RASPATUL

I have to admit that I didn't know much about Malaysian metal scene, though I know that people there in the far east, are really metal maniacs. I had the chance to contact with Calvin from Raspatul and he told me about his band. Till then we kept the contact and this interview is the result of it. Read it and support this band in anyway you can...

1. HELLO! PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE READERS BY STATING SOME OF YOUR MOST IMPROTANT MOMENTS AS A BAND.
  • Hello there to all the Metalheads in Greece!! This is Calvin from Raspatul answering the questions for this interview!! Thanxs a lot Christine of ‘Behind The Veil’ zine for giving us this great interview. Well, the most important moment of Raspatul was when we got into a Malaysian compilation called ‘Storm Of Nebiula 2002’ and it featured bands like Pyron, As-Sahar, Vociferation Eternity, Mantak, etc... All thanxs to Dark-E of Sil-Khannaz for letting Raspatul to be included in the compilation! Another great moment was when Raspatul got a chance to play in Malaysia for the very first time. The crowd response was fucking awesome, especially after we just got down off stage. There was a bunch of Metalheads asking for our email address and band website and taking a few pictures with us! Hell yeah, the treatment we got was very warm and we definitely want to play in other countries again!!
2. WHY DID YOU NAME THE BAND THIS WAY? WHAT DOES RASPATUL MEAN?
  • The name Raspatul was given to us by a local recording enginner Leonard Soosay where Raspatul used to jam there regularly last time. He asked us what our band name was, and we said that we still did not have a band name yet, and after much thought, he decided to call us ”Raspatul” because he thinks that we have a style similiar to Sepultura and Pantera at that time, and that’s how the band name Raspatul was evolved. Basically the name Raspatul is a meaningless name and it’s not a word in any language!
3. GIVE US SOME GENERAL INFO ON YOUR LATEST RELEASE. WHERE WAS IT RECORDED, WHO WAS THE PRODUCER, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU? ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT? IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO CHANGE SOMETHING NOW WHAT WOULD THAT BE?
  • Well, we cannot say that ‘Mengitung Ajal’ is our latest release, cos we recorded the EP during 2001 and furthermore, the songs on this EP were already written back in 1995/1996 period. The whole EP was recorded at a great studio here called TNT Studio. The owner, who is also the producer for our EP, is called Ah Boy. He is a legend in the local music scene here and everyone who plays music knows him. He is also the funniest guy and that really takes away some of the pressure for us during our recording. It took us about 9 months or so to do this EP, cos due to some financial problems, we had to delay the recording process. Overall, I should say that we were very satisfied with the final result, but of course there were things that we felt that could have been better. We felt that the overall product sounded a bit muddy, but the problem could be solved by doing another re-mix again!! But as you know, Raspatul is a poor-as-fuck Death Metal band!! Hahahaha!!
4. GIVE US A DESCRIPTION FOR YOUR MUSIC AND NAME SOME OF THE BANDS, MUSICIANS OR ALBUMS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED YOU INTO FORMING RASPATUL.
  • Raspatul’s style of music can be described as old school Death Thrash, in the veins of old Sepultura, Kreator and old Metallica. There had been some comments that the ‘Mengitung Ajal’ EP sounded a bit like some early DEATH albums! Man, that was a fucking huge compliment if you ask me! We are all huge fans of DEATH and my favourite albums are ‘The Sound Of Perseverance’ and ‘Symbolic’. We did try to jam the song ‘Scavenger Of Human Sorrow’ a few times and all I can say is we could use a lot more jam sessions to master that song! Hahahaha! Well, I should say that bands like Sepultura, Metallica, Pantera and Morbid Angel really influenced Raspatul from the beginning until now. But of course there are also lots more bands that Raspatul is influenced by now. Well, you can say that the band definitely matured a lot since the beginning.
5. WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING TO? WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE LYRICS AND HOW IMPORTANT ARE THEY FOR YOU? 
  • I guess we will give you a detailed description on every song on the ‘Menghitung Ajal’ EP. Our vocalist Ayim, who writes all the lyrics for the EP, wrote the following:
  • "Breaking" : - About condemning life and all that it gives. The lyrics tell about the drastic change from god to fallen from grace. Despising what god has given to me and turns it to my twisted ideology that fed me with hatred towards all that bears the name of god.
  • "Scraped Torn Flesh" : - Lyrical contents that humiliates humanity and its creator. Talks about the pretence and hypocrisy in humans who are racing for power and greed in this fucked up world of man-made theories.

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  • "Menghitung Ajal" : - Tell the story of a mortal man who no longer finds the meaning of his existence. Now yearning for the flames of hell and its hospitality. Having sinned for believing in life, he is drawn to hell, the domain for death and treachery… Blaming god for what has happened to him, he finds meaning in his inferno… Hell is forever!! Heaven is man-made!!

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  • "A.O.D." (Annihilation Of Divinity) : - The title speaks for itself... The lyrics I wrote come from within the insane mind. Much frustrated with everything, all meanings that portray good are inverted. Life to me has no meaning! Beliefs are absurd… This tells you how much I despise what humans hold on to for their very manipulated lives. The lyrics are far more than pain and death… It's my marked aversion towards divinity!
  • "Unholy" : - Far more complex lyrics that tells you the pain and anguish struggling to breathe in god's realm. Sarcasms are thick and bold that corrodes the mind and filling it with nothing but death and hatred! Unholy talks about twisted minds as a result from false beliefs. Life as you see it is not how it seems… Though death can't be seen as life itself, it takes you to a place where life is seen as imperfect! 
6. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? WHAT SHOULD THE METALLERS EXPECT FROM A RASPATUL LIVE SHOW? SHARE SOME OF YOUR EXPERIENCES FROM YOUR LIVE SHOWS WITH US...
  • Raspatul just destroyed 2 shows during October! The first gig was in Singapore, which was held on the 4th of October and the other gig was on 5th October in Malaysia! These two gigs were Raspatul’s most memorable gigs ever as the gigs were held back to back and moreover, both were in two separate countries. Imagine we had to rush from Singapore to Malaysia in a few hours to play at another gig. It was very tiring for us but all in all, it was worth it. Raspatul’s live shows are very basic, simple and brutal! Just expect a total headbanging assault from us! We may not be very precise when playing live, but you can assure from us that we will put on an interesting and energetic show and we think that it’s the most important thing for us, and that is to entertain and enjoy!!
7. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SOMEONE THAT DOESN'T KNOW YOU, IN ORDER TO INTRIGUE HIS INTEREST? WHICH IS YOUR MOST APPEALING ELEMENT ACCORDING TO YOU? 
  • Hmm… maybe ‘Raspatul: old school Death Thrash band from Singapore, and we are the Chicks with Dicks!!’ Hahahahah!! Just joking!! But seriously, there is nothing appealing about Raspatul! Well, maybe the unique thing about us is that we do not always wear Metal T-shirts all the time, and we do not look very Metal at all! I guess the only appealing thing about Raspatul is that we are from South East Asia and we can proudly say that we are a multi-racial band as we make up three quarters of the Singapore racial population, namely Chinese, Malay and Indian. Ayim (Vocals) is a Malay and so is Fadzlly (Drums). Calvin (Guitars) is a Chinese and Hisham ‘Black’ (Bass) is an Indian. The only race that is missing is Eurasian. If not, we would be a total Chaotic Thrashing Madness Multi-Racial Death Thrash band!! Hahahahahahahahaha!
8. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WAS A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
  • Well, we would say that Raspatul’s music is made up of energy and happiness. Energy because our style of music hits you real hard and you can really feel the adrenaline when you see us live. Happiness because whenever we jam in the studio, we will always make a fool of ourselves and it’s always very enjoyable to jam! And also, whenever we play live, we will always try to smile to any of our friends who happen to be in the mosh pit as well! The painting would be a very messed up piece of work as we are very lousy artists!!!!!
9. IF YOU HAD A PROPOSAL TO DO A VIDEOCLIP, WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
  • If given a choice, we would definitely choose ‘Menghitung Ajal’. The reason being that it’s a very catchy but mid-tempo song. Well, some sick ideas for the video clip would be a dying old man sitting in a prison cell, waiting for his time to die. And after he dies, there would be maggots crawling all over the prison until the maggots start swallowing up the room as well! ‘Menghitung Ajal’ in English means ‘Counting Death’ and I guess that would be a cool video clip that would relate very well with the song. 
10. IF WE ARE ALL JUST A WORD IN THE GREAT BOOK OF CREATION, CAN YOU SAY WHICH WORD COULD DESCRIBE YOU BETTER? CAN YOU ALSO IMAGINE WHAT KIND OF AUTHOR WOULD BE THE CREATOR OF THIS BOOK AND WHY?
  • I guess ‘Disaster’?? Hahahaha! We will be the authors of this book, cos only we can describe ourselves perfectly! 
11. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO TRAVEL BACK IN TIME, WHICH HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY? 
  • We do not find going back in time interesting as the present time is just great for us and the kind of music we like. If we were to go back in time, there wouldn’t be any really interesting music at all. Moreover, if we were to play our kind of music to the audience of that era, they would absolutely freak out!!!
12. DO YOU THINK THAT PERHAPS GOD GOT SO FRIGHTENED FROM WHAT HE  CREATED THAT HE MOVED TO HEAVEN IN ORDER TO KEEP DISTANCE FROM HIS CREATIONS? :))
  • I really cannot answer that question as I wouldn’t know what God felt at that time when he made the world if you believe in that, that is.
13. LET’S SUPPOSE THAT WE LIVE IN A WORLD WITHOUT MUSIC. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN SUCH A CASE?
  • We would all die, I guess!!! I guess Raspatul would be the first band to invent the art of music!!!! Hahahahaha!!! And the universal music for the world would be Metal music!!!
14. IF YOU WERE A FLY, WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE AND WHY?
  • We wouldn’t want to be flies cos we rather be rats!!! Like what Morbid Angel said, “Blessed are the Sick/Leading the Rats”!!!!!! And we would be the rats that spread the Metal disease around the world!!!
15. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR A BAND FROM YOUR COUNTRY TO MAKE ITSLEF KNOWN WORLDWIDE? ARE THERE ANY GOOD AND INTERESTING BANDS OVER THERE THAT WE SHOULD LOOK FOR?
  • Actually it is not difficult for a band from Singapore to get known internationally. The reason is because of the internet. The internet is such a powerful tool that corresponding with the world is just an email away. The internet is the reason why I can do this interview with you!! Heeheehee!! Doxomedon (Death Thrash), Cardiac Necropsy (Porno Grind), Zeotz (Old School Thrash) and Rudra (Verdic Metal) are a few honourable mentions!!
16. THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION? 
  • Once again, thanxs a lot to ‘Behind The Veil’ zine for giving us this space here for Raspatul!! I don’t know if this is possible but we really hope that some day, we will be able to play in Greece in front of all the crazy Metalheads!!! Any zines or labels who are interested to check us out, just email us at either [email protected] or [email protected]
  • If you guys have the time, please go and visit our new website and sign our guestbook as well. www.geocities.com/raspatul6/RaspatulDomain
Christine  Parastatidou
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

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