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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
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» SPECIALS
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BORN FROM PAIN
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Ché Snelting
April 2005
http://www.bornfrompain.com
I'm ashamed to say I didn't know Born From Pain until I got the promo from Metal Blade. I was surprised to be dealing with a Dutch band and fell off my chair when I found out they are from the town I've been living in for 11 years now, Heerlen, the Netherlands! It beats me how there could be such a good band in Heerlen without me hearing about it. An accomplishment on itself hehe, probably because I've known my way in the metal scene for many years, but hardly in the hardcore scene. Anyway, I'm glad I have the chance to fire some questions at singer Ché, for myself and our (metal) readers!
Hey guys, I was very pleasantly surprised by"In Love With The End"! I'm not familiar with your previous two albums, but I know I love this one, how does it compare to your older work?
I thank you very much, although I have to say you should be ashamed not knowing us, since we're from Heerlen and you live there… It's not like we never play in Heerlen or around our town. Hahaha…
Compared to our older stuff this has more groove, more depth and sounds more mature. The older stuff was pretty much just hard and aggressive stuff to mosh to at a show or in your bedroom. There's a couple of MP3's on our website from those CD's I would suggest just check it out.
Did something change in the songwriting or way of recording for this one? Is there a routine in how you guys write?
Yep, we tried something different this time around, before we mainly wrote stuff while practising, for this record we chose to write at home, and let everyone hear what people came up with, then we decided to keep something or throw it away. I'm really happy with the new stuff as well, every time I listen to it I can't help but bang my head to it.
You went back to the Antfarm Studio in Denmark to record with Tue Madsen again. How did you end up there in the first place?
We heard some stuff he did before he really got big, and that sounded very promising, that was around the time when we were looking to go into a studio, so we were orientating on a studio. We booked the place, went up there, and it was pure magic the first time, and even better the second time we worked together.
I love the cover a lot, who did the artwork?
It's this firm called "Drugs" from Germany who are really good friends with us. He did an outstanding job on this record lay out wise. For this record we basically went for the contradictive approach it all looks very light, like the colours, and the nuclear explosion is in contradiction to that. Same goes for the title: the one thing is beautiful, and the other thing is ugly but inevitable; "In Love With The End".
Is there a concept to the lyrics? The CD title sounds very grim and pessimistic ;)
But that's just how it is, life isn't very pretty. It's not a pretty world we live in. We're so caught up in the life we live right now that we forget the consequences it has on the future. This is all meant in a economical, sociological, environmental, political way. Basically all aspects of life. It's like being so in love that it blinds you from the truth.
It's your first album for Metal Blade, was it a specific wish of the band to sign with a more metal-orientated label?
We were discussing that before we were signed by Metal Blade, and we wanted to sign on a bigger label to reach a bigger crowd. And one day Metal Blade knocked on our door, together with some other alike labels, and said they wanted to sign us. Rob and me (Ché) went down there, had a chat with them and decided they were the right label for us.
What is the Dutch hardcore scene like? And more specific the one in this region? I know Maastricht is well-known for its hardcore scene, but how about this corner of our province Limburg?
Maastricht? Ehm, they used to have a lively scene but that's years ago… Heerlen and the area around it had more bands that offered more quality but that scene was never picked up by the media, the media only looked at Maastricht , since Backfire! And Right Direction are from that area. Now the only band that's still left is Backfire!, and most of the kids involved in the scene from Maastricht are gone, but in Heerlen and around the scene is still alive and kicking.
Oops, that shows how much I know about the hardcore scene ;)
You have a lot of metal influences, are you guys still hardcore enough in the eyes of the die-hard hardcore fans?
I still consider Born From Pain as a hardcore band. We know where we come from, it's not like there's police running around telling us we're not hardcore anymore because we're on Metal Blade or have too much metal influences. There's always people who judge us for some reason, but that's okay, that's just how life works. The moment you achieve something people talk shit on you…
Crossover (metal/hardcore) seems to be specifically popular in Northern America, how "famous" is Born From Pain there?
I dunno, we did a tour over there last year, and that was really a success. As far as famous goes, I hope we can go there again real soon, and do something about our popularity.
I don't suppose you can't live off music (yet), how do you combine touring with jobs etc.?
Not really no, we've come to a point right now where we can earn a bit of money back from all the investments we've done over the years. But it's a rewarding job in memories.
Well Stefan and me are both part time students, Stefan works at an IT office, I work as a temp. Rob works at the same office Stefan works, Karl works for our previous label, Roel is a courier. We all pretty much have good circumstances where we can take time off when we need it.
You have already played in so many countries, from England to Greece in Europe, but also you've been to Japan, the US and Mexico. Is there still something left??
Hahaha, yep, east coast in the US, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. And when that's done we'll do all of it again!!!
Haha! Makes sense!
Which countries you've been to did you like the best?
I love Greece, England mainly because of London, Poland, Portugal…
What band would you really want to tour with?
Black Sabbath, Pantera, Bolt Thrower, Metallica, Slipknot, Machine Head, Slayer, Antharx, Testament, Exodus…
Tell me a bit about your musical preferences. What music did you grow up with, what are your influences and your current favorites?
My dad always played 70's rock music, so Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, The Who were bands I grew up with. I still love those kinda bands. When I turned 13 I started to really like Guns n'Roses, Faith No More, Metallica, Helloween. After listening that a couple of years the harder stuff was lurking. So I got really interested in Slayer, Testament and death metal like Cannibal Corpse. But I fellt something was missing with those bands, I needed more energy, and that's when I really got into hardcore and other more aggressive bands like Pantera, Biohazard. Right now I listen to a lot of stuff, metal, hardcore, 70's rock, singer songwriter stuff, and occasionally some hip hop. Favourite band ever: Black Sabbath...
That's it! Thanks so far... any last comments for our readers?
Check out our new CD "In Love With The End" out now through Metal Blade… And when we're playing a venue near your house soon check us out…
submitted by Marlies 06.05.2005
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