Heavy Lord - Dutch Doom on the Rise! part.1
First of all, introduce the band and the people in it?
'We are with 4 people, that are Wes Lee who plays guitar and does some occasional screams, Jeff also plays guitar, Steven plays bass and does lead vocals and I am Wout and I do drums. We are together since 2003.'
What are the musical influences of Heavy Lord?
'We started off as a sort of tribute to all the bands we love like Cathedral, Goatsnake, Sleep, Electric Wizard, Saint Vitus and Black Sabbath. But you can't just imitate your heroes so a lot of other influences came by like Led Zeppelin, Melvins, Tool and a lot of other bands (not only doom related).'
Are there any “non-musical” influences you guys draw inspiration from?
'As far as non-musical influences go we are inspired by cool movies, books and other interesting stuff. We aren't narrow minded people and always try to keep an open mind. We keep focusing on doing new things instead of keep playing the same riffs over and over again. Beer and some weed also helps.'
You guys released three records so far. Two of those records were released by the Russian label Solitude Productions. How did a Dutch underground doom band end up with a Russian label?
'Well, they hooked up with us actually. They heard from us and did us an offer, just one-record deals, very simple. I don't know if we will stay there forever but we'll see. Until now they did good work.'
You guys toured with Toner Low in December last year. Are you guys looking forward to the next one? And how did you hook up with the guys from Toner Low?
'We knew them already and they asked us if we were interested and we were. As we speak now we already did the tour and it was fucking crazy! We did 5 cool shows over there.'
You played on the infamous doom-fest Doom Shall Rise in Germany last year. How was that? How did the people react on your show?
'Yes that was a very cool show indeed. The people reacted very well and we did good business over there!!'
Seen any other good bands over there?
'Our friends from Versus The Stillborn Minded also played there and they were awesome. Debris Inc was also pretty brutal, that Dave Chandler can put up quite a show! And they played some Saint Vitus stuff as well and that was awesome.'
What do you think of the current reunion vibe going on with the older bands (Carcass, Negative Approach, Saint Vitus in 2009 for instance)? I think on one hand it’s good to see the old bands again, especially for the people who didn’t have the chance back then, but on the other hand those bands don’t do it for the right reasons (read money) anymore. What’s your opinion?
'I don't really know. I personally don't really like reunions. If it is for the right reasons it can be cool. The legacy of a band can be killed off really fast. But then again, who am I to judge? People should decide for themselves. Sleep reunites for two shows this year, that's kind of cool actually.'
If you guys become a “cult” doom band in the far future and they will ask to do a Heavy Lord reunion. Would you guys do that?
'That's a very weird question. I mean, if we ever were to split up it would have to have a damn good reason why. And dead is dead as far as I’m concerned.'
What is your most precious possession?
'My daughter and my girl. My drums, my band and my health. (Pretty obvious)'
What is the worst record in your collection?
'The worst is not worth mentioning and I already got rid of that a long time ago!'
And what is your best record in your collection?
'The best one? A lot of records I own I consider my 'best ones'. I can't mention one album I like the most of all but if I have to pick one it would be The Unreal Never Lived from Yob. That record just blows away EVERYTHING.'
What is the best achievement you guys made as a band?
'Well, we exist for about five years now and already brought out three records through a label, did a large amount of shows and had a lot of fun, what more do you want?'
And what is the next achievement you guys want to make as a band?
'The next achievement we want to make is our new record which we will record in the spring of 2009. We are very excited about that. Then maybe some touring or something would be cool.'
What goals would you still like to achieve?
'Play more and record more.'
Can you tell me something about your lyrics? What kind of topics do you guys sing about?
'Our lyrics are mostly created by our singer Steve, and deal with a lot of different things. Things like drug abuse, personal things and the random stupidity of a lot of things around us. Throw a little bit of sarcasm in there and you get the idea quite well.'
Do you think it’s important to carry out a message towards the audience as a band?
'We don't have a message or something, we want to say certain things but not in a preaching manner. There's preaching enough in this country.'
The Maya’s had a theory that life will end on this planet in 2012. They already predicted a lot of great world events on their calendar. Their prophecy predicts that life on earth will end in 2012. If that would be true, what should we do in those 4 years we got left on this planet?
'That's very interesting because my girlfriend actually reads a lot about that stuff. I can tell you that it's much more complicated than that... But as I said, I'm not here to preach. Just make the most out of everything you do and do it good. And then we can all die.'
Something to add/plug?
'Thanks for this interview and visit our site for updates on gigs and new stuff!! If anyone is interested in our merchandise, they can get it directly from us. We have CDs, LPs and T-shirts at the moment. Just send us an email to: [email protected] and we will ship directly.
This year our first record The Holy Grail will be re-released by Solitude Productions. This record will have six original songs plus a bonus track from our early days, which we recorded last year especially for the re-release of the CD. The recording has been mastered by Peter Kloos from Studio The Void. Watch out for that release, it is extra cool
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