10 Quick Ones with DAIF KING and CHRIS CALAVRIAS from STÄLKER – December 2017

According to a recent press release: “Welcome back to the glory of the 80s! With “Shadow Of The Sword” STÄLKER send you back on a trip in time to the wild days of raw Speed Metal mayhem. Heavy tempo driven songs up to full speed! Your head will be crushed into a million pieces with a bunch of divebomb-overloads, thrash metal shredding, blastbeats and high pitched falsetto vocals. You certainly can’t ask for more. Songs like “Satanic Panic”, “Shocked To Death” and “Steel God” speak volumes. The track “Shocked To Death” is celebrating its exclusive worldwide video premiere courtesy of Metal Injection.”  We get Daif and Chris to answer our 10 Quick Ones about new music, his influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

CHRIS: haha good question ! As a long time listener of the album from when i first heard the finished songs till now, i think there is a lot of stuff the listener will pick up over a lot of listens than the first time. Where in particular ?? I think “Demon Dawn”, “Path of Destruction” and “Steel Good” to be exact.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

DAIF: Back when… the two or three friends I had used to sit around at my friend’s mom’s house and drink cut-price beers and listen to Black Sabbath off of a dubbed tape. It honestly blew us away. It was at the opposite end of the spectrum to what we were exposed to thus far. Our poor little minds!~ But that kinda low-fi dark rock really resonated us. One other friend (and long time collaborator since) then set about to jam the shit outta whatever we could grab that would make a noise. We borrowed a car and bought a Farfisa Organ for almost free. I had a bass from back when i thought it might been a cool idea to learn (I was wrong haha). The neighbor would throw rocks on the roof of the tin shed we were were recording onto the same tape deck we were listening to Black Sabbath during the weekend. Fuck i dunno. Rest is history.

CHRIS: I wanted to be a musician from when i first started to play the electric guitar from an early age. Always been in bands over the years of some sort. When i first heard heavy metal from friends in my neighborhood and skateboard videos that was it for me. Only heavy metal on the guitar ever since. Iron Maiden, Judas priest, Dio, ACCEPT, Slayer. Have not stopped since.

3. Who would be your main five musical influences?

CHRIS: Depends on when really. Over all for metal would be, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, ACCEPT etc. When it comes to guitar solo’s i like Randy Rhoads and Jake E Lee, Paul Gilbert, Vivian Campbell. When it comes to Speed i’m talking Razor, Exciter, Slayer.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be?

DAIF: Cool question. Off the top of my head – maybe Cliff Burton? I often wonder what kinda stuff he would be doing if he didn’t leave Metallica to try his hand at being dead.

CHRIS: Fuck that is a good question. If it was with this band i would call up Jeff Hanneman (RIP) if it was for a Heavy Metal song I’d call up Randy Rhoads (RIP) if it was someone living i would call up Wolf Hoffmann from Accept and say let’s write a song like back in the day.

5. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before?

CHRIS: SPEED METAL MAYHEM

6. What’s the best thing about being a musician?

DAIF: Tapping into that weird zone where if you listen to thin air sometimes, if you hold your mouth right, something new and totally interesting can manifest. That’s fucking sick as fuck.

CHRIS: shit, i haven’t thought about that before. Always been a musician. Maybe being contempt just playing away? No that answer sucks. Um, i guess coming up with a rad riff if one of the best feelings.

7. When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

CHRIS: Haha, unfortunately none of this happens thank god. We get together do what we need to do then all get back to what we were doing before (fishing, skateboarding, art, playing music)

8. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?

DAIF: Another unemployed hard done by artist.

CHRIS: I probably still would be skating most of my time but still doesn’t amount to a job.

9. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”?

DAIF: This interview, nah I’m joking. We really haven’t had the luxury of doing too much yet. I’m kind of looking forward to making some hilarious mistakes because we’ll be able to use them to get even stronger.

CHRIS: Definitely not. Everything i have done has led me to being where i am today with what i am doing. Have learnt a lot over the years. I am just happy to be in this band.

10. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

DAIF: Mayhem’s Dom Mysteriis Sathanas wouldda been pretty crazy to be a fly on the wall.

CHRIS: Another great question, i would like to be in the recording room of the first Iron Maiden album. Looks like a very raw time had by all and shows in the music or if i could have 2 answers love to be around during the Defenders of the Faith recordings by Judas Priest.

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