Interview with Karl Sanders from NILE

After many hours in the blazing sun, after seeing a great show with awesome bands, I finally got the chance to talk to Nile's main man Karl Sanders. What insides he gave me, you can see in the following lines.

Metalfan: Hi and welcome to Romania. Considering it's your first time here and you had a bumpy trip, how do you feel after the show and everything?
Karl Sanders: I had a very great time. There are very awesome people here, many metal fans shown up.

Metalfan: So you enjoyed the show? Did the people here gave you a warm welcome?
Karl Sanders: Oh yeah, very nice people and you have very beautiful girls here.

Metalfan: This is your second year promoting Ithyphalic, how has this tour been compared to the one in 2007?
Karl Sanders: Well, this tour we have Cris Lollis so that's a real big improvement. I think that, as a band we're playing better than ever so that's good. When you're playing good everything else falls right into place.

Metalfan: What about the show? Do you get the same fit back from the fans as last year?
Karl Sanders: No. We're going to a lot of new places. We haven't been here before, there you go.

Metalfan: How is the European crowd compared with the American one? Any big differences?
Karl Sanders: I'd say that European metal crowd are probably more genuine. In America things are very trendy, people just like whatever is popular, whatever is cool to like, that changes from year to year and you never see the same people. You don't build an audience, you just try to get new fans, to replace all the fans that you loose. I think European audiences are more genuine, they really care about the music.

Metalfan: How about the fans, do they differ a lot across the globe?
Karl Sanders: Every place is different, but you don't find really crazy, rabid audiences in America. You want rabid and crazy, you gotta go like Mexico or Japan – they are different though. They are polite about being crazy, it's weird, but it's good. Easter Europe, I think, has better audiences too, because they apprecaite it more.

Metalfan: You mentioned in Terrorizer Magazine, last year, that you haven't, to that point, visited Egypt. Have you been to Egypt since?
Karl Sanders: No. I've been busy promotic Ithyphalic.

Metalfan: Are you planning to go there on a personal trip?
Karl Sanders: I've been talking about it, but let's see what happens. It's like a dream, it's something I always wanted to do and hopefully it will happen for me.

Metalfan: So it would be even better if you'd have a gig in Cairo, for example.
Karl Sanders: Well sure, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Metalfan: Is there any special venue you're waiting to play during this tour?
Karl Sanders: Yeah, in La Laiterie in Strasbourg/France, but it's been cancelled.

Metalfan: Why so?
Karl Sanders: I thinks it's to far, too long to drive. It's really a shame because they have the best facilities and the best food, fucking crazy fans. Yeah, it's a great place to play.

Metalfan: Thinking back to the early days of Nile, did you think you're going to get so much success across the ocean?
Karl Sanders: We were happy just to play our music to whoever wanted to listen and that was good enough for us. We never expected to be big.

Metalfan: How was Ozzyfest last year? I know you put your money there, it was your investment.
Karl Sanders: Every day at Ozzyfest there were tousands of people, and the best thing is that you can get a good expose, but it's also a lot of crazy hard work, a lot of hurry up and wait, a lot of things to do, but it turned up fine.

Metalfan: Now, on a more personal matter. There's some time since you released Saurian Meditation, is there a follow up?
Karl Sanders: Actually there is, it's called Saurian Exorcisms. I already pre-recorded all the music, all that is left is to mix it and then it's ready to put out. 

Metalfan: This project of yours, is it as important as Nile?
Karl Sanders: No, of course not. Nile pays the bills and it's the big thing. The Saurian project it's just for fun.

Metalfan: One more question. If there was no music left, what would you do?
Karl Sanders: Wow, that's something that sometimes I wonder. What would happen, like there's a nuclear holocaust everywhere and I could no longer make a living playing music, what would I do? I don't know, maybe I could go back driving a forklift or join the army. I don't know.

Metalfan: Thank you very much for this short interview and I hope we'll see you again very soon.
Karl Sander: Thank you and I hope so too.

(c) Thanks goes to Punchy for making it happen!