1. Do you feel like your past plays a part in motivating your efforts?
Yes it certainly does. We have always been very dedicated metal musicians. This was the kind of Music we really wanted to play when we started in 1994. Although at that time we could not play our instruments very well. We all learned to play our instruments ourselves, never had lessons and practiced very much. At the end you could say this approach of making music delivered Mortal Form an authentic sound that gives a perfect view of the influences of the different band members. So in that case you could say the past motivated our efforts now.
2. Do you feel your music and your efforts coincide with one another?
Yes, it certainly does. As I said in the previous question, we invested a lot of time in Mortal Form. Not only to compose songs but also to learn how handle our instruments well. At the moment we think we have the perfect line up. It feels great to compose good sounding songs together and everyone is very motivated at the moment. Everything we have done in the past and the great musicians in Mortal Form now both come together on Taste the Blood and reflects the past as well as the present on a good way.
3. Is there a message you carry within your music that you want to express to your listeners?
There isn`t really a message in our music. I guess you can, musically seen, say that we want people to know that Mortal Form is band that likes to mix traditional styles of metal without doing concessions towards commerce. Besides that we hope that our music sounds authentic enough to stand out in the sea of many great death and thrash metal releases that are available at the moment. Lyrically seen Taste the Blood mainly is about different wars and conflict situations around the World and of course the fact that the past will repeat it selfs. There always will be wars of conflicts. I guess you could say we would like to share our view on these subjects with our listeners.
4. What is Mortal Form doing differently on the new album “Taste the Blood,” to warrant the attention of some of the younger kids who are just getting into heavy music now? Do you feel you're a logical progression for kids to get into the way most people get into metal and hard - through the more popular bands?
At the moment Mortal Form isn`t a popular band like the more popular bands you related to in your question. Mortal Form just released the debut. I guess time will tell. I think we can certainly get the attention of the younger kids who just got in to metal. Just like myself most of that kids, I hope, started listening to the more traditional bands from the past like Slayer, Kreator, Testament, Cannibal Corpse, the old In Flames or Pestilence for instance. Our music certainly has something to offer for fans of the before mentioned bands. I just hope the younger generation metal kids will pick up our release through the promotion our record label My Kingdom Music is doing at the moment. There are a lot of reviews of Taste the Blood online and people can listen to some tracks on our myspace www.myspace.com/whendeathmeetsthrash.
5. Mortal Form helped push the band to a higher level through “Taste the Blood”. Being that it's been over a decade and that even more extreme music is catching a lot of attention right now, do you worry that this record might just maintain your current fans as opposed to gaining a number of new ones?
No, I guess there always has been and still is a great market for extreme music. The fans of extreme music are very devoted and dedicated and I don`t see death metal fans going to listen to dance music any time soon, haha. On the other hand Mortal Form fans are patient ones. This is our debut release after a lot of years and our fans always have been very supportive and patient towards us. Now the time and the circumstances were right to release Taste the Blood. The older fans are very satisfied that there finally is a release available from us, and with the before mentioned promotional activities we hope to gain a lot of new fans. Especially abroad. We want to know how the world thinks about our music!!
6. Being where you're at in your career, where you're able to draw a large crowd, do you ever come across shows where you feel like you're playing for a group of people who are just staring at you, acting almost like they have no idea who you are? If they still happen, how do you handle boring live shows?
At the moment we started booking some live shows after some time again so it didn`t happen so often lately. In the past we certainly played some of these shows. What do we do? Well, in the first place we make music for ourselves. We like playing our instruments and compose songs. If people like that, perfect! If people don`t like what we are doing at our live shows, just leave. We try not to give these people attention and focus on the people that do like our music. In every venue we have played was at least one metal fan that liked our music. That`s what makes a live show a success. Besides that we have great band, musically but certainly also personally. We have a lot of fun with the guys when we are "on the road". So we laugh about it and say that we don`t want to play in that shithole anymore and get fucking drunk, hahaha.
7. As the years have gone on, it seems like there are bands few and far between who are satisfied with their labels. What is your take on labels in general, these days?
Well we actually don`t have that much experience as it comes to labels. For Mortal Form this is our first record deal. We really did not know what we could actually expect. Till now we are very, very satisfied with our label My Kingdom Music and the effort they put in promoting and distributing Taste the Blood. We get great reactions from all over the world. You could say that a great network and experience is very important for both label and bands. They also gave us the opportunity to display our music on the rest of the world and that`s very cool. And the final very important thing is honesty. Mortal Form is a band with honest guys. If we say we do something than we do it. If anyone else says they want to do something for the band, cool. Just do it. If they don`t there is no trust. And trust is the base for a good and steady relation now and in the future. A band can`t do without a label and a label can`t do without bands.
8. How did such an odd name come to be?
You ask me, haha. No really, we just thought it would be a cool name and it suits our mortal music pretty well.
9. Your lyrics are obviously quite interesting. How do you feel when that seems to be lost with some listeners whom only seem to hear the aggressive side of the music being played?
It has two sides to it. We are very pleased to hear that a lot of listeners also read the lyrics. Our vocalist Rogier puts a lot of time in them and there also is a message that we want to bring over with them. Sometimes this message is a history lesson, sometimes its`s our point of view on a certain subject. Our lyrics just aren`t simply about killing, cut of limbs or mutilated bodies. That`s a choice of course. On the other hand if people like our music and don`t spent time to read the lyrics that`s also fine to me. Some people just don`t care what`s in them. That`s also a choice.
10. What do you think is the most harmful thing happening to the underground music scene right now, and what do you think could curb that?
Phew, that`s a hard question. Thanks for that, haha. I actually don`t know. I don`t think there are harmful things happening to underground music scene at the moment (is there?). The underground music scene is built on both very devoted bands and fans who oftenly like that music for (a) decade(s) now. I guess things are pretty much flourishing again right now. At a moment I really missed the "tape trading era". But now with media like myspace it`s very easy for underground bands to present themselves to a big audience. I guess it gives the scene more possibilities. That`s a great thing. I hope this will go on for some time in the future.
11. What are the plans for touring noticed you have a few dates listed.
Yes that`s true. We hope do a lot of live shows to promote Taste the Blood in Holland and abroad. We have to wait and see what the future will bring. We just inked a booking contract with the Prophecy Agency, a professional booker from Holland. We hope he can do a lot for us (check out www.theprophecyagency.nl) for instance with bands like Sinister who is also in his roster. Besides that we are trying to get booked for the big summer festivals. At the moment we are confirmed to play at the Black (Motor)Cross Festival (one of the largest festivals in Europe) in July with for instance Arch Enemy. We hope to do a tour in fall if things work out.
12. What does the immediate future hold for Mortal Form?
I hope doing as much live shows and promotional activities as possible. Besides that we are working on new merchandise (shirts and sleeves) and are building a new website for www.mortalform.nl.13. What is the one thing that you would still like to accomplish with Mortal Form that you haven't yet done?
Going on a good organized worldwide tour with a great headline act, drink as much as possible and having a group of playmates around us that even makes the Heff jaleous, haha. And of course hoping to produce many more great metal albums.
14. Was there any song that sticks out as one where you knew “Taste the Blood,” was going to be the album that it became?
Not really. I guess it has been the process of writing the album. Most of the songs are really written by the entire band. The feel we got writing these songs produced a feeling that Taste the Blood was going to be a release we could be proud of.
15. Thanks for the time and such a great record.
Thanks to you for showing interest in Mortal Form and keep on the good work! Just for the record, check out the following pages if you want to know more about Mortal Form. www.mortalform.nl (band page) www.myspace.com/whendeathmeetsthrash (band myspace) www.mykingdommusic.net (labels page) and www.theprophecyagency.nl (booking agencey) if you want to book us for a venue near you!!!
Cheerz Teun Mortal Form
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