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Rock My Monkey: Hello, you are listening to the Rock My Monkey netcast on RockMyMonkey.com. Today we are speaking with Ed Warby of the band Gorefest. How are you doing today, Ed?
Ed Warby: I’m pretty good. How are you?
Rock My Monkey: I’m doing great.
Ed Warby: Alright.
Rock My Monkey: How did it feel to get The Artist Of The Week on MySpace Netherlands and MySpace Sweden recently?
Ed Warby: That was awesome. I really worked hard to get the MySpace going because we used to have a tribute MySpace, but we didn’t run that ourselves. So we’d only just started our own official Gorefest MySpace. And I was really pushing to get a lot of friend requests out, and get the space as big as possible, because they would only offer us The Artist Of The Week if it was viable for MySpace. That was quite a, what do you call that? A race against time to get the thing going before the album came out. And it really had a huge affect on publicity-wise, because we had so many visitors during that week, it was just amazing. The power of MySpace right there for you.
Rock My Monkey: Cool, cool, cool. Now, what do you think that acclaimed Danish producer Tue Madsen brought to the cd that would not have been there otherwise?
Ed Warby: The sound. We, on the previous album, La Muerta, we also used him for the first time, because I liked all the productions that he did. And we did some rough mixes ourselves, because we wanted to have a couple of songs to play to the press before the album came out. And the difference between those two versions, the ones we did and the ones that he did, it sounds like different recordings almost. It’s incredible. He adds space, and it’s loud, it’s huge, but it’s not just a chunk of noise. Yeah. He’s unique in that aspect, I think. He can either make it sound big or clear, but he does both, and that’s very good with this kind of music to not just create just a wall of chainsaw noise. Brutal, but clear. Yeah.
Rock My Monkey: Cool. Why the switch to-in America you guys switched to Candlelight for distro instead of sticking with Nuclear Blast. What was the reason for that?
Ed Warby: Yeah. I’m not really sure, to be honest. We just got informed that the distribution was going to be handled by Candlelight, which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. Their roster is very impressive. I don’t know. We used to have good contact with Nuclear Blast USA, but I guess they felt they weren’t able to take us to the next level, as such. And I think Candlelight is a good label for us over there. I hope they get us out there as good as possible.
Rock My Monkey: Are there any plans for a video single for this release?
Ed Warby: We were going to shoot a video, and we had the whole thing planned, and then at the last moment we cancelled because we couldn’t get the gear to the studio to the hall that we picked to do it. So it’s been kind of put on the-what do you call that?
Rock My Monkey: Back burner?
Ed Warby: Yeah. On back track. So I think we might still do it, but it’s not a top priority at the moment, because we did the video for the For the Masses the last album, and that’s really only been shown on the internet. We didn’t really get any airplay, so as far as revenue for investing in a video, it’s not really worth it at the moment, I don’t think. I’d like to do one, because I think the album deserves to get a video out and have it seen and stuff. Maybe when we get back from tour we might do one. We have some ideas.
Rock My Monkey: One thing I noticed is the videos on, when bands post their videos to MySpace, or they post them to YouTube, I notice that they come off a lot higher quality when they’re posted on MySpace. That also, just like with YouTube, you can actually, like websites like Blabbermouth or Rock My Monkey, during our news section, we can actually embed those into stories. So you’re not just depending on people that come to your MySpace to watch the video. You actually get the readers of Blabbermouth and the readers of Rock My Monkey, and all that. Do you see maybe websites like that, the internet networking, actually replacing venues like Headbangers Ball?
Ed Warby: Yeah. Totally. We didn’t realize this when we made the last video, because we’d been gone for a while. We’d been out of the loop. We did the video, and we’re like, okay, a video, you make it to be shown on television. And so we’re like, oh, there’s no rock shows, what are we going to do? Let’s put it on the website! And then we didn’t realize that we should have just put out the video all over the internet as much as possible. We thought we should keep it exclusive. So that was kind of a thinking mistake, I suppose. If we do a video for this one, we’re going to make sure it’s available to everybody everywhere. That’s definitely a different we notice between now and the old days.
Rock My Monkey: One thing I really wish that labels would start doing is allowing like full actual download of an MPEG version of the video, so people can actually take it on their mobile and watch it on the bus while they’re going to work, or whatever.
Ed Warby: I think that will happen at one point.
Rock My Monkey: Yeah. Now, how much did the band collaborate with Rob Middleton on the artwork?
Ed Warby: J.C. did that mostly. He sent him the lyrics and his vision on what the album is about. I’m not going to call it a concept album, but it definitely has a unified, a very strong vision. So he gave Mid all that information, the lyrics, the song titles, and Mid started working on some sketches. He sent those back and we made a selection, stuff that we liked, the composition-wise that we liked. The whole concept with the snakes, the heads on the snakes, and the skeletons and stuff. And he just took it from there, so it was pretty much a joint venture.
Rock My Monkey: Do you think the band will ever release a DVD?
Ed Warby: We’ve been planning to do that ever since we got back together. We’ve been trying to get the Dynamo footage, because that would be the best backbone for a DVD release, as far as I’m concerned, to have the whole show from the ’93 Dynamo Festival. But apparently the footage is lost somewhere, so we can only get the edited tracks that were shown on MTv at the time. I mean, we have tons of material, so we could really do a cool DVD, but it’s going to take months to sort that all out. I think we might film some shows during the upcoming tour. We have a couple of shows from festivals that were professionally filmed. We might include those. But we’re working on it.
Rock My Monkey: A Wacken performance always makes a great DVD.
Ed Warby: Yeah. Totally. I think there’s one or two tracks on the Wacken DVD that they released a couple months back. So there should be more footage from that. But we need to have a look at that, and check out the sound quality, do a remake, obviously. So it’s going to take a while, I think.
Rock My Monkey: The band seems to be going strong after this reformation. What has changed-obviously you guys broke up for a reason. What has changed since the breakup to make this reunion last so long?
Ed Warby: I think the joy of playing together. That’s something we lost along the way last time. We just didn’t really enjoy ourselves anymore at some point. We didn’t like the music that we were doing, and finding different directions and stuff. Then we split off. We were gone for like six or seven years. At one point the bug just hits you again, you know? You want to make metal. You get back into it. We’ve grown a lot as people. It’s really a lot more fun these days. We’re not doing our job. We’re just doing this because, yeah, we like making metal together.
Rock My Monkey: You guys actually have regular jobs that you go to then?
Ed Warby: Yeah.
Rock My Monkey: How will Hail Of Bullets and the Thin Lizzy tribute band affect the Gorefest schedule?
Ed Warby: Not at all, I imagine. The Lizzy tribute is really something that Boudewijn and me just do to relax in between heavy Gorefest stuff. We did the album for a couple of months, and that was a lot of hard work. After that we just wanted to do something that has no pressure whatsoever. So we just did four or five shows with Alive And Dangerous. Hail Of Bullets is of course a bit more serious. But I think I’ll be able to maneuver in between the Gorefest activities. Hopefully do an album.
Rock My Monkey: Last tour cycle, last album cycle you guys had a few issues with touring.
Ed Warby: Yeah.
Rock My Monkey: Do you feel there is anything the band can do to make sure the touring goes more smoothly for this cd?
Ed Warby: What we did this time was just-last time we trusted, or trusted, we had a booking agency book a tour for us, and put a package together, and that really backfired. Then we thought it would be a good idea to join a bigger band as a support, and that didn’t happen. So this time we decided to go for a headlining tour, book everything ourselves. Our own management booked all the shows so far. It looks pretty good. Much better than last year, definitely. We were out for three weeks, through Europe mostly.
Rock My Monkey: What are the chances of the band doing a full coast to coast tour of the U.S. anytime soon?
Ed Warby: Very slim. (laughs) It’s too expensive. I’d love to. One of my fondest memories is touring The States in, what was that? ’93 I think with Death. I think that goes for all four of us. That was just amazing. A once in a lifetime experience. I mean, I think if you go to The States, if you really want to make an impression, you need to go for a couple of weeks, at least. Tour with a strong band, with a strong package, maybe. Maybe next year, but I’m not holding my breath for that one.
Rock My Monkey: So basically you’d have to be offered a really good package. Maybe middle slot on a good package to make it happen?
Ed Warby: Yeah, I think that’s the trick.
Rock My Monkey: When people do see you guys live, what can people expect from your live show? Is it more of a stripped down kind of a thing, or do you guys add some kind of theatrics or anything to make it more of a show?
Ed Warby: Not really theatrics. But we have one of the best lighting engineers that we could find in Holland. He used to work for us in the old days, and he’s still at the top of his game. Everybody, when people see us live, they go ‘Woah, that’s impressive!’ He uses a lot of back lights, strobe, smoke, that kind of stuff. We don’t really have theatrics, but we do want to make sure it’s a professional performance. We have good sound, good light, so it’s always good value for money, I’d say.
Rock My Monkey: Speaking of theatrics, I keep hearing about something called The Dani Filth Curse. What’s the story behind The Danni Filth Curse?
Ed Warby: (laughs) We blew that one up a little bit. That was in 1993 I think, or ’94. We played in Portugal at the Panathea Open Air Festival, and we were with Hypocrisy, Cradle Of Filth, a couple more bands. We were just given free reins to hang out at the local rock club and we could eat and drink as much as we wanted. So things kind of got out of hand at some point. I think Dani came up to me, and he asked me to hold out my hand, and he put something in it. So when I went to look, it turned out to be a giant beetle, and the guys in Cradle they were just rolling on the floor laughing. Apparently that was his way of cursing someone. Not really the biggest deal, but at the time it was funny.
Rock My Monkey: What song on this cd has the chance of becoming your band’s, Gorefest’s Ace Of Spades, the song that fans demand for decades to come, the song you have to play. Because imagine Motorhead doing a show and not playing Ace Of Spades. There’d be a riot.
Ed Warby: I wish I could write a song like that, I can tell you. Well, our Ace Of Spades has always been Confessions Of A Serial Killer from the first album, which is an album that me and Boudewijn were not involved in, so don’t really have much feeling with the song. We play it these days, obviously, because people want to hear. On the new album, probably the first song, Revolt. That’s been getting the most extreme reactions.
Rock My Monkey: Which song?
Ed Warby: The first one, Revolt.
Rock My Monkey: Oh, yeah. I got to say, that’s probably my favorite, too.
Ed Warby: That would be the prime candidate for a single. We actually made an edit for it in case we do shoot one. That’s why we put it first, as well, because it’s just a punch in the face.
Rock My Monkey: Just got a couple more questions left. What do you think is the most annoying cliché in death metal today?
Ed Warby: Speed over-I think people confuse speed with brutality. It’s never been my thing. I find myself turning away more and more from that the older I get. Trigger drums, extreme, insane speeds. It’s just not really my thing. That would be a cliché, if you will, I guess.
Rock My Monkey: I got to say, Revolt I think is an excellent example of how you can slow it down and actually be heavier. It’s got those dynamics and it’s got that punch you can’t have when you speed things up too much.
Ed Warby: Yeah. Absolutely.
Rock My Monkey: I do have one final question. Every year we do choose one final question that we ask every single band from classic rock legends to the most extreme death metal bands at the end of every interview. Partially to stump people, but also to see who’s a poser and won’t answer.
Ed Warby: (laughs) Go for it.
Rock My Monkey: This year I’m asking people to look into their crystal ball and predict what political figure, world leader, musician, celebrity, anybody well known, anybody world wide famous, who do you think might die before the end of the year?
Ed Warby: I think-I hope not-but I’m kind of afraid that Lemmy will not make it.
Rock My Monkey: As a huge Lemmy fan, I’m getting really worried, because everybody keeps saying him.
Ed Warby: That’s my fear. And I would really feel, I would be heartbroken if that happened, because he’s a hero, and he has been for as long as I can remember. Motorhead is still one of my favorite bands. He’s not doing too well, I don’t think. Okay. If I could say another one, it might be Peter Steele.
Rock My Monkey: Peter Steele! Oh, man. Now that you’ve predicted the deaths of two of my favorite front men, I thank you very much for doing the interview. (both laugh)
Ed Warby: You’re welcome.
Rock My Monkey: Anybody that’s listening to the audio version can go to RockMyMonkey.com for the full featured version with clickable links, readable text, and many more wonderful features. Please click on the album cover above and below this interview to purchase Rise To Ruin by Gorefest. And I do hope to see you guys up on tour in the Northwest in the USA sometime soon. I thank you very much for your time, and it’s been a pleasure.
