Rockezine.com interview with Expulsion on Apr 10, 2006

with Rogier Bos on Apr 10, 2006

There’s a new band in town. So time for Rock-e-Zine to ask them some questions.
		I don’t think a lot people know Expulsion. Please can you introduce yourself and the band? Sure! Expulsion is a 5 – piece band from the city of Groningen, The Netherlands, playing All Incinerating Speed Thrash exclusively. We’re very much influenced by the older speed, thrash- and death gods from the 80’s and the early 90’s, sometimes with a little technical or progressive twist. I’d say it’s pretty intense.
		How were the reactions at the first shows you played? Very positive, although I’m sure we can do better in the future. We’ve only played 3 gigs so far and thus still learning how to adjust and optimize our live performance (both musically and as a performing act). So far, thanks to the people that enjoyed Expulsion live and shared that positive experience with us!
		Expulsion is a new band, how did you guys hook up with each other? Well new…actually we’ve been playing since 2002, but since a year we started to work a bit harder. The singer and guitar player I already knew for a long time; we also played together before Expulsion formed. I met Marcel (drummer from Commandant.) in the time I was trying to put the band together; he was immediately interested and brought along a bass player (called Aad, also from Commandant) with him to the first rehearsal. After a while Aad left and Sander, guitar player from INSTIL, joined to shred the bass!
		Why did you only record 3 songs? We all wanted to give the band an impulse. We had a lot of unfinished songs, never played gigs; something had to happen. Because we’re planning to record a full length album in the future and wanted some studio experience upfront, we decided to record 3 songs. It’s a good way to give a sign of life to the world, get some media attention, build up some studio experience and of course it’s a way to arrange the first gigs. So far it’s definitely paying off: We’ve learned a lot from the recording session, on the whole we receive good reviews and our first gigs have been played (and there are more cool shows and venues coming up) thanks to recording those ten minutes of frenzy!
		Do you have contact with a label who would like to release your music? No, we do everything ourselves so far. We haven’t sent our recordings to labels, since our music hasn’t got anything to do with what’s popular or ‘big-selling’ nowadays. Also; we’ve recorded only 3 songs, which is an amount not very interesting to release for a record label. We are planning to record a full-length in the future; maybe we can start a cooperation with those recordings, we’ll see…
		Is Expulsion your only band or have you (or somebody else from the band) got a side project? Expulsion is my only band, therefore I can put all my musical efforts and time in it. The rest of the guys play in other bands that stylewise have nothing to do with Expulsion. So far that hasn’t really been a problem; so that’s ok!
		What’s your main influence for this band? Our main influence is guitar-driven speed and thrash bands such as Toxik (RIP), Forbidden (RIP), old Slayer, Death (RIP) and Pestilence (RIP).
		What’s your favourite classic album? That’s impossible; there are tons of classic albums that I like. One of them is Testimony Of The Ancients from the almighty Pestilence (RIP).
		What‘s your biggest dream for Expulsion? Record a classic album! We know our music is only for a small audience and that’s ok. The main goal is writing quality, raging music for that small audience (and of course for ourselves). Furthermore I’d like to have a cool time with the band while playing and sharing the music with those who are interested!
		Is there something I forgot to ask or you want to say to me and the rest of the Rock-e-Zine readers? Thanks for the interview and opportunity to spread the Expulsion-word! And to all Rock-e-Zine readers I’d like to say: feel free to check our website (www.expulsion.nl), download a tune and leave a message in our guestbook!
(Jeroen Habets)