OLD SCHOOL AND POWER

Festival interviews are not particularly liked by journalists, so to speak. Yet, if festival’s roster includes such a great band like CORONER, well, then, it is hard not to accept. This Swiss trio, with Diego Rapacchietti replacing Mark Edelman alias Marquis Marky (who quit a couple of months ago)performed really amazingly at Brutal Assault 2016. Yeah, it was one of festival's better shows. It was swift, atmospheric, and skillful...with really many old hits of theirs and excellent sound. The last one is an important element indeed as the music of these Swiss guys is really sophisticated. The only problem with their set list is there are too many songs to please everyone as most, if not all of their cuts are simply great and damn technical.

All right, the number of people who gathered for "meet and greet"at Josefov Keep showed very clearly how much respected CORONER really is. Tommy Vetterli, Ron Broder and before-mentioned Diego Rapacchietti patiently kept signingtheir stuff and took pictures with all the fans, while drinking canned Budweiser. They looked totally relaxed and cool in the press room.

Ten minutes is surely not long enough to talk deeply with such an important, for metal music, band like CORONER. Especially when one talks with all band members. Still, it was worth it since them ladstole us about their past as well as forthcoming Autopsy compilation and, I’m sure of it, their new album which will please all their fans in 2017. Ok, they didn’t say anything special, but surely made people want to hear their new release more eagerly. Ok, below is the interview done during that nice, yet short tryst. First to speak is Diego Rapachietti, band`s new member.

Diego, I know you were asked to join the CORONER lads.You played with Tommy in 69 CHAMBERS,but to replace Mark Edelman is somethingruther special right?

DIEGO RAPACCHIETTI (DR): Yeah, I said yes as to play music like this is really challenging. To be a drummer who can play with a bandlikeCORONER is like a dream that has come true. I said yes coz this music is very rhythmicand you must be really musically skillful to play like this plus you can play very fast if you like. Ha-ha. So it is both a challenge and a dream that comes true. Yup.

Are you from Zurich - like Tommy and Ron?

DR:Nah, I’m from the Frenchspeaking part of the country. I’m half Italian and half Swiss/French.

Tell us about your musical beginnings. How did you start and what were your inspirations.

DR: I was 10. It all started the same way others did i think. I mean people of my generation. I grew up together with LED ZEPPELIN and DEEP PURPLE. I loved John Bonham, Buddy Rich and Stewart Cipeland. I admire and respect a really great number if drummers. And i worked really hard to be a better drummer.

How did you get into metal and become a metal drummer?

A coincidence I guess. I played loud and it was the reason. As far as I can remember all people tole me I was a good drummer but I played too loud. I joined a certain band. So this is how it looks like now.

Well my magazine is called Old School for a reason. We write about old metal, we refresh some stuff too, as well as we discover some old stuff not yet discovered but we don’t forget about present times either. What can you tell us about yore beginnings in yore area? A bunch of friends who used to hang out and listen to metal?

RON BRODER aka RON ROYCE (RB): The first metal LP was BLACK SABBATH`s debut album. That was why I fell in love with Geezer Butler`sguitar style. I kept listening to his music all the time. He was my first and most important inspiration. Later I became an ACDC fan. Yeah, I agree it aint too metal, their music, but I loved them. And next was IRON MAIDEN and i tried to imitate Steve Harris.

Did you guys have any venue you used to hang out at?

RB: Yeah, there was a music shop in Zurichwhere we used to meet up.

TOMMY VETTERLI aka TOMMY T. BARON (TV): Some other guys who used to hang out there were theCELTIC FROST guys. I knew MartinEric Ain pretty well back then. The Swiss metal scene was on the rise at the time. New bands everywhere, all the time. Really amazing. Well, I got to say ididn’t go out to much back then. I preferredto stay home and play my guitar, ha-ha.

You guys have recently announced you are going to release two new materials: the Autopsy compilation and a brand new album in 2017. So, i remember when you Tommy said in 2011 you were to record a bunch of live shows duringyour reunion tour and use them for your compilation. How did you work on this stuff to select what you needed? I’m pretty sure you had plenty to pick up from, right?Did you vote to choose the best stuff, or what, huh?

TV: Man, we had so much I thoughtwe’d never get it done. It took us forever to work on Autopsy. It was our fault and nobody else’s as we were recording one live show after another. Later, we decided what to discard. You know some shots weren’t good enough; sometimes the sound was too poor to keep a particular fragment. Also, at some points we did love the energy of someperformancesat some clubs. Yeah, maybe the sound wasn’t the greatest but the audiencewas so wild that we kept those fragments. That’s why dvd/Blu-raystuff is so varied.

How about the documentary on CORONER`s history, which is an important part of this compilation? Did you shoot it in Switzerland, or is a blend of old stuffandfragments recorded at your reunion tours?

TV: We’ve chosen the second option. The documentary is two hour long. I think it pretty much covers all CORONER`s history from A to Z. We also added some private archival stuff and interviews with Mikael Akerfeldtand Mille Petrozza from z KREATOR.

RB: And Tom Angelripper fromSODOM.

TV: Plenty of live pictures too.

One of your reunion performances took place in my home city of Cracow. Is it something like this featured your Autopsy compilation?

TV: Nah, I’m sorry, no. Ha-ha

Damn, it was real crazy I think. It was the firsttime you played in Poland sinceMetalmania Festival. Diego, did you get a chance to see CORONER live after they reactivated?

DR: No unfortunately. In the past, yes. They performed in my part of Switzerland. I was involved in a project with Ron back then.

RB: I think they played a show in myhome town too.

Let’s talk about your new album. Where are you now when it comes to writing it?

TV: We haven’t done too much. There is some slow progress. We got plenty of ideas, some stuff is already saved to a computer.

You going to use some old ideas too?

TV: No, it’s all brand new stuff/new ideas.

As i suspect the producer is among us and his name is Tommy, right?

TV: Indeed

Are you people going to record this new album in your studio:New Sound Studio? This is where this acclaimed analog recording console (Cadac) is, right?

TV: Yup. We are going to use it for sure.

What can we expect? I mean what kind of sound you think this album is going to have? How is it going to be, you know, in general terms? Is it going to be a continuation of Grin in a senseGrin is where you left off?

TV: Well, there is one thing we are absolutely sure about. We shall not have this record sound modern, new or sterile, like you know as if it is heavily modified by Pro Tools kind of software. We want this stuff to sound old school, yet we`ll use modern approach. It shall sound powerful and natural at the same time. We are seriously considering whether we oughtn’t to record the new stuff on a magnetic tape as we used to in the past. It may be a good idea. But we have got to make sure it is plausible. We will see.

Any album titles you guys are brooding over? Or is it too early for that?

TV: Nah, not at all. Still working on this issue.

As i understand you all guys are involved in composing this album?

TV, RB, and DR: Absolutely.

Sadly, we are running out of time. Thank you guys very much. I do hope you people don’t forget to tour andvisitPoland, when the album is finally out.

TV: Thanks a lot too. We will come to Poland for sure. No worries.

Interview by:Lesław Dutkowski

Foto Live Coroner by Leszek Wojnicz-Sianożękci