"...into the new age!"

LES YEUX SANS VISAGE is the name of a more or less new post-punk/new wave outfit from Lucerne. I don't care about supporting some local scene or bands. But they just do what they do on a pretty high level. If you're a fan of bands such as The Chameleons, The Sound or (of course) Joy Division, you have to give them a listen. Beneath is an interview I did with guitarplayer Ismail a couple of months ago... You're welcome.

Please give our readers a short introduction. Who are you, in which band are you playing and what are some other interests in your life?

My Name is Ismail Osman and I play Guitar in a Band called Les Yeux Sans Visage. Besides the obvious music it has to be literature for me – loads and loads of books an never enough time to get through them all.

This may sound strange, but I'm always a bit sceptical when other people tell about this completely genius band from their town, nobody has ever heard of. I actually assume that LYSV is the first band ever out of my area which I listen to on a regular basis. I heard so from other people as well. What are your thoughts on that?

Yeah I know that feeling you're describing – and it means all the more to me, if people feel that there's something to our music that transports them beyond that amateurish local-band-feel.

The music you play could be compared to Interpol or Joy Division. Although I know that all of you really like said bands, it's clear, that there are way more bands, one could refer to. What bands have had some kind of impact on you as a member of LYSV in the evolution of your sound?

Definitely the Chameleons. Script of the Bridge was a major influence on how I wanted my guitar to sound – even tough I think I totally failed at doing so. Another, maybe less nostalgic influence, has to be the sound Joe Daniels guitar playing. Joe Daniel is the Co-Founder of Angular records (These New Puritans, Klaxons, Wetdog etc.). He also played Guitar in the now defunct Band The Violets. He's style is quite wild, inventive and uses lots of feedback and little tricks to hide the fact that it was the only guitar in the band.

New Wave/Post-Punk has been a genre, which always had some more-known Artists. It's never been really been dead. At the same time, it seems like most people are older guys who have never really lost track with this kind of music. You rarely see young folks into it. Any explanations for this phenomenon?

I'm not so sure if that's true anymore. I mean Bands like Editors orWhite Lies have a Pop-appeal and do make it to the Top if the Charts with that kind of Sound. The question is whether their fans know about the influences of these bands – I mean beyond Joy Division. In general I think that the sound has a certain timeless aesthetic – it might never be in high fashion but there will always be people that are drawn to that darker, clear-cut look and feel.

What's your musical background and how did you end up in LYSV? I guess you've always been interested in Music and Art, so what did Ismail Osman look like and listen to ten years ago?

Ten years ago, that would have been the year 2000, I felt quite lost musically. My first love, Hip-Hop, had degenerated to a gimmicky soap-opera that had lost all of the musical inventiveness that had drawn me towards it. I got a little into electronic music, but really it took me another couple of years to find what I was looking for. As for my looks back then, it's kind of hard to recall what I was wearing – I do remember wearing a pair of Diesel Jeans until they completely disintegrated but I was never the most stylish kid in town.

LYSV started about a year an a half ago, since then you managed to record and play quite a lot. One thing that fascinates me: You almost haven't had any musical experience before, right? Would you mind, telling us how LYSV came together and what the first rehearsal was like? Do you think you look at things the same way as if you had been in bands for over 10 years?

My musical background is extremely sparse, to say the least. We started Les Yeux Sans Visage about a year an half ago. Before that I was in a Band called Demons to Diamonds. We only played a handful of shows but it was my first musical experience. Me and Remo, our singer, who was also in Demons to Diamonds, decided that we would continue making music together. This came after the other two members had to pause, due to them going to travel abroad and entering
university respectively.

We quickly realised, that the two of us work quite well together but that there would have to be a new Name under which to make music as a duo. I happen to find this french horror-noir movie Les Yeux Sans Visage and we both liked the sound and imagery of that Name. We recorded the first song we came up with on a cell phone. I played guitar, Remo played drums and sang. Dominic happend to hear the phone recording and said: I like the song but the drumming is shit – I'll play the drums.

We had a first rehearsal together and we all knew right away – this
is it.

I guess it's somewhat of a blessing to be this new to actually playing music. There still seems so much space to discover and in the process becoming a better musician. Most of our songs come together in a matter of minutes. Its all very spontaneous and exiting when something new is discovered– I'm not sure if it was this easy, if we all had been playing in bands for ever.

Does the band have a specific goal? Are there some things you absolutely want to achieve?

I guess the goals were made up as we went along. In the beginning it was just the fun of playing together. Then it was to play a single gig – it happened to be a strobe-light-driven performance for an art-show – We then quickly decided to record a 7inch single – really just for our
selves, like a picture or a memory to have of that time. Somewhere in-between we received a certain amount of recognition and lots of positive feedback. The goal became to play more, and to play outside our hometown as much as possible, then to record new songs, then to get some airplay, then to organise and play a bigger release-show. Everything worked out quite nice so far – our next goal will bring us back to those art-show-roots somewhat, but that's all I'll say
for now.

Some bands in your genre also usecertain imagery. Now, as your lyrics and music are rather dark, how important is this to you? Are there any plans or concepts within your music or the way you want to present it?

We do try to make it all "look like us". By that I mean we try to give our music a distinctive look that matches the feeling we want the sound to conjure up within the listener. As our music is quite minimal and sleek, we wanted our records to have a sleek look themselves. For instance, we decided that there would be nothing written on the cover only a photo. The photos used are by the uncle of our drummer Dominic. He's name is Hany Madej and he is a very established news-photographer. He took a series of photographs in eastern Europe in the late eighties and early nineties. They are really dark and bleak and some are even shocking but they also carry something very beautiful within them. We got the permission to use some of his pictures for our records. They fit the music perfectly and our next record will most likely also feature one of his pictures.

Okay, let's do some guitar-related talk, then. What's your current set-up?

I play a Fender Jazzmaster (American 62' Vintage Reissue). My amp is a Laney VC30-112 with an extension cabinet. That's really not the most powerful or prestigious amp but it does give me the sound I'm looking for like no other has so far.

My effects include: Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb, Boss RE-20 Space Echo, Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter, Boss PS-2 Pitch Shifter / Delay (my secret weapon), Electro-Harmonix Little Big Muff and an old Pro-Co RAT.

And what's your dream gear? Favourite pedals? Amps? Guitars?

I would love to own a Vox Phantom Guitar but they are quite hard to get a hand on these days. It's mostly the angular shape of the guitar that gets me. I'm also quite interested in the modified Jazzmaster made for Lee Renaldo and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth.

I definitely would like to upgrade my amp probably to some kind of vintage VOX AC30.

As for the pedals, that would be an endless list! I love all kinds of Reverb and Delay Sounds, right now I'm looking for some good chorus- and overdrive-pedals – and then take it from there...

You're the only guitar player in LYSV. Does this affect your style of writing? And are there some times, where you wish there'd be a second guitar player?

That's definitely a yes on both counts! I quickly figured out that being the only guitar means you need to change things a lot. It could get boring quite quickly if the guitar always sounds the same – especially if you, like me, are not the most virtuosic player. That's where the effects come in. They are supposed to add depth into the simple melodic structures a play.

There are also some songs, especially the newer ones, which almost require more that one guitar. We don't have a problem adding extra instrument to our recordings, so those ideas are mostly dealt with in the studio – We have been ask several times why we haven't added a keyboard player or a second guitarist to our line-up. It might very well happen in the future but for now, we feel quite comfortable playing as a trio.

Before we finish one last question: Please name your personal top 5 records as well as your favourite guitar riff/melody.

Albums (in no particular order):

Script of the Bridge – The Chameleons
Closer – Joy Division
But, What Ends When The Symbols Shatter? – Death in June
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold us Back – Public Enemy
Primary Colours – The Horrors

Favourite melody/riff: The main melody in "Paper Tigers" by the Chameleons – actually the whole Song is just absolutely perfect from start to finish!

That's it. Place your last sentence beneath;

"These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others!"– Groucho Marx

"all alone is all we are"

The band GOLDUST from Munster, Germany is one of the most efficient and ambitious Hardcore bands these days. Founded some years ago, the band managed to progress with every release they recorded so far, gaining more and more attraction and regocnition within the European Hardcore Scene. They will release their second album on Let it Burn Records and APIL Records in April. I'm not that stoked on Hardcore records these days, but DESTROYER | BORDERLINES is definitely one of them. If you're not familiar with the band/their latest release, you should head right over to their Myspace site to listen to their new posted track "Passage". (www.myspace.com/goldusthc)

I had a short email conversation with their Singer Lars and this is what the self-proclaimed "pretentious asshole" had to say. Enjoy!

Before we start off, I wanna know about your Bauhaus Tattoo. I have never seen it.
Hey Samuel, good to see that we dont need to introduce to one another anymore.
The tattoo is on my chest and it says "Swing The Heartache". To those who are unaware, it is an album and a song-title by a dark wave band called Bauhaus. I got it years ago. The typeface is quite unfancy and plain looking. I have taken the font from the Swing Kids split 10" inlay. I really thought that would be a cool idea. I think it actually might even be Times New Roman or something along the lines. It has a deeper meaning to me that i do not want to weed out here.
I might add something to this tattoo sometime soon.

We will get back on that topic later on. For the readers who maybe have not heard yet of your band. If you had to describe the band’s music and attitude in one sentence, what would that be?
Goldust is a hardcore-band, for the sake of creating rather then re-enacting.

As a person who has always wasted way too much time surfing the Internet, I have noticed GOLDUST already for a while. Brutal truth is: The way the band presented itself in the early stage as well as the musical output back then was really not my cup of tea. What’s your opinion now, looking back on the early months/years of your band? And do you often get that kind of reaction?
I would say we did a lot of mistakes back then, out of the reason we didn't know any better. I can not enjoy those songs much, probably they are a good act to laugh at.

You’ve always been really busy writing and releasing new songs. Actually, this is not that usual for most of the (european) Hardcore bands. Especially when you keep in mind, that most bands break up after their first 7“ anyway. Is there any philosophy behind?
While others bands and their members are at a state where they either sacrifice their life to the band or have no further obligations, each member of GOLDUST is stucked in his routines of every-day-life. Therefore we can't tour hard and be on the road all the time. So we are somehow in the fortunate state that we can either bore ourselves 2 times a week by staring at our own feet, and draw circles and play the old songs over and over again, or push ourselves, our capabilities and develop new soundspheres. With every song written and material created we push the boundaries a bit further and this leads to quite a productive output. We dont have a philosophy behind it. We just do what we do. Luckily we are being approached at the right time by the right people to release something.

To say that INTEGRITY as well as other Clevo/Holy Terror bands had and have a huge impact on your music is safe to say, I guess. Other than that, what bands, thinkers and/or art do inspire you?
We started out with no intention but to have a band. Concerning the beginning it is safe to say that Blacklisted and Integrity had a slight impact on us, some people compared us to Guns Up or Shipwreck, but i dont see that one resembled. Musicalwise it's hard to distinct certain influences. You see, we have got Robert on guitar who listenes to nearly everything from the 80s and 70s, hell, i don't even know what Robert favors. The collection on his iPod is the tiniest and pickiest one i have ever seen but there is definitly no hardcore but a lot of Pixies, Electronic and Kraftwerk. Then we have Christoph on drums who has got a taste for Krautrock and Black Metal and some obscure stuff. Christoph Gerhard on bass is seemingly the one that would listen and support most hardcore stuff but wouldn't mind listening to Metallica and Black Sabbath as well. Chris and me are somehow alike. We can not find much enjoyment in contemporary hardcore releases. We seek the outlet in all kind of genres as long as they transport a certain feeling. Concludingly the output of GOLDUST and how GOLDUST sounds is a melange of the 5 individuals and their tastes. Every single one plays their part and brings in their ideas and influences.
I can only speak for myself here i am highly influenced by art and creation itself and i can't narrow it down. May it be American Nightmare, Joy Division, Nirvana, Expressionism, Religious Psalms, Poems, Kafka, Poe, Philosophy, 80s wave, grund, black metal, Lord Of The Rings, Shoegazing, Psychology, Life itself, Movies, Jason Molina, Past events, Celtic Frost, Dead Heroes, Alive persons, Paintings. Fuck, i don't know where to begin and where to end. I try to be as open-minded as humanly possible as long as i find something that reflects or resembles my mind.

Dark, apocalyptic visions are chique nowadays. (Reversed crosses on every Hardcore bandshirt) You guys also deal with dark topics and kind of an „evil“ image. What’s your personal motivation behind this? I ask this because I do think, that most bands dealing with certain images have or at least should have individual reasons why they deal with such topics. And I also think that this is mostly missed these days.
I'd rather would not see GOLDUST in this context. We are not an evil, nihilistic, misanthropic band per se. We arent even an apocalyptic propaganda tool. This comparison got stale and lame so fast and i am quite aware what imagery other bands are choosing. You know, all this holy-terror-kindergarten, godfree here, VV for w, latin expressions, upside-down-crosses there. This is not our world. I totally see that it is quite easy to put that sticker on us. But it all comes from a personal perspective, if you think we are one of those bands, sorry, then you are terribly wrong.
This, what you may call it, dark and evil output is created in the chest of the 5 individuals in GOLDUST. This may sound generic but it comes naturally. Otherwise this band wouldn't make much sense. We dont sit hours uopn the material and debate like "we need a more dark edge so let's add this and that". You know, you can either grab the book of black arts or you can choose to swallow the sugar-coated fairy tale your mom used to read to you. Our choice comes naturally, not to suit a trend or being chique, attract a certain audience or to provoke a reaction. It's the potential each and everyone has got, it's either creation or destruction, good and evil. We have chosen to destroy by creating. At least we are creating something.

To me it seems like GOLDUST is heading more and more into a metallic direction. I was wondering if this has ever been a topic in the band itself? Is it important for you to be called a Hardcore band? Do you care?
We are a hardcore band.

You recently signed with Let It Burn Records to release your second full lenght in April 2010. It’ll be called „DESTROYER | BORDERLINES“. Could you elobarate on the name of the record as well as the overall-feeling of it a bit?
The first song which we have published is "Passage". I'd say it's the most straight-forward one, kind of the stupid aggressive grab-your-fucking-throat-type. It's definitely not a complete representation of the material included on "Destroyer | Borderlines". There are 12 songs on it which are quite diverse and of much wider range than our past releases. They blend the lines drawn by hardcore and metal even further. I dont really have a reference for it like it will sound like band A and band B mixed with band C.
Lyricalwise it digs really deep. It contains the most egocentric (yeah call it depressed) thoughts and feelings i have ever written. All the lyrics and writings are woven in one another. But it's not a concept record. Saying so would set the expectation way too high and i'm afraid i could never satisfy such an estimation. If you are familiar with our songs such as "crisis" or "aevum" you have a slight clue of what to expect lyricalwise. The content is quite harsh and extreme but i have chosen to write everything down upright. There was no other choice this time. The title refers to the band itself as well to the lyrical content.
It will make much more sense when you finally hold the record in your hands and you get the whole experience.

I want to change topics a bit. I was just thinking about it myself the other night: Hardcore, or at least what we label under said brand nowadays pretty much means running in circles, following rules and limiting yourself. If you won’t, you most likely end up as so-called Sell-Outs or you’ll just lose touch with the complete culture. Now, I don’t know if this is just my imagination based on my own experience, but I wanted to ask you about this. What is it, that keeps you „here“? And what eventually would help you disappear into nowhere fast?
Seriously. This is a total misconception of hardcore. Hardcore leaves no boundaries. It's argueable what kind of hardcore you enjoy or want to play. One should look into the wide range of hardcore and how many different styles are labeled as hardcore. This doesnt mean you have to buy into it or accept it. We never followed a trend or tried to be Germany's Next Integrity or something along those lines. As stated above we do what we do and that's it.

I know, that you are interested in Music in general. But somehow I noticed, that the most of the stuff you listen to - no matter what style – kinda represents a dark state of mind. Sir, do you ever actually listen to HAPPY & BEAUTIFUL music?
I may sound like a pretentious asshole now but who decides what is dark and depressed and what music is happy & beautiful?
But you are correct, sir, by saying that most of the stuff i listen to would be perceived as dark and depressed. I can't find much enjoyment in those easy-listening stuff. It makes no sense to me. I just need the heavy-hearted stuff that makes you cringe and leaves you with a sour taste in the mouth and makes you doubt that this world is the right place for you. Happyness through sadness, whether it is included in the lyrics or that really slow song "that makes you wonder if you will ever hear the next note". This is the kind of music i prefer over the weekender-radio-hits. Here are favourites of mine that are just too "heavy" in the sense of hard:

songs: ohia - the lioness
jason molina - let me go, let me go, let me go
pedro the lion - control
cat power - myra lee
benton falls - fighting starlight
the cure - 4:13 dream
deftones - white pony
codeine - fridig stars
crowbar - sonic excess in it's purest form
tw walsh - blue laws
grief - dismal

ok, i'm a pretentious asshole.

While we’re at it, do you sometimes think about playing other music than just metallic Hardcore? Or have you actually already done something different? Perhaps some almost forgotten projects you were once involved with? Or is it something you want to leave up to your Future-Self?
I am not a musician nor a singer. I'm a writer and i tell stories in simple manners but i do not want to scream at the sky for the rest of my life. In fact i was involved with a few projects. Among those i did the vocals in an electronic-goth project with 2 friends of mine around 2003-2005 or so? The project was called ALICIA LEDON and we've worked with vocoders, synths, drum-computers etc etc. We even recorded a record but it never saw the light the day. I wish i could regain those recordings but i am pretty sure they reside in the aether. I could see me return to such roots or something else apart from hardcore. Oh i don't care about the future. It's not a place for me.

I’m almost finished with my questions. But speaking of the future, what are the plans for GOLDUST for the next months/years? Are there certain goals you definitely want to achive furthermore?
We will tour with STORM & STRESS around april/may and do some weekend shows as well as play most of the LET IT BURN showcases and rehearse as usual 2 times a week. That's for the first half of 2010. We will try to promote the new record on our best terms. I would love to do another EP and a follow-up album. These are just lines i draw in the sand and the tide is always rising and lurking on the horizon.

That’s it. Here’s where you can put your Shout-Outs.
"All alone is all we are"

“It’s like a big reservoir, that we all dip out of.”

This is an Interview I did with Philipp (drummer) sometime ago, when RITUALs latest record just came out. I somehow almost forgot about it. I guess, for the German and European readers, there's nothing more to write down about the band. Everyone knows them. Not everyone loves them, though. But when it comes down to current hardcore bands one can not deny their impact.

Read what Philipp had to say:

Who are you, what are you doing in Ritual and do you think, Joy Division could have been the biggest Rockband since the Beatles, if Ian Curtis didn't commit suicide?
My name is Philipp, I maltreat rather than play the drums for Ritual. And no, I don’t think Joy Division could have become that big. There seems to be something morbid about music lovers that makes me believe that it was Curtis’ suicide that made the band as legendary as they are today. Maybe people think that it makes the band more authentic or whatever. But since these are only speculations Kraftwerk will remain the second greatest band of all time.


Ritual may be the hardest working German Hardcore band, when it comes down to Touring, Updates and the actual fact, that there's always been some talk surrounding the band. Even during the time last year, where nobody really knew, what was going on with the band, the band has been a semi-huge subject on message boards etc. Why do you think, this is?
I really don’t know. Now this is a disappointing answer, I know. But first of all, I have to say that we didn’t really recognise the ongoing talk about the band in the time that we were absent. Anyway, I’ve come to get the impression that people feel like they have to have a clear opinion on us. I’ve witnessed some discussions about us on some different messageboards, where people would divide into haters and lovers and almost nothing in between. And although this may sound absurd, I really do like that in a way. If we really make people want to talk about us, be it positive or negative, it feels like we’re taken seriously and that’s wonderful.

You had the chance to tour Europe a couple of times. Compared to other (European) bands, you already did so at quite a young age. What was this like in the beginning of the band?
This is ridiculous: The first show we ever played was the beginning of our first tour that we did with The Facts. At that time we had another band that was supposed to do the tour, but that band was quite unreliable and only a few weeks before the tour it was clear that this other band couldn’t go. So we said we could do the tour with our new band – and we did. Looking back on that tour I still think it was amazing. We had just recorded a demo and when we played in Stuttgart we got to know Tassilo who later released that demo as our debut 7”. It all went pretty quick since then.

When Ritual started, the band-members were in their mid-teens. I guess, your age has been a big Extra for the band. You most likely have been one of the youngest persons at most of the shows. Now, since we're in touch for some years, have you noticed any change ever since?
Sure. I think that’s the natural process of getting older, while younger people are getting into hardcore. You’re right: When we started, we were probably the youngest people on the shows we played. Today, I believe, we’re at the average age. I often hear or read people complain about young kids at shows being homogeneous, looking stupid or whatelse might be annoying to them. I think this is really dumb. I would like to see these people at age 15 or 16 and I think they weren’t different at all.

Speaking of your age. The band's been around now for a while. Are there some points in your "career" where you wish, people would not have witnessed you? Like, some things the band stated or whatever? I know, this doesn't sound too special, but (older) people tend to forget, that with the Internet there has also come a time, where almost everything's been documented.
Not really, I think. As I said before, I think it’s just natural being young and enthusiastic about certain values or whatever. I consider this more like something you need to go through. Indeed I might have said a lot of stupid things, but I view that more as a stage of development that I had to leave behind.

I know, it's an unfair judgment, but in the beginning your band has always been labeled a vegan straight edge band. Now, this actually was never right and it certainly is not anymore nowadays. This label has attracted some people who most likely would never care about you as a band music-wise (also lyric-wise, I think). What are your feelings on this?
I have never seen us being labeled as a vegan straight edge band actually. Three of us were and still are vegan, but that was never really a topic for us as a band, except for one older song called “Saints” that deals with the hypocrisy that is maintained by a lot of carnivores to justify their way of eating. It’s not about preaching to these people, but about criticising the discourse on this issue. I think I can say I still fully support the idea behind that song.

On that straight edge thing: Indeed we all were straight edge in the beginning. We never really wanted to make a big thing out of it, but since all other myspace-pages were already taken we chose to have Xes around the band name. For that reason a lot of promoters also put the Xes on flyers. We always hated it, but in the end it was our fault, of course. Today two of us drink. Deni dropped the edge and our (not so) new bass player Pascal never was. Straight Edge has always been a personal choice. This should be very easy to understand. Many people still don’t.
Why people are attracted to us is something that we obviously don’t have any influence on. And we don’t want to either. We can’t control what people want to see in us, so to me anything is alright, really. More than that, I applaud different people coming together at our shows. We’re not making music for a specific audience.

Your newest output is called "beneath aging flesh and bone". What does the title refer to?
It’s a line from our song “Somewhere in the Rain”. To me, that song is programmatic, because it reflects many motives that also appear in other songs on the record. We chose “Beneath Aging Flesh and Bone”, because to us it summed up what the record is about. And if you ask me what the record actually is about, to me it’s about the struggles of growing older with all the paradoxes that are connected with it: believing vs. losing faith, falling in and out of love, living with other people and being alone.

You have used quotations and sound-samples in your music/designs. Why did you do so? I know, it’s not that unusual, but I never asked myself why. So, maybe could you help me?
John Coltrane once said: “It’s like a big reservoir, that we all dip out of.” It’s like that. That’s how pieces of art are connected with each other. Some quotations are more subtle than others, but you know art doesn’t come out of nowhere.

Let’s switch topics a little; talk about music. You once told me your Top 5 Bands which you kind of grew up with. Please share them with us.
Here we go…first and foremost: The Beatles – When I was a kid, I loved my parents’ Beatles records, especially the Red Album, although my mother had a mispress that included the first LP twice, so I never got to know the second LP until I was older. I remember listening to The Beatles as a child and, for the very first time in my life, having a premonition of what’s cool about music. Today I still love The Beatles, but now I prefer the later, more experimental Beatles period that began with their album “Revolver”.

Oasis – My love for Oasis began at the time I wanted to start playing in a band myself. I was 12, when I bought “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”. It totally blew my mind, it became my purpose in life. I started playing the drums and founded a “band” with my then best friend. We started playing cover versions of Oasis songs together. When I later got into hardcore, I started disliking Oasis for two years or so, because I thought that their rock’n’roll clichés wouldn’t go together with my punk ideals. At age 17 or 18, I finally rediscovered them and today I believe it’s a privilege living on the same planet than the Gallagher brothers, haha. Their break up is sad, but I’m hoping Noel’s solo record is going to make up for that.

Refused – I think this is the band that finally got me into hardcore. I liked their energy and the political approach to music they had. “Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent” became my new favourite record and from there I started to discover the world of hardcore. I got into Inside Out, Chokehold, bands like that. “Songs to Fan the Flames” also made me want to start playing in a hardcore myself. Today I don’t listen to Refused anymore really, although I think I still like the records. I think they lost their appeal to me, when I found out that they copied a lot from The Nation of Ulysses.

The Smiths – Looking back from today I could laugh myself to death how I was a fool to believe that probably no one else in the world could relate to The Smiths and Morrissey as much as I did when I was 16. That’s almost everything I can say about this. This band is larger than life, but everyone knows this anyway.

Blumfeld – Now this is actually a rather young love. I discovered Blumfeld when I was 19 and it took a very long time for them to grow on me. This band evolved from Hamburger Schule-Indie with a clear Deutsch-Punk spirit to pop music in its purest sense. Distelmeyer’s lyrics range from cryptic to blatant. Although mistaken for easy-listening this band is definitely not easy to get. But then finally they got me and today I claim Jochen Distelmeyer to be my new Morrissey.

You were a big Moz/Smiths Fan as a teen. What was it that got you so attracted to them? And do you sometimes fear that you’ll become this sort of Die-Hard Fan in his 40ies, working as a teacher, single and psychotic… well?
Working as a teacher? Yes. Single? No. Psychotic? Yes. I’ve already crossed that topic in the previous question. This will sound trivial, but I believe what makes Morrissey so great and inescapable is that his lyrics always seem to understand you. He kicks you in the showers and he grabs and devours. I think I can say that today I developed a healthier relationship towards him. I still like him and all that, but I’m not that fanatic anymore.

I know that you discovered the beautiful world of Dreampop/Shoegaze a couple of months ago. What is it that keeps you interested in all different styles of music? Please name your current Top 5 Bands you discovered in the last couple months? And why?
What keeps me interested in many different musical genres probably is the fact that all the different moods in life need a different soundtrack. I guess it’s really as simple as that. So here’s my Top 5 of new discoveries:

Ja, Panik – In fact, I love pop music. Since Blumfeld is one of my alltime favourite bands, I got interested in Ja, Panik as well, cause they claim to be deeply influenced by Jochen Distelmeyer. Musically they sometimes remind me of old British bands like The Jam, which is surely a good thing. If you don’t fear being labeled a cliché student, give them a try. (It feels really weird writing about a German-speaking band in English.)

Psychic TV – I know Throbbing Gristle for quite a long time and have a rather difficult relationship towards them (which I think is very normal probably). I had always thought that checking out Psychic TV isn’t a good idea, when you haven’t even stomached TG. But when I finally listened to Psychic TV, it struck me that it’s actually way easier to listen to PTV than TG. Psychic TV are special, there’s no other band like them, really.

Kreidler – They’ve just put out a new album called “Mosaik 2014” that I admire very much. They’re from Düsseldorf and their music is also in the tradition of that city. In the 90ies they even collaborated with the legendary Klaus Dinger (RIP) and their new album sounds absolutely futuristic. The best description that comes to my mind: Krautrock translated into the digital age.
J Mascis and the Fog – Yes, this is actually ridiculous: For a very long time now I worship Dinosaur Jr., but I’ve never managed to listen to J Mascis’ solo project. When I finally did so, it totally blew my mind, and I wondered to myself why I hadn’t done so earlier. Everyone, try “More Light” for pure genius!

The Human League – I bought a cheap record from The Human League in a secondhand-recordstore and found it was complete bullshit, but then I listened to their album “Dare” and that album is actually a true jewel of classic 80ies pop music. Listen to it!

Since you do not only listen to Hardcore and Punk, do you think there could be a point, where you’d say you can’t play in Ritual anymore? Because you kinda lost touch? Are there any other musical projects you’re involved?
At this point, I don’t think so. I could only imagine that someday we may reach a point where we realise that we don’t really sound like hardcore anymore. But that would only mean a natural progression of our sound, so in a sense it would still be hardcore. Anyway, besides listening to music from various genres I still feel that nothing beats the energy of a hardcore show.
There are other musical projects I’m involved in. Tora Torapa is kind of a post-rock outfit, but all the people involved constantly neglect that band, so it barely exists. Then we had a pop-punk band called Goodbye Sweet Halo, but we don’t do anything anymore. And last week I started a Krautrock-band with my friend Pogo from Press Gang, but that will just be a jam-band. And at the same time my substitute for drugs.

That’s it. Any last words?
Thanks for everything. Worship Ebbing!

"...something worth living for"

I've had a short chat with Stief from Justice/Rhythm To The Madness about music and some guitar-related stuff. As you may know, Stief knows how to play his stuff precise and tight - be it some late-80ies Bad Brains stuff or more shredding material like he's doing with Rhythm To The Madness. Beside that, Stief is a cool dude. Go figure.

1. Hi Stief, on 8 March 2008 Justice played their last show. Now, having had some time to look back, what thing you think you will miss the most out of the last five years?

There's a lot of things I might miss about being in Justice, like going on tour or playing cool shows, but I guess those aren't things that are gone forever from my life. I'm still doing bands so I can still look forward to such events, hopefully not in vain.
It must've been around when the 7" came out or maybe the LP, that was a time when there was a lot of new stuff happening allover and people were stoked and it was all coming from the same spirit, so to speak. Riding that wave was the most awesome feeling ever.
Right now I feel like a lot of stuff that's going on, I've seen it before you know, and it doesn't get to me anymore the way it used to do. I kind of dislike that, but I can't complain because when I had the right age and mindset for it, everything was happing in my life.



2. Justice has been a band that’s progressed from the start. Musicwise there has not been anything we couldn’t expect from you guys. Okay, maybe H8000 mosh but besides that?... Has there been a certain point where you just figured out to not really listen to people’s opinions and what not? A point where you told yourselves to try something „new“?

Yea sure, that point was our first practise. Playing hardcore in Belgium at that time meant doing something new. We were out to show Belgium what hardcore was all about, how ignorant/arrogant that may sound now, that was our strength. And from then on we were like babies, absorbing anything we newly encountered we liked and trying to put that in our music. If you're doing music, people's opinions can never matter, I can't even imagine going like "oh wait if we play this part like this, so and so are going to like us better" That's dumb.

3. Your latest output „Live and Learn“ has a lot more rock in it. You know, R-O-C-K! The track that stood out for me the most was the song „Meaningless“. Now, I heard you first recorded the song with your own voice. So, were you responsible for music and lyrics? Are you this kind of bandleader who records melody and arrangement back at home and record it on your own to show it to the band? And since I’m curious, is there any chance to hear the Stief-version of the song?

I was playing around with that riff on my guitar and I came up with a vocal arrangement that sounded cool in my head so I wrote a verse and a chorus to back up my ideas. I went in the studio and tried it out just to see if it would work. Flip liked it a lot so he kept my words and vocal pattern and wrote some more verses for the song. It was his idea to use his voice the way he does on the recordings, real soft, almost talking. I think that was a stroke of genius because it sounds so much better than the way he did it on the demos we recorded with him singing.
You can hear my version on my ipod whenever we see each other.

4. With the music also the musicians progressed. When first seeing you in 2004 the band wasn’t really tight and also the band had other bandmembers. Now, I did have a look at your first 7“ seeing that you recorded drums instead of guitar on it. How and when did that change come and why is it, this band had that many line up changes?

I started playing drums for Justice because I was their only choice, hah. When I saw the opportunity to move to guitar I took it, because I wasn't a real drummer. The reason we had so many line-up chances is because Justice demanded a lot from it's members.

5. Do you think, that if the band had a solid line-up right from the start you could have reached more?

I think we reached everything we could reach, being just a hardcore band in the hardcore-scene. Having line-up changes was part of the growing proces of Justice and it's members personally. So if anything it made us stronger.



6. Soon after you took over on guitars, the band became more melodic. A lick here and there, as well as slowing down the music a little. Were you the driving force behind this progression?

When we were writing elephant skin, we wanted that to be a real hardcore record, so we were bent on writing real hardcore songs. The songs that came more natural for that record were all the slower, groovier, more melodical songs and all the fast songs we got a headache writing them.
So after that record, I was just gonna go with whatever felt natural. I'm sure that if Erik was still in the band that ep would've turned out totally different. But I wasn't going to force this band in writing fast parts and then ending up with songs we weren't going to like.
I was just feeling that that sound was something all the individual members felt right by and that's why it came out like that.

7. Let’s have some guitar-related talk then. When and why did you decide to learn to play? Have you ever took any lessons?

When I was 12 I took some lesson for maybe a year, but I learned most of it by playing in bands.


8. I think that there are mostly two kind of guitar players. The ones who start to play because they want to start a band, who try to figure it out all by themselves but eventually need more time to get to know more besides the kind of music they’re jamin‘… And then you have the ones who start taking lessons in their childhood. They end up covering all the stuff their teachers told them but face troubles by doing their own thing at first. Do you feel familiar with one of the two?

I'm definately the former of the two. The more I play guitar, the more I feel like I can't play at all. I'm always thinking of taking jazz lessons, or just any lessons, but I never do. I def feel I should learn more technical stuff by trying to play stuff from guitarists I like.

9. Is there any guitar player (hardcore or non-hardcore) you kinda look up to? Someone who specifically inspired you in the way you play?

There are a lot of guitar players that I look up to, but there's one that really inspired me to play the way I do and that's Erik Tilburg, our former guitar player. He's not so good technically, but his ideas and riffs are always sooo cool. Hardcore guitar players that I think rule are: Matt Henderson, Walter Schreiffels, Peter Mozes, Porcell, Brian Baker and that other dude from Minor Threat, Gavin Van Vlack, Dr. know...

10. When starting finding THE riff, what guitar and what amp did you have back then?

The first amp I bought was a JCM 900 slx, the first guitar I bought was a Gibson Les Paul studio. Pretty basic stuff.



11. …And what’s your current equipment set-up like right now?

Right now I play a Gibson Les Paul custom through a JCM 800 50 watt reissue and a JMP 100 watt from '79. I use an equalizer to boost my sound and a digital delay to emphasize my leads, Matt from underdog showed me that and he told me he got it from touring with Brian Baker.

12. How important is the right choice of your gear in the beginning?

Nah man, if you're just starting out you have to go through a range of shitty stuff untill you're worthy of decent equipment. You should feel like you earned that gibson, I played a second hand 75 euro worth guitar my entire life until I started a band and then I borrowed a somewhat decent one from our second guitar player. When I started playing for Justice I bought my (Les Paul ) studio.

13. Something that I’ve been noticing for a while is that a lot (if not all) belgium bands use old classy old Marshall amps. I guess they’re not that expensive but to find the right ones could actually take some time. Any idea how to explain the belgium Marshall pre-JCM900 fetish?

Well it's kind of coindidence maybe, I know Cete from rise and fall swears by Marshall, he wouldn't use anything but Gibson, Marshall and Sunn. Michiel from dead stop just used it cause it gives him the sound he was looking for with dead stop I guess. I just use it cause I know I'm going to get an awesome sound without really putting an effort into it. I don't know a lot about gear but I know classic Marshall will give me what I need. I have played 5150's or Mesa's on tour sometimes but they don't give the notes that I play the definition that I want them to have. The sound itself is really thick, but it's also cold and muddy. I know a lot of guys who get a great sound out of those latter amps though, you just have to go with what feels right for yourself.



14. Now, I don’t know about you. But me myself, I always kinda have the same riffs I play during soundcheck. Please name your top 5 if you have any.

Good question, I always switch after every couple of shows, it depends on what I'm listening to. This is my top 5 tough:
AF - victim in pain
Bad Brains - sould craft
Bad Brains - sailin on
Led Zepellin - baby I'm gonna leave you
any new riff I'm working on.

15. Speaking of good tunes. When it comes down to hardcore, which five songs would you choose as examples for perfect riffing. Be it a whole song, a single moshpart or an intro. List them and tell me why?

AF - undertow: Matt Henderson at it's best, so hard, so groovy, so brilliant.
Bad Brains - soul craft: Best riff ever.
Burn - new morality: Listen to that opening part and try not to wish you wrote that.
Leeway - all: from born to expire until adult crash, all awesome riffs.
Justice - born to lose and every inch: Erik Tilburg doing his thing.

16. As a guy who had toured Europa several times and played with tons of other bands from all parts of the world, is there a country out there where you thought that you really hadn’t seen any single person who actually could play his guitar? Are there certain "unprogressed" countries? And what about the opposite?

LOL, not being able to play the guitar isn't determined by what country you live in. I've seen good and bad guitarists all over the world.

17. Justice is done. Rhythm To The Madness, your new band is ready to take over. The music is way harder, can we expect the unexpected the way we could with Justice? Will the Urban Metal converge with Free Jazz?

Nope, RTTM has rules because it's a band in a certain genre, and we're aiming to keep it there. However we are going to try our best to feel out the limits of that genre.

18. Beside Rhythm To The Madness, are there plans for a new band?

Yes, rttm is just something cool to do but it isn't something that flows from deep within my personality. I just try and write music like other bands have done, because I like it, I think it's fun. For example, the cro mags were really hard dudes, so when they wrote music, it obviously turned out to be hard, but I'm just this average kid who lived with his parents his whole life, so I don't have to kid myself that writing hard music is going to make me hard, it's the other way around.
So I'm trying to start up a new band that's basically gonna pick up where Justice left off and I'm gonna try and run with that and see where I end up.

19. I guess we’re done. Stief, thank you for your time. Any closing comments?

How about shoutouts: Iris, Apetown Ghent (kampioenen!), Keyzershof dinner party last saturday, powered records, Union Town and Samrosis.

• Rhythm To The Madness
• Justice
• Powered Records