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Satyricon

On the first gloomy day of this year’s Graspop Metal Meeting, we at RMP had the opportunity to have a chat with one of the founding fathers of the Norwegian black metal scene, Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad, better known as Frost, drummer for Satyricon. We had a very interesting talk with him about the 20th anniversary of “Nemesis Divina”, the atmospheric qualities of their music and the notorious black monster drum kit. 

  • First of all, welcome to Belgium! This will be the third time you’ll perform at Graspop. Are you excited to play here again?

Yes, we are! This festival is becoming larger and larger year by year and it seems that our performances here look a little better by each time we play here as well. And we have a rather special occasion for being here this time because it’s “Nemesis Divina’s” 20th anniversary and this is the first of those shows that we do out in continental Europe so of course we’re excited about the reaction and how it’s going to feel to perform the entire album with the audience here. It’s something totally different for us and for our fans as well, I suppose. 

  • As you already said this year marks the 20th anniversary of “Nemesis Divina”. There’s been a reissue of the album and a lot of new merch. Are there any more plans to celebrate this milestone?

Well, we do these shows. We feel that that is a pretty big thing to do but most important for us is basically just put the album back into the focus so that’s why we are rereleasing it and we’re having this new edition that looks a little more timeless and classy, you know. We kind of wiped off some dust and made it shine just a little more but it’s still much like the original because the original is what it’s all about, you know. It’s about what it represents for the band and for our fans and what it symbolises. That really holds a particular value and significance.

  • Lots of fans claim that your first albums were mainly straightforward, blastbeat-driven music wise whereas your latest studio release, “Satyricon”, shows us a softer side. Was this a coincidence or was it really something you aimed for?

I find it very hard to relate to that kind of descriptions. When “Nemesis Divina” was released, it was formidably more powerful than its predecessors; it was way more intense and much more furious. And also, we really needed to increase our skills to master the material we made for the album so like energy wise and intensity wise that was really a step up the ladder, no doubt. I feel that the Satyricon of today has a much richer musical pallet which comes from the fact that we have evolved the material for so many years and the entire band is based on a genuine passion for music and the dedication to it. We really want to be present with whatever we do and to observe and to learn and to get better. As a natural result you will continually develop and you will seek new territory so that’s how it is to be creative, I guess. I find that there’s a much deeper and scarier darkness in the Satyricon of today than there was in Satyricon twenty years ago, let alone even beyond that. I think that we perhaps didn’t have the ability to express ourselves so profoundly; that we have really needed to work longer with music in order to get that capacity and ability. Also about the ‘softer’, I think that at least there are lighter parts and more low key parts and the band is much more dynamic which means that we do music that is less happening and not necessarily very dark or grim or hard or anything but on the other hand we may move to themes that are darker and scarier than anything we did in the early days. You know, there’s so much more contrast. The way I feel is that if you do lighter music as well – and I don’t think ‘light’ as in ‘commercial’ or anything like bands that have this old ratio between hard verses and very light choruses, we don’t do that sort of thing. But we do more mellow parts and sometimes we musically want to go a certain place in order to make the next part really explode in grimness and darkness or whatever. It’s all about expressing atmosphere and emotions which is what this whole musical genre is about. And we feel that if you are doing fast, intense, hard, raw music all the time, that that’s pretty much like driving your car at 200 km/h for a very long time and after a while it doesn’t really feel fast anymore but if you bring down the speed to 40 km/h and then bring it up to 160, then it suddenly feels very very fast. You know, that are the kind of things we’re after and to understand those mechanisms and to apply them in your own music; it’s more about that, it’s not about getting softer or anything. It is really about working with music and finding how to express what you have in you and also to make something that you’d like to hear yourself. That is the Satyricon project. 

  • Was this idea also the first step to perform with a live choir as in your album “Live At The Opera”? 

When we did that it was very much in line with the kind of projects that Satyricon likes to do. We felt that Satyricon could sound very grand and epic and majestic with a choir because we have those qualities in our music. We haven’t it perhaps with that emphasis. We realised in early 2012 when we were invited to perform a “To The Mountains” with the opera choir at this closed event and it sounded so amazing. We weren’t expecting it to be that great or that it would be such a powerful combination. So after that experience we decided that we should put up an entire show and it turned out the opera choir was very much into that idea as well so from there we really took that idea and made a reality out of it. It truly made us learn that it was indeed a very potent combination and something that was also very motivating and a strong experience. It was something that we have brought with us. If we’re going to do more of that kind of thing, I don’t know but we definitely learned something out of it and we found a quality in the music that became clearer to ourselves through that experience.

  • You also worked together with Sivert Høyem on the instant classic “Phoenix”. How did you end up collaborating with Sivert?

Well, he’s a very recognised artist in Norway. It just happened one night; Satyr was sitting in front of the television one late afternoon, just having a meal after rehearsal and watching Høyem perform on national television with his solo-project. Satyr realised that his songs sounded very Norwegian black metal-inspired; it’s pretty dark stuff as well, and while he was watching his songs, he thought that it was great stuff and his voice sounded fantastic with this kind of music. So was it that a proper black metal band would actually write a song for him, wouldn’t that be even greater? And Satyricon could be that band so we reached out to Sivert. He’s a really private man and it took some time until we got hold of him but eventually we got in touch with Sivert and he wanted to do such thing because he’s a fan of some of the older Norwegian black metal bands and Satyricon was one of them. As we found out that he was on board, we got to work and we wanted to just do a Satyricon song, in a classical Norwegian black metal way – that was how the song sounded before Sivert’s voice was there anyway and that gave some space for him to really shine. So eventually he started to come to rehearsals after we had laid down the foundation for the song and then we found out where to take it further and it ended up being a fantastic song, I think. You know, we also talk about a kind of potency here. I think there was a strong potency in the collaboration with Satyricon and the opera choir and the same was really the case with us working with Sivert and his very particular way of singing. It’s a different darkness but it’s still very dark. 

  • Satyricon always existed of you and Satyr. Why is that?

Experience has taught us that we need to be in control of the creative work in the band and then it’s very difficult to allow more members into it. Because if you’re a member of the band that means you have to be granted certain rights and for us that would mean giving away some control and perhaps letting others have an impact on how songs are written and other creative issues. We just can’t have it like that so we need this model with the core being Satyr and me and then extend the band like we do for example with the live band which are also really members of the live ensemble and not some random session musicians. So Satyr and I are in control of all the creative work and that model works for us.

  • As a drummer myself, I’m intrigued by the Pearl Super-Pro GLX also known as the ‘Black Monster’. Can you tell our readers a short version of its history and why it’s such an important drum kit in the world of Black Metal?

That old drum kit was originally Hellhamer’s (drummer for Mayhem, red.). He used it on their “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” for instance and it was also borrowed by many other bands for their recordings like Emperor, Darkthrone, I on some early Satyricon rehearsals because we were actually sharing a rehearsal place with Mayhem back in the day, Enslaved used it, and so on. I guess it was like the best drum kit in the extreme metal scene of Norway in that day; it was a very proper kit with huge dimensions and musically the kit also sounded very proper. It had the proper sound for a black metal band: it sounded very thunderous, and it was a high-quality kit so it sounded really great in the studio. As Hellhamer was changing to a different kit in ’93, I decided I really wanted to buy it. I didn’t have that much money but I scraped together what I had and bought it from him. While I had it, I used it on many many recordings since. I even used it on the latest Satyricon album! It’s very worn-out now but it still sounds great and there’s something musical about the tone and you still hear it’s really a fantastic kit. So it’s ready for retirement now but it has done more than its share of duty, I guess.

  • You’re also the drummer of 1349. In what way is it different to play with Satyricon or 1349? 

They are two different worlds; I operate in different ways in those bands. I’m perhaps doing more creative work in 1349. In Satyricon, I’m not really part of the song writing process because we have Satyr doing that so it feels very unnecessary really. But I guess it’s a different model of teamwork in 1349 and also 1349 is very much about full-blown intensity and the grinding teeth and constant volcanic eruptions. It’s really a musical chaos that I really like a lot. But that’s how that band is and I like to have that. Satyricon on the other hand has a very different approach to writing and performing music. We analyse and evaluate it all the time and we try to have a very high level of consciousness and try to challenge ourselves all the time to get a little better, go a little further and learn something new and that’s great. I started out as a musician that was self-taught and could hardly even play the drums, you know. I knew that that was the instrument for me but I spent many years even just learning the basics. So to have an arena for that, has proven very helpful and I also liked the music of the band a lot. I liked that challenge also – the musical challenge that is, and the evolution that takes place in the band. I really liked to be part of that so if you look away from just liking the music, I think the processes are ones that I really like. The 1349 process for what that is and Satyricon’s way of working for what that is.

  • One last question: will Sivert be joining you tomorrow?

We would love to but he has his own band and I think he’s working on an album. We actually brought him with us on the show we did last weekend in Sweden. He performed “Phoenix” with us then because it was possible. But we couldn’t bring him here because he was busy working on his own projects. We would love to have him there every day and we know he likes to perform with us so it’s not about that but it couldn’t be done unfortunately. 

Halestorm

Each metalhead that didn’t know Halestorm before, has to know them by now after their intense show at Graspop Metal Meeting! Our interviewers had the chance to have a playful chat with Lzzy, her brother Arejay and bass player Josh to talk about their rocketing career, their energetic shows and all the things they do for their fans. So grab a beer and enjoy!

 

  • Hi, we’re long-time fans of Halestorm and we we’re really excited to interview you guys!

Lizzy: That’s awesome! Thank you!

Josh: Yeah, good for you guys, awesome!

Arejay: Cool, dude!

 

  • First of all: welcome to Graspop! It was the first time you’ve played here and the show was really awesome! 

L: Thank you so much!

J: Thanks, man!

 

  • You played a couple of shows in Belgium over the years and now you’re here for the first time. How was it to play here at the Graspop festival?

L: Amazing!

A: A dream come true!

L: The crowd was great, and even though it’s wet and rainy, nobody flinched.

J: No one cared about the rain. And the festivals over here are just incredible. It’s so neat to see the size of them and also see all of our friends backstage and meet new people. It’s wonderful being in Belgium right now. 

 

  • Are there any bands you want to see that are also playing here today?

J: Cadaver!

A: Yeah, we’re going to see Cadaver! And I want to see Volbeat tonight; I hope they’re bringing some pyros that would be cool. 

J: We’re good friends with Rival Sons so hopefully we could watch them. And hopefully Black Sabbath as well. They’re on our bucket list. 

L: Yeah, that would be cool!

 

  • The last time we saw you next to today was at Pukkelpop last year. You hadn’t that much audience at that moment because The Offspring was playing at the same time, but you still gave it all and put out a great show! What’s the most fun to play for: a big audience or a small audience?

L: We like it all! We don’t discriminate. 

J: We just like to play music. 

A: There are different levels of energy: like with the small, intimate crowds where we’re very close and – 

L: – we’re we can sweat all over everyone.

A: Yeah! [Laughs]. You can like reach out and high five people. But playing in front of a massive crowd like this is just so much fun too. You can just get them all chanting, especially in Europe, like they really love to participate and they love to chant and clap and jump. They’re really really interactive. 

 

  • You always have a very powerful and energetic live show and you can see as a fan that you guys really enjoy performing. How do you keep that energy up each and every time you enter the stage?

L: Because we love it! You kind of just go on stage and you’re on this high the whole time that you’re on tour. We love each other and we hang out and we laugh a lot with each other. Our crew’s amazing so… I don’t know; I think when you’re having fun –

J: – There’s just such a positive energy all the time.

L: Yeah, you’re just flowing on that level!

J: And we feed off the crowd. If they’re getting excited – well, if I’m watching that I usually make a mistake [laughs] and I’m like “Woops! Well, at least I’m having fun!”. 

A: It’s a trip playing for so many people.

 

  • After Graspop you’re going to tour the US, are you excited for this? 

J: Very much. When we first started touring nationally in the US, it was with Shinedown. And for two or three years of just touring, we usually toured with Shinedown. But we haven’t in some time, actually in years! In mean, we did a small tour in the UK with them. So it will be like a big family reunion to tour with them again and –

A: – and with Black Stone Cherry!  

J: Yeah, indeed. So we’re really excited to have a big US Summer tour. I mean, I think we could do this every day but –

A: – Whiskey Myers will be opening too! There really awesome too. They’re going to be opening for the Carnival tour. 

J: So we’re really looking forward to that US Summer tour. 

 

  • You recently released your new album “Into The Wild Life”. While recording, you played together at the studio to capture that spontaneous feel, you have at live shows. How was it to record an album this way?

L: It was difficult actually. It was lot harder than putting everything together separately and fitting it together. That was easy! This was much harder because when you’re playing: if one of you screws up, the entire band has to do the whole song all over again so we just kept dogging each other like “What the fuck man, why did you do that?!” It was great!

J: It was very rewarding though once we did get the take and we all knew that that was the one. Sometimes it only took a few takes and sometimes –

L: – it took like twenty! [laughs]

J: It was like “Maybe we should come back tomorrow and try again!” But the whole experience was so rewarding. I think it was something that we wanted to prove to ourselves. We pride ourselves on being a good live band and then we thought “Why not be a good studio band?” [laughs]. 

 

  • For “record store day” you brought out a limited edition vinyl with four live songs from the album “Into The Wild Life”. Why did you choose those four songs?

L: We chose those four songs because they’re songs that aren’t normally chosen for those special things. Everybody always wants the single, everybody wants full rockers… so we did a lot of unique things on that tour. We did a whole tour that was just us; there was no opening band or nothing so we played for like three hours and did everything. So we really wanted to gift our fans with something a little unique.

 

  • Do you guys have some sort of pre-show ritual?

J: We do! And if we don’t do it, we know why we didn’t have the best show [laughs]. But usually one hour before show, it’s time to start warming up and get everything ready. But it’s also time to write out the set list; we change the set list every day, every show is different and so we all need to just get together and talk like “Hey, let’s do this,” and “Let’s try that” and just all get thinking the same way. Because we have had shows where we don’t do that, where we were like “Yeah, just go out and have fun!” and afterwards we’re just like “What the fuck just happened?”. So that’s really our ritual: just to start creating that communication, that musical language and having those talks one hour before we go on stage to get us all centered and together. 

L: And then we also have our ‘good luck handshake’! Arejay’s looking at me now like “I don’t want to do that with you now; it’s not show time!” [laughs].

A: Yeah, sis, no! [laughs] Anyway, for me, I always try to focus like doing some cardio before I hit the stage. Not just my hands or wrists warmed up but I want to get my whole body warmed up and just get liberatingly loose before we hit the stage.

L: I always do the complete opposite actually. No exercises the entire tour! 

J: We start drinking an hour before! [laughs]

 

  • Arejay, you started to play the drums at the age of three. So you’ve been playing drums for almost whole your life. Have you always made music with your sister? 

A: Yeah, I was ten years old when we started the band –

L: – Who else were you going to play with? [laughs]

A: It was originally me, my sister and our dad who was playing bass at the time until it got uncool to play in a band with your dad.

L: Sorry dad!

A: Yeah, so got Josh because he’s way cooler! 

J: Oh, lucky me!

L: Yeah, you’re actually cooler than our dad!

J: Well, you know for a bass player that’s pretty good! [laughs]

A: Yeah, for me it felt like the best way to express my voice was through drums, you know. I was stoked to start a band and have a kind of a family band and it is kind of that way ‘til this day. Even Josh and Joe, our guitar player, who is sick right now, that’s why he’s not here, and our crew; it’s just all a big travelling family, you know. So I think that ‘family vibes’ sums up the entire band, you know.

 

  • Arejay, you have the big trick with the big drumsticks. Are those sticks custom made? Or how did you come up with this idea?

A: No! Those we’re just big novelty drumsticks. You can get them… probably at any music store or whatever. 

L: They’re meant to be hung on the wall.

A: Yeah… well, I got a pair as a gift once from a buddy of mine and he was like “Here are some big sticks! You can put them on your wall!” and I was like “No, I’m going to see if I can actually play drums with them!”. So I did it at a show and the crowd was like “Oh my God, how did you do that?” and I was like “It’s not hard, I’m just hitting drums with big sticks!” 

L: We’re going to get him really tiny sticks next! 

A: It’s kind of become a staple of our live shows now, like “Wow, that drummer was playing with baseball bats or whatever!”. 

J: Or we could give him a really big drum kit. And really tiny sticks.

A: Or a really tiny drum kit and really big sticks!

L: That would be fun!

A: Yeah, it’s fun. It’s kind of helps me getting rid of some aggression so I don’t take it out on them [laughs].

 

  • Josh, as mentioned previously: you replaced Roger Hale as the bass player. 

A: The great Roger Hale [laughs]!

 

  • How was it to replace the father of two of your bandmates?

L: It was such a relief [laughs]!

J: He gave me a very stern talk [laughs]. No, no, I knew their band a year or two before I joined so we had become acquaintances. Before that, when they asked me, I was very excited and it was easy for me, I mean, it was like it had always been family, as it still is. So it was a very easy transition or whatever. I picked up, we started playing; for me, I came from a more jazzy background but also from more singer songwriter stuff, not very rock ‘n’ roll so they had to teach me the ways of metal [laughs]! 

A: It’s really cool, like the drum and the bass, like the rhythm section has to really lock in together. I had a great chemistry playing with my dad because we are related, you know, when Josh came and play with us, it was just an instant click. He just chilled right in there. 

J: I’m just the bass player.

A: Yeah, Joe on the other hand [laughs]!

J: He’s not here because –

L: – we poisoned his food [laughs]! 

A: Yeah, he did a bad show, he’s on time-out [laughs]!

 

  • Lzzy, you also released a clothing line. Can you tell us more about that?

L: Sure! It’s something I do occasionally. I’ve actually been focussing most of my creativeness on music right now so I actually haven’t been doing that for a couple of months. But it’s just something fun. I think I do it kind of selfishly because I want to create clothes that I like so that I could just have them and then yeah, I just want to share that with other people obviously. I like doing clothes and a create a lot of my own jewellery because it’s cheaper to do that than to pay 300 dollars for something that you could just make. But it’s also a kind of therapy for me because it keeps my hands busy and I stay out of a little bit of trouble by focussing on that [laughs]. 

  • Thank you very much for the interview. Do you have any last words for our readers?

L: Thank you so much for listening to our music and thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. That’s what it’s all about, we all do this together.

A: And thanks for keep rock, metal and punk alive!

Belvedere

Belvedere have been paving the way for Canadian skatepunk for over two decades. In the middle of the 2000's they even called it quits and disbanded. Luckily for their legion of fans the band has risen from its ashes again and has returned with a killer new album Revenge Of The Fifth. With a new drummer amongst the ranks we found Jason from Belvedere backstage at Jera On Air festival and had a nice chat about the new album and their upcoming tours.

Congratulations with the new album, The Revenge Of The Fifth, it was released on May 5th.

How has the response been?

Actually really positive. We hadn't done an album in thirteen years or some ridicilous amount. When i started writing some songs for it and Steve started writing songs we didn't what it was going to turn in to. We really collaborated on this album more instead of each person writing their own song. It served the band better. We've been pretty stoked.

It's the first album in 12 years, Belvedere has been reunited since 2011 so 6 years break and 5 years in the make?

Some of the songs, like i had the music for Hairline written back when the band broke up in 2005. It's was pretty much the same as now. Kind of when the band got back together. We didn't start thinking about an album untill Casey joined the band. Casey has a recording studio and he was really pushing us to record. You know we've got some stuff here. So we got a studio we could record at. We probably could have done it in half the time we did it but we didn't want to go rushing into the studio.

For this release you worked with Bird Attack Records doing the US release and Funtime Records an Effervescence in Europe. How did you get together with those particular labels?

Bird Attack is sort of blowing up in North America right now. Our favorite bands like The Decline, Counterpunch, Darko, Adrenalized, Mute, friends from Canada. All saying beautifull things about this label. Like these guys are great. Garreth is awesome to work with. We met Garreth a few times over the years. When it camedown to we've talked to bunch of bigger labels in the States and it was just the same old politics and bullshit it was when we were younger. We were kind of looking at each other, do we really play this game again. Kind of trying to be in with the cool kids. Where Garreth is a really passionate person, a very focused and driven guy that really gets what all his bands are trying to do and understands them. And cares about them, what you don't find a lot in labels these days. He had a really good distro, so we said yes, let's do it. It just made sense.

You've also played the Funtime fest yesterday.

Funtime fest, it was great. We've played with Homer and a lot of Funtime bands many years, almost every year we toured. I love playing in Belgium.

You've played a four show mini European tour this week, Jera On Air today is the closing night. What may we expect?

It's the last day, it's party time. We're going to put up a show and check out some bands as we can, get in the crowd, talk to people.

You all have jobs and families at home, so Belvedere has become a one off band that must fit in your schedule of life?

Yeah, I don't have kids, Casey has kids. Steve has an eight month year old baby, Scott has two girls who are like four and six now. We've all got full time jobs, It's hard to get away as much as we would like to. We can go two or three weeks, that's the longest we can get out. When we do these tours it has to be in little chunks. We're still going to do three or four months of touring a year but it's going to be a week or two week tour, not like one month at a time like we used to do.

I've noticed a lot bands that started playing again on a more independent base, out of passion for the music, seen to be more content now with the way they operate than when they were a full time band. How do you feel about this new approach?

It's ten thousand times easier. Like i said. We're not invested into the ratrace of the politics of being in bands. The one thing i hated. Last night we talked to kids about Warped tour, we used to do it all the time , you do it year after year after year. It's like you're being a kid again in High school you walk into the cafetaria at Warped tour, you've got your lunch from catering and it's like who am i cool enought to sit with. It's like all these big bands. The rudest band you're going to run into are like the crew people that are not in the bands. But they are alway the ones that got that attitude. There's this urgency, like play sort of the game. We can't say anything bad even if their cocksuckers and fucking dickheads. Maybe there will be a tour with them, maybe they know somebody. We always try to make connections. And we fucking hated it. It's not why i joined a band. We all started playing in punk and hardcore bands when we were kids because we didn't want to do that shit. We wanted to put our own tours, do it ourselves. When every transitioned in the late '90's, when this music sort of got popular. Major labels started taking over the music. I miss talking to people, i miss the camaraderie. We don't give a fuck about that bullshit.

I think that's mostly American festivals that are like that.

European festivals are completely different than American festivals. American festivals will be like, here's a parking lot, concrete, here's some skateboard ramps and tons of merch, there's beer and water and overthing is overpriced. I find in Europe at least there's an intergration with the villages, the land, the community. There's a camaraderie you still feel. I remember the first time we played Groezrock back in 2004. You have the people passed out drunk in the field. They're safe, nobody's fucking with them, nobody's robbing them. Nobody's fucking with the girls. Maybe in Canada, but not in the States.

One of the songs that struck me most was Generation Debt, an open letter to your kids about how we screwed the world. Is it ever going to change?

That one, i wrote the music for that one and Steve, that was another one that he gave the song and run with it. He wrote it lyrically to his child. It's a letter to his kid. He did an amazing job on that song. Vocally and the passiong that comes through. It's funny when people review that song, they love it or they hate. There's no in between.

Any last words?

The new album just came out. We'll see how that one goes. There hasn't been planned to release anything else. We've been talking about it but not for now; And later on the year we'll be touring Europe again, spring time Japan and Canada too.

 

 

Bullet For My Valentine

When we at RMP heard we could interview long-time Graspop legends Bullet For My Valentine, we were more than eager to wait in line! After entering the calamity of the artist lounge and a short wait later, we sat down with guitar player Michael ‘Padge’ Paget and brand new bass player, Jamie Mathias to talk about their latest release “Venom”, life on the road and the Bullet For My Valentine-app.

 

  1. First of all, welcome to Belgium! This will be the sixth time you’ll perform at Graspop. Are you excited to play here again?

Padge: Yeah, definitely! It’s actually our last show of this little run that we’ve done so we get to go home tomorrow but all guns blazing, we’re going to smash it today!

 

  1. Are there any memories of your previous shows on Graspop you want to share with us?

Jamie: This is actually my second time playing here. I played here already with my previous band, Revoker about five years ago. I think we played in the Marquee and it was absolutely crazy! It’s just such an amazing festival. Yeah, it’s very well-organised, there’s a killer line-up and the fans are just crazy! So I’m super excited to be playing here again!

 

  1. Are there any bands you want to check out this weekend?

Both: Testament!

J: And Slayer!

P: We want to watch Killswitch (Engage, red.) too if we get time to watch them. But yeah, definitely Testament and Slayer. Today it’ll be like Testament, us and then Slayer so it’ll be a metal sandwich of some sort.

J: A heavy metal sandwich, yes!

 

  1. You are on a very long tour this year until I, believe December. Isn’t it hard to be on the road for so long and just keep the spirit up and the energy level high?

P: Yeah, we’re on the road since July last year.
J: It does get tough being on the road for so months on end without going home. We sometimes get weathered down a bit but we just get through it.
P: It indeed does get tough, you know, especially for the guys who have kids. We miss like our girlfriends, our families. It does get tough but you just got to do what you go to do. I mean, you know, you just sign that dotted line and you’ve got to go full power.

 

  1. Almost a year ago you released “Venom”, your fifth studio album. How has the response been this last year?

J: It’s been so well received. I think “Venom” has been our most popular album to date.
P: Although “The Poison” did wonderful things for us and has catapulted us, you know launched our career as such, but “Venom” has been our most popular record and it’s done really well. So as a band, what more can you ask for? I mean, it’s a great album and the fans are really receiving it well.
J: You really see it on the shows we do like the festivals and such. It really reflects on that, you know. If you release a good album, then you can see the potential a good album could have on your live shows and stuff. There’s way more people than with our last album.

 

  1. Almost every song on the album starts with a bang, like a scream or a guitar solo. Was this the intention or has it just grown organically?

P: We just wanted to release a front to back slamming album, we wanted no album fillers. We spent a lot of time on pre-production, just to make sure everything was just slamming on the album. Our real intention was to release a balls-on heavy metal record and I think we succeeded.

 

  1. One of the songs on the new album is “Army Of Noise” which I think is about camaraderie at shows. How does it feel to stand before this army of noise when you’re performing and playing this song? How does it feel to really feel the relationship between the band and the crowd?

J: When we played it in Japan a couple of months ago when we did “Venom” from the front ‘til the back, it really captured that. We got so much energy from the crowd. Once you can capture that live, it doesn’t get any better than that, does it?
P: Yeah, there’s no better feeling and it’s very rewarding for us as a musician or an artist. It’s like the best drug ever.
J: Everyone’s coming to have a good time and for me, to let loose… You know, everyone has a lot of shit in their lives, difficult things going on and stuff and you come to a live show and just let it all out for 40 minutes to one hour while watching a band. You just let all your shit go on, just to have a good time. And that what metal is about!

 

  1. A couple of months before the release, Jay left the band. Luckily you found a new bass player in Jamie (ex-Revoker). How did you end up with this beast of a bassist?

J: Well, me and Padge, we’ve known each other for a few years now. We did a few songs in Padge’s studio in the last five years so we got to know each other really well and… It was just one of those phone calls really. They were obviously looking for a new bass player and I was previously out, doing another job, I wasn’t in a band so they asked me to audition, I’ve done it and I got the job [laughs]!

P: We were struggling to think of somebody who could replace Jay and we tried to make the right choice for the band, you know. Me and Moose (drums, red.), we were just thinking one day over a beer and he was like “Well, Padge, who could we ask?” and I was like “I know this one guy,” and Jaime just sprang into my mind. So I asked him to do an audition and he was like “Fuck ay!” [laughs].
J: I was working on a night shift in this car place where I used to work. It was 11 o’ clock at night and had a text and I really couldn’t fucking wait to go [laughs]!

 

  1. That you love your fans and the fans love you is an understatement. Now there’s even a Bullet For My Valentine-app. Could you tell us more about this?

P: With modern technology and all the different social media… I think we just wanted to combine all that and for us it’s a way to connect with our fans directly. Of course, we’ll still use Facebook and all!

J: Yeah, it’s some sort of platform to keep in touch with the fans. All of us has their own personal accounts on it so we could talk to fans, keep you up-to-date about what we’re doing on the road and you can buy merch of it, follow livestreams and watch exclusive content as well. There’s a bunch of stuff you can do and the fans can interact with each other as well because I think that’s very important because they’re the army of noise.

 

  1. You also wrote “Forever And Always” from the “Scream Aim Fire album” to thank the fans and let them know you guys will be there playing for them. Is this right or is there another story behind the song?

P: I’m not quite sure how the lyrics go because Matt (Tuck, vocals, red.) wrote them. I’m not sure it’s about the fans or about a girl. But we’ll just leave that in the middle because it could probably go about both, you know.
J: Yeah, it’s about missing people and, I don’t know, just the connection between loved ones whether they’re fans, girlfriends, wives, boyfriends, dogs, cats, whatever.

 

  1. Are there already plans for a new album?

P: We have just signed a new deal, however we’re hoping to release some new material by the end of the year. If or when we get some downtime to actually go into a studio but there is a plan forming to maybe release an EP.
J: We’ll see. Our schedule is just so busy at the moment, we’re just not getting enough time to actually get together and write material.
P: You can write on the road but I think when you’re on the road for so long it’s kind of hard to get inspired to write just anything.

 

  1. So is it more difficult to write songs on the road than at home?

J: I think so, yes. I can write on the road but I think I write better when I’ve had some time off, cleared my head. For me that is how you get the best material. It’s not like trying to force something out.
P: Yeah, that does work sometimes but most of the time it doesn’t.

 

  1. Thank you very much for the interview. Do you have any last words for our readers?

P: Thanks for all the support of the years. We will be back by the end of November. Come to a show near you and –

J: – keep rocking! See you soon!

Guttermouth – Got It Made

If you've ever found yourself wondering what it would be like if Dee Dee Ramone and Sid Vicious moved to the West coast and had a baby, wonder no more . Guttermouth's EP Got it Made has given us, our very own Vicious Ramone.
Taking the hard edge and anarchy of East Coast punk, and adding the raw, candy flavored, in your face lyrics of West Coast punk, coulped with the notorious bad boys of punk , we are treated to just over 12 minutes of punk rock as it's meant to be.
The tracks Punk Rock Tale of Woe , and I've Got it Made lend to the angry, rebelious , finger to authority stereo typical punk rock lifestyle. Giving you a glimpse into what punk rock really is. Guttermouth is no stranger to their own tales of punk rock woe. From being banned from Canada to leaving the 2004 Vans Warped Tour amidst controversy .
After a ten year hiatus Guttermouth, has given us another album that does not disappoint. Proving that, Mark Adkins is the punk kid we all wished we had the balls to be.

Reviewer : Jessica Tackettt

Belvedere – The Revenge Of The Fifth

Belvedere are back with a new album! The Canadian skatepunk band has been playing shows since 2012 on but 2016 give birth to a new full album. Almost 12 years after their last release Belvedere is back with The Revenge Of The Fifth. A fitting title for full album nr. 5 and for spreading the word Belvedere teamed up with Bird Attack Records in USA and Funtime Records from Belgium will bring the goodness to the European mainland with partners in crime No Reason Records and Lockjaw Records for the UK. 13 new tracks and an Ouija board inspired artwork are the key elements to The Revenge Of The Fifth and those tracks are pure Belvedere anno 2016. The melodic vocals of Steven combined with the typical skatepunk sound remain 100% Belvedere and it only got better with time. Crossing a more technical path this time with a sound that in moments draws connections with bands as Strung Out and fellow Canadians Propagandhi. Melodic skatepunk like it was 1994 all over again but touching on current social topics in the lyrics as in Generation Debt. Or songs on the love of playing live and living for the music such as Carpe Per Diem are what it is all about with Belvedere. The addition of new drummer Casey brings a new influx to the sound of Belvedere and sounds more than promising for the future of Belvedere. 

Stab – Timekeepers

Stab, a verb that cuts right through… just like Stab, a heavy hardcore band from Kortrijk, Belgium. For those familiar with Belgian hardcore in the present and past, the H8000 area might ring a bell. Being spoon fed from birth on H8000 hardcore such as Liar and Congress and tons of other extreme sounds, Stab was founded in 2006 and recently released their third full album Timekeepers on One Life, One Crew Records. Timekeepers delivers ten heavy tracks full of downbeat hardcore and aggressive in your face vocals dealing on topics such as fighting one's personal demons on a dialy base and surviving in today's fucked up world amongst others. With a little help from our friends we get by and Stab enjoys the company of friends such as Adam Warren (Oceano) and Rob Watson (Lionheart) who join them with a little help of guest vocals on certain tracks. Timekeepers is once proof that the H8000 legacy still continues. 

Mont-Dor̩ РFractures

Brussels, Belgium, home to Mont-Doré. A post rock screamo band that recently released their new album Fractures. But calling them screamo doesn't do this outfit justice, Mont-Doré is set out to be more than that. The vocals on the seven tracks that Fractures holds all feature the screams of agony but this basicly is where the equation stops. Mont-Doré's music revolves around chaos, be it the distorted sounds that hold the slower parts, guiding the track to the fast, frantic playing. Full on razorsharp guitars and maniacal drumming take care that Fractures is an album that feels like a rocky roadtrip. From the depths, to the heights, Mont-Doré will guide you through their  own sort of madness on Fractures. 

Aree And The Pure Heart – Heartsongs EP

Aree And The Pure Heart are definitely contending for most honest, heart on sleeve, bandname of the year. For Aree and his musical crew of hopeless romantics love is the answer to everything. Hailing from Georgia, USA, the band has been together for less than a year and Heartsongs is their first EP riding the waves of the magical world wide web. A physical CD version of this throbbing CD is available as well but Bandcamp is the nr. 1 way today to quickly spread your tunes. Featuring five heartdriven songs that fuse rock'n roll with punk rock from the get go. Taking leads from good folks such as Red City Radio, Hot Water Music, Against Me and of course The Boss himself, we get treated to a set of new instant American classics. And with track as Kamikaze you can be damned sure to be shouting along the line 'My Kamikaze Girl' for days on end soon as the song inhabits your head.

Dag Nasty

Dag Nasty may be one of the founding bands for melodic hardcore. Nearly thirty years ago they combined their love for melodic songs with the intensity of American hardcore in the '80's.

Founding members Brian Baker and Shawn Brown have returned to their original lineup and are playing shows together again as if it was 1985 in Georgetown D.C. Time to sit down with Brian and Shawn and see what the future holds for Dag Nasty.

 

 

Welcome to Groezrock. First time here?

Brian:

I've been here a bunch of times with Bad Religion. Which is why i have the rain boots. I'm a veteran at Groezrock. This is the first time that Dag Nasty has been here, even Europe.

Shawn:

I don't have the rain boot experience, this is my first time. I'm wearing my fly kicks today, especially for the trip.

Dag Nasty has been playing shows for some time. And almost thirty years after playing in this lineup, Shawn is back at vocal duties. How has it been?

Shawn:

It's been great. Just the fact that we're together and doing this. To me it's fun, it's amazing. I have a great time singing the songs. I don't have anything to say more than that. It's awesome.

You're also releasing a new single in a few days. A 7” featuring two new tracks. I've heard snippets and sounds promising. What may we expect?

Brian:

We thought it would be appropriate. The band is finally doing some shows, doing some work. Kind of the whole idea of the experience to see what happens in the future. Part of that is making new music. That's really fun for me. We're going to keep writing music. Fortunately Dischord was cool enough to put it out. And we're going to write a record as soon as we write some more songs.

Dag Nasty has been quite influential to many bands. It seems there are a ton of cover songs around by plenty of bands. How does it feel to have your music covered by friends and fans?

Brian:

I'm incredibly greatfull and somewhat amazed actually. I think it's really nice. There are so many bands that are so influential to me; like when i play a Ruts cover or a Damned cover, it brings me so such joy too. Hopefully that's what people are feeling when they play Dag Nasty stuff.

Shawn: It's nice that people like the music that you've done or are infuenced by it. To me it's like a dream come true. It's amazing that people still care about it. You write music or create things, they are what they are and you see time go by. Wow, someone did did like this, it did inspire somebody. That's cool to me. I make me think of following a tradition that other people have done for me.

The monniker Dag Nasty is actually proclaiming that something is awful. Pretty negative claiming your band sucks. You never regretted the band name?

Brian:

I've been in a lot of bands with bad names. It's too late for regret. You want to know a bad band name. Bad Religion is a bad band name. And honestly, Minor Threat is not that good of a name either.

Shawn:

What? I love that name.

You could have had a band called Sweet Belly Freakdown. But then once again i think that's a cool name.

Brian: I don't thinks it's that good.

The point of the names is that they come right at the beginning. That name to me reminds me of walking with my friends when i was 19 down the streets in Georgetown D.C. And we were trying to think of bandnames. We just went, that's it. I see like a photographic representation of that day. I wish it was something cool like Black Sabbath but that was taken.

You were one of the first bands playing melodic hardcore. Being an innovator also attracts a lot of disdain. Did Dag Nasty receive much criticism in the beginning?

Brian:

People seemed to like it from the get go. We weren't super hardcore, but at the time the scene was so small. It's before factions developed in styles of punkrock. There was basically British and American. And we weren't British. But we weren't really like Black Flag either. I was really into The Damned, and you can kind of tell. Playing guitarsolo's and not every song being fast. But maybe that's why it was cool. No one was thinking long term. Just making up songs. I don't really know what a song was, i didn't know a chorus or a verse. I just thought of songs as things that went on for a couple of minutes. When you are at that kind of caveman level of understanding songwriting you're not really like 'my influences are…'.

Shawn:

It's more like, hey we like this. We want to sound like. Like in the case of Swiz, The Damned, Metallica and the Bad Brains. We wanted to have a mix of that. Those were the bands that we liked.

Instead of we are going to do it this way because they do it this way. It's more like a stew.

Brian has been a key element to the band and also to many other bands such as Minor Threat and Bad Religion. He has a distintive guitar style that many envy. Where does this type of playing come from?

Brian:

I don't know, the only thing i know is i only know how to do one thing. That's it. It's just ripping of Captian Sensible, Angus Young and a little Billy Gibbons.

Shawn:

That's a good mix.

Brian:

Even in Junkyard, my metal band, i still play the same as i play in Dag Nasty and Bad Religion. Whatever.

Any last words or advice you want to share?

Brian:

We' tour when we can. Because everyone has life and work and stuff. Which is awesome. We're playing a couple of Punkrock Bowling shows in The States. And we're coming back over the pond to do a UK tour at the beginning of August. Maybe five or six shows. And we're trying to get a record together. Slow and steady.

So next year a new record?

Brian:

I would like to. Just got to make sure the songs are really good. Sometimes that happens quick, sometimes it takes for fucking ever.

Shawn:

There's no rush.

The only thing i have to say i you should check out the Dag Nasty single that is on Dischord Records. And you should also check out the Red Hare single that's on Dischord Records. That's another band that i play with. It has members of Swiz, Bluetip and Garden Variety. I think people will enjoy that as well.