Rockezine.com interview with Instil on Feb 23, 2007

with Arnold on Feb 23, 2007


		I don`t think everyone in the world knows Instil, so please introduce yourself and the band. My name is Arnold and I am the bass player of Instil. I also write lyrics together with René. Well, as said we are Instil from the northern part of Holland, Groningen. The best way to introduce our band is to invite everyone to come to our shows. On stage we do what we like best. Hopefully you discover that our sound is a compromise of brutality, sincerity and melody. We like to describe it as heavy purity. We combine brutal music, melodies with boastful hooks, shredding death-thrash and massive breakdown parts. When you love bands like Hatesphere, Arsis, All Shall Perish and Maroon, please give us also a try.
		In a few weeks you will release the MCD called: Stalking Death. Are you satisfied the way this record turned out? Yes, we are very satisfied with the result. And there are three reasons for this satisfaction. The first reason is that this mcd is the last material we wrote with our former guitarist Joop en drummer Jaap. We think these songs are the best way to say goodbye to these two friends of us. The second reason is that after we released Fire Reflects In Ashes two years ago the band went through a highly successful period. We played in almost every country in Europe, our full-length was album of the year in Greece and we played a lot of festivals. But we forgot to focus on writing new material. So we are happy that we finally release six new songs. The third reason that we are satisfied is that we think the six songs are better structured, more melodic and even heavier than our last full-length. The six songs were written in the same period, the four months break last year. So we think the songs on Stalking Death are more balanced. And we can already tell that the new songs we wrote with our two new band members are even more metal.
		Are there any clear differences in comparison with the previous release? We think the Instil-sound is still alive. The differences are all about progression. The vocals are more extreme, the lyrics are clearer, there is more melody, the songs are more aggressively grooving and the guitar riffs are even more in-your-face. We recorded the songs in the Soundlodge Studios (Jörg Uken, Germany), God Dethroned also recorded their last full-length there. The mixing and mastering is done by Nico van Monfoort. He also did the mixing of our Fire Reflects In Ashes album. We think both did a great job.
		Do you care to sign to a major label soon? Why (not)? At this moment Garden Of Exile takes care of the European and American distribution, Dead Vibrations does the same in Scandinavia and Iceland. We are satisfied with these two labels. But just like every other band we are also trying to get the best record deal possible. And we think we are ready for a next step. This is also a reason why two of our former member quit the band. We expect that playing in Instil will take more and more of our time. And sometimes it`s hard to combine it with a social career. We are prepared for the next level. We also discovered that the scene in Europe is centralized in Germany and the UK. The bands from other countries (except some Swedish bands) have to work two times harder to get in the spotlights. The cd-market has fallen so much that most of the underground labels have serious problems to get their cds distributed. At this moment bands need to play live more than ever to reach their audience. No matter where. That is why we play as much as possible. Internet, and for example Myspace, is an another important medium we use pretty successfully. Don’t be surprised that we will release our future records in another way than we do now.
		How is playing with the new members? In one way it seems that we are playing together for years already. But in fact it`s been only a few months. We’ve got deep respect for the way both new guys rehearsed all our songs. Within a few weeks Instil was back on stage again. But we have to admit that it is strange that after eight years (including the time with each other in our former band) two of your friends are no longer with us on the road. Besides playing live we are also busy writing new material for a full-length album. And we can already promise you that it will be even more heavy metal!
		What are the plans for 2007? Our plan is to keep up the hard work. The last years were very hectic, and that’s very addictive I can tell. So expect Instil to play a lot of shows and do some international tours. This summer we will hit the studio again for a full-length album. And after that, we will continue touring I guess.
		What do you expect from the upcoming European tour? First of all we expect a lot of fun! We play for example in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and for the first time in Poland. Actually we never expect anything and in retrospect we always can conclude that it has been a blast. We know for sure that this will work out the same way this time. At this moment we’ve received a lot of messages already from people who are expecting us. They want to meet us again, or for the first time and party with Instil. Count us in!
		Which countries do you get the most reactions from in general? Especially Sweden, Austria and Germany are always great fun to play. We think Germany got the best very open-minded music scene. Always enthusiastic, always a lot of respect and many talented bands. We think bands like Caliban, Maroon and Fear My Thoughts are great examples of what modern metal bands can achieve nowadays.
		Instil is planning a tour with Detonation, 37Stabwoundz and Cypher. This tour is called The Dutch Demolition. What do you expect from this tour? A madhouse! This will be the most interesting tour with Dutch heavy metal bands across The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium this year. Every band attracts a part of the scene and that’s the power of this package. All bands have new records at the moment the tour starts in May. The audience will hear a lot of new tunes, so every show has got something of an introduction. For the latest information check out www.myspace.com/dutchdemolition. Here you can read when you city will be demolished, haha!
		Who would you name as your influences? That`s a hard one to answer because there are too many to mention. At this moment we all listen a lot to Hatesphere, Aborted and Lamb of God. In our younger years bands like Pantera, Death, Slayer and Sepultura explained us what metal should be about.
		What`s your personal favourite album? The At The Gates album Slaughter Of The Soul. When we played with The Haunted a little while ago, we almost got lynched because we were curious what was true about the rumours of a reunion of At The Gates.
		What`s the best and the worst part about being in this band for you? The best part being in Instil is being on the road. We are very thankful that we got the opportunity to see a lot of Europe. It`s very interesting to meet a lot of people and visit all the different cities and countries. And another very cool aspect is that we played with a lot of very good and talented bands around Europe. The worst part is that we all know that everything is ending. A show, a tour or even this great fun of doing an interview with Rockezine.
		What is your most memorable moment being in Instil? The Iceland tour for sure. Especially the moment we entered the airplane to Iceland. At that moment we looked at each other. And the only thing I thought was; hell yeah! Just because I was hard to imagine that we would be the first Dutch band ever to play on Iceland. Instil was only two years old, you know. But there were dozens of memorable moments over there. Just one other example. We played in the national Theatre of Iceland. There were eight hundred people sitting and clapping. One of the eight hundred was Björk, how heroic?
		Is there a question you want to answer that I didn`t ask? Yes, there is one question you forgot. Is God a Catholic?
		What`s the answer to you own question? She maybe is.
		The last lines are for yourself, please fill in… Well, there are still some dates that need to be booked for several tours. So please contact us when you can help our band. Add our songs on your myspace and remember one thing. Every minute you listen to the music of Instil, is a minute you didn`t listen to your mom and dad. See ya! Instil. www.myspace.com/instil www.instil.nl
(Jeroen Habets)