Interview Henrietta

Interview Henrietta, a Dutch metal band.

Hi Koen, how have you been up to?
Hi! Well thanks for asking. I have been super busy with the band. I am currently working on getting the band on the road beside that we are working on a new album. Personally, I am just writing new music. And studying to become a better producer.

Introduce the band. Two times you have changed the band name, after all you remained to be Henrietta.
We are Holland ‘s number one goofy horror – comedy death/thrash band, not suprisingly considering we are the only one. our music has been described as a mixture of autopsy and megadeth, but to me it’s more megadeth meets testament with heavy growling vocals. our live shows are always a good time. we dress up and have special make up effects to elevate the stage presence to a more entertaining level. the occasional baby decapitation is to be expected haha. Concerning the name changes, we had different line-ups and we felt that the old names were too attached to certain ex-bandmembers. So we changed the name from EXHILARATION to HENRIETTA after the ex-singer left, for example. Otherwise it would be like working at a new place with your old jobs uniform still on!

You have released the debut album last year under the name of ”Dead By Dawn”.
We recorded in Boskoop. We used 2 different studios and we recorded drums at studio knight area. The reminder was recorded with Jeremy van Haastert at his studio. Studio knight area was very cool and we have befriended the owner, the awesome Gerben Klazinga. the album was recorded the traditional way. Live drums and no digital amp simulators. I personally feel the production isn’t perfect, but it fits the raw and intense nature of the songs like a glove. A songs like gore overlord just wouldn’t work with flawless, clean production!

Who’s the artist who made the cover art of the album?
Well, he is somewhat of a celebrity. His name is Tom Sullivan and he was a special effects artist on films like Mosquito , Army of Darkness and The fly 2. Beside this, he was instrumental in realising Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead, all the way back in 1980.

What is the album about, the lyrical themes?
All songs are based on a film we feel strongly about. I’ll give you a quick rundown!
Henrietta – Evil dead II : Dead by Dawn
The running man – movie of the same name
Cry for heavens gate – Evil Dead
Hooks and the art of pleasure – Hellraiser
Midnight neutering – Planet terror
Apparitions in the fog – The fog
Wishful visions – Wishmaster
Book of the dead – Army of darkness
They live – movie of the same name
Gore overlord – Cannibal holocaust

Have you thought to release new materials in the future?
Yes very much so actually as we are currently working on a follow up to Dead By Dawn. It is being produced by myself at knight area studios and the mixing will be done by gerben Klazinga and me. The songs are more progressive, but we don’t  compromise the heaviness! It will be released somewhere in August.

Are you influenced by other metal bands or anything else?
I think I am most influenced by Megadeth, their songwriting is just phenomenal and also bands like W.A.S.P and Twisted Sister are good examples to me because they do so much with their relatively simple music and song structures. I also have tremendous respect for Ihsahn. He just ignores all the boundaries of contemporary music and takes absolute freedom to realise his artistic vision.

Promoting the new release, are you going to tour soon?
Yes we are, in Holland, our home country. We’ll do 3 days of headlining shows. I am also trying to get a second tour done before the end of the year but nothing major yet.

Do you want something to say to the supporters?
I want to thank everybody who listen to our music. There is one general thing I want to say concerning our band: people seem to misunderstand us sometimes,  like we had a review. The person who wrote it complained that we weren’t scary enough but we don’t try to be. The idea is to capture the spirit of those goofy 80’s horror – comedy films so that would be all I would like people to know about us.

Thank you for your answers, cheers!
No problem! Thanks so much for taking the time for me!

https://www.facebook.com/ExhilerationGouda/