Reverse Talks Grunge Rock And Making Their Own Sound

Reverse has been shaking up the grunge scene in Germany and beyond with their raw vocals and brutally honest lyrical content. Grunge is a genre of rock that is difficult to get just right. If it’s done too heavily then you have crossed over in to metal. If not done heavily enough, then it’s rock and roll. Reverse hits the nail on the head with the perfect mix of grunge guitar and drums that will make you feel like you have travelled back in time to the late eighties/early nineties when grunge was first hitting the music scene.

It’s true that you can’t listen to Reverse without being reminded of the greats like Nirvana, but these guys are one of a kind. Reverse will first draw you in with their sound but its their lyrics that will keep you wanting to hear more of their story. More so than any other grunge band that I have heard in recent years, Reverse spills their hearts out for the audience. They take you to the depths of their hearts with their words and share intimidate parts of themselves with their fans, all in the name of art. With songs like “Forever is a Lie” hitting the airways and reaching the masses, it is no wonder why their fans feel such a deep connection to this band and their music. Reverse is not afraid to go for it with their sound or their words. In true grunge fashion, their hearts and minds are laid out wide open for the world to hear.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Reverse to find out more about their lives, how they got started in music, and what inspires their work.

Reverse Interview

TAMMY: Tell me a bit about the beginnings of Reverse. How did you all come to start playing music together?

REVERSE: We all were friends from school and spend our free time together with playing/covering songs and listening to rock music. But the special band for us was Nirvana and their grunge sound. This was the reason to create a band. Without this influence I guess we were a “normal” rock band. But so we try to keep grunge music alive.

TAMMY: What is the meaning behind the band’s name?

REVERSE: We were thinking about cool names. The only thing we knew was it should be an English name because we want to make English songs. German names (or lyrics)and grunge music sounds not good together. And some day we heard the song “Reverse Reverse” from Union Youth. We all love this word “Reverse” and the sound how you speak it. So “Reverse” was born. Without any deeper meaning.

TAMMY: Who are some of your biggest musical influences? What artists are you currently listening to lately on your down time?

REVERSE: I would say every genre of rock had great bands. A big influence was Nirvana for sure.
To learn and to play “Smells like Teen Spirit” was the reason to play guitar (for me) and for the others and their instruments, too. But we also love bands like Slipknot, Foo Fighters, Sevenfold ,Union Youth , Bush etc. So every band had a special influence to our band.

TAMMY: As a recent fan I already have several songs that I’ve had on repeat lately. I really love “Forever is a Lie”. What inspires you guys when you are sitting down to work on a new song?

REVERSE: “Forever is a lie” is the most personal song of our band. It was a relationship with so much love and passion. And one day, without a real reason ,she fucks with another guy. But before she did this, she always said “Our love is forever ” and “Forever means Forever”. For me she was my Queen. So I asked in “Forever is lie ” :Where’s your crown now? I thought you were my queen”. So songs can be created because of personal experiences, but we also can create songs when we play together in our rehearsal room. Or I play guitar by my own at home ,record this new song idea with my iPhone and send it to my band mates. They search for a beat and then we play it in our rehearsal room. So it depends.

TAMMY: One thing that I love about your music is that you are a grunge band….but your sound would appeal to listeners even outside of the grunge scene as well. There are elements of rock, metal, it’s all melded in there. How would you describe your sound to someone who had never heard your music?

REVERSE: When people asked us “What Sound / Music do you make” we often say “Grunge Rock”. And if someone doesn’t know what grunge music is, we ask “You Know Nirvana?” At this point they have an image of how we sound. But yeah, we love to get in contact with people of the metal scene, hardcore, or the alternative scene. Because, you say it, our sound reaches not only the grunge people, our music reach people from almost every genre of rock . We have grunge songs, but we also have Alternative Rock ,Hard Rock or Punk songs with elements of Metal and Hardcore. So we want to be open with our sound.

TAMMY: How long have you guys been playing guitar, drums, etc? Have you always played instruments since you were young or is it something that you picked up on later?

REVERSE: We create this band 2004,but we play our instruments since 2002. So we practice guitar, bass and drums for a year, and then we started to play together. And after that and some new songs we created “Reverse”. One of our first songs was “Everything is Great” which is still alive in our set list.

TAMMY: What is your favorite song to perform live?

REVERSE: Definitely “Dead Breed” and “Everything is great”. “Break me, Fuck me” is also awesome to play live.

TAMMY: What is your favorite thing about playing live and having a steady fan base? I’m sure it’s great to be able to connect with so many people through the music that you’ve written.

REVERSE: Yeah it’s totally amazing when people are freaking out when we are playing live and they dance and jump or just move their heads to the beat. And they do it to our songs, which we create and practice. That’s the best thing of making music. And when you play live, you see live every reaction from the people. Sometimes I have to smile while I’m singing because the whole crowd is moving . And after our concerts, some people come to us and say “Wow – great show ” or “I will see you guys again” –  Especially when people see us the first time live. That’s really cool.

TAMMY: What are you currently working on or have coming up that you are excited to share with your fans?

REVERSE: We have some new songs which we practice. On Facebook, per example, we upload some acoustic versions of our new songs. So our Fans know what we are creating and what is coming up next. The song “From here” is one of our new songs.

TAMMY: What has been your best or most memorable experience so far as a band?

REVERSE: Our recording with Kurt Ebelhäuser. He’s a famous Producer from Germany who produced our EP “Burning Spring”. He worked with German famous bands like “Beatsteaks”,”Die Ärzte”,”Donots” or “Union Youth”. We got in contact with him because he listened to our old version of “You know why”. So he invited us to his Record Studio for a Weekend. The work with him was absolutely awesome and opened some doors for us.

You can find out more about Reverse and keep up with their latest news by following them on Facebook and Instagram.