Germany’s Captain Asshole just dropped a banger of an album, Successfully Not Giving Up, on 22 Apr 2022 via SBÄM Records. TGEFM took the chance to catch up with these melodic punks for a round of Roll of the Dice. We rolled an EIGHT.
1) OK, so I have to ask: Why Captain Asshole? (laughter)
Phil Bretschneider (drums): That’s what I’m asking myself every day.
Max Philipp (vocals, bass): The name originally comes from a Direct Hit! song called “Captain Asshole”. But there was also the idea of having Captain Asshole as sort of hype man / antagonist like Masked Intruder have Officer Bradford. But obviously we are a lazy band and we never really realized this idea except for our music videos.
Manu Wieselhuber (vocals, rhythm guitar): I guess that’s the most frequently asked question, haha (laughter) Was the band name a bad idea? Maybe yes. Will we change it? I guess it’s too late.
2) Your sophomore LP Successfully Not Giving Up just dropped and it’s a banger. What was the writing and recording process like for this album compared to your debut What an Awful Life in 2019, considering the COVID pandemic and all that?
Manu: The main difference between the writing process of LP 1 and 2 I think is that What an Awful Life was more like a collection of songs we had at that point. For Successfully Not Giving Up we really wrote the songs and had an idea how this whole thing should sound like. We were working towards a goal: Recording our second full length.
Basti Stinglwagner (vocals, lead guitar): We also did a lot of pre-production for this record. During the covid lock downs, when we were not able to rehearse as a full band, we used almost every free time to meet up at least in pairs so that we could work on the songs. On the next day we took what we’ve recorded and met up with another one in the band to show what we’ve done and to track his instrument based on the new ideas.
Manu: Yeah, I remember that we’ve tracked almost every song multiple times… that was exhausting. When it came to the actual recording process I was already super annoyed of the songs… Haha.
Max: Regarding the recording process: The first record was done completely DIY in our practice room. For Successfully Not Giving Up we’ve teamed up with Jakob of The Engine Studios in Munich and booked the studio for I think 12 or 13 days. But we’ve done almost everything by ourselves and we were completely on our own in the studio – no engineer, no helping hand. That was pretty funny but sometimes also frustrating. What put a spoke in our wheel were the covid regulations. We had a lockdown and curfew at the time of our recording process. So Manu and I slept in the studio a few times so we were able to work longer on bass and guitar. These were pretty long nights…
3) SBÄM obviously does a stellar job pushing upcoming albums, and you had four pre-release videos for this one. They’re all really good, but which is your favorite video to watch, and which was your favorite to make?
Manu: Oh I love all our videos. That’s the good thing about Captain Asshole – we do not make serious videos. Most of the ideas we come up with are stupid or at least funny. (laughter) But for me it is the video for “Good News, Everyone”. All our videos are completely DIY and this one was just pretty cool to make. We had this idea of a guy in a self-made astronaut costume for our cover artwork and thought it might be cool to see what this guy who is standing there so full of hope, has been through. And it was nice to give our artwork more of a background story, you know?
Max: Favorite to make definitely “Dave Lizewski”, ‘cause Manu had all the work… haha (Note: Manu is making all the videos and “Dave Lizewski” is a lyric video).
No but seriously: “Good News, Everyone” is just great to watch. It looks so cool and the story is nice!
Basti: For me it’s “Apocalypse Whenever“. We’ve spent the whole day together as a band and had a great time. And the result is super funny to watch. And I love the idea of having “Captain Asshole” as a person in our videos.
Phil: Same. But also “Apocalypse Whenever” was the first video I was completely involved in the making process.
4) The tracks on the new album are composed very well, but the discerning ear will hear a lot going on instrumentally that may not be readily evident until you listen to the album/song three or four times. What is the song-writing process like for the band? Is it fully collaborative, do members come up with parts and share and build on them, or is there someone who is the main songwriter?
Max: I would say most of the ideas are coming from Manu, maybe 70 percent. When Manu brings an idea to the practice space it’s already pretty concrete. But of course everyone is changing it with his personal ideas and influences. When I’m bringing a song it’s a little bit different. Most of the time I have some lyrics and a vague idea how things should sound. And then we are working on it as a band. Sometimes the outcome is completely different but that’s part of the process.
Manu: Yeah, absolutely. We already had songs, where the actual idea sounds like a completely different song as the final recording. I write most of my ideas on the acoustic guitar. And that means there is still a lot to do in the practice space. But sometimes – when I’m bored (haha) – I already program some rudimentary midi drums and record my guitar so that I can get a better idea of how the whole dynamic of the song works. And then there is always Basti who is giving the songs a unique spin with his lead guitar. That’s what makes LP 2 more sophisticated than the first I guess. We were a three piece back then and did not really have a lead guitar. Thanks for joining Basti.
5) The liner notes for the new album (or, at least, the Bandcamp notes) show that you had a drummer switch up in 2021. Did this effect the recording of the album in any way, and how has the band dynamic changed (or not) with that recent change?
Basti: That was a miserable mistake!
Phil: haha
Max: It did not effect the recording or writing in any way because the change happened after it. For the band dynamic changes are rather obvious.
Manu: Our previous drummer Theo was straight edge and that was kind of good. He kept us in check. But now with Phil around, we’re a mess.
(Everyone’s laughing)
6) I always toss this one in because I like sharing what YOU listen to: name some bands that TGEFM’s readers may not be listening to, but really should be checking out.
Manu: Ouuh, there’s a lot. There are so many good bands and friends out there. Recently Small State from Saarbrücken, Germany have released a new record and it’s really, really good. Also our Label Mates Heathcliff are worth checking out. And the new Signals Midwest record is awesome! Love it!
Max: Jukebox Romantics are a band you really should check out. They released a new EP last year in December which is a banger.
Basti: You really should check out my good friends in The Special Bombs, your readers might like them!
7) If no one told me you were a German band, I wouldn’t have known, your accent is so good. How many languages can you speak fluently or, at least, fluently enough to order food and ask where the toilet is?
Max: Thanks! I think most of us just speak German and English, am I right?
Manu: Basti and I also speak Bavarian fluently. That’s kind of another language. Haha! (laughter)
Phil: Maybe i speak French. I am not sure.
Basti: Say “I am Phil”
Phil: Je m’appelle Phil.
Basti: Fuck… haha!
Manu: But to be fair: We had a looooot of accent discussions while tracking vocals for our record. And we (or at least I) try reaaaally hard to not sound too german. And that’s not so easy when you already have a hard time speaking clean high german because you normally speak bavarian. (laughter)
8) With Successfully Not Giving Up racking up the streams, what’s next in line for Captain Asshole?
Phil: Playing live. I think that’s what helps us the most. Our new record is out and we really want the people to listen to it. We hope that some people will say: Hmm…Captain Asshole. Yeah, they are not so bad.
Manu: After two years of pandemic we’re really looking forward to play some live shows. And there are already a lot of things in the making. We are playing Booze Cruise Festival in Hamburg, Punk Rock Holiday in Slovenia, a lot of shows around these two festivals and some pretty nice things we are not able to talk about yet. And we are so proud of this record and we want to bring it out to the world. It’s worth listening to. Really.
Max: Now that Phil is able to play all of the songs he was not part of in the writing process we are also really looking forward to writing new songs with him. But we’ll give that some time and focus on our new record first.
Manu: Thanks for having us Jeff and thanks for this nice little chat!
Successfully Not Giving Up is out now, and you can pick up a copy at the Captain Asshole Bandcamp, SBÄM webstore, or Say-10 webstore. You can also stream the album via Spotify.
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
