I wanted to do some writing today for the blog, but actually realized that I won't be spending so much time by my pc today and I won't be in Belgrade for two days, so something cool had to be posted as soon as possible. Here is the interview I did for the third issue of "Tigersuit" zine with the friendly guys from the Dutch screamo outfit "Laatste Halte". The interview was done back in January, so some of the dates mentioned here have already passed. Hope you enjoy the read, it was quite a lot of fun!
1. First, I would like to thank you for taking your time and doing this interview with me and Tigersuit zine. Please, introduce yourself and the rest of the band.
Awesome that we can participate in this zine and your blog! My name is Joost, I play guitar and do some vocals, then there's Dirk, he also does vocals, and Karel, the drummer in our band.
2. How did all of you join together to form a band?
I was jamming about 5 years ago with Karel, nothing got serious until a few years later. I really wanted to do screamo band and he was O.K. with that idea. Dirk was in my other band at the time and wanted to do vocals, so he joined in.
3. Before "Laatste Halte" you guys went under the name "Lewd". Why the name change?
There are some punk Lewd's out there and we wanted to have a band name that reflected our music. Laatste Halte means Last Stop in Dutch. It somehow captures a bit of the anxiety and despair in our music.
4. I know only a handful of bands coming from the Netherlands aside of you, including Shikari, Dodewaard, Grinding Halt and Gonzo. Could you describe the scene in your country when it comes to screamo?
Screamo is almost dead, luckily we have some newer bands who just started: Mosaïc and Praesentia. Hardly any shows are happening at the moment. I hope it will change.
Hardcore/punk shows do happen very often, that scene is a bit more alive. Check out This Routine Is Hell, Cracks in the Wall, Citizens Patrol, Cornered, those are some of the cooler bands at the moment.
5. Are there any zines or similar collectives which support bands in the Netherlands? Do you generally enjoy reading zines?
There are some dudes doing zines in the Netherlands:
http://www.somewillneverknow.org/
He's also vocalist in Said & Done (check them out if you're into NYHC)
www.twistedwrongs.com
6. Diy attitudes have melted down with this type of music from the very beginning. What are your experiences regarding diy, both good and bad?
We'll try to keep our recordings DIY. Our demo, when we were called Lewd, received some critique for the bad recording quality, "It feels as if the drums were recorded when the wind was blowing through the rehearsal space". We recorded the music in the parents of the drummer's house and did vocals in his studentroom. It was really a lot of fun creating this. When we recorded those vocals people outside were yelling back and we just laughed and had a good time.
I made the demo myself, printed the artwork on a bit thicker paper and sew them together.
For the split with Gonzo we hired a rehearsal room with some equipment, but because we and our friends didn't know to much about it we only recorded 3 songs.
Hopefully we'll get to work with a friend who recorded the last Gonzo songs. DIY as much as possible (we want to use Gonzo's hangout place and just get some good live recordings).
7. Are you guys interested in some form of activism? Animal/human rights, politics, ecology?
Dirk: I am really interested in globalization and mass-consumption. I like to think and read about why the world works the way it does. It’s messed up but luckily people are starting to realize this system maybe isn’t the best. But setting fire to a McDonald’s restaurant isn’t going to solve anything. Throwing bricks through the window of a bank is not a revolution. The only thing we can do is inform ourselves, and inform others, and "our revolution" will come, maybe in 5 years, maybe in 50 or 500, but it will come.
8. What is your biggest inspiration when it comes to writing lyrics? And which themes you like to touch through your words?
Dirk: For me, one of the biggest inspirations for laatste halte is human suffering, on personal and global levels.
We like to try out different languages as well; we’ve had songs in English, Dutch, German and Arabic.
Joost: Personal issues are the biggest inspiration to our lyrics. But also this society we live in. And for example 'De Lepelaar' is a poem from one of my favorite Dutch writers (JMA van Biesheuvel).
9. You will be playing with "Manku Kapak" and "Black Everest" in March, as well as on the "EMOEMU fest" in Germany. Do you plan just these few shows outside your country or will they be a part of a tour or something?
We still need to fix some shows to let it be an official tour. Most of the shows will be in Germany though. Maybe we'll play a show in Poland if we can sort it out.
10. You have done quite a nice number of shows. Which gig with "Laatste Halte" has been your most memorable?
A lot of our shows have been great nights. Playing with Child Meadow in Liege was really cool, they are some really nice dudes. Our shows in Nijmegen were also pretty cool and Gonzo's last show was really awesome.
11. A split with "Quantis" from Malaysia has been mentioned. How is that coming along?
Moment of Collapse will help us with the pressing plant stuff. Some other labels are chipping in, but we're still looking for some more labels. Maybe a friend will start a label to help us out.
A friend of us will draw the artwork.
We and Quantis are writing new songs for this split
He also did this for a Russian release of our demo + the songs on the Gonzo split:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs740.snc4/64028_159890400707673_100000601433671_382451_2751271_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs577.ash2/149924_166559750040738_100000601433671_414570_2902744_n.jpg
12. Do you have some other plans for the future?
Dirk: Joost’s dream is to play Cry-me-a-river-fest, but other then that, no real plans. For me, I just want to have fun, write songs, play shows, go to cool places, meet cool people.
Joost: Next to CMAR, I like to hold the split 7" with Quantis in my hands; that will be an epic moment. Playing Fluff fest would be really awesome to, gotta keep dreaming.
13. Any chance of hitting up some shows in Eastern Europe?
First up is the March tour, but we're open for anything and we like to play some more shows abroad since we don't have a vivid screamo scene over here. And meeting new people is always a blast. So hopefully we'll have the chance to do some shows in Eastern Europe later this year.
14. Reading some of your posts on cmhwak forums I see you have a side project. Care to share that a bit more in detail? And also, do other members of "Laatste Halte" have some other bands?
Karel played in some projects, but nothing active at the moment. He makes some ambient/aphex twin/bonobo stuff with his laptop and keyboard.
Me and Dirk play in another hardcore band called Malfunction:
http://www.myspace.com/malfunctionnl
And I play guitar and do vocals in a black metal project - Haa(s)t (it's influenced by bands like Ash Borer/Fell Voices/Panopticon/Suicide Nation/Liturgy)
And I do vocals in a hardcore punk band called Gewoon Fucking Raggen (Just Fucking Shred)
http://www.myspace.com/gfrhc
Recorded a 18 song demo in one day with those guys last winter.
15. Do you guys have some other hobbies besides making music?
Reading books for all of us (Tolstoy - Anna Karenina is one of my favorites and Herman Hesse gets appreciation in this band). Dirk does some cool stuff with his photo camera.
16. I'm very interested to hear about your favorite releases in 2010; as well as some all time favorites.
I'm really bad at making these lists but these are definitely great:
Vogue - Pompshit 12"
Grinding Halt / Drainland
Sports - demo
Vestiges - the Decent of Man
Ash Borer / Fell Voices
Probably a lot more if I would remember which records came out in 2010.
17. Time for you to ask a question!
What's your all time favorite book?
I have to be honest, that is a very easy question for me haha. “The Whisperer in Darkness”, a compilation of tales written by H.P. Lovecraft, all concerning to the Cthulhu Mythos. In my opinion he is the best occult/horror writer and in general quite a genius man. His life was very rough and it is very interested how it actually managed to inspire his writing. Definitely check him out if you are looking for a scare!
18. Once again, thanks for doing this interview! Any final messages for the readers?
Just have fun.
1. First, I would like to thank you for taking your time and doing this interview with me and Tigersuit zine. Please, introduce yourself and the rest of the band.
Awesome that we can participate in this zine and your blog! My name is Joost, I play guitar and do some vocals, then there's Dirk, he also does vocals, and Karel, the drummer in our band.
2. How did all of you join together to form a band?
I was jamming about 5 years ago with Karel, nothing got serious until a few years later. I really wanted to do screamo band and he was O.K. with that idea. Dirk was in my other band at the time and wanted to do vocals, so he joined in.
3. Before "Laatste Halte" you guys went under the name "Lewd". Why the name change?
There are some punk Lewd's out there and we wanted to have a band name that reflected our music. Laatste Halte means Last Stop in Dutch. It somehow captures a bit of the anxiety and despair in our music.
4. I know only a handful of bands coming from the Netherlands aside of you, including Shikari, Dodewaard, Grinding Halt and Gonzo. Could you describe the scene in your country when it comes to screamo?
Screamo is almost dead, luckily we have some newer bands who just started: Mosaïc and Praesentia. Hardly any shows are happening at the moment. I hope it will change.
Hardcore/punk shows do happen very often, that scene is a bit more alive. Check out This Routine Is Hell, Cracks in the Wall, Citizens Patrol, Cornered, those are some of the cooler bands at the moment.
5. Are there any zines or similar collectives which support bands in the Netherlands? Do you generally enjoy reading zines?
There are some dudes doing zines in the Netherlands:
http://www.somewillneverknow.org/
He's also vocalist in Said & Done (check them out if you're into NYHC)
www.twistedwrongs.com
6. Diy attitudes have melted down with this type of music from the very beginning. What are your experiences regarding diy, both good and bad?
We'll try to keep our recordings DIY. Our demo, when we were called Lewd, received some critique for the bad recording quality, "It feels as if the drums were recorded when the wind was blowing through the rehearsal space". We recorded the music in the parents of the drummer's house and did vocals in his studentroom. It was really a lot of fun creating this. When we recorded those vocals people outside were yelling back and we just laughed and had a good time.I made the demo myself, printed the artwork on a bit thicker paper and sew them together.
For the split with Gonzo we hired a rehearsal room with some equipment, but because we and our friends didn't know to much about it we only recorded 3 songs.
Hopefully we'll get to work with a friend who recorded the last Gonzo songs. DIY as much as possible (we want to use Gonzo's hangout place and just get some good live recordings).
7. Are you guys interested in some form of activism? Animal/human rights, politics, ecology?
Dirk: I am really interested in globalization and mass-consumption. I like to think and read about why the world works the way it does. It’s messed up but luckily people are starting to realize this system maybe isn’t the best. But setting fire to a McDonald’s restaurant isn’t going to solve anything. Throwing bricks through the window of a bank is not a revolution. The only thing we can do is inform ourselves, and inform others, and "our revolution" will come, maybe in 5 years, maybe in 50 or 500, but it will come.
8. What is your biggest inspiration when it comes to writing lyrics? And which themes you like to touch through your words?
Dirk: For me, one of the biggest inspirations for laatste halte is human suffering, on personal and global levels.
We like to try out different languages as well; we’ve had songs in English, Dutch, German and Arabic.
Joost: Personal issues are the biggest inspiration to our lyrics. But also this society we live in. And for example 'De Lepelaar' is a poem from one of my favorite Dutch writers (JMA van Biesheuvel).
9. You will be playing with "Manku Kapak" and "Black Everest" in March, as well as on the "EMOEMU fest" in Germany. Do you plan just these few shows outside your country or will they be a part of a tour or something?
We still need to fix some shows to let it be an official tour. Most of the shows will be in Germany though. Maybe we'll play a show in Poland if we can sort it out.
10. You have done quite a nice number of shows. Which gig with "Laatste Halte" has been your most memorable?
A lot of our shows have been great nights. Playing with Child Meadow in Liege was really cool, they are some really nice dudes. Our shows in Nijmegen were also pretty cool and Gonzo's last show was really awesome.
11. A split with "Quantis" from Malaysia has been mentioned. How is that coming along?
Moment of Collapse will help us with the pressing plant stuff. Some other labels are chipping in, but we're still looking for some more labels. Maybe a friend will start a label to help us out.
A friend of us will draw the artwork.
We and Quantis are writing new songs for this split
He also did this for a Russian release of our demo + the songs on the Gonzo split:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs740.snc4/64028_159890400707673_100000601433671_382451_2751271_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs577.ash2/149924_166559750040738_100000601433671_414570_2902744_n.jpg
12. Do you have some other plans for the future?
Dirk: Joost’s dream is to play Cry-me-a-river-fest, but other then that, no real plans. For me, I just want to have fun, write songs, play shows, go to cool places, meet cool people.
Joost: Next to CMAR, I like to hold the split 7" with Quantis in my hands; that will be an epic moment. Playing Fluff fest would be really awesome to, gotta keep dreaming.
13. Any chance of hitting up some shows in Eastern Europe?
First up is the March tour, but we're open for anything and we like to play some more shows abroad since we don't have a vivid screamo scene over here. And meeting new people is always a blast. So hopefully we'll have the chance to do some shows in Eastern Europe later this year.14. Reading some of your posts on cmhwak forums I see you have a side project. Care to share that a bit more in detail? And also, do other members of "Laatste Halte" have some other bands?
Karel played in some projects, but nothing active at the moment. He makes some ambient/aphex twin/bonobo stuff with his laptop and keyboard.
Me and Dirk play in another hardcore band called Malfunction:
http://www.myspace.com/malfunctionnl
And I play guitar and do vocals in a black metal project - Haa(s)t (it's influenced by bands like Ash Borer/Fell Voices/Panopticon/Suicide Nation/Liturgy)
And I do vocals in a hardcore punk band called Gewoon Fucking Raggen (Just Fucking Shred)
http://www.myspace.com/gfrhc
Recorded a 18 song demo in one day with those guys last winter.
15. Do you guys have some other hobbies besides making music?
Reading books for all of us (Tolstoy - Anna Karenina is one of my favorites and Herman Hesse gets appreciation in this band). Dirk does some cool stuff with his photo camera.
16. I'm very interested to hear about your favorite releases in 2010; as well as some all time favorites.
I'm really bad at making these lists but these are definitely great:
Vogue - Pompshit 12"
Grinding Halt / Drainland
Sports - demo
Vestiges - the Decent of Man
Ash Borer / Fell Voices
Probably a lot more if I would remember which records came out in 2010.
17. Time for you to ask a question!
What's your all time favorite book?
I have to be honest, that is a very easy question for me haha. “The Whisperer in Darkness”, a compilation of tales written by H.P. Lovecraft, all concerning to the Cthulhu Mythos. In my opinion he is the best occult/horror writer and in general quite a genius man. His life was very rough and it is very interested how it actually managed to inspire his writing. Definitely check him out if you are looking for a scare!
18. Once again, thanks for doing this interview! Any final messages for the readers?
Just have fun.
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