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Interview Mario's Metal Mania Metal |
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Friday, 31 March 2006 |
(Interviewer: Suzanne Smaling (www.rockpics.nl)
SUZANNE:
Hey guys, how are you doing? You've won the Aardschok Metal bash Competition 2005. Congratz!!
That is great and quite rightly of course! How does it feel to win such a contest?
IVOR:
Hi Suzanne, we are doing great. Thanks! Yes, we won the Aardschok Metal Bash competition 2005. It feels great to be the winner of course. It was a surprise that we won. The musical level of the finalists was very high. That day we heard great music in various styles. It's an honour to win from bands with such a high level.
SUZANNE:
I also understood that it had some issues before it came to that. Can you tell me more about that?
IVOR:
We were very well prepared for the pre-rounds of the Metal Bash Finals in the "Goudvishal" in Arnhem. However in the first song there suddenly appeared a mallfunction in the amp of our other guitar player Martin. Various technicians helped to get things work again but the show stood still way too long. I gave my guitar effect processor to him so that he could play again. He had a sound again and we finished the gig. But the sound was horrible because none of our guitar equipment worked the way it should. That gig was our worst nightmare. Still we almost won the pre-round and Shadowlord went to the finals. Lots of fans supported us after that to get us a wildcard to the finals by voting at us. They did a great job because it worked! The Metal Bash organisation also thought that we deserved a second chance after our bad luck in the pre-rounds so there were 2 wildcards to the finals. We are very happy with the support of our fans and the Metal Bash organisation.
SUZANNE:
If I'm correct the prize was studio time. Are you going to use that to finish the upcoming album "Asylum 45"?
IVOR:
No, the recordings of our debut concept album "Asylum 45" are finished. We will record new songs in the studio. At this moment I cannot tell which songs and when we will enter the studio.
SUZANNE:
The upcoming album is in your planning for a pretty long time now. You guys even went to Denmark to record the album there that must have been great? In what kind of state is that album now?
IVOR:
Yes our debut concept album "Asylum 45" is a long awaited album. We spent maximum time and money to make the quality of the album as high as possible. We went to the Jacob Hansen in Denmark to his studio. We had the idea of visiting his studio for a long time and we just did. Jacob Hansen is a great producer with a great attitude. The chemistry was really positive between us. Non-Divine has a well thought of sound that Jacob understands best we think. For years we were fans or his work and hoped to get the sound we dreamed of. To get all of you people curious
We think that "Asylum 45" is one of his best-produced albums ever! We are very proud! At the moment the product "Asylum 45" is ready including the artwork. The search for a record company already started and is not completed at the moment. We are still looking for the right record company to release the album. Until that time the album stays unreleased. "Asylum 45" is a well kept secret until it's release.
SUZANNE:
When do you expect to release the album?
IVOR:
At the moment we really don't know. Let's hope this year. We will do our very best to get "Asylum 45" released. We know it has no fast release but we think a good release is better than a fast release.
SUZANNE:
Every song on the album goes about a patient from the Psycho hospital, am I right? And on stage you guys play in clothes of the Psycho Hospital. Why? How did you guys came to the idea to make songs about this and dress like that on stage? And will a possible second album have the same subject?
IVOR:
Yes you are right. Every song tells about a psychiatric patient from Asylum 45, which is the name of the psychiatric hospital. All patients are very different from each other and have lots of stories to tell about their lives in the hospital or about their lives before they came into the asylum. The lyrics together with the music will make you understand the thoughts and feelings of each patient. The lyrics are positive for patients with a psychiatric illness. Some of the patients have a temporally problem in daily life and others are just plain crazy.
On stage we wear white psychiatric clothes that fits in the lunatic asylum. At this way the audience will taste more of the atmosphere of the concept album. Besides that we think the white clothes really look good on stage. We think it's a better view with the podium lights on the clothes and it is something else than the normal black clothing. The idea of playing live in white clothes goes back to the summer of 2000. The first show in white was on 29 March 2001 in Boerderij Zoetermeer with the Aardschok's Metal Grand Slam Tour. We continued to play in white since that first tour show. Much later a few Swedish bands like In Flames and Darkane started to play in white clothes too. I discovered that none of these bands stole the idea from each other. Peter Wildoer (drummer of Darkane) suggested that we would warn each other when one of us would have the idea of playing live in purple clothing with pink elephants. However we are not the first band dressed in white. As far as I know the Swedish band Transport League was the first band in white clothes which was on a promotional picture. I don't know if they also dressed up in white on stage. At the moment we cannot tell the subject of the second album because we did not decide yet. It is possible that it is about a lunatic asylum again. We just don't know yet. However I do think a second album will be a concept album because we like making concept albums.
SUZANNE:
Enough questions about the album for now ;-). You are going to do a gig with "After Forever" in Haarlem (the Netherlands) on 28th of April. That must be really exciting! How did this came together?
IVOR:
A while ago I met an After Forever band member at my work. Frequently we had amusing conversations about music, signatures and bad coffee. I already knew After Forever as a great band and he learned more about Non-Divine which he likes a lot too. In a search for new support acts the whole band After Forever heard a song from the unreleased album "Asylum 45" and the reactions were very positive. They asked us to do a show together with them in Patronaat Haarlem and of course we said yes! We are looking forward to it a lot.
SUZANNE:
Will there be more gigs together with "After Forever" in the future?
IVOR:
The show in Haarlem is the only show that is planned. But we will see what the future will bring. After Forever is a great band with a great attitude and I'm sure we will have lots of fun in Haarlem.
SUZANNE:
Colleagues of you (novAct) played a couple of shows with "After Forever" too. Is there a connection between them, After Forever and Non-Divine?
IVOR:
No, there is no connection between Non-Divine having a show with After Forever and NovAct having shows with After Forever.
SUZANNE:
You guys also played with huge bands like: Dio, Murderdolls and Anthrax. How was this?
IVOR:
Fun, fun, fun! It was really awesome. We felt very comfortable playing with them. We met them all and they are all great, friendly people. They are all very different from each other and it is good to know Non-Divine fits with various styles of Rock/Metal. We had lots of positive reactions from the crowd and hope we can continue to play with artists like them in the future.
SUZANNE:
With which band would you like to tour sometime?
IVOR:
I really have no idea. There are too many bands to mention I think. We really like to tour and if a chance with a great band shows up we will have a good time anyway. The Metal Grand Slam was a huge tour and very nice to do. Since 2 of the 4 bands of that tour died, it would be worth mentioning that we would love to tour with the Belgium band After All again.
SUZANNE:
What was for you the best Non-Divine gig and why?
IVOR:
There are many gigs that were really great. As a matter of fact I think most gigs are really great because we really love to play. It's difficult to tell which one was best. The Appelpop gig was a highlight among the supports of Dio, Anthrax and Murderdolls and of course the Metal Bash Finals that we won.
SUZANNE:
Can you tell something about the Non-Divine history for the people that don't know you yet?
IVOR:
Non-Divine started in 1999. I (Ivor van Beek) started the band by asking my brother Martin van Beek (guitars) and Ruben Viets (drums). Ruben and I played in the band Artificial Limb at that time. Artificial Limb did not match totally with my ambition and taste in music. With the 3 of us we started Non-Divine which was the right band for us all. We searched for a bass player which we found in Alco Emaus. He stayed with us for years and we had a great time. Later he joined the band Wicked Mystic and now he is in the band Diggeth. After the departure of Alco we found a new bass player rather fast. Paul Groeneveld joined us and he really is a great guy and bass player. He fits in Non-Divine very well. This is in highlights the backside information about the formation of Non-Divine
SUZANNE:
Are there band members in other bands/projects? And what can you tell me about that?
IVOR:
No, all Non-Divine band members only play in Non-Divine. When Non-Divine started Ruben and I also played in Artificial Limb. That band died in April 2000. In that same week we joined guitarist Wouter Wamelink to start his new band (Morgana-X, now NovAct). In 2002 I left that band and in 2003 Ruben also left. Half of the year 2004 our guitar player Martin was the temporally bass player of the band Thronar because their bass player Bauke had to study outside the Netherlands.
SUZANNE:
What are the plans for the future of Non-Divine?
IVOR:
The plans are to get Non-Divine as far as possible. We hope to release the album soon so that we can climb higher than we are right now.
SUZANNE:
Is there anything that you would like to add for the end of the interview?
IVOR:
Yeah, first of all ... thanks a lot Suzanne for the interview. You rock! To everybody who read this interview and likes to stay tuned... you can find everything about Non-Divine at http://www.non-divine.com. You can leave your e-mail address and we will add you to our mailinglist. You can also join us at our brand new website at the MySpace network at http://www.myspace.com/groovymetalbeyondmadness
SUZANNE:
Thanks a lot for your time and we hope to hear more from you soon! Good luck with new album!
Greetings,
Suzanne
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