RMP Magazine #10 by RMP Magazine

RMP Magazine #10

THANKS TO

CEO

Writers

Kenny Leys // CEO

Stefan Van Den Broek

David Marote // Managing Editor

Paulien Verfaillie Suzanne Gielis Fay De Vlieghere

Design

Roel Vanobbergen

Jolien Krijnen // Chief designer

Jesse Mouart

Ray Slavenburg

Michael Vincent

Lena Stahl

Cameron Smith

Aranka Van Dongen

Eli Gould

Editors Frederik Geuvens // Editor in chief Krystal Cole

Jonas Hoflack Renske Gommer Holly Reijs Arne Vangheluwe Chris Skinner Nazaria Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;angelis

Photopgraphy Daria Colaes Stijn Vanhoegearden Jurriaan Hodzelmans Rudy De Doncker

www.rock-metal-punk.org 2

RMP Magazine #10

CONTENT

I n t e r v i e w / / Wa y f a r e r

Inter view//Brutus

6 Inter view//Neck Deep

10 Inter view//Heaven Shall Burn

16 Inter view//Papa Roach

20 Inter view// Tr a n s - S i b e r i a n O r c h e s t r a

Album r eviews

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Thanks To

A W

FROM THE EDITOR

Hello again! Allright, 2014 has just put his nose behind the corner so that means it’s time for an editor’s pick on who we found remarkable in 2013 and maybe even a glimpse to who’s about to break the glass ceiling in 2014. When they asked me to pick my personal three favourite bands for the past year, I was honoured to do so but in the same time I felt the overwhelming pressure of choosing only three bands that would define 2013 for me. I decided to go for three rather ‘leftfield’ bands. “Why leftfield?” you might think. Well, I don’t think many of you will know these bands as some of them are rather underground projects that don’t get as much attention as they deserve. Also I believe that this particular choice of bands reflects more or less a certain style of music that doesn’t seem to be breaking through to the masses. With today’s modern technology it’s possible to discover a lot more then what we already know and hear but due to that same technology there’s also an abundance of music, bands and albums out there that reach our eardrums. So even with a huge variety of bands to pick from we still only get to hear a certain amount of them and if some of those sounds keep a low profile and maintain a position below the ‘scene radar’ then it still remains impossible to be up to date with what’s happening. That’s why I would like to share three of my personal favourites for 2013 that earned some heavy rotation in my life’s playlist. Overall the sound and atmosphere that defined my year was rather dark, chaotic and quite diverse. So here’s my unholy trinity for 2013:

David Marote

Managing editor RMP magazine

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THE EDITOR’S CHOICE

Rot In Hell RIH have been paving the way for quite a while now and are basically hard to pick up for a larger crowd since they make it a sport to maintain ‘lowkey’ by doing only a few releases a year, even fewer live performances and if they do end up releasing, it mostly ends up in some ultra-limited edition that only a handful of people know of. But for me they are one of the greater forces to reckon with during this coming year. What started out as a Holy Terror-based outfit with lots of connections to the sound and aesthetics of Integrity, has evolved into the UK’s most diverse and intense project in long time. Be it from their trademark punk-metal to the acoustic songs or even the more recent electronic instruments-influenced songs they just keep amazing me with their talent for creating unheard tracks. Their 2013 Termini Terrae is my personal pick for you to enjoy. Pushing the limits on all fronts, be it musical as in their way of self-releasing some of the craziest and obscure records. Like my recently acquired box set that features a CD-R with not only digital sounds but on the top side it has a lathe cut of the RIH track so you can even play it on your turntable.

Corrections House Corrections House is a recently formed band that have released their debut at the end of last year. But the members of Corrections House are definitely no rookies, with members as Scott Kelly (Neurosis) and Sanford Parker (Minsk), you know that there are high expectations here. Bouncing up and forward between industrial sounds, noise, folk-oriented acoustics and some mean screams you get some heavy sonic warfare in between your ears. Dark, gloomy and ambient sounds fill the void in your head to explore their sonic madness. The four members deliver their own personal style and sound to this album and even though they range between noise, industrial and a more acoustic approach the four influences blend together to make a hellish trip that sounds right in the end. A rather eclectic mix will haunt you and grasp you tighter to embark on the mystical trip with Corrections House dragging you along.

T w i t c h i n g To n g u e s In Love There Is No Law is the sophomore album of Los Angeles based outfit Twitching Tongues, they started in 2009 and took the scene by storm. Now with In Love There Is No Law they have perfected their signature sound, a heavy metal sound fused with rock and a hardcore background. From the opening notes of ‘Eyes Adjust’ to closing track ‘Frigid’ you are taken along on a trip through the best of past and present heavy music. This album will make the listener reflect on the many influences that peek through, such as Machine Head, Type O Negative, Life Of Agony to even more modern influences. From fast to agonising slow riffs their groove metal influenced sounds will leave you banging your head to the walls. Delivering a diverse mix of hard as nails tracks and even the beautiful ‘Departure’ with its acoustic strumming and added female vocals while leave goose bumps all over after finishing this album.

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INTERVIEW // WAYFARER

Writer // Kenny Leys Photography // Patrick McEachnie, Kyle Krische

anada, home of icehockey and maple syrup but also home to those crazy canucks of Wayfarer. One of Canada’s most prolific pop punk bands around, we had the chance to interview these guys regarding their upcoming second album, the progression towards a more posthardcore bases sound and their vision on downloading their music for free. We even got some insights in how it’s like to tour in Canada and their ambition to play ‘The Fest’.

6 Years ago you released an acoustic EP called What We’ve Become, stating that there were no intentions to take the project any further. At this moment, you’re recording the second full length album. Are you happy that you guys carried on? It’s crazy that it has been

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six years already, but I guess that makes sense. When it started it was just myself sort of floating in between bands and not really playing in anything where I had the role of primary songwriter, so I just started doing Wayfarer on the side with the thought that maybe I’d

put together a band for a few shows. Steve, the other guitar player, is the only member who has been with me since the start so far. We had a stable line up for a few years, then a revolving door of players for a couple years after that and have settled on a stable line up now finally.

For the recording though we shuffled members again only because of people being in school etc., but our live line-up is where we currently are at as a band. I’m definitely happy I decided to carry on, it’s been a fun six years. Looking back on those years, what was the most memorable moment? Playing shows w/ Lemuria, Make Do And Mend,.. or doing backing vocals for Lawrence Arms at POUZZA Festival “12? We had a lot of cool moments for a band that doesn’t tour really. We’ve done two short runs now with a band from Cleveland, Ohio called The Sidekicks and both those times were great for us. Their last record was one of my favourites in a long time, so getting to see them play five days straight was a treat. It makes you want to step up your own game to get to that next level. Doing this current recording was also pretty high up there. We received a grant from the Region of Waterloo so we were able to afford to record with Greg Dawson at BWC studios. We did it all live off the floor, which was a first for us and generally just had a great time making the record. Playing alongside bands we enjoy and respect will always be memorable for us.

The latest Wayfarer-release was from 2011, does this mean you spent the last two years writing and recording music? I’d say 70% of the new record was written in the last eight or so months. We sort of slowed down a bit after our split with the Decay in 2011. I went to Eastern Europe for four months. Steve, Geoff and Mike all recently started back into school again so the band was sort of low priority for a while there. We knew we wanted to do another full length so we started writing and playing more over the last year to make it happen. Once we got the grant money it was clear we had the means to do it properly so we were all on board to write more. We took the cheap route on our first full length and I think that record suffered greatly because of that so we weren’t going to make the same mistake again. Any idea when you’re going to release the new full album? Are you going to release it on your own, or did you find a label? The earliest I could see it coming out would be late spring. We’ve talked to a couple friends who have labels who seem willing to put it out and there are a couple labels we’ve connected with through other bands and projects that we’re going to talk to as well, but as of now, nothing is for sure. I knew

I wanted the record finished first though so if we chose to shop it around then we’d at least have the final product there for them to judge. We’ll see though what happens. How is the album going to sound? A classic poppunk album? Hardcore-influences? Our main goal for doing this record was to make it sound like a straightforward rock record. We knew we wanted to do it live off the floor, all together and we wanted the sounds from the room and the energy of four people playing together. Our drummer couldn’t commit to the recording so I switched back to drums and we brought in our friend Marcus Wanka to play all my guitar parts. Marcus is a much better guitar player than I am, and drums are my first instrument, so I think we clicked well and managed to get the sound we were looking for. Less polished, but I think we laid down some stuff you just wouldn’t get if we had tracked it all individually like we had done with every other release. One of our strengths I think is that we all have pretty diverse musical tastes. There are few bands I think we would all collectively cite as an influence.

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INTERVIEW // WAYFARER

Not necessarily many hardcore influences on this record but a lot of post-hardcore stuff shaped the songwriting and certainly influence each individual member in some way. One can download all your releases via bandcamp and via Juicebox Recordings. I presume you’re open minded towards downloading music? Are you planning to release the new album free for download too? Everything we’ve done up to this point is available at our bandcamp page for free/PWYC download (http://www.wayfarer. bandcamp.com). I was really avid about it being free in the early days but my opinion about it has changed slightly. I’m totally fine with downloading music, I think it helps spread the word about bands and helps people explore music in a way that just wasn’t possible even ten years ago. This is why everything there is up for free. That being said, I don’t think this new record will be up for free, especially if we have a label willing to put their money behind it to see it released. My biggest struggle is that I think art of any kind has value, especially music, and I think that the current typical consumers of music don’t feel the same way, or say they do, but don’t back it up. I naively assumed that everyone who liked a record they 8

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downloaded would purchase it, or grab a shirt, or see the band live, but the older I get the more I realize that isn’t the case. There are millions of music fans that still do, and for them we can all collectively be thankful. Especially the people who consume music and go to shows and print shirts and do everything that isn’t just playing in a band. I want to make our music available to everyone no matter how much or how little they make, but I’d also like to have a label want to put it out, and hopefully they can break even or make a bit of money off us and I want people to think it’s worth something. If you download our new record and think it sucks, by all means, hit me with your best Tumblr post about how shitty it is. But I think that in the ever-changing music landscape, a willingness from the consumer to purchase directly from the band in whatever format they prefer (digital, vinyl, CD etc.) is important to maintaining the world of independent music. At the same time though artists need to get better at making their work readily available to the public in any and every form imaginable. I think these two things can combine for a prosperous independent music scene, where making music is a sustainable option for a person

and with that, the quality of art being produced will improve. Downloading plays an important role in extending the reach of any artist, but financial support, peer-to-peer, is also crucial to keeping independent music viable, sustainable and free from corporate appropriation. How much of the nonchalance of the band is an act? (Video clip, Free Downloads..) Ah very good question, this is a real Louie Theroux style doubled-edged sword type of inquisition. I’ll bite. I’d say the nonchalance has two very real and equally important sides. The first being that it is, in a sense, the tragic flaw of the band. We’ve got three guys in school where obviously, that is their number one priority. I’m married and am no longer solely responsible for myself; other people really depend on me for things like having a job and being a stable presence for the first time in my life. In short, we have to be nonchalant about it because we are currently in no position to put any real time, effort or money into being a band. The second side is it acts as a sort of defence mechanism. ‘We weren’t really trying’ is a good cover up for making it seem like you didn’t really fail. We’ve had a ton of cool experiences, people come to see us play, our stuff gets downloaded on other

continents and even this, a magazine from Belgium cares about us and what we have to say. I want to be clear that we’re never nonchalant about any of those things; we all fully appreciate the interest and never take for granted that people pay attention to what we’re doing. One of the worst things a band or really any individual can do I think though, is take themselves too seriously and over the last little while I believe we’ve had more fun with this band than anything we’ve done before, so sometimes a nonchalant attitude about what we do helps keep things in perspective. The video clip though I still think rules. That’s our friend Tyler breaking his guitar by accident at four in the morning on his 30th birthday in our jam hall. How hard is it to survive in the Canadian poppunkscene? Does Canada even have a Pop-punk scene? Besides City And Colour, what bands should I check out? Canada has no shortage of good bands. I think people here can agree on that. The problem with being a band in Canada is mainly geographical. We’re lucky to live where we do because it’s a hotspot for Canadian music. We’re an hour outside of Toronto, six hours to Montreal and two hours from the US border. The problem comes when it’s time to tour. We could drive 30 hours north and still not even be outside of the

province yet. The drives are just too long to play in places with too few people. Not to mention the winters really put restrictions on what a band can do or is willing to try between November and April. Outside of Ontario or Quebec, the average drive ends up being between eight and twelve hours to hit major cities so it just isn’t worth it. It’s not like the Eastern United States where you can drive three hours in any direction and play a show. Or Europe where it’s easy to just go between countries and play a bunch of shows all somewhat close together or on routes that have already proven to be good for bands. The United States also makes it pretty hard to play in their country: you either need VISA’s or you have to lie to get in. One costs money we won’t make back, the other risks the whole band being banned from the USA for a minimum of 5 years. Our goal with the new record though is to hopefully get some sort of label in the US to get our foot in the door. Lots of mid-level Canadian bands trap themselves by playing the same places over and over and never branching out into the US. Some bands can draw 500+ kids anywhere in Ontario and struggle to fill a small bar in the US so it’s easy to get lazy and over stay your welcome in Canada. In terms of Canadian

bands worth checking out: The Decay, Junior Battles, !Attention!, Orphan Choir, Shared Arms, Life in Vacuum, Teen Violence, Hinindar, Stuck Out Here, The Dirty Nil, Pup, Laureate, Dig It Up, Prevenge, Mighty Atom, Exalt and Beat Noir are a good place to start. What is your biggest goal? 1000 Facebook likes, playing your favourite festival „The Fest” with Wayfarer for the first time or would you rather tour around Europe? Playing Europe really would be a dream come true. I couldn’t see us doing it though unless someone over there was willing to put out our new record so we could have something to push while we’re there. Otherwise though, I would be beyond excited to go back to Europe and have the chance to play over there. The Fest would obviously be great to play too, but I think we’d all agree Europe would be the top of our list. Any last words? I just want to thank Kenny and everyone at RMP for checking us out and giving us this opportunity. Anyone interested in keeping up with what we have going on and when this new record is coming out can follow us on Tumblr at http://wayfarerband.tumblr.com/ or on Facebook. facebook.com/pages/Wayfarer

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Writer // Stefan Van Den Broek Photography // Stijn Vanhoegaerden

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“ALL THINGS SHOULD COME IN THREES. SO DOES BRUTUS. WE DO WHAT MUST BE DONE.”

“THIS IS BRUTUS”

his is the beautiful statement Brutus gives us to begin with. They are a fairly new and talented band, and I had the privilege to ask them some questions about their new songs, how they founded the band and more! Let’s begin with your band name. When hearing Brutus, I think about a sinister death metal band, but your songs and the visuals on your Facebook page tells me something different? What’s the story behind it? Did you try to refer to Brutus as in Roman history (Brutus vs Caesar) or maybe even Brutus from Popeye? Oh well, Stefanie wanted to call her first-born son Brutus, but since that is going to take some time (she IS dating another drummer, you know…), we named our band Brutus.

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INTERVIEW // BRUTUS

Your formation is a three person band of two men and a woman. How does this work for you guys.” Less people means less trouble. Also, rehearsing is lot easier to schedule with only three ‘no lifers’ involved. And all you need is a guitar, bass and drums. All of you played in different bands before starting Brutus, so what was the trigger to begin this band? Stefanie only has two friends. One plays guitar, the other one bass. Problem solved. I noticed that you guys don’t brag about your previous bands. Do you not like to be referred to them anymore? This is a completely new band, so there is no reason to refer to our previous bands. And we still love everybody we were in a band with. Are you guys going to recycle riffs / songs that you didn’t use in your previous bands? Nope. Or at least that’s not our intention …

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I suppose that you’re working on new songs, so what direction are you working towards? Sludge metal (Baroness, Neurosis, Steak Number Eight,..) or rather postrock (EF, Moving Mountains,...) ? We can’t really tell.

We don’t know yet where this band is bringing us … ” Please tell us if you know. New songs means releasing a EP / CD. You’ve been around long enough to know some good engineers / labels. Are there deals signed yet? Nope. No deals signed yet. Let’s play a lot of

shows first. We have some good friends helping us out with recording demos and playing first shows. And when the time is right, we’ll think and talk about all the other stuff. Judging by your Facebook page, it looks like you’re trying to create a mystery around the band. Is that correct? Are you planning to keep it that way? There’s no big mystery plan behind Brutus. The Facebook page is growing with the band. We just post the pictures Stijn is making and drop a song now and then, hoping people will enjoy it. As we mentioned before, you’re all experienced musicians. What gear do you work with and why? Any tips for the (starting) musicians who are reading this interview? Let’s talk about gear! Stijn: Les Paul – Esquire – some pedals – old Plexi/ Orange.

Peter: The Fender Precision is the only real bass ever made. My favourite

is from 1979 with a blond ash body. It weights a ton, but sounds rough enough. I play my Orange AD200B Custom shop bass amp and 4x10 or 8x10 cabs for years now. And I just bought an extra Ampeg SVT Classic to fill some holes. Tubes FTW! My pedal board changes month to month, like a good pedal board should do. My MXR Bassdrive is my compagnon for years now. For Brutus I use a Battering Ram fuzz and a woolly mammoth now and then. Fuzz and distortion, ‘nuff said. For now.

Stefanie: There’s only one drum kit for me en that’s the Gretsch Usa Custom 22” 12” 16”. I’m saving up for a new one, the same one but in a different colour, haha. Because the one I’m playing now is hideous. I also play with Sabian Legacy en Artisan. They are really big, deepheavy-sounding cymbals. One tip that I will give to starting musicians is play loud, search a guitarist in

your close-friends club and start rehearsing. Then the search for a bass player, wouldn’t be too difficult.[Laughs] Postrock bands are always trying to create a special vibe on stage. Are you planning to do special light / smoke effects? When do we have the opportunity to see you live? Let’s start with just playing live the way we are, before doing special vibes and effects … If we can afford a sound guy or girl, it will be the first thing we’ll add to the band.

Next Belgian shows: 1/2 - Jh De Klinker //Aarschot 8/2 - Tur le vis // Keerbergen 23/3 - Jh Sojo // Kessel-Lo 6/4 - Music city // Antwerpen facebook.com/wearebrutus

We already played a tryout show with our friends from Pshychonaut, that was great! We have some shows coming up, starting from March/April 2014. You’ll hear about it soon. Anything you’d like to mention to our readers, something we forgot to ask? So grateful for all the support already. Thank you so much and we’ll see you soon on stage! - BRUTUS

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Trix Antwerpen 18/1 /2014 Photography // Jurriaan Hodzelmans

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hear, Neck Deep’s back with a brand new H ear album. Wishful thinking came out this January. You should be ashamed if you haven’t checked it out yet. I had the chance to ask some questions to one of my favourite bands, so here’s the result.

One year ago, you guys played your First show ever. In what way has this affected your life? Well, it’s totally shaped our lives, it has affected everything. This is what we all do full time now, and it’s what we all get up in the morning for.

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Did you guys know each other before Neck Deep? Yeah we all knew each other before Neck Deep, apart from Dani who was a sorta new recruit in a way. All of the rest of us had all played in bands together before.

Writer // Paulien Verfaillie

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INTERVIEW // NECK DEEP

If you had any advice for up and coming bands, what would it be? Having influences is a really important factor in finding your sound, but I think too many bands try to be TOO much like their influences, and that’s why the scene usually is just full of a bunch of bands all doing the same thing. Take what you love and try to make it your own - doesn’t mean you need to do something that NOBODY has done before because that’s just silly and pretty much impossible. Just try not to worry to much about what everyone else is doing and write music that expresses you who are, and that you care about. At first, drummer Danni didn’t play pop punk. Was it difficult to play along in the beginning? Not at all, he is such a talented drummer. It just came really naturally to him. Plus, he would probably say that the stuff he played before was a lot more technical than we were putting out. But the kid was born to play drums so it comes easy to him. Talented little git.

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You sing twice about ‘not getting over, just getting used to it’. Is it difficult to miss your friends or family at home? For sure. I mean, it’s not even a message just touring bands will understand – anybody who spends any long periods of time away from home will understand that it’s hard. Danni once high fived a good friend of mine at Vlamrock in Belgium and he is still rubbing it in my face. Is it important to get close to your fans? We live to talk to our fans. Since day one of this band it’s been something we have really pursued and that we pride ourselves upon. We hang out and talk to anybody that wants to chat at every show. You will never catch us just hanging backstage being too cool to talk to fans. We love it. One of the things I like most about your music is your deep lyrics. It’s about the stuff that everybody went through sometime. Where do you get your inspiration? And do you have a favourite spot to write your music? Well, Ben (Barlow, vocals) writes all our lyrics, but

I know he has answered this question many times before and just said that he gets his inspiration from what he is dealing with at the time. I know he tries to make his lyrics relatable, and the easiest way to do that is to just write what’s real. His lyrics are like diary entries, snapshots of what he is feeling at the time he writes them. What bands inspired Neck Deep, and what current bands do you look up to? All the noughties pop punk bands: Blink182, New Found Glory, Green Day, Sum 41. And right now there are a bunch of bands we look up to, like the Wonder Years, for example. Basically, anyone killing it in the scene and keeping pop punk going. Where do you see Neck Deep in three years time? Still writing music, still putting out records, still touring, and still being the biggest dorks on the planet. Are the lyrics for this album as deep as in the last EP? I feel like the lyrics for this record are deeper than our previous stuff as they

cover some new ground for our band. All of our songs are about things that everyone deals with on a daily basis, but ben goes slightly further and deeper into his personal experiences with the material on the full length.

How was the recording process? Very hot! We spent all summer in ben’s brother’s bedroom tracking everything, and that room gets real warm!

New Album : “Wishful Thinking”

Out now!

facebook.com/neckdeepuk

What can we expect from this full length? Some Grade-A, UK-bred, pop-punk.

tor in Having influences is a really important fac finding your sound

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INTERVIEW // HEAVN SHALL BURN

Writer // Jesse mouart

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f you are a metalhead you probably had the argument with some ignorant idiot, who proclaimed that metal , , doesn t mean shit and that it s only about satanic rituals, slaughter, killing people and negative statement. But as you probably know, metal has much more meaning than what those people assume. Heaven Shall Burn is the perfect example! On the surface the name, the screaming and the shredding guitars might seem negative and frightening. But if you would open your mind, ears and eyes you will see wisdom, strength and stories. We talked with guitarist Maik Weichert of the perspicacious Heaven Shall Burn about the growth and meaning of their lifework. Let’s start with beginning. Back in 1996 you guys started out as a band. It is almost 20 years ago isn’t it? We wanted to know how you guys met. We were all from the same kind of area and we met each other mostly on hardcore and metal shows. We were interested in the same music, that’s how we met. Of course our bass player and our singer knew each other because they are cousins, but I’ve met the other guys because we were involved in the same music scene. I can’t happen to think that the band name, Heaven Shall Burn, has a religious touch to it. Is it like that? Of course you can interpret it like that, but it is more like a statements that it makes no sense to transport the meaning of

life into a false heaven. You should face reality and live now, not somewhere far beyond. If you want to translate it into something more critical, something more religious, maybe that is your interpretation to it. For us it’s like: “Hey open your eyes and face reality!”. It’s no secret that you guys choose to live by a vegan lifestyle. How did you come to this decision? We were all really involved with the hardcore, punk and metal scene. We were always a political band and if you think about the environment and stuff, sooner or later you get in touch with that philosophy. This is something really important for our lifestyle, because it is something that we can do to change.

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INTERVIEW // HEAVN SHALL BURN

It is not like we are missionaries putting pressure on people, but I want to make people think. If a meat eater doesn’t go to McDonalds tonight, because they were on a Heaven Shall Burn show, this is a small success. It starts by thinking in small steps and start to change yourself. But you guys are five different people who share the same philosophy. How does this come together? That’s why we started the band, we are five friends with the same ideals. If I, God forbid, broke my arm and tomorrow we will need a new guitarist or something, we won’t be limiting it to only vegan people. It just grew like that. There haven’t been almost no switches in line-up right? We just had to change our drummer because he took some time out and had some problems with his back. He is also focusing on some other work now. We have an old friend now playing for us, also vegan. Like I said, he didn’t have to be vegan, but you just get to know a lot of people with the same philosophy through these channels. We didn’t have many lineup changes, because we are friends playing music. Of course we can find a better guitarist than me or a better bass player than our Eric, but this wouldn’t be the same anymore. 22

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Is it wrong to say that you guys are a straight edge band? Yes definitely, we’ve never been a straight edge band. We always have had at least two drinking guys in the band. We never had straight edge lyrics in our song, but sometimes when I feel like it, I get on stage with a black X or a straight edge shirt. Off course this is something personal. It is no secret that the band is very into human rights and animal rights. Why is Heaven Shall Burn so outspoken on these topics? We are all very political people. We grew up in East Germany, in former communist times and we realized soon how systems could collapse. This kind of things makes you a political person. We really realized as kids that stuff can change. For example, if someone grew up in West-Germany, they would not believe that things will ever change. They don’t have this awareness. That’s maybe something special about us. You have a doctorate in Law; do you believe that music has the power to change? People have the power to change stuff and music has the power to change people, so there is one step in between. Nowadays music can’t really change systems or something like that,

but back in the day it was something else. Tonight we have opening video of Victor Jara, a Chilean singer. He really has the power with his guitar to change things. That’s also why he got murdered. Back then it was possible, to make a change with music. Now you only can try to make people think and try to educate people. We try to give something to the individual. It’s not easy for music to change stuff at all; only in a negative way perhaps. Same topic, do you think music is more powerful than the voice of a politician? If you talk about people it really is. I’m saying that because music changed me as a person. So I really believe this can happen. Music is something that goes to people’s brains but also to people’s hearts. This is something that a politician most likely won’t reach. That is the biggest advantage. Let’s talk about the album Veto. It is a very interesting name Veto, a very suitable name. To me it seems that you are focusing even more on the human and animal rights on this album. Is this true? We have always been focusing on stuff like that, but we like to tell it as a story. We don’t bring it in quotes, or something that you can tattoo on your body. We prefer to tell the story, so people can hear it and think about it.

I really think that history repeats itself, it goes in circles. If I can tell stories about Lady Godiva, and the Belgian people learn that it is not only a chocolate, our job is done [smiles]. There is a very political story behind it. The title Veto we chose because it is Latin and everybody knows it, you just know what it means. It is also some kind of empowerment, so that people can say: “I really don’t like this. Stop!”. I asked this because of the song ‘Godiva’, but also because of the song ‘Hunters Will Be Hunted’. Is this last one about Sea Shepherd? Yes it is. We even have friends on the ships. They recorded a video for us, which we will show tonight. We are really close connected to them and I think it is justified what they do. But we must be honest, it is an extreme organization. Don’t you think this can backfire? I am a lawyer so I know about this kind of stuff. The things that they do, there is nothing illegal about it. There is an international law and everybody has the right to protect that international law. All they do is protect that law in the seas of Antarctica and on open waters. If Japanese whalers go there and kill whales, it is against that international law.

Anybody, you, me, Sea Shepherd, has the right to stop them by almost any means. You can even prove this scientifically, by reading law books. The media just wants a trilling story, so it sounds better when they are outlaws or something like that. They are a non-governmental organization who would like to protect international law. That is also why nobody can stop them; nobody really has the right to do so. If you had a ship, you could also go down there and prevents people from breaking International law.

I got a little bit more into his story by reading books about him. It is really interesting, because people call him “the Che Guevara of Africa”. From history we can learn a lot about today’s politics. Also about stuff that went wrong in Africa, and what still is going wrong. Like the law to kill, is still in power in Burkina Faso. That is also something that people need to be aware of. Also the role that France played in Africa, or Belgium with Congo, reveals a lot about what the systems and

It is not like we are missionaries putting pressure on people, but I want to make people think. What I find a find a very powerful song on this album is ‘The Land Of The Upright Ones’. It is about Thomas Sankara, but how did you come to his story? It is not really a recent story, is it? I just heard about him before and when I wanted to write lyrics about him,

our nations are founded on. Germany also did some bullshit in the past and in Africa they just came too late. All the cool countries were gone [laughs]. Well Namibia is a cool country too, but you know what I mean.

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INTERVIEW // HEAVN SHALL BURN

Yeah, I see what you did there. Back to your music. As I see Heaven Shall Burnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth in music, you can see a very clear evolution mentally and musically. Veto is defiantly part of this evolution; do you think Veto is the right step into the future? I think it is the most grownup album we have 24

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made, in a positive way of course. Grownup can also mean loss of power or that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not biting anymore. I think we learned a lot about our mistakes from the past, like we did with our last album Invictus. It was a cool album, but it was over-produced. Sound-wise we wanted too much, so that was a

little step back. Taking everything in consideration, I think that one of the qualities we have, is that we have our own sound. If an old time Heaven Shall Burn fan listens to a new record, he will recognize us after ten seconds. I remember when I was like sixteen or so, all my favourite bands started

to change all of a sudden. There were so many cool death metal bands and suddenly they were like this “hippy rock ‘n’ roll metal”. Or great hardcore bands I fell in love with were suddenly whiny emo bands. I really hate that. If a band creates a certain brand and if people love that, don’t change it. If they want to do something else, start another band, you know? That is their obligation towards the fans. That is just what I believe in. Like Bolt Thrower, it was like a tank rolling over you twenty years ago and it will still be ten years from now. You shouldn’t fix things that aren’t broken, that is true. The Heaven Shall Burn sound is very distinct. Nevertheless a lot of people will have one or two specific favourite albums. Mine are Iconoclast I and Antigone. What is your favourite Heaven Shall Burn album? Though question [pauses]. It is really hard to tell, I can’t say which one is my favourite. What I can say is that Deaf To Our Prayers is the most underrated one. People always tend to forget about that one, but when we make the set list for a live show, we really see how much of Deaf To Our Prayers we want to play. We really like the record, but it never played a big role for people. The most important album was Antigone of course. It was kind of our break through.

I must say for Deaf To Our Prayers, I really liked the song ‘Mybestfriends.com’. It kind of starts out as ‘Forlorn Skies’. We always have parallels and steals from our other songs; that is also a typical Heaven Shall Burn thing. As I said, we are very political, so we are limited music-wise. So we kind of repeat things sometimes… But people aren’t angry at us about it, I hope at least [laughs]. Another strong song is ‘Bombs Of My Saviors’. I think it is such a powerful song. A great example of the storytelling by the way. Yes it is! It is about a German writer who was also Jewish. He was hiding in a basement in Dresden for the Nazi’s. The only times he could go out was at night when UK and American bombers were bombing the city. Everybody else was in the bunkers, but you almost died of course. That’s kind of the story behind ‘Bombs Of My Saviors’. His name was Victor Klemperer, a very famous German writer. You have brought out some albums in the States but been there only once. On the DVD Iconoclast II it seemed that you had some bad influences in America, because you were rushing place to place every time. You weren’t there I saw, but I believe the guys must have told a lot about it, right? Yes, I wasn’t there, be-

cause it was around the time that my father died and I had to take care of my mother. A friend from Neaera played the guitar for me on that tour. The guys are still talking about it, it must have been really crazy, but I wouldn’t know of course [laughs]. After that tour we never played the States again, not because of that tour of course. It is always hard, because we do not play many shows and if you are going for the US, it is always like eight weeks or something like that. It just something we can’t do, but we want to go there next year so we’ll see. Do you think that Veto is the right album to open doors in the States? Yes I think so. Antigone was definitely opening doors and I think Veto is the strongest album in the States since Antigone. I get the feeling Heaven Shall Burn is not about the big money making machine. You guys have regular jobs, you do not tour 24/7, you’re not bringing out a new album every single year and stuff like that. Is this something deliberately? Heaven Shall Burn wouldn’t work like that. For example, if we play Graspop, it is not show number thirty in a row of sixty shows. We just drove to the festival to play that single show and we were looking forward to play that show for two weeks. Of course we do RMP Magazine #10

INTERVIEW // HEAVN SHALL BURN

tours, but not for weeks and weeks in a row. We just want to go out and have fun, give it our all. This keeps a show special for the band and not a just another show of a long tour. If it is like that you really can give that extra five percent on stage, which makes a big difference. Also this tour, we do it like three weeks, but we could easily do it like six weeks. Every once and a while we do a long tour, but that doesn’t happen very often. I saw you guys playing a couple of times in Germany at festival shows, but also once at a club show. Of course I also saw you playing in Belgium a couple of times. It became clear to me that you guys seemed much more vibrant in Germany, which is ok because it is your home country. Do you prefer playing in Germany? No, I wouldn’t say so. It is just the country were our band is the biggest. It is actually pretty fun to go abroad. On the DVD Iconocast II, I saw some strange things in the documentary. One of them was that you guys rehearsed through a form of video chat. How does that work? [laughs] It really doesn’t.

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With that whole documentary thing we wanted to show people how media can manipulate. We found it really strange how many kids and even journalists take everything serious, just because it is on a DVD. It really shows how easy it is to manipulate people. I really don’t walk around and stick my finger in dog shit for a living. That would be really absurd [laughs]. Yeah, the jobs you guys have in the DVD seemed also very unlikely to me. It is a funny sight though, but I think I was caught right into the trap as well. Back to reality, is there something exiting happening for Heaven Shall Burn in the recent future? Something exciting… Let me think [pauses], hmmm. O yes, of course. We are playing the Wacken festival this year. This is something we are really looking forward to. We are also going to SouthAmerica, together with Parkway Drive. We are doing a double tour there. Well tour, we are doing like five shows out there, but it will be fun to be on the road with those guys. The most exciting things are, of course, the things that you don’t know of and turn out to be positive.

I hope next year will be filled with positive news for our band [smiles]. Is there still something on you bucket list with Heaven Shall Burn? It would be way cool to do some club shows with Rammstein, that is a wish we have music-wise. We never really expect things, we just hope and pick out the cherries. Any last words for our readers? Check out Heaven Shall Burn, if they are not convinced through this interview then they should visit our homepage and give us a chance. Oh and of course, read the lyrics. Very important!

Next Belgian shows: 12/4 - Durbuy Rock Festival //Durbuy facebook.com/officialheavenshallburn

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Trix Antwerpen 18/1/2014 Photography // Jurriaan Hodzelmans

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e work our regular jobs and live our moderate lives. Every week we are counting down to our beloved weekend to be home and do stuff we like. When you’re enjoying your spare time, you must have already seen one or another documentary about a rock band. Then we say to ourselves: “What a blessed lifestyle do those guys have?”. We see it as something great with all its virtues like seeing the world, wealth and off course: partying. But isn’t it also a job? Something that brings food to the table? Or is there really a rock and roll lifestyle that we speak off? What can we do better than ask a proper rock band? Papa Roach is one of them, they are going very strong for many years now. We talked with founding member and guitarist Jerry Horton.

I’m sure if you are touring that much as you do, you must encounter some shows which aren’t that great. You guys were during the beginning of the summer of 2013 in Europe, and then you went back to the States to tour America and Canada, back to Europe and at the end of this month you’re going back to the States. How do you keep doing this? It is just necessary. People don’t buy our music as much as they used to, so we have to make our living touring. We tour with other bands to try and get new fans; we also do our own tours and festivals to reach our existing fans. Now we are really working on going places we haven’t been in a long time. This way we can tour more of the world, without going to the same places over and over again.

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INTERVIEW // PAPA ROACH

I believe this lifestyle is pretty hard. How do you keep doing this without crashing and burning? We always tell our manager and agent to give us at least two weeks off in between tours. It is not much, but it is enough to recover. If we are at home for 2 months or whatever, then everybody just starts to think: “Ok, what are we doing, let’s get on tour!”. It

“

is what feels normal now because we’ve been doing it for a very long time now. It must be very tiring both mentally and physically to do this every single time. How do you keep giving yourself 100% each time? If it is our own show, I just know that everyone is there to see us. You get energy out of their excitement.

It is not all glamour and luxury as everyone thinks, it really sucks sometimes. 32

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If it is a festival, I see it as a challenge to make an impression at everyone. We really need to spark the energy on a festival. Once they are into it, we get it back you know. Then it is all energy, all vibrant. Once we get in there it is just [snaps his fingers] like a switch. It just turns on and it is game on. What do you prefer more, the club shows or the festival shows? I like them both for different reasons. If it is our own show, in a club, I know it is going to be a great experience. It feels a little more comfortable; we got a little bit more time in between songs. On a festival there is no time in between, usually we don’t even have an hour to play. So we play a lot of songs that a lot of people know. If it is our own show we can get to do it more our way, this makes it more interesting. A lot of people say that a rockstar is blessed because they can see the whole world and get paid to do it. But I guess if you’re in a different city each night, you get to see a lot of busses from the inside right? [laughs] Yeah, that’s true.

It could be a blessing; it just depends on how you are looking at it. We are doing what we love to do, so it is a good job [smiles]. It is not all glamour and luxury as everyone thinks, it really sucks sometimes. But sometimes it is not like that, like this venue for example [red., AB, Brussels]. It has a very nice backstage, it is very clean back here and stuff like that. If we could take this place anywhere, then we could say we are blessed. But also yesterday, it was dirty, disgusting, very nasty smell and there was only one toilet for the whole backstage. One toilet for twelve to fifteen bands and crew is just not enough and becomes dirty. But that is just how it is, sometimes you get real shitty places and other times it is ok. So yes, we do travel the world but it is venue, bus, venue, bus and again venue, bus. If we get a day off we do take time to see the city, taste the food and experience the culture. It happens that we get some time off, but if it is in a big city like London or Paris we don’t. You take the good with the bad. But I do believe

we are blessed to do what we do and to be doing it for so long. Don’t you ever get to the point that you say: “Fuck the touring, I just want to go home!”? It actually happens a lot, but it is what we do. If I just go home then I can’t provide for my family. The key to do this is to make the time we have with our families, the best time we can. Like on holidays, we try to come home. All of us really try to be in the moment with their kids. On tour we have the luxury of technology, things like Skype and Videochat. At least there is that and it does help a lot. The way that we look at it is that when we’re at home, we make it the best time ever. In some ways I think it is better than being home all the time, because sometimes I see people who are with their families all the time and all the emotion is gone. This is never like that in our situation because we are always so exited if we see our families again. We just have to focus on the positive and keeping as much contact as we can.

I know that Jacoby and Toben just became father, you also have a girl from about 10 years old. You must remember how it was to leave such a small child behind, right? Or do you take your families on tour with you? I actually have two children. My youngest is about 2 years old now, so yeah I can recall perfectly. It just in the nature of what we do. So it is hard yeah, but as I said we got to provide for our children. As for taking our children with us on tour, I don’t do that so much. It happened before like during summertime, when they are not at school or something like that. Personally I got to know Papa Roach from the Infest album and I really was just a kid back then. If you come to a Papa Roach show you still see a lot of young kids out there, just like I was back in the day. How do you keep attracting that young crowd? We always kept changing our influences and our sound, always tried new things and tried to evolve. This is something that we have always done, even before the Infest album. We had a completely different style, so to speak. Maybe if you heard that,

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INTERVIEW // PAPA ROACH

you would probably like that either. It is just how it is, that is what you get if you what to bring change into your music. With our newest record [red., The Connection] we included some electronic elements. This will attract other people than before. We just take risks, some people will like it and others won’t. We do it mainly for ourselves, because we want to grow as musicians. There are a lot of bands that we look up to, that do the same thing. Faith No More for example was a big influence for us; you could see their progression throughout the years. This was something

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we really tried to emulate. Also The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Soundgarden were major influences for us. I think it is really cool that we are getting kids to our show. The people that are been around with us for long, they’ve grown up, some are like my age. If I go to a show I don’t go in the front. I’ll hang out in the back, I will appreciate it, but I don’t go in the front and get crushed. All those people can stay in the back and have fun, while the kids are in the front giving it all. This is also where the energy from the crowd starts and it kind of goes to the back from there.

I think it is cool we have that, it definitely sparks a lot of energy. I don’t know why it is like that, perhaps we throw in some elements of current styles or something like that. But I’m totally grateful that the young kids still find us interesting, this makes the show really fun. You can really see the innovation of Papa Roach, the electronic elements are very noticeable. It is something a lot of metal and rock bands try to incorporate into their music. Aren’t you guys just following a hype? The philosophy that we had behind it was that we

didn’t want to take it away from us being a rock band. When we record guitars, we most of the time have a main riff and then we do some high harmony guitars. Now we just thought instead of doing the guitars, we put some keyboards into it to do the higher melody stuff. This way it is distinct and it really sticks out. To make it more noticeable was the reason behind this and we are really happy on how it came out. On the next one we are going to try to make things more heavier. It is cool that you can keep doing this, but I believe that a lot of bands

who try this, just crash and burn. There are some bands that can get away with it and others just don’t. But there are also bands that can get away with doing the same thing over and over again. We don’t feel like we are a band that can get away with doing the same thing over and over again. I think if we would do that, we will get bored. Our main objective is to stay true to ourselves and make music that we like; music that we are happy with and proud of. Jacoby always writes from an honest place. If he got any problems, he writes about that kind of stuff. I

think that is what attracts people to us, the feeling that they are not alone. A lot of bands bring out a record every single year, Papa Roach usually doesn’t do stuff like that. People have to wait a couple of years for a new record. Is this by accident or is it really meant to be like this? Yeah, we do like to get away for a little while and then come back. If you are always in people’s faces they just get sick of you. So we just let them move on to something else, so we can come back with something new where they can get excited

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INTERVIEW // PAPA ROACH

about. After a while you just got to make new stuff. I’m sure we can do a tour where we only play the old songs, but I don’t think that would be ok for any of us. There are also songs that we get tired of playing, so we want to play something new. It happens that there is a time when we are listening to the old stuff with new ears; that we do say: “Hey, that’s cool we can play that song again”. Let’s get to a totally different topic, I hear that you are straight edge? Yeah, I don’t really claim it but I guess I am. What’s your look at the big rock stars? You see a lot of alcohol and drug use. Even Jacoby never made a secret about the fact that he often had difficulties with drugs and alcohol. Where do you stand on sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll? Do they really go together? It is what you make of it. If people feel they need to be a rock star by drinking, it is their choice. But in the end, if you really like the music, it doesn’t really matter. I have fun without doing stuff like that and I learned from other people their mistakes. I do not want to become an addict and

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have those problems. I have fun without it period. Jacoby is like a brother, so it is hard enough to see him struggle with those problems. He has gone off the deep end a few times. Mostly we just let him go, because we don’t want to be judgmental. But once it gets to a certain point we step in and say: “Hey, we need to turn this around!”. This last time he was the one that said, I’ve got to take care of myself. It was just before we were going to have the talk with him. It is good that he realized it, it is a step in the right direction. Let’s get to a less depressing topic. I know Jacoby did some stuff on the side with the MTV program Scarred. Do you do something on the side? I’m really into cars and I have a blog that I do, called Drive Kulture. I try to do it every day, so not only when I’m at home. It is kind of difficult when we are on tour, but you always have a dead moment to fill in. Nobody in the band is really into that stuff, so I can’t talk with them about this. It is just something I try to keep busy with when I have nothing on my hands. You talked about the influences you guys had

with Papa Roach. I’m sure you guys must be gods to certain people, but you must have some heroes left as well. Who are your heroes? As a kid I grew up listening to Metallica. James Hetfield to me is a great singer and guitarist. The Deftones are pretty awesome too and of course Faith No More as I mentioned before. I hear you also like Lamb Of God? Yeah I do [laughs]. There are a lot of bands I forget to mention on this kind of questions. Did you ever got a chance to meet or play with one of your heroes? Meet, yeah. Play, unfortunately no. We met Metallica in 2002, we did the Aerosmith MTV Icon program. We played ‘Sweet Emotion’, Metallica was also there and did a song. I was just like, mouth drops onto the floor, not able to speak [laughs]. We did a festival with Lamb Of God once. It was right after their album Ashes Of The Wake. I remember because it was so stupid, I introduced myself to Mark [red. Morton] right before they were going on stage. He was like: “Yeah, cool. Whatever.” [laughs], he was obviously somewhere

else at that moment. Now we talk back and forward on text and on Twitter. It is way cool, because I look up to him as a guitar player. Not only is he a great musician, but he’s also creative and they just write cool riffs. You ever want to play with a band like Metallica? I would be so cool to play one of their songs with them. That would be a dream come true. On the other side, is there a band you never would want to play with? Or play with again perhaps? Uhm, I don’t know. We’ve had pretty good experiences [pauses]. I could say Jet. Yeah, we did a tour with them one time and is really wasn’t fun. I mean the singer was kind of cool, he was trying to socialize but the rest were just dicks. Not fun at all when you’re on tour with guys like that. Some bands are very vivid on some form of social media. They try to come closer to their fans by using these channels. Is there something special that Papa Roach does for the fans? I’m a lot on Twitter, I’m doing pretty much everything like the accounts and stuff like that. I usu-

ally try to do a Q&A [red. Question and Answer] every day with the fans on Twitter for ten to twenty minutes. I think a lot of people like it, because if I don’t do it for a few days people start to ask. Sometimes I get dumb questions, but I just let them go and answer the fun ones. I like it, it is real fun. There are a lot of bands out there who are just starting out. What would you recommend that they do to become a real band? You have to make sure that everyone is ready to commit, you got to practice a lot and find a way to get yourself out there. That is what we did before we had the internet. It was around, but it was not something people could use as a promotional tool. Playing shows is really important. Start out at your hometown and try to trade shows with other bands from different areas. Let them open for you in your town and you go open for them at their town. This is a cool way to get new fans and to meet new people. On what point did you feel like Papa Roach had made it? We were together seven years but actually it happened pretty fast when

the ball started rolling. When we made it, it was when we made the record deal. We got to record in a really nice studio, working with some real professionals. At that point we didn’t know that we were going to become that big when we got the record deal. We just thought we were going to record that record and then jump into the van and tour the United States, hopefully build up a larger fan base. Getting in the studio were a lot of big bands recorded before us was really mind blowing. Are there any exiting things happening for Papa Roach in the future? In February we are going to start recording again! Do you have any last words for our readers? Belgian fans, we are sorry it took so long for us to be back here inside a venue. But I’m really excited about tonight. I’m guessing there are a lot of people here who haven’t seen us in a long time and are really excited to see us play a full set. Unfortunately this is something we can’t do on a festival. Writer // Jesse Mouart facebook.com/paparoach

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Writer // Suzanne Gielis Photography // Rudy De Doncker

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Now that the US are in their pocket, it’s time for a new challenge!

n a mission to conquer Europe they are often called ‘Savatage light’ because the band was founded by Savatage mas terminds Paul O’Neill, Jon Oliva and Robert Kinkel, but Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is so much more. You’ll probably agree with us once you’ve had the chance to see them play live. Speaking of which, the band is currently on its Winter Tour across Europe. We got in touch with TSO guitar hero and live musical director Al Pitrelli – who you may already know from his work with Alice Cooper, Megadeth and of course Savatage. “Besides the tour, we’re working on two new albums. Yes, two.”

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INTERVIEW // TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

You guys seem to have made quite some resolutions. After becoming very successful in America, you’re trying to conquer Europe as well. How is that coming along? So far, so good. The European community is embracing us well. This is actually our second European tour. We introduced Europe with our Beethovens Last Night rock opera in 2011, which they loved very much. Europe liked us so much we simply had to come back.

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You recently released Tales Of Winter: Selections From The TSO Rock Operas. Why did you release a best of album at this point? Next year TSO will celebrate its 20th birthday and throughout the years we have made such a variety of albums. Now that Europe is getting to know us, we thought it would be a good idea to make a best of-album with all the songs we think people should know. That way you get an overview of what we’ve done. It’s also easier for new listeners to buy the best of instead of picking some albums from the whole catalogue. It’s our way of being budget friendly towards our audience. Trans-Siberian Orchestra indeed recorded a whole lot of memorable songs and albums. It must be hard to decide which ones are the very best ones. Fortunately, I didn’t have to make that choice. I leave it up to Paul O’Neill, who knows very well which songs would work on the album. He has a

very clear vision on things and he knows how to present it. He used his intuition to do that, but at the same time he is also a fan of music. He puts himself as a listener and he makes decisions based upon that. Paul always knows what he’s doing, so I let him do it. It makes life easier, working like this. I love working together with him. We’re like brothers. Sometimes I don’t agree with him, but I still let him make his choices and I stand by him. I noticed there are some Christmas songs on the best of, which isn’t surprising since 4 out of 7 TSO albums have Christmas in their title. Any ambition to take over Coca Cola’s Christmas patent? It’s funny how it turned out this way. When we started in 1995 we had a song called ‘Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24’. American radio stations somehow stumbled upon it and it became the number one requested song in America for years. I think people enjoy us around the holidays. We became part of a holiday tradition and over the years we’ve become part of people’s families spread across generations. That’s so much more than I could have hoped for as a musician.

Speaking of albums, I must ask: are you currently working on something new? Yes, we’re currently working on two new nonChristmas albums. One is called Romanov, a project we’ve been working on for years, and the other one is called Letters from the Labyrinth. We’re currently halfway done with both of them. We’ll need a little time to finish them, but we’ll hopefully deliver them still this year. No promises though. Wow, that’s brilliant news! You know TSO always works with these incredible story lines. Could you tell us a bit more about the stories behind the new albums? Oh no love, I’m not going to give it away. You’ll have to wait and see! [laughs] That’s too bad. A girl can only try, right? It’s pretty remarkable that you’re working on two albums at once, while the 14 musicians, 14 singers and 2 storytellers themselves have many side projects. How do you manage to find time to rehearse, record and perform? It requires lots and lots of planning. We’ve become excellent at that. A few weeks ago we even managed to get the entire band to play 2 shows in America and 1 in Europe in just 27 hours.

No band has ever done that. The band got to play the New Year’s show at the German Bradenburg Tor, which is the biggest New Year ’s Eve party on the planet. Unfortunately I couldn’t be there, but I am so proud of the band. I heard afterwards that for some band members it was the most extraordinary night that they’ve had ever. It’s incredible to have all those millions of people there and more people watching on TV to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing during the fireworks. Very exciting! You yourself did lots of side projects in the past, for instance with Alice Cooper and Megadeth. Is there anything you are currently working on outside of TSO? I’m not working on side projects anymore. There is so much work to be done at TSO that that’s the only thing I can do. Paul is keeping Jon and I very busy.” [laughs] When we’re not touring, we’re working on new material. TSO itself has many side projects for me. You know Paul only gets the very best out of people. TSO works with very talented people, but Paul makes them even better. The TSO albums are the only ones I listen to myself. When Paul and I go into the studio, magic happens.

I can confirm that. I watched you play in Antwerp in 2011 and I was really impressed, not only by the talented musicians and dancers, but also by the light and fireworks show. It requires a lot of rehearsing. And now the show is even bigger, with more activity on stage and more singers. We’re playing more songs from more albums too. We can make it work because our musicians are extremely talented and organized. We also have an incredible road crew, the best in the world. Their job is to make the production work so well and my job is to make the music perfectly timed. TSO is very well known for its impressive lights and fireworks show. You guys are the Rammstein of progrock. Has this been part of the concept since the very beginning? Paul started out with this project and I’ve been there since the beginning. When we first started out, we had a vision. It was like raising a baby. You have to nurture it and protect it. Now that it’s nearly 20 years old, it’s grown up and you have to treat it a bit differently. But you still have to watch it closely. That’s how the band and the show grew in time. facebook.com/TSO

RMP Magazine #10

BLOG // FOOD

FOOD BLOG

Vegan I grew up surrounded by animals: a few horses, two dogs, a couple of cats, some chickens but mainly pigs. Actually three thousand of them, because my dad is a pig farmer. Though I remember having a hard time when a truck full of pigs left for the slaughterhouse, I never thought of becoming a vegetarian. Mainly because I was too young and eating animals was considered normal and being vegetarian was only for hippies or environmental activists anyway, wasn’t it? When I was 17, I was introduced to the Ferm & Fameus crew. We had some great chats and they invited me to help at Ieperfest. For me that was the first time I was introduced to the vegan kitchen, and I loved it. I started to eat vegetarian from time to time. But you can imagine it’s not easy to eat vegetarian and have a pig farmer as dad. So I decided to become a fulltime vegetarian when I moved out of the house because I didn’t feel the need to eat animals anymore. I didn’t want animals to suffer just because I wanted a piece of meat on my plate. And it’s not just the animal suffering; I find that from an ecological point of view it’s irresponsible to eat meat. It takes to much energy, water and food to rear animals. Way more than it takes to feed the hungry. I started to experiment with the vegetarian and vegan kitchen. Because I love cooking and I was bored with meat replacers. Since I had a limited budget, I had to be creative. In June 2012 I had too much time on my hands so I started with sharing my recipes through a blog. That’s how Veggie Snack Shack was born. I never really expected much of it. But I noticed a lot of people liked my blog so I continued blogging new recipes. Most people don’t really care about the environment, at least not enough to quit eating meat. They still think they need meat to be healthy, to feel strong. And maybe the most important reason of all, they really like the taste of meat. It’s not easy to convince them to eat vegetarian from time to time. But the easiest way to do so is to cook them a lovely vegetarian or vegan dish. Present them a plate full of colour and flavour and I assure you, they will enjoy it. Heck, maybe they will even consider eating less meat!

By Fay De Vlieghere

RMP Magazine #10

Recipe For 4-5 persons • 2 small parsnips • 1 onion • 3 purple carrots • 1,5 - 2 l of water • 1 bouillon cube • 1 handful of hazelnuts • Pepper and salt • Nutmeg • Soya butter •Hazelnut milk

Purple autumn soup Vegan STEP 1 Peel the carrots and the parsnip before cutting them into pieces. Shred the union. Heat a cube of butter in an ample pot and fry the onion. Then add the pieces of parsnip and carrot. Cook for a couple of minutes. After that add the water and the bouillon cube. Let this simmer on a feeble fire until the vegetables are cookedthrough. STEP 2 In the meantime you can mince the hazelnuts (don’t bother about some bigger pieces here and there.) Heat the frying pan on a feeble fire; barbecue the pieces of hazelnut for a very short time. Season with some pepper and salt. STEP3 Smoothen the soup and season with some pepper, salt and pinch of nutmeg. Serve the soup with a small dash of hazelnut milk (or cream) and a tea spoon of minced hazelnuts.

Enjoy your vegan meal!

RMP Magazine #10

RMP BLOG

Why merchandising is important // By Cameron Smith

“I can say without a doubt that if you want to put money in a band’s pocket, buy a T-shirt [at a show].” – This Is Hell guitarist Rick Jiminez. Word of mouth is probably the most powerful branding method in a band’s arsenal. Merchandise is one of the first forms of contact that all fans and potential fans may participate in. Friends and colleagues will observe a fan wearing the gear of his/her favourite band and discuss the visual appeal, where it was bought, etc. This way more people are made aware of the band and what they stand for as a group. Merchandising is also a great way to grow a band’s personality. In order to properly place themselves as a brand, bands should create an appropriate style to describe their music. Then they will have the ability to strengthen the look and feel of their presence – on stage and offstage – by controlling the look and feel of their merchandise. This way a possible and unknowing fan may fall in love with a band by purchasing an item of clothing before even listening to the music they produce. Every band – especially those that gather under the rock, metal or punk scene, needs to assure the continuation of their brand. Merchandise not only helps the raw income stay afloat, but creates a readily available supply of goodies that can be ordered anywhere and anytime. A sense of stability is a marketing plus to any band wanting to make their mark on the alternative scene.

www.blog.rock-metal-punk.org

RMP Magazine #10

RMP BLOG

Modern DIY: A look at self-promoting your band //Michael Vincent

In the world of new music today, we’ve heard of plenty different approaches when it comes to successfully marketing a new album, EP, etc. Whether you’re planning the release of a crowd-funded live show or simply looking to rock out at a local gig in your hometown, the method of your promotion can have a profound effect on your future accomplishments. As you plan your strategies and start to contact labels, magazines and booking agencies, it’s important not to lose sight of your ultimate goal: exposure. As you reach out for resources, there will be times where you will be left in the dark, but no need to stress – here are some tips to help you overcome these obstacles.

START LOOKING AT YOURSELF 1. Before you start contacting industry people and asking them to invest in your band, make sure that you reflect your music in your appearance. Make sure you have some social media-pages WITH A FANBASE that you can refer people to. (No one cares about how many likes you’ve received, they care about how many responses you get on your posts!) 2. Be sure to always have promo material. Whoever you contact will need some media samples of your work in order to become interested in helping you. We’re talking biographies, track samples, pictures and all relevant contact information. Don’t get too hung up on stickers and merchandise, let the music speak for itself. 3. Ground yourself as a respectable artist that understands online and offline etiquette. Despite the rumours, not all exposure is “good” exposure. You don’t want negative media on your hands.

RMP Magazine #10

GET TO KNOW THE RIGHT PEOPLE 1. Get noticed offline. Your web presence can be a slippery slope. It’s easy to ‘overfocus’ on image with the likes of Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter etc. Shift your social focus to more offline occasions. Attend concerts and festivals, even if you’re not playing. You will ALWAYS meet somebody new. Think about it; every decent concert is attended by street-teamers, bartenders/promoters, journalists/reviewers, and on rare occasion even label A&R’s. 2. Many promoters would rather book local bands that patronize their venues than bands they’ve never seen/heard of. Speak to local bands about how the ropes work. The more feedback you can get, the better. They can inform you about the right people to contact. They might even be able to help set up a meeting face to face.

CONTACT THEM 1. You’ve bumped up your image and already know some people? Perfect! Ask them about opportunities when you see them out. They understand the business and can give you some insight. If they’re involved in the scene at all, they get it. Don’t be afraid to call them or e-mail them – just keep the conversation professional. Avoid asking important questions on Facebook or via twitter DM’s. 2. You don’t really know who you should contact? Research! Most labels have a FAQ directly on their website that will explain to you how to submit demos. When you’re ready, send a personal and light message. Labels and booking agencies receive tons of demos each day. They won’t bother to read messages that look like spam. Always include in the vitals – links to your social networks and online presence. They may not have the time to search for it themselves. 3. Mind your timing! Mails sent on a Friday night will probably get lost during the weekend. Keep In Touch: they can’t help you with the release of your EP or putting you on as a support band for a show, but who knows what happens in the future? Maybe they’ll be able to do something in the future. Keep in mind: don’t be pushy! * Bear in musical mind: if you send music, make sure all the tracks contain the correct information. There is nothing worse than having “Track 1” – “Track 10” in your iTunes library from an “unknown artist”.

www.blog.rock-metal-punk.org

RMP Magazine #10

FOR MORE SHOWS, IN 48

RMP Magazine #10

WWW.PULSE

NFO & TICKETS VISIT

E-EVENTS.BE

RMP Magazine #10

Three of the biggest parties taking place over the next couple of months.

GET YOUR TICKETS!

RMP Magazine #10

BEST THREE PARTY’S

GROEZROCK FESTIVAL

//Meerhout, Friday May 2th and Saturday May 3th

Groezrock, The festival that gives the kick off for Belgium’s festival season. If you’re into punk and hardcore you must know this festival, otherwise you have lived under a rock. For twenty-three years many great bands have already climbed these stages. Legends as Bad Religion, Pennywise, Dropkick Murphys, Sum 41 are no strangers to the festival. The best part is, that this festival keeps inspiring and keeps adding big names to the bill. Bands such as The Hives, The Offspring, NOFX and many more will keep the audience entertained during the 2014 edition. A band you should really check out is Screeching Weasel, they are giving an exclusive European Performance. One of the most awesome facts about this festival is that starting bands get a chance to play live on a provided stage. For the 5th time, Macbeth organizes a competition for bands to participate. Gaining votes online, the top 10 bands will be playing at the Groezrock festival. This way the hardcore and punk spirit is kept alive by supporting the local scene. If you’ve never went to Groezrock and you are into genuine music coming out of the punk and hardcore scene, you are defiantly missing out. Just get your ticket and party until you drop. We guarantee you, you will have the time of your life.

By Roel Vanobbergen

RMP Magazine #10

BEST THREE PARTY’S

CROSSBONEFEST 2014 //Venue The Basement Houthalen-Helchteren, Friday March 21th and Saturday March 22th.

Always nice to still have festivals with a heart for local talent. Poppunk and hardcore festival Crossbonefest opens his arms for the young and inexperienced, giving them a chance to stand besides the giants of music. Bands like Chixdiggit!, House Boat and the legendary Mikey Erg, are attending this booming festival and show the newbies how to do it. An interesting fact is that Mikey Erg is drumming for House Boat, but this doesn’t mean that he is neglecting his other stuff. He will amuse us with an electric guitar and songs from his solo project. One of the other mentionable artists must be the Belgian band The Priceduifkes. These guys are so regular to the festival, it just won’t be the same without them. In an odd kind of way you can say that they are like the furniture of the festival. Also keeping their reputation in mind, we think it is fair to say that they are going to work some magic. To finish everything up we must admit that Gnarwolves and Sunpower are one of the ultimate addition to the poster. It seems that this festival could not go wrong, but we are forgetting the most important ingredient: the audience. These music and beer loving partiers will support their heroes to the max and this will create that great atmosphere everyone’s talking about. There is no better way to spend your weekend than with the greatest punk bands and the best punk fans in the world. There is no question about the fact that edition number eight is going to be ‘Mint’.

By Aranka Van Dongen

RMP Magazine #10

BEST THREE PARTY’S

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH & UPON A BURNING BODY //Venue TRIX Antwerpen, Tuesday March 25th 2014

It might not be a festival, but one of the upcoming shows, which we believe will be an ultimate success, must be the Five Finger Death Punch show. Getting support from the Texans of Upon A Burning Body, this party will be going all night long. “Everything is bigger in Texas!” That’s what you will be shouting together with Upon A Burning Body. Guess what, it even is true. Their music has probably the grooviest and hardest beat-downs you will ever hear. Even their presence is big and bad with their mobster theme that they carry out. They will get you jumping in no time, ‘cause they sure as hell know how to make the place blow up. When you’ve warmed up and found your breath again, it is go time for the headliner of that evening. Five Finger Death Punch brought out two albums last year, The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. These both albums are again packed with groovy metal sounds, which will sure help to get the place moving. They also own it to us Belgians to play a killer show, Because they’ve cancelled or skipped on us the last couple of times. If the heavy weights can put on a show as they usually do in the States, the poor Trix avenue will go out with a KO. Only this outcome will be satisfactory. We believe that this cocktail will blow your mind and we sure hope that they won’t add anything extra to the bill, ‘cause the more time you’ll have with each band, the better the show will get.

Jesse Mouart

RMP Magazine #10

MIXTAPE

A mixtape from Fil Thorphe-Evans (Bass) from Neck Deep containing 10 songs, and why they chose them.

1. Jesse J - Domino Because it gets me fucking psyched.

2. Katy Perry - Last Friday Night Because it gets me fucking pumped.

3. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe Because it gets me fucking stoked.

4. Owl City ft Carly Rae Jepsen - Good Time Because it gets me fucking jacked.

5. Kesha - We R Who We Are Because we ARE who we are.

6. P Diddy - Bad Boys For Life Because I am a bad boy 4 lyf.

7. DMX - Where The Hood At

Because I’m still looking for the hood.

8. Europe - The Final Countdown It’s my magic act stage walk on music.

9. Behemoth - Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel Because riffs.

10. Taylor Swift - We Are Never Getting Back Together

Because we are NEVER getting back together... You know who you are.

RMP Magazine #10

ALBUM REVIEWS

85/100

Corrections House Last City Zero

“Corrections House” is a new project that many will file under the title “all-star band” or “super group” since all four members hail from different other bands that have achieved a well-known reputation. In this particular case we’re talking about members such as Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Sanford Parker (Minsk), Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod) and Bruce Lamont (Yakuza); all bands that have a unique distinct sound so the collaboration of these four horsemen of the Apocalypse promises something different. “Different” or maybe better expressed “diverse” is the keyword to their debut album ‘Last City Zero’. Experimental noise with acoustic snippets and some terrorizing sounds are the first offspring of “Corrections House’s” first release ‘Last City Zero’. With the four members of the super group all performing their own personal style of musical expression the overall feel of the album gets very diverse but still remains part of a greater plan that blends these chaotic tunes together into a fluent album. From Scott’s acoustic approach with haunting vocals and grim stripped down guitar play to the more noise-fuelled tracks and the occasional hit of heavy guitars and metallic vibes ‘Last City Zero’ becomes one hell of a debut album that surely will leave his mark over the sands of time. Fresh, rejuvenating and very eclectic, this record is one you should have a listen to if you’re looking for something different and unique. Many may be thrown off by the different styles involved that sometimes break this album into different categories and not always provide a constant flow in the album but that’s the beauty about this release. It surprises you each time and will make you grow into it until you can’t live without it anymore.

By David Marote

RMP Magazine #10

ALBUM REVIEWS

85/100

70/100

Jizzy Pearl‘ s Love-Hate Crucified

A Day To Remember Common Courtesy

Iron Chic The Constant One

Prepare to adorn yourself in carnival clothing: things are about to get crazy. American/Irish singer Jizzy Pearl has rebooted his presence with the release of his new solo album ‘Crucified’. The notable icon of the 90’s rock scene has trusted the vintage elements of the era into the album; intense listening leaves one nostalgic and wanting more. The tracks follow each other closely in theme, which is centred on soulful love and passionate romance (and the heartbreak which generally follows). It’s always refreshing to hear an all-star rock out with a compilation of ballads and serenades - with a beautifully bluesy undertone. ‘Too late’ is magically structured with heart-ripping lyrics and constant fuzzy solo breaks. ‘I Don’t Want To be Your Baby’ could very well be the breakup song for January 2014 because there’s nothing that eases the job more than with sensual acoustic guitar strumming. Jizzy Pearl has reminded the rock scene that love is still prominent in a society of hate.

“Fuck Yeah! / This is our point where we return!” laments “A Day To Remember” frontman Jeremy McKinnon in opening track ‘City Of Ocala’. Much has been made of the band’s recent dispute with their now ex-label Victory Records, but the drama behind the record seems to be put aside and fans will be rejoiced as ADTR have delivered a brilliant album.

New York based band punk band “Iron Chic” have released their second studio album ‘The Constant One’. “Iron Chic” rides the melodic scene gracefully with their latest accomplishment. Punkrock has a new disciple of relaxation. The album tackles many social themes such as belonging, homes, neighbourhoods and coming to terms with a small presence on a very large earth.

By Cameron Smith

By Eli Gould

RMP Magazine #10

While the band hasn’t exactly changed its sound; they’ve stuck to their guns and why shouldn’t they? If it isn’t broken why fix it? The opening tracks ‘City of Ocala’ and ‘Right Back At It Again’ are typical ADTR pop punk numbers, while ‘Dead and Buried’ and ‘Violence’ are some of their heavier songs yet. While it would be ignorant to say the album is a safe step forward, there’s not much progression forward following 2010’s What Separates Me From You. But despite all this, they’ve managed to deliver an album that was well worth the wait.

This is all done with precision and skill, utilizing a fresh sound from their dispensary. The album embodies an epic array of positive punk music that will wipe any bluesy frown off your face. My favourite tracks in the mix include ‘Bogus Journey’, ‘Spooky Action at a Distance’ and ‘What ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow’; this trio of songs packed a happy punch. Start 2104 off on a euphoric, but sober hardcore note!

By Cameron Smith

ALBUM REVIEWS

80/100

90/100

80/100

Andrew Cream Adapt & Adjust

Illusions Origins

Lick Bleached

Andrew Cream is an English punkrock singer-songwriter. He has released his second EP called ‘Adapt & Adjust’. The first song ‘Leaving It Behind’ reminds me of the mighty Frank Turner, but without “The Sleeping Souls” band.

“Illusions” have made a triumphant statement with their powerful album Origins. The listener is rewarded with a magical mixture of hardcore symphonic orchestral elements sliced together with textbook metalcore. The tracks are immensely heavy and could spark a moshpit at a peace convention. The rush of intensity coursed straight through my veins in a pinch – every single track is ready to go and straight to the point.

When I saw “Lick” on a local festival some years ago, I was pretty impressed. Unfortunately I couldn’t find their music anywhere afterwards. When I finally got my hands on their new EP ‘Bleached’, I wasn’t disappointed. “Lick” is a hardrock band with a really classic sound. It reminds of bands like “AC/DC” and “Led Zeppelin”; it’s swinging, full of nice guitar riffs and solos and the singing is raw and screeching.

“Illusions” will take you to a realm of ancient wonders as you traverse through a maze of mystery. ‘Empty Rooms & Crowded Hallways’ take advantage of strong choir vocals to back up poetic lyrics. ‘Grave Robbers’ beats discipline into every strand of our DNA with its stern message and tone. Illusions has earned their shiny armour in this truly epic release, be sure to grab a copy!

It may be a hard to keep the classic sound alive nowadays, but I think it’s a very brave choice. After all: aren’t the classic bands the ones we keep listening to? The bands we will always respect? If you agree, give Lick a listen!

By Cameron Smith

By Renske Gommer

Andrew has a great voice and plays catchy acoustic songs. The best song of this four-track EP is the third song ‘Losing Focus’. It is a slower, more emotional song, but is sounds really great. In this song, there’s also support of other instruments. I want to give a big up to the great artwork of this EP, which you can download for free on the Bandcamp page of Andrew Cream. All fans of Frank Turner should really take a listen to this!

By Jonas Hoflack

RMP Magazine #10

ALBUM REVIEWS

88/100

72/100

Neck Deep Wishful Thinking

The Gaslight anthem The B sides

UK pop punk band, “Neck Deep”, have released their debut full-length album ‘Wishful Thinking’. This is their first full-length album and I can assure you that it’s very catchy all the way through! The 30 minute album bursts with energy and makes you get on your feet and wiggle around to every chord.Opening track ‘Losing Teeth’ makes you relate to every word vocalist Ben Barlow sings; “Each day and each night a memory. Take care and please don’t forget me.” It is a very meaningful song that anyone of any age can relate to. It gives an overall feel for the album. One of the songs that really stands out, is ‘Zoltlar Speaks’. It is slightly different than all the rest of the songs, but when hearing the guitar at the beginning you know it is going to be a good one with its fast upbeat tune. ‘Staircase Wit’ has a contagious riff to it which any guitarist would be jealous of. The lyrics to this song are powerful, and the drums are bulky and apparent. Definitely the most powerful song on the whole album. “Neck Deep” have always been known to have an edgy sound and it doesn’t deprive the fans of that. It will not disappoint you; “Neck Deep” has made pop punk fans proud!

By Holly Reijs

RMP Magazine #10

This is the compilation album from American rock band “The Gaslight Anthem”. A lot of the songs are acoustic and there are also b-takes and some outtakes. The songs are from various albums the band has produced from 2008 to 2011. The album kicks off with the fantastic song ‘She Loves you’. The song is a lot slower than usually and very easy on the ears. Brian Fallon’s voice sounds very wispy and joyful throughout. Every word is sung with meaning. ‘The 59 sound’ has been changed to acoustic on this album and I have to say it sounds a lot better like this. The acoustic guitar justifies the lyrics so much more. Quick chords are being played all the way through with the sound going from loud to quiet. I personally think it should have been acoustic in the first place. ‘American Slang’ is also an acoustic song on this album. Brian’s voice starts of quiet with huge outbursts of loud lyrics throughout the verse. The guitar is quiet and moves to loud when Brian shouts. Although in this case, the original version sounds a lot better. ‘Once Upon A Time’ ends the album beautifully. The instruments sound so happy and chilled, the way they are all played really suites the song’s lyrics. I personally think this is the best song of the album and a great one to end with because it leaves you wanting more. The Gaslight Anthem did a great job with this album and every fan just has to agree! This band is not a band to let anyone down. By Holly Reijs

ALBUM REVIEWS

75/100

91/100

A Hero Build Prospects

Evergreen Terrace Dead Horses

“A Hero Build” are a melodic punkrock band hailing from the coastal town Ostend in Belgium. A city that has held a tradition of punk bands in the past and is still continuing the legacy. After their previous album, ‘Our Nature’, from 2011 the ‘8400’ dwellers are back with their latest offspring titled Prospects. A five-track EP tackling subjects ranging from human emotions to environmental issues and other obstacles that may cross one’s path. A well-made production brought by talented musicians including their latest addition, a brand new bass player. All of this thoroughly recorded and mixed by their fellow Ostend inhabitant Ace Zec (Customs), lead to an energetic record. Their sound reminds at times of that other Belgian punk band Homer where the thin line between melodic and heavy is stridden across like a tightrope, perfectly balanced without a twitch. From the city that always had a vibrant punk scene, we are treated with another talented diverse release. Watch out for A Hero Build on a stage near you!

By David Marote

“Evergreen Terrace” is already far from being an unknown little hardcoreband. Their previous releases had the proportions of bombshells crashing down and ignoring everything. With this ‘Dead Horses’ release they succeeded again in blowing you away. Crows immediately set the tone for an adventure through 10 songs. Rough around the edges, aggressive guitar approach, a bit of a surprising chorus and the possibility to let everything go, with big thanks to the excellent bass and guitar work. Can you sum up some minor things about the album then, you may ask? I actually believe I can’t. There is the point that most songs are more or less similar or that “we’ve heard it all before”. Yet to me, ET succeeds in letting the ordinary sounds seem extraordinary. The dedication to the music is strong with these young padawans. After hearing opener ‘Dead Horses’ and ‘Browbeaters Anatomy’, I still wonder why there is nothing left standing in my room. Yet again the heavy approach, finished off with some catchiness in the chorus and topped off with the excellent performance of vocalists Andrew Carey and Craig Chaney, makes some pretty amazing songs. It’s hard to ignore this release at the end of 2013, or the beginning of 2014. Anyway, this album is a great way to amuse yourself while taking down the Christmas tree. By Arne Vangheluwe

RMP Magazine #10

ALBUM REVIEWS

90/100

Blind To Faith Under The Heptagram

Lay It On The Line Vigilance

The Belgian band “Blind To Faith” is a band with members from bands such as “AmenRa”, “Rise And Fall” and “Reproach”. They’ve released their new EP, entitled ‘Under The Heptagram’. It’s a short EP that contains an intro and two songs. The intro is a great instrumental song that shows how much talent these guys have.The structure of the intro is great. It starts small but when more instruments chime in, it gives you what you want to hear. The song contains a great guitar solo too!

“Lay It On The Line” is an English hardcore band that started in 2012. A year later, the four guys from London have made an EP called “Vigilance”. The artwork of this album is very cool! Their first EP is not that bad. It starts with a spoken message, which is always cool when hardcore bands have something to tell.

‘Under The Heptagram’ is the title of the second song on the EP. It’s a short, fast and great sounding song where everything is right. Perfect song for a great mosh pit! Last song of this EP is called ‘Burial Of Mankind’, which is once again a very great song. The only thing that could be better with this EP is that it only contains three songs!

By Jonas Hoflack

60/100

RMP Magazine #10

“Lay It On The Line” delivers a solid EP, with good music, but nothing new. It’s cool to hear them, but I don’t hear that thing that makes them different from any other regular hardcore band. Instrumentally, the band sounds like a decent hardcore band, but what I really dislike is the voice. Their singer has a very hoarse voice which is just a little bit too much for me. I’m sure there will be people who like this band and the voice, because the songs aren’t far from bad.

By Jonas Hoflack

77/100

Dead in the Dirt Blind Hole

“Dead in the Dirt’s” debut album hits you with 22 tracks in 24 minutes. That tells you a lot about the album as it is. This is grindcore at its intense, relentless best, not letting the listener take a moment of breath. Bands such as Converge & Napalm Death pop up instantly when you take this record for a spin.It’s quick and ferocious on most tracks, full of screeching guitars, bloodthirsty vocals and powerful drums. Then they catch the listener off guard with slow tracks such as ‘Strength Through Restraint’ and album closer ‘Halo Crown’ which sounds as if the band were wading through a tar pit and ‘Will is the War’ which skips between chugging power chords, sludgy crossroads and balls to the wall thrash. ‘Blind Hole’ is a thrilling listen that will brutalize the ears and senses and it’s so well recorded the merciless sounds will come screaming out of your speakers in full voice making the listen all the more wonderfully terrifying. By Chris Skinner

ALBUM REVIEWS

75/100

Think-O-Land Strain

Because “Strain” is quite a new band, I wasn’t familiar with them. But boy was I pleasantly surprised when I heard their first EP “ThinkO-Land”. These guys are really good! The guitar riffs are often dazzling and lead singer Jip van Kakerkens raw and emotion-soaked voice touches and inspires. The songs sound somewhat threatening, almost as if to say: beware “Strain” is coming. Even though the songs could use a little catchiness every now and then, I really hope things will work out for “Strain”, because it is clear that they have real talent. Take a listen people!

By Renske Gommer

88/100

70/100

Less Than Jake See The Light

Leaves‘ Eyes Symphonies of the Night

When talking about ska-punk, “Less Than Jake” immediately comes to mind. Releasing their new studio album, the first in 5 years, making it the 8th thus far. After more than 20 years of making music, they still sound amazing with their mix of punk and traditional ska.The album kicks off with ‘Good Enough’, a fast rock song infused with their typical saxophone and trombone. This song sets the tone for the rest of the album, which is filled with very danceable tracks. Although I’m quite the ska-fan, I never really listened to “Less Than Jake”. And boy, was that a big mistake!

“Leaves’ Eyes” has been a rather big name in the gothic metal scene ever since singer Liv Kristine left Theatre of Tragedy in 2003. After four studio albums, the band releases its darkest and most metal sounding album so far. Symphonies of the Night takes off with a heavy start with ‘Hell to the Heavens’. But there’s more, because this record also has plenty of room for musical finesse. Impressive guitar solos are paired with a real orchestra, choir, Uilean pipes, Irish whistle, fiddle and dulcimer. This combination makes songs like ‘Hymn to the Lone Sands’ and ‘Galswintha’ sound quite impressive. We still wonder what the connection is between Nordic lyrics and Irish and Scottish instruments, but musically speaking there are no questions to be asked. Symphonies of the Night is heavier than the typical “Leaves’ Eyes” album. But you won’t hear us complaining – on the contrary! This album is a must for fans of Nordic, gothic, symphonic metal and Viking legends.

The ease at which they make punk flow into ska and vice versa is amazing. Their use of dark lyrics on one the hand and the upbeat bass and drums which give a typical ska/ reggae vibe on the other hand, makes this a must-have album for everyone who calls himself a fan of the genre. By Roel Vanobbergen

By Suzanne Gielis

RMP Magazine #10

ALBUM REVIEWS

90/100

95/100

Sights and Sounds Silver Door

Darkhaus My Only Shelter

Canadian band “Sights and Sounds” have a cracker of an EP here. It’s such a shame there are only 6 tracks because it is an outstanding masterpiece. The opening track ‘Poli’s Song’ storms in with a short guitar riff which then bursts into instrumentals that brighten up the song completely. The drums really stand out on this track as well as the guitars. When listening to this song it makes you excited to see what the rest of the EP is going to be like. ‘Cards in Place’ is the second song and the ‘hard rock’ vibe is clear to hear on this track. All the correct elements are there and it comforts your ears in an instant as soon as it starts playing. ‘Solo, So Low’ shows off the bands metal side, especially through the vocals, and the guitar rhythms. However, this song still remains to be hard rock and has a somewhat alternative feel to it, especially towards the end. The final track ‘Good Morning’ is, according to my opinion, the best song on the entire E.P. It’s upbeat, bright and really stands out throughout the 6 tracks. It’s a song that you would want to put as your alarm in the mornings, it makes you want to get up and have a good dance. It’s a very enjoyable and catchy song. The whole EP offers something different. Each track has a different sort of genre to it; it’s exciting when you finish one of the songs because you want to know straight away what style the next song is going to be. Very well done! By Holly Reijs

RMP Magazine #10

“Darkhaus” is an Intercontinental Synth-Rock outfit consisting of five men from four countries (Scotland, US, Germany and Austria), possessing a unique sonic ability to break down genre based barriers. ‘My Only Shelter’ is the debut album for “Darkhaus”, but don’t let yourself get fooled by this! The album opener ‘Life Worth Living’ will hit you immediately with nice lyrics and Kenny Halon’s awesome voice. I think this is the only song that could be on radio stations, but the other songs are not that bad too. ‘Grace Divine’ has got some addictive riffs that I couldn’t get out of my head after I listened to it. But also the album’s first single ‘Ghost’ released October 23rd, has got the same addictive formula as the previous song, and you will also notice some similarity with H.I.M’s sound. Great stuff, huh? ‘Our Time’ follows the same path of the fifth song,so is perfectly connected with its predecessor. ‘Don’t Close Your Eyes’ is just another of the many powerful and nice songs of this album. The real ‘twist’ will arrive with the 13th track called ‘Angelina’ which is a beautiful song with a good new rhythm and rich sound. I was very pleased by this album, the mix between rock and metal is what made this record, as well as the band itself, unique. Support this young talented band by buying this album! You won’t regret having it in your shelf, or in your playlist! By Nazaria D’angelis

ALBUM REVIEWS

80/100

90/100

¨ Harm WUlf There’s Honey In The Soil So We Wait For The Till “Harm Wülf” is the new moniker under which George Hirsch, vocalist of Philadelphia based hardcore act Blacklisted, recently released his ‘eerie’ songs upon the world. A collection of tracks that have ripened throughout the years of travelling with Blacklisted and intentionally intended to be something for home amusement and personal catharsis only. Until recently these eclectic styled songs have been compiled into There’s Honey In The Soil So We Wait For The Till. The album infuses a dark mixture of acoustic guitar parts alongside the whispering growling sounds of George’s vocal chords. In some tracks additional sounds are added by off key piano riddles and even some female backing vocals that complete this mysterious soundscape. Desolate sounds with a dark atmosphere overtake this recording and lyrically the equal amount of despair and desolation is applied. Sonically this record is an enchanting mix of Americana with and edge, folk and martial influences intertwining with a dash of rock music. It touches grounds with acts such as Death In June, Roses Never Fade and even some of the apocalyptical visions of Rot In Hell. A record that is sure to grow on one when solely secluded in the dark and Harm Wülf guiding you through the night.

By David Marote

Pro-Pain The Final Revolution

“Pro-Pain” have been serving the audio requirements of the metal hobbyist since 1992 . These titans of metal will be releasing - can you believe it – their fourteenth studio album since their conception on the 22nd of November. “Pro-pain” has sent out their orders for a fully armoured army in ‘The Final Revolution’. The tracks immediately invade our ears with front man Gary Meskil’s familiar and intimidating screams. The band seems to be experimenting with a bit of industrial metal - made very apparent with ‘Can’t stop the pain’ and ‘All system’s fail’. The greater majority of the album could be used as the soundtrack of an intellectual youth-powered and right-wing-movement film; it’s just that passionate. The heavy, low frequency sound base is complimented with midrange guitar power chords that keep us anticipated, not to mention that some of the best solos of the season can be found right here on this mind-blowing album. Give ‘Under the Gun’ a listen and you’ll be sure to agree.Invite yourself into a world where age-old traditions meet modernistic ideologies and opinions.

By Cameron Smith

RMP Magazine #10

ALBUM REVIEWS

80/100

70/100

75/100

Various artists The Songs of Tony Sly: A Tribute

The Homeless In Loving Memory Of What Could Have Been

Polar Bear Club Death Chorus

Tony Sly doesn’t need an introduction. He was the vocalist and guitar player of “No Use For A Name”, who also made a few solo albums and he passed away last year. His label Fat Wreck Records has made a tribute album dedicated to him, called The Songs Of Tony Sly: A Tribute. Many well-known bands have participated to make their own version of a song by Tony Sly. To name only a few of the artists that have covered a song: “Rise Against”, “Strung Out”, “NOFX”, “Bad Religion”, “Frank Turner”, “Yellowcard”, “Simple Plan” and many more. Some of them have made something very cool of those songs. I especially like the cover of ‘Soulmate’ by “Strung Out” and ‘For Fiona’ by “Rise Against!” While some covers are great, some covers clearly sound less than the original version. In my case ‘Homecoming’ by “Bouncing Souls” and ‘Justified Black Eye’ by “Simple Plan”. Still it’s an album with 26 covers of songs of Tony Sly. It’s a album that his fans will love and it’s a great way to remember Tony!

“The Homeless” is a Belgian hardcore band that have played at Ieperfest and on the outside stage of Fluff Fest last year! They’ve released their first full-length album, which is called ‘In Loving Memory Of What Could Have Been.’

Upstate New York’s very own “Polar Bear Club” is taking back post-hardcore vibes and breaking hearts with the upcoming release of their fourth studio album ‘Death Chorus’. Front man Jimmy Stadt’s diverse voice allows the group to produce tracks that are both melodic and beautiful. The drums and guitar playing constantly loop from fast paced hardcore-punk rhythms to slower, more romantic sounds. This course of motion unfortunately impacts the listener’s ability to engage with the band in consistent fashion. ‘For Show’ is without any doubt my favourite track – the lyrics are truthfully cynical. ‘When we were college kids’ is a great track to listen to while reminiscing about good times. ‘Upstate mosquito’ is unique by its comical lyrics and left me thinking about how useless those bloodsuckers are. “Polar Bear Club” continues to bring us a plethora of great content from the north. A fine effort indeed!

By Jonas Hoflack

RMP Magazine #10

For a first full-length album, it’s quite good. They bring dark and sad post-hardcore styled music with some great slow pieces. Although they have some great songs on the album, they will need to bring some more variation into their songs. The songs that touched me the most on this album are called ‘Your Turn, I’ve Failed’ and ‘An Empty House’. Fans of “Defeater” and “Touché Amoré” will surely like this album!

By Cameron Smith

ALBUM REVIEWS

75/100

65/100

75/100

Teenage Bottlerocket American Deutsch Bag

The Swinging Party 12”

Weekend Nachos Still

The youthful punk band from Wyoming have given the film “Euro Trip” a run for its money with the release of their latest EP American Deutsch Bag. The EP contains three songs, two of which are covers. “Teenage Bottlerocket” sparks right into action with their pop-punky song ‘I’m the one smoking marijuana here motherfuckers’. Short and sweet, the song encapsulates the listener and shares a widely accepted view of millions. ‘Ich bin Auslander und Spreche Nicht Gut Deutsch’, one of the covers, is a refreshing attempt to implement German commercialism into the American punk music scene as we haven’t seen that happen since the turn of the century. ‘Viva Munich’ brings to life a fast paced track with well-produced musical input. The concept behind the album in undoubtedly an American view on Germany. Too bad that this album wasn’t released in October... The E.P is packaged well and ready for your holiday headbanging session.

“The Swinging Party” is not the latest political novelty but a new band consisting of Antwerp based members who’ve already proven their merits on local stages all over. They decided to hit the scene with their own personal mission of creating pure unpretentious music pieces that will ring in your ears for weeks. No gimmicks, no bragging and boasting, just guitars, bass, drums and vocals to take you away to that sacred place where music is more than only an industry. Heartfelt lyrics accompanied by honest rock ‘n’ roll are the core value to these songs.

When I think about eating nachos the first thing that comes to mind is the sound they make when you crush them with your teeth. That crunchiness is the first thing that comes to mind when I listen to Still, the newest album of “Weekend Nachos”. Short, powerful and especially loud. If you’re into fast overflowing songs, breaking a house down only by listening to a record or don’t mind that your upper neighbour slams your door down because you play that awful music again, “Weekend Nachos” is your thing.

By Cameron Smith

By David Marote

In times the overall sound even takes you back to a sort of 90’s vibe when this simple rock music was abundant. All in all The Swinging Party deliver their rocking party and even with all their effort and sincerity it didn’t leave a huge impression on me. So maybe on a live show I’d love to witness their energy but acquiring this 12” release has passed me by.

If you like to experience the world around you without violence I would suggest going into a retreat. Still isn’t a world changing record, yet it’s a strong grindcore record that will “crunch” its way into many cdcollections. A decent seventy-five out of a hundred.

By Arne Vangheluwe

RMP Magazine #10

ALBUM REVIEWS

95/100

85/100

Skindred Kill The Power

Oathbreaker Eros/Anteros

The elite representatives of Reggae Metal have unveiled their latest hardcore tribute to Zion. ‘Kill the Power’ is the ultimate homage to every human’s struggle against oppression. “Skindred’s” universal message of peace in the name of humble order has created an earthquake unreadable on any Richter scale. The infusion of industrial/hardcore electro has been a signature style of the band since Shark Bites and Dog Fights but they seem to have mastered the art in this album and might as well claim the genre as their own.

Belgium is slowly making a big statement in the world of the heavy music with examples like “Amenra” and “Rise and Fall”. One of those Belgium’s best to be is “Oathbreaker”. Starting instrumental, this album is a mental powerhouse, using a different array of noises to empower the sound by the actual guitars and percussion, and of course the vocals! “Oathbreaker” is a female-fronted band, led by the lovely Caro Tanghe. Don’t underestimate her vocal strength though because she is a woman of whom many male vocalists can learn the tricks of singing and grunting metal.

“Skindred” continues to appease their fans by giving them exactly what they want: hope and brutality. The style fluctuates from heavy guitar twangs to electronic solos, which grants the band a new and groovy sound. Another first for the group is the track ‘We Live’: a strikingly beautiful melody that demonstrates the ever-growing range of frontman Benji Webbe’s voice. The group’s old-school fans will appreciate the famous Jamaican flavour in the tracks ‘Playing With The Devil’, ‘Dollars and Dimes’ and ‘Kill the Power’. The album hits stores and online retailers on the 27th of January; this masterpiece is one you definitely have to add to your collection.

The highlights of this album are ‘No rest for the weary’, that gives me the shivers from the beginning till the end with its high-pitched vocals intermingled with deep ambient feelings, and ‘Clair Obscur’, that sounds like an angelic clean touch with that same ambient atmosphere: from soft to hard, clean and harsh, slow-paced to furiously fast! You would ask yourself, are there any flaws on this album? Of course there are, and the biggest one is the overkill of the ambient sound in this album, but that’s also mainly because of the black metal influences on the record, so it’s rather understandable. The rest though is solid as can be, making me proud being a Belgian metalhead!

By Cameron Smith

By Stefan Van den Broek

RMP Magazine #10

ALBUM REVIEWS

75/100

85/100

L'Hiver En Deuil Ter Aarde

Western Addiction Pines

“L’Hiver En Deuil” is a Belgian black metal band that has been around a couple of years consisting of members of former Belgian bands as “Gates Of Argonath” and “Sarin”. Early in November they released a full album titled ‘Ter Aarde’. Seven tracks will take you along to the depths and beyond. The sound of “L’Hiver En Deuil” embraces the traditional black metal style but expands it with their own added twist.

“Western Addiction” is one of those bands from the Fat Wreck roster that quickly emerged with the release of Cognicide in 2005 but disappeared from under the radar as fast as they came. As former Fat employees, the guys couldn’t resist that drive to play again which was driving them crazy. So we fast forward to 2013 with the release of a three song EP by “Western Addiction”.

Silence can be just as agonising as a mortar attack of drums and guitars and that is what “L’Hiver En Deuil” has achieved. Atmospheric rain sounds lead the listener unto a dark path where strummed guitars evolve into hellish metal. The demonic vocals also have a melodic counterpart to them with the spoken vocals used in some tracks. With some songs in English and most of them in Dutch it may be hard to reach an international audience but the mere sound of the Dutch lyrics almost give it a poetic touch that might reach a huge audience. If this is the way that black metal is evolving to in 2013 then I’m all for it!

Fast, furious and rooted in past and present the San Francisco based band delivers some tunes to throw your fists too. ‘Black Salt’, ‘God Says No’ and ‘My Opnion Is, I Hate It’ are three raging tracks that will sling you back to the sound of 80’s hardcore heroes such as “Gorilla Biscuit”s and more contemporary brothers in arms like “Good Riddance”. No pop punk tunes here, just thrashing guitars, full speed drumming and raw primal vocals to get those slam dancers slamming off the walls. If you favour a short and effective work out then blast ‘Pines’ through your speakers and you’re in for a sweat loaded slam session clocking in at 7 minutes and 23 seconds.

By David Marote

RMP Magazine #10