Headmeat
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Headmeat is a band that has gained notoriety swiftly through out the international death metal underground. After releasing an obscure demo tape in 2001, they were picked up by Baphomet Records of Necrophagia frontman/vocalist Killjoy. With their latest MCD "Destructive Entitlement" being released and their full length record "Mass Sociogenic Illness" being released quite soon, Masterful Magazine talked to Headmeat's Pui (vocals/guitar) and Nuyt (vocals).
Hi. Thanks for taking the time to answer our interview. How are things with the band?
NUYT (vocals): Very nice thank you, we just finished the recordings of our first full length, a title is not been set yet. [a short time after this interview the band revealed the title, being "Mass Sociogenic Illness" - ed] But first we have to do some gigs to support the mini.
Let's cut to the chase. Your demo "Homicidal Intent" was released to critical acclaim in the underground, shortly after you did the ‘Destructive Entitlement' mini-cd and now the next full length is coming closer and closer.
NUYT (vocals): Our demo tape, recorded in 2001 did very well. It was sold out after a couple of months - getting orders from Holland, France, Germany and of course from our little Belgium. The MCD "Destructive Entitlement" was in fact already recorded in August 2002. We just didn't find a label to release the MCD. All of a sudden it all went very fast, the record deal with Baphomet Records, our first digi pack mini released and the recording of our first full length that's coming up, that's all in one year.
The mini forms Headmeat's departure from the underground. Not only was it recorded professionally, it also is released by Baphomet Records - the label of Necrophagia frontman Killjoy. Tell us something about how the deal came to be.
PUI (guitars): Well, we really wanted to release a demo tape first since everyone now is so keen to immediately put music on a cd-r. We like those good old tapes but we pretty soon heard that a lot of people don't listen to cassettes anymore ... So we entered a professional studio to have a decent product with the newer songs. We recorded the four songs and sent the mini to various labels. We got a lot of good reactions but not too many labels want to sign young bands. The Belgian Hybreed Records wanted to release our four songs as a split cd with Suhrim. After lots of trouble the whole thing got cancelled so the search continued. Strange enough this one guy from America was about to sign some new bands and out of 800 death metal promos, he picked out two European bands. The Dutch 
Thanatos and us. Out of nowhere he came and after some mailing and one phonecall everything was arranged and he presented a two album deal. We know that Baphomet Records is a small label but knowing that someone, who was jointly responsible for the beginning of death metal, actually believes in your band, that's awesome.
Musically Headmeat isn't your typical slab of death metal either. Fluently the band mixes death metal with grind, doom and stoner rock. It has been a while since that last was done - Autopsy did it back in the genre's formulative days.
NUYT (vocals): Well, it all came spontaneously. It was never the idea to add some other musical styles in Headmeat, but we kept the whole concept of it because it was fun to do and it keeps the music interesting. You can make an album with a pile of fast forward blastbeat songs but I think the listener gets pretty bored with all that after a few songs.
PUI (guitars): We all listen to all kinds of music and when we work on riffs it depends on what mood we're in. If we are in a Kyuss-mood we feel like adding a stoner riff, depends on what the jamming brings up. The next rehearsal we could have this technical Gojira or Immolation-thing going on or we just feel like we need some pure power and brutal stuff in the song. We kinda got bored of grindcore and mixing styles keeps it a lot more interesting for the band itself. A lot of cd's we hear all sound the same, each song is with the same structure and stays strictly between the lines of the genre. If we come up with doom during a jamming session we'll add it and so on, we try to surprise the listener a bit.
You're also the first band that I know of sampling British series ‘Coupling' in one track. That was pure genius in fact. Whose idea was that?
PUI (guitars): Hmm, I wouldn't know what you mean, we know the series and we are all big fans of British Series but we haven't used any of that. The samples on our mini come from the movies Freaks and Dumb ‘n Dumber. We got quite some remarks on the latter but it doesn't always have to be horror now does it?Jim Carrey rules big time! Some people say you shouldn't mix death metal with comedy, well fuck that, death is fun!
"Destructive Entitlement" comes with a video for ‘Ingrained Frenzy' - its not the average metal video to say the least. Did the label ask you to record a one, who thought up the concept for the video?
NUYT (vocals): Yes indeed, it was Killjoy's idea to make a video for a song on that album. As something extra you can say, haha. We got "carte blanche" from the label and since we don't take ourselves too seriously, a sort of concept was far away, if there's a concept in it after all...We just wanted to show ourselves like who we are in real life, not some fake "look at us, we're a bunch of tough motherfuckers" image.
PUI (guitars): Yeah, Killjoy wanted us to do something with naked chicks, lots of flesh and blood, like in the Necrophagia videos. We asked some girls if they wanted to show their tits and snatch for free but that didn't work out. Instead of that we really wanted an Opel Manta, a Mercedes cabrio, a farm and trees in the video, that was a lot easier. So we just recorded a pile of bullshit. The typical metalvideos are utterly boring to watch at, we hope ours isn't, hehe. We never expected Killjoy to like it but he did, probably because of the small samples from "Hot Animal No. 821: Pony Game", haha.
The demo presented rather standard death/grind with the typical non-existent production, the mini introduced some interesting new musical ideas - how will the new album connect to the band's earlier material?
NUYT (vocals): The demo is already recorded more than 4 years ago, the band only existed for 2 years then. We didn't have much of technical capability back then and our budget wasn't that much too. So the recording of a demo-tape was the best option back then. For a demo it sounded decent enough, just made to give the listener an impression of the band. And with the mini, we decided to enter a professional recording studio, because the demo didn't bring up a label and we wanted a more mature sound for our next release.
PUI (guitars): The new album is recorded in the same CCR studio but will show a slower, yet darker Headmeat. It's still Headmeat but we have grown and we search a bit our own style. The songs are more technical, as well. We still have some grind influences but there's so much more now. Mixing styles and trying to be humouristic will still be present on the new album! You can be sure of that! We haven't got a clue when it will be released but it's recorded now and we can begin with the artwork etc ...Begin 2005 would be nice but let us hope we don't have to wait 1,5 years again ...The people who heard the new album yet say it's a lot more interesting than the mini, so that's awesome, gives us the feeling we're maybe doing something special, which is pretty hard these days.
The latest addition to the line-up has been a keyboardist. The resemblances with the re-incarnated Necrophagia are striking.
NUYT (vocals): Nieke is a good friend of us and since the thought of using keyboards was already there for some time, it was a small step to take. Besides that, he doesn't have much friends. Now since he plays in Headmeat, he doesn't feel so lonely anymore, the poor lad!
PUI (guitars): Nieke and I play together since we were 13 and since our previous black metalband broke up he was without a band ... He's a really good keyman and sometimes we're a bit ashamed that he can't show all his talent in Headmeat. He's there to bring that extra touch, that weird noise that makes it sound even creepier. Although he's always trying to introdoce gothic metal influences with wild synthesizer arrangments, we won't let him hehe. And about the resemblances with Necrophagia, well, we really like that band and the way they use keyboards is a bit the same as we do in Headmeat. The songs aren't full of them keys, they bring up that horrorthing, that ugly noisy sound which guitars can't make.
You're also one of the more productive bands coming from Belgium. Internationally known Belgian bands can be counted on one hand, two tops. Is Belgium still lagging behind or is it more a mentality problem?
NUYT (vocals): I don't think Belgian bands are lagging behind. There's a huge step forward made since a couple of years ago. For example the DeathMetal.be site. A great initiative to unite and promote the Belgian metal scene. I personally think it's more a mentality problem from the labels, they always seem to be a bit suspicious if it comes to Belgian bands. Like "ooh, they're from Belgium; this won't be good" There are some great bands here, who just don't get the attention they deserve.
PUI (guitars): Bands like Welkin and Thee Plague Of Gentlemen really deserve more attention, and although they do enough for their band - they don't really seem to break through to the big audience, which is a pity. We all are a bit stuck on the same level, it's very hard to get out of this little country, you know. But we do have some internationally known bands to be very proud of like Front 242, Agathocles and the signboard of Belgian death metal, Aborted.
As far as marketing, promotion and distribution goes - is Baphomet Records doing a good job? I noticed they have quite some bands on their roster, but still I caught a few ads for Headmeat in local magazines.
PUI (guitars): Baphomet Records is just our label. Promotion, manufacturing and distribution is done by Red Stream which are a lot bigger. We first had a better distribution in America than in Europe but that seems to be better now. The Dutch Displeased now does our distribution for Europe. We had a big advantage that our mini has been sent to zines together with the new Necrophagia, The Ravenous and strange enough with the new release of those other Belgian freaky farmers from the twisted Lugubrum. We were in a promo-package with two pretty big bands in the genre. It immediately puts us in "the serious shit", you know? We don't really know what happens in the States but a couple of thousand flyers have been spread there and looking at the reviews people seem to like what we do. If you look 
on the internet you'll see that the cd is available in almost every country which is awesome. The only problem is that our labelboss Killjoy is in a dozen of bands and that he makes videoclips for bands, directs horrormovies, has the label and a family to look after. We don't hear him very often but he really believes in what we do so we're pretty lucky to have his support.
With the new album being released in a not so distant future I'm sure it will be supported by a live campaign. Will Headmeat undertake any tours in support of the new album, and if so which regions will be included on the tour?
NUYT (vocals): We never did a tour so far. But it starts to itch really hard, you know. If we had the chance to do a tour, that would make us happy men. We only did one show outside of Belgium and that was in the 013, Tilburg, Holland. We'll see what the future brings... Maybe Poland? Ideal would be to support Necrophagia with their coming new full, if they go on tour that is ...
Headmeat has always understood the meaning of humor within its genre. While some bands take themselves far too serious, you more or less mock the genre a bit at times. Of what importance is humor in the concept of the band?
NUYT (vocals): It is of great importance, it keeps the band from becoming a dull thing. I think we're known to be kind of a... ehm... "crazy" band in the scene. On stage, off stage, we are who we are. Trying to make as much fun as possible. We don't rattle our music off on stage, we sometimes try to get some interaction with the crowd. It makes gigs just more fun to do!
PUI (guitars): It's impossible to act like "real metalheads" cause every now and then the moron in us comes up and tells us to laugh with people and ourselves. That moron also tells us to wear Hawaii shirts on bandpics or onstage now and then, heavily supported by the avarage black metalfan ... Headmeat for us is an extremely cool hobby, it takes a lot of our spare time and when we don't have to work or study we want to laugh, drink and smoke, Headmeat is a perfect excuse for that haha. We'll always try to put something of fun in our live performance, the shirt designs, artwork, the site etc ...
In the early days Headmeat got comparisons with Dutch (death) metal band Gorefest. You even covered ‘Reality - When You Die' of their classic "False" album, I believe. Gorefest currently rehearsing and writing new material. Any particular feelings/opinions you have around that?
NUYT (vocals): Actually, it's ‘The Glorious Dead' from the "False" album that we do and Gorefest covered it from us! Haha, no serious, I think it's great that they're back together. As long as they don't start to make bad music again. Something in the "False" era would do mighty fine! I'm really curious what they will bring. I think it's about time we dig up that cover again, always a blast on stage.
PUI (guitars): To be honest I don't have a good feeling about this reunion ... If you see how Jan-Chris De Koeijer looks like with that new band Cold Pop Culture ...not to mention what it sounds like I really doubt if he can still grunt like that.
That sums it up here. Thanks for talking to us. I'll leave you to make the closing statement...
NUYT (vocals): Thank you for this nice interview, also thanks to everybody who reads this shit and hopefully we all get the chance to meet each other on tour! Buy our albums so our label will send us on tour! Haha ! Greetz!
headmeat@deathmetal.be
www.headmeat.com
