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Metallic hailz from the East! There are some line-up changes since the
recording of "Storm...". I noticed that Wokkel is not in the band. Please
update us. Wokkel have a great voice!
Hailz from Groningen, the Netherlands! About the vocal position, Wokkel used
to be our singer but he already left late 2001, wanting to concentrate on
other things. He helped us out for the album till we had found a permanent
replacement. Now we have Niels who is a great frontman with a good voice
too.
Maybe you can tell a short bio of the band and elaborating the meaning of
the word 'Katafalk' and why it is chosen as the band's name.
Katafalk is a Dutch word and it means hearse. It's coming on wheels and it's
bringing death, exactly like we do when we come and play somewhere! Death on
wheels, rock 'n roll!
The website didn't mention about the past members of the band. Who's the
forming member of Katafalk and where are they now?
I'm the only original member left these days, but also founder and
songwriter. Some of the ex-members are in other bands right now.
It seems that there's been a delay in launching "Storm Of The Horde"? The
press kit said 10th January but the website says 28th. Why is this?
The release was delayed because our label wanted it to match the release
dates of big magazines in which we were reviewed. So people would read about
us and our CD would be in stores around the same time. Nevertheless some
stores had it for sale some time earlier.
How long the deal with Cold Blood? Is it true they signed the band
because of your live show? Haven't they listened to your music first? I
guess you have to thanks God Dethroned for making the tour. What are other
big bands you have played with?
We signed with Cold Blood Industries for one album, with an option on
another two albums. Henri Sattler of God Dethroned runs CBI and invited us
to tour with God Dethroned, to check us out live before the Dutch audience.
We had just released 'Promo 2001' which did really well and of course he
listened to that to. The tour was a big succes and we got an offer for a
record deal afterwards. Other bands we have played with are Sinister,
Inhume, Centurian, Thanatos, Occult and Hypnosia. This year we're also gonna
play with Dismember and Mörk Gryning and are confirmed to appear on the
following festivals: Noordschok (NL, with Entombed), Stonehenge (NL),
Obscene Extreme (CZ, with Macabre) and Party San Open Air in Germany with
Vader, Malevolent Creation, Marduk, Behemoth, Naglfar, Dimension Zero and
many others.
Now the album is out so what is your comment on this release? 13 songs,
do you guys initially plan this after getting the contract for the album.
Well, mostly albums today have like 6-8 songs with more or less than 30
minutes of music which is not really a good value for the fan's money.
Well if it's less then 35 minutes it isn't even a full-length album, at
least according to our contract. Our songs just happen to be fast so we had
to record 13 of them to exceed this length. 13 tracks no fillers just
killers in about 37 minutes, that sure is good value!
"Storm Of The Horde" is one of the songs in the album. Do you named the
album by taking any title of the song or it represent something? Basically,
what are Katafalk songs talk about? Will the lyric style or concept remain
for the next release although the main lyricist is no longer in the band?
The lyric for that song was written by an American singer (Rodney) who was
with Katafalk when Wokkel first left late 2001. Rodney came up with that
lyric and suggested it would make a great album title as well. We all
agreed, as it symbolizes Katafalk taking the world by storm! Rodney had to
return to the U.S. again so he couldn't be Katafalk's singer anymore.
Original singer Wokkel returned to do vocals for the album.
The band released two demos, could you please talk a bit about these
demos? The songs, reaction from listeners, etc.
In 1997 we released 'Through The Storm' demo on cassette. It contained 5
songs in a melodic death/black/thrash vein. The song "Rise Now", which we
re-recorded for the album also appeared on this demo. 'Promo 2001' (on CD)
contained three tracks also re-recorded for the album: "Birthmark 666",
"Hatred" and "Operation Mindloss".
The band members played in other bands before joining Katafalk and some
still play with them. So what can we expect from other bands with Katafalk
members (new releases, etc). What about the guest musicians for "Storm..."?
What's Jurjen doing?
Our drummer Michiel also drums in a power metal band and singer Niels plays
guitar in Dutch death/grind band Prostitute Disfigurement. Jurjen is our old
bassplayer and he's in a band called Obtuse. Wokkel is in that band too, and
so is our old drummer. They play experimental grindcore now.
What do you know about Asian metal scene especially in the Southeast
(Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, etc).
I know there's a strong scene with you guys being really fanatic, that's for
sure!
I guess that's all for the interview. All hailz to Katafalk for the
raging extreme metal! The final comment is yours. Lastly, what do you do
beside metal?
Some guys are still at school, the others have jobs. We have to pay our
bills too you know...
Thanks for the interview and for your support! Everybody take a
listen to 'Storm Of The Horde', drink beer and bang your heads! Check out
our website www.katafalk.com
for news, tourdates, merchandise, downloads and other stuff! Cheerz and
Support Metal!
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