"The Pigskins" bring hard beats from Istanbul to Essen

Hard beats from Istanbul for the Ruhr region. The Turkish metal band “The Pigskins” was the headliner at “Essen originell”. Like the subculture festival, which was part of “Essen Original”, the band shows how to break classic structures. With 2010LAB.tv they speak about being metal girls in turkey and how the metal scene in Istanbul developed.

2010: How did you have the connections to Essen originell?

Pigskins: The organizer of Essen originell, Dirk Bussler, and we have a common friend. This friend, Pierre, wrote his thesis about being female in the Turkish metal scene. So he made an interview with us. Last year, when Dirk was in Istanbul to visit Pierre we met him.

2010LAB.tv: You are a metal girl band in Turkey. This is very unusual. What about the topics of your the songs: are they offending the turkish culture or religion?

Pigskins: this will be a long answer. Every song has another topic. One of our songs is called public perception. The song is not about against something special. It´s against lots of things. It could be religion, the behaviour of the public, it can be anything. We never accuse anybody certain. We just say there is something wrong in this situation. If they want, they can read our lyrics and then we leave the task to the people.

2010LAB.tv: Do you appeal against mainstream behaviour?

Pigskins: It’s kind of giving the message: “You don’t have to be always part of the group. You are an individual person and you have to be aware of it. You have your freedom, so don’t do whatever THEY do. Just don’t imitate them. You have your own opinions. You have your own style, own life. Just be aware of it and behave like it.”

2010LAB.tv: For Turkey you are not living a mainstream life. Did you ever have extreme situations, because of your music?

Pigskins: yeah, we had. When we were 13 in our hometown we had a little garage, we were playing music in there, three girls, so a few guys came and they wanted to come inside and listen, but we refused it. They started to knock on the door and shouting: open up, we want to listen! We said “no!” So, what they did: they started to kick the door very hard and they shut the door with a gun. We didn’t give up, we continued playing. One night they burned the place.

2010LAB.tv: Why exactly did they burn the place?

Pigskins: the first reason because we were girls. The second reason, we didn’t want them inside, that’s all. It´s about being angry, being refused by girls in the age of 13, who are playing their music.

2010LAB.tv: This happened in a small town. Could an attack like that happen in Istanbul as well?

Pigskins: No, not any more. In the last decade there have been a lot of groups, a lot of bands.

2010LAB.tv: How did the metal scene in Istanbul develop?

Pigskins: Actually it started to develop in the last ten years. In the latest parts of the 90´s it was very bad about Satanism things. There are no Satanism things going on, but the media wanted to picture it like that. Now in the last 10 years every kind of metal, - rock and alternative bands started to show up, and there are good bands. I think in the last 5 years the bands also started to go outside. Now, we have nice festivals, it’s going good.

2010LAB.tv: Do you get a lot of gigs in Istanbul?

Pigskins: With this new line up “pigskins” this is our first show. It´s in Europe, so we are more excited than if we were in turkey. Our first show and we are in Germany! Totally different country, different eyes, different minds.

2010LAB.tv: How is the reception of the Ruhr region in Istanbul regarding the metal scene?

This region specifically is actually not known for the metal scene. We know it like this: Germany makes industrial metal music. And Germany has good metal core bands like Callejon and stuff like that. What basically inspires us is the music from Europe and the United States.

2010: Do you want to stay in Istanbul or move to Germany?

Pigskins: I don’t know, I love Istanbul and I think we all love Istanbul.

Interview/Fotos: Mira Prgomet

 
       

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