INTERVIEW WITH LEGION OF THE DAMNED – MAURICE
In a few days, LEGION OF THE DAMNED will be in Spain in another tour, but this time, they will be the headliner. This reason it has been enough to make an interview with Maurice Swinkels (vocals). We´ve asked him some interesting questions, and here are the answers.
-«Ravenous Plague» is the first album that you compose after Richard Ebisch leave the band in 2011. Was it very traumatic for the band this exit? What has been the contribution of Twan during these last four years and this new album?
-It was kind of dramatic in the sense of not knowing that he wanted to stop, I mean we didn’t feel he was struggling or anything, also he was in the band for like 18 or 20 years, so yeah it was kind of a shock. Twan wrote all the new songs together with bass player Harold and drummer Erik.
-«Ravenous Plague» that sounds different to «Descent into Chaos” in several respects. Is perhaps a return to your firsts albums?» What differences would there with your previous albums?
-Mm…it has more bottom I think, its heavier and more diverse. There is some melody here and there, also we wrote some songs for 2 guitar players because half the way recording the new album we decided to add a 2nd live session guitar player to the line-up, so in the studio we changed some riffs and turned them into 2 guitars
– In fact, you have returned to work with Andy Classen to production. What is the difference between him and Peter Tägtgren?
-We decided to go back to Andy because it was Twan’s first album with us, we wanted a producer that knew us from the start. Andy of course produced the first few albums of Legion. Also its much closer to home as Peter, which was for us much more convenient. Peter and Andy are both excellent producers, each has his own qualities. For us Andy was important because he can really push the band
– With «Ravenous Plague» you release a recordc label. What they offered Napalm Records which you offered no other record labels? What role play today a label which cannot be a good Management Agency for a band like LEGION OF THE DAMNED?
-Massacre Records still offered us a ‚offer you cannot refuse’ deal, but we wanted something else, there was also another label who offered us a deal, but we took NAPALM Records. I met Max once at Metalcamp and he was very nice, his staff is professional and they really are dedicated. I think nowadays having a good management and label is crucial, many years ago you could do things on your own and the more you paid for a tour, the best chance it was you could join that tour. Nowadays its ONLY possible to do a tour when you have a decent label and are signed to a booking’s office.
– Your fronts, inside a certain stylistic similarity, do not contain a conductive thread which there abuse many other bands of thrash or death, like mascots or other elements …What do you think about this option? How do you manage the graphic work of your discs?
-Don’t know really want you mean, but our style always differs, we have a concept and title of the album and sometimes several artists are drawing something, then out of 3 we pick the best, sometimes we use all three for other editions like we did with Cult of the dead, we had 3 albumcovers there. Album covers are important, its the first thing you see even without hearing a note of music. Thats why we wanted Feel the blade to be a white cover, because it stands out to all dark and black covers. 😉
– How does the band work at the time of composing and incorporating into the music the letters and the lyric concepts of Tony ‘Skullcrusher’ Manero?
-Tony gets the music from me, once he has a draft I visit him and we go over the lyrics together, change things here and there, I tell him what has to change in order to get my voice in, this meeting with Tony is for every album around 4-6 times, then when all the lyrics are finished we practise them in rehearsal room. We only enter the studio when we are 100% prepared, this is also the reason why we never need more than 3 weeks recording an album.
– From which arises the idea of incorporating the orchestral vision of Jo Blankenburg into your last disc? How did take a proposal as dark as your music?
-I am a big soundtrack collector, and I love Jo’s work. We had Nox Arcana’s music earlier, but I wanted something different, I decide to drop Jo an email through his website, he lives in Los Angeles, and he responded and love the idea, we made a deal/offer and he started working on a piece of music which ended on the CD
– Last year you visited us with SEPULTURA and now you come like heads of your own headliners. What is the most thing you liked of Spain and in what do you believe that we must improve as for the concerts, according to your experience?
-We love the Tapas! 🙂 you know Spain is great, we have been playing there since late 90’s. Always was a great experience. The fans are dedicated and sometimes fans even stand in front of the club holding Bestial Summoning stuff, the band I used to drum in back in 1992, how dedicated can you be 😉
– Finally I like to ask to the bands about internet. How do you think the net contribute to know you more or less? Do you believe that Internet is a good tool to receive more public? Which is your opinion like musicians and like fans about being able to have access to so big music quantity?
-Always an issue when people downloading stuff, on the other hand without the internet we would not play Brasil, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico for instance. For a small band as us its a good thing, we don’t care about money, but I can imagine that when you are a bigger band and you spend 100.000 Euro budget on recording an album/cover/artwork and all that and everyone is downloading you will not earn from it, its a pity because without earning money those bands cannot produce another album. We see it on a smaller scale, that we also spend a lot of money in recording/cover/photos and when we sell not enough we are in the minus. But yeah, I cannot say everybody has to stop downloading, it brings the band also more popularity, which is also good.
And the last….could you say anything to your Spanish fans and to Metalcry readers?
First..thanks to you for your intrest and doing this interview with us. I really hope to see you guys in Spain, we always played Spain with a big band, now Legion will come as headliner, so hopefully we can expect yet again some dedicated fans, party and have fun with us! THRASH ALL
Thanx a lots. See you in May!!!!!
