Interview with Jeroen, the guitar player of the Dutch Death/Thrash metal band, Izegrim.
Greetings Jeroen and thank you for your time. How things are going? Please Introduce the band.
Hi ! All well over here, thank you. Busy doing interviews, preparing the new show. Only good stuff we are busy with these days. Introduce the band ? Hmmmz, I guess everyone can take a look at our website (www.izegrim.com) or use google to get some more information, haha. I hope most of your readers already know a bit of us and our history. I don’t want to bother your readers with boring stories about the history of the band. Next question please, hahaha !
The band was formed around 1996 and in 2002 you have released the debut album. Why took some years to release an album?
Waw, eermmm.. You know; I can’t even remember what I did last weekend, so I really don’t recall why it took so long. Guess we were a lazy bunch of assholes at that time. And we had a totally different line-up within the band at that time. We were operating at an amateur level, not comparable how we work nowadays with the band. But we are talking about ages ago.. we have a new album; let’s talk about that please !
The fifth album is out this year entitled “The Ferryman’s End”. Where and how the recordings were going?
For this fifth album we (again) went to the Soundlodge Studio in Germany. This is the 3rd time in a row we recorded an album there. Awesome studio, great producer that exactly knows how to nail the sound we want to achieve. We discussed the guitarsound with him and he bought a new guitar-amp (that same night) for us, just so we could get that sound we wanted to have. Now that is dedication, right ? Recordings were done exactly the same as the previous albums: drums, guitar (rhythm) and vocals are recorded at the Soundlodge. At home I did record the solo’s (played by Bart) and bass (ofcouse played by Marloes). Jörg (Soundlodge engineer) mixed and mastered all the recordings into a new masterpiece that is called “The Ferryman’s End”.
You are also supposed to tour so you can promote the new album.
Yup, that’s what a band is supposed to do, haha ! We are working on some tours indeed. Also working on weekend shows around Europe. We have to combine the band with a normal day-job, so we cannot tour for several month in a row. But I can assure you that there will be a shitload of awesome shows coming up. Our agency (District 19) is working hard to get us on tour and let us promote the new album all around Europe (and hopefully beyond).
What are the influences and the lyrical themes you do focus on?
Well, Marloes has an, sometimes scary, interest in the sick and twisted mind of the human brain. It’s interesting to investigate how the human brain works; why (and how) can some people commit gruesome crimes ? How is it possible that your neighbour could be a horrible killer ? That kind of themes are the main influence on our albums. For this album Marloes crawled into the brains of a murderer, that is waiting on deathrow. In our first song (White Walls), the main character is waiting to be executed. Each and every next song on the album is a trip down his sick and twisted mind.
In 2004, Anita Borst left the band and she was replaced with Marloes. Can you tell me the reasons Anita have left the band?
Hahaha, damn, that is 10 years ago…I think she left because of lack of time. Now that is an interesting story eh ? Hahaha !
Both you and Marloes were members of the Death/Thrash metal band Deluzion, a no longer active band.
Correct. That was also ages ago. Sometimes members of a band are starting a side-project. We did that like 10 years ago. Did not work like we planned, so we left Deluzion. The original member is now active with Deluzion under a new name: The Heritance, cool band !
How do you see the fans of Izegrim and what message do you have for them?
Our fans are our everything !! Without support and people at our gigs, we would not exist ! We all love to travel to places we’ve never been to, party with new friends, catching up with old friends. We always hang out in the venue we play, we don’t stay backstage like you sometimes see with other bands. Party and having a good time is basically what’s it all about ! It’s music, and music means fun and having a good time !! So, to all our fans: you rule and if you weren’t there, Izegrim would not exist !
Thx again for this interview Jeroen, cheers and all the best. Rock on!
Thank you and all the best with your magazine. Cheers and see you somewhere on the road!
https://www.facebook.com/Izegrim/
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