The last five years have been a hectic time for German duo Mantar. The band who have their own sound, a mixture of punk and metal is the safest way to describe them, may have only got together a short time ago but they have made that time count. In that time Hanno Klaenhardt and Erinc Sakarya have managed to pump out three albums, an EP, a live release, signed to Nuclear Blast and toured right around the world.
Now Mantar are back with a brand new album called The Modern Art Of Setting Ablaze and HEAVY Mag sat down and chatted to Klaenhardt who could hardly contain his excitement about the release. “All I know is that whenever we put out a new record we try to do the best we can to make it the best record we can at the time,” he explains. “I feel that we have done that or else we would not have put it out, so it is a good thing we are very satisfied with the outcome. We just wanted to push things forward, you know? We are still a very young and new band we have just been going for four or five years this is our third record so there has been a lot of stuff going on. The bad is getting bigger and bigger and there has been a certain demand, we’ve toured the world several times, but we haven’t been to Australia yet…but we are working on that. People were asking for a new record and we just tried to make that happen. For the last twelve months we have been writing music and recording and the result is what you heard today.”
With the two members of the band being life-long friends (they have known each other for over 20 years) I ask what it is like writing and recording with your best friend. “Well best case scenario is it is fun,” says Klaenhardt with a laugh. “But it works on a very different level to which it would if we were just going into a bar. The whole vibe is very different it is not like we are just hanging out and going into a bar. You are very concentrated and very lost in that moment. You are in this process whether it is in the studio or in a live situation. In that moment I don’t know if it matters that much that we are close friends or not. It’s not about knowing each for a certain amount of time, it’s about the vibe and the energy between us while we record or play live. I’ve honestly never thought about what it is like recording with your best friend I’m just used to being around that person.”
The Modern Art Of Setting Ablaze is out through Nuclear Blast on the 24th August.
