Interview- Asphyx

Dutch legendary death metal band Asphyx brought havoc in Quantic Club, headlining the sixth day of QFest 2024. They haven’t been in Romania since their 2019 amazing performance at...
Asphyx

Dutch legendary death metal band Asphyx brought havoc in Quantic Club, headlining the sixth day of QFest 2024. They haven’t been in Romania since their 2019 amazing performance at Rockstadt Extreme Fest. It is not every day that one gets to meet legends, so an interview with Martin van Drunen came as a natural part of the event.

DinIntunerec: Hello and welcome to Bucharest. Thank you for getting on board with this interview. How do you feel coming back to Romania? Are you ready to shatter the stage tonight?

Martin van Drunen: Hello, it’s nice to be here and have this conversation. Yes, of course Asphyx is ready to shatter the stage and the entire club. It’s been really a long time. I think the last time we performed in Romania was not in Bucharest, but at Rockstadt Extreme Fest, which was amazing. From us it may sound weird because we play all over the world, but Rockstadt was one of the most beautiful festivals we have ever played. So yeah, I look forward to it. It’s been a long time. I hardly played here, so it’s going to be really special.

We always have a good time here. Since we had the first show, I don’t know when it was exactly, but I know it was at Silver Church in Bucharest. Since then, it was always really cool to come back and have a good time.

DinIntunerec: Your impressive career spans 37 years, counting the hiatus time also, 10 full-length albums, three EPs and plenty of split albums, not to mention hundreds of live shows. How do you stay inspired and prominent after all these years?

Martin van Drunen: By still finding passion and love for the music, I think it’s that. Also because we are still metalheads ourselves, so basically we are fans of the genre. So we know how it works and what people expect from us. We also know how to not disappoint the fans, like some other bands maybe did for us, old heroes came sometimes with lousy albums. That’s really not a good feeling, you know, after supporting a band for so many years. So for us, that is really important. Once we start working on an album, the process is growing and the songs get slowly ready and then we compose it all together. Then it’s quite simple. If we don’t like it ourselves, we’re not going to put this on the market because it means that we will disappoint our fans.

So, we have to really do our best. Once the songs are done, we really have to go crazy on them and choose only what we know the fans like. That’s what keeps us rolling. Also, those who never played live wouldn’t know the feeling. Well, for us, it’s like a drug…. Like an addiction.

DinIntunerec: Let’s have a journey back in time. How did the band come about? When you started with Asphyx, did you expect to get that far?

Martin van Drunen: I was not a part of the foundation of the band. Like Napalm Death, Asphyx is one of these bands that still roll good, but without any original members. So it was Bob, the drummer, Bob Bagchus, he founded the band. Tons of lineup changes and they did a few demos, like, Cenotaph, and started getting attention in the underground. Back in the days, that actually meant physically writing letters because there was no email, nothing. Also, tape trading… sending demos. Then they gained attention and following.

That’s why Century Media, the label that we are still on, became interested. Before they signed, I left Pestilence and Bob and me were already good friends so he just gave me a call, and invited me to join Asphyx. So, that’s when I joined and then it went really good for the band. We did a couple of tours with Bolt Thrower, Benediction, Entombed, all really successful. Then I left. They did a couple of other stuff. Bob left as well. Then there were tons of lineup changes. And in 2000, I came back again, but we played then under the name of Soulburn.

They felt that Soulburn was actually Asphyx, so they changed the name back into Asphyx.

Then there was another hiatus, so they quit in 2000. And then in 2007, we found each other again because there was a festival in Germany, and the organizer kept on mailing Bob every year, that the crowd there of this festival really wanted to see Asphyx as it was their favorite band. But it was not possible, because Eric, the guitar player, was not… prepared. Anyway, he was just struggling inside. He had an inner struggle, some kind of… Not a crisis, because it’s a big word, but he was just not ready. The weird story is that Paul offered to do the job. So we  practiced with Bob and Paul. It went great. From then on, we never stopped. That’s basically a little bit of our story.

DinIntunerec: What is the story behind the name of the band? Why Asphyx? And also, for a few years, the band was active under another name, Soulburn. Can you tell us why the change?

Martin van Drunen: Well, the name Asphyx is from the word asphyxiation. Which is similar to suffocation. They cut the word because they thought it would be too long. So just simple Asphyx. And then Tony, the old guitar player, made a really nice logo, you know, like with the two lines and the little skull.

So they just kept it like that, Asphyx. That’s it. Then, they did Soulburn because back then they were not sure with that lineup, if it would still sound like Asphyx. After Feeding on Angels album, as Soulburn, they thought it could also be an Asphyx album… Differently, but still… So with the same lineup, under the name Asphyx, they made the album On the Wings of Inferno.

DinIntunerec: You left the band in ’92 after recording the second album, Last One on Earth. Why was that?

Martin van Drunen: Actually, no one knows. We didn’t even know why at the moment. I mean, Bob, me and Eric are really good friends. But we think it basically had to do a little bit with the fact that I was quite an experienced tour animal. I did lots of touring already before and Bob has never been really fit for touring. Even now, he stopped with the band because he was not much into live shows anymore.

So even back then, Bob didn’t want to tour, he wanted to stay at home, listen to his demo tapes of bands and all that instead of playing live. Instead, I wanted to continue and play live. So I think it was that. But I’m just guessing.

DinIntunerec: In 1994, Asphyx released a self-titled album, then split up shortly after. You weren’t there at the time, but I suppose you know what led to that.

Martin van Drunen: Yeah, because Eric remained alone… First I  left, then Bob left. So Eric was on his own. He had to carry the whole band on his shoulders. But, all the material was already written and all he needed to do was record. So he had Ron van Pol and they just recorded the album titled Asphyx. Eric asked me to come to his home because we were still friends. He wanted me to listen to the album, because he wanted my opinion. He said, “It’s not a shocker like Last One on Earth… maybe it is a drag, but it’s still a damn good album.”

Then he said, he was fed up and was not going to carry it anymore only on his shoulders. He said it was a one time thing. Also, he believed himself alone isn’t Asphyx. So, he stopped. Apart from that, Ron and Sander they were more like session musicians instead of really being into the band… as being Asphyx.

DinIntunerec: Two years later, the band reformed again and recorded God Cries, then split up again. Can you explain that?

Martin van Drunen: That’s the old story of Asphyx. Its constant split-ups and lineup changes. I know that with God Cries, the story is a bit different. The old singer, Theo wanted to do something again… Bob, also. So  they did God Cries. But then again, as always, Theo and Bob collided again and then they were fed up with each other. Then came Soulburn. By the way, Theo passed away, so rest in peace (even though we were never friends)

DinIntunerec: Asphyx came back, but disbanded again in 2000. The reunion happened seven years later. Actually, when you came back. Can you please give us a few details on how you decided to come back?

Martin van Drunen: You mean in 2007? Well, like I said before, there’s a big extreme metal festival in Germany, called Party.San Metal  Open Air. It’s really a fantastic thing. Every year, they make an inquiry about the band fans would like to see the following year. At that time, Asphyx was on top of the list. It must be said that since the fall of the German wall, we were quickly there, so we gained a diehard following. Party.San Metal  Open Air is in the former East German region. Every year, Bob declined the invitation to play there because Eric was not available.

Then, one day, Bob mailed me about playing at this German festival.

I said I couldn’t do it without Eric. Yet, there was this fortunate coincidence that we formed Hail of Bullets, and we wanted to get to know each other by getting drunk in a bar. So, we were drinking and talking and then Paul said to me, he could play the guitar with Asphyx. I told Bob and first his reaction was very strong, saying that no one can replace Eric. However, two weeks later Bob mailed me and said: “Actually, why not? Let’s try!” Paul was fantastic in the practice room. So we said, yeah, this has a chance. Let’s see.

The funny thing is that Paul told me that he woke up the next morning very frustrated… He kept saying: “What the fuck did I do? What the fuck did I say? Oh, no, please.”

So, we asked Wannes to come back and play bass.

Wannes was the one who sang on the Soulburn album and on the Winds of Inferno. I didn’t want to take back the bass duties anymore, because I had learned to be a pure vocal performer. So I said, no, I’m not going to play bass again anymore. So that’s why we took Wannes to do the bass duties. And yeah, we played at Party.San and it was crazy. And from that moment on, it just didn’t stop. Afterwards we had a show in London and then offer after offer. We thought in was going to be just a one time event and afterwards we would stop, go home and live our lives.

But we couldn’t say no to all those offers and it was fun in the practice room also.

Then, Paul wrote a new song, which was Death the Brutal Way. He said, let’s record a single. And then all of a sudden, song after song after song, let’s make an album. So this is where we are. In fact, the only change we had from that point was when Wannes left and we replaced him with Alwin and Bob decided to stop and we replaced him with Hüskens. This is the longest lasting lineup of Asphyx ever.

DinIntunerec: If you were to choose one album which best encapsulates Asphyx sound, which one will it be and why?

Martin van Drunen: It’s hard to choose one, because for me Asphyx consists of two episodes: the one after 2007 and everything before. It’s not fair to compare these two periods, even though after 2007 it still sounds like Asphyx. I mean, my favorite, is Necroceros. While from the older period is Last One on Earth. It’s hard for me to compare the Asphyx albums, they are different in a way. But I still love both of them… Necroceros is more modern, it’s with this lineup. But it’s not fair to ask someone, what’s your favorite album, you know? Well, fans, you can ask, but not us. Hüskens would probably say, oh, The Rack.

DinIntunerec: Apart from the trademark Asphyx death metal sound and tempo, you also have some kind of tradition to put some songs in doom metal style into all your albums since the very beginning. Did you ever consider the idea to release a doom metal album?

Martin van Drunen: Yes. But we just considered it. When we made Deathhammer, there was, let’s call it a fun subject in the band. Like, why not do a Doomhammer? I don’t know if would be hard… a whole album only full of doom that still sounds interesting. So no, I think  we’ll keep it this way to mix different styles.

DinIntunerec: How does the creative process work in your case? Is it a team effort or how does it go?

Martin van Drunen: Basically it’s me and Paul. So Paul writes all the riffs for the guitar. Sometimes Alwin helps him out, so that’s a team effort. Then I kind of visualize the music. What kind of subject do I see in this? Is it a song good for war? Or is it a song more for a doom subject, a kind of sad thing or a genocide or a horrible event? Is it a death metal splatter thing? So that’s how I figure it out. Then I start writing the lyrics and the vocal lines.

But usually when Paul comes with a riff, I already feel the vocal line. I don’t have to think about it. It’s just there. This is the riff. We put it there. I’m going to sing there. Once we have that done, then we meet in a practice room with Hüskens and Alwin and we shape it completely together. So that’s how it works… to cut a long story short. So it’s a team effort in the end.

DinIntunerec: Necroceros, your latest album, came out in January 2021 during quite challenging times of COVID pandemic. Looking back, do you think that it was a good idea to issue it then or in the middle of a pandemic or you should have maybe better wait for better times when you could tour it?

Martin van Drunen: No, in our case, it worked out super positive. The thing was, we had a lot of booked shows when COVID hit. So we had to cancel everything. We were wondering what we can do, so we used the time to write an album. So we met in the practice room and jammed. Actually, that was a different kind of writing process than usually. In fact, it was illegal because we were not supposed to be four people in one room. We didn’t waste any time. We lost a lot of gigs, but we didn’t lose time.

Our tradition is that after every album a release show follows. Sometimes it’s sold out and we do two in a row, for two nights. But this time we couldn’t do that… Then we realized there was a venue close to our home and we knew them quite well. We played a couple of times there and they said, you know what? We have a whole camera team here. Moreover, we also have a way to stream. Why not do a release livestream? I was not happy because there was no crowd. But it was an opportunity. First, me and Alwin were against it.

Asphyx without a crowd is not possible, we cannot do that.

Then we said, why not? Because there was no other option. So we played the whole album as a release stream for free, for people to watch. Without asking for money, because we know we have also fans in Central America, Latin America, maybe Africa, whatever, that have no money to pay five euros for a stupid stream. We had 60,000 viewers for that, which was massive. We sold an incredible amount of T-shirts over the mail. Maybe it was not typically, you know, the old school kind of Asphyx style. But have we shown in these times of crisis that we can adapt, even if we’re quite old guys. So, it worked out really nice.

In the beginning, it was horror for me. I stood on stage and sang and there was no one. It’s a big venue, but fortunately, it was dark. So you  couldn’t see how big and empty it was. And then, I started to think, while performing, what people at home, might be doing? Hopefully banging their heads, or maybe they were together with friends having a party. In the end, it proved the right thing to do, fans appreciated it and we really sold quite well. So it was the wise, the only thing to do and it worked fine for us.

DinIntunerec: Is Necroceros a conceptual album? What are the lyrical concepts behind it?

Martin van Drunen: It is not conceptual… It is about a fictional creature, an intergalactic entity, like a planet consumer. He’s traveling through several galaxies… And in the end, he comes to Earth and then the Earth is gone.

DinIntunerec: Do you feel that the new album is the heaviest Asphyx album yet?

Martin van Drunen: Yeah, it is the heaviest, because we hired a new guy to mix it, Sebastian Lebermann, which was a strange choice, maybe because he’s a guitar player in a power metal band from Germany called Orden Ogen. We met coincidentally and then he said one of his desires in life was to mix a few death metal albums, those of his very few favorite bands, Asphyx being one of them. So, despite being a power metal guy we decided to give him a chance and we sent him a song when it was done.

We just said ‘go ahead, you do what you want with it’. And then he sent it back and it was fucking good. So we gave him the whole album to mix. This was also because we wanted to have a fresh hand on it. Death the Brutal Way was done by Dan Swanö, Incoming Death was Dan Swanö and the whole world was using Dan Swanö and every death metal band sounded the same. So we wanted something else, a fresh thing. And Sebastian did a great job. For me, this one is our heaviest one.

DinIntunerec: What does Necroceros even mean? Why did you name it like that?

Martin van Drunen: The name Necroceros is fictional. I just wanted what I want with every Asphyx album… To have the word death in the album title. That’s why you have Death the Brutal Way, Deathhammer, Incoming Death. But this time I wanted something more subtle. So I used Necros, the Ancient Greek word for death. I played a bit with words: I put Necros and then Rhinoceros, the animal, and I just glued it together in Necroceros. We all liked how it sounds. Then I came up with the idea of the planet consuming monster, traveling through several galaxies… In the end, he comes to Earth and then the Earth is gone, consumed.

DinIntunerec: Axel Hermann is the cover art creator. How does the cover art convey the ideas from the album? Did Axel come up with it by himself or did the band give him directions regarding the artwork?

Martin van Drunen: First, as I create the album title, I also had the idea behind it. So, I just wrote down a few words and told Axel the  idea behind it and gave him the freedom to use his imagination. Then, he started sending the sketches and when we interacted with him I told him that was not exactly what we had in mind. This cover art had a heavy birth, but he did a great job in the end. So that’s how it went. In general, we like to leave him really free with his own interpretation otherwise we’d feel like we imprison an artist. Like when someone tells me how to write my lyrics. So, I’m completely happy again with the album cover. Even though I think his masterpiece is the cover art for Deathhammer.

DinIntunerec: The single The Nameless Elite is the most catchy track of the latest album, if I can call it like that. What is the song about? And how much fun was it to make the video in front of the tanks?

Martin van Drunen: That was good fun. The song is about the special army units that are deployed in certain crisis times. For example, the Navy SEAL unit who killed Osama Bin Laden. With all due respect, maybe it isn’t done by regular law, but I think the whole world agrees that this guy had to be killed. I think every country has its specific special units. To protect the country or certain targets from terrorists. This is what this song is about. It’s not really a typical war song as you might expect. But it has war in it. There is a war museum in Netherlands, the Overloon, a really beautiful war museum. We just contacted them. The tank was outside, in fact, and it’s part of the museum.

We had to film outside and it’s in a park. So we depended on the weather also. There’s also a route for people to relax while cycling. So there’s old people walking, people on bicycles, families. We were there doing the video, and people were asking: “What the fuck is that noise?” We couldn’t do it in one take, but filmed like 20 takes. I hate videos, but it was just good fun. Afterwards, everybody said it’s so coo and everybody asked where the hell we got the tank from? But it was there.

DinIntunerec: What is your favorite song to play live and why?

Martin van Drunen: Oh that’s tough. There are so many. It’s really hard to pick one out. I mean I love them all. I love playing The Rack still, because you know what’s going to happen with the crowd, all the hands go up. Also, I love Deathhammer because everybody screams with the chorus. Also, for the intensity of the song Molten Black Earth, you know, from Necroceros because it has this bombastic rhythm which makes you go completely nuts.

By the way, it’s hard to make the setlist for a live show, when you have so many great songs… Some people want to hear the old songs, others want to hear the new songs, so we try to make a good mix. But there are some songs we never played live, or we hardly did, songs which I love to do. Sometimes I practice them at home, just for the fun. I love Yield or Die, but I don’t play it live.

DinIntunerec: What makes you feel more excited, working on new music or playing live, in order to bring songs to life?

Martin van Drunen: Performing live. That’s the reason why we make albums The reason to make albums is that people recognize your songs. If no one knows your songs, there’s no point in playing live, more or less. So, you write albums to be able to play live. If your album sells good, then promoters will pay you to come and play.

DinIntunerec: There are a lot of studio projects which release albums, but they never play live.

Martin van Drunen: Yeah, but it’s their thing. If they like doing that, okay, cool. But not me.

DinIntunerec: I know you’re a fan of science fiction and fantasy. Tell us more about this passion and why it appeals to you. Who are your favorite authors?

Martin van Drunen: Well, I love science fiction. I think everybody will agree that one of the best authors is Philip K. Dick. He has a silly name but the man was a genius. I think he still is an inspiration for a lot of science fiction writers nowadays. The first one I read, and I still like his works, is Jules Verne. But it’s hard to explain to people now that you really have to go back and put your mind into these times, to fully appreciate these things. Also, there is one writer, I forgot his name. I bought a couple of his books a few weeks ago and I was really blown away. I also read a lot of fantasy comics. It is really cool.

I mean, there’s so much coming out that people don’t know of…  Just imagine the fantasy of these people and what the hell goes on in their mind to just be able to visualize the stuff they write . I have some songs inspired from fantasy comics and SF texts. Into the Timewaste is inspired from a comic by Pat Mills. Rain of the Brute… comes from this kind of literature too. Into the Timewaste inspiration came from ABC Warriors by Pat Mills which is a mad comic about some robots with completely  different identities that’s just fantastic… I’m a big fan of Alien movies too. So yeah, I love science fiction movies, series, comics and books,  the whole SF universe. It’s not only for entertainment, but it can also be very educative.

I’m not saying I’m a massive believer, but I think it’s quite arrogant for humanity to think that we are the only life forms in the universe!

We don’t even know how many galaxies there may be, what kind of life forms there can be… Like I said, I think it’s arrogant and typical for  mankind to think that we are the only inhabitants of the Universe. I can talk for hours about that so better leave it for now!

DinIntunerec: Apart from music do you have any hobbies?

Martin van Drunen: Yeah, reading. Next to music, reading is my first passion. I devour books. I think I bought like six or seven hundred books in one year and actually read them. But, that’s because I live off the band, so I don’t have to wake up and go to my job, you know.

DinIntunerec: That was my next question, do you have a regular job also? What about the other guys?

Martin van Drunen: The other guys have, but I don’t. I live off the band. It’s not making me rich, but I can pay my bills. So I have my total freedom, without any responsibility except for the band. I still get royalties from all my old albums and with all the re-releases nowadays, and we have good contracts with Century Media, so with the copywriting of the songs, I have a lot of extra income apart from the other guys. Also the rent of my flat is really cheap while they have houses with a mortgage, so they cannot take the risk.

If they quit their jobs, suppose something happens in the band… How would they pay the bills? I mean Paul is a teacher and he loves doing that. He enjoys it, which is very important. Fortunately, he knows the responsibility that’s on his shoulders, to not let stupid kids loose on society. I think he is one of these teachers that every child wants. Alwin also loves his job. He’s a kind of engineer for transport machines. He loves to go to work, he told me: “Martin without my job what would I do waiting for the band shit to happen?” Hüskens is at the moment at the record pressing plant so every day he has thousands them around him.

DinIntunerec: Let’s go a little bit back to the past again. Can you walk us through some of the defining moments that shaped your career into what it is today?

Martin van Drunen: There were some defining moments… moments I didn’t know how to behave or when I was fucking nervous. Now I go on stage and I enjoy myself. But when I started I was nervous and afraid I might make mistakes. Now I go like, so what? We’re humans. Then another defining period was the first album recordings, because I had never recorded anything before. Even the demo, the first demo recordings is a shaping moment. I’m still learning, fortunately. And I’m glad I do, because otherwise life would be a damn boring thing. So these were defining moments… the first gig, the first recordings, the first songs I wrote…

DinIntunerec: What were the main obstacles that you had to overcome during the band’s career?

Martin van Drunen: The band had those constant lineup changes… this was the main problem… Then it was the moment when Bob left. It was kind of a shock when he announced that to us. He said his family and his children are more important, but he wanted us to continue without him. Because we were doing fantastic. So we had to find Hüskens and look each other in the eye, asking what we were going to do? How we were going to continue after Bob? Because he is the damn founder of the band. Would the fans and the people accept it? Would they appreciate that we are continuing?

We had to do a big PR campaign, and also Bob had to declare everywhere about how things were between us. So that people wouldn’t believe  that we kicked him out.

Fortunately, it worked out fine, we found Hüskens, we knew he was a big Asphyx fan and it was not nice to ask the brothers of Disaster, which was his band, good friends of ours, to ask them, like, ‘hey, we want to take your drummer’. But they were cool and they were happy for him knowing Asphyx is one of his favorite bands. In the end, it worked out fine, but, in the beginning, when Bob said I quit, I thought it’s over. I really thought it was over and I think we all thought that.

DinIntunerec: What band was the most fun to tour with? Or bands if you wish…

Martin van Drunen: So many, so many. I mean I think the best fun was together with Bolt Thrower and Benediction. Also, Carcass. We toured with Carcass and Pestilence and it was fun. Nowadays we play with so many bands that we like and we have a good time. If you are a nice person, you have a good time with everyone. From Hypocrisy to… We even had a good time with the guys from Amon Amarth.
They invited us to play, to open for them in the Netherlands. They said, they didn’t wand any other band but Asphyx to open for them in the Netherlands . We had this big venue and then there was a small problem. We were given 50 minutes to play and then some manager came and he didn’t understand anything… He said we had only 40 minutes to play.

But the guys from Amon Amarth shove the guy away and confirmed we had 50 minutes, then they invited us to have dinner. No matter what people say, I mean the band is huge, but they’re still down to earth. Also, there are so many bands we had a good time with… I think it’s a good old-school death metal spirit that unites us.

DinIntunerec: There must be a lot of memories from tours and from your live shows. Can you share a special moment, something that made an impact on you on a personal level?

Martin van Drunen: Oh you know what is weird? The breach with Pestilence happened in the US during the tour and I was on my own against the rest of the band. They wanted to stop the tour and I said no because we borrowed money for this tour. We borrowed money from a friend and we had to pay him that money back so I said the tour would continue but we were not a band anymore. It was me and them and there was a good friend of ours who was always backing me up. He’s still a good friend of mine so fortunately he was with me, but it was really strange to go on stage every night, give the best that I had just to show them that they cannot impress or intimidate me with the shit that they were throwing.

I just wanted to finish the tour, the people paid money to see us and I wanted to behave like a professional musician. It was rough. Back home I wanted to talk things through but they started to say I am a shit performer. So I said fuck off and I walked out. But imagine how tough it was every night on stage being more or less alone with just three guys behind that actually wanted things to go bad so they can blame me… But I straighten my back and didn’t give in.

DinIntunerec: What was the most let’s say interesting fan reaction that you had?

Martin van Drunen: Fan reaction? Well I can tell you about beautiful girls that want to get laid on straight on the spot… That happened
quite a few times… but that isn’t something to impress me. What was really special and what really does something to me is that when people come with self-made things. I have a beautiful clay little puppet in a plastic box. And it’s supposed to be me with the microphone stand. But unfortunately, I had it too much in the sun, so the stand melted. I still see the guy from time to time….

People sometimes make drawings with me on stage. There’s another guy who made a fantastic statue. Or a lot of people with tattoos with the name of the band… it’s incredible. These things impress me the most. Then I know how dedicated the fans are and that I can never let them down.

I must keep doing what I do, give my best and give all I have for these people because they count on me.

What about those who have a big tattoo of Asphyx … then we make a shit album and they go asking themselves what the hell are they going to do with the tattoo?

DinIntunerec: How do you see the underground metal scene nowadays? Apart from quantity do you think there is quality too?

Martin van Drunen: Oh yes, you are right there is too much quantity, but you cannot forbid these guys to form a band? If they want to do it, then do it and have fun. But it’s not going to be easy. There’s a lot of talent, fortunately. It’s not easy to follow, so many things come out. What we usually do, we play somewhere and then we check the bands that play before us. Then we check the guys afterwards. So we discover a lot of good things. It was funny that, a couple of weeks ago, Hüskens came to me, saying he found a really good old school band from Italy. So I said, who are they? Yeah, Fulci. Named after the horror director, Lucio Fulci. And I said, Husky, we’ve played already with Fulci.

I’m telling you, there are a lot of good bands.

For instance I like some German bands, like Slaughterday. They are not a ripoff, but a bit of a clone from Autopsy, but they sound good. They sound better than Autopsy does nowadays. So so there’s plenty of really good bands so that there is a lot of quality, but for them, it’s really hard to finally reach that big breakthrough because they have to fight still till the oldest established ones quit. I mean they basically have to wait until we all die and then maybe the market will give them a push.

It’s a good thing that there is quality and it’s healthy for the scene. The cool thing is that all these young deathsters as I call them have the same attitude as we had as kids. Death metal is always a kind of punk institute of metal in general so it’s all about having a good time kicking against the establishment and just enjoy oneselves. That’s what you see and you feel with these young kids, so that’s cool. It’s just the way I was at that age!

DinIntunerec: What is the most important life lesson that you have learned so far?

Martin van Drunen: There are so many… but I guess the most crucial is to never give up… To always keep going no matter what! As we say, after rain always comes sunshine, no matter how tough it might be! I mean we all had our really dark moments, as we all lost dear people. Or moments when we had to fight with others or to fight against horrible disease… Or other bad things, like war, accidents and hell knows what… But if you let them break you, then you’re done. So, never give up!

DinIntunerec: Is there anything regarding your musical career that you wish you had done differently?

Martin van Drunen: No, no. I’m happy the way it went. Even with all the disappointments and the backlashes. But, I would do it straight all over again like that. I had hard times, I have good times, and the hard times make you strong. So, I mean, if it was all just positive, I don’t think I would be sitting here and being the type of guy that I am. So, no, I would do it exactly the same. No regrets, do nothing. Even all the mistakes that I made, you know, as a human being, but we all do. But the point is, you have to learn from that. If you do learn from them then you become a better person. I hope I am, I don’t know…

DinIntunerec: Thank you for your time, it was a pleasure to have this talk… Any final words for the readers?

Martin van Drunen: Yeah, thank you very much for the interview. You gave me a rough time, I earned my other beer and yeah I hope all the people will see a fantastic show. I mean we will certainly give everything we have as usual. So, thanks to all the people from Romania for all these years of fantastic support and it’s always a pleasure to come back and we’re glad we’re here after all these years and, maybe next year also Rockstadt again. Which like I said is one of the most beautiful festivals in the whole world.

Categories
Interviews
One Comment
  • Virlan renus
    11 October 2024 at 5:04 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Great interwie with MARTIN VAN DRUNNEN..ASPHYX TO daniela…congratulation

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