HAIL OF BULLETS
By Falber Teles • May 9th, 2008 • Category: Interviews
SOURCEWEBZINE - Tell me a little bit about your history as a band. How did you end up forming Hail Of Bullets?
Stephan Gebedi (G) - I already had the idea to form a band with Ed Warby some years ago, but it never happened. When my other band, Thanatos, did a show with Martin’s then band, Death by Dawn, we talked a bit and came up with the idea again; we kept in touch and soon after that the metal started flowing…
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - Well first we needed to find out if we got along with each other so in the end of 2006 we hooked up for a huge drinking party in my hometown and a mutual love for old school death metal resulted in the formation Hail of Bullets
SOURCEWEBZINE - You released your first album titled “…Of Frost And War” through Metal Blade Records. Tell us something about the recording process of the album.
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - The album was recorded in Excess studios in Rotterdam Holland February 2008.In approximately one month we recorded 11 tracks. The recordings went very well and we’re really satisfied with the end result..Also a lot of credits go out to Dan Swano for the incredible sound
SOURCEWEBZINE - How did you decide on Dan Swanö to produce the album?
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - I thought it was Ed who came up with the idea. He is in contact with Dan and he asked him if he was interested to do the job and as you can hear the result turned out pretty brutal!
Stephan Gebedi (G) - Yep, Ed is also drumming for Demiurg whose line up also includes Dan Swanö, so it’s becoming a bit of an incestuous thing, hehe.
SOURCEWEBZINE - How did you come to the attention of Metal Blade Records ?
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - The promo we’ve made was send out to some selected labels and Metal Blade was one of them. Their offer was one of the best we received so we decided to sign a worldwide deal with them. And I must say they’re doing a great job so far!
SOURCEWEBZINE - For fans of your previous work (e.g. PESTILENCE/ASPHYX and GOREFEST) and for new fans, if they haven’t got their hands on debut album yet, what can we expect from it? Give us a preview of “…Of Frost And War”.
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - Simply some damn fine old school Death metal… Death metal the way it’s supposed to be. It’s safe to say that our sound is mainly influenced by bands like (old)Death, Massacre, Autopsy Bolt thrower and Celtic Frost. So fans of mentioned band can buy the album with their eyes closed.
SOURCEWEBZINE - How hard is it to ‘make it’ as a metal band in Holland ?
Stephan Gebedi (G) - Well, Holland is a small country, so you can’t make a living playing (death) metal over here, except if you turn gay and join a band like Within Temptation. Germany is pretty nearby though so we concentrate on that market as well…we’ll just see how far this album gets us…
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - I don’t have the intention to “make it” as a band. It’s the music that counts. If the music sucks people will not pay attention and you won’t “make it”. And to be honest. I don’t give a shit if we “make it” or not. I know that we have the quality so we’ll see what will happen. Things are going fast right now!
SOURCEWEBZINE - How do you perceived the metal scene these days?
Stephan Gebedi (G) - Well I’m also writing for Holland’s biggest metal magazine, so I get to hear a lot of new bands. I think there are a lot of good (death) metal bands out there. The musical level is very high, but sometimes I do miss that old gut feeling that bands like Autopsy and Massacre could give you, they had that little extra that I sometimes miss in these newer bands. But I’m not saying everything used to be better, cause it’s not.
SOURCEWEBZINE - And what kind of relation do you like to have with fans (on and off stage)?
Stephan Gebedi (G) - That depends on their gender and their looks! haha
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - On stage we give 110 % Of course we do. People are paying money to see us live so we’ll give a damn brutal show and afterwards I like to talk and drink beer with the fans.
SOURCEWEBZINE - Given the actual saturation of the death metal scene, what do you think makes you stand as an act people would want to listen to and see live?
Stephan Gebedi (G) - That’s up to the people to decide; obviously a lot of people are fed up with this hyperspeed, ultra technical US death metal, so I think we’re giving the fans the kind of death metal they have been missing out on for quite a while. We play old school death metal but we do use today’s techniques. We were all raised on the first wave of death metal, so we pretty much grew up listening to and playing the music we’re playing now with Hail of Bullets, but we’re not afraid to include more modern influences in our style of old school death metal
SOURCEWEBZINE - Do you have any comments or a clear position on mp3 sharing software or in trading music via mp3 format with people in a non profit kind of way?
Stephan Gebedi (G) - I think it can spread the name and popularity of a band to a certain extent, but spreading complete albums doesn’t do most of the bands out there any good I’m afraid…
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - The only thing I wanna say about this is Downloading is killing music!
SOURCEWEBZINE - Do you have any other passions other then music?
Stephan Gebedi (G) - I’m totally into horror movies, but most of my time is occupied by metal: playing it, going to concerts. I could not imagine a life without metal…
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - My family, soccer/Football(not American), And doing nothing! For the rest it’s the music what counts.
SOURCEWEBZINE - Does it ever become hard to balance a “regular” life along with you life on the road with the band? In what ways is each one affected?
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - We’re not on the road that much. We only do selected shows and tours. Most of us have got jobs and a family. Some of us like me have children so we have to earn money every month to keep everything running. And for us it isn’t a ‘must’ to tour. We do the nice things and that’s it! Not to mention the guys in Hail of Bullets who are in other bands (Thanatos, Asphyx, Gorefest) so we have to plan everything very carefully too…
Stephan Gebedi (G) - That’s true, we have to plan things carefully, I also have a family and a daytime job and sometimes it’s pretty hard to combine that with playing in 2 bands and writing for a magazine…but we try to grab some of the opportunities that we get for sure.
SOURCEWEBZINE - In Brazil there’s much fans listening your kind of music. What do you know about the Brazil ?
Stephan Gebedi (G) - I know Brazil is crowded with hot women and crazy metal fans, right? So if we ever get the chance to play there, we’d love to come over!
SOURCEWEBZINE - Thank you again for your time, and if you would like to add something more, please do.
Theo Van Eekelen (B) - Thank you for the support and the interview. Keep an eye on Hail of Bullets and check out www.myspace.com/hailoffuckenbullets and www.hailofbullets.com Cheers!
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