Mr. 100.000 Volt: D.I.Y. Multitasking!

Paul „Supersonic“ Smith ist das Burning Ear-Studio Köln und gleichzeitig No Solution Records. Und weil ihm das nicht ausreicht, inszeniert er nebenbei die Auferstehung eines schmutzigen Punkrock-Monsters namens ... DUMBELL. Der beste und liebste gute Junge der Welt, der Paul aus Cincinnati, Amerika und jetzt Köln nämlich, der ist Musiker. Rocker, um genau zu sein. Mit geschundenem Leib, belebter Seele und riesigem Herzen. Und der macht nicht nur eine, sondern gleich eine ganze Reihe an Sachen, die den Begriffen Punkrock, D.I.Y., Rock’n’Roll, dem gesegnetem Humor und unzähligen, schönen Dinge mehr nützen und sie pflegen ... Eine Hummel im Arsch und 100.000 Volt auf der Dose. So verhält sich das mit Paul Grace Smith. Der Tausendsassa bekommt den Hals anscheinend wirklich nicht voll ... Diverse Bands, eigenes Studio und jetzt auch noch die Gründung eines eigenen Labels? Was geht da alles, in Köln und im umtriebigen Leben des Mr. Smith? Leicht zu klären, denn wer die alte Quasselstrippe kennt und liebt, der weiß, dass er sich kooperativ verhält, wenn es einen nach Antworten dürstet, also Feuer frei!


Die Band zuerst. DUMBELL ist wieder da. Ich habe schon diverse Male gehört: DUMBELL ist tot. Aber immer wieder kam diese Band wie ein Untoter aus seinem Grab, um besser, schneller und cooler auf die Bühnen dieser Welt zu klettern ... Wie kommt’s? Wie kam es zur erneuten Wiederauferstehung?

Oh, yeah. DUMBELL ... Wanna know what happened? Yeah, the whole thing imploded, because everybody was fighting with each other, instead of just having fun. At some point, everybody had different motivating factors, and when these factors came into conflict, it became trouble. It’s the same thing as a lover’s relationship gone sour. At first, everyone blames the other for the relationship not working, then after some time, one can see his own fault in the game. But is DUMBELL back now? Yes! After getting my kicks with other bands, like THE DAMAGERS or THE NITWITZ, I started to miss having the DUMBELL moniker. It felt strange to call myself an ex-DUMBELL ... It gave me the creeps. I just wanted guys in the band, who have their own musical style and were not egomaniacs or „Profimusiker“. I wanted the thing to be like a band of brothers again. So I got these guys, that I met in my studio, except Marcel, I’ve known him since 1999. Marcel was the first guy I snagged. He plays guitar. Then Ilias on drums and David on guitar ...

Okay. Und wie ging das dann weiter, nachdem ihr euch beziehungsweise du diese Jungs gefunden hattest?

We started immediately writing songs and it was like a geyser of pent up frustrations pouring out of me. With the old line-up, it had become impossible to be creative, because all of the internal stress within the band. Now we were pegging three songs per day!

So viel Produktivität muss ja schlussendlich irgendwo münden. Was ist geplant mit den neuen Songs, mit den neuen DUMBELL?

A new album, for sure! It is over one hour, 25 songs of pure hell ... I like to think of it as the album I’ve been trying to write for all of my life. It’s all pure emotion. Nothing is really thought out. It was all just written in a matter of days, except for a few older ones that never made it to a record before. I felt, that a double-length LP was necessary. We were gone for so long, and I felt, that I had to get this out of my system. Anyway, some of my favourite albums are double albums: HÜSKER DÜ’s „Zen Arcade“, THE DAMNED’s „Black Album“ ... I’m not trying to say, that our record is also a masterpiece like these, but hey! Who knows?

Und das neu gegründete hauseigene Label, No Solution Records? Eine Notlösung, weil keiner eure Platte rausbringen wollte? Oder Geldmangel bei potenziell interessierten Labels? Wie kam diese Idee ins Rollen?

I actually wanted to do this for a long time, and already did it once, now that I think about it ... I was getting sick of recording great young bands and seeing them get discouraged, when they would get no takers for the recordings they did. It breaks some bands up even. They always can get shows, but a lot of labels don’t wanna take risks anymore on unknown bands. It made me crazy, so I just thought: Fuck it! If I like it, I’ll take the risk. I only want to bring out young newcomer bands at first. Except DUMBELL ... I’m a little bit older ... but the new guys are young, so it kinda evens out. We got a few new bands like FUNERAL MARCH, really fast, snotty hardcore, and SOCIAL DISTRUST, punk rock that would make the U.S. BOMBS proud! Let’s see, what’s gonna happen ...

Okay, also du nimmst junge Bands in den Burning Ear-Studios auf und wenn sie dir gefallen, schlägst du als Labelboss zu. Klingt logisch, so sitzt du an der Quelle. Aber wie kommst du denn überhaupt zu der Studio-Geschichte? Was ist hier dein Credo, das du vertrittst?

Burning Ears, man! I always wanted to have everything on hand for doing my own productions, and I always was disappointed in the slick top 40 sounds being used on punk records. I want that shit to bleed! Be dirty! And press! Druckvoll, wie man sagt. I had my mind poisoned by the punk sound of the 80’s, when things were real dirty, and we liked it that way! The so-called punk music I hear on the radio is so „glattgebügelt“, that it all sounds like ... well, shit! We try to catch the passion, sweat and spirit of the band, with no tricks or gimmicks. In the end, we got a more honest snapshot of the band. That’s it!

Paul, thank you for the interview! Good luck for all your activities!
KK

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