The debut of instrumental-quartet Coping Mechanism is a musical balancing act, which ceaselessly draws the listener into a mixture of various genres, without ever letting go of thrill and tension.

Their debut album, Shiak Kasim takes the listener on a rollercoaster-ride, emotionally as well as musically. The various musical backgrounds the four musicians originate from, become noticeable through multifaceted arrangements and varying impressions. The broad arsenal of instruments on the debut makes for a palpable genre blend.

The four-piece indisputably delivers a stirring performance, which losslessly transfers onto the stage. Production-wise, the band acquired the help of Emil Richters. His AudioBeast recording studio, located in the idyllic northwest of Germany, served as a safe haven for extended recording sessions. Known for being the leader of his band ‘Controversial’, he presented the band’s vision in a proper light. Rather confusing song titles such as “Gerippen Gegœmmelt” or “Hast du schon alles erledigt? (Have You Finished Those Errands?)” reprocess contemporary and outdated pop-culture references in equal measure. Here’s our interview with the band’s drummer, Immo!

Beginnings:

The four of us have been friends long before we formed the band and Zadok and I have been playing in another band already. As all of us are quite nerdy when it comes to riffs and instruments, so we exchanged a couple of ideas and ultimately decided to form a new instrumental band, in which we could focus on outside-the-box ideas and arrangements, but still treat the joy of making music as the top priority. The line-up consists of Zadok (guitar), Marcel (guitar), Leon (bass guitar), and I.

Behind the name:

It took us a long time to mutually agree on a band name, even though we had a plethora of worthy contenders. Ultimately, we think that music as an outlet on the one hand, and as a tool for nonverbal communication on the other, represents our passion the most. That’s why ”Coping Mechanism”, a term that stems from the field of psychology, for us combines several reasons and motivations for making music.

Inspiration:

Progressive music in general, wanting to grow on our main instruments as well as exploring new instruments. For me personally, it’s the music with intricate drums and rhythms, that most of the time catches my ear. Band-wise there are many different influences. To name a few examples: Revocation, Animals As Leaders, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Mars Volta, Tigran Hamasyan, Kora Winter.

The inspiration behind “Shiak Kasim”:

As a generation that grew up on the internet, we’re heavily inspired by memes and internet culture. We incorporate those aspects in our artwork, song titles, and our live show. For certain song titles we decided rather spontaneously, and for example named our song ”Mifti” after the beloved cat of our producer Emil Richters, that sadly had passed away. Other than that, we wanted to make instrumental music more accessible. We aim at playing concerts with different bands and artists to put unconventional music on the map.

Describe the album in five words!

Eclectic, uplifting, poignant, chaotic, fun!

Teamwork:

We rarely ”jam” at the rehearsal space. In most cases, we digitally exchange ideas and melodies and comfortably arrange them in notation software. This way we have a broad idea of how the song could sound once we practiced our individual parts and then combine everything at the rehearsal space. Often times, we adjust some parts of the arrangements after the first couple of rehearsals, because the song didn’t quite work out as well digitally as it did with real instruments.

COVID-19:

We had planned to play several concerts in March, April, and May. Just one week before the first concert, everything got canceled. Even though releasing our debut album ‘concertless’ in the midst of a pandemic, we now focus on writing new material for our next album.

Online concert:

We did play an online concert to compensate for the shows we had to cancel. During the concert, the audience could donate money to support the event industry. Unfortunately, we see a lot of venues and event organizers suffer under the restrictions that aim at curbing the pandemic. That being said, we understand that many lives are at stake and that adherence to safety measures is crucial. Hopefully, the government will support those who suffered financially and health-wise, so that once the pandemic is under control, we still have venues to play concerts in.

Fun facts:

We had the pleasure to play at a celebration of a big international company. The project start of a production facility in Europe was celebrated. At the party, there were also some well-known names of high society. But the craziest thing was the escort ladies that were booked to go around and offer an all-round carefree package for the guests.

Unfortunately, we can’t tell you any more details due to contractual reasons. We only got a cost-covering compensation for the performance.

Another funny anecdote from a concert might be when I forgot to bring a drum-stand to the livestream-concert. Luckily, the concert took place on a go-kart track and they had lots of spare tires lying around, some of which we could use as a makeshift drum-stand. Fun fact: We come from the same area as the famous techno artist Scooter. (laughs)