Rockezine.com interview with Prostitute Disfigurement on Jul 06, 2005

with Patrick on Jul 06, 2005

Prostitue Disfigurement recently released "Left In Grisly Fashion" on Neurotic Records. A quick emailer with bass player Patrick
		Congratulations on the new album, did you read any reviews yet? What do you think of them? Were they all positive? Thanks and yes I’ve read a couple of reviews so far. Most of them are really good and people seem to like our new album. Most of the reviews pick up what we meant for them to pick up. So that’s a good thing. As far as I know there is only one bad review from a Norwegian Webzine (don’t know the name). The guy liked the music, but he hated the vocals. Well he’s entitled to his own opinion. Can’t win ‘em all I guess.
		I personally really like the album because it’s not only one of the most brutal albums ever to be released by a Dutch band but it also contains some memorable and recognizable songs.
		It’s not the usual 40 minute avalanche of riffs, blast beats and grunts divided into 10 arbitrary tracks if you know what I mean. Was that something you had in mind from the start? Glad you like the album! But no we just wrote the music for the “Left In Grisly Fashion” album like we always do and luckily it turned our very well. We write music we like ourselves. Mostly Roel writes the riffs at home. Then I glue them together with the drum programming and Niels steers me in this. When we’ve finished a song Niels and I write the lyrics. Michiel fills in the drum part because he usually thinks my programming sucks. That’s the Prostitute way I guess.
		“Left In Grisly Fashion” was recorded in the Excess Studios in Rotterdam but the vocals were recorded in a mobile studio owned by Robbe K from Disavowed.
		What does a mobile studio look like? I imagine a black caravan with a few mikes hanging from the ceiling but I could be wrong. Ha no! It’s just his computer with some version of cubase (recording software) on it and some studio speakers connected to it. They recorded the vocals in Niels’ guest bedroom that’s all.
		A month before the recording session your former drummer Tim decided to quit and new drummer Michiel was added to the line-up. I believe that he at that time already had left Toxocara but is he still in Katafalk? It’s the other way around he is still in Toxocara and he left Katafalk, but he left Katafalk just recently. When Tim decided to leave we weren’t certain if we could record the album at all. Luckily Michiel joined the band as soon as we asked him. Ever since Michiel replaced Tim the band only says one thing: Forward! Obviously Michiel’s participation to the band gave it much more energy. We really needed that kick in the butt.
		Does the addition of a second guitarist make a huge difference in sound? Or is it just a bit heavier to the ears? Of course, every guitar player has his on playing style, that’s what’s making the sound wide. We’ve recorded Left in Grisly Fashion with three different guitars and there are two guitars in each speaker all the time. A second guitars player is also essential when on stage. You don’t want to hear only bass when there’s a solo going on.
		I’m not familiar with your previous albums but how does “Left In Grisly Fashion” differ from the previous ones in your opinion? think the first album doesn’t connect to both other albums that much since it was recorded with a drum machine (with whom I have a love-hate relationship since then) and that album was mostly written by our former guitar player. Both other albums where recorded with real drummers and mostly written by Roel, which I prefer more. “Deeds Of Derangement” was a fairly good product which we thought was the best we thought we could do at that time. As you surely have noticed “Left In Grisly Fashion” has a far more Death Metal feeling than our previous records. The three albums in a row just seem to be an evolution from a fun Death/Grind band to a bit more serious Death Metal band (not that we’re ever serious by the way).
		Track 9, “In Death’s Decay” is the strangest track on the album, as it is a keyboard piece with a movie sample (?), why did you put it on the album? Just for fun or is it a prelude to the final track? If you listen closely to the first synthesiser part of “In Death’s Decay” you can hear that it’s the same as the first riff on “Bloodlust Redemption”. The vocals are my part and the girl screaming is a wave file we found on the internet. We thought it would be fun to make some sort of epos horror track on the way to the final track. Most intros are at the beginning of the album we thought that was a bit of a cliché. That’s why we thought why not almost at the end. In my opinion it’s also a nice piece of rest for the wrecked ears as you come to the end of the album.
		The artwork on the promo looks very cool but is also printed too dark I think so I can’t see the details. Are the retail copies a bit lighter or are they the same? Think they are the same, however the actual CD cover is printed a bit bigger on the actual booklet, so maybe that makes it better for you. I don’t have any promo copies at home so I really can’t be sure. We told Joel (the guy who designed the cover) we liked it to be more dark and gloomy than our former covers. I think most of the songs on “Left In Grisly Fashion” have a more darkish edge than our previous songs.
		I don’t know anymore where I read it but the split with your former label Morbid Records wasn’t all that pleasant was it? Why did you leave them anyway? The main reason we left Morbid Records was; we weren’t satisfied with what they did or better said didn’t do for the “Deeds Of Derangement” album. Like good promotion, tours etc. Mainly promises they didn’t keep and stuff like that. Yet they still owe us a lot of money. Well, yes they’re nice people to hang out with in a pub, but not when doing business with them. We definitely had a lot of problems to break the contract, we signed for two CDs and an optional third one. We said we weren’t happy with the way things were going and they just did if they had a nose bleed. Told us they did understand what we where talking about. And finally when Niels got angry they gave us the note we could go. We weren’t even sure at the time we recorded “Left In Grisly Fashion” who would release it.
		Why did you choose to sign to Neurotic Records? After all, it’s a small young label with limited resources. We’ve known Ruud (Neurotic-Records) for quite a few years now and he showed his interest in the band. His resources aren’t as limited as you think though. He’s a very wide distribution and we really liked what he did for the other bands on his label like Visceral Bleeding. Of course we also have the advantage that we can communicate in our native language, but that obviously wasn’t the main reason. Neurotic Records definitely shows more care for their bands, better promotion, better distribution and is offering us tours.
		Are you satisfied with Neurotic so far in terms of promotion and distribution? You don’t hear us complaining at all. Like I told you in the last question. Like I said we really need his guidance and managing skills. I would even forget my own ass if it wasn’t attached to my body.
		A while ago there was some controversy on Blabbermouth regarding Pros. Dis. Did you catch any of that? Haha yes I’ve read it. My god, I really was laughing my ass of when I read the reactions only about our name. I’m not having any hard feelings about it, either you like it or you hate it that’s their own decision. I guess it’s mostly 14 year old ignorant American school boys on this forum or what?
We love Prostitutes!		To continue in the Blabbermouth vain: Why do you hate prostitutes? Just let me state once and for all if I may, since many people seem to misunderstand us in this matter; we love Prostitutes! Prostitutes are just an easy target to serial killers and we write about that. No offence.
		Wilson from Gorerotted had the following to say in a recent interview I did with him when asked if he still followed the death/grind scene: “The band everyone has to look out for is Prostitute Disfigurement from the Netherlands!
		Those guys have it all, real talent in every musician, great catchy songs, and the attitude to go with it! Take cover my friend!”. Are you equally impressed with their latest album? Wilson gave me their promo when he was over for a weekend and I loved it right away. Every song is catchy. I like the way they’ve distant themselves from the gore lyrics and gave a more dark touch to their music. Yet it’s still a brutal album. I haven’t heard much new releases lately, but from the ones I did hear this is my favourite.
		He also mentioned that he had the feeling there was a real scene in the Netherlands as opposed to Great Britain. Do you feel yourself part of any scene and why is that? This is funny Wilson asked me the same question in his interview for live 4 metal. So I guess I can say the same. I’ve never looked at it that way, because we’re just a bunch of boys having a good time and like to write music. Internationally I think we’re still a small underground band trying to get up the ladder to sit next to the big ones.
		Recently a mini-tour with Macabre has been announced. Are there any upcoming tours, festivals or important gigs confirmed yet? Finally there is a tour scheduled for September, but first we play the Mountains of Death Fest with Gorerotted, Krisiun, Necrophagist, Visceral Bleeding a.o. on August 20th. The mini tour with Macabre will be taking place from 25th until 28th of August. Then we’ve got four days of rest before we get on the bus to do 24 shows with Exhumed, Severe Torture and Psycroptic which starts on the 2nd of September. I’m really looking forward to all the gigs
		As always, anything left to say. The next twelve pages are yours… Well first of all thank you for the interview and the interest in our band! Check out our new site at www.prostitutedisfigurement.com I know it a fucking long url and it not even finished yet. Hope to see you all soon, Cheers!
		(Roy van den Brink)