have on streaming platforms – and streaming provides no money at all – hence, we’re all giving it away.
I like to draw a comparison that Spotify is like the Post office when you buy something online. Because that is in effect what they do – they deliver and package the product/service for you. The difference is that if you bought a new pair of jeans for 50 Euro, the Post office doesn’t keep 49 of the money and the seller get 1 Euro.
The most sad part is not about whether who gets what money out of it though. It’s how music is consumed today. It’s just a fucking soundtrack to whatever the average Joe is doing at that specific time. whether it be browsing the blouses on H&M or going to the gym or getting ready to party. Everything is consumable music and it’s consumed by algorithm based playlists. The fact that sitting down and JUST listening to music with a lyric sheet in your hand is lost to generations and it is really the great loss.
• Who are your musical influences? Did you ever imagine your band could become as famous as your favorites?
Me or Jimmy who are the main song writers aren’t specifically influenced by other bands when it comes to Sterbhaus. We listen to so much different music and it is not a situation that anything we listen to translates into something in. So I can’t really namedrop anything here.
Yes we did imagine reaching whatever levels our peers that are more successful than us have reached. We very worked hard for it for more than a decade (and I even lived in our rehearsal space for years or with friends and family while others in the band lived at their parents) – but doing it completely alone is impossible and you need to get at least a few good partnerships. We never got that unfortunately. We had a great promotor in Germany by the time we released the first album but unfortunately they chose to focus on other things than Metal.
• Have you received formal music education? Do you think it's an important factor?
Jimmy is probably the most trained. I have some minor training. I think this is a double edged sword and it is truly up to the personality of the one who gets the training. In general I would say Metal benefits more in originality when musicians or not trained – but rather self taught. Because the art of wielding a riff is so much more down to expression, personality and emotion. If you’re just getting taught how to play things correctly then you end up like the vast majority of bands today that sound perfectly played – but without anything interesting to show for it. And you get a generation more interested in YouTube videos and some sort of competition on doing the most tricky or fast licks. Who actually cares about that? The immortality of music lies in the honest expression and you can do that with one or a million notes, but it’s down to the heart of it – and that doesn’t come out of a classroom. But if one feels stuck as a musicians, being tutored is a great way to evolve.
• How do you balance your music with other obligations such as family, job, etc.?
Music and my expression will always have first priority. It is my purpose of being. I believe the others had a similar outlook when we were active as a band. Still, in the end – some bills need to be paid so one ends up having day time jobs. Seeing where the world of music and its finances are heading atm I think we probably will have to get used to most musicians having to balance all this in favour of other things than the music. It’s charming and all to be devoted to ones art and music and living on basically nothing – but if the rewards aren’t EVER going to be there than it becomes hard to motivate. And I’m not talking about being a millionaire.
I think I’ve personally found a new way of balancing this myself the last few years with better living standards – which has also come to be beneficial to my music and I hope “Next Akin to Chaos” is a good testament to that!
• How do you deal with mistakes during a performance? Do you get nervous before a performance or competition?
We used to rehearse quite extensively when we were active, so we usually could rely on members delivering what was expected. Having said that there is always the odd experience of being too drunk, too hung over and we always dealt with that right away – making sure it didn’t happen again. If one would do some weird little mistake that would be unnoticeable for a crowd you totally ignore that – I mean, we’re human beings and not machines playing. But if something would be totally messed up you just have to embrace it – laugh it off and ensure the audience found it entertaining anyway.
• What's next for Sterbhaus? Thank you!
The album “Next Akin to Chaos” is like a long epitaph so after it’s released and all the videos and whatever I have planned for is released as well there is nothing else. But in all honesty – and since we all agreed that any kind of future ownership of the band would belong to me, if I start something new and we decide to keep the band name Sterbhaus – then in some strange way the band will continue. But it would be rather different as Sterbhaus up until this album is a lot down to my musical bond with guitarist Jimmy – who is actually an actor today!