Interview: Nico, War from a harlots mouth

What follows is an interview with another guy, that once tried out for the singer position in Final Prayer before Stephan took the job for good. His name is Nico and he screams his heart out to the dissonant riffs of War from a harlots mouth from Berlin. We asked him a few questions about FP, 90s hardcore, and why his bands never manage to have 'proper' breakdowns... haha. There you go.



You are singing for Wfahm, but before joining Wfahm you actually did try out for the position of the vocalist in Final Prayer. Not too many people know that, I guess. How did it happen?

Well I actually started singing for The Ocean as their second vocalists around the same time, but wanted to do something different besides The Ocean. Friends of mine told me that a new band was being formed, and seeing that I've known both Pascal and Felix for a long time I was willing to give it a try. I practiced twice with FP, but then the main vocalists of The Ocean quit and I became their main singer, we left for tour kinda immediately afterwards and I had zero time for FP. Later on I left The Ocean and started singing for Wfahm but that's another story.

What was your first impression? Has your impression about FP changed over the years?

I connected to the songs they had written really easily, they had good hook-lines and great riffs. That is still the case and I really like to watch FP live, because of the energy they have – then and now.

What do you think about the development of FP over the years, and how would you compare it to your own band? Where do you see differences, and where similarities?

I'd say attitude-wise both bands are very similar, but they operate in different contexts. FP plays heavy HC, Wfahm plays very a very dissonant and wicked sound. But like I said we have very similar attitudes.

Being in Wfahm you've done quite some shows that also featured FP on the bill: what has been the most memorable show Wfahm did with FP and why?

One show comes to mind immediately and that's the last show of the Berlin Angst tour we did with FP and Make it Count in 2008. The whole tourcrew left the venue to drive to my mum's house to sing her some songs for her birthday. That made my mum nearly cry. Awesome night!

The latest release of Wfahm moved away from the deathcore/ mathcore style you guys are famous for into more of a straightforward Hardcore direction. Is it because you've been jealous of the fact that FP songs have all these simple riffs and breakdowns and Wfahm doesn't? Was it a conscious decision?

Haha, of course playing loads of shows together with FP has influenced as a lot, but we'll never manage to write such simple songs – we simply think too much :-)!

You are known for loving Morning Again, Culture and other Florida SXE Bands from the 1990s – any chance of Wfahm doing a Morning Again cover? And what do you think about the 90s vegan SXE bands and the scene at that time these days? Do you still listen to that stuff now and then? Has it aged well in your opinion?

Haha, great question. I was definitely really into all that Florida SXE stuff, but I really loved bands like Chokehold even more I have to say. I do actually listen to some of the old stuff from the 1990s, actually I just listened to 'burning bridges' from Chokehold and 'as tradition dies slowly' from Morning Again. It's sad to see that there is barely anything left from these days – that became very clear to me when we did a tour in 2009 with Earth Crisis and nobody cared about them anymore. It obviously wasn't much more than a short-lived hype, that died at the end of the 1990s. But then again, I always bump into people that were Vegan SXE back then and still are today. What I find really sad is that underground music scenes, be it Hardcore, Metalcore, Mathcore, Deathcore or whatever, have become so materialistic. In that regard I do miss the old days, when HC shows were still some kind of refuge, where people could actually be themselves without following any kind of “dresscodes”.



You are still vegan and SXE after all these years. Is your edge still strong? What keeps you going?

I actually tend not to think about it, it has become a part of me and I do not miss anything. I am also not a very uptight person, I love partying! But I do not need drugs or alcohol to party.

You guys are on tour all the time, how do you survive on tour as a vegan SXE kid? What's the best way to eat? How to stay healthy etc.?

First of all: Touring isn´t healthy! =) It's best to check the internet for vegan restaurants or ask local kids about it. Also in Europe usually promoters will prepare some vegan food for me to eat. But I am aware of the fact that it is not that easy everywhere else in the world to get vegan food. I hope this will change in the future though.