Rockezine.com interview with All In The Game on Nov 01, 2006

with Ruth on Nov 01, 2006


		Please introduce yourself and the band. Hey, I am Ruth in the Game. I am the Singer of the band. You can find Michel in the Game on Guitar, he used to play in Sinister and Houwitser. On Bass you can find Bart in the Game known for his work in Sinister. The Drums are taken care of by Richard in the Game. He used to play in the Lagerlouts. What else can I say.. three guys and a girl making some noise…
		Could you tell me a bit about the history of “All In The Game”? We started out with 5 people about 1,5 year ago. Perry Chance was in the band too back then. We just wanted to have some fun and play the music we like and play shows as much as possible. When I broke up with Perry he left the band and shortly after that the bass player quit too. We decided to go on with just the three of us till we would find a new bass player. Bart did the sound engineering till then. After a few other bass players I begged Bart to come join our band and he finally decided to do so. For now we are happy with just the four of us, but in the future we want to add a fifth band member again for just that little bit extra.
		What kind of music do you play? We mostly play Punk Hardcore, but when you add a spoon of ska, a cup of rock’n roll and then just enough metal to make it nice and rumbling, you find the ideal sound of All in the Game.
		What can we expect from “All In The Game” in the near future? We are planning to play as much shows as possible for the upcoming months. We are still planning to record an album but that might going to take some more time. The most of us like to be on stage better anyway. Next year we want to play in Germany and Belgium too cause we get a lot of messages from people over there who would love to see us play.
		Why did you choose the name of the band to be “All In The Game”? The main reason was that I woke up from a strange dream on the front seat of a van and totally out of the blue I said: “All in the Game would be a good band name won’t you think?”. The driver of the car agreed, so that’s it. Back then Richard was just about to become the third member of All in the Game so there wasn’t really a band to discuss the name anyway. Now we are 1,5 year later and the band is more and more adopting the band name. You could say it stands for equal rights and all taking part in and being part of society. On the other hand every time shit happens you can say “it’s all in the game”. But I prefer to say life should be fun. Start your own game called life and take your chances.
		What`s the best and what’s the worst part about being in this band for you? The best part is that I can hang around with my friends doing one of the things I like best, making music and being on the road. But to get on the road lots of things need to be arranged. I used to love organizing and booking shows but more and more I just want to focus on making music. You could say the worst part is hanging on the phone and sending e-mails to venues just to get a show for the weekend. I would love to have some kind of booker or manager who would do those things for us, but hey it’s all part of the game isn’t it?
		Could you give some insight in the writing process? We mostly write the songs together. One of us comes with an Idea and when the rest of the band adopts it, it will become a song. If the band rejects it, it will be put away till we can use it in another song. Then we also got some songs for which the lines are pretty much finished before the music is. Though it is pretty hard to write music to a text, now and then we just find the perfect combination. These are the songs I like best. The lines are mostly about personal things. I write about my feelings and about things I saw or experienced. I also write about things that concern me. Therefore most of the lines are pretty heavy. But not all the songs are serious. I even wrote a song about a curse of a village in Belgium. There isn’t any music to that one by the way.. I don’t really sit down to write the songs, it mostly just happens..
		How do you manage to get the noses of the members of the band into the same direction? Each band member had to succeed for a series of tests before they could join the band. They had to succeed on subjects like performance, obedience, creativity, motivation and humour. Every time we feel like one of us has a different opinion then ‘the band’ we torture and brainwash this person till he knows what we want and how we want it. As you notice I am talking of a he, and that is because woman are always right. No, seriously, quit the crap, I wouldn’t know. Most of the time we just agree on things. And if we don’t, well, we just decide together what’s best…
		Did you ever visit www.rockezine.com? If yes, what is the best part of the site and what’s the worst part of the site? Yes, I did visit the website. I think it is very cool and very important that fans support their music scene. By writing about music you like, you not only get inside information yourself, you also tell others about cool new bands and albums. That’s how you keep music alive. I do miss a menu on the site and it would be nice to see who are the writers for the zine. And maybe some columns in the near future?
		Is there somebody in the band looking for a relationship or is everybody happy in a relationship? Bart Is the only real single in the band right now, but if he’s really looking for someone, I don’t know. He did date one of our friends last weekend and what I heard they both enjoyed it very much. Richard is still completely in love with his girlfriend and I am sure he would move mountains for her. Michel and me got a relationship shortly after I broke up with Perry. I can’t help it, I get attracted by guitar players. We were pretty good friends before and it only got better. But I still am looking for a nice girl I can date now and then. So if anyone is interested…
		How is it to be in a band with only guys? They are great. I haven’t got another word for it. I am in a male world at my job too and sometimes I really would like to have some more female contacts during the day, but these guys are so supportive and they always cope with my incomprehensive mood swings. I wouldn’t want to miss them for all the gold in the world. I was in an all girls band for a few weeks before I started with All in the Game, and somehow I like this better. Maybe men do have more self-mockery or humour, I don’t know. But in the girl band I just felt less comfortable and more insecure about myself.
		The last words are for you. Is there anything I forgot to ask or something you really want to say? If people want to know more about us or book us, just contact us or visit the website. Further I would like to say to everyone, just be yourself and enjoy it. No one else will do it for you… Just Rock and Rumble!
		website: www.aitg.nl
(Jeroen Habets)