Exterminator
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Belgian long-standing death/thrash metallers Exterminator have been around since the early '90s. Despite cutting a number of high quality recordings over the years and appearing on international stages alongside genre veterans including Benediction, Cannibal Corpse, Dark Funeral, Dead Head and Edge Of Sanity the band never managed to rise out of the underground. March 2006 saw the release of the band's latest self-financed offering "Slay Your Kind" for which the band immediately set out on the high profile "Masters Of Death" tour alongside Swedish founding fathers Dismember, Entombed, Grave and Unleashed. Founding member Jacky Cuypers (vocals/guitars) talks with Masterful Magazine about the band's visit to Los Angered Recordings, what Exterminator has to offer to metal, and the reception on the "Masters Of Death" tour and how he has been taking stock of life in the last 18 months.Hi Jacky! How's everything in the band as of late? All healed and rested up after the last jaunt of touring across Europe?
Well Wouter, the Masters Of Death-tour was awesome! The first time ever for Exterminator to be seen on so many stages in so many countries. We've put a big step forward in getting our bandname known to the public, which we aimed for. And people must have loved it, because we almost got all our tour merchandise sold out! It were also the first concerts we did with our new drummer Marco and he did quite a good job! We both got a cold during the tour, but kept on banging and playing 100% each day! Despite the fact we participated to all the afterparties on tour, we kept really healthy during the tour, maintaining balance between booze and health. Because of the long distances in the beginning I really had to rest a lot during the trip, because of my lungdisease, which has stabilized.
How is this possible that you originating from Belgium play such excellent Swedish styled death/thrash metal like the great Necrophobic? It's really strange in a country where almost all metal bands play melodic death metal in vein of In Flames or old school death a la Dismember.
It has been rumoured we play a kind of metal similar to Necrophobic. Hell, we were almost together on tour, but we preferred touring with the Masters Of Death, because of timing and holidays. Exterminator never cared about what kind of metal other bands in Belgium played, we've always played metal in the way we liked it the most. But I think the music of Exterminator cannot be caught in the term "Swedish styled death/thrash metal", but I don't mind you and other people to have the idea that it is that kinda metal.
Your new album has been released recently through your own label International Metal Federation. How are the reactions the album is getting thus far, from fans and press alike?
Correction, we created the I.M.F. only to release the "Mirror Images" - album. Now we have established a company named Exterminator. This company has had a good financial base to release the album "Slay Your Kind", because of the reinvestment of all the money gained with previous releases. We are really trying to build a financial healthy company around our band. We have local promoters working for us, we have drawn up agreements with European distributors ourselves, had (professional) artist working on photography and artwork for the CD-booklet and merchandise-clothing. In this way, we work as a professional band, but don't have the status, because we all still have a job to do besides Exterminator. Working together with a professional tourmanagement to promote the band and our new album, was really the crown on all the work already done. There is still so much to do and we hope the people give us the chance to continue in showing them what we like the most to do: play metal until we die!
There has been interest to release this album from some small-time labels in Europe, most notably Dead Sun Records and Shiver subsidiary label RottenToTheCore. What were the reasons you decided not to sign with any of them – to keep 100% autonomy and control over the final product?
Having a label would have been easier for some things in the metal business I think, but before signing deals with any label both parties always need to compromise. We already invested a lot in the recording of "Slay Your Kind" before we started talking with the above-mentioned labels. Our aim was to get a lot of promotion and European distribution. They could not promise this, so we had no agreement. Don't get me wrong, I really think they can do a great job for a lot of bands, but not for Exterminator at that point. Afterwards, as we speak in fact, I think we can be very happy with this decision, because we built up a good distribution on our own and I don't think both labels would be keen to invest in the European tour we have just finished.
Since 2000's "Mirror Images" you have undergone a number of line-up changes, leaving you and guitarist Kris Jacquemin as remaining members from the last line-up. Is this new line-up a solid one, you think?
I really hope so! It takes a lot of energy to integrate a new bandmember and to harmonize. As a band you loose really a lot of time replacing musicians, as you can read in our discography. The last 17 days together on tour we're quite a test and if the solidity of the band is in relation to the quantity of the laughs on tour, this line-up should last for a 1.000 years!!! I mean to say, just before the writing process of new songs, we really are a big happy family. But I cannot predict the future, because in 2004 I really thought I was terminated because of my illness. Also, Kris and myself (even former bassplayer Ivan as I recall) we're involved in a heavy car-accident once and up till now we have all survived. But what if we didn't???
What impact have the changes in the group's line-up made on the new album?
A lot. After the release of "Mirror Images" we invested a lot of time in promoting the new album, then replacing Baruch by Marc (who really had to start from zero point 5, haha, but he did a very good job!) and preserving the connection we built up in Spain. So, we didn't have much time to work together on new songs. Before I got ill in 2004 only "Road Crash Rebellion", "The Human Vermin" and a few riffs from "Inside The Pyramid" and "The Black Dominion Of The Old Dragon" were present! As I know Kris and Marc we're continuing to work on these new riffs. In December 2004 I got back on track and it must have been between January and April 2005 I presented "732, Poitiers" and "Cannibalistic Paranoia" to the other bandmembers and learned the songs that we're finished. For me this was a difficult period, Kris really did a good job in writing "Primordial Law", "la Souffrance" and finishing "Inside the Pyramid". During these intense rehearsals Ivan lost track on his bassriffing and quitted. Luckily, we rapidly found a replacement in Alan, who very professionally finished the writing of basslines in time for the studio.
This is the first album you record outside of Hautregard Studio, Chaineux (Belgium). Can you tell us a bit about the recording sessions you did in Los Angered Recording Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden with producer and King Diamond/ex-Death guitarist Andy LaRocque?
Well at this moment we still have a detailed studioreport online on our website www.exterminator.be so people can read themselves. To keep a long story short, we had our technical difficulties (upload of metronomefiles in the studiocomputer, drumpedal that broke, guitarproblems, ...), and a day Andy ended up in the hospital, because of an allergic reaction on some medicine. We had a shortage of recordingdays (and holidays) to finish the job in Sweden, so some guitarsolos and vocals were recorded in Belgium in the end. The trouble we had there was that it wasn't always available when we wanted too. But we finished up in the end, so Andy could do the mixing and mastering before the end of 2005. Andy is really a professional! He works well structured and anticipates on what you want to do with a song. He lives the music and follows the idea behind it. In the end he also knows how to let it sound right!
Are there any songs on the album that you particularly enjoy? Any interesting stories related any of the tracks or the concepts/thematic of the album?
"La Souffrance" is autobiographic. In 2004 I really thought playing music would never be possible again, I only hold a sparkle of hope because the doctors were optimistic and told me what needed to be done. When Kris arrived with the riffing on one of the first rehearsals I again could participate I know I could tell my story about how I felt that time. Another songs that holds a story is "Cannibalistic Paranoia". With "Mirror Images" a reporter asked me why we didn't have gore lyrics. I replied that I questioned originality then, because all death metal bands have songs about gore! Still he/her influenced me to write "Cannibalistic Paranoia"! If you like gore and splatter with humour, go read these lyrics!!! It is about a lunatic who thinks all other humans are cannibals. He winds up in a mental facility where he is the main course! I must admit that I would have preferred the words from the nurse in the lyrics, to be sung by a nun.
The battle in Poitiers in 732 was one of the great wars I have always wanted to write about. During history lessons in my schooldays I was so surprised by the idiocy of this war I wanted to tell everyone about it. Playing in a band can help me tell the story, the riffing on "732, Poitiers" was the best base I could have to tell the tale (with Arab lyrics too!!). "Fragments of an agony deranged" from our first demo "Circle Of Violence" was to short to tell the whole story, haha!
I don't have favourites, but I enjoy playing "Inside The Pyramid", "732, Poitiers" and "Road Crash Rebellion" a lot.
Could you say something about why you think this is your best effort to date?
Exterminator did everything in their power to call this the best effort to date! We used a professional producer, cover artist(s), photographers, arranged professional management deals, distribution and in the end went on European tour to promote the band and the new album! The sky was really the limit! Having a good record deal from a good label in the back with distribution in the Benelux-countries, Scandinavia, Spain and Eastern Europe would have made the dream complete (but we are working on it very hard, maybe the next album).
"Slay Your Kind" is the first album not to be a true concept album like past efforts, but there seems to be central theme to run through out all tracks. Tell us a bit about the central narrative behind this disc.
"Slay Your Kind" is not a concept album, but according to us you can link one idea to all the songs: protest against human kind! Traffic nowadays drives people insane! "Road Crash Rebellion" plays with the horrid idea of all people getting nuts behind the wheel, thinking they own the streets and start driving reckless in order to kill each other!
Which rules to follow? In "Primordial Law" we try to explain there are a lot of common rules, but the ones you need to follow are the ones that are important for your own survival, wellbeing and development! In nature there is only one primordial law: only the strong ones survive!
"Inside The Pyramid" deals with the insanity of mankind: or how believes, opinions, religions, ... can manifest weird behaviour amongst leaders and their blind followers. This insanity can create amazing things, but have they improved the world we live in today?
"The Human Vermin": imagine torture during wartime, imagine yourself to be a labrat. Can you find similarities in both situations? Human kind is a pest, which eradicates itself! If we don't, we will continue to procreate. Soon, there won't be enough food for us all. "Will you be the next one on the menu?" is the idea behind "Cannibalistic Paranoia".
Can you remember "Tragedy ... Rejoice ..." from the "Mirror Images"-album? Well, "Black Dominion Of The Old Dragon" is the rise of the Antichrist and his reign over the world!
"732, Poitiers" describes the battle of Arab troops against the French. It's one of the most decisive wars in Europe to determine which religion would manifest! 1.274 years later we still haven't learnt a damn thing from history!
One thing is for sure: we all shall die! One by one we will loose the ones we love, "La Souffrance" will be immeasurable! Until your time has come, you can only prepare to meet your Exterminator!!!
Tell us about the creation of the record. What were some of the challenges the band faced in realizing the final outcome?
The selection of the producers and deciding which one to take was the most important question we had to answer. This choice influenced all further decision-making regarding "Slay Your Kind": choosing the coverartist(s), taking a management or not, go on tour or not. It was a good idea, which helped us (our managers) to find good distribution all over Europe and offered us a chance to participate to the "Masters Of Death"-tour. There we aren't professional musicians, it wasn't that easy for some of us to take holidays from our daily job. For example: Marc, our previous drummer, saw what was coming and quitted "on time" so the band could go touring if the band had the opportunity to do so.
Is the album title a reference to Dutch death/thrash metal veterans Dead Head? On their debut "The Feast Begins at Dawn" they had a track called 'Slay Your Kind'?
No, not in any way. It were just the first words in "Road Crash Rebellion", later in the intro "Slay Your Kind", and fitted perfectly the profile of an exterminator, haha. I really like Dead Head though, I was one of the first guys in Belgium to put them on stage. It was really sad to read about all their problems after such an awesome "The Festering"-demo!
Extreme music can be difficult to compose. Exactly how long did it take for the band to write the material for "Slay Your Kind"?
Hard to answer such a difficult question, 2005 was rather hectic for me. Kris was working more on the music than I was during my illness. But then, our music is developing as wine, the longer we work, think about certain riffing/drumming the better it gets. Immediately after "Mirror Images" we had a lot of riffs, but not enough to fill an album. In my opinion those riffs have become excellent songs in due time.
In support of this new album you recently undertook the well-publicized "Masters Of Death" tour alongside a number of Swedish death metal veterans: Grave, Unleashed, Dismember and Entombed. If memory serves, this is the band's first real big international tour in its decade plus existence. How was that for the band?
Hey, we also toured in Spain "The Dirty Exterminatour" and in Belgium "Children Of The Grave", don't forget those! For Exterminator those were precious moments too in learning about touring. I agree, in comparison to the "Masters Of Death"-tour, these previous tours seem rather small, but not less important! I think those tours were small, because as a small band we were coheadlining this tour with our big Spanish friends Dirty Lust.
In age of existence we don't differ that much from the Swedish headliners and we felt honoured to be announced as "special guest" on the tour. But to be honest, compared to them I felt as a little mouse in the musicbusiness. You don't hear us complain about the other bands. We only had to tackle two problems: merchandise (about space and prices) and the concert in Dudley. At JB's the security hadn't arrived at the venue, so doors maintained closed by Law. Because of the tight tourschedule we had to go on stage. Lucky for us, security arrived sooner than expected so doors went open as we were still playing. Still, Dudley was the worst show for all bands on this tour if you look at the amount of spectators, only a few hundred people showed up. The rest of the tour we and the other bands always had between 400 and 800 spectators! Don't get me wrong, the number of spectators didn't affect bands to play less than 100% every night, it was only a shitty situation for us at that time. They made it up to us in Berlin, where they asked us to conclude the evening. Free for your interpretation: Exterminator headlining the evening or opening as supporting-act for the afterparty, haha! One huge benefit for Exterminator on this tour was the rotating system of the headliners. Nobody knew which band would go on stage right behind Exterminator, so people came early to the show not to miss the headlining band they wanted to see! I think this formula will soon be used on many tours, because the audience comes early to the venue and stays there!
You also did the Ripollet Festival in Spain in August 2005 where you played for 4000 people alongside German heavy metal titans Primal Fear. Besides that, you also did the prestigious German underground festival Fuck the Commerce this year, where you played with genre veterans Benediction and Vital Remains. Any plans to invade Poland at some point?
Well, It's a mistake on our website, because I think Vital Remains and Benediction cancelled, only Hate Eternal were present at Fuck The Commerce 2006. This was a festival I have always wanted to play, because it always has been so underground!!! Invading Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, Greece, Turkey, Japan and the rest of the world would be fantastic too, but we haven't had recent request to do so, thus ...
Do you have any fellow-bands you like touring, doing gigs with most of all?
I think a tour with Obituary or Slayer would be real fun! I know Alan would love to tour with Nevermore and Kris would like to go on tour with King Diamond. I think Marco is really mad about Necrophagist, but I think he hasn't got any particular preference for a band to tour with. It is a fact we all really enjoyed the tours with Dirty Lust (RIP) from Spain. After their split we kept in touch with some of the guys. Their new band is called "TrallaXXL", which means very hard music played by big (large) people. We also had a very good relationship with Entombed on the "Masters Of Death", so maybe one day ...
Much of your music is very reminiscent of older death metal. Do you tend to enjoy the pioneers of death metal more so than contemporary acts?
No, we love all kinds of metal, old or new.
What contributed to your long absence in the metal scene since your last release in 2000? Besides the aforementioned line-up shuffles, writing of new material, etc – you also have been out of the live circuit due to illness for nearly 18 months, tell us something about that?
Those line-up changes really made it hard for us writing new songs, but when somebody gets ill or has an accident it's not quite the same. In all of the line-up changes the artist voluntarily left Exterminator, never a bandmember was kicked out! The faster you can find a replacement, the faster you can continue the process of writing new songs! It's more difficult in case of an accident or illness. And if this occurs during the writing-process, it will slow down for 25% or even more, depending on the input of that particular bandmember. In my case it was really hard for the other guys to determine what they should/could do, because I was the only remaining original member of Exterminator, but even more the fact that doctors didn't know yet what disease I had or how long it would last. When I woke up one day feeling like a 75-year old guy, having stiff bones, feeling very very tired all the time, pains in the chest while breathing, ... I felt helpless and afraid what might happen next. I wasn't afraid of the future of Exterminator, because Ivan always told he would continue the band without me if something would happen. No I felt really miserable not knowing if I could play guitar or sing songs again one day! I was very happy to hear, after a dozen of examinations and surgery, the doctors found out I had sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis involves inflammation that produces little granulomas that can grow and clump together. When they are big enough they can affect vital organs. It affected my eyesight a bit, but my bones and joints and my lungs heavily! It could not be cured, but it is well known to stay mild with a lot of people, stabilize with others and only with few it is getting worse. With medication and a lot of rest my situation has gone mild, but not gone away I can assure you. I was very glad Marc, Kris and Ivan continued working on the songs/riffs we had and were still 100% motivated! My heart was full of joy to know I had these very, very good friends that preserved my place for my return! But after the first rehearsal (November 2004 I think) I knew I had a lot of work to do! At that moment I could never imagine to be recording the next album in July 2005!!!
Tell us a bit about your two other most commonly known records: 1995's "Forgotten Souls" EP and 2000's "Mirror Images". I guess not everyone is familiar with those, are they still available after all these years?
Well, both are conceptalbums recorded under the guidance of André Gielen, who is well known of his work with Channel Zero (RIP) and Deviate (RIP). The "Forgotten Souls" EP contains 5 songs in the vein of Death ("Human"-period) was recorded in 1993, but yet in 1995 released by Tessa Records, that tried to push us together with Exoto (RIP), Anesthesy (RIP), ... which also ceased to exist. We really got good reactions on our mixture of thrash-death from all over the world! I pity those that don't have it in their collection, it is totally sold out!!
"Mirror Images" contains 8 songs and an intro and is, according to a lot of reviews and reactions heard from the audience, a mixture between Slayer and Morbid Angel. This is not entirely true, because we have a female vocalist on 3 songs, haha. People can find out for themselves the album is still available, but only through our website www.exterminator.be or on our concerts. In general, the music we play has always been a travel in metal history, because we mix a lot of good-old-straight-forwarding-riffing with new-modern-clean/gothic-and-brutal/death influences. Not so long ago I read an article or a review about Exterminator, which said "Exterminator would lead thrash into a new dimension". We are honoured, but I hope we are not the only one! To lead you need followers, but all followers are too busy following heavy-, death-, new- or gothicmetal.
Exterminator has always been a band to go against the grain and do things on their own terms. Like, for instance, not delivering an album every 2 years – but focussing on quality instead of quantity. I guess this DIY is lost on many bands these days?
I guess you must be right. It seems everybody is convinced that without having a label behind your release, the release and the band are doomed to fail! I really wonder if the deals are really that good nowadays??? How are recording, promotion and distribution arranged? Is the label linked with bookingagencies, can they get you on tour perhaps, ...? Of course, it depends on what you want as a band and of course every band is free to choose their path.
Honestly, we are very disappointed still not having found a label that can guarantee us the same input of hard work for Exterminator as Exterminator has done for the last decade. We comfort ourselves with the results this band has booked in its existence, because we know how much work we had to put into it. I don't think Exterminator would have been joining the "Masters Of Death"-tour if we had a record label. A label that would have done so, should contact us immediately for a deal!
While blastbeat centered death metal has been hard to get away from the last 5 years, do you feel underground veterans like yourself still have some added value in the international death metal scene today - which is oversaturated with all these mediocre bands whose technical skills and mind numbing brutality prevail over their actual songwriting skills?
I think everybody agrees there is too much of everything. History shows that in case of oversaturation of the market only quality prevails. We have been around for almost 17 years now, "Slay your Kind" has been released on 2.000 copies, only a month ago. At this moment we are discussing the investment in the second pressing. People that want to have the original first pressing, will have to hurry up, there aren't that many left. As I know by now the second edition will probably be "modified", which is all I can say by now.
The Belgian underground seems to be on the way up the last years. Bands like Axamenta, Emeth, In-Quest, Prejudice, the Reckoning and Theudho all have delivered products that can compete with their international counterparts. To what would you contribute this change?
Hell, you are forgetting Ancient Rites, Agathocles and so many more which have been around a long time and present on international stages!! Shame on you! Reminding the piles of snailmail-promopackages in the past, I can tell you the Internet has become a big help for a small band to get international contacts, but it still depends on what you do with them. The world has become smaller, the number of metalclubs have increased, mobility has grown, contact has become faster and more direct. But like you said earlier, quality gets noticed. With Internet even faster by the public! Once contact is established, it depends on your conditions to play for getting a concert in the end!
No one creates art for very long without having a deep love of the work involved in that creation. What is it about playing this music that you love the most?
Playing music is quite intense for me: it gives me another identity, makes me another person, drags me into a state of mind far away from the real world, another dimension. It's an escape from the real world of crass materialism, problems everywhere and Death. When Death knocks on my door, I hope it will be during my guitarplay, because then I am sure I will not hear Him nor feel the pain of dying!
What is on the agenda for Exterminator in the next twelve to eighteen months?
We increase the search for a label, expand our distribution, play a lot of festivals and start the writing process of new songs.
Alright, that pretty much covers it. Thanks a lot for your time. Last words are yours...
Thank you Wouter and Masterful!! We would also like to thank Hurricane Entertainment, Skydra Management, Mundo Especial Producciones and all the people that have supported us so far! To the metalheads out there: keep on supporting your local underground and check out a lot of new talent in one way or another! Don't let others tell you what is good metal, learn to find out yourself! We hope that you enjoyed reading this interview and do not consider it as a waste of time! Prepare to be exterminated!
Site: www.exterminator.be
Booking: management@skydra.net
