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"An Epic Defiance" is the ultimate blast from Holland since a long time. I`ve send some questions to Guitarist and Vocalist Koen to get some informations about this explosive, powerfull Newcomer! Read his words! Hi Koen, greets to you and the rest in Detonation! What`s up in Holland? Is it so hot like in Germany it is? Or don`t you feel nothing while smoking one Pot after another, huh? Hey Marcus! Everything is alright here, and yes, indeed it is quite hot here also! Luckily I'm currently working at a place with good climate control! This must instantly awnser your question if I'm smoking dope right now....unfortunately my boss doesn't allow me to use drugs in his company...too bad eh! ;-) Cummin directly to your new album called "An Epic Defiance". Shit man, what a horny record! Fat sound, perfect placed blasts, perfect structured songs, fast as hell and not boring. It seems that all is perfect on the record! A really blasting but melodic killer! You`ve something to add, hahaha? Well...thank you for your compliments! Good to hear such positive comments. But eh...don`t forget the killer vocals, haha!! It looks like you can appreciate the album, am I wrong? ;-) Nothing to add here I guess! Don't feel bad about me when I say that "An Epic Defiance" is the ultimate "Skydancer" follower, or ? Your album is the album I´ve waiting for since Skydancer! You must know, "Skydancer" to me is the referencealbum in melodic Death Metal! Your meaning about "Skydancer", please and I`ll call you a liar, when you say that you don`t know the album, hahaha!
You're absolutely right! We are all very much into the old work of those bands, and without even doing it on purpose, we started playing this kind of music. Of course we are fully aware of our style at this moment and we are planning to continue the path we are following right now, and this includes the fast blasting and extreme riffing! So yes, the blasts are very important to our music. They determine the Detonation sound, and without them, we would sound more like "just another melodic band". But we like and WANT to keep our music as fast and brutal as possible, not constantly of course, we also leave some space for more atmospheric and rhythmic parts, but the main thing in our music is the speed and aggression, or else we would not have chosen this name "Detonation" right? On the other hand, we also see it as a challenge for ourselves to be the fastest melodic metal band around, haha!! OK, Koen, talking about your past. How did you find the other boys and where did you play before? Well, Thomas (drums) and I had been school-buddies for quite some years and we started playing together in the schoolband when we were about 15 years old, performing in front of 200 parents(the horror!!) playing cover songs from Lenny Kravitz, Toto and Fleetwood Mac...not exactly metal, but it was a good way for us to get used to playing in a band. About a year later Thomas and I were both active in our bands, he played drums in a pop/rock band called "Foox", which was quite good actually, and I became the vocalist in Death Metal band ENGORGE. In 1997 we were both so sick and tired of the musial style we were playing, that we got together and talked about starting a new band, something completely different from the bands we were in at the time. A new band with no restrictions or boundaries whatsoever regarding style and technique. So we started the search for a 2nd guitarplayer, and not much time later we met Mike Ferguson, who was introduced to us by a friend of ours. Mike turned out to be a fucking brilliant guitarplayer, and the 3 of us instantly got together to rehearse for the first time. Thomas arranged something for us in a cantine of a sportsclub, and we never felt more cult and underground playing there for the 1st time, our amps placed on top of the bar, and thomas playing on his (part) handmade drumkit!! Those were the days.... But eventually we got the change to rehearse about 8 times in the first year of our existence, untill the day we thought it was time for us to recruit a bass player...and so we ran into Otto Schimmelpenninck, who joined us in 1998.
When I listen to "AED" I can hear that you don`t play guitar since yesterday, or? How long do you play your instrument and who are you "idols"? I've been playing guitar for about nine years now, Mike about the same if I remember correctly. But before DETONATION I never paid much attention in rehearsing or practising my skills or anything. Nowadays, I practise my skills during the rehearsals of Detonation, I seldom play when I'm at home, and if I do I use the time to write new riffs. I hate doing guitar exercises, so I don't. I develop my skills by playing and writing new material, and of course by listening to other guitarists such as Mickael Akerfeldt from OPETH, and Chuck Schuldiner (RIP). Mike on the other hand, is a totally different guitar player. He is a real guitar exercising freak! He also follows lessons, and is constantly trying to develop his skills (especially his leads). He's also influenced by Chuck Schuldiner, but also by Jon Schaffer from ICED EARTH (Riff master!) Detonation doesn't play that typical blast stuff wich came on and on from Holland to us but it's very popular to sound like DISAVOWED, SEVERE TORTURE, THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT, SINISTER, HOUWITSER or GOD DETHRONED. Even you don't follow the Thrash wave like CRUSTACEAN, INRI or KATAFALK, to name a few. The only band that I know which goes a little bit the melodic Death/Thrash way is CALLENISH CIRCLE and sometimes GOD DETHRONED, too! Me for myself prefer DETONATION! You are faster, hahaha. Now tell us why did you choose the more difficult, melodic way and not the safety, simply blasting way? Do you know the mentioned bands? With whom do you hang over? Do the other bands have respect from that what you`re doing? Well, that's easy! We never thought about playing pure Death metal, because we have always been into the more melodic stuff ourselves! We've tried playing less melodic, but we got bored with the riffs almost instantly. Writing songs with harmonic melodies and atmospheric structures is the thing we do best and what we enjoy most playing. We do realise that is easier to become "famous" when playing Death metal nowadays, but as a band we can simply not play anything we do not enjoy! I've noticed that melodic stuff is getting more popular again every day, and we'll just have to wait and see what we can achieve as a band in this genre, but we will never adjust our style because it is not as popular as other genres or whatever! Of course I'm familiar with the bands you mention, we've played with several of them and especially appreciate the music of Severe Torture, Houwitser, God Dethroned and Sinister. Houwitser are our new label mates of course, and they are really cool guys. And although we play a completely different kind of music than most Dutch bands, we do get a lot of good responses from our Dutch colleagues, it is not common for a Dutch band to play this kind of music, and I think that gives us an advantage in the scene. If I can imagine, DARK TRANQUILLITY, IN FLAMES and AT THE GATES are not the only influences! So tell us a little bit about your influences! What are you hearing at that point of time?
At that point of time, the only information about the album is that Niklas Sundin did the cover. Who did the contact to Niklas? Are you satisfied with his work for you? What is the idea behind the cover? What should it show us? Is there a contex from cover to the lyrics from AED? We just sent Niklas an email, in which we asked him to do the artork for us. He first wanted to hear our music so he could determine what kind of artwork it had to become, so we sent him a copy of some rehearsal recordings. He admitted to dig our music very much, and so he got to work. Some time later he got back to us through email, providing us with 3 different types of artwork from which we could choose. We automatically choose the one that is being used right now for AED, because it reflects the concept of the lyrics as well the atmosphere of our songs. Let me explain a bit what this concept is all about. The concept of the artwork is the subject "time". Looking at the cover, you might notice several aspects of time, like the head that is spinning from left to right as a pendulum of a clock, the "frozen" statues in the back picture, and some other lements of time on the left and right side of the cover. Comparing this to the title "An Epic Defiance" and the lyrics, it stands for our personal defiance against certain things in our lives at this moment. But more about that in my following answers...;-) The vinyl will have a different coverartwork! When I'll piss against your leg, I say that's a rip off, hahaha. Ripp off??? No way, haha! We thought it would be a ripp-off if we would use exactly the same artwork for the Vinyl verison as we used for the CD release. You know, since we haven't included bonus tracks or whatever to the Vinyl release...but the new artwork looks quite special, it is in the same style as the cover from the Cd, but with some alterations and more elements of "time" are included. All I can say is, check it out! Can you tell us a little bit about the lyrics on "AED"? Maybe to every song a little story? Come on, fill the paper with blood from your fingers! Aha, there we go! You want me to write a little story about every song seperatly? Damn, you're not making this an easy one for me, are you! Let's see...I will just give an explanation about the concept behind our lyrics and not all songs in particular, because most of them were written during moments of clarity, and they all deal with the same things actually, haha! Let me start by saying that all of our lyrics are personal reflections of our lives and thoughts, and that they're not fiction or made-up stories. Mike and I are responsable for all lyrics, and although we have a different style in writing, we share the same thoughts concerning the subjects. They deal with the struggles we interface in our minds, and things that we are confronted with every day in our society. So to sum things up; direct reflections from our head and how we react towards certain things. The lyrics are for us mainly a way to clear our minds, and to deal with our problems and fears. A few minutes ago I read a little bit from your lyrics. Hey man, there's nothing positive in it! Not even a little shining star in the darkness! Man, if you write the lyrics and this shows us your soul, in your childhood went something wrong, hahaha! Hahaha! You're right! And that is why I can still function in this world. If I was writing about happy stuff, birds and flowers, I would have to let my frustration come out another way....not a good idea I think ;-) Nothing wrong with my childhood, but there are many things in life for me to get frustrated about, and turning them into lyrics is for me the best way to deal with it. Like I said in mails before "AED" runs ca. 20 times, now I can tell you that "AED" thunders at that point ca. 50 times. In living room, in my car or in my bathtube. Do you have reactions back about the album? How they look? You got bad reviews back? A friend of mine said that you are a poor, bad Swedenclown! Yeah, we have been receiving numerous reviews and reactions from people all over the world, and so far 99,99% has been extremely positive. I did notice that in almost every review we get compared to certain Scandinavian bands, but also every review stated to find our style quite refreshing and a bit different from the established names within the scene. And of course there will always be people criticizing us, but we're open to receive these reactions, and will try to improve ourselves for the next albums to come. It's really unbelievable to know that this is your debut record (songwriting, handling the instuments, etc.). I mean, not every Newcomer do have a track wich began with a Malmsteen-like soli changing in an ordinaire Heavy Metal Riff, a little break follows before it`s getting fast like hell what mutates to a blast to get in an Emperor - like part, wich changes again in a Heavy part wich follows from a double bass part, changing again in a silent solipart, before it`s getting a little bit Maiden - like, from the soli, and then it goes back to the Emperor - like part before the double bass kills everything and the track ends!!! Ok, now I have split up the track "Scarve" in all his facets, hahaha. The question looks very long, simply I`ll ask: How the hell will you top this self created standard? Or to stay on the same level, the minimum, I think!!!? Hahaha! You did a good job evaluating "Starve", that is exactly how it is written! "Starve" is quite an exceptional song I guess. It is actually one of the eldest songs on AED, and it contains quite a lot of riffs and different parts, as you noticed. But to answer your question, we've allready written songs for the new album, that show progression towards most songs on AED, and we will definitely keep up our own set standard, I assure you! Some songs on the upcoming album might even be faster than the songs on AED.... Do you have some new song ready for the next record? What can we expect? Definitely a continuation of the style we played on AED, but the new songs we've written so far, about 5 of them, are better structured, and sometimes a bit more technical and sometimes even faster. So there will be no style changes within Detonation, only perfection of the style we have choosen!! We all feel that our next album has to be faster, more brutal, and more varied than AED, so beware! How many gigs you've played till now? Or with whom did you play? Well, we've played about 80 gigs untill now, most of them in Holland, with the exception of a few in the UK and the Czech Republic. We actually played all kinds of gigs. From small bars to the biggest club venues in Holland, you name it! Most bands we have played with were underground, but we also played with The Haunted, Trail Of Tears, Orphanage(small tour), Within Temptation, Ancient Rites, and a lot more. Do you think that Osmose will place Detonation for an upcoming tour? Is anything planned? I really hope so! But no such plans have been made this far. We're concentrating on AED right now, doing interviews in particular, and trying to establish a good name within the scene. We're not counting on anything, since this is just our 1st release through Osmose, but hopefully they will be able to arrange something for us. But if not, we'll just arrange it ourselves. Playing live is the thing we enjoy most, and gives us the strength to continue as a band! The inti should be ready for a long time, now I can ask you about the reactions from the other mags, especially from Germany. Did you do an interview for a German Mag till now? We've noticed that people from your country and France are most enthusiastic about our music! Other countries are reacting positive as well, but not as much as the German reviewers do! If I remember correctly, this is my 2nd German interview, but we already received about 10 reviews from your country. Let's hope we'll be able to tour Germany very soon, looking at the reactions I'm very eager to play live there! Will you have the strenght to place a bad review on your H-Page? Well, like I said, we received but one negative review, and we thought is was so amusing, we instantly placed it on the website. ;-) But we think it is fairest thing to do you know, so we decided on placing all reviews on our site, negative and positive ones! A fact that really impressed me is that you and Mike very often play different guitarlines like the other. Another trademark in Detonation`s sound? Will you contain this trademark? You are right again! Mike has a totally different style of playing guitar as I do. That is exactly what makes the Detonation sound. We hardly ever play the same riff together at the same time, if Mike plays a riff, I'll place a lead on top of it. If I play a riff, Mike will do the opposite, and if we play the same riff, we'll play it harmonic haha! But seriously, this is the style we like, and this also keeps the songs interesting for us to play. No plans are made to change this.... How do you write the songs? Together or every buddy for itself? We all come up with ideas, but usually I come up with a couple of riffs, that we work out together and create a song. We all have our moments you know, sometimes I'm not in the mood to write good riffs, but then there are always Mike and Thomas thinking of new things, so we always produce new ideas, the writing process never stops really. At last a little bib blah-blah. Your Alltime faves and your actual Faves, please! The best band wich you`ve seen playing live? And the ugliest thing you can remember in the last time? My all-time favourites?? I do not really have one band in particular I must confess, but to name a few; old-Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth. The bands I'm listening to nowadays include Opeth, Pain of Salvation, Iron Maiden (still good!) Arcturus, and many others. I'm also into some underground bands such as Virulent (Hol), Gore (UK), The Enchanted (UK), and others. Best band I've seen live until now is definitely Morbid Angel, I witnessed one of their shows in 1994, during the "Domination" tour, fucking brutal! Is there a chance to get your old stuff? Yeah, "Lost Euphoria" is still available for purchase at our gigs, and it is also still possible to order through mail. We have about 50 CDs left... How did you came to Osmose? No one other was interesting to sign Detonation, hahaha No, they were the only label interested in us.....just kidding of course! Actually we recieved about 5 good offers from recordlabels, from which Osmose had the most ideal one, it was quite an easy choice for us actually. We had been searching for a suitable label for about 2 months after the recordings of AED, and had sent about 60/70 CDs to labels. Most of them did not react at all, which is said to be "norma", but some did react in a positive way. We almost dsigned a deal with one of the labels we got in touch with, untill suddenly Osmose got in touch with us through the phone... What means Metal and especially Death and Thrash to you? Metal is my religion! It's my lifestyle and my way of thinking...metal is present in everything I do. I grew up listening to metal, and it helped me through a lot of difficult times. Death and Thrash metal do not mean anything particular for me, except for the fact that the aggression and brutality of the music is something I feel comfortable with, and something I enjoy. Why should anybody buy "An Epic Defiance"? Because it is proof that melodic metal doesn't have to be cliché or mellow all the time, but that it can also be more varied and loud as hell! And because we have spent an aweful lot of money in to this band...hehe ;-) Ok, Koen, the interview is now right longer as I've thought before. Leif our Slavemaster and Editor from our Mag. will tear my balls again and piss on them. I have anyway a high voice, hahaha. The last words are your's to make a little bit publicity for DETONATION! Expect you`ll tell us a joke or whatever you want, but please do not begin to wank, hahaha. Stay cool and good luck with "An Epic Defiance"!!! Cheers and BLAST ON!!! All right Marcus, first of all thanks a lot for this interview! To the German crowd, beware! We WILL come over soon and storm your stages and venues! For the people who aren't familiar with Detonation yet, check out www.detonation.nl, and download some songs of "An Epic Defiance"! Cheers, and keep on drinking!! (who? Marcus, haha - Leif) www.detonation.nl Interview: Marcus |
