INTERVIEW WITH... HAIL OF BULLETS

Hi Alex, here are the answers, given by Ed Warby, our drummer Cheers

• ALMOST ONE YEAR AFTER YOUR DEBUT ALBUM ''OF FROST AND WAR''...WHAT IS NEW IN HAIL OF BULLETS CAMP THESE DAYS?HOW DID THE BAND GET TOGETHER?

What's new is that over the past year we've grown from a "project" to a real flesh 'n' blood on stage killing machine, and it feels awesome! I hope you don't mind me skipping the "how did we get together bit", that story's been told so many times I can't get myself to tell it with much enthusiasm anymore... suffice to say we got drunk together, shot some bandphoto's, wrote some tunes, did a promo and the rest is history.

• I REMEMBER MARTIN'S VOCAL ON THE PESTILENCE AND ASPHYX ALBUMS... HOW DID HE KEPT HIS VOCAL IN SO CALLED ''OLD CONDITION'' AFTER ALL THIS YEARS?

Believe it or not, but he actually trains his voice by putting on a gasmask and shouting in it until he almost passes out. Obviously it works, cause his voice is sicker and more powerful than ever!

• LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CURRENT ALBUM ''OF FROST AND WAR''... WHAT IS THE ALBUM STORY BEHIND? IN MY OPINION ''OF FROST AND WAR'' IS AN CONCEPT ALBUM FORM...

You're absolutely right, it is a concept in chronological order about the eastern front. It follows the German campaign on Russia from Operation Barbarossa to the fall of Berlin and each song tells the story of a particular battle or occasion.

• HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE SOUND ON ''OF FROST AND WAR''?

For the promotional campaign I likened listening to our album as being run over by a 50 ton Tiger tank, and that still feels like a good description! It's heavy and it's metal, and metal doesn;t get much heavier than a fucken tank!

• WAS THE SONG WRITING DONE TOGETHER, OR DID INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS WROTE THE SONGS PARTICULARY?

Most of the material was written by me, Ed (drummer). I have a little home studio so I can make demo's quite easily. Paul and Stephan wrote the rest, and Martin wrote the lyrics and created the vocal lines.

• ALL SONGS ON THE ALBUM ARE ABOUT II WORLD WAR THEMES... ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE II WW TOPICS? DO YOU HAVE TO DO A LOT OF RESEARCH FOR THE LYRICS?

Martin is a complete WW II nut, he reads piles and piles of books on it and he researched his lyrics extensively. He had been wanting to do this particular concept for quite some time already, and with HoB he found the prefect musical framework for it.

• HOW WAS THE RECORDING PROCESS FOR ''OF FROST AND WAR''?

Pretty standard operating procedure: we went in and started with the drums, then rhythm guitars and melodies, bass and guitarsolo's and finally vocals. Because we'd done extensive pre-production the actual recording was just a matter of getting all the parts down. After everything was recorded we sent the files to Dan in sweden so he could give it the wall of sound we needed.

• WHAT KIND OF EQUIPMENT DID YOU USE ON THE ALBUM?

We recorded in Protools, like most bands these days. I used my Sonor Force 3007 live kit, and we used an array of Ibanez and BC Rich guitars which went thru Marshall amps and Theo played an ESP/LTD bass. That's about it I guess...

• ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE LABEL ''METAL BLADE'' AND THEY WORK... HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON ''METAL BLADE'' AS YOUR LABEL?

Extremely satisfied! They promised us we'd be a priority band for them, but I never expected the kind of promotional attention we got from them. Our A&R is a total metal maniac, and we all grew up listening Metal Blade bands so the choice was easily made.

• WHAT KIND OF BANDS INSPIRED YOU WHEN YOU PLAY MUSIC LIKE THIS (OLD SCHOOL DM)?

The main influences are Bolt Thrower, Autopsy, early Death, Entombed, Massacre, Celtic Frost etc. You could just say the late 80's/early 90's death metal scene in general, since that's the feeling we're trying to capture with our music.

• YOU'RE PLAYED SOME SHOWS AND FESTIVALS LAST YEAR... WHAT IS YOUR BEST SHOW IN YOUR OPINION?

For me the most memorable show was the warm-up gig in Arnhem. The place was packed and there was so much excitment in the air, I think everybody had goosebumps even though it was incredibly hot... The most succesful show so far was probably Party.san, which is one of the greatest metalfestivals in Europe.

• WHAT IS THE UNDERGROUND METAL SCENE IN NEDERLAND NOWADAYS? ARE THERE A LOT OF DEATH METAL BAND EXISTS LIKE IN 1990's?

Sure, but I don't really follow the dutch scene too much. There are a couple good bands like The Monolith Death Cult, Massive Assault, The Lucifer Principle and more, and some promising new bands such as Remains and Dictated, but the 90's scene was very different from now.

• ARE YOU PLAY IN SOME OTHER BANDS OR PROJECTS BESIDE THE 'HAIL OF BULLETS'?

I myself also play in Gorefest and Demiurg, and I usually perform on Arjen Lucassen's Ayreon albums. Apart from that I also have a doom metal project called The 11th Hour, in which I not only play drums but also guitar, bass as well as vocals. Paul and Martin also play in the mighty Asphyx, and Paul and Stephan also play in Thanatos, the oldest extreme metalband in the Netherlands.

• WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE BETTING HAHAHA... HAHAHA... DEATH METAL, BEERS, BETS AND WOMEN ARE THE WINNERS...

Sorry, you got the wrong Bullet for this, I can't stand sports in general and football in particular, haha! But Death Metal, beer and women sounds good, let's just skip the bets eh?

• OK... WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN YEAR 2009? NEW ALBUM MASTERPIECE LIKE ''OF FROST AND WAR'' ? LOT OF SHOWS? SHOW IN SERBIA MAYBE?

Yep, we've already started writing for the follow-up and it's going to be just as heavy if not heavier than the first one. I promise you won't be disappointed! Wheter we'll play in Serbia depends on the offers we'd get, so tell your promotors to get us overthere.

• THAT'S ALL FOR NOW... THANX FOR THE INTERVIEW AND GOOD LUCK...

Thank you and keep it heavy!