Hello Che, nice to meet you, I follow your musical career since you played in Born From Pain, I know you play now in a new metal hardcore band: The Unknown, how this new band start? because you played in Arma Gathas since you left Born From Pain
Nice to meet you too and thank you for giving me the chance to talk a little about my new band: The Unknown and Arma Gathas and Born From Pain which are my old bands. To get right to it, when I decided to quit Born From Pain in 2006, I eventually played my last show in May 2007. Right after I played my last show I decided I was not going to do anything with music anymore for a long time. I was fed up with the whole music life. A couple of years later, Simon (ex guitarist of Cataract) asked me if I wanted to do something with him on a musical level. I always had great respect for Simon and always saw him as a true friend. So when he sent me the songs for Arma Gathas I knew I had to be part of that band. We recruited another guitarist, bassist and drummer. We got the record done for Metal Blade (Dead to This World) and started playing shows. The latter part became more & more difficult as time progressed. I was swamped with work, Marc who lives in Germany was on tour as a guitar tech all the time, Alex who works for Roadrunner was really busy with work as well, our drummer started doing more with his other projects and Simon moved to Norway. I decided I had to something else, just to stay in form, just to keep going and to hold on to that momentum. Now in October 2010 I played a show with Arma Gathas near Amsterdam on a metal and hardcore festival where I was blown away by this Black Metal Band called Carach Angren who are actually from my area. I started talking to their guitarist Marcel and we basically became friends. He later on told me he just started this modern Thrash Metal band with death metal influence. I figured, hell if I am going to do something to the side, it had to be something totally different. Something far from my comfort zone. So in June of 2011 I started screaming for The Unknown. We are starting studio recordings with Stefan from Heartwork Studios (who used to be in Born From Pain as well) this Friday the 28th.
The first promo will be called “In Fear of…” The Unknown. I have been through a lot of stuff the last year and a half. This record basically is a way of dealing with the feelings of disappointment I had the last months and the feelings dealing with my fear for what life has in store for me. It’s a sort of therapy to try to let go of my past.
I have to admit being from the Netherlands I am not as much in touch with the German Hardcore/Metal scene. I think the main difference comes from the fact that European HC/Metal bands are influenced by Death Metal and European Thrash Metal more than our colleagues from the States. On the other hand when I listen to bands like Lamb of God and Devil Driver those bands are really brutal as well. So I honestly have no idea. We are probably influenced by different bands than bands in the US.
Obviously I am the token Hardcore dude in the band. The other guys occasionally listen to hardcore but they are more influenced by Metal bands than hardcore bands. Important bands are The Haunted, Hatesphere and At The Gates especially for the “The Unknown” sound. We all love fast Thrash metal with a groove and a lot of aggression. Our drummer John listens to everything, as long as it is hard and aggressive, we actually think of him as a small idiot since he does not like Slayer!!! CLiff listens to metal and the likes, sames goes for Marcel. Marcel really likes JOhnny Cash as well. They like thrash and death metal a lot. Ruud is the only dude with long hair in the band. John and Cliff just cut their hair . Ruud listens to anything as long as it is good I guess.
There are a lot of reasons why I quit BFP. The most important reason being that I had been pushing my life forward for years up until that point. I wanted and needed to concentrate myself more on my personal and professional career. I never could do that while in Born From Pain. It took up so much time. When Born From Pain started in 1997 it was a fun thing to do. As time progressed we got more serious, the band demanded more time up until the point where it was a double full time job. In 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 we played 150 – 175 shows each year. But these shows and the band could not pay for my bills at the end of every single month. We never could make the next step toward financial independence. I did not find the time and did not want to find the time to invest in relationships, friendships, jobs and the will to finish college. The band demanded so much energy, which I was not able nor wanting to invest anymore. The biggest part of the last years in Born From Pain I was unhappy. The time on stage could not make up for all the negative feelings I had. I never showed that onstage, but my mind said “You need to be somewhere else, anywhere but here”. I estranged from the band. I was not comfortable around the other guys in the band, who changed all the time as well. I just changed too much in a short period of time. I lost touch. I could not find a way back. I never wanted to find a way back. Born From Pain eventually was not the band I started 10 years before I decided to quit. It was not MY band anymore. This is going to sound strange, but I pretty much achieved all I wanted to achieve at a young age already, when it comes to music. Going through the whole process of doing is all again several time was not my thing. I never saw Born From Pain grow beyond the point or popularity we had achieved up to that point. The negative things started to overshadow the positive aspects of being in Born From Pain. I could not make it better. I just simply concluded I wasn’t the right guy for that spot in the band anymore. This led to my departure. Looking back I am happy I made that decision.
Thank you very much again for giving me the opportunity to tell something about my musical endeavours. Be on the look out for “The Unknown” “In Fear of…” EP will be available for download later this spring/summer. Also be on the lookout for my Sludge/doom project called Détester. We are writing songs as we speak. Think Neurosis meets Eyehategod meets Herder meets Sleep. AUW!
To know more about The Unknown:
http://www.facebook.com/metaltheunknown
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