On his blog "Systematic Desensitization Zine": Magazine for Systematic Desensitisation, the man from Lülsdorf publishes interviews with bands from the metal scene all over the world. He wants to tell about the backgrounds that lie between the loud sounds of the music: In which social, personal and also political environment did the music originate? What influenced the new record, what were the formative moments? "I consciously hardly do any reviews of the albums. In times of Youtube and Spotify, that's not necessary. Everyone can quickly make up their own mind about the music," Bauer explains about the content of his blog. He presents a repertoire that he has acquired over many years and continues to acquire.

"When I was about 13 years old, Guns'n'Roses were big. Then Metallica came along and I got more and more into rock music." Then when heavier bands, like Slayer came along, he was into that too. "Then soon came the first death metal and finally black metal bands," recalls the now 44-year-old. At that time, the luxury of Spotify and Youtube did not yet exist. Bauer read through Rockhard magazine to discover bands or relied on tips from friends. "In my youth, people still copied each other's new acquisitions onto cassette tapes. The album usually fit on the A-side of the cassette. And since the B-side of the cassette was still free, you sometimes got new things that you had never heard of," says Bauer about earlier times.

Back then there wasn't such an overabundance as there is today, which perhaps brought some bands closer to him, he reflects. "So I also gave albums a chance that I didn't like so much right away," says the metal fan. At some point they did catch on. "In any case, I had to spend more time with a band and perhaps listened to them more consciously than you would today, where you can switch gears very quickly and try something else," says Bauer.

Metal defined his youth, a special time in his life when he was hungry for new things and "insanely euphoric", like all young people. So metal became his way of life, with long mane, frock with patches and band shirts. "My parents were a bit scared of this development. They thought the covers and names of the bands and songs were a bit too evil and martial," recalls Bauer, who grew up in Brühl.

Today, he knows, there are far fewer prejudices against dark and loud metal music. It has become ubiquitous. For example, the Tagesschau reports on the Wacken Festival, where more than 80,000 metal fans celebrate their music every year. In any case, the former prejudices are unfounded, says Bauer: "For outsiders, the music may sound frightening. But I've experienced that metal listeners are the most relaxed and nicest people to be around at concerts." When he listens to metal, he totally relaxes. He used to listen to the music even to fall asleep.

Bauer's main job is as a social worker in Cologne. He lived there until a year ago, when he moved with his family to a house in Niederkassel-Lülsdorf. The desire to make a blog about the music of his lifestyle had been with him for a very long time, he says. In 2017, it finally led him to start the project. One of the first bands he interviewed was Kreator, who were number one in the album charts at the time.

The interviews usually take place by mail, sometimes also by chat, Skype or in person. Gerald Bauer is guided by spontaneous ideas as to which band he should write to and ask for an interview. In the meantime, there are already over 120 bands whose interviews can be read on his blog. Bauer writes his posts in English to reach audiences all over the world. "The majority of my readers come from Germany and Europe. But depending on the band, I also have readers from the USA, Australia or even Asia," the 44-year-old knows. Many of his contributions often reach several thousand interested people.

(Original text: Sofia Grillo; Translation: Mareike Graepel)