Thank you for taking the time for this interview. First let me congratulate to this great piece of music.
Unfortunately I did not get the chance to listen to the whole album yet, but those songs I heard sound like what The Netherlands metal scene stands for a long time now: bombastic metal with nice tunes and catchy melodies, based on a mostly rhythmic leaned guitar riffing. Great thing. Reason enough to look behind the curtain!
Thanx a lot for the BiG compliment!! GrEaT to hear
Martijn, I read that you quit Within Temptation for health reasons. DELAIN is something I would call a band that might get as big as them. What are your plans for the future?
Write good music, and play kick ass gigs (in the near future we loce the play a lot in Germany) As for the rest, I never expect anything, because you can get disappointed. Fortunately until now, with music I was involved in I was only surprised in a positive way! (Would be nice to have that several times With Delain again) Let’s see what happens
You took some well-known people for session musicians into the recordings. Was this to get a better start, or did you want to have different moods on the album? It can not be the quality of musical skills, I think, as DELAIN´s main members do a great job indeed.
Thnx. There were several reasons for asking the guests. First of all I find it fascinating to work with a lot of people. Ans experience the different ways of working. And work them into the best way for me to work. Reason2 is because I wanted diversity on the album. These guest musicians could help me get that. I loved a malevocal and several femalevocals on the album. So Marco Liv and Charlotte and George helped me with that. Reason3 is because in thist time I didn’t want to play live with Delain because of my health problems. So there was no band to help me out. (offcourse that changed when I recovered after the album was finished already)
How long did it take to make a video like ‘Frozen’, and was it based on one of your ideas?
Very long time…….one day. We recorded the video in Neurnberg. Charlotte and I choose the script and changed it a little bit to suit the location. (A hotel). So we we#re very much involved in making the clip besides the shoot in terms of the story.
Let´s get to the “crossfire” part of the interview (10 questions that are always the same in each interview):
01.)
In which way do you write your songs? Does anyone of you have kind of an initial idea, or do you just play on and on until something sounds interesting to you, or another way?
I write everything at home. I just play what I feel and what comes out. I have to feel emotional. Music is emotion, and you have to bring that to your listener. I write stuff and only keep best of the best.
02.)
Except playing music, what do you do in your free time?
Watching movies, playing computergames, spent time with my girlfriend.
03.)
Is DELAIN job, vocation or hobby?
Mostöy all at the same time!
On the road:
04.)
Vegan, straight edge, or rather sex drugs and rock´n´roll? What does a perfect catering look like?
Straight edge. Don’t like alcohol at all, but I love good food!
05.)
If you could choose, who would be your favourite support band on a headlining tour / who would be your favourite headliner you would support?
We would love to support Nightwish!! Because I think our music has conection, and would fit well together at a liveshow, And I love the music of Nightwish.
06.)
What was your greatest event live or on tour by now?
That was a couple of months back in Lille France. There was magic in the air. The audience was like an army reacting to our every move with a very positive vibe! I never had a gig like this in my entire live (my within temptation gigs included)
Curious:
07.)
Imagine you are stranded on a secluded island and your I-Pod has a defect. It only will play one song (which is none of your own ones). Which one?
Nemo (Nightwish)
08.)
If you could start again at the beginning of your band, would you do anything different than you did?
I totally regret noting untill now. I feel blessed with what happened so far!
09.)
How much does the music you are doing mean to you? Are there limits in what you would invest (time / emotions / finances)?
It means all for me, along with my girlfriend. I invest all time and energy into these two things.
The very last question:
10.)
If there was a question you always wanted to be asked, but never were asked yet, what would it be and what would be your answer?
F.ck. that’s a difficult question…..hmmm let me think. ……..
The question your asking me right now. But now I can’t give it a an answer, because you just asked it……….