Doomed Confessionary: Lucas Habenreich (The Birch)
Photos by Enrico Kreim
The Birch is a German psychedelic rock power trio featuring Lucas Habenreich (guitar, vocals), Santiago Garcia Echeverri (bass) and Volker Blath (drums).
Vigorous, that’s how The Birch can be described best. Driving riffs, punchy rhythms and all suited in psychedelic sonority, they create an atmosphere of pure ecstasy. With their sound, the three musicians from Quedlinburg, Germany send their crowd on a spiritual journey of long lost centuries, though never indulge but face themselves the current spirit of time.
New album »Vicious Mind«, released in November 2025 via Tonzonen Records, is a dive into modern psych rock. With its seven tracks, it offers a rather dark side of the bands music on side A, which dissolves in the softer, more rock’n’roll side B. With a trip abroad, The Birch found themselves recording their second studio album in Miami Beach, giving them a new twist from their impressions collected in the land of the free.
Can you please say a few words about your band?
We’re The Birch, a psych band from Germany. We formed the band about 4 years ago, when most of us were still in school. We are drawing inspiration from a wide range of music, like The Doors, Geese, Tame Impala, The Mystery Lights, Frumpy and Deep Purple.
Recently we released our second album (and 1st vinyl!!) »Vicious Mind« with Tonzonen Records.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The biggest challenge is the industry itself as it gets more and more difficult for venues and labels to compete in a market that’s monopolised more and more. BUT luckily we have a great community that’s creating spaces and events together with us to keep this kind of music alive.
What can you be most proud of so far?
I’m most proud of our latest album. It’s a dream for everybody to release an album professionally and we can be really happy that Tonzonen gave us that opportunity to do so, especially pressing vinyls of the album.
What was your biggest regret?
It’s always a problem that we want to release too early and in the end it’s a really tight timetable, but our label is getting a hold of it.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
We played at Chemiefabrik in Dresden at the Tonzonen Label Fest last March, which is probably the biggest venue. Also playing in London in April was an amazing experience. Shoutout to Espuma for the invite!
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
It always fascinates me how everybody is connected. We go to some place to play a show and you’re talking to people you’ve never seen and somehow they are good friends with people you also know. It’s a good surprise though!
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
It’s mostly Zombies, Geese, The Quick, Elvis live in Vegas, Television, New York Dolls and Bowie’s »Hunky Dory«.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
My dogma is that the importance lies in how you feel. Things can get super technical when you’re writing, recording and releasing music, it makes you see your piece of art really clinical. So for me it’s most important to take a minute, sit and listen to what it makes you feel. There’s no need to make it make sense.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Wolfgang Petry (love him).
Can you say something more about the current music scene in your part of Germany?
I live in Berlin and I can say it’s super vivid. There are a lot of bands and artists that create, put on shows and are around. The rest of Germany is also full of great bands of all kinds of genres.
Name dropping: Kant, Bleach & the Bumholes, ShitKid, Vista Vision, Zeit Driver, Elfi, Mona Rowey, 13Rags.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We only got a couple of shows left:
17.07 Wild at Heart, Berlin
18.07 Naumburg
28.08 [con:action] Festival, Annaburg
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We are sorting it out now that the tour comes to an end.
How can people best support your band?
Show us to your friends! extra points if you buy a vinyl on Bandcamp 😉
Do you have any message for your listeners?
For maximum fidelity, The Birch should be listened to a high level!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well