Hell-o Frank!
How are these X-mas(sacre) days spent and what's up on the yearly schedule for 2006 in your life?

I spent Xmas on my own, doing pretty much the same things I always do. Not very big on celebrations, I'm afraid. 2006 seems to have some interesting band-related happenings on the agenda, so I'm looking forward to those.

It's been more than 6 years ago that Gorefest split-up, I think the last interview I read was on the French Decibels Storm magazine, then inner problems arised. What really happened? Did it have to do with the low sales of "Chapter 13" album?

That certainly disappointed us, but I think we'd just gotten to the end of the line. We'd just grown tired of the whole band-thing, and reached the bottom of the barrel musically. Chapter 13, to us, was one of the best album's we'd done, but obviously people weren't going along with that. That kind of took all of our inspirations and interest in doing another record away. So we quit.

What have you been doing all these years? Apart from working, was there any involvement in music? I know that you were in a band called The Hollow Men, apart from this what else have you been up to? I know Ed Warby (drums) had played with Arjen Lucassen's Ayreon & StarOne, is he still going on with it?

That probably depends on Arjen's visions, and Ed's schedule I guess. I know Ed likes to work with Arjen, so if he's offered the job, I'm sure he'll try to do it. The band I was in, The Hollow Men, is still going strong. They got in a new guy, and from what I heard, have gotten a lot heavier. Which was something I wanted to stay away from, since that was more Gorefest-territory. I'd done that. I think JC felt the same when he started Cold Popculture, an elektro type of band. Boudewijn studied classical guitar, got his degree in that, and formed a Thin Lizzy tribute band with Ed, called Live & Dangerous. I've seen them, they're pretty good!

There was a proposal for some re-issues I think, usually this brings together old band mates as it happened in many cases the last years. Was it the same with you and, has it been difficult to come back together as one and which reactions did you get from fans and press?

Yeah, that got us talking again. It took some phonecalls and whatnot, but finally we were in the same room again, the four of us. We just thought we'd get in the rehearsal room, to see what was left of what once was. That felt quite good, so we just continued doing that. It was all pretty organic, nothing forced or anything. Reactions were, initially, either positive or very cynical. Which is fair enough, I'd probably feel the same way. In fact I HAVE felt the same way about a lot of reunions.

When you got again as a 4-piece into the studio, did you warm up with old songs? What procedure did you follow when composing "La Muerte"? Any old ideas thrown in there?

During those first sessions, we played a lot of old stuff. Much from False, Chapter 13, things like that. We also started writing new material pretty quickly. No old ideas, we never kept tapes or anything with unused ideas. Writing went very much the way it has always been, some was written on your own, some with the other guys.

When Gorefest's sound flowed to more rock-paced patterns, many fans turned their backs, on the other hand it was a difficult period for death metal and this saw also other successful d.m. combos trying innovations, like Entombed, Pungent Stench, Sentenced. "La Muerte" is a back-to-the-roots effort, are you concerned that this may bring back die-hard headbangers or don't you care at all? Did you throw away any songs that were more in the vein of the last two albums or it came out naturally?

We didn't write and record La Muerte to regain a certain type of following. It's just the music we dig at the moment. If someone else happens to like it, great! If you don't, that's fine as well, then don't listen to it. There's one or two songs we didn't record, but not because they didn't fit or anything. There's actually plenty of Soul Survivor and Chapter 13 in there, you just have to know what to listen for. It's hardly hidden, neither.

I still wonder how did you find MID, cover designer of your "False" album.?! It reminds me of the Destruction comeback, when they contacted J.Luetke again for "All Hell Breaks Loose" come-back album.

Actually we still had that painting, or rather Nuclear Blast did. We never used it, except for a tourshirt. We thought it really fit the mood and the lyrics of the album, so we went with this. It wasn't a conscious decision to go for a certain 'False' look, but I understand the sentiment.

Who took care of the production? I'm not aware of this but I surely remember Gorefest using the now infamous Colin Richardson for their first works! Did this co-operation have to do with the tour supporting Carcass in the Netherlands back then?

We produced La Muerte ourselves. We decided we were experienced enough in the studio, as well as songwriters, to do this on our own. It's a bit of a risk, but for us it worked out excellent. We did want someone else to do the mix, since that's something else entirely, and much too important to fuck with. We wanted Tue Madsen, and thankfully he found the time to do the job. And a wonderful job he did too!
Yeah, Colin was definitely the guy we wanted with those first two records. He would have done Erase too, if we would have waited for him, though stupidly we didn't. Carcass' Symphonies Of Sickness was one of the reasons we wanted Colin, but I don't know if that tour with them got Colin to do that job. It more just a case of trying to get a hold of him and asking him if he's interested.

The peak of Gorefest I believe was supporting Judas Priest, if my memory doesn't fool me I think it was the "Jugulator" tour. Are you aiming that high nowadays? The Wacken Open Air 2005 appearance for sure was a good experience since Dynamo faded out these days!

It would be awesome to do a tour like that again, but at the same time you can't delude yourself into thinking there's millions of people waiting for you. Wacken was wonderful, of course, and I hope we get to do a lot more of those big festivals, but we'll see what happens. I'm glad enough as it is I'm able to play music with these guys again!

A forthcoming tour is surely in your plans, what should we expect from the setlist, a high percentage of oldies from the first three albums perhaps?

There's songs from every album on the list, including a surprise or two, which will be interesting. The shows we did up until December were pretty much focused on the earlier albums, but I hope the later ones will get a chance as well. I don't care what anyone says, there's some really cool songs on those CD's too!

The CD version includes a DVD as well, what kind of stuff can we check in there? Is there any good official stuff from former tours that could be as well used in a separate DVD in the future? Gorefest was (and I hope still is) a strong live band, with decent tours and such (unfortunately haven't still witnessed you on stage…).

We're currently focusing on the European tour next month, but after that we might start working on that DVD. It's a huge job, going through early videotapes, finding the cool stuff, digitalizing it, but it should be fun. If only for ourselves, to have some images to go along with the memories. The DVD with the CD gives an impression of what went on the studio, as well as some live-stuff shot on various gigs.

I saw "Live Misery" 7"EP sold at the price of €15, are you aware of this? How does it feel seeing it sold at such a price or people having old Gorefest patches upon their worn-out jackets (like me,he,he!)?

15 euro? That's pretty steep. I've never seen it selling for more than 5, but it's mainly a case of how badly you want something I guess. Cool to see it's reached a certain kind of collector's value, though.

One and half a decade ago Jon from Dissection used to talk shit about your band. Are you aware of this? Considering that Dissection and you were reborn and that you belong to the same label, what do you think would happen if you share the same stage? Or for example, if you had to open for them, would you agree?

People keep telling me about this. I've never met the guy, nor do I have any idea what he might have said. Can't say I'm very interested either. Sharing a stage? No problem, though if the guy has such a large chip on his shoulder about us, I doubt he'd want to.

"You Could Make Me Kill" is one of the new, anger-fueled songs in "La Muerte". Have you ever been in that position and who you'd give a 9mm salvation to?

I think everybody's probably been in such a position once or twice, it's part of life. Where I'd point that 9MM? No one in particular, just somewhere in the crowd, I guess.

From the old dutch scene, only a few continue, like God Dethroned and Pentacle. Are you linked to one way or another with buddies from the old days and do you find anything good in today's bands like Pyaemia or Prostitute Disfigurement, or even Within Temptation?

We get along pretty well with most of the old or new bands, I think. It's not like we talk every day, but bands like Thanatos or The Gathering have always been good buddies. I'm not too much into the whole goth-metal scene, nor the Brutal US Death Metal thing, but it's cool to see these bands doing well. Pentacle are awesome though, probably my favorite dutch DM band. God Dethroned are pretty cool as well.

Do you keep track of the recent metal scene? I included "La Muerte" in my personal list of the best 20 releases in 2005, would you be able to name some of the recent releases that you find fascinating?

Sure, I've been listening to Metal all my life, wasn't planning on stopping. Some recent releases I really dig are Alien by Strapping Young Lad, Darkane's last one, Mastodon, Neurosis, Enslaved, Zyklon. Been playing a lot of Vicious Rumors as well lately, along with The Ravenous, Leviathan, and tons of old stuff.

Fave kind of beer or dope?

The one I'm drinking, usually. Not much into dope, sorry.

Any cool incidents from the tours that is cool to have in our pages? Unlike today's habit, metal musicians rarely write books so some of these recollections would have to be somewhere, it's far more interesting than M.Lewinski's or Pamela Anderson's books I guess!

The best stories are usually the ones you can't remember. Aside from that, these stories are mostly only funny to the people in them. That said, being on tour with people like Gene Hoglan, or Glen from Deicide, does make for the occasional howler. But you really shouldn't ask me, i'm terrible at telling stories.

Thanks for your time Frank, last quotes belong to you…

Thanks Jim, for a cool set of questions. Hope some of your readers check out La Muerte, they might be surprised!