German modern metal band April Art returns in full force with their brand-new album, “Rodeo”. This album marks the culmination of a decade of hard work and perseverance, symbolizing their breakthrough moment. With their recent signing to Reaper Entertainment, the band is poised to take the next big leap in their career. Learn more about it in our special interview with the singer Lisa Marie Watz and drummer Ben Juelg.
April Art and the new rodeo
Hi Ben and Lisa Marie, welcome to Femme Metal Webzine. How are you today, and how is this period treating you?
Lisa Marie: Oh, I’m fine. Thank you. We’re excited and we are looking forward to our new release.
So let’s speak about this new release. It’s called “Rodeo” and will be released via Reaper Entertainment in October. Considering that the previous album was “Poker Face” (2022), what can you tell me about the production?
Ben: I would say this new record is a little bit harder. It’s a little bit more metal and a little drier sounding. It represents us as musicians and persons in the actual time.
Lisa Marie: It’s like a timestamp, I would say.
In the here and the now
As you just said, “Rodeo” is a sort of a timestamp. So, if I have to ask you, which is the picture of this timestamp you want to express?
Lisa Marie: As we started writing the album at the beginning of 2024, we were right before going on the 70,000 Tons of Metal. So it was an exciting time. We also managed to sign with Reaper Entertainment. It was a special time for us and me. I had a lot of, yeah, hard times I would say I was going through. So it was a wild ride, I would say,
Ben: Yeah, and that’s what represents the album as well. So that’s because that’s the name “Rodeo”. It represents an up-and-down and a very turbulent phase in our lives.
Lisa Marie: Many different things that happen all together.
April Art signs with Reaper Entertainment
You just mentioned that this year, you also signed with Reaper Entertainment, and I want to ask you how you came across the label, and how the relationship developed.
Lisa Marie: We were talking with our management for a long time ago about having a labor label or not having a label, and we always decided we should stay independent and do everything by ourselves, this time, we also had talked to major labels and but we decided that it’s better to have a partner. But not just a big label…
Ben: …because we wanted to have priorities. We wanted to work with someone who want to invest in our vision, develop, and push the band forward. And so we decided to go with Reaper because they are a small team, and we can connect with them very well. And we just liked each other when we met for the first time. So this felt better for us than just being a small band and a big label and not having the opportunity to talk a lot to the people there.
Lisa Marie: We still have our independent character because we can decide everything about our music and videos.
Being always independent
Now you are signed onto a label, and to some degree, the previous full-lengths were independently released. Then, how difficult was it to be an independent band? Considering that you had everything in your hands.
Lisa Marie: We still have everything in our hands, but we have a bigger team which means more manpower. And thanks to that we can reach more
Ben: Back in the day it was a lot of work and decisions which we had to take on our own. And we had no team to ask certain questions about how to release the album. Now we have this support, and it feels better. It feels a little bit more solid and professional.
Ten years from the debut
Together with the release of the third full-length “Rodeo”, it’s already 10 years since the first album and the band’s foundation. In that regard, I want to ask you, over the past decade, which memory do you hold most dear?
Ben: I would say during the coronavirus crisis, we just reinvented the band completely. We just changed our style, our looking style, our musical style, and with the first song in this period that was a breakout. And we got into one of the biggest radio stations in Germany. We got on hot rotation. And this moment, I would say, was a very special one, because, from this point of from this time point on, everything started growing for me and the band.
The pandemic’s impact
Lisa Marie: From this point on, everything feels natural. We stopped fighting against the industry. Before this moment, we were always perceived as victims in the system. As the ones, that nobody wanted to listen to our music. We were struggling with ourselves a lot, and in the coronavirus crisis, we used the time well to talk to each other. We’ve been trying to understand who we want to be, how we want to sound, and what we want to offer to people. What is our message? Who are we? And that was a really big change in our career. And yes,
Ben: We played Wacken this year, and this was a very, very special gig, because I think it was the biggest audience we had so far, and the biggest emotion from the people we just experienced.
Lisa Marie: That was special. There was such a special energy, and I came on stage and, I had goosebumps all over my body. That was amazing. I never felt this on stage before. Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, everything shut down, and we’ve transformed everything leading up to this moment. It feels like, like, like a dream coming true.
April Art plays Wacken
In a way, you find your place at Wacken. It’s a traditional festival with a strong focus on specific musical genres, which is why I was surprised by the crowd’s reaction.
Lisa Marie: I would say the crowd was very open-minded. And, yeah, they were open for us. And that works the best on stage. You know that the people feel the positive vibes we are given and also they give it back, and we are playing ping pong with this positive energy. And, yeah, but I know what you mean because it’s classical. It’s classic heavy metal, and it also has to be in this way, but
Ben: We experienced the same at the 70,000 Tons of Metal gig earlier this year. It’s a heavy metal-oriented lineup, and for us, it was special to be part of that. But it worked. It worked out very well. We did it. They welcomed us very well.
Lisa Marie: When you see us playing live, all the hard and evil metal fans fall in love with us and like the energy. And don’t think about what they thought about before, because when you see all the pictures and all our things on the internet, you can think, “Oh, they are not heavy enough that not trve”.
Shooting the new singles
Four singles have already been released from the ‘Rodeo’ album. I wanted to ask you for some insights about the songs ‘Pike,’ ‘Jackhammer,’ and ‘Not Sorry.’ I also noticed that you dedicate a lot of effort to creating impressive music and promotional videos. How has the filming process been for you? I know it can be quite exhausting. So, what has it been like to shoot them, and how do you feel about these songs and their accompanying videos?”
Lisa Marie: Yeah, he’s shooting our videos.
Ben: Video is my part in the band. I’m just a video enthusiast. I love shooting videos. I love creating a certain look with my camera, and that’s a big passion. So it’s a lot of fun to have everything in my hands, how the video looks, what expresses the pictures, and what the pictures express. And so, yeah, that’s fun, but it’s a lot of work. And it’s hard work, of course, but we like doing this.
Shooting (maybe) in LA
Lisa Marie: Yeah, we’re always doing what we can especially when you watch “Jackhammer”. We had the chance to fly to Miami and play some shows there. Then, we thought “Okay, we have to shoot a video there”. And it happened the shooting of “Jackhammer” which was the perfect match for this.
Then comes “Head Up High” which was shot in a special club here in Germany. It’s called La, and that’s because all the decorations are in an L.A. style. We asked the club owner if we could stay one night longer and shoot the next day. Working in this manner for our video production makes us still independent. Also Ben is shooting our videos, creating the stories, and making all the costumes. So we are free and we can do it whenever we want to.
Ben: We take opportunities. Yes, these first two videos were just opportunities we had because of the shows we played in Miami. We had good environments and good pictures.
Welcome to the rodeo
I loved all the well-curated videos. In the song “Rodeo,” you sing, ‘Welcome to the rodeo’ at one point. I can offer a different interpretation of that sentence, but what does it mean to you?”
Lisa Marie: I envisioned writing a song that compares life to a wild rodeo ride, as that’s truly what it feels like. As I said before, so many things happened, good and bad. So it is a wild rodeo ride. It was the perfect title track for this record because it is so wild. And of course, “Rodeo” is a wild song. This hook, welcome to the rodeo is the perfect hook, and it means everything that’s in it. Welcome to your life. Welcome to the rodeo. That’s it. So get on the horse and grab it and stay.
Touring in Germany #1
Even the German tour is turning out to be a wild rodeo, I’m seeing a lot of sold-out shows all over Germany . And, have you ever thought to come to play even a little bit of the border?
Lisa Marie: Yeah, that’s right. We’re, we’re, we’re just working on that. Yeah, yeah.
Ben: We plan to play outside Germany for the next year, maybe, but we’re just working on that. We don’t have fixed dates yet.
Lisa Marie: We’re working on that with our booking agency. So we were right now we have grown our fan base here in Germany, and we’re looking forward to coming to all the countries around Germany. So please be patient. We will come.
Touring in Germany #2
How does building a fan base in Germany work? I feel like the size of the country might make it challenging to reach all the medium and smaller cities. In contrast, here in the Netherlands, everything is more compact, and it’s easier to reach the major cities. So, does building a fan base in Germany require a more extensive approach? That’s the impression I’m getting.
Lisa Marie: I would say the most important thing is playing as much as festivals as you can. You always reach new people. And then, of course, touring in, we try to come to all the parts, both smaller and bigger cities.
Ben: A lot of festivals and touring, touring, touring, yeah, of course, to to always be present in the different areas in Germany.
Viersen VS Aschaffenburg
I remember seeing some dates in smaller cities like Viersen, which is a small city on the other side from Venlo, in the Netherlands. For me, Venlo feels like a big city, while Viersen is much smaller in comparison. I also know that Aschaffenburg’s Colos-Saal is a major venue, as it’s where medium-sized and bigger bands typically perform, whereas smaller cities like Viersen don’t get as many big acts.
Ben: I never heard of that. Yeah, I didn’t even know that existed. It’s a great club. We didn’t know it either before we came there the first time. But when, when we were there, it is a lovely club. It’s familiar, and it’s a cool club. So we also like playing the big, famous clubs, but we also like discovering small clubs that have something special, and Rockschicht in Viersen is one of these.
Lisa Marie: Yeah, there’s a cool music scene you don’t have in sometimes you don’t have in bigger cities, but there are a lot of fans. And we also had a sold-out show the last time we played there. And we love to come back to this place, because there are so many cool people.
My time is running out, but first, I want to thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate the interview. As we say in the Netherlands, tot ziens!
Ben & Lisa Marie: Thank you so much. You’re welcome.