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Monday, 27 August 2001 |
1. Since your debut-demo everything went very fast and you have quickly built up a good name in the underground metal-scene. Did you expect this when you started with the recordings?
No, we didn't expect this at all. You just have to look at the way that we duplicated the CD's to notice that. We burnt them ourselves but hindsight a normal pressing would have certainly not been wrong. The mcd "My Obsession" is doing very good and sold well during the tour. When you keep in mind that we started in 1999, it certainly went nice and fast. From the beginning we tried to get the band as far as possible; keeping a sober view of things and taking all of the chances. With a lot of excitement we then waited for the first reviews of the CD, but we didn't even dare to dream that they were going to be this good. It seems that a lot of people like and understand the music that we make.
2. How do you look back on the tour with After All, Mac-11 and Wicked Mystic?
In a very positive way. Of course you don't really know what to expect as a band without tour experience, but it brought us a lot of fun, mischief, band experience, and playing pleasure. The atmosphere among the bands in the package was fantastic. Unfortunately you often see that competitive bands are trying to quell each other. In the metal grand slam tour on the other hand bands we interested in each other, took care of each other and had the greatest and weirdest fun imaginable. It is a time that we will never forget and we love Mac-11, After All and Wicked Mystic beyond heterosexuality. The worst moment of the tour was wen all of us realised that the tour had ended.
3. Why do you think that Non-Divine was chosen to tour with these bands and not one of the many other Dutch metal bands?
In the first place because we were offered the opportunity to compete for a place in the tour. For that we owe the organisers our eternal gratitude. Besides that it was a matter of acting quickly and correctly which eventually made us a part of the tour. Other than that I think that Non-Divine fits really well in the package. All of the four bands have their own style. Yet all of the bands have certain points which connect them all to each other. For example you will find that Wicked Mystic as well as Non-Divine use a lot of guitar-twins and harmony's; After All sounds a bit 70's rock-like like us and just like Mac-11 we use a lot of groove in the rhythms.
4. Thirty gigs in one month are a lot. Wasn't that disappointing?
No, not at all. We were well prepared, had a lot of luck with our employers and really went for it. It took a little acclimatisation at first, but as the tour continued we really got into the rhythm of the tour. My voice for example: in the first week I caught a cold, which is not really a benefit to one's voice. But fortunately we also had Rick Ambrose of Mac-11, a first class vocal veteran. With a lot of his tips and a lot of fruit and honey to show the cold the door me voice recovered quickly. At a given time my vocal cords got used to the many gigs and I could sing through all of the gigs at the top of my voice. The many travels were only annoying when you got into a queue (which wasn't so often over the whole tour) and when some guitarist/vocalist who's name I will not mention failed to read the map again. Furthermore it was a lot of fun visiting all of those places and we could only feel sad when the tour was done.
5. The tour finished in May, afterwards came a gig as the support of Dio in Hardenberg. How did this show go?
It went very well. We were still very much in the rhythm of the tour and Podium Hardenberg is a really nice place to play, also because the crew takes good care of you. Tight but reasonable reconstructing times (?), an extensive soundcheck and a relaxed atmosphere. So we had no reason to be extra nervous and just enjoyed the chock-full (1000 people) hall. The audience was very enthusiastic and we sold more merchandise than ever before.
6. Did you personally meet Dio? Or was he just the somewhat distant professional who doesn't concern himself with supporting acts?
Yes, we did meet him. Not for very long though, but we took some pictures of entire Dio and Non-Divine together (you can find them on our web site) and we had a short but powerful conversation with him a couple of times. He is very friendly en interested en liked our music very much. He even called Non-Divine and his own band a good combination. But he is also a real professional and it was noticeable by the preparations of het Podium that not just any band was going to play there that night.
7. One of the things that attracts attention on your demo is the story that runs through it. Are you planning to extend on that on a next CD?
First of all, "My Obsession" is a mcd of the yet to be released concept-album, which is, well, going to be a concept-album. Right now I can not say it the second album of non-divine is going to be about a mental asylum again, but I like writing concept-lyrics. I think it gives a CD a surplus value, a unity and charisma that, by my opinion, would decay if every song would be have a different subject.
8. Does it fascinate you to write these sort of lyrics? And where did you get the idea?
I'm not that fascinated by psychiatry. No one in my environment or myself has ever been confronted with it in the past. But I still think it is an interesting topic and it inspires me to write new lyrics. The lyrics about the mental asylum are based on pure fiction. Every patient originates in my head and I can tell everything about him or her; much more than you can find in the lyrics. For the CD cover of "My Obsession" we paid a visit to a psychiatric hospital because then we would have the chance to use beautiful old pictures of the 30's and 40's. This actually worked because the man could very much relate to the lyrics. In spite of the fact that they are all pure fiction, he could match almost every patient of a lyric to one of his own experience. The lyrics are also certainly not degrading to people with psychiatric problems. They just show that they are very normal people with a different view on certain topics or people with a temporary problem that causes them to have troubles with keeping up with society for a while.
Even though I thought the whole "concept-thing" over profoundly, the idea just comes from a song from an other band. The song is called "Neerg" from the album "multiverse" from the Swedish band Mourning Sign. It is a relatively unknown band but we love that music. In Neerg, a psychiatric patient tells the story of everyday-life in a mental asylum. One of those things is the fact that he likes the colour green very much.
9. Do you think that you can fill an entire album with it?
No problem. The material for the entire album is almost done. In all we have twelve songs now, from which one instrumental. Probably not all of the songs are going to get on the CD. All of the new material after the "My Obsession" mcd is surely going to be on the album. We are getting a lot of positive reactions on the new material. I think that the songs are some more melodic and catchy.
10. You recently recorded the song "Return To Zero". This song appeared on a compilation album (right?) of Power Records. Can you tell me some more about that?
Yeah, you are right. Among other bands we were chosen to appear with one song on a compilation CD of the Dutch record company Power Records Int. It was the intention that all of the bands would record their song at the Steelworks studio in Purmerend.
We chose to record a new song and it became "Return To Zero"; the second composition of the almighty Martin (guitar player). It is (of course, what else would you expect from Martin) a very beautiful and compact song with a lot of groove and beautiful twins like you often hear with Non-Divine. The recordings in Steelworks went excellent, fast, and relaxed. In 6 hours we recorded everything and made a rough mix. A month later we went back to finish the mix.
The Harrow studio in Losser re-equalised and mastered the entire compilation album. Recently we redid the work that Harrow did ourselves with our loyal "Master" Fridus, because we are quite annoyed with the final sound of our song. Our latest version does sound Good by our opinion, and we also made a version with a sample in the centre. Soon you will be able to download the latest version of RTZ completely from our site: http://www.non-divine.com
11. Did record companies already approach you? Or better yet, have you already been able to get a record contract?
Apart from the comp. CD, we did not have any contact with any record companies, so we don't have a record deal yet. We did meet some people from that business and they were certainly positive. We will pay some more attention to this branch when the album has taken some more shape.
12. Do you think that the first album will see the light of day in this year?
I fear not. We don't know what studio we are going to visit or if we are going to produce the CD ourselves. Apart from that the material in not completely finished yet. Including the search of a record company that is willing to release the disk I myself am thinking of halfway 2002.
13. And then the last question: How do you look back on 2½ years of Non-Divine?
I look back with amazement when I see how fast it all went with Non-Divine. I have played in bands for eleven years now, but in the two bands that I played in before there was little accomplished and nothing worked. With Non-Divine I notice that the music is celebrated and understood by a wider audience. The co-operation between the bandmembers is excellent, we are on the same level and there is a pleasant atmosphere. So not only do I take pleasure in looking back on the last 2½ years, I also see a positive future.
Ate Hoekstra
http://www.gothcore.nl
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