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| Interview by Burt Wolf with Tom Kimps, vocalist for EMETH. Interview done 3-14-07. |
| EMETH HAS BEEN AROUND FOR 10 YEARS NOW. CAN YOU GIVE A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BAND UP TO NOW? Yeah, that's right. EMETH started back in '97 & we had a lot of line up changes during this period & of course the music evolved as well! In 2003 we inked a deal with BRUTAL BANDS from Minnesota (US) & our first album "INSIDIOUS" was officially released on June 30th 2004. We played on a lot of underground festivals in Europe & we did 2 tours in the States so far. In 2004 we did the BRUTAL BANDS Domination Tour & in 2005 we did the Trails Unto The Gathering Of The Sick tour. Both with INTERNAL SUFFERING as headliner. After nearly 1.5 years of frequent live shows we started to record (Dec. '05) our second full length album "RETICULATED" with Daniel Bergstrand as producer. "RETICULATED" was released in April 2006... WHY WAS THE NAME EMETH CHOSEN AS THE BANDS NAME? EMETH is an old Hebrew word, directly translated it means: "Truth", but it has a slightly different connotation if you know the myth of the Golem. WHO OR WHAT HAS HAD SOME IMPACT OR INFLUENCE ON YOU CREATING YOUR STYLE & SOUND? When I was 13-14 years old I discovered bands like SLAYER, MORBID ANGEL, PANTERA, SUFFOCATION & also some Hardcore bands like BIOHAZARD, IGNITE, so they all meant a lot for my "style & sound"... My big influence now as a singer are definitely John Tardy, Nergal, Dave Vincent... HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE STYLE & SOUND OF EMETH? "Extreme Belgian Sickness" |
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| YOUR NEWEST RELEASE "RETICULATED" HAS BEEN OUT FOR ALMOST A YEAR NOW. HOW HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN TO THIS ALBUM? We are very satisfied with the result & the reactions on the "RETICULATED" album are great. We had some very good reviews from big magazines & webzines. They are calling it "an impressive album", "Musically it's a masterpiece of the genre" & that "EMETH has compositional abilities that may carry them among the best in Metal!" HOW DO YOU FEEL THE BAND HAS EVOLVED FROM YOUR DEMO DAYS UP TO THIS RELEASE? The evolution came actually very natural to us. The extensive touring made us more conscious about certain important aspects both band wise & music wise. Add to this the fact that we don't want to be a band that keeps doing the same |
| thing over & over again. So pretty early during the "RETICULATED" writing process it became obvious that the new songs incorporated a lot more melody & dynamics. In the studio we tried to find that sound which perfectly displays the contemporary vision of the band on it's music to push the boundaries of the record. THIS ALBUM AS WELL AS YOUR LAST ONE "INSIDIOUS" WAS PUT OUT BY BRUTAL BANDS. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH THEM? HOW HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH THEM? Yeah we signed to an American label that really belives in EMETH's music & supports the band 100%. They put a lot of effort in our band & work very hard to get our music out there. When we recorded "INSIDIOUS" back in 2003 we were searching for a good label & we sended out some promo material. There were several labels interested but BRUTAL BANDS offeren us the best deal. WHO DID THE COVER ARTWORK & CAN YOU EXPLAIN IT A LITTLE BIT? Sven (Dirge Design) did the artwork of "RETICULATED". We are very satisfied about it & it perfectly represents the music & lyrics. The guy represents were EMETH stands for "Extreme Belgian Sickness". WHAT IS SOME OF THE LYRICAL CONTENT IN YOUR SONGS? WHO WRITES THE MUSIC & LYRICS? There is a concept behind the entire EMETH entity. There for the lyrical content is important to us. There is an inward looking, introspective, self referential exploration going on where in the main movements of metaphor & transgression/transcendence is happening on a subtle, finely detailed plane, rather than a projecting outwards of openly evocative themes. The importance to the reader depends on the reader because the subject isn't always very clear if you read the lyrics, so there is a huge freedom of interpretation. If one does take the time to read the lyrics the reader's own interpretation of the lyrics will define the written subject. In this sense one could say that the lyrics are a paradox. They "refuse" people's attempts to empathize with it's true subject, yet it is needed to read them & think them over to interpret them. The music & the lyrics are written by Matty... |
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| YOU'VE PLAYED A BUNCH OF SHOWS OVER THE YEARS. WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU'VE PLAYED WITH & WHERE ARE SOME OF THE PLACES YOU'VE PLAYED? Goremageddon Over Tel Aviv (Israel - 05/08/06) with ABORTED, WHORECORE. Winterbreath Festival (Germany - 06/01/07) with TANKARD... Essen Death Feast (Germany - 10/02/07) with ORIGIN, MISERY INDEX, NECROPHAGIST... Soulgrinding Festival (France - 24/02/07) with INHUMATE... Pestpop (Belgium - 21/04/07) with MY DYING BRIDE... Essen Open Deathfest (Germany 09/06/07) with NAPALM DEATH, |
| KRISIUN, IMMOLATION... 2 tours in the USA (2004-2005) with INTERNAL SUFFERING... & gigs in Portugal, Italy, Holland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Switzerland... YOU'VE DONE A COUPLE U.S. TOURS. WHO DID YOU PLAY WITH? HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE TOURING IN THE U.S. TO IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY OF BELGIUM? Yeah, like I mentioned we did 2 U.S. tours in 2004 & 2005. The headliner was INTERNAL SUFFERING from Columbia on both tours. The first tour was organized by our label BRUTAL BANDS & it was an amazing adventure. It was our first tour in the U.S. During that tour EMETH started some negotiations for other U.S. tours resulting in the "Trails Unto The Gathering Of The Sick Tour" in 2005. We played with bands like INTERNAL SUFFERING, LIVIDITY, DISGORGE, DECREPTH BIRTH, INCINERATE, STABWOUND, GORGASM, PUTRID PILE... YOU'VE ALSO PLAYED A BUNCH OF FESTIVALS? WHAT WERE SOME OF THESE FESTIVALS? Gathering Of The Sick, Central Illinoise Metalfest, fests in Texas, New York, California, Obscene Extreme in Czech Rep, dm.be-fest in Belgium & the ones I've mentioned before of course... AFTER ALL THESE YEARS ARE THERE ANY FUNNY OR INTERESTING BAND STORIES THAT STICK OUT THAT YOU COULD SHARE WITH US? Well, while touring we had lot's of parties during these years. For people who are interesting, we made a small video from our trip to Tel Aviv last summer (just to give you an idea of one hell of a party, click the link right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78h5M79k6zU. There are more EMETH videos on youtube, just visit myspace here: www.myspace.com/vocalsEMETH. WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF THE BAND DO WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE BAND? We all have a regular day job besides the band & our families to spend time with. I'm a social worker, Matty too. Tom is a truckdriver, Peter is still a student... ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU HAVE CURRENTLY BEEN LISTENING TO? Especially Death Metal, but I like to listen to Rock, old Punk & Hardcore & some other stuff as well... ZYKLON, PANTERA, DEVILDRIVER, ILL NINO, ARCH ENEMY, MORBID ANGEL, BEHEMOTH, MASTADON, NECROPHAGIST, MACHINE HEAD, OBITUARY... |
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| WHAT WAS THE FIRST ALBUM YOU EVER BOUGHT? SEPULTURA -"ARISE" (Tom K.) NAPALM DEATH - "FROM ENSLAVEMENT TO OBLITERATION" (Matty) WHAT WAS THE FIRST CONCERT YOU EVER WENT TO? MORTUARIUM (Tom K) MY DYING BRIDE (Matty) WHAT IS ONE THING YOU'D THINK PEOPLE MIGHT BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? I don't like Belgian waffles!!! :o) |
| WHAT CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT FROM EMETH? Well, at the moment, we are working very hard on new songs for the 3rd album. We are also negotiating with several tour promoters, so hopefully we will be able to join a good tour package & tour Europe. Actually, the upcoming months Europe will be our priority to play. 2007 will probably bring a Canadian & Mexican tour. If people are interested in having EMETH play a show, fest, etc in their area they are encouraged to contact us @ booking@EMETH.be. WHAT WERE YO DOING BEFORE ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT IT'S OVER? Before: extreme sexiness - Now: I'll take a shower :o) THANX FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER THIS INTERVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO ADD ANYTHING PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. Thank you very much for the support & the interview. Good luck with BEOWOLF! |
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| ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS COURTESY OF EMETH INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |