Rockezine.com interview with The Wounded on Apr 20, 2002

with Jonne on Apr 20, 2002

Saturday April 20th, “The Wounded” gave a rather nice concert in “De Staddijk” (Nijmegen, NL). This was a good opportunity for a live interview with this talented Dutch Gothic Wave band. They recently released their second album “Monument” and keyboard player Jonne was more than willing to answer a few questions for Rock-E-Zine concerning this release.
		First of all, prior to the concert, are you nervous? No, not really, we’ve been performing for the last couple of weeks and we practically know the songs by heart, so nothing can go wrong actually. Maybe a stupid mistake, but apart from that we feel pretty confident.
		Do you have any special rituals before you go on stage? Like a prayer? No, we just have some time before the show that we spend together and before we go on stage we wish each other good luck. “Whooooooo….The Wounded” :)
		What do you like more; these small theatres or the big stages like “Noorderslag” and “Eurorock”? I equally enjoy both. With the big festivals you always have a big crowd of course, but the charm of small stages is the surprise of how many people have come to see you play. But even if there are not a lot of people, I like playing for them just as much as I would for a big crowd. A few weeks ago in Dordrecht we played in a small theatre, which was packed with 300 people. This is of course an incredible boost for the band.
		“The Wounded” has won the third prize of the Dutch National Pop-Prize. What happened to “The Wounded” after this achievement? Well, after this prize we had some time off to reflect on ourselves and to work on some minor flaws within the band. After that we recorded this new album. In all it has been very positive. We had interviews with radio stations in France and Belgium and also the German press like Metal Hammer and other magazines gave us very high grades. A very stimulating environment for the band so far.
		Listening to your first and second record, it strikes me that the music has become more mature and better produced. Is this a reason to put the song “Billet Doux” not only on the first but also on the second album? Thanks. Yes indeed, we chose this particular song because it had, according to our view, the most hit-potential. The quality of this track was not satisfactory on “The Art Of Grief” (the first album), so we decided to do this again properly with the right equipment.
		Being one of the strongest songs with the most hit-potential, did you use “Billet Doux” on the Dutch National Pop-Prize as well? No. We could only play three songs in the final, because we have rather long ones. The only track we played from our first album was “Small Town Boy”.
		Why did you choose a cover for a final? This is maybe a somewhat strange story. To play a cover was allowed by the jury, so we thought people might like it very much if we did. You know, for recognition. But in the end, the critical comment from that same jury was that we had played a cover and not our own material. So finally it worked against us.
		Looking back, would you think that you had won this final if you had played for instance “Billet Doux” instead of “Small Town Boy”? Maybe, maybe not; the mainstream pop music isn’t that interested in our kind of music. It’s nice that bands like “Within Temptation” and “HIM” are removing barriers for the average pop listener, so that more and more people are going to appreciate this kind of music. We hope to profit from this as well.
		The band sounds like it has a better production. Did you put more money into this part than you did on the first album? Yes, the first album we had to produce and finance ourselves. On this album we had a larger budget, but this is also due to the fact that the recording studio was owned by one of the bosses of the record company. We also had a bigger priority from the record label. But apart from the money, the label had nothing to do with the recording. The biggest advantage we had over other bands was this studio. Most studios are all planned in fully, so when he called that we could have some time to record, we immediately took this opportunity. We had all the songs finished and therefore we could immediately begin recording.
		With the experience you have now, how do you look back on the past? As a musician you hear the mistakes that everyone makes. So when you listen back to the first album, you have some parts where you think: “aii….” Also the production wasn’t that good so you can hear the mistakes even more. But in all it’s not so bad.
		Hypothetically: A DJ decides to play your record frequently and pushes it on several radio stations. Then a music television station picks it up and people are asking for it to be played more frequently.
		Finally you end up between “Britney Spears” and “Westlife” on some Dutch TMF music awards (Dutch equivalent of the MTV awards). Would you do this performance or would you say that this isn’t the place for the kind of music that “The Wounded” makes? No, the more people that are listening to our music, the better. “Within Temptation” had a similar career like this and knowing that they have been on the TMF awards, other music lovers will come to this kind of shows. Of course the camera will mostly catch people doing nothing and standing still on these concerts, but 70 % of the people at any concert stands still most of the time. And if we could play on the TMF awards it’s also another performance. We like to perform, so it would be great if we would be so lucky to have a similar fate as “Within Temptation”.
		Will you perform on “Dynamo” and “Ozzfest”? We have made it through the pre-selection of Ozzfest and now it’s up to the fans to vote for us on the Ozzfest Internet site. We have mobilized all our family and friends and we are spending days on voting. So, please vote for us. We’re still working on “Dynamo”, but we stand a fair change.
		What about festivals in Germany? We are trying all the major gothic festivals like “M’era Luna” because gothic music is still bigger in Germany than it is in Holland. We might stand a better chance there.
		How about the critics, are they better in Germany too? This might be a strange story. We mailed our newest CD to the Dutch “Aardschok” magazine and we got back an e-mail from “Onno Cro-Mag”, who is their hard-core reviewer. In the e-mail he told us that, although it’s not his music, it gave him goose flesh. That is one of the best compliments that one can get. Also the big Dutch music magazine “Oor” gave as a great review. So we get good reviews in Holland as well.
		Your music is often described as very dark. Is this something that plays a big role in your life? Well, Marco (vocals) sings about the things he experiences in life and the things that keep him most occupied. That’s where he gets his inspiration for the lyrics. Most of the time we are sitting in the studio when Marco comes with a special tune. He writes the basis for the songs. This is then the starting point on which we work further. And if this turns out to be dark most of the time, this is due to the fact that we all like this kind of music, like “Anathema”, “The Cure” and “My Dying Bride”. But we also like “Pink Floyd”, so if you listen very closely you will also find those influences. We are now starting to write new songs where you can even hear more of this influences.
		So the next album is going to be even more mature? Yes, very much so. We’ve not written so many songs for this album yet, but you can already hear more progress on these new parts.
		What do you consider the best and the worst song of the new album “Monument”? Well for me the best song is…. Actually I have to name two; “Child”, because of the fantastic mode and “Black Heart”, because this is a song on which I’m able to fully exploit myself, because there are a lot of solo’s in it. The worst song is not on this record. We decided not to put it on the new album. It is entitled “A Dance With The Insane” and we will work on this song some more until we are satisfied with it to put on the next album.
		Why the title “Monument” for the new album? We hope that people will say in 30 years when they’ll find this CD maybe between their old stuff: “Whooo….that was a nice band”. It should be a monument in time. And the other thing is that we are just so satisfied with the album that it already is a monument to the band.
		The last track on “Monument” and also the last track on your first album take up a lot of time. Is there some philosophy behind this? No. The song on the first album that you mention, “In Silence”, was written in the studio and we just kept on playing. And with “Monument” it was just a pure coincidence. Maybe we will continue this, because they are nice to end an album with.
		But why then these five minutes of silence at the end of the song. “Anathema” did it as well and I never understand this. I don’t buy a CD to listen to silence. Let’s say it was an artistic gamble. Not everybody was happy about it. In the very end there are these small parts on which you can also hear “Herman Brood” (famous Dutch artist who recently committed suicide) performing in Emmen, our hometown. We have a lot of respect for this man, so it was something personal from our side to put this on the last track as a sort of tribute.
		For the last part if this interview I want you to react briefly to some words.
		Internet. Very important. We are extremely busy at the moment to make our new internet site: www.the-wounded.nl. It is nearly finished and it’s very important to make new contacts.
		Journalists. Always fun.
		Not scheduled interviews just before a concert. Interviews are always fun, it is good for the promotion of the band and one would be very stupid not to do them.
		Strong black coffee. A big no! I don’t drink coffee.
		Which brand of beer? “Hertog Jan” from the bottle.
		TMF and MTV. (Silence) We are going to surprise them completely with our new video; that’s for sure.
		Political parties. I don’t vote, I’m to busy with other things in my life. But I think it’s good that we now have a figure like Pim Fortuin who stirs things up a little. (This interview was taken before Pim Fortuin was murdered. MV)
		Euthanasia. Should be allowed! Definitely!
		Religion. Everybody should have their own. But Marco is my God.. hahaha.
		Computer games. Dune 2000. I’m a real Dune freak.
		Time. Work, surfing on the internet, girlfriend; I don’t have enough time!
		Illegal copies from the Internet. Should also be allowed, even if it’s our music. It’s a good way the establish ones name. So if you have our CD, copy it and give it to your friends. The more people that know us, the better. I’m not in this business for sale, I’m in this for the concerts.
		Don’t you want to do this for a living then? Well I hope so in the future. But first we have to establish a name before we can make more money.
		In two years, where will you be performing? You can better ask, “Where won’t we be performing”!
		Well, last question. The new album, when will it be released? This will be a mini CD and it will be released somewhere next year.
		Thank you for your time, it has been a pleasure and good luck with the concert!!
(Matthijn Vos)