The Thrash Metal Rise of Freakings

The Thrash Metal Rise of Freakings

Freakings is a Swiss power trio ready to thrash your world into oblivion in the grand tradition of Exodus and Slayer. With the imminent unleashing of a brand new album Rise Of Violence and another magnum opus entitled Toxic End hot on its heels, the Freakings battalion is armed and ready to take on this great big world and there is no stopping them now! Highwire Daze Online recently caught up with bassist Toby Straumann to find out whole lot more about The Thrash Metal Rise of Freakings! Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Freakings, and how long the band has been together.
My name’s Toby and I am the bass player. We have been together for 11 years.

Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there?
We are from the agglomeration of Basel, Switzerland. The local metal scene takes place in various little music bars and also some bigger venues all over Switzerland.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the album title Rise Of Violence?
Rise of Violence is actually the title of one of the songs. We think this title is expressing the content of all the other songs perfectly. We also immediately had various ideas for the realization of the cover.

Select two songs from Rise Of Violence and what inspired the lyrics.
Let’s take “Rise of Violence”: These lyrics tell us about all the violence and war on our planet. The news tell us about destruction, death and thousands of refugees on their way. Our goal is to cry out this misery, not just in this song, but also in the other song’s lyrics.

“Time to Thrash” is a hymn about our genre. After having one in each of our previous albums it’s a MUST to have a thrash-hymn on the new one too. Don’t forget…all time is…time to thrash!!! By the way: All credits for the lyrics belong to Simon, my brother and our drummer.

Who did the cover art for Rise Of Violence and how much input did you have on it?
The cover is Timon Kokott’s artwork. He already made the cover of Toxic End, our 3rd album. We told him about our ideas and he created several sketches. We chose one of them and asked for a few details we wanted to have on it. He is a great artist and knows very well what we are looking for.

What could one expect from a live Freakings show?
Speed, rhythm and a great show with head banging fans. Or, as our promoter Markus would say: “the trio in the frenetic adrenaline rush rattles whipping songs into the earpiece with the utmost accuracy, so that it just breaks. All the three members reveat themselves motivated to the last fibres of their earthly hulls.” Yeah!

If Freakings could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
I think of several bands we would love to be the opener of: Exodus, Testament or Slayer. I’d love to meet the bands backstage and play on the same stage.

Has Freakings ever played in the States or plan to do so in future days?
We haven’t played in the States yet. We will plan as soon as we have a sponsor. What about you? ; )

What is your favorite beer of choice and why?
There are some locally brewed beers we like. I love the taste and the imagination how it grew on our land.

What’s up next for Freakings?
After a intense time in the studio we plan our tour in September. We travel to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. In November we travel eastwards to the Czech Republic and Slovakia. So we are quite busy this fall, which is great. In January the annual metal festival in our hometown Liestal takes place, which we organize ourselves.

Any final words of wisdom?
Visit us on Facebook, Instagram and our Homepage! Hope we will meet in the States! Thrash will never die!

Freakings is:
Simon Straumann – Schlagzeug
Toby Straumann – Bass
Jonathan Brutschin – Gitarre/Gesang

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Freakings on Facebook