Thomas Wouters (BODYFARM): money, oil, religion

 

Metalfan: Hello and welcome to Metalfan.ro! It's room for evolution in death metal?
Thomas Wouters: I do think there’s room for evolution in death metal, but when does it stop being death metal and starts a new sub-genre? That’s why people shouldn’t care so much about the name of a genre. If you like new stuff that’s cool, if you’re a conservative metal fan that’s fine too.

Metalfan: How did you first discover this music genre and what made you sing it? What is death metal for your?
Thomas Wouters: I discovered death metal through a friend of mine. I started with thrash metal and I thought that was pretty much all the metal scene had to offer. Then he let me listen to a tape of Benediction, and I loved it obviously. It was years later that I tried death metal vocals myself. Death metal to me is venting aggression through music. Just like thrash metal the music is very violent. It comforts me in some kind of way.

Metalfan: Could you tell us your story? How did it all start and what you've achieved so far?
Thomas Wouters: Haha, my story is not that interesting. It all started when I was like 7 or 8 years old. I had a little buddy that listened to Metallica, Guns n' Roses and some punk bands. Soon after that I discovered Slayer, and as soon as I entered high school I was already listening to Dissection. I got my first band when I was 17, and after that band disbanded I started Bodyfarm. And here we are.

Metalfan: This year on November 6th you released your third studio album, „Battle Breed”. What brings this album to the genre?
Thomas Wouters: I hope it brings some freshness into old school death metal. There’s so many Entombed clones out there who have the same production and practically the same riffs. It’s almost like they want to be tribute bands. That’s why Bodyfarm will never use the HM-2 pedals for guitars, and will always strife for a good and clear sound. We’re not afraid to mix styles and genres. Don’t get me wrong: we do not try to be original or re-invent death metal. But we do try to make our own music.

Metalfan: Could you offer us more details regarding the writing and the recording processes?
Thomas Wouters: We started writing Battle Breed right after The Coming Scourge was recorded. The writing took a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears. It was really hard because we wanted to make a better album then The Coming Scourge... More speed and aggressiveness, but still pretty melodic because we like that... The recording went very smooth. We’ve recorded the drums in Umeå, Sweden at Garageland Studio. That is Ronnie Björnström’s studio and he mixed and mastered the album as well. Our old bass player Harry van Breda recorded all the other instruments and vocals.

Metalfan: The legendary Martin van Drunen appears as a special guest on the second track, The Dark Age. How did you convince him to join you?
Thomas Wouters: There wasn’t much convincing to do because Martin is a friend of ours. We just felt that this track, The Dark Age, would be a great match with his vocals. It’s always been a wish of mine to do a duet with Martin and he was up for the task. We had a great beer-filled weekend in the studio! Martin will travel with us to Bucharest this month.

Metalfan: This year you'll play for the first time in Romania at November to Dismember Metal Fest. What do you know about the fest? Do you have any expectations?
Thomas Wouters: I have heard about the fest before, and my expectations are very high. In my experience people from Eastern-Europe are great and dedicated metal fans. So we are expecting great fun on stage while playing for you guys.

 

 

Metalfan: Martin van Drunen will join you on stage. It will be for a full show or just for the song The Dark Age?
Thomas Wouters: Martin will join us on stage for The Dark Age. Besides that, we have a big surprise and Martin is involved…

Metalfan: At November to Dismember Metal Fest you'll be joined with another band from Holland, Phlebotomized. Are you friends with the guys? What do you think about their music?
Thomas Wouters: We know the band, but not the musicians in it and I’ve never heard their music. But it’s always fun to meet fellow countrymen when you’re in another country.

Metalfan: On the album you have a song that is titled "Prince of Wallachia". What do you know about the historic region that is now part of Romania? Could you tell us more details about the lyrics of the song?
Thomas Wouters: I know very little of the region, but Prince of Wallachia was a nickname for Vlad Țepes. The lyrics are about his patriotism and war against the Ottoman Empire. He was a political prisoner at a very young age, at the royal court of the Ottomans. He and his brother were trained by the Ottomans, but his brother was more popular. Vlad was send back and his brother chose to stay. Vlad gathered an army and invaded Turkey. Something they’d never expect. It’s a very interesting story!

Metalfan: Now that we've talked about "The Dark Age" and "Prince of Wallachia", could you tell us more about the lyrics of the other songs from the album? What drives you to approach these themes?
Thomas Wouters: This is actually a concept album, more or less. We tell true historic tales of wars and certain events in history in chronological order. We start with The Dark Age, right after the fall of the Roman Empire, and the album ends with Death by Fire, mainly about flamethrowers in Vietnam. In between we have songs about U-boats in the Second World War, The French Revolution, The Battle of Hastings and so on. It drives me to write about war because war is always in the news. It’s all around us and it’s in our nature.

Metalfan: So, war is one of the subjects of your lyrics. Why do you think that people kill each other? Do you see a valid way to stop this madness?
Thomas Wouters: Money, oil, religion, I don’t know man. It’s disgusting of course but I really don’t see how to stop it. I don’t think it can be stopped. Certain Islamic people will always be crying for war, the USA loves that because they have reason to invade a country and make money. That is the most disgusting part: it’s about making money or to force ones religious beliefs upon another. That’s why I don’t really like humanity as a race. I love animals though!

Metalfan: Here at Metalfan.ro we are big fans of mix tapes. Could you choose 12 songs from 12 different bands for a virtual mix-tape? Which it would be the title of this mix-tape?
Thomas Wouters:

Metallica – Disposable Heroes
Carnivore – Jesus Hitler
Slayer – South Of Heaven
Pantera – Cemetery Gates
Opeth – The Leper Affinity
Kreator – Enemy Of God
Sanctuary – Battle Angels
Annihilator – Alison Hell
Dissection – Where Dead Angels Lie
Accept – Teutonic Terror
Twisted Sister – Stay Hungry
Sodom – Agent Orange

And I would call it “Metal Perfection”!


Metalfan: Thank you for your time and for your answers! In the end would you like to add something else or to send few words to our readers?
Thomas Wouters: We really hope to meet you guys at the November To Dismember festival, let’s have a party!