Design is Dead is one of the few larger design companies that really made a solid name. How long is Design is Dead running by now? Do you still remember the days when it all started?
I founded Design is Dead together with my brother Jan in 1998.The first team consisted of Wim (who left the company a year later) and Stef (who is still with us) and we worked out of my living room. It were hectic times and we worked hard, but we had great fun. One thing I will never forget is our first day: it was May 1st, so went out to break feast

Being a well known company, doesn’t make it easier to approach new customers I think. Clients will probably expect more and most likely expect a serious bill in the end. Is this way of thinking correct?
Clients always expect more, but I think they are entitled to do so. A website is an important image building and communication tool, so it better be the best it can be. As to the bill, I think we have always concentrated on the final result, rather than being obsessed by the budget. So when clients now come to us because they expect more, I think we can take that as a compliment.

Why ‘Design is Dead’ and not ‘Design is Alive’?
We wanted a name that was provocative and made people take notice. Also we effectively believe that “design” has lost the association with “quality” and “innovation” it once had, and has become synonymous with “in” and “trendy”. There is nothing wrong with that, but we try to take things a step further.

Design Is Dead has a large portfolio-list on its home-website. Is the site updated very often? Who’s in charge of that and does this happen in his / her free time?
Updating our own website is a major and recurring problem. Currently we are preparing a new update to add 25 projects to the portfolio, unfortunately the last one dated from September of last year.

If I would be interested in joining the Design Is Dead-team, what should I do?
Try to be as good as you can be in what you like to do most, and contact us.

Do you expect only the best of the best to join, or are the ‘average’ designers welcome too?
We are a small team, which makes every position in the company important. What we look for are people who have their own field of expertise as well as an eye for “the bigger picture”. So being “the best of the best” is not really required, being the right piece in the puzzle is much more important.

Education is an important role in a designers’ life. Does Design Is Dead support these youngsters? For instance offering jobs during holidays for students, training period for design-students (stage), … ?
I think you are right: (continued) education is important and every year we try to provide two or three internships for design students. Furthermore, we partner with the art centre Villanella to support young designers.

Do you also work with freelance designers, or do you have a complete in house-team?
Most of the projects are done in house, but when a project requires specific know-how or the client works with his own designer, we set up a team with other designers and/or developers.

The projects DID works on, can all be labeled as ‘jaw-breaking’ and ‘drool-inducing’. Who’s in charge of all this eye-candy design?
Thank you for the accolades. Our projects really are a team effort and a lot of the time the whole team is involved: Stef, Nicky and Tim on the design end, Ivan and Johan on the developing end. Ideally we like to get as many people as possible involved in the first stages of a project: design is one part of the equation, but there are more issues to be considered: usability, content, development,… and they are all related.

How did you personally made the switch between graduating and finding a job?
I must say that I have been lucky in that regard. After graduating I worked as an intern for Evans Denver in the US.. When I came back I started working for what is now called Sanoma Magazines till I was asked in 1996 to join Endemol Interactive’s Hall of entertainment web project. When that ended I started Design is Dead.

Thank you very much for the time and effort. I hope you enjoyed it, and best of luck with Design is Dead!
The pleasure was all mine. And the best of luck to you to.

Interview conducted with Hendrik / Design is Dead for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit the Design is Dead website at http://www.designisdead.be/

Personally I don’t really like milk (do like cookies though!), I prefer to dip the cookies into the milk so they turn out to be all soft and wet. Is this blasphemy for a natural-born-cookie-eater as yourself?
Yes it is truly a pure blasphemy! ? No no, I know people who drop ‘cookies’ in coca-cola. In the land of milk and cookies: anything goes! Great, hum! That’s why we live there!

Some months ago, Milk&Cookies was looking for an obsessed ActionScripter. Have you found that person already? How was the hunting for the right person?
We (that’s my stunning partner in crime -Tim Siaens- and me) found that entity in a man called Lenzz (Reginald van De Velde). A crazy, funny, actionscripting design-guru-kinda-boy.
We are very pleased. But … people DO have to continue to send resumes, send us work samples: we liked it. And we love meeting new people.

Milk&Cookies mostly works with freelance-people, right? Why is that? Isn’t it harder for you to keep administration and all the paper-work flowing with new people coming in and out all the time?
Design/graphics are done in-house. Concept too. But for photography, sound and other stuff we like to work with young people (crazy bastards). There are a lot of great photographers, sound engineers, … in Belgium! We are the land of many creatives.
For video, 3D, sound and animation we have a big surprise coming up for clients and future clients! We are doing new things in those areas. Be curious, veryyyy curious.
The paperwork isn’t sooo hard (that’s maybe because I don’t have to do it!). Excel and Word are our friends.

You gained a lot of succes the last two years. Is that the result of a solid fanbase, lots of advertisments, or just because clients are happy and spread the word?
We never looked -prospected is it called hum- for clients. “I thank boodah for that every day, being that lucky”.
Didn’t do any advertising also (sent 1 newsletter in 2 years! Ehum!). We do the things we do. We like it while doing it. That’s it. No big secrets (My partner Tim had to Sex-up some clients, tough). We thank the people who love us. We love them.

If I would like to work at Milk&Cookies, what should I do? How would I conquer a spot in the Milk&Cookies building?
You HAVE to like cookies and be eager to eat a lot of them during the day. We eat cake for breakfast, ësjoekes’ (in Brux they are called Èclairs … space hum) for supper and finish the day with chocolate-sprinkled-cookies. We do work a lot at milk. We play and relax a lot too. We live the good life I think.

You moved from Dendermonde-City to Brussels-City. How was the move and do you like the result? No regrets?
We work in the best place in Belgium (Grande Place). When we open our windows we smell pancakes, pitta and pizza. It’s great. A vacation atmosphere the whole year long.
When we are sick of working: we take the metro to Kinepolis/UGC, visit the Kaai Theater or just take a walk in this superb city.
You have to visit us one day!

There are some big chops among the M&C clients. How did you attract them? I can assume Canon Europe isn’t the easiets client ever, just because they have an international market to please…
They came to us. That made the whole process a lot easier. Tim talks to the clients. Makes them happy (veeeeryyy important! We have a great relation with those people). A lot of great clients are not even on our website yet. I’m happy to say: We do ëmore fun’, exciting work every month. It grows. The cookie is getting bigger. There are a few BIG SHOTS that we will add to our list! YAAHOOOOOOOOOO!!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.

What education did you follow, before you started M&C?
I think there are a lot of teachers happy that school is finaly over for me I guess. I went to many schools. I was not a rebel student. I just … did … NOTHING.

What advice would you give to 18-year olds, interested in (web)design?
YOU CAN MAKE IT.  It’s a harsh business. A lot of competition. Great (MUCH BETTER THAN WE ARE) companies, designers in Belgium. You can be one of them. Why not!?

Thank you a lot for the effort and time, and good lucking milking cows!
We love cows!!! And we accept visa!?

comment for the picture
Bernard Bertrand (photographer), some hot milk-lovers (la fille d’O and Rebecca) and Tim (milkandcookies / bearded + long hear guy).
(Great picture!    Because I’M NOT IN IT !!! that’s why!!!! ?   )

Interview conducted with Stijn / Milk&Cookies for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit the Milk&Cookies website at http://www.milkandcookies.be/

You short-film ‘FlatLife’ was (is!) a real success, people from everywhere are begging to see it. Will it be released in some form soon?
Yeah, I’m still dealing with that. You know, as a creative being, I want to bring my film to an audience as large as possible. It has nothing to do with money, but with my wish to make people laugh. This is why I contacted a short film distributor, “La Big Family” in Brussels. Currently we are negotiating about a cinema release in Belgium and maybe elsewhere. This is a quite tricky business: my film would be the ‘pre’-film of a feature film. But I have 3 demands that are absolutely obligatory for me to agree on: first of all, this feature film should be accessible for children, since my film is accessible to all audiences. Second, the feature film should be a good film. Some people have even warned me about feature film distributors that will want to abuse my short film to get some more audience to their less succesful movies. And third: it should be released as soon as possible!

You’re studying at the KASK in Gent, right? Will you graduate successfully because of your nomination in Cannes, or do you still have to prove yourself in front of a jury?
Actually I hope the jury will be objective in all ways. They should only watch the film and forget everything they know about me. And if they say the film isn’t good and I don’t get my graduation, then that’s okay to me. I don’t value the Cannes jury more than the jury at school. I’m so terrified that there will be any press at the jury in june, because that is the last thing I need to achieve objectivity.

How did your graduation project end up in Cannes and where you surprised to be nominated?
I was very surprised it got nominated and even more surprised it won a prize. If you told me this a couple of months ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. How it ended up in Cannes is quite simple: I sent a video tape which wasn’t even a finished version of the film, and I filled in an online submission form, and that was it! A month later, on april 19th I got the most amazing telephone call I ever got: I was selected for Cannes!

The style you have is rather odd (compared to other movies you see nowadays), and highly entertaining. What was the idea of the movie, before even making the first sketches?
Now the idea was very very simple: the audience must laugh. If possible even with tears and a severe belly-ache. This was even before I had the first idea for FLATLIFE. Actually, it was in february 2002 I got the idea. I was in 3rd year animation back then, and me and my classmates had to look for good ideas for an end-of-year film. Since I wanted to make something funny in the first place, i started thinking about other funny animated shorts, and it occured to me that some of the most hilarious ones handle with gravity and directions. This is mostly visual humour. And I started thinking what I could do to make a film as funny as possible, when I ended up with this idea of showing a cross-section of an apartment building. I thought this idea was so brilliant -in all modesty- that I decided to save it until next year, as a graduation film. But then the problem was: what will I make this year? Since it became clear to me – long before the traditional media realized it – that the USA was preparing for war against Iraq, and I decided to make “The All-American Alphabet”, a very political film against the US government, not against the US inhabitants. As for my graphic style: it is quite simple. I don’t know how to draw all that well.

You’re also active in the Comedy-club Lunatics. Can you tell us something about it?
The Lunatics kick ass! We are a comedy club, based in Gent and Leuven, and we also have a team of improv comedy players. If you don’t know what that is: it’s something like ‘Onvoorziene omstandigheden’ that was on Belgian TV a couple of years ago, or ‘Whose line is it anyway’ that is very popular now in the United States and elsewhere. We play in theatres and pubs and so on, and there is always a different team of players that step on the stage without any clue of what they are going to say or do, and this often ends up in hilarious scenes, or very emotional ones. When it works, it gives me an enormous kick. I really enjoy playing with the Lunatics, but the last few years I had little time for it. I hope this will change.

When you had to speech in Cannes, you couldn’t help talking about your best friend George Bush. Why the strong ideas about this person? (isn’t it obvious?)
Well I’m not going to sum up every inhuman decision he has made since he was not elected last time, if you want to get depressed, visit: bushwatch.com and read all about it. Whenever I see him somewhere on TV he makes me feel terrible. Last week he was dishonouring the graves of all soldiers that died in France in WWII. You know, when you tick in “Bush” in Google, out of the 1st 10 hits, only 3 of them are pro-bush pages, all the rest is anti or making fun of him.
I’m not exaggerating, but Bush is the worst thing that happened to the world since Hitler. And it’s not because we don’t feel the consequences of his raving mad politics right here in Belgium that we never will. Also, that’s why some people underestimate the impact of what happened in Cannes. I knew for sure, even though I hadn’t seen ‘Fahrenheit 911′ yet, that Michael Moore’s film would have a HUGE impact in the States. So huge that it would cost Bush’s election. But in order to achieve this, his film had to be showed in the States before the elections, and rather as soon as possible. And this happened partially because he won the Palme d’Or in Cannes. But when I was awarded the Jury Prize for Short Film, I didn’t know yet if Moore would win or not, so I took the liberty of addressing the US citizens myself, because I knew some of them were watching live. I just said “In case Michael Moore doesn’t win, i want to ask: please, dont vote Bush”. And then Tim Roth (director and actor, a.o. Planet of The Apes) came on stage to award the Camera d’Or and he said: “I want to congratulate that young man for his courage and also I totally agree: Don’t vote Bush”. That felt good.

You met Michael Moore in Cannes. I think you both think alike on some  theme’s? How is he ‘in real life’?
Well it’s not like we spent an hour talking, just 5 minutes maybe. Anyway what amazed me: he looked terrible, happy and tired at the same time. I was very exhausted also after all that hectic stuff in Cannes, but Moore kept making jokes and smiling. That is just incredible. He’s exactly the same as you see him in Bowling For Columbine: it’s not a role he’s playing there. It’s Michael Moore. He said he was so delighted that I stood up and said ‘Don’t vote Bush’ because last time he was at a film award ceremony (at the Oscars), he was all alone in his protest. His wife whispered in his ear “Thank god, we’re not alone!”

You’re working on a new movie already? Please, do tell us more …
Woops, err… it’s a secret! You’ll hear about it soon I hope… maybe even by the time this interview hits the web.

You’re graduating this month (hopefully). What will you do after school? Looking for a job, or starting on your own, freelancing maybe? What does the near and not so near future look like for you?
Same question as above… big secret! I can just tell you: I will have great fun, together with some other people. And it’s not the Oktoberfest in Munchen.

That’s it I’m afraid. Thank you a lot for your time, and good luck with the rest of your carreer!
Thank you very much!

Interview conducted with Jonas Geirnaert for Vacuum-Magazine (2004).

As you state on your website, you’ve won several awards. Can you name us your favourite, or just the feelings this gives you, knowing that your work is highly appreciated all over the world…
I don’t really have a favorite, but I can tell you that it’s very refreshing to know that some great designers/non-designers appreciate my work.

Your interface is one of those that is simple and special. Once you saw it, it never leaves your head. Was this the intention of it in the first place? What was the basic idea of making the interface as it is right now?
Well… I really think that less is more… if you have a certain idea of what you want of a project before you begin sketching, then you don’t need to begin adding elements or effects. In a design, if you take out something and it keeps working, then that element was a nuisance. The basic idea of my portfolio was just what you see: having my work developed on me.

People can order pictures through your website. How does this go? Can we choose between the digital format or the printed format?
It goes better than what I expected! I’m offering prints but I’m also open to sell them in digital as royalty free pictures.

Never had the idea to sell high-resolution pictures on CDROMs?
Not really. The thing is that the cost for that kind of stuff would be too elevated compared to any stock image source and I think people wouldn’t pay what I belive all my pictures are worth. Anyway, I would consider any offer.

I think it’s quite rare that we hear about top-notch webdesigners from parts of the world like Argentina. Not that there’s a lack of them in your country, but somehow they don’t reach us out here. What do you think the reason for this is?
Hmmm… I think that’s because here it is difficult to reach European/USA markets. Believe it or not, we have one of the best graphic design universities in the world (with a lot of weak points too) and many people get surprised with the quality of pieces of artwork made by argentinians/latin-american designers. The language may be a big issue as here not many people speaks other than spanish. If you go to Spain you will find lots of great argentinian designers working for important agencies. I believe that in some years, when designers here really realize about the potential of our work in foreign markets, you will start seeing a lot more of latin-american web/graphic work.

By the looks of your interface, you like the outdoors a lot (grass, birds singing, …). Are you an outdoor-person?
I love being outdoors but I must accept I’m quite extreme on that. Sometimes I spent weeks without leaving my home, working on my computer and barely leaving home to see my friends and family. But then, when I plan a trip, I like to be out as long as I can, sometimes in a lonely place, in a tent and without electricity. My trip to the north-west of Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, for example, lasted about 4 months. Now I’m planning a 6 months trip to Mexico and Guatemala… that’s a place I’ve not yet been to and that I really want to know.

What’s your favourite spot you ever went to?
Hmmm… that’s a difficult question! There are lots of places I love. The city of Cusco in Per˙… that city is an exiting/rare/sad mixture of European and Inca culture, it has a strange attraction and it is difficult to leave! La Habana, in Cuba is also a city that caused me a strange mixture of sad/happy feelings… cuban people are great. From Europe I loved Barcelona but I think I was too young when I was there to really appreciate it… I hope I can go there again sometime.

Name one location, no matter where, you want to visit, and why that particular place?
As I told you before I would love to go to Mexico/Guatemala. I don’t know exactly why. I love latin-american culture and mexicans have some kind of thing that makes me love them. All mexicans I knew where very friendly and helpfull. Moreover, Mexico has tons of great and beautiful places.

You once started with the first version of Flash (Macromedia), not like most designers that thought Flash was just a trend that would blow over. How do you think back on that time? Was it a revolutionairy piece of software?
I strongly think so. It’s true that in lots of cases we, designers, make abuse of it. But I think that it’s within sight of everyone that there are sites that display really amazing experiences we wouldn’t ever imagine to see on the internet some years ago. We don’t have to forget that Flash is only a tool and without an idea/concept there’s no app that can make our site different from others.

If someone would ask you some good advice on ‘how to start as a freelancer’, what would you say?
First gain some professional experience working in an agency and then, when you finally feel you are ready to go on your own, take your time to build up your portfolio, and find the way to differentiate it from all the others. That would not do everything but would drive potential clients to your site for sure.

These days, it’s hard to get a webdesign-job without any knowledge of ServerSide scripting at all. Do you think this is correct? Can you deal with major projects without the use of ASP(.NET) or PHP?
That’s right. It’s good to know some PHP/ASP code but it’s difficult to be updated in everything. So, for major projects I work along a programmer who can deal with that kind of things faster and better than me so I concentrate in the interface design, which is my main concern.

Maybe an odd question, one of my best friends is getting married with a girl from Argentina. Can you advice him to go and live in Argentina and build a life from scratch overthere, or should he stay in Europe?
jajaja! I don’t really know what to advice him… it depends on what he wants his life to be like. If he likes tranquility (not in terms of peaceful places that we surely have, but in terms of economic and social peace) I would suggest to really think it twice. Personally, I love Argentina and, in some way, we are a mixture of latin and european cultures so perhaps it would be less strange than to move to Bolivia for example, which is a lovely country but which has nothing of european but its churches. By the way… we have the best women in the world!

That’s it i’m afraid. Thanx a lot for the interest and effort for this interview. It is -ofcourse- highly appreciated. You may end in beauty…
My pleasure. I invite you all to browse my site and leave me your comments. Thanks!

Interview conducted with Emiliana Rodriguez for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit his website at http://www.emilianorodriguez.com.ar/

The 2Rebels-catalogue is -without exagerating- looking sweet and amazing. It both presents perfectly balanced fonts and nice typography. Where did you get the eye-on-typography? In other words, how did you learn about typography in the first place?
__I’m not sure if it’s really “eye-on-typography” or simply passion for typography. I came to the world of design (I was a ballet dancer) because of type. It was in 1990 and I saw something David Carson did. It was before he became the star he is. At my point of view he was approaching design the same way I was approching dance. I was doing contemporary dance (based on classical) and I always refused to dance the prince charming. When I saw what he was doing with type, I was already in a career change, it just confirmed that I was switching to the right field. I then was really hard on myself and worked long hours to achieve my goals.

When being a small kid you have dreams such as ‘I want to become an astronaut’. When you were still young, did you have the dream of designing top-notch typefaces?
__No! I wanted to become a truck driver. Life has made me a ballet dancer for 15 years and now turned me into a full time designer, part time type-designer, sometime motion-graphic-designer and always a full time dad.

If I would have created a new typeface, how would it be able to get it distributed by 2Rebels?
__It would be very simple. You send us a print out of the typeface. We (Pol, Fabrizio and myself) look at it, and if we like it…it’s in.

2Rebels is from Canada. Isn’t it hard to keep personal contact with the international designers? Does it all happen through phone and email, or do you regularly meet each other?
__No it’s not hard. Just a bit more expensive to go visit. Most of all communications are happening through e-mails and phone.

Who typographer do you look up to? Who do you admire in the typography-world?
__Oh man, this is hard. So many good typographer out there. It has to be typographer-designer Ed Fella. Not only for his work, but for his passion about his job and his enormous generosity.

I’ve seen you distribute the work of Olyff (Clotilde). Are you happy with the work she delivers?
__Yes very much. For one reason, her work is very intelligent (so is she). When you know the thinking behind her fonts, it takes a new dimension. I like her very much. She’s also a nice and sweet person.

The use of good typography is often underestimated. Can you tell us something about the importance of good use of typography?
__Good typography makes good design. No mather what kind of fonts you use (clean or fucked up) if you don’t use your fonts well, you can destroy your work.

What advice can you give for upcoming designers? Do you consider them as competitive designers or as people to learn from?
__1) The most important thing is to design with your heart. If you like what you do, it will show in your work.
__2) When I teach at Université du Québec à Montréal, I always say to my students that I surely learn more from them than they learn from me.

Where does the name 2Rebels come from?
__I think the word rebel fits the way I approch design. Anyway in 1995 it did make sense. The name was already incorporated in Canada so I just added the 2 in front.

By the looks of the typefaces you designed, you’re also keen on the ‘alternative’ scene. The more grungy looks, distorted without turning into chaos. Is music important when you design? Do you get a creative kick out of listening to particular bands?
__Music is important for me period. When I do anything. It will kick your ass when you need it and will calm you if you’re stressed. Well, it’s working on me anyway.

I’m afraid that’s it. Take care, thanks a lot for the opportunity and good luck with 2Rebels!
__Thanks for inviting me in this issue of your magazine, I’m honored.

Interview conducted with Denis / 2Rebels for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit the 2Rebels website at http://www.2rebels.com/

If I would want to have some custom-made stickers, how would I have to approach you?
Just send me an email. I get a fair amount of commissions and jobs from people visiting the site and dropping me an email. It’s often the first point of contact. If you wanted you could send me a big bag of money, felt tip pens and cake – that’s always a good way to approach someone.

The things you do as a designer / illustrator, have you learned these on yourself, or did you follow an education for it?
I studied Fine Art at university in the city of Nottingham (famous for Robin Hood and drunken youths). I learnt bits and bobs on the Fine Art course but my real education came once I started trying to make a living on my own. A lot of the stuff I know (which isn’t much admittedly) I learnt through experimentation and studying design books. Working and lots of practice has been the best form of learning for me.

How did you witness your ‘college-period’?
My time at University was fun but probably a bit misguided. I wish I had used the equipment a lot lot more. They had screen printing rooms which I dabbled in but didn’t use to its full potential. I would love to go back there to use them – only they scrapped the screen printing workshops and replaced them with computers.

Once you graduate, the most common thing to do is find a job. Was it that simple for you too?
I had a job during most of my time at college so I was lucky – I just continued working there after I graduated. I designed boxes, bags and packaging for retail and promotion. It was a great job, I learnt how to do a lot of things on the computer and gained a lot of experience. Also it meant I could use the office supplies for my own stuff – on the sly of course.

The designcommunity is one that sticks together firmly. But on the otherhand, it makes it harder for people to earn a living from it. What do you think about competitive design? Only the best survive?
No, the best don’t survive – it’s much more complicated than that. And the best are only the best in some people’s eyes. Design is like any other creative industry, talent will only take you so far, and it’s not always the most talented that are the most successful.

In what way do Pixelsurgeon, Design is Kinky, Day14, One Huge Eye and other support you?
They are my friends and they often put in a good word for my site when it gets a rare update. Day 14 are publishing my first book too, it’s called ‘Hello Duudle’; a collaboration of drawings between Sune Ehlers of www.duudle.dk and myself. It should be out very soon.

When you go out in weekend, are you the person drawing on beer-cards and napkins?
Once I was eating in a restaurant, Wagamama, where they have paper place mats on the table. Whilst enjoying my noodles I penned what I thought was a really nice drawing. I was being especially careful not to spill my lunch and ruin it (normally I am really messy as I shovel food down my throat). As I was finishing off, I was thinking about how I was going to scan it in later at home, when the waitress came along and snatched away my bowl, screwing up and throwing away the place mat underneath…
Leave anything clean near me for a few minutes and it’ll probably get drawn over.

You featured tons of cool graphics (and workshops) in magazines such as Computer Arts (projects, special), SL Magazine, … How did all this happen? Did you send in a portfolio or have they contacted you themselves?
They tracked me down and held my arm behind my back until I agreed to do some work for them.

How important is a portfolio for a designer anyway?
It’s still pretty important, though I think it can take different forms such as on a CD or online now. The classic ‘work in a folder’ is still what most people like to see. Nothing on screen can beat a nicely printed piece of work.

You recently made some buttons / badges. What do you think of the final result?
They came out well I thought seeing as they were all hand drawn. Wear It With Pride made a really good job of them. They’ve nearly sold out now so people must of liked them too.

Have you got any final advice for the upcoming designers?
Not really, just remember to be open to experimentation, always carry a sketchbook with you and to enjoy your work.

Interview conducted with Jon Burgerman for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). You can visit his website at http://www.jonburgerman.com/

We’re on the verge of a new year, 2004. What are your expectations for this new year? And wishes you want to fullfill?
I think next year will be so busy as hell,but this will be good for our fans, no sure don’t say yet but please look forward to our news, now I am Japan,I’ll greet 2004 years than there,see you next year,We have a plan to do a lot of releases and tour !!!

Bathtub Shitter is known for its lack of interest in webzines, isn’t it? Why don’t you like them? And most of all, why the sudden change right now?
Yes man,I am sure I didn’t like them but I thought there was one of good idea when I viewed your webzine,Fishcomcollective also thought I wanna wear T-shirts,get a button of Fishcomcollective,ahaha easy joke.

There was an attempt on your life a few months ago. Are you up to enlightning us a bit? What happened and why did they want to kill you and ruined your place?
I don’t wanna say a lot about this anymore,Okay I think They were like one of our followers,frendly and I was helpping them out 2 years ago,but they have their own ideology which was destroying the stage,also I decided We never play with them but they frequently called me of couse I ignored,time has gone I heard a lot about their bad rumor from young bands and promoter,that night this bad accident came when I gave them advice. We can’t understand for them being destroyed yet becouse police’s investigation is too late, but just heard that group decided to break up tonight,It sucks… still have some problem but I am really well please don’t worry La-La-a-La-a !!! aha

I just heard the news that you released a full length CD ‘Lifetime Shitlist’. I must admit this is fabulous news. Who releases the album? Tell us something about it, can we expect some rare or very weird things with it?
this has released on our own label,named SHIT JAM RECORDS,unfortunately those website doesn’t work by that accident,but if Who’s interested,get in touch with this info@bathtubshitter.com it’ same,there is 14 tracks including cover of WITCHFINDER GENERAL,not new that tracks were already recorded in 2001 but I think this is best works till this day,please listen !!! play loud !!!

Bathtub Shitter gained the status of a cult band, here in Europe lots of people worship you and your band. How do you think this is possible,when the one and only time you came to europe with the band was last year? What did you think of the gig at Fuck The Commerce last year by the way? Did you like the sound, audience and place?
Really ? I don’t feel that a thing is real becouse I am Japan and so far,Nothing gives me a so much pleasure if Who has our platter in our unknown town,thanks a ton well FTC was cool,I felt staffs,audience,bands all had enjoyed there,I’m really envious of European underground music scene

Would you ever consider coming back to Europe, maybe even Belgium?
Yeah We always think,not sure,We are planning to go there,of couse We wanna tour on your country but try a lot before touring,I promise We’ll go in a near future,Maybe…aha

In the USA, Brad and Amanda released the Fertilizer EP in a special edition. How did you get in contact with these people? Do you like the work they did for you?
I knew about him before,in a past,He was running RHETORIC RECORDS,I am sure I had not bad feeling, think They are nice people but are they doing so busy ? unfortunately I have not heard from him since…

The subject you’re ’singing’ about is quite funny, being shit. Why the fascination for this brown love?
No I am sure I don’t sing about excrement,take those things more easily,read my lyrics again,I am so funny to sing from other point of view,for instance,view this world from trash can inside or shit in bathtub,don’t think answer is one in a life,not arithmetic or computer,only I am a shit from my mother ahaha

Japan has a great history in sicko bands. Which ones are your favourites?
I like SxOxB, MELT-BANANA a lot, I have heard Japanese heavy Metal as early LOUDNESS, VOW WOW, KUNI, E.Z.O. when I was really young ahaha yearn for me at Metal now I am very pleased with NAIAD and LIMITED EXPRESS (has gone?),both is not GRIND band but I like

Do you know any music by Japanese band Confuse? If so, do you like them?
Only I know band name

How would you describe Bathtub Shitter for an audience not familiar with the band?
Teacher ! don’t understand for this question,aha I am just broken…

People dig merchandising. How about Bathtub Shitter merchandise? Any t-shirts for sale? Or other stuff?
Check our website out,so easy to find out,address is this www.bathtubshitter.com

Time for some plain self-promotion here, and to wrap this thing up. Feel free to spread some advertising for your new cd, why we should buy it and furthermore, thanx for the offer in interviewing you. Thanx!
Thanks for interview,nothing to say more,only I wanted merchandise of Fishcomcollective,ahaha if Who’ll do for readers present,let’s me know at info@bathtubshitter.com I’ll post aha

Interview conducted with Masato, somewhere at the end of 2003 for FishComCollective. Read more about Bathtub Shitter on their website: bathtubshitter.com
Picture taken from the sublime Grindgore.net website.

I always found it hard to believe that Morbid Records ever signed a band like Ashes You Leave. The unique style is somehow not appealing to the regular genres Morbid Records deals with. So why did they ever give you the chance of releasing albums? What’s the story behind ‘getting signed’ with Morbid Records?
Well yes, its strange. But there`s not much of a story behind it. We (khm, they, since I wasnt in band yet;)) got in the studio, recorded a demo and send it to Morbid Records, and they have contacted us back, and we`ve got a contract.

Are you happy with the work they do for you?
In general, were not so happy about their work, and as you mentioned above, they are more grind-death oriented, so thats the way where most of money goes, and we are stuck with leftovers. Thats why we are thinking about finding some other label, probably the one which will be more suited with our genre.

Do you know Forgotten Silence? When listening to the Fire-album, that was a band that came in mind (but i always forgot their band-name untill now). Are you in contact with this band? I don’t think you have the same music, only the atmosphere sounds alike. Is this typical for bands from your area?
Heh, nope, never heard of them. But i believe im gonna have to find some of their albums now?:)

How’s that area like? Are there a lot of Croation bands worth mentioning?
Croatia? For me its beautiful, but I guess everyone says for his country that is the best place for him. I dont know, I love that I can go to the sea if I want, I can go to the mountains if I want, and I can go to some meadow, and its all about one hour drive distance.

You also write for some sort of a webzine, what’s your job with them?
Wow, this was unexpected! Yes, im writing some reviews and do interviews and stuff, well, ordinary e-zine jobs, you know;) Thats the thing I started to work on with some friends over the internet long before I joined Ashes You Leave, and I am very proud that now I can say that today it is the first and the biggest Croatian metal e-zine. Although playing AYL takes pretty much of my spare time, I intend to continue working on that project. Feel free to visit it on www.cmar-net.org , cause although its on Croatian, soon we will make english version of e-zine part that deals with Croatian demo bands.

I got to please the less intelligent readers too, so here are a few really cliché-questions. What’s your favourite band and why is that?
Believe it or not, but this is one of questions I find pretty difficult to answer. Since im writing reviews, i constantly listen a lot of bands and genres, and I dont like being passionate blind follower of just one music genre or band. So I cannot say that i have favorite band, but I have favorite bands, and here i must mention Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, Nightwish, Children Of Bodom, Cradle Of Filth, Rhapsody, Bal Sagoth, Death, Sonata Arctica, and so on and on.

Do you remember the first metal-album you ever bought?
Unfortunately no, but one of the first was Ride The Lightning from Metallica, and I still just love to listen it.

Ashes You Leave music is like a mixture between metal and gothic i think. Where are your roots in music?
We started as 100% doom metal band. As the band has changed many members, with coming of new ones, the style began slightly differ. When Berislav came to AYL, music really started to change towards technical and faster music. So the doom part began to fade. I guess that guys that are most «guilty» for today sound, gothic metal are Berislav and Gordan.

Is there a certain concept on the Fire album? Maybe something to do with witches? (the burning thing).
Haha, no the burning thing doesnt have any connections with witches. The album wasnt intended to be conceptual, but it turned out to be one in a way. All the lyrics says about life, love and romance, so the fire had the turn up somewhere, and I think it gives a nice package to the whole thing.

I think the music behind Ashes You Leave is rather complex. So from that point of view, i presume you are all pretty talented musicians? Is there one masterbrain in the band, or are all members equally involved in the process of making music?
Thanks for the compliment! Yes, the most of the album came from the brain of that big guy Berislav. He gives the most of ideas, especially guitar work, but in the proces of making songs, everyone in the band is present and we all put something of our own in it.

How do you play live? Does this happen a lot? Would you, on a perfect gig, try creating an entirly differenet atmosphere, by changing the location, decoration the place, lighting candles, …?
We got a very small oportunities first ’cause we don’t have money for some real shows and also the problem are clubs where we play-they often got small stages and ’cause there’s seven people in the band we always had mess:) Probably if we’ll have oportunity for some stage effects we’ll use it- we got lots of ideas but as i said before our possibilities are limited.

Listening to Ashes You Leave makes me wander who you are. Who the band is. I always images a few persons really depressed and extremely romantic. Is love and romance and important role in your life?
People always imagined us like some depressive and extreme people but, believe me, we are normal persons who live normal lifes. Of course that love is important for us-for who isn`t anyway:) but we’re not some obssesed people who live only for emotions and suffering… we live in 21. century like all people:)

People end their life, die … do you think death is the end? Do you ever think of dying? Would you even consider committing suicide?
Suicide is one of the things that happens on this world that i think, and hope:) never will understand. Some say that life is a gift, some says it is a piece of shit, but either way it is worth living. I like to watch a movie from its beggining till the very end, and not cut it right in the middle just because i didnt like some particular scene. Death awaits us all, why rush with it? About death… I just love Chucks riffs! RIP. Oh, not that Death, sorry:) I dont know, as I said earlier, death awaits us all, so were all gonna find out whats the catch with that death thing. Remember the movie metaphor? Some movies has hidden parts which comes after the list of roles, so i like to look at it on that way, that something exists after the life as we know it.

You have a wonderfull website, it has a really great design. Did you create it? How do you feel about mp3-music? Do the bands really survive on the album-sales when you have a 5-album contract with them?
Thanks, website was designed and created by Neven Mendrila, who just left the band, so now we will see how were gonna catch up high standards he set. I think mp3 music is great for promotion. But unfortunately, it has taken its wings, so now it threatens the music industry. But still i believe that its not such big threat as medias know to present them, cause when i download mp3 which sounds great to me, I go to the shop and buy the album. Its still a big difference in having a CD and booklet in your hands than having a bunch of 1 and 0 on your hard drive. If you look at it in that way, you can conclude that mp3s just brings higher standards for musicians, so that they give their best on whole album and to be inovative. But unfortunately, many people doesnt think this way. Here in Croatia, you can buy an mp3 CD, with 10 albums on it for 5 EUR. Thats horrible.

It’s always fun to hear about future plans. So if there are any, feel free to mention. And with this, i’d like to end this malignant interrogation. Thanx a lot for answering and all the luck in the world with the band and all your activities.
Currently we are working a lot on our new songs. It was planned to go to Eurorock festival in Belgium (heh, perhaps we would do a live interview than?:)) but unfortunately, all festival is cancelled. So were gonna make new songs, put them to CD, and see where it could lead us. After that, who knows…Thank you for interview, its been a lot of fun, keep rocking!

Interview conducted with Ashes You Leave for FishComCollective, somewhere in 2003. Read more about this band on their website: ashesyouleave.org

Hi there Aidan! How are you doing? You’re from Canada right? How’s life in Canada actually?
Canada is an alright place to live, though perhaps we’re a nation of perpetual fence-sitters — like we’re sitting on the fence between the US model of life and the European one…which may not be a bad place to be…but it seems a little uncertain sometimes. Musically, this country is kind of mixed too. There seem to be a lot of people doing experimental music but not a lot of infastructure to support it, whether that be in terms of labels/promoters or actual listeners. Of course that’s probably not unique to Canada…

I know some Canadian bands actually, but all in the more brutal metal scene, like Cryptopsy and Fuck The Facts. Aware of these bands? Which home-town bands do you like?
I know Cryptopsy of course, as they’re pretty big. To be honest, I’m not all that familiar with Canadian metal bands, apart from some of the classic ones like Voivod or Kataklysm or someone of that ilk. I know there is a fairly big metal scene in Quebec and Montreal — certainly more so than in Toronto, where I am. I’m more familiar with experimental/electronic acts here in Toronto than the metal since that’s who I play with most often.

You got your Nadja (touched) cd released through Deserted Factory in Japan. How did the deal work out? Are you happy with the way things turned out in the end?
Ryosuke from Deserted Factory originally contacted me to see if he could get some of my solo music (that I record under my own name) for distribution. We talked a bit and I mentioned that I was working on this Nadja material and he asked to hear it — I think I compared it to Corrupted and that got him all excited. I am happy with the release, I think it looks pretty good. I’m less pleased with the music now, since I’ve been working on new material that I think sounds better, but that’s all part of the process of improving.

Nadja is a weird project you have. Where do you get the inspiration to make such ‘music’ and do you call it music yourself?
Certainly I call it music. “Noise is any undesired sound signal”. I’ve listened to heavy music for a long time but have never had the opportunity or means to produce it, so it’s something I’ve wanted to do for awhile and I’ve finally found a way of satisfactorily doing so. I get inspiration from all over the place — other people’s music, films, books — the attempt to capture a certain mood or feeling, sensation…Nadja isn’t necessarily all that different from my solo music — they both have similar drone/ambient qualities — just that I’m using noisier and heavier sounds with Nadja. More distortion, more overdriven signals…

It must be very interesting to see you live somewhere. How would a live-gig be for you, would you bring up fascinating attributes or would it be music-only?
I usually play under my own name, and sometimes with visuals. I have played a couple times under the name Nadja. One show was more of a noise set, no drums or guitars, just effects and drones. The other time I played guitar with a bass player and a guy on laptop who did rhythms and samples. Neither shows really sounded like the material on ‘Touched’ — the latter ended up sounding more psychedelic than heavy…At the moment I don’t really have the gear to reproduce the material on ‘Touched’ live. It would be cool to have other players do it, so maybe one of these days Nadja will be a ‘real’ band.

The Touched cd reminded me of Forgotten Silence, from Czech Republic. Do you know these guys? The odd thing is, they create likewhise music with a dozen of musicians. You seem to do it all on your own. Are you an autodidact? Learned everything on yourself?
No, I don’t know Forgotten Silence. I will have to check them out. I do play everything myself — I use a looping pedal, which is how I get the multi-layered sound. When I was young I took classical flute lessons for many years, but everything else (guitar, drums, violin) I taught myself.

Who’s Nadja actually? And who’s the woman on the front of ‘Touched’?
‘Nadja’ is my name in reverse (spelt with a ‘j’ to make it a bit more slavic). So maybe ’she’ is my inverse? my anima? The woman on the cover is just a possible visual representation of that inversion…

The music you make would fit perfectly with movies. Ever had the chance to work on such projects?
People have often told me that about my music, but I never have worked on a film. I would be interested to do so, though, if the opportunity came along.

Are you playing in other bands too? Something you like to share with us?
As I’ve mentioned I make experimental/ambient music under my own name. I also play guitar with the trios ARC and Mnemosyne, which make ethno-ambient music and space-drone-rock respectively. The members of ARC and I run the label Arcolepsy Records to release our own and related musics: http://turn.to/arcolepsy

People experimenting with music are most of the time very openminded, or very narrowminded. In what category do you belong, and do you have an explanation for that?
One would think that experimental musicians would by default be openminded but it’s true that some of them aren’t. I think it’s elitism — the idea that if it’s not experimental it’s beneath them — that all other music is just commercial drivel intended for consumption by the masses. I think that’s ridiculous. I appreciate and think there is value to all kinds of music, whether it be pop, classical, jazz, noise, experimental, techno, etc. It’s very limiting of people to ghetto-ize themselves into listening to just one kind of music.

Have any pets at home? If so, which one and how do you call them?
I don’t have any pets. The landlord won’t let us have any.

How does your life besides Nadja look like?
Well, when I’m not making or listening to music, I’m reading or writing — I have two books of poetry published, a third coming out this fall (with http://www.coldsnapbindery.com ) and I’m working on a novel. My day job is at a bookstore, so I do have to leave the apartment sometimes to go to that. Our apartment is near to overflowing with books and cds right now…

Any plans for the future? Some world-domination plans maybe?
World-domination sounds good…;) I have another full Nadja album recorded entitled ‘Skin Turned to Glass’ and I’m working on some more material, so I hope to have them out sometime soon. I have several solo releases coming out over the course of the next year or so with such labels as Drone Records, Mira, Nulll, Slobor, Sonic Syrup, and The Locus of Assemblage. One of these days I would really like to get over to Europe and play some shows, meet some of the label people I’ve worked with. Soon, hopefully…

That’s it i’m afraid. Thanx for the little chat and good luck with Nadja and all the other things you’re doing!!
Thank you!

Interview conducted for FishComCollective somewhere in 2003. Read more about Aidan Baker at his website.

Greetingz belly boy, how’s life overthere?
Cheers Thomas, how are you. Ha, really great to be doing this interview for you. Thanx for your interest. All is going well over here. Last week, the AG/LES BAUDOUINS MORTS split EP was released and we are all happy with this release. Other things are that I have been pretty busy with doing mail and getting some other releases planned. So all is going well, really well. Thanx for asking.

I’m not going to ask to introduce yourself, every living creature on this planet must at least ever heard of agathocles, and i’m sure you’re pretty bored out of that question by now. So, what did you do today in this nice weather?
You are right, the wheather is nice today. I have taken a day off from work and have started doing mail. There’s so much mail around here in my room which I still have to take care off. Hm, this afternoon, I think I will be taking a swim because it’s so good wheather. And after that, I will do some more mail. And tmorrow, back to daily work for my job…Introducing AG, if people have internet, they could check out www.agathocles.com, there’s some biography on this site of AG.

A few months i was really amazed to hear that Burt stopped drumming with you guys. I mean, he’s in the band for as long as ik now AGx. Anyway, why did he leave and are there any hard feelings about that matter between the two of you?
The political and ideological views of Burt on one side, and mine and Dirks on the other side, did not match anymore. Also Burt seemed to get a totally different view on music and DIY-ethics, so it was best to part. No hard feelings, but totally different feelings and lifestyle and ideology.

Who’s the new drummer? His face really looks familiar to me, so i presume he also play(ed) in other bands before AGx?
Hahaha, really Thomas ? Does the face of our new drummer Roel look familiar to you ? Yes, he has played in some other bands before, but I don’t really think you know these bands. He used to have a little projectband with Dirk, our guitarplayer, but that was just for one gig, I believe (I am not sure). Our new drummer is called ROEL, he is about 22 years old, great responsible guy, killer drummer, he has the heart on the right place and sees things in a « red » way, if you know what I mean, hahaha. Roel has fit in the band very well, right from the first time when he got in the band (in August 2002, that was). Roel and Dirk used to live at the same student-home in GEEL where they were both studying. Roel is now working as a socio-cultural worker,just like me. Great guy ! You have to meet him.

I can’t ignore it, you’re a big example in my life. Not as an idol or anything. But your way of writing and the subjects you’re dealing with in lyrics, really were a guide to find my own way. Is that a reason to write those lyrics? What do you try to achieve with them? Do you think it’s a good cause that people can relate to what you say?
Thanx for your nice and motivating words, Thomas. That’s one of the best things to hear and to keep me motivated. Cheers to you. Yes, ofcourse I am really honoured and proud that our lyrics and ideology have been some kind of a guide for you to find what you were looking for. What more do we want to achieve with our lyrics ? Our lyrics are very important for us and with these lyrics, we wanna open up some horzions, we want people to know about a lot of other things going on in the world instead of the big media things. It seems that more and more our lyrics are based upon Belgian politics and Belgian events. Surely now that we have those liberal bastards again in the governement. Why do I say liberal bastards ? Because they are only there to put more money into the pockets of the rich fucks who don’t need it. Tax-reduction is what they say, but what the fuck, for who ? I don’t feel anything in my pocket and the people who don’t have anything surely don’t feel it because they don’t have to pay taxes.Yeah, speaking of a hidden agenda. Still stupid Belgium seems to want these blue bastards in the governement.

The war in Iraq, everybody has an own well-thought opinion about it i think, but what really amazes me is the contradiction between Iraq and Liechtenstein. While the US is bombing Iraq to end dictatorship and set democracy back, the inhabitants of Liechtenstein approve a law to end democracy and give more power to the ruling class. Do you understand this? Now, will the US start bombing them too?
There’s no oil to be found in LIECHTENSTEIN.so the USA and the capitalist league don’t give a fuck. But I don’t think you can compare LIECHTENSTEIN to IRAQ. It’s a totally different matter. But take a look at ex-Yugoslavia in the 1990’s, how long did it take for the UN and the USA to get there to « so-called » liberate the poor oppressed people ? They did not want to get involved because there was nothing to be found which could enrich their greedy hands. Besides, liberating the poor oppressed people is a big lie, it’s only to ensure the economical valuable means which can be found there like oil,… CIA has always been supporting extreme-right dictators in Latin- and South-American countries, so why should we believe their lies about liberating people from a dictator ? If there’s one country which would need to have a communist revolution it would be the USA.

At some parties you see a girl kiss someone else then her boyfriend, she gets all sorts of names thrown at her. When a boy does this with 5 girls, he’s the hero of the night. What do you think of this kind of behaviour?
It’s a narrow-minded attitude if you behave like this. It’s just so typical in this macho-society where women must do this but can’t do that, and men can do this or that when they want to. A typical patriarchal way of acting which we don’t need. The example you just mentioned is just a small, quite harmeless one, but what do you think about women which don’t get supervising jobs in big companies just because they are female ? Fucking discrimination. And if you know the thoughts of our beloved (hahaha) Vlaams Blok-party on this matter, you know the future for women is not that free and bright at all.

What do you think is the motivation of so many people to ‘believe’ in a god (or more gods)? How is it possible that so many people blindly follow the ones that set these restrictions and laws of religion?
State and religion go hand in hand. They need eachother. On one side, religion promises better times after death so people forget the bad situation in their daily life. A good thing for the state because the state doesn’t have to take care off active minds which want to create change. On the other hand, the state gives organized religions money to expand their religious organisation in Belgium it is like this. So what we have here is a nice example of the old bread-and-games tactic of the olf Romans.Made to keep the people silent. Liberation from state and religion is the only way to achieve full-awareness and to create change to make it possible that a lot more people could live a decent life.

I have this idea that you’re not in big favor of cencorship. But do you think it’s good to cencor certain things, and if so, would you mind giving some examples?
Good question… I don’t agree with the censorship going on in many ways but on the other hand, I do think that some kind of propaganda should be boycotted and shouldn’t have the chance to be read by people. With this I mean that a lot of incorrect information is being spread as « the truth » and many people believe it. Ofcourse every kind of information is coloured, is subjective and comes from a certain kind of direction. But things like negotianist propaganda, homophobic litarature,…these things are just based upon lies, upon hatred, so I do think these things should be « censorred » in one way or another. But still Thomas, a difficult matter to which it is difficult to say just YES or NO. It depends on the content of the issue, I think.

Is there a difference between violence in public, during war and during gigs? What do you think of those ‘violent moshing’ dudes at some gigs?
Violent moshing to hurt people should be banned at gigs. Ofcourse it’s fun to have a slam-dance going on, but people should take up their responsibily and take care of eachothers. And I know this is possible. Yes, I do think there’s a difference between violence at gigs and during wartime… During wartime, people are sent to war to fight the wars for politcians who causes it. At gigs, people who are looking for fights and start fights are responsible themselves for the violence. Fuck macho-cocks who are looking for a fight during gigs. We surely will not miss these arseholes.

I remember a story when some nazi’s entered to building where you were playing. What happened that day?
Ha yeah, this happened some years ago. Well, some nazi-pricks were rasing their arms, shouting sieg hail and shouting at us that we were leftist rats (they were right about this, hahaha). We friendly asked to stop their bullshit, but they didn’t. So fights broke out and they got kicked out. Outside the club, these fuckheads started damaging cars and all that so the organizer called the cops. And yeah, the pigs in blue came. And guess what, after telling them the story the cops told us that we had provocated these nazis and that it was our own fault.hahaha, can you believe that? ..speaking about fascist cops don’t give a fuck…

About 20 – 30 years ago most punk / grind bands were all socially / politically aware – but later on it all became more divers, first of all the big boom, tons of different styles (which i think is a very good thing) but also the message changed into facism, intollerance, sexism, homophobia, porn, … what do you think made the idea / message change?
This kind of extreme music has become more popular during the 90’s and is still getting popular with big labels releasing this kind of music, these bands coming on TV, playing on big festivals and all that. I think the more people involved in this kind of music, the more different ideas/ideologies get involved. And yeah, sad but true, intollerance, homophobia,…set foot on this kind of music. Grind/mince finds its roots in the extreme 80’s metal and extreme 80’s punk with a socially and politically aware ideology. But like all kinds of music, things change when it becomes bigger. Just look at the OI-movement. OI used to be (leftist) working class punk, but look around and see all these nazi-OI bands. But still, the struggle for social equality continues through some grind/mince bands.

What does ‘mince core’ mean for you personally? Did AGx invent this name and what is it’s origin? Why Mince Core?
Yeah, we thought of this name back in the 80’s. Why ? Well, because we wanted that people know AG as a socially and politcally aware grind-band. For us, MINCE means socially and politically aware GRIND. We took this MINCE name because around 1988, the first gore-grind bands like CARCASS released records and we did not want that people saw AG as a gore-grind band or something. TO MINCE means « to cut up », it’s a synonime for TO GRIND.

I’m not going to ask how old you are, but do you still remember your childhood? How was that? Where you active in the UG-movement back then? What are the very first records you ever heard?
My childhood…I guess I have had a real good childhood. I stayed a lot at my grandparents place because my parents were working. And at my grandparents place, there was also an uncle living. He collected vinyl and when I was 7 years old, I think, he gave me some BLACK SABBATH and LUCIFERS FRIEND records because he did not like it, hahaha. I guess these were my first records. Around the age of 11-12 years old, I started to write to bands, first only Belgian and Dutch bands because I could not write English, and later to bands from all over the world. Around that time, I also started my first zine. Ha, guess what, it was called « SATAN-zine ». Later this zine became MAYHEM MASSACRE-zine, which ended in 1987. I really liked doing the zine, but could not continue because of all the work for AG.

Were there lots of changings during the years? Personally and in general.
Changes?.You mean in my life ? Well, the older I got, the more interested I got in politics and social items. The lyrics became more and more critical about social and political matters, more leftist/anarchist/syndicalist. That’s why I also went to study social work, which makes me now a social-worker, hahaha. My views on music and DIY-ethics have never changed. In contrary, I can say that they have become more radical. Why more radical ? Because it’s still the same old fucking show…People start to conform without any reason when they get older. This isn’t the way, I think. At least, not for me.

You certainly know what you’re talking about – why do you think so many people just follow the easiest way and choose for facism and intollerance? Don’t you think it’s a vicious circle for them to support some political parties?
I think there are a lot of reasons why people support extreme right, become intollerant and so on. Many people become like this because they hear this and they hear that…Rumours and populist talkings by extreme right movements make people insecure, and that’s why people go for extreme right. It’s an irrational feeling of insecurity and the extreme right parties are taking advantage of this. On the other hand, you have those really hard-to-the bone fascists who totally believe what they stand for…and there’s only one solution for them. Gather them and bomb the fucking bastards. Am I sounding rude ? This is just what they have done in the past and still are doing in some parts of the world. AN EYE FOR EYE, when you are dealing with these pieces of shit.

Labeling people is a prove of narrow-mindness…is that true? Why do people call themselves vegetarian or vegan? I think lots of people stop eating meat without even knowing why. Is the reason important to you?
I have my own reasons to stop eating meat, and yeah, I do think that the reasons why you are doing it are important. People can do it because it’s a fashion, which will only lead to an elite-attitude of vegetarianism or veganism, a hollow lifestyle. But what the fuck…About labels, mankind needs labels to make their lifes more easy. When you use labels, you can put more structure in your perception of other people. It is less confusing this way. But constantly labelling people without looking what a person is really alike is ofcourse fucking bullshit. A label is about ONE charachteristic of some person, and as we all know, the personality of someone consists out of many different things. Lets keep that in mind before labeling someone of a group of people.

ALF uses violence to give power to their message. Would you ever get agressive to make your point? What do you think of ALF and all the actions organised for their benefit?
I agree with the aims of ALF. Direct action is one way, like many other ways. I really admire the people involved in ALF actions. OK, I don’t agree with all their actions, but their goals are really worthy. Yeah, I do think that violence is sometimes needed. But it depends on the situation and to be honest, I really can’t think of any good example right now.

I wasn’t really sure it was you when i first emailed you. Years ago i could only contact you by normal mail. When and why did you decide to use the computer and internet for contact and communication?
I still don’t have internet and email at my own place. But I saw that a lot of friends of mine had email and also at my work, we started to use email so I decided to make a hotmail-address. I do see the advantages of having an email address, for example if you need some papers for the customs very fast, but I still prefer snail-mail. I guess I am an old fashioned person but snail-mail is something special, I think. All emails look the same, letters don’t. But hey, I really do see the positive of emailing as well.

On the AGx / Abstain split you had 4 songs of ‘computer-hate’ (Artificial Intelligence – Warmachines rolling on – Society of Steel – Computerphobia). Is your opinion on computers changed over this period of time? (recorded in 1997)
I still see the dangers of computer-mania. How far will it go when we give more « jobs » to computers ? Will the time come when computers will have to take responsibilities ? The computer-branche has created a lot of jobs for people, but on the other hand, computers have taken away many jobs which were first done by human beings. Another thing I am really scared of is this e-goverment-thing. With the cross-bank-computer-network here in Belgium, big brother is watching us more and more, invading into our private lifes. Another thing is that governement and banks are encouraging (and I guess later « forcing ») people to do their paperwork on computer using email and all that. Why ? For many people like older people, people who are not that familiar with computers, it’s a hell of a job to do this. Doing paperwork like taxes, insurance, is already a hell of a job when it’s being done the old way. Governement and banks and others are making the bureaucracy even more un-accessable for people. These are just a few of my concerns among many others.

I’m afraid this is it for now, if you have more to add, feel free to do so. New releases coming up? Thanx for the interview and take care!!!!
Cheers Thomas, thanx a lot for doing this interview with me and for showing interest in AG for all these years. Cheers for the nice, thought-provoking questions. Good luck with all your activities in the future. Keep up the good work. About new AG-releases, we have just released AG/LES BAUDOUINS MORTS split EP, AG/GODSTOMPER split EP and AG « Keep mincing » single EP (not the double EP with the same name). Some new AG stuff that can be expected soon : AG/MAD THRASHERS split EP, AG/ROT IN PIECES split EP, AG/UNHOLY GRAVE split CD, AG « Razor sharp daggers » LP (yes, finally the vinyl-version) and AG/CHIMAERA split EP. We will also be playing on some festivals abroad and in Belgium this summer. If people wanna check out our website, then go to www.agathocles.com . If you wanna contact me, write to JAN AG, ASBERG 8, 2400 MOL, BELGIUM or you can email our drummer ROEL at roel_agathocles@hotmail.com. MINCE CORE FOR PASSION, NOT FOR FASHION.

Interview conducted for FishcomCollective, somewhere in 2003. Read all about Agathocles on their website at agathocles.com