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Hail! Who's answering this interview?
Hail to you to! Hi, my name is Mikk and I'm one of the guitarists of
Crustacean.
You have just released "Insaniac", how's the response so far? Have you
read my review of the album?
The responses have been good. I think I've read over 50 reviews and about 45
of them are very positive. Of course it's all a question of taste, so I can
imagine there are people that do not like our last album that much. If
you're into Slayer, Grave and Obituary and stuff you'll like our stuff
already! I just checked your review on Steel Madness, and I see someone does
not really like the way the vocals sound, too bad I think. I think "Insaniac"
is a good record all the way, some people don't agree.
What do you think of "Insaniac" and comparing the new album with your
previous releases, this might be the best, right? Or there might be
something you don't like on this album?
I like both albums equally. I think "Burden of our Suffering" is a real
thrash metal album, whereas "Insaniac" mixes 80's thrash with some 90's
Swedish death-riffing. A fine combination of two musical styles we just
love!
"Burden Of Our Suffering" is released by Teutonic Existence. I used to
order some stuff from them years ago. Are they still active?
Yes, they are. They changed their name into Firebreath Records though.
Originally we had an agreement to release "Insaniac" on Teutonic, but when
we were done recording they experienced some financial problems so we had to
look for another label to release it.
I haven't heard your debut album. Does it get the right response and
well-received in the scene? Why does "Satanized" released only in the
internet?
Our debut album is really a miniCD called "Headcleaner". I will put up a
song of that mini on our website soon! This cd also got a lot of good
reviews. Crustacean had a different vocalist and guitarist at that time and
sounded like a blend of Death and At the Gates. We were a pure death metal
band at that time (1995). The "Satanized" mini-cd also was originally
recorded to be released on Teutonic Existence Records. When we were done
recording they told us they preferred to release a full-length album
instead. So we recorded "Insaniac" which contains all tracks that were on
the "Satanized" cd. Except for one which I will upload to our website as
well.
How Cold Blood Industries came into CRUSTACEAN's life and how long you
will be with them?
When we found out we couldn't release "Insaniac" on Teutonic we had to find
ourselves another label. I sent some promopacks to different labels and CBI
mailed me they would be happy to release it. CBI is known for being a good
label, run by some hard working people. We signed immediately. I don't know
whether we will release another record on CBI, because we only signed for
one album. We'll find out soon enough, it all depends on the sales figures
and on the cooperation of course.
How did you come up with the name 'Crystal Lake' as the name? It is not
sound extreme to me. And why CRUSTACEAN now? Its looks like JVI are from the
1989 line-up. When did the others came in the band?
Crystal Lake is a name that appeared in one of the early Friday the 13th
movies. A camp called Camp Crystal Lake gets attacked by a slasher. There
you have it, it's metal alright haha (I only remember that a girl swim
naked in that lake.. ~Syukri). In 1991 I joined the band. In this
formation we recorded some demo's and the "Headcleaner" mini. In 1994 a new
vocalist (TMP) and a new guitarist (RCS) joined the band. In this formation
we recorded Burden of our Suffering. Pretty soon afterwards our bass player
NVZ left the band and TMP (awesome bass player) started combining the bass
and vocals. In this formation we recorded "Insaniac". Pretty soon afterwards
(again…) RCS left the band. We found ourselves a new guitarist in FDA.
Talking about names what does the pseudonyms of the band member means?
How that's relates with the cartoon characters in the booklet which
represent you? Why are they in the CD? Are you fans of comic books?
We gave ourselves those names because we didn't think it was important for
anyone to know our real names. Besides, we thought it looked silly to print
Dutch names on our albums (Although I will twist my tongue saying the
names but you have to be proud of being a Dutch. ~Syukri). The names are
merely abbreviations of our real names. The "Insaniac" booklet is supposed
to resemble a computer game manual. Like the ones you get with Quake or
Unreal. The characters inside do not actually represent anyone of the band,
they appear for decorative reasons only.
You are also a Slayer cover band. I know that a local bar owner asked you
to play Slayer songs and then lead to SCB. Is there other reason beside
this? Do you have other band beside Slayer to do as cover band? Do you guys
use the name CRUSTACEAN when playing as cover band? Only JOS is not from
Crustacean.
Correct. A local bar owner asked us to play at a cover night and we decided
to team up with members of another band I played in at that time,
Acrostichon. Our vocalist and I played together with Acrostichon's guitar
player Jos and their drummer Serge. Serge didn't like to play covers that
much and left the band. JVI filled the gap and indeed, Slayer coverband now
had only one member that's not a Crustacean member, Jos. We don't have a
name for the band, we just call it Slayer coverband. It's for the better,
because when they print this on a poster everybody knows what's going to
happen haha. It's always nice to play with Slayer coverband because we draw
a lot of people (and everybody screams along the lyrics!!)
What are the songs do you have always in your set?
Arena, Random Terror, Bitter State, Psycho2001, Deathtrap, Bloodshot,
Redeemer, Evil Magick, Drawn from the Grave, State Necropolis and one of the
following covers: Raining blood or Charred Remains
What about CRUSTACEAN live show, beside your originals, any cover songs
(maybe beside Slayer)?
Yes, Slayer of course haha and Autopsy. Our faves.
What do you think of Slayer now? They live quite long in the scene and
quite successful too. What do you think about CRUSTACEAN? Will you be as
successful as them?
I don't really like their music nowadays. I've got tons of respect for them,
I do. At least they don't sell out. But I'm not into their new shit. The
last album I really like is Divine Intervention. Crustacean as successful as
Slayer? Don't think so. I don't even think any band will ever become as
well-known as bands like Slayer and Metallica anymore. Times have changed
and there's too much competition going on. Bands come and go and almost no
band is here to stay anymore.
Going to other thing now. You do read metal zine, right? What do you
think about webzine? There are like thousands of webzine. Some big mag going
r.i.p. and said webzine make them loose readers. Do you agree with this?
Well, possibly. But I think that if you're really attached to a magazine and
it's editors and their opinions you'll keep on buying that mag. I think webzines replaced
the old black and white copied zines. So the commercial magazines actually
do not have new competitors on the market. Internet just makes things so
much easier. I used to be busy tapetrading, sending flyers and interviews
around the globe. Old fashioned mail that is. It's just so much easier to
keep in touch through the internet, promoting your band via a website…great
stuff!
Have you check ours; SouthEast Asia Metal Force (http://come.to/seametalforce),
Steel Madness (http://listen.to/SteelMadness)
and Metal Terus (http://www.metalterus.com)?
Honestly, what do you think?
Seametalforce seems like a great initiative to promote asian metalbands!
Yes, a great initiative indeed.
Steelmadness is a goodlooking web/paperzine I think. I like the way the
covers of the albums are presented to the viewers, looks really good!
Metalterus also looks really good, too bad I do not understand the language
in which it is published (Of course, it's a Malay metal website. ~Syukri).
As I've only looked at these sites just now I'm not really able to go into
detail here…
That's all for this session (a short one). Thanks for the time. You can
end the interview as you like.
Well, first off, thank you for your questions. I'd like to invite the
readers of your zine to
www.crustacean.nl! Download some mp3's and keep in touch!! Cheers
MKK
Email:
info@crustacean.nl
Website: www.crustacean.nl
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