German rockers THE NEW BLACK have updated their 2011 live schedule with shows in Innsbruch, Austria and Hamburg, Germany on November 18th and 26th respectively. Details are available below:

November

5 - Reichenbach, Germany - Die Halle **
18 - Innsbruch, Austria - P.M.K.
19 - Oberentfelden, Switzerland - Böröm Pöm Pöm **
26 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle (AFM-Festival with U.D.O., VOODOO CIRCLE)

** with MOTORJESUS

BW&BK; scribe Carl Begai recently spoke with Leim about the band's new album, Better In Black. An excerpt from the story is available below:

For a band that was spawned during a metal festival drinking binge, The New Blackhave pounded out an impressive stretch of road. The January 2009 release of their self-titled debut album gave the band legs, enabling them to do the festival circuit and put together short but effective tours with bands in a similar small-time boat. Topping this off were select support shows with high profile acts such as cult-fave German countrymen J.B.O. and the larger-than-life AC/DC. On the eve of the release of The New Black’s second record, II: Better In Black, guitarist / co-founder Christof Leim – who pulls double duty as the guitarist for veteran rockers Sinner – looks back on the band’s achievements and freely admits he’s surprised at how things have played out. Not that he was placing bets on things going to hell before they could get to Round 2, but the logistics of keeping the band up and running are anything but simple.

“The surprise started before the first album was out. We never had auditions, we never worked out way through dozens of people to find the right line-up. Reactions to The New Black have been pretty good and we’ve worked a lot as a live band without rehearsing because it’s just not possible. Preparation for studio time was done on the fly, basically, so the surprise started early for me. It’s not a project anymore, it’s our main band.”

More to the point, The New Black is a band that quite literally lives for the stage, ultimately keeping them together.

“We’ve had discussions about that. Are we playing too much? Are we not playing enough? Are we playing for enough money? Is it worth it? So far we’ve found a balance, but there’s always a danger of dropping the ball. If a band like IRON MAIDEN almost killed themselves in ’85 on the World Slavery Tour it’s pretty easy for a band like us to fall apart. I’m the guy in the band with the heaviest workload outside the band, but my daughter still isn’t calling me Uncle Frank so things are good. It’s worked out because I’m home a lot, I’m able to manage the job and the music, but you never know what’s going to happen.”

The ties that bind have tightened considerably since Leim and his cohorts embarked on their rock-‘til-you-drop mission. It stands to reason that the band’s creative process for II: Better In Black changed from their off-the-cuff approach to the debut.

“Yeah, the formula has to change,” Leim agrees, “but in our case there is no formula. I’m the guy who analyzes stuff, thinking about whether we’re straying too far from our sound or if we’re doing too much of the same thing. When we were doing the first record I said that if we happen to write a reggae song or a thrash metal song for the second one, so be it. That’s why we did ‘Happy Zombies’ on the new one, which is a shameless pop tune. Whatever happens, happens. The musical tastes in the band are diverse, but it wasn’t hard to combine it all. The only thing that’s hard is the logistics because we have three dads in the band, and we’re living all over the place.”

Personal taste ranks II: Better In Black as superior to The New Black’s debut. The band’s signature THIS LIZZY flavour is still intact, but the record has a prominent undertone hinting at the likes of BLACK LABEL SOCIETY and Iron Maiden.

“There are all these different perceptions. You say it sounds metal and other people say it’s rock, and that’s the main point of album; to get people talking. So, you’re saying it’s a metal vibe rather than the compositions being metal?”

It sounds much bigger than the debut; it’s definitely meaner, with a distinct piss-and-vinegar attitude you don’t get from straight-up good time rock.

“I’m quite happy with that assessment,” says Leim. “Calling it ‘meaner’ than the first one is cool, but I think the new one is more diverse because that’s what happens when the band members get to know each other better over time. I think this is more of a Fabs (Schwarz / guitars) record, so maybe he was in a more metal frame of mind. There’s a lot more thrash-oriented guitar playing on this album, particularly the riffs. I had to wake up my James Hetfield right hand. Because since I left my METALLICA cover band I’m so damn slow (laughs).”

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