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Saturday, 05 May 2007 |
The debut album by Non-Divine can at least be called impressive. With a huge amount of groove the band brings catching melodies and they know to remain attractive from the beginning until the end. In my review I even speak of a new musical pearl. Vocalist and guitarist Ivor van Beek let you get acquainted with the band.
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Text: Patrick
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Our first encounter at Lords of Metal with Non-Divine, although you are around for a couple of years, was through your debut album 'Asylum 45'. Could you, for those out there who may not know Non-Divine, tell a little about the band? Could you tell me what is going on with you and Non-Divine right now?
It was the year 1999 when I felt the urge to found a new band. I asked Ruben Viets who played drums in the band I was in at that time and I asked my brother Martin as a guitar player. The ideas about music style and sound were very clear from the beginning and we began composing and started rehearsing. We found a bass player and we could start to rock. In the year 2002 we had a line-up change. From that point Paul Groeneveld was our bass-player. At the moment we have several gigs promoting our album. Recently we had several shows among the support of W.A.S.P. and Volbeat and next week we play the support for Mercenary in Belgium. Our first video of the song "One Man, One Soul" will be released on the12th of May.
The melodic groove is undeniably one of your trademarks. Did you, right from the start, have this groovy direction in mind or did this happen just naturally during the writing phase?
The groove was about the first element that came up at the time the band did not even start. I wanted to write music that had a steady groovy rhythm and we really like to keep it as one of our trademarks. It makes our music groovy and even danceable.
You have won the Aardschok Metal Bash 2005. What did, winning this prize, do with you as band? I can imagine it must have raised quite some expectations and put quite some pressure on you as band; if so, how did you handle this? Or is this not how you have experienced it?
Winning the Aardschok Metal Bash was really great. The level of the bands in the finals was very high so we were very amused. I personally think that the absolute highlight about being a Metal Bash winner is the appreciation you get for years of hard work. As a band with the Metal Bash winner mark on your biography it's easier to show what your band is capable of. Non-Divine is a band with ambition so it did not gave more pressure, it just showed us that we were on the right way.
'Asylum 45' is getting raving, euphoric reviews; what does this do to you when you read this and how important are positive reviews for a band as Non-Divine?
The first ever 'Asylum 45' review was the album of the month March 2007 in the Dutch Aardschok Magazine. That's about the best start you can get. After that, loads of reviews came in and at this moment most of the reviews are still about to come. Every single review from now on is raving, euphoric reviews indeed. It gives me the biggest smile you can get reading them. The reviews of our debut album show us that Non-Divine has an original style of music that cannot be compared with other bands easily. However the reviews show that the music can be described as melodic groove rock/metal. The reviews show us that we made the album that we had planned for years. It seems to work out very well.
Overall, are you pleased with the outcome of the songs at 'Asylum 45'? What are your own personal feelings about the actual end result of 'Asylum 45'? What were your intentions for this album style-wise?
The songs really sound at their best on this record, we are very pleased. We took our best 10 songs to record for the album that have various styles within our music style. 'Asylum 45' is about a fictional lunatic asylum. In every song a patient tells their story and all patients are very different from each other and the music fits with the atmosphere of each patient. Style-wise it was important to have the variation but also have the concept feeling. I think the songs fit in the album very well with each song as a piece of the puzzle.
The production has been done by Jacob Hansen. What made him the perfect producer for 'Asylum 45'? In which things/songs of the new album can one clearly hear his vision and ideas?
Jacob Hansen was our number one producer for years. His productions sounded just the way we thought Non-Divine had to sound. Working with Jacob Hansen was very pleasant. He is very friendly and always calm. His understanding of music is profound. You never had to explain the meaning of some riffs or whatever, he just always understands. He did what we wanted totally by himself. However Jacob was not really an engineer so his visions and ideas are best heard in the sound of the album, not in song writing. We were very curious if our visit to his studio would end up with a production that was equal to his master-pieces and we are convinced that our album "Asylum 45" became one of his best products ever!
Why did you choice to be your debut album a kind of concept album?
I came up with the idea of making this concept record myself. I think it is far more interesting to write about a concept instead of telling something else every song again. A concept album about a lunatic asylum with all kinds of patients gave me inspiration to many lyrics. The idea for that came from movies and from everyday life. Sometimes a song creates its own patient because the feeling of all songs fit with the patients mind. Some of the patients are really crazy but there are also patients who have a temporary problem with their social life. The lyrics are never negative about people suffering from mental illness. Reading the lyrics together with the music that fits with the patients makes their situation understandable.
You will be playing a lot of shows in the Netherlands, in which you will be supporting and have supported quite some well-known name sin the metal scene (Anthrax, After Forever, W.A.S.P., DIO, Volbeat, Mercenary, and Alchemist). How do/did you end up opening for these acts? Do you have plans to play abroad as well or does that depend on the offers you get?
It was a great experience of course. We met most artists and had a chat with them, and shot pictures of them and us together. Those artists are really different from each other and it was nice to discover that Non-Divine suited perfectly well with their styles of music. In this way Non-Divine reaches all sorts of audiences and the feedback we got was really great every show. Like I already mentioned we recently did the W.A.S.P. support and two Volbeat supports. On the first of May we play the Mercenary support in Belgium and in October we play the Alchemist support at the Prog Power Europe Festival in Baarlo.
During your live shows you play a cover of Machine Head's 'Davidian'. What the reason for picking this song?
It was the idea of guitarist Martin van Beek to pick up 'Davidian'. He suggested the song and we all liked the idea. Machine Head is one of the bands we like a lot and fits with one of the many styles of music you can place Non-Divine with. It's a well known song and we get loads of energetic response from the crowd when we play it. Non-Divine also covers Sepultura's 'Roots Bloody Roots' and Fear Factory's 'Edge Crusher'.
From what I understood, you are playing your live shows white psychiatric ward uniforms. This is about to become a trademark for you. Will it be something you will be doing only as long as 'Asylum 45' is your most current album or could it be something which you could continue to do for years?
Clothing is very important to us onstage. In the year 2000 I came up with the idea of wearing totally white psychiatric outfits onstage. Our first gig in those white outfits was early 2001 during the Metal Grand Slam Tour that brought us to the biggest venues of The Netherlands in seven weeks. Much later some other bands like In Flames and Darkane temporary also had white clothing. At the moment it's not sure if the second album will have another concept theme. I don't think we will change our white clothing till that time. On stage the white clothes do not only look different but it's also beautiful to lighten in the lightshow. With our CD presentation last February 24th we also had a VJ visualising the psychiatric theme and we had a flame show. From now on we will work together with the VJ frequently.
How important is these days to have an internet site to be able to communicate with your fans?
Besides magazines and live shows what else can you do to communicate with your fans? I think internet is everything these days. The many e-zines, the band homepage, MySpace, e-mail and whatever is the way it works out. I think MySpace is rather big these days, it seems that you can't be a band without a MySpace account nowadays. You can communicate directly with your fans and all organisations. I think mediums like that will grow in the future.
You have signed a record deal with Rusty Cage Records. What made you decide to choose for them and, up till now, do they deliver what you had hoped for?
In our search for a record label we found more options. We chose for the new Dutch label Rusty Cage Records because they gave us the best deal that includes two albums. They also gave us the best feeling which I think is very important. They are friendly, fanatic and we can communicate very well with them. They are well experienced in the rock/metal scene so they have lots of knowledge and contacts. They have a background as a musician so they understand the needs of a band. We are very pleased with Rusty Cage Records.
How do you see the band's future and what do you hope to have achieved in, let's say, about two or three years from now?
We are very happy that 'Asylum 45' finally has been released so we can rock! We will promote this record first and we will continue to play many shows. Hopefully we can play some more festivals this summer and if it's possible we also would like to tour in other countries besides the Benelux. Within two years I think our second album will be released. We wrote many new songs already. The plans are to bring Non-Divine as far as possible.
How do you combine your daily routines with all the things concerning Non-Divine? Are you capable of making a full living out of Non-Divine? I assume you have other, daily obligations besides Non-Divine. Would you, if the opportunity ever occurs, all be willing to make it a full-time job? What is a typical day like for you?
We all need a full time job to pay for our expensive Non-Divine hobby, that's the way it is. It would be silly to think that this will change within a few years. If the occasion occurs that we can make a living out of our music, sure! I combine daily routines with a tight time-schedule and besides that I never watch television for example. A typical day for me is get to and back from work, eat, clean up the shit at home and do as much Non-Divine work as I can till I go to bed again. In the weekends we have gigs or a rehearsal. The rest of the weekend I take a break with my girlfriend.
Are there any other happenings or things going on with the band or you personally that you would like me to let people know about?
Well, this question leads to a subject that not much people know about. I'm suffering from a sort of 'After Party' from the disease of Pfeiffer. Whole the year 2006 I had this disease without knowing that I had the disease. Fortunately the virus disappeared meanwhile but my health is still bad. I still need time to recover but slightly my health gets better. Non-Divine also suffers from this and could have done more if I had a normal health. Anyway the show must go on and will go on!
Thanks for taking the time. All the best with Non-Divine and hopefully see you out on the road soon!
Yeah thanks for the interview! Please feel free and welcome to visit Non-Divine at their websites as mentioned below. You can find all information about Non-Divine over there. You can sign in for our newsletter at the official Non-Divine homepage and you can get friends with us at MySpace. You can also listen to two of our songs on those websites. Feel free to leave your comments!
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