I know you are very busy with your labels and band, so first of all thanks a lot for taking the time to do this interview! How is everything going?
Never been this hectic before at Rebellion HQ. So many cool releases and cool bands that come out thru rebellion. Razorblade is doing good as well, all the past shows we did were a blast, I feel blessed.
This interview is in honor of the new album “My Name Is Vengeance” that is coming out next month, the 7th Razorblade full-length! Excited?
Always, the feeling of holding your band’s new album for the first time never gets old.
How did the writing and recording proces for this album go?
A little different then before. This time I made demo’s for about 20 new songs. I recorded ‘em with a drumcomputer, my guitar and vocals on my laptop. I only kept the best 10 songs and sent ‘em to the band so they could prepare ‘em. It worked really well and definately will continue to work like this. I can take as much time as I want shaping the new songs on the demo and when rehearsing with the full band we can focus on the details like licks, leads and breaks etc.
The sound on “My Name Is Vengeance” is explosive and goes back to the roots of the band but with 13 years of experience in the pocket. Why did you guys choose to go back to the sound that started it all?
Razorblade always have kept the name of being one of the hardest, most brutal oi! bands around. Even when we tried to add more melody to our songs. With this album we try to live up to our name and present a short, powerpacked, brutal, explosive, aggro-filled album. Freek is our new producer who also did the “Days Of Glory” album. On DOG he gave us a bigger sound that worked really well but I missed the compressed hardhitting power of the first records. For the recordings of “My Name Is Vengeance” we were much better prepared and had a clear vision of how the record must sound. Freek created an ultra powerful sound, almost over the top but still sounding natural, with depth and very dynamic. It’s not overproduced, triggered crap but a raw vintage crunching sound combined with ultra loudness and brutality. I think this is exactly how Razorblade should sound.
I love the historical themed artwork of the album as well as the historical themed songs such as “Feel The Rage”, “The Battle Of Vught” and “Under Siege”, how did you got inspired to write these lyrics?
The 3 mentioned songs all topic the history of the city of the founding band-members (Den Bosch) during the 80 year war. I always had a huge interest in historical events and facts about the place where I come from . “The Battle of Vught” is about the last medieval battle (1600 AD) of Europe held in front of the gates of Den Bosch. This is also pictured on the front cover engraving. “Feel The Rage” is about the Battle of Stuyvezand (1624 AD) that came forth out of revenge for the killings in the fore-mentioned battle. “Under Siege” is about the siege of Den Bosch during the 80 year war. The siege of Den Bosch was a turning point in the war and have shaped the Dutch Republic as we know it today.
Since there are also songs on “My Name Is Vengeance” about the subculture and football you can’t really speak of a ‘ historical conceptalbum’, is that something Razorblade could do in the future? And on what topic would you like that to be?
I don’t know, probably not. We thrive on a bit of a monotone threatening sound and I like to keep some diversity in the atmosphere in the songs and the lyrics on an album to keep it interesting.
With the exception of the album “Gegen Die Masse”, which was fully in German language, there have always been songs in Dutch on Razorblade’s full-length albums, but not this time! Is there a reason for this or were there simply no songs in your native tongue written for this record?
I had no inspiration to write any Dutch songs this time. The Dutch songs we did in the past are mostly fun. This album ain’t fun, it’s hard and dark.
For the album two promotional videos got shot for the tracks “Warriors” and “Feel The Rage”, I believe this is a first that the band has official videos. Was this fun to do?
Yes is it was great to do and Dirk did a good job on both video’s. Nothing fancy, just plain and simple shots capturing the band as it is, without bullshit.
On “Never Fade Away”, you sing ‘Thirteen years on and we still rock the streets today…’, did you ever expect this to happen when you started Razorblade in 2001?
I am just thankful for it. I hope it will last another 13 years.
Let’s take a trip down Razorblade memory lane wth a few short questions…
- First Razorblade song you ever wrote?: Cold Stares (still the opening song of our live set right after the “chant of the Templars” intro)
- First Razorblade show ever and how did it go?: Belgium 2003 in a packed venue. We got a great response right from the start and it gave me much confidence to carry on.
- The day the first album “Spreading Fear” came out you felt?: cool.
- The wildest gig ever was at?: Hradic 2007 (Czech rep) our come-back with a new line-up and Liége (Belgium) 2014 on a small boat packed to the brim with crazy bastards.
- The worst gig ever was at?: we played the BACK ON THE STREETS fest (Germany) 3 times, we never got much response there. The majority of the people there come to see the German bands or the headliner. Still I have respect for Pascal (KB) cause he puts on bands that he likes, regardless what other people think.
- The craziest experience you had with the band in the past 13 years?: Being asked to do the support of Rancid in Amsterdam. We did not play a great show but I never thougth something would be possible for a brickwall Oi! band like us. Ofcourse there’s also tons of alcohol, madness and aggro fueled “on the road” stories.
Okay, I am about to round it up! Final question, where do you see the band going in the future 13 years?
Hopefully doing what we are doing now. Cranking out new songs, doing cool shows and stick together as friends. For the near future we have an amazing split 7” planned with OFC, NOi!SE and BADLANDS all presenting new songs. We are also talking about a possible “Brabant Glory” split with our long time brothers of NO TURNING BACK.
That’s it, thanks a lot! If there is anything you would like to add, feel free to do so!Check us out free on Spotify. If you want to support us check our releases and merch thru www.rebellionshop.com and stay updated at www.facebook.com/officialrazorblade
