Intense from Duisburg, Germany have playing show relentlessly after releasing their demo last year, including a performance at Northcote Festival. The guys are about to release their new EP Sick and Depraved on 7″ vinyl via Farewell Records and don’t plan on slowing down, so I thought it was time for a quick introduction. Enjoy the read!

Please introduce yourself and your band.

“First of all thanks for the interview! I am Fred, the singer in Intense, and we are a 5-piece hardcore band from Germany. There is Kemper (drums), Phil and Chris (guitars) and the latest addition to the team: Marcel (bass guitar).”

How did you come up with the band name, Intense?

“Well as many bands (I guess), we had to face the fact that it turns out to be really hard to find and agree on a name to go by. So we already had our first gig scheduled but still had not figured out a name yet. By accident, and pretty much last minute, Chris came up with the name Intense. All of us agreed, that all we want is to be intense, in every possible way. That’s it!”

Define your sound in three words and elaborate on that.

“Young, modern, hardcore! We just try to get a sound that we like, mostly inspired by modern US and UK hardcore bands.”

Your new EP Sick and Depraved will be out in May via Farewell Records and Injustice Records. We already heard a preview with the release of the title track and ‘Erase The Past’ (and we love the tracks!), but what’s the story behind this release?

“Thanks for the love! The new EP is another step towards keeping the band going on. After the release of our demo More To Say via Hardcoal Records and Neutral Words Records early 2014, we were putting all our effort into being on stage, playing as many shows as possible, and lost track of writing new stuff. In the end, Sick and Depraved is a 4-song record; perfect for a 7″. All songs of this EP were mostly written by Kemper, and also by Chris and Phil. The lyrics were written by myself except for the great feature of Neal from Frustration. Recording was done by Manuel at Parabol Audio, who is great to work with. Manuel already did the recordings for the demo so we all wanted to come back and work with him again.”

Where do you hope this release will get Intense?

“On more shows! For us it’s all about playing shows and having a good time on the road!”

On May 22nd you’ll be kicking off your release tour. Why did you guys decide to go on tour alone and not bring a support act or team up with a co-headliner?

“It just turned out to become a release tour. Due to work and real life besides the band, it is hard to find dates to tour for more than just a couple of days. We would love to tour with other bands but it just did not work out this time!”

Any last words?

“Thanks to all people who support us!”

Check the first two songs off of Sick and Depraved in the Bandcamp player below.

Intense: Facebook / Bandcamp / Pre-order Sick and Depraved