IGEL vs. SHARK… Music Energy from Austria!

IGEL vs. SHARK – FRIDAY. 10.JUNE 2022

NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL 2022- Pannonia Fields II, Nickelsdorf, Austria.

It was one of the few sunny days of March and all of us in the office listened, with great pleasure to the songs of IGEL vs. SHARK,it was an amazing time of sound.

Actually there’s no need for more words, when it comes to describe the trio from

Vienna, Austria… the Rock ’n’ Roll band with full of Music Energy.

It is a great experience…especially if you’ve ever seen them live. Because in this case you just know it, they accomplish this mission with each and every live show they play.

That’s probably why They’ve already had the honor to open up for bands like AC/DC, Airbourne, Skunk Anansie, The Subways, Flogging Molly…and so on.

The members of full of music energy trio are, Lukas Reichhold (guitar /vocals), Julia Lorünser (bass/vocals) and Lukas Linschinger play on drums!

Their debut album with 12 songs, on Pogo’s Empire, released in 2019, is the real sound of the hard rock music.

Athenscalling.gr team and some of our friends, this summer they will travel from Greece in Austria and will have the opportunity to enjoy the full of music energy trio… IGEL vs. SHARK live on Friday 10 June 2022, in the amazing and largest festival in Europe, NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL 2022, in Pannonia Fields area of Nickelsdorf, which takes place from 09-12 / 06/2022!

This year, NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL features the most important names of the rock scene such as…

MUSE, VOLBEAT, KORN, SKILLET, MANESKIN, BLACK VEIL BRIDES,THE OFFSPRING, DISTILLERS, RISE AGAINST, IN FLAMES, HEILUNG, QUERBEAT, TURBOBIER, EVANESCENCE, SEILER & SPEER, WIZO, BILLY TALENT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, DEATH PUNC, KRAFTKLUB,MANDO DIAO, AIRBOURNE, THE PRETTY RECKLESS,STEEL PANTHER, DEICHKIND, TRETTMAN, ELUVEITE, ALLIGATOAH, HADDAWAY & DR.ALBAN and many more…!

For more information and everything related about NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL 2022, visit the NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL website https://www.novarock.at/en/

Returning to the explosive trio of IGEL vs. SHARK, just before we get in chat with the band member Julia Lorünser (bass / song), enjoy the band with a great song…

AN INTERVIEW WITH JULIA LORUNSER ( IGELvs.SHARK-bass/vocals)

Athenscalling.gr: Hi Julia, nice to meet you, before NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL and your live show. Welcome in Athenscalling.gr webzine of culture.

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Hello to you too and thank you so much for having us!

Athenscalling.gr: At first let’s talk about the great and full of energy new single ΄΄She’s on Fire΄΄. Tell us about the music and the lyrics of the song.

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals):Since actually all of our songs have their origin in Lux’s (Lukas Reichhold) brain this was also the case with this one. He came to us with the idea of the song and we finished it together in our rehearsal room. The lyrics are about a guy who is willing to take his chance on a woman although he knows she will drag him down to hell. We’ve all been there, I guess: steering right towards the fire.

Athenscalling.gr: On what occasion do you create the music and the lyrics of your other songs?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Like mentioned above, most of our songs, if not every song, originates in an idea that Lux had. Sometimes it is just a guitar lick, sometimes he already has kind of the whole song in mind. Either way we complete them together in our rehearsal room. Some of them come easy and everybody knows exactly where the road is taking us and some of them are kind of hard to grasp. In this case we often put them aside and take them out of the “drawer” again after a while. The Lyrics are written by Julia and Lux. They are mostly about stuff that bothers us.

Athenscalling.gr: I like very much your music… but now I will ask you about your influences…

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): We listen to a lot of different kinds of music but I guess the obvious influences are bands like AC/DC, Rage Against The Machine, Airbourne, Kiss, Danko Jones, The Hives, and so on.

Athenscalling.gr: How your band was formed and on what occasion?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Our band was formed in 2009. I believe Lux, Eva-Maria (who was our first drummer) and me were out one night at a show (I can’t remember the band) and we decided to form a band ourselves. Lux had already been playing in the punk rock band Rentokill, but for Eva-Maria and me it was our first band. After one year Eva-Maria decided to move to Sweden, so we asked Lukas (who had been our tech guy till then) to join the band on drums.

Athenscalling.gr: O.k about it and about your name… Igel vs. Shark. Who was the Godfather of your band name?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Lux and I were pretty big fans of the movie “Eagle vs. Shark” by Taika Waititi and we thought that this actually would be kind of a nice name for a band. Because we didn’t want to have any copyright problems, we decided to name our band “Igel vs. Shark”. Because in German the word “Igel” is pronounced exactly the same like “Eagle” but it means “hedgehog”. So it’s kind of ridiculous but since we also like to not take ourselves to seriously we just stuck to it.

Athenscalling.gr: Please… you to describe, the other two members of your band… The Guitarist Lukas Reichhold and the drummer Lukas Linschinger with one or two words…..

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Well…ok… Lux: crazy genius Lukas: kind-hearted drum machine

Athenscalling.gr: Now it is your time and let’s plays a game, with your first letters of your name … JULIA! Please now fill in the blanks with any words you like ( J )……… (U)……… ( L)……..( I )…….. ( A )……..!

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Haha ok, I thought it would be more fun to ask the guys to do it, so here’s what they said:

J – udicious, U – nmerciful, L – ovable, I – mpatient, A – lways striking

Athenscalling.gr: I believe that your band has many fans in Austria, but what happens in other European countries, I mean about your fans?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): That’s kind of hard to tell. I guess Germany is the country with our second biggest fan base. But we’ve also heard from people in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Slovenia and all over Europe that they like our music and also from Greece! 🙂

Athenscalling.gr: And about the others in Austria bands, I wonder if these bands are easy or difficult, to transmit their music in Europe and why not …around the world? What do you believe about it?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): There are a lot of really good (rock)bands from Austria but if you think about it, it seems like nobody or just a view people have ever heard of any of them on an international level. It’s really a pity and I am not really sure what the reasons for this could be.

Athenscalling.gr: In live performances your band is full of energy, how much enjoy you have on stage?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Playing a show is the absolute best for all of us. We always try to give it all form the first to the last second of each and every show. And if the audience is doing so as well, it does not matter if there are only 10 people or 10.000 people. This energy between us and the audience is what kept us going for the last 13 years.

Athenscalling.gr: I want ask you now about your debut self title album with the 12 songs, on Pogo’s Empire, released in 2019. I believe that it is the real sound of the hard rock music. Tell us about it?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Releasing our first album was quite the challenge for us. We even recorded it twice because we were not really satisfied with the result the first time around. I think the sound of the songs is quite diverse just like our diverse taste in music. There are these classic hard rock songs like “Iron Steel” or “Step Up” that we like to play but also songs like “Rock ’n’ Roll Bomb” or “U.L.I.A” who have more of a Rock’n’Roll vibe to them. I think you can also hear that we all grew up listing to a lot of Punkrock and Hardcore music.

Athenscalling.gr: …And about Pogo’s Empire?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): We’ve released our debut album together with Pogo’s Empire. An Austrian label by a friend of ours who is also the singer of the band Turbobier, in which Lux also plays guitar from time to time.

Athenscalling.gr: Any news about a new album?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Since we made the mistake to announce our first album all the time and we had to postpone the release several times, I will not tell you any details. Just so much: we are on it 🙂

Athenscalling.gr: And about your NOVA ROCK live on Friday 10 of June … What should we expect from … Igel vs. Shark trio?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Well, we will probably be shitting our pants (haha) and besides that we will do what we always do: giving it all from the first to the very last second!

Athenscalling.gr: Now 3 questions about you … Do you remember your first teacher in music? Your first album that you bought? And Your best musician?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Hm…my very first teacher was my piano teacher and then my guitar teacher…but I guess they both did not really have a great influence on me wanting to be a musician myself. I think the biggest influence on me were my two older brothers who were very much into punk rock music and were playing in various punk rock bands themselves. I was very lucky that they always took me with them and I guess that’s why I always wanted to play in a band myself.

To be honest I don’t really remember the first album i bought…but since I am a kid of the 90’s I guess it was something embarrassing like the Backstreet Boys or the Spice Girls… My favourite musician…that’s hard to tell. I’ve never been that “totally-crazy-about-one-person” kind of of fan…I admire a lot of musicians but I don’t really have a favourite.

Athenscalling.gr: Lets travel now South and I will ask you… Do you know anything about my country, about Greece?

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): I know you have a fascinating history, great food, great wine, nice people and beautiful beaches…to name just some of the stereotypes Austrians have about Greece .We have never been there but we would really love to visit your country one day!

Athenscalling.gr: Before the end of our chatting … Send your message to the people, just around the world.

Julia Lorünser ( Igel vs. Shark- bass/vocals): Don’t be a dick!