German pop punk outfit, LIFEWENTPEAR, are the latest bunch to have a go at our 13 Questions. There’s a new EP due for release “soon”. If it’s anywhere near as good as 2019’s About About, then it will do nicely, thanks.

We first came across LIFEWENTPEAR on one of CPRW’s compilations entitled Adventures in Europe. To be fair, we didn’t know a great deal about the band when we messaged suggesting they might want to get involved.

We’re still not a great deal wiser. Describing themselves as “91 punk from Rhineland / Germany“, they don’t give a great deal away. Until now, of course.

What we do know is that 2019’s full length release, About About, is a cracking piece of work and well worth checking out.

Undeterred we fired off the usual 13 Questions, sat back and waited.

The band was busy working on the next release, the promised Chris Lindberg EP, so there was something of a hiatus before the answers came back.

No worries, they’re a good read, even if we don’t know what all the answers mean:

Where are you and what are you doing?
Flo: I’m currently off-grid camping in the Swiss alps, enjoying humbling mountain views and glacier breezes. Great hiking!
Jan: I’m slumped on my sofa, looking at his photos of humbling mountain views on my phone.

What is your favourite view?
Ferdi: The sun sinking in just the right spot at the end of the street leading up to my apartment.
Hannes: Clean A-frames with a slightly offshore breeze at the ocean.

What is your favourite swear word and why?
Jon: I’ll go with ‘kurwa mac ja pierdole’, honouring my Polish working class ancestry and mostly because it’s fun to say.

What was the first record / cd you bought with your own money?
Hannes: Slime – Slime, Rancid – …And Out Come The Wolves, V.A. – Give ‘Em The Boot II
Flo: Probably Punk-O-Rama Vol. IDK (the one with the b\w cover), I guess it was 4 or 5. Or NOFX – I heard they suck live!!!

Marmite. Yes, or no?
Jon: Look, we know you Brits are particular when it comes to culinary matters, but no. Just no.
Hannes: I used to eat my old roommate’s Marmite just to get on his nerves. I don’t really like it and it was hard to get a jar of it back then.

If you could go to a gig right now, anywhere in the world, which band would you see? And in which venue?
Ferdi: The Magnetic Fields playing a subterranean show in the Large Hadron Collider.
Hannes: Gnarwolves! Anywhere.

Who are your musical influences?
Jon: Mostly 90s UK punk as far as I’m concerned. Tyne and Wear stuff.
Hannes: Quite funny because I started listening to 90s US punk which is still my biggest influence in my guitar playing.
Ferdi: I like bands that take the melody and drama of great pop and crash them into more abrasive sounds. Not talking about boring pop-rock territory – I want the two sides to fight, not to compromise. So bands like Leatherface, Hüsker Dü, Japanther, Cloud Nothings and A Place to Bury Strangers.
Flo: Oof, there’s way too much to say, but I’ll go with 90’s punk, emo and metal to keep it short; and – this became sort of a running gag within the band – Blind Guardian! Their super cliché metal elevated me to other realms when I first got my hands on their music when I was maybe eleven or twelve years old (Hey Sca!). Thomen’s drumming is what made me start playing… not saying I’ll ever be anywhere close though.

How do you like your eggs?
Jon: In nog.
Ferdi: Scrambled with lots of butter.
Hannes: Hate eggs. Smell and taste.

Tell us something we don’t know.
Jon: There’s a study that suggests one cigarette a day might actually be beneficial for the immune system. Imagine what 10 might do!
Ferdi: A pod of orcas assisted Australian whalers in hunting baleen whales for several decades in exchange for the whales’ tongues and lips.
Hannes: Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it. – Terry Pratchett

Which city do you recommend we visit – and why?
Hannes: Have you been to Ghent? Or Bruges? Go there. It’s kind of a fairy tale village with good chocolate shops.
Flo: Bottrop. The unofficial world’s capital of sorrow and despair.

What’s your drink of choice?
Jon: Feldschlösschen Edelmalz, international bestprämiert, aus der ältesten Privatbrauerei am linken Niederrhein (guys if you read this please contact me about that endorsement deal we should be having)
Flo: Stauder Pils and König Pilsener, but coffee to start any given day.

What band or album do you think we should check out right now?
Jon: The first two Drug Church LPs are the coolest thing I’ve come across in the past years.
Ferdi: People don’t nearly talk enough about The Kimberly Steaks. Pop punk seems to make a comeback, but if that isn’t about bands like them, I guess I don’t care. I also really enjoyed Celebration Summer’s debut EP recently.
H: That’s right, The Kimberly Steaks! And High Vis – No Sense No Feeling. Rad record! That’s the last record that really got me recently.
Flo: Afsky – Ofte jeg drømmer mig død. Anything related to Wovenhand, too. And have you heard of Spring Offensive? All of that is nothing too punk, though.

Do you have anything else to declare?
Flo: For customs? No, seriously: Thanks for the opportunity and the support!
Jon: War on false metal!
Ferdi: We’ll be releasing an EP titled “Chris Lindberg” soon. Check our social media for updates.