Interview with Philipp Kruppa, Ophis´brain:

How was Ophis originally conceived?

Ophis wasn´t concieved really. I found myself writing material for Rain Of Ashes, that didn´t really fit to the style of that band, since it turned out to be more sinister and slow, Doom Metal style. I thought the material was pretty good, so I decided to create a project for it. I had always a deep feeling towards Doom Metal, ever since I hear Metal in general, so it´s no wonder that I felt Doom Metal the best way to express my emotions and thoughts. Thrash Metal is good for letting out aggressions, but Doom Metal goes deeper to the core of your negative emotions.

Which is the main ingredient in Ophis music: aggression, slow tempos or
dark atmospheres?

That´s hard to say, because all these ingredients are very important to the Ophis-Style. If I had to decide, I'd chose the dark atmosphere, because without it (or even with a happy mood), Ophis is unconsiderable to me. The
aggression comes automatically, but it could be missing, as long as the song is dark and depressing. I mean, think of the "Breavement" pieces, they are´nt brutal at all, but still transport the atmosphere. Slow tempos are the best way to express this atmosphere in my opinion, but that won´t stop us from doing some fast parts once in a while, when it fits to the mood of the song.

Why did Ophis split up in 2001?

That had simple reasons. Our second guitar player Fred left the band,
because he joined Rain Of Ashes, my other band, but had no time left to
perform in both groups. He had no input to the songs anyway, but we were
rehearsing in his garage at that time, so we lost our rehearsal room too. I
wasn´t pleased with the remaining line-up combination anyway and we didn´t
even manage to do some fucking gigs, so I decided to put Ophis to a rest for
some time. I think we didn´t put enough energy into this band back then. Our
drummer then joined Anguished because we could not find an able bass player,
and after a long rest, I decided to resurrect Ophis all on my own in late
2002. Then I recorded "Empty, Silent And cold" all by myself.

How did you decide to take care of all the instruments on your own for
the recording?

When I made the very first Ophis recordings in the year 2000 (which never
were released), I was still in an experimental phase and had no other
musicians, so I did the first tests all on my own on a small 4-track
recorder. I´m mainly a drummer, but I also wanted to test my guitar skills.
After the first Ophis line-up had split, I knew from my early experiences,
that I was able to make a record all on my own. I had absolved an education
as sound assistant, so I knew about the technical stuff, and it was no
problem at all. Also, as I told, I wasn´t pleased with how things had turned
out with the first line-up, so now I was able to put things up as I had
imagined them. I felt enough motivation to push Ophis forward. I wanted to
do something on my own to avoid frustrations and to express what I felt. I
think that was important for me, although it´s much more fun now that Ophis
is a band again.

Which is the concept behind Ophis lyrics?

Well, maybe "concept" is a too strict word, because there is no definite
topic the lyrics cling to, but still, most of them deal with my personal
disappointments in life, especially those caused by other people and/or
myself. They are about inter-personal relationships that failed, about
situations that hurt me and about people I lost. I never write about these
situations directly, but I try to find metaphors and images for them, so
that the listener, who might have experienced something familiar but still
soemthing different can identify with the song. Also, I try to express the
inner pain I feel with the lyrics. I used to be a very depressive person in
my teenage days, and nowadays I´m still oftimes sick of how people generally
handle each other. I sometimes feel really misplaced in this world, so I
express this within the songs. "Sledgehammer Assfuck" for example is about
this situation: someone you love says something to you, just a word maybe,
harmless in his or her ears, but it crusches your world to pieces. Just a
little gesture maybe, but it shows you, that your thought about this person
were just an illusion, and all crumbles to pieces.

How did you find your new bandmates for Ophis? Are you rewriting the old
material to record it with the new lineup?

No, we are not rewriting the old stuff. Of course we changed some details in
the arrangement here and there, but the songs stayed that way. We all
thought the old stuff is great the way it is, and didn´t need an overhaul.
Richard, our drummer changed some drumlines too, but we didn´t add new riffs
or something. It wasn´t difficult to find a new line-up, because the line-up
found me, haha. Richard was our drummer in the first Ophis line-up too, so
when he listened "Empty, Silent And Cold", he was keen on a reunion. It was
his idea to make Ophis a full band again, since I wanted to do everything
alone at first. Of course I agreed, because he was always the best part in
the old line-up. So he and myself are the only remains from the old
line-up. Jan, our guitarist was a friend of mine who hadn´t played in a band
for a long time, and as I told him that I was thinking about reforming
Ophis, he wanted to join us. As in the first line-up, I took over the
vocals and the first guitar, because I wanted to do something different than
drumming and since I write most of the material, it´s better that way. For
bass, I asked our actual Rain Of Ashes bass player Chrille, because I knew
that he had a preference for Doom Metal as well, so he joined. Shitty thing
is that he left the band last week because of the often recited "musical
differences", it´s not technical enough for him. But we have a new one in
sight, I think it will work out well. Our plans for the near future won´t be
delayed, I think.

How do you combine your work with Ophis with the one in your band Rain of
Ashes?

That´s not too difficult, because Rain Of Ashes aren´t as active anymore as
they were in the past. Sometimes it´s making me pretty busy, but yet Ophis
isn´t big enough to harm Rain Of Ashes. Both bands play live as often as
possible, but not every week or such, so it´s no coordination problem.
Richard still plays in Anguished as well, that´s far more difficult for him.
As far as the songwriting goes, it's no problem either because in Rain Of
Ashes, our guitarist there writes most of the music, so I can focus on
writing stuff for Ophis.

Do you have plans for Ophis in the near future?

Yeah, becoming the most famous Rockstars of the world and earn so much
money, that we can buy the fucking White House, haha.
No, of course we shit on money. Seriously we are planning to enter a studio
in late September and to record a new promo with three or four songs for
open sale and for contacting record labels. We are hoping to get the ability
of recording a full length album some time. After these recording sessions,
we hope to make a small tour through Germany with Wytchcraft and Tortured
Spirit, but this won´t be before November, so let´s see about that.

Any final words?

Yes, I want to ask everyone to boycot Nu Metal shit-crap, because it
commercializes and infests the force and the spirit of any real Metal in the
world. Beat them Motherfuckers up wherever you meat them. Let them celebrate
their own shit and stay away from real Metal. Metal is religion!
I wanna thank everyone who supported Ophis this far and everyone who will in
the future. Greetings to al ye South American Metalheads out there, stay the
way you are and keep it moshing. To you, Federico, tanks a lot for the
interview, it´s been an honoiur to us and it was fun too. Check out our
website www.ophis.net.
If you are interested in CDs and infos, just contact me under
rain-of-ashes@gmx.de
Stay Doom, thanks from Ophis!

OPHIS WEBSITE: www.ophis.net

Interviewed by Federico Marongiu