November last year, Coal shared their relentlessly intense track “Forgive me mother” and shortly after, had their first live show at Killekill's Megablank ( at about blank in Berlin) where they made quite an impression. Whoever listens to their music can say that Coal takes the most feral and raw emotions and combines them with Anthony and Oliver’s passion for music. The result will definitely take you out of your techno comfort zone and incite you to test your musical limits.
Oliver Kohlenberg (Vocals) and Anthony Arcana (Electronics, Drums, Guitars) aka Coal, are playing Day lll of the Krake festival this year, and we sat down to discuss with them how Coal started, their influences and more.
The Brvtalist: First off, when and how did Coal start?
Coal: We met a few years back when Oliver started to collaborate with our mutual friend Kirean Whitefield (Ansome) and Anthony was releasing music on his label South London Analogue Material.
We shared similar taste in music and cinema, but, most of all, we were both pretty sick and tired of all the shit going on around us, both living in Berlin and watching catholic school kids pile out of the bus, put on their make-up to hit the clubs for their big night out and their YouTube dance moves. For the city where you can truly be yourself we both feel the judgement completely from the streets to the clubs. Are we the only people who think this? I don’t think so. After a lot of beer, we decided to start our own project, pushing away from techno to try and create something more raw.
TB: You both come from a punk and metal background, how did you end up in the electronic music scene?
C: Well, Anthony (Ayarcana), long story short, started drums and guitar in a few bands as a kid then studied music and started making his own and is now deep within the techno scene. For Oliver it’s different, he ended up hanging about one day and he picked up the mic and started shouting in the studio for a few hours. Later he played his first gig with Ansome at Tresor.
TB: Where do you draw your influences and inspiration from?
C: We both grew up in local punk scenes in Australia and Italy, where anyone could pick up an instrument and play a gig. It was all about the raw live show, the pure 'fuck you’ attitude. You will see that in our live show. In the studio we take a lot of inspiration from artist like Mike Patton, Bjork, David Lynch, to Mayhem and all the extreme music.
TB: You debuted at Killekill’s party in about blank? How did it feel to play such kind of music live in a techno club? And how was the music received by the audience?
C: We were not expecting to get asked to play this gig, they came to us and we were both up for it. We weren’t totally prepared, but we are fans of Killekill so we didn’t turn it down. We are not a techno band, but that doesn’t mean we can’t play a techno night. We are intense, if someone wants to book us we respect that. We are not too sure what people thought, probably we will never win the crowd completely as it’s not for everyone.
TB: What can we expect from your show at Krake?
C: Krake will be completely different. Who knows what will happen, you might leave in the first minute you might take off your shirt and scream - we are not too sure either, we will see!
TB: Do you have any plans to release an album?
C: Yes, “Rest In Piss“ is out late July.
In preparation for their Krake show, the Krake team made a short video to introduce Anthony and Oliver. Watch below:
-Maria Bungau