Monday, July 18, 2016

Grindbashers Interview


1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
Hello there, Grindbashers is currently rehearsing for live gigs, and we’ll work on new songs in September. Since we have our own studio, we’ll record the new songs, maybe we’ll have enough material to release another full length album in 2017.  We still have 10 songs left from the InfoNympho session, which we’ll release on a 4 way split album at the end of 2016.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
The musical sound of this album is Grindcore, with a little bit of metal and doom influences. It differs from previous releases in the way we recorded it. This was the first time we recorded, produced, mixed and mastered an entire album. In the past we recorded @ the Dirty Bird Studio’s, from Fredde (Massive Assault / Sledgehammer Nosejob), and Mathieu mixed the albums together with Fredde. He has learned a lot during these sessions, and has put his skills in good use for InfoNympho.

It was a struggle to get the album as it is right now, we have spent a lot of time to get the sound how we wanted it to be. It was a totally D.I.Y. experience and we have learned a lot about recording your own album. The next albums are going to be recorded by ourselves too, it is somewhat addicting to do it yourself!

The sound we tried to create is open and heavy, we dislike the way most new albums sound, with the drums taking the lead role in the mix. We think we made a product on which you can hear every instrument.


3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
The main topic on InfoNympho lyrically is modern communication, including social media. This started out with Mathieu, who wrote a song called InfoNympho. It is not a concept album, but most of the songs hit this subject. Other subject for Grindbashers are the atrocities of religion, politics and humanity in general.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Grindbashers'?
It started out with Herrie wanting to have a new Grindcore band. He asked Mathieu and Micha, who played the drums on our first 3 releases. Micha told Herrie and Mathieu he would like to “beuk” (Dutch for bash) some old skool Grindcore. So Herrie did put one and one together, and Grindbashers was born.





5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We played so many shows… but recently we played Grindhoven, the festival our friends of Rompeprop arrange, and it was a blast! We still have fond memories of playing in Hamburg, at the Tipsy Apes, or our concert in Finspang Sweden, or in Clouso in Meppel, the Meister in Geleen, both in the Netherlands…. We don’t care if it is a big venue, we care if the organization is right and the public has a good time….

Our stage performance has undergone some changes, since Herrie stopped playing bass guitar and Wilfred has joined us. We try to be as energetic as we can. We are serious about Grindcore, but we enjoy a good laugh, so sometimes it is quite hilarious when Herrie is trying to announce a song….. check youtube, you can see for yourself!

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
As mentioned above, we want to record a new album. We can tour in the weekends, everybody has jobs to attend, so a big tour is out of the question. One of the gigs we are looking forward too is Grindfeast, on November the 19th, and more dates are soon to be revealed.

7.Over the years the band has been a part of many splits, can you tell us a little bit more about the bands you worked with on these recordings?
We did a split album with Agathocles, one of the main influences of Herrie. He knows Jan from Agathocles for years now and it was just logical to do that split album.
The split with Obtuse was forged when we did a gig with them, they were longtime friends and musical colleagues of Grindbashers.
The split with TersangjungX13 from Indonesia was arranged on Facebook, and we still work with the guy who made the artwork for that split-album, Abud Maud, from abud maud artjob (check him out on Facebook, awesome artist!).

8.The new album was released through the bands own label, are you open to working with other labels in the future?
We released all our albums through our own label Herrie Records Inc, we released other bands on that label as well. Bands like Rectal Smegma, Massive Assault, Departure and Smegma have released albums on Herrie Records Inc. We are open to work with other labels, if the conditions are right. But it is convenient to have your own label, we can communicate directly and have a good insight in the financial stuff. And, yet again, we like the D.I.Y. way a lot.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of grindcore?
It has been overwhelming sometimes, we have a lot of contact with fans all over the world. We don’t play Goregrind, which is a more popular kind of core than old skool Grindcore, but we had the chance to play with a lot of great names in the Goregrind scene. And the people are digging our way of Grindcore, so we made a lot of fans!


10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We are heading for a little bit more complicated Grindcore, with the addition of Wilfred we have more possibility’s to expand our sound. Herrie is listening to a lot of Lärm, Rotten Sound and Drop Dead these days, so these bands can be a bigger influence for songs to come. We will try to make even more use of the capabilities of Wilfred on vocals, he did a splendid job on InfoNympho.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
As stated above, old 70’s and 80’s hardcore / punk are favorites of Herrie at this moment. Mathieu still sees Grindbashers like a Grindcore version of S.O.D. The influences on Info Nympho are besides Grindcore bands like My Dying Bride, Bloodbath, Entombed, Dismember and some old skool thrash bands.

Herrie is the guardian of the sound of Grindbashers, David, Wilfred and Mathieu can get carried away sometimes, in going in a more death-metal direction. Luckily Herrie is quite convincing in getting everybody back on track. ;)


12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Wilfred is a great lay-out designer and likes games like World Of Warcraft, Mathieu likes photography and video editing a lot, besides producing, mixing and mastering in the studio, David has a boat to maintain and like odd jobs and Herrie…. Well, Herrie likes gardening and management of the rehearsal studio and Herrie Records Inc.


13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Yes, we would like to thank you for this interview and the review of InfoNympho. We are a band of 4 people, but we cannot do this alone. We have had a lot of help from DavidS, Janien, Aukje, Dianne, Fredde, Aarco, Rob, Rudi, all the people @ Hedon Zwaar and all other bookers of venues we played at.
Please check out our facebook page and you can contact us at herrierecords@gmail.com

No comments:

Post a Comment