Well, since BoEk was facing severe health problems, he wasn’t able to conduct yet another interview with his drinking fellows of Illdisposed. And since I like drinking and metal music I decided to go in his place, and get drunk. Most questions are supplied by BoEk though, thanks dude! The interview is conducted with guitarist Jakob Batten.
How’s the tour been so far?
It’s been pretty hectic actually, we went to bed at 8 o’clock in the morning, every day. Totally drunk of course, that’s why I look like shit now.
It's not that bad!
My face is all red and stuff. It's really hard, but we can’t tour if we aren’t drunk all the time. Everything sucks. So if you drink a little bit, everything’s alright again. That’s touring!
Well, cheers then!
Cheers!
During the previous European tour you didn’t have a really big crowd in Holland, are you afraid this is going to happen again?
No, the presales look alright for this night. Which show was that then?
I believe this concerns the show in Rotterdam, in the Baroeg.
Oh yeah, that was weird I think. We had another show in Hengelo, there were plenty people there.
And how are the crowds in other countries then?
Most of the shows on that tour were crowded, except for Belgium. There were like forty people there, it was really bad. But most of it was alright.
After that tour, Lasse Bak left the band which led to rumours on the internet, you guys drew shit on his head on your website. What’s the real story behind his departure?
The real story is that Lasse was getting more and more tired, and he was becoming weird when we were touring. He was always by himself, sleeping, we really felt like he didn’t want it anymore. And another problem was he couldn’t really drink very much anymore without being too drunk to play you know. Before he could easily drink fifteen beers and play a show, but suddenly it didn’t work anymore and he ruined quite some important shows in England and stuff. So we had to kick him of the stage, in the middle of our set. And he tried to get back up, and we kicked him down again and he saw the rest from the show from the bar.
That’s an interesting story! Did you guys do anything special to prepare for the writing process of Burn Me Wicked?
No, but the writing process was different than how we normally do it. Normally we write the songs during rehearsal, but this time I wrote everything at home. It was because we toured a lot during that time, so we didn’t have the time to write the songs during rehearsal. We’re not a band that rehearses very much, so I wrote all the stuff at home, recorded it on my computer and gave the disc to our drummer. I think we only actually rehearsed it four or five times before entering the studio. But we’ve been playing together for so many years that it wasn’t that much of a problem.
Okay, so how were the recording sessions for the album?
It went pretty smooth, we finished the drums and the rhythm guitars in less than a week. That’s quite fast compared to how we normally do it. But it was due to all the touring we did last year, we played really well together. So we were in the studio less than a month, the last couple of weeks we just fooling around, having fun.
How did you come up with Mikkel Sandager of Mercenary to do guest vocals on your new album?
He’s an old friend of ours. We knew him and we knew the rest of the Mercenary guys. And we knew if we used Mikkel he could record everything. And he did it really fast, which is good because we don’t want some jerk to be there for three days haha!
Is there a special message behind the heroin spoon with the girl in it on the cover for Burn Me Wicked?
Yeah, it's a symbol for women being the most dangerous drugs in our time. They are very addictive and they make you feel good and after a while you need more and after that everything falls apart. So you can really compare them to heroin.
Interesting! So what do you think of the other bands on the bill of this tour?
I think they’re really good. I especially like Demia from Holland. I think they really have something and I’m sure they will find a record label soon. They have a powerful sound, a good singer, good songs, everything they need. But also Deadsoil of course, they're good.
That’s better, because on the last tour you weren’t that happy with the other bands.
No, that sucked and everybody was an idiot. And now everybody is fine, nice people, it's really good this time.
Okay, so you’re all big fans of beer, what’s your favourite beer then?
Oh that’s different, it depends on what week, and what day of the week it is. I don’t know I really like Weisbeer…
They have a good one here, Hoegaarden.
Oh I know it, it's actually one of my favourites.
Yeah mine too!
Especially in the summer!
Yeah definitely! You have to try Weihenstephaner from Germany, it's from the oldest brewery in the world. They’ve been making beer since 1040.
That’s a long time.
They have a really good Weisbeer, you should try it. Back to the questions then, about the last track on your album, Illdispunk’d, what the hell is that?!?
It's just an honest song telling the truth about five idiots from Denmark. It's nothing but the truth, it tells the story about a couple of drunk bastards.
(suddenly we are being disturbed by a laptop behind me, which is screeching out sounds of one of the greatest cartoons of all time, Family Guy)
He, Family Guy!
Yeah I love Family Guy, we have the new season. I really like that Quagmire, hehehe!
Okay, here comes my infamous question, in movies, who do you prefer, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone?
Oh, that’s difficult, Sylvester Stallone I think.
Yeah, why is that?
He’s a better actor. He actually speaks English.
Okay then, do you have anything of relevance to add to this interview, or maybe of no relevance?
Just check out our new album, it's got some good songs on it.
That was it then, thanks a lot!
Thank you too!