EXTERMINATOR
WHEN YOU HEAR THE TERM MELODIC
DEATH/THRASH METAL MOST OF YOU WILL THINK THE SWEDISH DEATH METAL SCENE.
EXTERMINATOR FROM BELGIUM REALLY MIX DEATH AND THRASH METAL WITH MELODY,
BUT IN A VERY DIFFERENT WAY FROM WHAT WE ARE USED TO. THEIR DEBUT ALBUM
IS REALLY A KILLER WITH SOME EXCELLENT RIFFS AND MELODIES. THEIR LEADER,
JACKY IS A VERY NICE PERSON AND WITH A GOOD TASTE OF HUMOUR. SO HERE YOU
READ WHAT HE TOLD US...
1.FIRST OF ALL GIVE US A SHORT
BAND BIO AND INTRODUCE THE BAND MEMBERS.
Exterminator started out in 1991
with the idea of mixing trash (which was very popular back then) with a
deathmetalgrunt as we know it now. It was quite similar to the idea of
what "Kreator" did and what "Death" did (before "Death" was known as "deathmetal").
We were just a bunch of friends with the intention to play for fun only
and if we had lost the pleasure in playing we should have definitely quitted,
but our first demo sold astonishingly well and live we always played for
a lot of people on the few concerts there were back then. Later on the
idea came to record a CD, because we had some recordcompanies interested
in us, so we did in 1993 with the MCD "Forgotten Souls" as one of the first
metalbands in Belgium, but it only got released in 1995 due to personal
problems of some bandmembers back then. From there the band started to
work more serious in music and resulted in many line-up changes. Jacky
(guitar, vocals) met Ivan (bass), who knew Kris (guitar), and last year
Mark (who hung around a lot at the very first concerts Exterminator ever
played) replaced Baruch as drummer
2.DON'T YOU THINK EXTERMINATOR SOUNDS
TYPICAL AS A NAME? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT A BAND NAME SHOULD ALSO WORK AS
AN INDICATOR OF THE MUSIC?
The name really sounds brutal,
we still play brutal songs. It's not because we have a ballad or some midtemposongs
that we are less metal. With the original line-up we had chosen this name
because we liked it, with the present line-up this feeling hasn't changed.
3.EXTERMINATOR IS A QUITE TROUBLED
BAND WITH MANY PROBLEMS AND MANY CHANGES IN THE LINE UP. WHY WAS IT SO
DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN A STEADY LINE UP? DIDN'T YOU SHARE THE SAME VISION?
Every bandmember combines playing
music with work. If we stop enjoying, we probably quit and if you
can’t combine playing music with work, you sometimes have no choice than
choose for your work, because you need the money to survive.
4.SO, IS EXTERMINATOR AN ONE MAN BAND?
ARE YOU THE ONLY PERSON RESPONSBLE FOR THE MUSIC OR DO THE OTHERS CONTRIBUTE
AS WELL?
No, Exterminator is Ivan, Kris,
Marc and Jacky. Jacky does the most of the lyrics, but every bandmember
contributes to the music.
5.HOW MANY RELEASES DO YOU HAVE AND
TELL US A FEW THINGS REGARDING YOUR LATEST RELEASE. IN WHICH FIELDS HAVE
YOU PROGRESSED OR CHANGED AS A BAND AND WHICH PARTS MAINTAINED AS THEY
WERE?
There was only released one official
demo, called “Circle Of Violence” in 1991, followed by the mini-CD “Forgotten
Souls” in 1995. In 2000 we released "Mirror Images", which is a professionally
produced CD. It’s release resulted in many beautiful things: supporting
act for several famous bands on national and international concerts, a
lot of airplay, interviews and many, very good reviews. All albums
contain brutal songs, only on “Mirror Images” we experimented with female
vocals. The female vocals can sometime express an emotion better
than a grunt can, especially on songs like "Bitter End". It gives you a
shiver down your spine!! Our music can cover a wide range of metalfans.
We only have to look in our fanmail to see that this is true.
6.WHAT ARE YOUR LYRICS TALKING ABOUT?
WHICH THEMES INSPIRE YOU IN WRITING LYRICS? DO YOU PREFER USING METAPHORES
OR TELLING WHAT YOU WANT STRAIGHT?
Jacky did all songwriting on the
"Mirror Images"-album. He has a good knowledge of history and religion
and he reads a lot of stuff. Exterminator supports the idea of not only
singing about blood and gore for deathmetalbands and Satan for blackmetalbands.
If everybody sings about something with the necessary feelings, you can
reach nice results or efects with the public. Singing about the same all
day long, would make metal boring. Some lyrics from Exterminator can actually
deal with real-life situations! Every bandmember has it's own opinion on
religion. Everyday everyone of us curses God as things go bad, every day
people sell their soul for money. Just respect the beliefs of another person
and you'll see the world would get further than it is today. Concentration
of beliefs in certain regions is never good, so weren't the Crusaders a
good idea, or is Osama Bin Laden nowadays. Sometimes metaphores help
express the right feeling of an idea.
7.YOU'VE DONE QUITE MANY LIVE SHOWS
WITH MANY FAMOUS BANDS. WHICH ONE DO YOU REMEMBER THE MOST. WHICH BAND
WAS THE FRIENDLIEST AND WHICH HELPED YOU THE MOST? DO YOU REMEMBER ANY
FUNNY OR WEIRD INCIDENTS?
We have played a lot of shows already.
I remember Dave Ingram (then with Benediction) saying nice things about
our music, when we shared the stage in ’97 (I believe it was). We
also have a good friendship with all Belgian bands. Oh, I almost
forgot to say that Abbath of Immortal came asking for a signature on our
bandfoto when we played with them in 2000. We are still laughing
about it!!! Immortal really are nice guys!
8.WHICH ARE YOU PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
Exterminator follows no plan.
At this moment we are concentrating on new songs and hopefully a new release
at the end of this year.
9.YOU HAD ONE RECORD DEAL IN THE PAST
FROM A GERMAN LABEL IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN THAT YOU DECLINED. SO, WHAT ARE
YOU SEARCHING IN A RECORD LABEL? WHICH THINGS DO YOU "DEMAND" FROM THEM?
About the labels: they all should
care about the money, but also about the bands. Every band puts in a lot
of time in their work, labels sometimes seem to forget this. They have
troubled times too as you look at the speed that cd-copiers sell and the
decrease of CD-sellings. It doesn't make it easier for the music business
to survive. The German label offered us only a huge investment in
the recording of a demo, of which it hoped to sell a lot. The profit
was theirs. If this profit was big enough, a CD could be recorded.
So, we don’t call that a deal for example.
10.YOU HAVE DONE A VIDEO CLIP FOR "HYSTERON
PROTERON". WHY DID YOU LEAVE IT ASIDE? COULDN'T YOU CORRECT THE PROBLEMS?
WAS IT THAT BAD?
The synchronisation of music and
image was bad. Also the lighting was not that good, but it was a
project of a friend of ours and we couldn’t invest a lot of money in it,
so corrections were never made. Now we have had other drummers to
since the recording of that clip, which is another reason for not releasing
it now.
11.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T
ABLE TO COMPOSE MUSIC?
Who knows? You can have an
accident every minute of the day, we don’t think about that. We would
all be a bunch of lazy bums, probably.
12.IF SUDDENLY ELECTRICITY CEASED TO
EXIST WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN TO HEAVY METAL? WOULD IT BE FORGOTTEN
OR TRANSFORMED? WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN TO EXTREME METAL?
Metal never dies!!! If electricity
stops flowing, we must sing the songs a-capella and beat on wood, slap
strings on acoustic guitars and bang our heads!!! Meanwhile we can
search for an alternative powersource.
13.NAME SOME OF THE BAND'S INFLUENCES
AND SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED ALBUMS.
Kris likes “King Diamond” and “Slayer”
a lot, but also “Adam and The Ants”. Ivan favorites are “Death”,
“Kreator” and “Dark Tranquillity”, Mark prefers bands like “Sepultura”,
“Fear Factory”. Jacky likes “Death” and “Slayer” but also “Dead Kennedies”
and “DRI”.
14.HEAVY METAL MUSIC IS MAINLY UNDERGROUND.
HOWEVER, ALMOST ALL BANDS HAVE MANAGERS. DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS IMPORTANT?
CAN'T A BAND SUCCEED WITH THE USE OF GOOD MANAGEMENT?
This only depends on what you want
to achieve with your band. It’s not always a fact that a band succeeds
with a good management. In the other way: if the band is ok and has
enough potential in managing their own affairs, it could succeed also.
Some bands like the underground and would like to stay there. But
I think once you tasted succes, you’re not eager to let it go.
15.IF YOUR MUSIC WAS AN EMOTION, WHAT
WOULD IT BE? IF IT WAS A PAINTING WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
In our opinion, music is emotion.
It could be aggressive, sad, happy, fearsome, ... If music was a
painting it would be a mirror of life featuring all emotion which can be
expressed in it.
16.WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW
TO HAVE?
”What you need to know about Exterminator
and how to survive the underground”, but it won’t have as much succes as
“Read this and have a chance in winning 1.000.000”.
17.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO ADD?
Well, we need to discuss how to
survive in the Underground. The bottomline is to stay true to yourself
and in the beliefs you have in your music. Stay tough but keep all
your friends in mind. Thanx to all people for being patient, supporting
us and buying our music. Keep the faith, we won’t let you down!
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