Shannon-Lee had a chat with the Majestic Beast himself, Nathan Riedel, lead guitarist for Lagerstein about parties, pirates, tours, new albums and good times!
Lagerstein are by far one of the best party bands around right now, how long have you guys been partying together?
Oh thank you! Our first show was in January 2011 at The Step Inn in Brisbane. From that very first show all we wanted to do on stage was beer bongs and the beer bong song was born and Lagerstein was born from there. That very first show we knew we were onto something by having fun and partying on stage!
Something I love about Lagerstein is that not only is the music great and every gig is one big party, but also you are all really great performers and you all look amazing, taking on your pirate party roles very seriously. How did the whole concept come about?
Ahh well in the early days we were basically just like one member was a Viking, one member was a pirate, and I was like glam. Then we wrote the song Plunderberg and from there we thought we have to choose one thing and we chose pirates! And we believe that pirates are the greatest! All about adventure and having fun! We all have our own characters in the band, from day one Rummy Rackers has always worn the lederhosen *laughs*
You have 7 members in the band, all with crazy and fun nicknames, yours being The Majestic Beast, where did all the nicknames come from?
So for the nicknames, you’ve got to earn them, so we are partying together and the nicknames just roll off the tongue and then you’re stuck with them.
Your music and sound is quite unique in a lot of ways, where do your influences stem from?
For me personally I listen to everything from 60’s rock and roll to extreme black metal so everything in the range of rock and roll to metal. We have elements of many styles. But if we had to pinpoint, the closest style would be folk metal. We use a lot of folk metal instruments, like accordions, brass and violin.
You’re about to embark on a tour around Australia, starting on the 7th of June in Canberra, you must be keen to commence the party!?
Ohh definitely. We are so excited to get back in the Lager bus and hit the road. We’ve had a pretty quiet start of the year, we’ve only had two shows which were only a few months ago.
Yes I saw you guys rock out at Ross The Boss recently! Was such a great gig!
Yes that’s right, that’s where I met you *laughs*
I can imagine a tour for you guys would be so much fun?
Oh yeah, every day is just a party and this tour is going to be great and extra special because it is called the Yeast Coast Brewery Tour and we are on a quest to find the greatest beer in Australia! So we are visiting a whole heap of breweries along the way and they are all going to show us their best beers and then we will make some decisions.
So next up after that will be the Dead Of Winter festival, which I am super keen for!
Yeah I am getting really pumped for that one; I always love playing Dead Of Winter, especially with the Brisbane crowd. This one is going to be massive, it is extending to two venues, to the Tivoli and The Jubilee and we got a really good time slot. We are going to have some visual projectors behind us and it is going to be a spectacle.
There are many awesome and talented local bands around Brisbane and the Gold Coast, who are some of your favourite local bands that you’d like to give a plug too?
I would definitely have to say the lads and lasses in Valhalore, they are some of the best people and also the people in Dragonsmead. They are another incredible folk metal band. Ahh and Osaka Punch are absolute rippers and who else is playing DOW? Oh The Black Swamp! They’re awesome.
In September and October you are putting on LagerFest, can you tell me some more about that?
So yeah we have our festival LagerFest happening again, we haven’t officially announced dates yet but that will be happening in a few weeks. It will be happening in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. In September and October, it is the fifth year of this festival. This year we are going all out and we have many awesome surprises underway for it!
I have also heard there is a new album on its way for our listening pleasure in 2019, is that correct?
Yeah that is right, probably by the time is its ready to be released will be September/October next year. We are currently writing heaps of material. We have got nearly 15 songs in the works at the moment so we are condensing it and getting the best selection of songs. Then we will put the album together and record it at the end of the year next year.
What does the future hold for Lagerstein?
So basically we just want to party hard in every corner of the globe possible and spread the pirate party around the world, make fun music and share a beer along the way with as many people as possible! We all love doing what we do and every single time we play we have so much fun on stage.
Lagerstein are so much fun to see live so if you are keen for a party make sure you don’t miss them on their upcoming tour! You can catch them at the following venues on these dates:
7th June – The Basement – Canberra.
8th June – The Small Ballroom – Newcastle.
9th June – Dicey Riley’s Hotel – Wollongong.
10th June – Frankie’s Pizaa By The Slice – Sydney.
13th June – Opulance – Ballarat Central.
14th June – The Loft – Warrnambool.
15th June – Eveyln Hotel – Fitzroy.
16th June – Enigma Bar – Adelaide.
21st June – Miami Shark Bar – Gold Coast.
7th July – Dead of Winter, The Tivoli and The Jubilee – Brisbane.