02/2004     Jens Pohl   Matthias Liebetruth     (German Version)


Hey Matthias, I read somewhere, that you started your career as a musician with the bass guitar. How did you get interested in the drums and why did you finally "swap" your instruments?

I started taking guitar lessons at the age of 10, but after a short period I noticed that this wasn't the right instrument for me. So I started playing the bass. The brother of a good school-friend was playing the drums at that time, and we met regularly to jam along. The drums started fascinating me and I asked him to teach me some grooves. And then it all began ... at the age of 14 I started drumming for our Big Band at school, that went fine for the next four years as well. During that time I realised, that I wanted to become a professional musician.

Please tell us something about your musical background and development. As most people will know, there are a lot of projects you are currently working on ...

From 1988-1994 I got some experience with bands of the most different styles. Then in 1995 I made my first contact with VICTORY; many studio- and live-jobs resulted from that get-together. In 1998 the CD and tour with HEADCRASH (album: Lifeboat) followed up; that cooperation lasted for two years. In 2000 the TROMMELFEUER-combo was founded and I also started drumming for DADDY LONG LEGS. The very same year I got in contact with electronic music, i.e. Trance & Goa. The first experience in that branch came along with the KLANGSTRAHLER-Project. Currently I am working on many projects, partly I am composing drum patterns and partly I am playing the drums. Of course I will keep you updated ...

Many different people told me, that you, because of your power and devotion during your shows, are the official replacement for "Animal" from the Muppet-Show. Where do you get that power and endurance from? Is there a special training or workout, that you are exercising or do you simply meditate?

My primary method of training is to play the drums. Furthermore some jogging, training with weights and doing pull-ups (very essential!!!). But most important of all is my passion for music.

When and how did you get in contact with RUNNING WILD? Originally it was planned, that you should play the drums on the last studio album already, but that plan was dropped due to lack of time...

I met Rolf for the first time at the Horus Sound Studio in Hanover. He was just recording Victory at that time. I played some HiHat-overdubs for that album, our cooperation went fine all along ... But, due to lack of time, we didn't get together until the Brotherhood Tour came up ...

Which RUNNING WILD song do you like best and for what reason?

My personal TOP 10 would look like that:

01. Conquistadores
02. Riding The Storm
03. Welcome To Hell
04. Treasure Island
05. The Privateer
06. Bad To The Bone
07. The Brotherhood
08. Soulstrippers
09. Little Big Horn
10. Soulless

I like these songs most, because they make me "running wild" (pure emotion!!!).

This summer RUNNING WILD are going to be the Headliner at the Gates Of Metal in Sweden. How important is Live-Performance for you? Have you been to Sweden before? And have you got a message for the visitors of that festival or for all the swedish RUNNING WILD fans in particular?

Live performance is just the best part of my Job! Back in 1994 we played on a biker party with our Rock-Cover-Band, that was near Göteborg. I am really looking forward to being in Sweden again, it's just a beautiful country and I like the mentality of the Swedish.

Please characterize your bandmates with a few words.

Bernd is an extraordinary musician and man, I really appreciate that I got to know him through RUNNING WILD. Peter is an old friend of mine. We played together in a few bands before, and I really hope we will be playing together with RUNNING WILD for a long time. When I met Rolf for the first time, we were getting along very well from the start. He is an extraordinarily decent man and therefore he has my loyalty.

Okay, many thanks, Matthias!