April 2009 | Lords Of Metal | Interviewed by Ramon
First of all, welcome to Lords of Metal and congratulations with the release of your second demo. Are you satisfied with the final result?
Gerben: Ramon, first I would like to thank you and the Lords of Metal for this interview. The ‘Hate Beyond Hate’ release is a piece of work which we are very proud of. Let me tell you these five tracks were originally recorded at Fredde’s Dirty Bird Productions for the upcoming split CD with Grindbashers but the five of us couldn’t wait for it to be released, because we were so impressed about the result. So we decided to release it ourselves, in a much earlier stage.
Did you get any feedback on it yet?
Gerben: Yes, we did get a lot of feedback. We’ve been told the tracks are HARD, EXTREME, BRUTAL. Most people like it better than our previous ‘Lethal Dose’ release. Tracks are better arranged, maybe slightly another style. More ‘groove’, but more brutal.
Do you have a favorite song on it?
Gerben: ‘Rebel To The Grave’ is my personal favorite, I think this is because I am a huge fan of brutal/extreme deathmetal, powerviolence & grindcore. ‘Rebel To The Grave’ is probably the most extreme track on this release. I like to play this fast! This is also the only track we’ve made in thirty minutes and never changed anything about it (except for the lyrics). Further I must say I like all the tracks. What’s different to our previous release (according to the drummer) are the two different blastbeats I play in these tracks. I think it comes out even more brutal this way.
Was it a test for you guys to work on it, as it is quite a different experience than jamming in a rehearsal studio?
Gerben: Hmmm, maybe at first because this release is the first Iniuria release with this line-up. Jan & Ka never made studio-recordings before. But it worked out great and we made this piece quite easily. Fredde creates a very nice natural environment (coffee, beer, more coffee, more beer) for recording so we did quite easily adapt to this situation.
What’s the main objective at this point, score gigs or maybe getting a deal?
Gerben: Well that’s quite an or-, or- question. I think the proper answer to this question is that the main objective is to play as many gigs as possible AND try to get a deal, hahaha. We’re always willing to do gigs.
Quite a relevant one: your band name means “insulting” in Latin. (You see, it pays to pay attention at school, I still know) What’s the general idea behind the name?
Gerben: You did your homework well I see. So I assume you know INIURIA has many meanings; Insult, injury, war, injustice…. And more.
I did, but that was a long time ago, mea culpa. I forgot about most of them.
Gerben: So now I’m going to tell something probably only the die-hard death-grind-noise fans know. In 1995 some of the current Iniuria members formed the grind/noisecore band LD’50 (I’m one of them). LD’50 made five 7” records (one LP and more, but let’s focus on the 7”s). The title of the last 7” was ‘Iniuria’. When we quit LD’50 and went on playing death metal, we were in search of a new bandname. We tried to refer to the past a bit, so we went for Iniuria. Further nice to know is that the L and the D in LD’50 stand for Lethal Dose, so there was the title of our first release.
Wow, there’s quite something to it, then. Luttenberg, of all places in the world, is your main base. Must be a pretty exciting place, with nice venues and a cut-throat mentality among all the hundreds of bands around there, isn’t it? ;-)
Gerben: Hahaha, yeah! It’s a small village (population 2500 or something like that) but don’t be mistaken; there are about twenty bands active here, so that’s quite a lot for such a small village. Iniuria is the only death metal band here. You know, in the early nineties, even eighties, we had bands over here like Gorefest, Deadhead, Incubator, Sinister, Holy Moses and even Slayer. Quite an active village back then, concerning to the metalscene, nowadays things are pretty different. Too bad… but I notice the scene is getting stronger again in eastern Holland. More metalgigs planned in the venues Hedon, Atak, Burgerweeshuis, Lucky and more. And also the rising of some cool summer festivals, like Elsrock.
As I read in your lyrics, the issue with junkies in Almelo (the residence of singer Ka) is a big problem. What other prejudices about the east of Holland can you erase for all our readers from bigger populated cities?
Ka: I guess you are referring to ‘Parasites Of Society’? Because that is the only song on the album where drugs are mentioned (except for the bottle of Scotch in ‘Back in 'Nam’ ). ‘Parasites of Society’ is not specifically about Almelo, nor about junkies or any kind of addiction. It is about selfish and greedy, criminal people who don't give a fuck about friends and family. People who are claiming to rely only on unemployment benefit, but yet they do all kinds of illegal jobs. Those are the "Parasites of Society" in my eyes. A good example are the phrases: "Stealing, dealing and betraying... I live my life my own way!!" These people place cash and drugs (selling as well as using) above the true values in life. But to return to the point of your question, in Almelo we have no big problem with junkies, I think that’s more a problem for bigger cities like Enschede or Arnhem. About the prejudices, I don't know many prejudices about the east of Holland but I certainly know that metal is going strong here!! I see new bands coming up all the time, there's definitely a lot going on in the metalscene here nowadays.
Let me play the devil’s advocate a bit here: surely, everyone is responsible for the path they choose in life, but don’t you think in some cases people with a drug addiction can be seen as a victim of his (or her) surroundings, rather than just label them as “parasites of society”?
Ka: That’s right, if I had to label drug-addicts I would rather label them “victim of the parasites” (maybe an idea for a new song haha) then parasites itself. But besides that, I don’t think I have the right to label or judge people who use or abuse drugs, because I have never lived a life like a saint myself, if you know what I mean, hahaha.
I got the message and so do your parents in law by now hahaha. About the lyrics some more. They seem to be dealing with both personal concerns as well as things that are going on in society in general. You mostly choose an eloquent but direct approach in describing them and they are written in such a matter that it leaves no doubt what your opinion about something is. What’s the idea behind it?
Ka: Good question. Looking back at the lyrics on ‘Hate Beyond Hate’, they seem quite serious and maybe they are, but I just wrote the lyrics I felt like doing at that moment. Things I had to get off my chest. Maybe it comes from my background, maybe it’s my character, maybe because I listen a lot of thrash metal and hardcore, I don’t know. But what I do know is that the lyrics from some songs in the future will also be more traditional death metal-like. Subjects like: torture, rape, murder and war won’t be forgotten! I don't feel the urge to send a message to the world with every song I write. I don't take myself that seriously.
I was sort of surprised to find the phrase “I resist in the name of Satan”, as that did not fit in with the rest at all, from my perspective at least. Prove me wrong, please. What’s that doing there?
Gerben: Hahaha, yeah, that’s quite a story. Some sort of gimmick maybe. First of all, we aren’t busy with any form of religion or black-magic or whatever hahaha. On the contrary; you know when our previous vocalist left, we were desperate to find a new vocalist. After some research we found Ka. We left him a few messages, but he didn’t respond, until Bryan left him the message:”Doe het voor Satan” (do it for Satan). This phrase shook him loose to respond. After some correspondence Ka realized Iniuria is just a fun group of guys making DeathvMetal. So he came to our rehearsal-room, sang some songs and wrote some lyrics. After a week or what he brought up this story again and said: ”Well, in some way Satan must come forward in one of our tracks”.
Well, I’m glad I got that out, then. Another song deals with dysfunctional child raising, maybe you in particular. Are you willing to tell us anything about that, or is it just a fictional lyric?
Ka: I think none of those two, it’s neither about me nor fictionally. Fortunately my family always treated me well. I have been through some tough times, but haven’t we all? But the lyrics aren’t fictionally. It all comes from stories I hear from friends and relatives and things I see when I take a good look around. And of course some of my own experiences in life as well, but that is not what the lyrics are about in general.
I used the term “old school” in my review, which I am sure would not feel as an insult to you. You seem to be leaning heavily on the early nineties, when it comes to influences, am I right? Could you name a few?
Gerben: That sure isn’t an Iniuria to me! You know, we are five different kind of guys, listening to different types of music. For example, I usually listen to death metal and grindcore. Death metal I like is mostly made before 1993, so you’re right about that part. Jan is more the hardrock to thrash metal type. Ka likes euh… hardcore to death metal, Bryan listens from Steve Vai to brutal death metal, Roy listens to heavy metal-death metal (hope I don’t insult one of ‘em). I find it hard to answer your question. Let’s see, back in 1995 we were inspired by Agathocles, Exulceration, Carnage, Sempiternal Deathreign (according to many, the first Dutch death Metal band, R), Cripple Bastards and Rot. After the years went by and we started to learn how to play, it became more interesting. But it’s not like: ”Wow, have you heard this/that band? Let’s make music like they do”. Personally, I think we combine our musical skills to make music we all like to play. For me personally I can give you hundreds of examples so I will mention some; My biggest inspiration on drums may be found on the ‘False’ album by Gorefest, ‘Goremageddon’, ‘ The Saw And Carnage Is Done’ by Aborted, ‘Humanure’ by Cattle Decapitation, ‘Cross The Styx’ by Sinister, ‘Hallucinations’ by Atrocity…… skip 800….. Dying Fetus, Vader, Acrostichon, Nile, Inhume, Benighted, Exulceration, Assuck, Destroy, Morbid Angel and so on and so forth.
The artwork on your demo is of a high standard. Have you got some really good friends, or did you have to dig deep in your wallet for it?
Gerben: Yeah we’re all millionaires hahaha. No, all the artwork is made by Stefan Broos (www.soorbs.nl) from now on he’s one of my best friends, hahaha. I know it’d took him a lot of time to make all this even though we didn’t know him at all. He’s the drummer from the band called Bigby. The singer of this band I did know, he said to me: ”If you look for a good lay-out, you must ask our drummer; he can make amazing things”. So we did, and we never regretted this decision. I must say the version you have isn’t the final version, IT WILL BE EVEN BETTER!
Hey, you must keep journalist as friends, remember that. Always send us the best you have. Just kidding! Well, you made up with him by doing all this promotion for him here. The same could be asked about the production, that’s quite neat too. (“Vet”, we say here) tell us about it!
Gerben: The recordings were done at Fredde’s Dirty Bird Productions. We recorded these tracks in a live situation: only the vocals and the guitar solos were recorded another day. Fredde is a great sound-engineer. We learned a lot from him. (And maybe he learned from us?). It didn’t take a lot of time to record this release and we made a good financial deal with Fredde and we hope to work with him again in the future.
I saw your bass player playing a Rickenbacker. This is widely considered to be the very best bass to play on like a guitar player and with distortion. Does he?
Gerben: The holy Rickenbacker… is not played like a guitar and Roy doesn’t use distortion on this recording. Only a compressor is used.
As we speak, your own website seems behind the facts slightly and your MySpace reveals you have two recitals ahead of you. You don’t do that many gigs, do you?
Gerben: Correct, the www.iniuria.nl should have got an update already, but due some problems with the webmaster we’re heading behind some months now… sorry for that. The MySpace account is up to date. We did and are going to do some shows this year, but in my opinion not enough. We hope to do more gigs this year. I can reveal a short tour with Vermin (NL) is coming up. And gigs with Grindbashers, Carnal Leftovers and Chiraw but they are not finally confirmed yet.
Impressive, if all goes right. Do you still get nervous for a gig?
Gerben: No, I’m not. Personally, I’m playing in a band and doing gigs for fourteen years now, so that’s not a problem for me. I think some guys in the band do get nervous sometimes.
I found a little clip on YouTube in which was said that you use heavy smoking, whisky, coffee and a polyp to create this vocal sound. Along a sick mind, of course. Did you have anything to do with that statement? I saw the word polyp come back on your MySpace too
Gerben: Hahaha, that clip was put on YouTube by Bryan. We had a huge laugh about it. You know, the hot issue about the polyp in throats from Dutch singers (Frans Bauer, Jan Smit and his Sister Monique Smit). I just stole Bryan’s line and put the link at our MySpace. It looks like it’s having success this way.
Wouldn’t you agree that making jokes about polyps is very insulting to the diehard fans of the sister of Jan Smit?
Gerben: Yes. Hahahaha.
Why a collaboration with Michel Matteman from Carnal Leftovers?
Gerben: I’ve known Michel for quite some years now, we did some gigs together, drank loads of beer together, made a lot of jokes together, and so on and so forth. Carnal Leftovers is a nice band with nice guys (even you Micha). We thought his voice could sound great in combination with Ka’s smoked-out-polyp-grunt. And it does! This track will also be on the’ ExtremeUndergroundEuropeanMetalFront’ compilation CD II (to be released march 2009). This CD will also contain one track from Carnal Leftover and the band Fredde is playing in Massive Assault.
Apart from the gigs mentioned before, any plans for the future?
Gerben: We’ll form a packaged gig deal with Carnal Leftovers to conquer the world. The tour with Vermin is coming up. Gigs with Grindbashers, Chiraw and more to be final planned. We’ll be writing new extreme tracks for a full length album
Well, that’s about it for this time. Hope you got ample opportunity to show who you are and what you are about. Is there anything you would like to share with us?
Gerben: Ramon, we’d like to thank you for this interview. Further to everyone; just mail to get your copy of the ‘Hate Beyond Hate’-CD. Still fifty copies of the ‘Lethal Dose’ release are available. Only fifteen T-shirts are left! Anyone and you can mail to get us performing in your hometown! I hope to see you all at one of our gigs banging your head off!