I was really impressed when I first heard Golden Bullet, so I wanted to find out more about the band so I wrote singer tonny for an interview, here's what he had to say.
1, WHO'S IN THE BAND & WHAT DO THEY PLAY?
Golden bullet is Jeffrey (bass) , Jan (drums) , Ivo (guitar) , Lowie (guitar) and I’m Tonny (vocals).
2, WHEN DID YOU FORM & HOW DID YOU ALL MEET?
The first rehearsals must haven been somewhere early 2005. It was Jan (drums), Tom(guitar) and I. We already knew each other because we live in the same village.
Ivo (guitar) joined us a bit later. Nobody of us who met Ivo earlier, we found Ivo through a friend of him. Tom left very soon when Ivo joined us because of lack of time.
We found Lowie (guitar) as Tom’s replacement. We found him through some friends who knew Lowie was looking for a new band. Lowie knew a bass player and brought Jeffrey into our band. It must have been already summer 2005 until we had a real and the current (!) line up.
Not everyone knew all the others from in the beginning. Our passion for music brought us together and we became really good friends. And it is fantastic that it went that way, otherwise the band should not be still around !
3, HOW DID YOU GUYS DECIDE TO PLAY THE STYLE YOU DO THE H8000 STYLE?
Everybody in the band has his own vision on music and wanted to play something else. We decided just to start with writing songs, and that it was (and it still is) important that everyone within the band has his influence in our songs. We never wanted to play a certain style. We never putted the h8000 stamp on our style, it was something we got when we started to play shows. And we are more than happy with it, the older h8000 bands were and still are something special.
4, FOR KIDS WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT H8000 IS, COULD YOU EXPLAIN.
H8000 stands for the hardcore scene in “west-flanders”, they took the number 8000 because the zip code of every village/city in “west-flanders” begins with an 8 followed through three other numbers. Later they putted the H (that stands for hate) before it because of all the negative shit that entered the scene. The so called h8000 sound is an sound that was very typical for bands out of our area. Think bands in the vein of edge metal bands like Liar and Congress - two bands that everybody knows / heard off. For so far the lesson history like they told me, because we talking about the early 90’s now. I did my first show in 1998. I was 16 years old then, so I can only tell you my experiences from ‘98 until now.
For me is h8000 (and hardcore in general) more than a music style or an area in Belgium. It is a feeling and feelings are hard to describe. When I entered the scene, I saw a world who was new for me. Kids who were busy with organizing benefit shows, gave each other flyers to inform you about cases where they really cared about. Kids helping each other to get a ride to shows… There was a certain unity and respect. However there was also a lot of bullshit and maybe I just make my memories more beautifull than they are without realizing it because I was to young or whatever.
I know that humans have that bad habit to look too much back (or forward) instead of enjoying the here and now... But I want to be honest, I miss that positive atmosphere a bit, it just feels different now. And it is to easy to point to other and younger kids. I guess the older kids were not able to keep things / values alive? The only thing we can do is trying to give an example and looking in the mirror instead of pointing and nagging. After all, this counterculture and what it means to somebody is still something personal.
5, YOUR CD CAME OUT ON CFC RECORDS, HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT, DID THEY CONTACT
YOU TO SIGN TO THEM?
Diana a friend of us from holland, gave the people from cfc a promo. She said to us that they liked it, so I contacted cfc. I started to chat with Rick Verbeeck from cfc and Rick had a bit the same vision on hardcore, the scene, life, … like we had. We signed very quickly their label. Maybe a bit strange that we’re on a label from Holland , but we are very happy with it. Rick is a fantastic dude who does a lot for his bands.
6, ARE YOU HAPPY HOW THE CD TURNED OUT?
Yes we are. It is not perfect, and like the most thing in this world, there are things that can be improved. But we’re happy with the result. I also want to thank Andy Vuylsteke for doing a fantastic art job (http://xjuggernautx.deviantart.com/gallery/) ! We got exactly what we wanted ! And he had to work really fast. Jan our drummer, recorded everything, spent days and days to mix the whole shit and in the end everything was mastered at the famous CCR studio. Chris did the mastering two times!! The first time he was only 99 percent satisfied, so he did it again. He is a great dude to work with and very experienced in his studio work.
7,HAVE YOU RELEASED ANYTHING ELSE BEFORE YOU DID YOUR CD?
We did a split demo with our friends from saviour in 2008. In 2009 we released a promo. And in September 2010 we released this full length album.
8, WHATS THE SCENE LIKE IN BEL RIGHT NOW, ARE THERE ANY NEW BANDS WE SHOULD LOOK
OUT FOR?
There is a lot of activity. Lots of (new) bands and gigs. Some kids started to doing paper zines again. Something that wasn’t that common anymore. Let’s hope that this is the beginning of a new wind through our scene. Hardcore must be more than music !
About the bands where you should look out for. Check headshot with their new second vocalist Aarjen. I heard a very promising demo tape from a new band “last stand” . Cold fusion also a new band that will hit the Belgian stages very soon. Watch out for them! Last weekend we played together with fields of troy (with dompi from spirit of youth / blood redemption) and I’ve been blown away !!! I am sure that I forgot a lot of bands, but I can go on and on !
9, WHAT INFLUENCES YOU TO WRITE YOUR MUSIC & LYRICS?
My personal life, my vision upon the world around me and the injustice within it, sometimes even about my vision upon the hardcore scene. About my feelings, about guilt, betrayal, burdens, about those things that are so hard to express …
I’ve got a little story about this that I want to tell! Willem from flanders fury (http://flandersfury.blogspot.com/) did an in depth review about our record and the lyrics. He used a lot the word “reflection” in his review (about the lyrics), and I realized that this is something very important in my life / lyrics. To be honest, he gave me a bit more insight in my lyrics, I was impressed ! If you are into h8000 stuff check his blog ! (http://flandersfury.blogspot.com/)
10, WHAT BANDS HAVE BEEN A BIG INFLUENCE ON GOLDEN BULLET?
A lot of bands, but it is always so difficult to write names down. We are 5 different people all five influenced by different bands. Let me say, length of time, merauder, slayer, all out war, …
11, WHERE DID THE NAME GOLDEN BULLET COME FROM?
I tried to define the meaning of “golden bullet” in the song gold.betray.bullets..
It is about persons who reach you the hand and offer you solutions; the “so called-gold” . What if those same persons in the end the betray you? You get the gold… a golden bullet in your back.
12, I THINK ITS VERY COOL YOUR KEEPING THE H8000 SOUND ALIVE, DO YOU THINK YOUR
GONNA INFLUENCE MORE BANDS IN YOUR AREA TO DO THIS?
I really hope we do. It should be really cool that ten years from here we look back and can say that we were a band who influenced other bands to bring back the h8000 sound .
To be honest it is crazy that we already got a lot of very good reactions from outside Belgium. Kids who are saying how cool it is that there are still bands with an h8000 sound. Kids who liked the dark concept around the full album.
While within our own country some kids are always talking about the old h8000 bands and they forget about nowadays bands who bring (back) that kind of music. A bit pity, if you ask me… I hope the ban is broken with the full album. I see more and more younger kids at our shows, maybe they needed some time to get familiar with our sound? Or maybe they just didn’t know us yet. Lately we play more and more shows, we get more chances to spread our music. For the moment there is even next to the Belgians show a show in france and one in Holland confirmed.
13, WHAT ARE GOLDEN BULLETS PLANS FOR THE REST OF 2011?
Playing a lot shows ! We really enjoy the live vibe! And we already started writing new material. If it should be possible… doing a tour! A friend of the band is looking for that, but nothing is confirmed. So if there are people who are interested don’t hestitate to mail us !!! (Everyone in the band kept next dates free thursday 21 july, friday 22 july, saturday 23 july and sunday 24 juli.)
14, DO ANY OF YOU GUYS PLAY IN OTHER BANDS?
Nobody does, I think we are all to busy with different things outside the band. And we all want to focus on golden bullet. It is a fantastic thing if you can do rehearsals and playing shows and everything in and around the whole band with guys who are really good friends and are giving the best of them ! This is a fantastic reward for al the time and energy we put into it.
15, WHERE CAN PEOPLE HEAR YOU??, WHATS YOUR MYSPACE LINK?
Check www.myspace.com/goldenbullet . People who are interested in our full album, or have a question or so ; mail to goldenbulleth8000@hotmail.com or contact our label (www.myspace.com/crossfirecult). The album is also available through goodlife recordings and reality records !
ANY LAST WORDS OR SHOUT OUTS?
I want to thank you for doing this and the very kind words you said about our album in your review. I want to excuse me for the long answers (and that my English ain’t perferct) To everyone who wants to know something about us or our music, don’t hesitate to contact us ! People who can help us out, with a show in or outside Belgium or a tour, we always appreciate such things! To everyone who helped us out with something, thank you so much ! Take care.
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