Phil W: The Queensryche accolade was something I picked up on right away, and something you obviously accept. How big is the Queensryche influence to DC, and any other big influences for that matter, musical or non-musical?

Destination’s Calling (Markus) – Well, ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ is one of our favorite albums and so it’s quite obvious that it leaves its mark in our sound. Of course, there are other musical influences like Edguy, Kamelot, Savatage, Helloween etc., but writing songs for DC is much more listening to my heart - and that’s when non-musical influences come into view. I’m inspired a lot by certain emotions and feelings. It’s pretty hard to explain but when I’m writing music on the piano or the guitar I’m always looking for a special melody or an outstanding guitar-riff to describe these feelings.

Phil W: I wasn’t sure if Invisible Walls was a concept album, as the many feelings and moods throughout the record could certainly have pulled that off. Is it a concept album, and if not, is a concept album something you would consider in future, seeing classics like Operation Mindcrime, and other efforts that perhaps don’t cut it? Destination’s Calling (Markus) – No, I don’t see ‘Invisible Walls’ as a concept album. There’s no constant story line throughout the album and we also have no main character. I don’t claim this to be the only criteria for a concept album but for me – personally – it’s an important part and that’s also the case in Queensryche’s ‘Operation: Mindcrime’, in Evergrey’s ‘In Search of Truth’, in Savatage’s ‘Streets’ and many others. Nevertheless we do have a central theme in some songs dealing with invisible walls in relationships, in modern science, and in reference to everyone’s mind. Doing a concept album is something we really considered for quite a while but in the end we dropped the idea – at least for now.

Phil W: Geography plays a big part in my understanding of a band, like a Norwegian Black Metal band for example, may inspire some kind of pedigree, or a US Death Metal band may come with some expectations. Being European, do you think this has any relevance to the band, your cultural background, and the fact that in this genre of metal, for me, the Euros do it best?

Destination’s Calling (Markus) – In my opinion Europe, and especially the UK, has a long tradition in heavy metal and hard rock music. One of the very first signs of this artistic rebellion – The Rolling Stones – already shook the ground 40 years ago and somehow has paved the way for bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Helloween, Accept and the likes. And if we carry this thought a bit further we’re already in today’s music scene. Most of these bands still exist and do have a main influence on the european metal and hard rock scene.

Phil W: What are some of the great live moments for DC so far? Any dream line-ups already come true? Do you think line-ups / tours should remain within their genre, or would you be happy to share the bus, with a thrash band, a black metal band, and a female fronted power metal band?

Destination’s Calling (Markus) – Every single gig has its great moments but of course it’s a slight difference to play in front of 1.000 maniacs or 100. One of the greatest moments so far was the show as support to Freedom Call. The atmosphere was amazing and we really had a blast on stage. It was also an honour to play the legendary Keep it True-Festival together with mighty Helstar, Sacred Steel, etc. Another fine concert was last years ‘Rock im Hain’-Festival near Bamberg where we headlined the open air and played in front of 800 metalheads who went totally nuts.

Regarding line-ups we don’t have any problems to play with more extrem bands as we already shared stage with bands like Ektomorf, Grave, Disbelief, Dew-Scented, etc. I mean it’s not that easy to win Death-Metal fans over but we would nevertheless accept the challenge ;-)

Phil W: Back to the song writing, are you guys musically trained, or is it all natural? Can we have an insight into how you go about creating music as a group? Destination’s Calling (Markus) – As I already mentioned above our singer Chris and I are responsible for the song writing. The first thing we do is to put all our ideas together and work out some rough basic-track at Chris’ home-studio. Right after that the rest of the band (Christian Frank, drums and Steffen Singler – bass guitar) is involved in the process. They get the songs and work out their parts on their own. One of the most important steps is to rehearse the song. We need to know if it really rocks and if there’s the special ‘live-feeling’ going along with the song. Afterwards, Chris and I do the fine tuning. That means we work more precisely on special arrangements, chorus, solos, vocal lines and stuff like that. And sooner or later the song is done.

Phil W: What is your feeling on the ever-changing music industry, internet, myspace etc? Is this something DC has embraced?

Destination’s Calling (Markus) – Well, in today’s life multimedia gets more and more important. That’s a fact. There are a lot of pros and cons on that but in the end it offers so much opportunities particularly for more unknown bands to spread the word and to reach new fans from all over the world. There are so many webradio-stations and webzines supporting bands worldwide and we’re really glad about that. Of course, there’s also the other site of the coin with all the illegal download and stuff like that. I think this will be the biggest challenge for the modern music business.

Phil W: Following on from that, do you feel there is more focus on live bands, now that physical CDs become less popular, the live show is more important? Do you have any plans for touring this album in 2008/2009?

Destination’s Calling (Markus) – I think touring an album is one of the most important things for a band to get more attention in the metal scene. Unfortunately, it’s something we just cannot afford at the moment, as you have to spend a lot of money to get on a proper tour-package. Nevertheless, we try to play as often as possible. Most of our gigs are here in Germany but we’re confident to enlarge our touring activities in the future.

Phil W: Being a fairly new band, in terms of full-length albums, are their any plans for future recordings yet? Is writing an ongoing process for DC, or do you release and tour a record, then start the process with a fresh outlook?

Destination’s Calling (Markus) – For DC, writing is a constant process. I mean, you can’t repress new ideas coming into mind and so we’re already writing songs for the next album. There are a lot of cool ideas and we’re looking very forward to bring them into studio and hopefully into stores somewhere around 2009.

Phil W: Thanks for the time guys, and if there is anything you would like to add that you feel is important for fans to know about DC, please speak now!

Destination’s Calling (Markus) – First of all, I want to thank you for the interview. It was really a pleasure to answer your questions. Thanks to all readers! Go and check us out on www.myspace.com/destinationscalling or visit our homepage on www.destinationscalling.com. Just give it a try, you won’t regret it ;-). See you, Markus & DC

For more on the band check out http://www.destinationscalling.com

Interviewed by Phil Wilson

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