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Name: Messer
Members: Pogo McCartney, Milek, Hendrik Otremba, Philipp Wulf
Interviewee: Hendrik Otremba
Nationality: German  
Current release: Messer's new release Die Unerhörten (A Rarities Compilation) is out March 14th 2025 via Trocadero.
Global Recommendation: Answering these questions I am on a work-stay in Zürich and I really recommend to have lunch at Tibits.
Things I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: Sexuality.

If you enjoyed this Messer interview and would like to know more about the band and their music, visit their official blog. They are also on Instagram, and Facebook. 

For a deeper dive, read our Hendrik Otremba interview.



When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a listener, which albums, performances, and artists come to mind?

I’ve been listening to German Kraut-band CAN a lot lately, as a fan and in this case because I am working on a book about them – how they played together to me seems like pure energy. But I’ve never seen them live.

These days for me pretty energetic bands still are associated with a certain idea of punk. In Australia there are a lot of great bands these days, I like Negative Gears for example and Low Life.

There can be many different kinds of energy in art – soft, harsh, healing, aggressive, uplifting and many more. Which do you tend to feel drawn to most?

I really like contrast. So it is this soft energy in atmospheric sounds that I get energy from, but also the rough, sonic stuff.

And I am interested in this aggressive energy of cinema in some cases. Last night I rewatched Trouble Every Day by Claire Denis, which is really an energetic movie.



I have had a hard time explaining that listening to death metal calms me down. When you listen to a song with a particular energy, does it tend to fill you with the same energy – or are there “paradoxical” effects?

I know what you mean. I am a listener of Noise and these days I am very interested in Maurizio Bianchi (M.B.), a noise-pioneer from Italy. His sound opens landscapes for me that I really find chilling. But it’s noise and sounds aggressive and even brutal. So I don’t think it is paradoxical.

What really makes me mad is modern pop music, that is soft and meant to be relaxing. It makes me aggressive and brutal. So that’s really bad energy.

In as far as it plays a role for the music you like listening to or making, what role do words and the voice of a vocalist play for the transmission of energy?

I am not really a big listener to lyrics, maybe because I am a singer myself that tries to find his own path.

So for me language is a medium of energy. A word can be a sword. Or something very friendly that is pleasing you.

When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a creator, how would you describe the physical sensation of experiencing this energy? [Where do you feel it, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or a build-up of tension etc …]

It is mostly in these moments when you are on stage and you are surrounded by the sound of your friends, there is light, maybe some fog, the audience, flashing lights and you are in the middle of the storm and you look to your comrades and they all know what is going on.

I love that.

When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture energy best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

That depends on the idea, the constellation, the process.

I think it is important to have no certain routine and better see what the actual song demands.

How much of the energy of your own music, would you say, is already part of the composition, how much of it is the result of the recording process?

It is both about energy, but they are different sorts of energy.

The composition needs some energy coming from that strange place we don’t understand, and then, in the studio, you really may work to grow energy.

For your current release, what kind of energy were you looking for?

It is a compilation of demos and b-sides etc., so it was more visiting an energy that might even have been more intensive because the songs were written and recorded by younger versions of ourselves.

So it is more about re-visiting old energies.

How do you capture the energy you want in the studio?

Focus. The rest is done by the others.

I just sing along to their documented energy.

What role do factors like volume, effects like distortion, amplification, and production in general for in terms of creating the energy you want?

I guess a lot, but as a total tech-honk I know nothing about that.

In terms of energy, what changes when you're performing live on stage, with an audience present, compared to the recording stage?

You bring your daily form to the live-situation, you find channels and valves for release, so it is an adventure.

Whereas in the studio you have many takes and even can postpone things if you don’t swing with the mood.

How does the presence of the audience and your interaction with it change the energy of the music and how would you describe the creative interaction with listeners during a gig?

When they are good, we are good.

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

Oh, there are so different feedbacks, but mostly you already see and feel their feedback while on stage. Because they move.

My favourite memory is a guy who told me that he listens to our records at home and screams his own lyrics on top of the songs of Messer. He uses our energy to find his own. That’s beautiful.

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the energy or do you surrender to it and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

Nowadays I act a bit more controlled compared to my younger, pretty self-destructive stage-persona.

But I like this moments when I am sort of run over by the energy and something happens …

The energy that music is able to generate can sometimes be overwhelming. How, do you think, can artists make use of this energy to bring about change in the world?

I don’t know. I hope that it is possible. But I don’t know.

There have been times when music obviously could make a change and in particular it still might be like that, but music has become absorbed by capitalism even in the small subversive scenes, because the people that are making the music also get absorbed. So I hope that it is still possible.

Looking at the world right now I’d say that there is a need for a really big energy in music. The revolution has not been televised.