We Love Metal’s 11 questions with: BODYFARM

With Thomas Wouters: vocals/guitars/founding member -

1. Congratulations on the self-titled EP. You must be very pleased with the reaction thus far? Is it what you expected?

Thanks! Yes, we are more than pleased with all the reactions we had thus far. The reactions worldwide where great. There were some critics too but hey, you can’t please everyone right? Anyway, we never thought that people would like our music this much. We never even thought that it would reach the USA! Hahaha.

2. I love the fact your bio says BODYFARM is not especially fancy or innovative, but don’t you feel playing Death Metal the way it should be is innovative these days?

No I actually don’t think so. There are so many sub-genres of death metal these days where the classic ‘umpa umpa’ beats and simple blastbeats are missing. Let them be innovative. On the other hand, too many bands are trying to approach the ‘nineties Swedish’ sound with a crappy production. We don’t really believe in the power of being innovative. Music just have to sound good. Innovative or not.

More after the warp:

3. Do you feel modern Death Metal bands have forgotten the past and the bands that came before them?

Certainly not! Death metal is always evolving and that’s a good thing, because it leaves room for old fashioned death metal. It’s interesting to see how this creates whole new sub-cultures, like death core with their stretched ears and caps, hahaha. But those bands are also influenced by the old school, whether they like it or not. Bands who only pay tribute to the old school sound more like clones from old bands. That’s pretty much always boring.

4. I wanted to ask about the track “Into Battle.” For me it created images of marching across a barren field early in the morning to meet our undecided fate. How did this amazing intro come together and what reaction were you hoping for?

Awesome! That’s just the image it was meant to create, haha! The intro was made by our Finnish friend Pasi Pitkänen. He’s a composer whom I’ve met true some forum. I asked him if he could do the intro and he made this fantastic piece of music. The reactions were not that great though. A lot of reviewers don’t think it fits our music, or they think it’s old fashioned. Pretty hypocrite I think. Because when a band like Hail Of Bullets does it (which they do) it’s ‘awesome’ all of a sudden, haha. We don’t care though. We do what we like and what we want.

5. How does song writing work with BODYFARM. One main writer or a collaborative effort?

Well, I come up with a lot of riffs which I introduce at the rehearsal room. I often come up with a whole concept for a new track which I created at home. Quint Meerbeek (drums, also founding member) and I are both the captain of the ship, so when I come up with a riff, he creates the drums for it. We are always listening very good to each other’s opinion so this works out well. Bram Hilhorst (guitars) and Mathieu Westerveld (bass) are just as much part of the band, but Quint and I do the songwriting to make sure Bodyfarm will remain Bodyfarm, and maintain its original sound..

6. What would you like people to think about after they hear your music for the first time?

I hope they want to hear more after listening to our EP! Because there will be more!

7. When can we expect a full length release from you and are there any details you can share with us?

We have planned to enter the studio again in autumn 2011! We are currently finishing the material and rehearsing our asses of. They will be eleven tracks on it, including another intro by Pasi, and a cover from an old USA legendary death metal band.. This album will contain a good balance between pure death metal and haunting melodics. We are looking so forward to this! In the past year we have experienced personal growth in technical skills and songwriting skills.

8. With the aggressiveness of your music, how does the band get in the proper mind set for a show?

By praying to Satan and sacrificing an unborn child. Hahaha! No we don’t really have to do something special before a show except looking forward to it. We just love to play live and we do it with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. We have a lot of fun on stage and interact a lot with the crowd, that’s what counts.

9. There is a heavy Thrash influence in your music, who do you rely on from that genre?

We don’t really listen to thrash metal to be honest! We all love Slayer of course. One of Quint’s biggest heroes is Dave Lombardo, so I think Quint would be responsible for the thrashy groove in our music, haha! Groove is one of the most important ingredients in death metal so we like to use that a lot. There are some cliches in it that never get old.

10. If there was a Big 4 of Death Metal, who would be in that show?

Oh, hard question! I think for Bodyfarm that Big 4 would be:
Grave – for being old school and still going on
Massacre – for recording From Beyond, one of the sickest albums ever!
Early Deicide – for using every ingredient death metal needs
Hail Of Bullets – for keeping old school death metal alive with a whole new sound! And we are big Martin van Drunen fans.

This was hard.. I’m missing Vader, Obituary, Death, Vomitory, and lots of other in this Big 4, hahaha.

11. When everything is said and done many years down the road what do you want people to say about BODYFARM?

I hope that people will think of us as ‘that band which was always good an cd and live’. That’s a pretty common answer, but that’s what we’re doing it for. We don’t wanna be that death metal band that still plays in the local pub after 10 years. We are trying to get to the international scene and share our music with fans!

So thanks a lot for this interview! And to all you death metal fans out there: check out our EP and spread the word! Cheers!

Show me your horns,

Martell

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