An Interview With ArnoCorps’ Graf Holzfeuer

ArnoCorps frontman Graf Holzfeuer talks exercise app, European tour and signing to iconic punk label.

Most of us like to work out with music; aggressive rock can be an excellent exercise aide, helping us to reach our max with endorphin pumping riffs.

But how much more effective could it be, if your favorite bands were not only rocking out, but screaming in your face to help you reach your exercise goals?

Leave it to Austrian combat rockers ArnoCorps to bridge that gap. The Action Adventure Hardcore Rock and Roll group (a genre created by the band themselves) have created their own Wheel Of Pain Push-Up App, where bandleader Graf Holzfeuer barks tough love (C’mon get serious! Crush your arms! You can do it! Quitting is for losers! Don’t be a choirboy!!) to help you hit your workout goal, all the while being accompanied by the band’s punk-metal assault.

In addition, the group, infamous for a song catalogue that often references Arnold Schwarzenegger films, are preparing for an European tour, where they’ll be promoting their recent The Fantastic EP.

I recently had a chance to talk to Holzfeuer regarding the tour, exercise app, and their recent signing to iconic punk record label Alternative Tentacles. He was full of great advices and ballsy info, all delivered in his clipped, Austrian accent. Exactly.

Exactly! Having the Wheel of Pain kick your ass is fantastic, right? Our Wheel of Pain Push-Ups app also takes names, if you log your score into the goddamn leaderboard, right there! Let me tell you, ArnoCorps created the app at the same time as The Fantastic EP, but took a while longer to complete. We wanted to expand on the motivational themes of our songs by providing something that will enhance our listener’s strength and health and all these kinds of things in a tangible, measurable way. Much like any other élite tactical units, ArnoCorps members have a wide range of skills that when combined make us capable of unbelievable things. So, for us to decide to develop a ground-breaking one-of-a-kind app, no problemo.

We built it from the ground up ourselves. Bass player Karl Dichtschnur headed up coding. He decided one day, “goddamn, I think I’ll teach myself iOS development, right now.” So he did! I handled the user interface design, verbal coaching and advices on there. Guitarist Nagelbett recorded an exclusive track in there, all this. It’s the only push-up app in the world that not only counts off your push-ups with a ballsy accent with the sensor and all that, but also does the measuring of your performance, knowing your tempo, so it will give you real-time verbal feedbacks when you need them. You’ll hear fantastic compliments of your pectorals and you’ll also know when you are getting soft like marshmallow! Exactly! Stick with the program and it’ll get you to doing 102 consecutive perfect form push-ups. People generally think they are good at 100, but ArnoCorps make you do two more! Two more!

Get  The Wheel of Pain Push-Up App from iTunes :   

I read that your 2005 album The Greatest Band Of All Time is being reissued on vinyl by Alternative Tentacles. That’s a legendary label in punk rock circles. Did they approach you or vice versa? How does it feel to be on their roster?

It’s fantastic to be on Alternative Tentacles, let me tell you. That label of course is one of the real pioneering independent labels and one of the longest running, also based right here in the San Frantastic bay area, where most of the band live, eat, train and sleep. It’s a perfect match for us for many reasons, mostly due to Alternative Tentacles always embracing bands with unique vision. Their roster is one of the most eclectic you’ll find. Some of the people who work for the label have been supporters of ArnoCorps for many years, so the question is really why did we wait so long to join forces?

For 2014 we decided to release vinyl and we knew Alternative Tentacles did fantastic work in that area, so we asked initially if they’d be interested in just doing the one release, but we ended up meeting with the ballsy owner, Jello Biafra and having a fantastic time with him discussing training regimens, crowd surfing tactics, tales of high adventure and all this. Jello wanted to do more, so Alternative Tentacles will be releasing The Greatest Band Of All Time on both vinyl and the re-issue of the out-of-print CD, plus a 7-inch of Two More! featuring Pumping Iron and Stay Hungry for global distribution. Just for starters!

Pre-order The Greatest Band of All Time on Vinyl from Amazon

You’re touring England, Ireland and Scotland this summer to promote your excellent The Fantastic EP. You have a rabid fan-base over there. What do you attribute that to?

I attribute it to a combination of things. It mostly has to do with ArnoCorps being ballsy and UK and Irish fans not being low foreheads. Beyond that, our previous label was based in England, so did a lot in getting ArnoCorps visible out there, getting us on the radio, the interviews and all this. When we toured there in 2006 and 2008, it was still based a lot on that publicity. When we went back in 2012, we were no longer associated with any labels, so it was set up in a way that directly involved the fans.

When we were planning our schedule, we would post our dates on Facebook and basically tell the fans to contact their local venues to request ArnoCorps in their city. So, the fans essentially booked our whole tour that way! That sort of involvement has definitely strengthened our bond. We put everything we have into each every performance out there, and they can sense that. I think fans over there also appreciate that when they see ArnoCorps, they know how far we had to travel to get our asses out there to bring the pump for them. This summer is our 4th headline tour over there and we cannot wait, let me tell you.

Can you believe that show was one of our more tame ones, right there? Our fans are very passionate, enthusiastic and loyal, that’s true. We don’t make the mistake of taking that as purely a loyalty to ArnoCorps, though. It’s more passion and enthusiasm for the pump, the action adventure lifestyle, being a goddamn hero or shero and feeling ballsy. It might sound like a very immodest thing to say, but it’s absolutely true that there is no other band like ArnoCorps and there never has been. There are so many reasons why this is true and I could write a goddamn book on the subject! I think at the heart of it is our sincerity in terms of connecting with the fans and our subject matter. We put a lot of effort into meeting as many people from the audience as we can. This is always fantastic to do because we tend to have very much in common, similar interests as the people who come see us.

So it’s like a very natural thing to form friendships and we see that happen amongst the fans, as well. People meet at our audio assaults and become lifelong friends. There’s a bond there, in knowing you have many of the same principles and an interest in being a goddamn hero or shero and trying to live life to the fullest and have a fantastic time in whatever you do. Our music projects that attitude. We’re a band that practices what we preach and we try to follow our own advices.

Our goal with each song is to give justice to the original archetypal hero story that it is based on. All the songs are based on heroic ancient alpine action lore, you know. Most of them have been misused, exploited, bastardized by Hollywood movie moguls and all this. We take the stories back for the people and restore integrity to them while also bringing focus to the real narrative going on, the element of the story that you can apply to your own life, so it serves as motivation and empowerment. So, in Red Sonja, of course there is this dynamic with the man seeking to serve and protect a fantastic sheroic woman who maybe doesn’t even need this kind of assistance, right? So this isn’t revealing a romantic side of the band so much as just covering a tale that encompasses these themes and all this. We’re not formulaic in our approach, but at the same time, our goal is always the same. Pump people up through a fantastic heroic tale to help listeners stay inspired to reach their own goals, big and small, right there.

Own The Fantastic EP On iTunes or Amazon: 

Your sound is definitely original. Not just vocally but in the hybrid punk/metal/hardcore sound.  How did this sound develop?

 The sound is just a natural combination of the various members of the band and our collaborative approach. We all have very wide spectrum of musical tastes, but we also agree that ArnoCorps music needs to carry with it a certain level of aggression, but balanced by enough melody to be grounded musically in a way that it’s timeless and doesn’t follow any fads in heavy music going on. We avoid anything that’s trendy and seek inspiration from the original pioneers of punk, metal, hardcore and rock ’n’ roll music in general.

We never claimed to be a metal band, but a huge percentage of our following are metal fans. We never claimed to be a punk band, but we’ve always been embraced by punks, with our earliest shows being at Bay Area punk clubs such at 924 Gilman St and Burnt Ramen and warehouse shows and all this. Any music that has stood the test of time and has a level of energy to it will influence us. Our sound just comes naturally from our goals to bring the pump.

This approach in our lineup evolved out of the skill sets of the members, right there. We’ve have many lineup changes over the years, but it’s been mostly a rotating cast of the same large group of people, switching out from front line position to auxiliary troops and all this. Anyway, at a time when Der Wölf joined the band, he came in to fill in for his sister, Halstucha on guitar, who also happens to be my wife! So he naturally played guitar, but meanwhile, he was the most talented bass player I had ever known as I had seen him perform in other bands. So it seemed natural that we should embrace our strengths, right there. Put your best foot forward, right? So he collaborated with our main bass player at the time, Toten Adler and they figured a way to make use of two basses in much the way two guitars are utilized, traditionally.

So one bass is more of a lead, the other is more of a rhythm. It was never a gimmick or trying to be different for different’s sake, it was really about putting to best use the skills that we had in the lineup. The result was unbelievable. We recorded our first full length with that symmetrical lineup of 2 basses and 2 guitars and that recording led to our international recognition and all this. When Der Wölf tragically passed away from heart disease in 2011, it hit us very hard. Inzo der Barrakuda moved from his long time position on guitar to what we now call Wölf Bass in his honor and to maintain the principles of heroic symmetry.

He’s been in my presence a few times. His own personal website was one of the first in the media to publish an article about ArnoCorps. The fact that he didn’t try to take credit or pretend we were a tribute to him was admirable. They wrote about how we are based on ancient heroic lore and mythology. He does have all of our CDs from over the years. He’s never asked for our feedback on his films, so we’ve never asked him for feedback on our music. No problemo. 

Hey, what can I tell you? With so many people misunderstanding ArnoCorps, thinking we’re singing about movie films, what better way to convey our position than with a class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the Austrian people who had their sacred lore stolen from them? It was more of an expression of who we are and what we stand for than a real attempt to get money for the people. The money doesn’t matter, in the end. It’s about the integrity of the tales. The suit never made it to court, but our point was made.

 If any of those fellow Austrians had somehow exploited and bastardized the heroic themes of their homeland’s alpine communities, we’d be on their ass, no two ways about it! However, as far as I know, they’ve kept it clean.

None of it matters to ArnoCorps, but immigrants like myself, its our responsibility to adhere to the customs of the country we move to, and realize the things that are no longer acceptable. The things being considered wrong in another country where traditions differ, the societal rules and all that, makes it tough to fully integrate. For example, smoking stogies wherever we want? Come on, that’s Austrian alpine tradition, right there. I light up in the grocery store or a nursing home instinctually. Another example, getting special time with the woman who cleans the home? Where we come from, this is just as normal as washing the car on Sunday. In the Austrian alps, nobody would give it a second thought, but in the USA, it’s almost criminal, can you believe that? In the end, it’s on him, right there. Big mistake.

 We take the approach like a championship level combatant, right there. We can’t look past the next opponent, the immediate obstacles. Right now our plate is full with supporting these things, making sure the tour is successful, following up support of the Wheel of Pain Push-Ups app, getting all the artwork and promotional materials together for Alternative Tentacle’s releases. One thing is certain, though, that ArnoCorps will be releasing more music in the future. We already have a lot of new music in preliminary stages. We do love the 6-7 song format best, so I anticipate we’ll stick to that for the next releases, but who knows! The future is not set.

Being ballsy is similar to being heroic in that it really comes down to making a choice. It’s not about the absence of any weaknesses, it’s about working on your weaknesses. It’s not about being fearless, it’s about facing the fears. Avoiding the victim mindset, realizing how much control you really have over the things that really matter, day-to-day, despite the injustices and unfairness. Being ballsy is emphasizing strengths, being strong in unique ways that inspire others, and meanwhile working on weaknesses, embracing life and setting goals. Everyone’s goals are different, we’re not here to tell anybody how to live, but we hope that our music can contribute to people’s various journeys.

Life is short. Forget all the bullshit, embrace life and have some goddamn fun in ways that aren’t at the expense of others and live healthy so you can improve your chances at reaching your own definition of success, right? Lots of bullshit is thrown our way in life, more than ever with modern society, so it’s up to people more than ever to avoid the pitfalls. That’s right! Being ballsy comes down to making heroic life choices, especially when the outcome isn’t totally clear, taking risks, paving your own trail. Ballsy individuals don’t seek out a precedent to follow, they set the precedent! I’m getting pumped up right now just sharing these things! GO!!!!

We’d just like everybody to go to arnocorps.com to keep up to date with us, sign up to for our email newsletter… we only send out mailings every few months or longer, so you won’t get spammed! Connect with us on facebook.com/arnocorps and even better, you can interact and get exclusive advices and informations on my own page at facebook.com/holzfeuer right there. Thank you for the ballsy goddamn interview and we’ll see you at the party, Michael!

Thanks to Graf for taking time out for the interview. In addition to the links he’s mentioned above, click here for full European tour dates.