Hello guys, Can you introduce us to your band and give some history for the readers of Soulgrinder?
Kellie: Hi there Paul and Soulgrinder readers! First of all thank you for this interview. FUNERAL WHORE was created in 2006 by Roy and me (Kellie). The band had various changes in lineup; drummers and bassists. Since 2013 this band has a steady lineup consisted of Roy Grimreaper, Nick the Hammer, Van Dune and myself Kellie Chopper
How would you describe the sound of Funeral Whore?
Roy: Rude, dark and aggressive but powerfull as well. There's always some sort of groove going on in every song. Unlike most Old School Death Metal bands, we do not have melodic, refreshing parts. We concentrate fully on the dark aggressiveness of the music. The eternal search for a more sinister and deeper sound in general, seems endless. Maybe we throw the whole fucking thing in A instead of B tuned, who knows in the future.Arjan: The way I would describe FUNERAL WHORE is old school death metal to the bone. We consider ourselves as old school death metal fundamentalists. And our aim is to create an evil sound that grooves and one can easily bang the skull on. Also, no technical bullshit because that would take away the evil and blunt feel, in my opinion. We usually go by the phrase, Not for trendy ears! Too much of that these days!
Roy: It just sounds brutal, that's all, nothing special. Our name made some turmoil for some people. We have been refused on Killtown Deathfest and at one gig in Braunschweig because our name did not fitted with the organizer's ideologies. But hell, who cares.
Arjan: Roy came up with the name. I myself can relate to the name cause death, rituals and graveyards are common themes in our music, next to a lot others!
Is the band playing any live gigs?
Roy: Absolutly, but mainly outside our own country. Dedication and death metal enthousiam must be found at our neighbors. There's a very good underground scene in Germany and most of the Funeral Whore gigs take place upthere.Arjan: Hell yeah! We love to play live and do that quite often. We play across Europe mostly but also did a tour in Mexico in 2013. This year we got some shows in Germany and Holland for a change.
Kellie: Yes of course! We like to play gigs! And we like to party! We do the most of our shows in Germany, but also we did shows in Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium, Mexico and our own country The Netherlands. We still have some upcomming shows, but when the CD is released later this year there will be more shows to promote our album of course!
What got you interested in extreme metal and who are your favorite bands?
Roy: The darker side got my attention in the 90ties, especially death and black metal. One of the first death metal albums I both was Dismember - Death Metal. That was back in 1997 or 1998. I have no favorite bands, only favorite albums. Bands come and go and especially change dramaticly in many cases and most of the time in a very bad way. There are too many good albums. It is impossible for me to choose.
Arjan: I don't think there is a particual reason for it. As far as I can remember I was always drawn to rock and metal. Started listening rock and metal when I was about 10 years old and doing that ever since. My interest is very wide and I can respect almost all types of music.I could sum up the usual known bands but I would like to point out some bands I listen to a lot lately and think they are very good. First that comes to mind is OBSCURE INFINITY, they released a new album this year called PERPETUAL DESCENDING INTO NOTHINGNESS and that's a jewel! Well written album and has great atmosphere, you should check it out.
Also listening to AHAB which is also a German band. Very slow and fucking HEAVY. It's doom metal, which I usually don't like that much but these people are found regularly on my playlist these days for some reason. Great music.
Next to the above German bands I like the Frence band SKELETHAL. I've seen them om IN FLAMMEN OPEN AIR 2015 in Germany and they kicked ass. Also MORBID FLESH from Spain I like a lot. They have a great HM2 sound live on which you just can't stand stand still. We did a small tour with them and are also great dudes!
What are your favorite horror films? is horror your favorite movie genre?Roy: A good old 80ties slasher movie is nice to watch but I prefer true shockumantaries and realism. But horror is definantly not my favorite genre. Movies based upon true stories or facts are for me a good choice If I give myself the time to watch a movie.
Arjan: Like with music, my interest in movies is also very wide. I like horror movies, but mostly the older ones. These days it feels like they don´t take the time to build up the suspense. And that´s what I like especcially in horror- and thriller movies. here's a list of my favorite horror movies: THE SHINING, ALIEN, JAWS, THE EXORCIST, HALLOWEEN, EVIL DEAD, THE OMEN, DRACULA, CUBE, THE HITCHER, THE THING and PSYCHO!
Can you tell me about the death metal scene in your hometown ? Any other bands you can recommend?
Roy: There's nothing in our area from our genre. Even worse, there's nothing decent in the whole fuckin province. In Holland itself there are a very view bands that honestly deserve attention and these are Rotten Casket, Massive Assault from the east. Nailgun Massacre from Leiden, sadly broke up recently and Entrapment, a true old school death metal killer band from the north.If you are really into vintage death metal without bullshit, you can order their music immidiatly because this is absolutly first class terror.
Which fanzines do you like to read in these times? Do you remember back in the day the tape trading and stuff? Do you think Internet helps better?Roy: Internet is execellent for contacts, gigs, tradings and promotion. The rest is just a bunch a crap for lame and lonely people. There are some underground Funeral Whore dvd that have been brought up by ourself throughout trading so it is not something from the past, it is still going on for us.
Arjan: To be honest, I mostly do not read them. One comes to mind and that's http://zephyrs-odem.de/ it's a good quality, german, webzine. I can remember the good old days with the tapes ofcourse! Good times, but times change and now the world is smaller and that gives opportunities too. The internet has it's use for sure. A lot of bands and people in general I would not have met if it wasn't for the internet.
Who will release your second album? Did you ever begin the recording or where will it be recorded? You already have an idea of the title? but what about the cover artwork? The song titles and lyrics? There are any other infos to share?
Roy: FDA Rekotz, the biggest underground label in Europe will release our second album later this year. It has been recorded, mixed and mastered by Sven post (Retaliation Audio), close friend of the band and stand in musician. He did a great job. We have a titel but it will not be announced until we have a official release date. I'm currently working out the whole artwork concept and also that is almost finished. It will contain 11 tracks, I can give you that.
Do you think Death metal nowadays needs some part of originality, personality and own deeper ideas, or does it become too hard to be really personal while the most important would be the MOTORHEAD/ ACDC side of things: Throw the energy, the morbid feeling and it will work?Roy: That is something that a band has to discover by it's own. In this scene you have to find your own way to fix and overcome problems and figger out what you want to be. It's seems simple but its an extremely difficult task. Do you wanna play for your own or just for the bigger crowed? Do you know what you wanna play in general? is death metal for life or do you think it's just for fun. It is very complicated and with different people in a band with different mindsets, it will be a failure for sure If you are not afraid to be honest with yourself... Energy and morbid feeling are just a few elements of a much bigger concept.
Arjan: That's a tough question and not easy to anwser. I don't think you can make some kind of magic formula. And you don't want that. I think best to do is make the stuff you want and get good at it and enjoy. Music is not made in a lab in my opinion. Just pick up your instrument and kick some ass. By doing that you could get all you mentioned above I guess... Heck, I dunno man. No more difficult questions!! haha
Any chance you’ll be adding some North American dates, soon?
Roy: ow men, I wish I could attach here a fuckin concert list or tour schedule of 14 days but we do not have much contacts with the US scene. I hope this will light up later on, with the release of our new album.
Arjan: That, my metal brother, would be fucking awesome! We never did a show in North America unfortunatly, but I can speak for all that would like to do that! Nothing planned though, let's hope it will happen one day!Thank you so much for you time! I can’t wait to hear the second album and I hope I’ll be watching you from the pit in the near future. Cheers guys!
Kellie: Paul, thank you so much for the support!!! And I hope so too, and after that show I'll join you in the pit! ;-)
Roy: Haha, you're not the only one. And you better watch out for mrs. Chopper because she enters the moshing pit without mercy like no other.
Arjan: You're welcome! And thanks again for this interview. Hail metal brothers and sisters! See you in the pit one day!www.facebook.com/FW.OldSchoolDeathMetal
www.reverbnation.com/funeralwhore
Interview by Paul Caravasi
