Interview done by Joost on March 5, 2004. The obligatory introduction is kept to a bare minimum this time around. Fondlecorpse might be a relatively new name for some, but the unholy seeds of this band were already planted in some sicko's cranium around the turbulent 80's when he was poisoned for life with zombiemovies, cartoons, deathmetal and all sorts of other weird shit that tends to fuck up most people's minds. After a long struggle with a lot of bullshit, things are finally happening for these self proclaimed 'couchpotatoes'. Not only have two 7 inches been released, but there's also a split with Engorged in the works and even a full-lenght album on the mighty Razorback Records. Read on about ravenous alien creatures on the run, DIY principles, horrormovies, exploitation, escapism and yeah... there's even some talk on music, aswell. Silvester (vocals) shares the dirt and filth on everything that is and makes Fondlecorpse. Enjoy! Oh yeah, fuck that lame 'I love the 80's' TV show. This is the real deal! Now, just to get the standard opening questions out of the way as I'm sure not everybody reading this is familiar with Fondlecorpse, please introduce the band and the concept (which I personally find very cool) to all the readers out there. Get those people up to speed! Oh yeah, tell us something disgusting or embarrassing about each of the bandmembers, Vampire Magazine loves personal dirt and sleaze. Doesn't your drummer ever get tired of constantly running away for those damned bounty hunters all the time? Hahaha i am pretty sure there are a LOT of people not familiar with Fondlecorpse, we tend to keep a low profile overall. We follow the path of a virus, we infect slowly, but those we do usually join the couchpotatoe army we are building. The band concept is pretty much that we play old school goremetal, plain and simple, that is about PURE SPLATTER B-MOVIE GORE and 80’s Thrashculture!!!!!!! the oldschool way, and dare i say it.....FUN, Lyrically we range from 80's cartoons and Television series, to every aspect of Gore/horror/ Splatter/Slasher/Shit and ofcorpse a bunch of Pornstuffs. Basically everything a couchpotatoe person would care about!!!, hmmm disgusting shit.. well i am a couchpotatoe so i guess i am a slob, when i munch popcorn during a flick it gets thrown everywhere, heavy duty amounts of belching and the occasional assgass attack, low personal hygene avoid when possible, i am a garbage pail kid come to life!!!!!!! I cannot disclose any information about the other bandmembers as they would kill me if i spilled the beans about their FILTHY FILTHY habbits, i shudder at the thought of their sleazy ways. As far as Krite our drummer is concerned, we have been very good at hiding his presence from all the bounty hunters, we suspect they forgot about him when they shot up all his friends at the Farmvile massacre in the 80’s we are pretty sure he’s safe for now, but we must always stay vigilent, that officer Zanti is a bastard so when he gets wind of this fucker still on earth he will send a bountyhunter squad in no time. We always have to see if a hot girl at a concert is a fan flashing just her tits or suddenly whips out a big cannon to blast him and us away. The second single 'Limbless' has just been released. Are you happy with the overall result and is it a step up from the first release? Yeah the second 7” got just released and we are pretty happy with it, i guess you could say it’s a step up from the first release. That’s mainly because we are more of a unit now, and the bassist joined fulltime. I guess the allround sound has improved and the release is more solid and a bit heavier than the first, also the dirty sound has become more visible so i guess people can expect a more in your face dirty set of tunes on this second release. While the first official Fondlecorpse release was in 2003 (the split 7 inch with Inkblack), the initial idea of the band and it's concept already started in the mid 90's? Yet it took years due to all kinds bullshit (all written down in detail on the website) before actual music saw the light of day. I'm guessing you're either very persistent or stubborn about your vision of Fondlecorpse? Is it your precious little baby (or horrible afterbirth)? The concept of Fondlecorpse is very old, but it has been a long road to get to what it is now. The amounts of line-ups we went thru were numerous. It has been a long and hard struggle to find people for my kind of style and who had the right dedication. A lot of musicians are fucking lazy SLACKERS there i said it. I guess many of them don’t understand a metalband and definately an underground band is fucking HARD WORK, expect no breaks or easy ways out, you make a band with lots of blood sweat and tears and not to mention it’s a moneypit. There were a few moments when i was very depressed and thought about quitting music altogether but when the shit is in your veins you cannot quit you go on till you die!!!!. Also it took a long time because i was not prepared to do a half assed band for Fondlecorpse, this shit is my life so i didn’t want it to be fucked up or release shit just to release something you know? It’s a horrible abomination of a deformed foetus but its MY abomination MY creation. With the last line-up before this one we almost recorded that limbless 7” but it fell thru, i am still friends with most of those bandmembers i guess with them it wasn’t to be, but i re-used the lyrics and concepts and with my new line-up of couchpotatoe warriors I finally got to release it and i am pretty happy with the result with all it’s flaws and imperfections. I've read some statements on your website considering the almost DIY 'like principles you want to uphold for Fondlecorpse. I think it's really cool that you just say for yourself "If you got a faggot label fuck off, if you ripp people off go somewhere else, if your a label with a bad rep about sending out merchandise on time fuck off". How hard is it to be that selective about who you work with while still trying to get the product out there to the crazy people it's meant for? There could always be a problem that you limit yourself in this way (as far as distribution goes) and people who might like Fondecorpse will miss out. Any thoughts on this? Are you also into trading with other labels or distro's, for instance? Well ive been around the block in the scene a few times, and many times people have pissed me off and ripped me off so i decided two things 1. I dont want to be ripped off myself and 2. i also don’t want my fans to be ripped off. Fondlecorpse to me is important and i refuse to whore my band out to some dickwads just to sell an extra batch or get some sucky distro deal. If you believe in your band and give it 100% you will be amazed what you can achieve without being a label slut or slave of the masses. Actually a label or band or anything that pisses me off gets blacklisted around here and i will never do business with them ever again. The DIY is something we all did in the old days, and i also do it because this way so i control my own shit. I want my releases to be quality and without compromise. It is my way or the highway as they say. Now is this all smart? probably not, and ofcourse it means a lot more of hardwork to get your shit done, but at least i know i am not taking the easy way out but keep my integrity to myself. Also it’s my vision that a band that is 100% true to himself and works hard that people will find you and seek you out. A real fan will hunt down the album. I trade a lot with bands and distro’s and small labels. I think trading is an important thing in the underground to get your stuff out and help other bands and labels spread there stuff. Also by being selective as we are, i know that most of my stuff will be in mailorders that are trustworthy and honest. My market is smaller but the people i do work with are more dedicated and i give in return my dedication to them and spreading their flyers, their releases and overall promotion. I think the way we work the support goes both ways as it should be. A couple of things go through my mind when I listen to the recordings. One is that Fondlecorpse doesn't sound anything alike like most (Dutch) bands at the moment, being that the sound is pretty oldschool (it reminds me a bit of Autopsy at times, for example) and cuts down on the populair technical US deathmetal bullshit and also that it sounds very non-pretentious at the same time. It's more for the fun of it then anything else. When you sit down to write new tunes is there a basic outline you set for yourself of where you want the music to go? Techno hyper deathmetal wouldn't really work with an 80's concept, I guess. Is the actual concept itself taken into account when you write new music? Well probably why we sound different is because we play a style many people forgot, so nowadays it might sound new again. We are definately not part of the new brutal death style which is the main popular style that gets played these days. I guess that might be a good thing so we stand out in the crowd? and well a Autopsy vibe that is very possible we do tend to hide tidbits and nods to oldschool bands into the music as to not forget where we come from and as a tribute to the masters of old. I also have to say we don’t particulary care for being one style, what i care about is that i get to create something that makes me wanna thrash around the house banging my head, i must enjoy what i do thats a given. So if it isn’t fun it gets thrashed and binned and re-written. Simple but effective. I think if a band totally enjoys what they do and are serious about their music you can give it a certain vibe that people will pick up. Even if something isn’t perfect and there are better bands out there, people will still like it because it is honest. The writting process is mainly the guitarist and bassist work on the tunes they create the framework, than the drums get done and then it gets sent to me, i than start looking at the tune listening to it and start writing down concepts and let it brew, usually a song by its structure will tell me what it will become. Usually the song itself chooses its concept and lyric. Many just form from a gut feeling of what is best for that particular tune. If its based on a horror movie or cartoon or something i will than sit down and watch it over and over till the lyrics form, i must say it’s usually a very lenghty process to finish a song but i want to get everything just right. The same with the samples, i select them with a lot of care and can watch a movie over and over till i get the (to me) perfect sample to use which fits seamlessly with the whole song concept. Nothing i do on a release is without a hidden meaning or reason, no sample was randomly dropped everything was carefully selected and words in lyrics carefully written. Like if you like horror b-movies you can find a lot of insider jokes and shit from reading them. I tend to hide a fuckload of shit in my releases artwise and lyricwise. Another thing, you put a lot of effort into the actual packaging and layout of your releases. The first single, for instance, has a backcover which was made up to look like a DVD B-movie cover. You've also got a lot of experience with art & design, right? It's coming up to a point where you want to check out the latest Fondlecorpse release just to see for yourself what crazy ideas are on there. Do you spend that much time on this aspect of the band and how important is it to you personally? Kinda' like going back to the times where you would sit down with a record, sleeve in hand and record playing and just totally get into the 'vibe' of the band. Personally, I think the visual aspect is often overlooked or underappreciated in the genre. I can't imagine Fondlecorpse coming up with some lame goregallery.com pictures for any release. For me packaging has also always been very important, we might be a DIY style band but that doesn’t mean slacking on the packaging i always say. I hate people using the name DIY as an excuse to create shitty releases, thats NOT what DIY means!! We take Fondlecorpse very seriously so if we work hard on the songs why should we than not also work hard on the packaging. The fans are important and i want to give them something cool to look at next to the music. And thanx for the kind words on the sleeves. Like the music the sleeves get worked on for a LONG time, the concept starts when the music gets written but evolves to fit seamlessly with the written music. So the sleeves also are a representation of the music contained within. For me in the end the whole finished release should breathe the spirit of the concept and subject matter. When i hold the release i wanna know that everything is right and it all is (to me) perfect. And i hope to be able to surprise and amuse our fans with every new sleeve i make and concept i think of next. And yeah lately i see a lot of uninspiring covers to straight out CRAP covers. It’s almost like it’s a crime to release something with a decent cover these days. And your right i have some experience with art and design, i graduaded from graphic design school a few years back, and i do a lot of work for fellow metalmerchants under a lot of different alliases. Chances are you’ve seen something i made but will never know it was me hahaha. Some recent shit i did was draw the cover of Trendkill magazine and I work with Jake on the zine Tales from uranus, and i do occasional work for the Razorback hive to help bands out with their cd lay-outs. I help out people where I can with the skills i have and if i have the time. Now the second single has been released it's time for the real 'meat and potatoes', right? Upcoming works include a split with Engorged, a split with Frightmare and a full-lenght album on the mighty Razorback Records (which will be discussed later on). Do feel you had to get these two singles out of the way first before going further with the band? A lot of these songs were written over a longer periode of time but does Fondlecorpse still have the same style on these upcoming releases or are you going to explore this current sound? Introduce some close harmony singing or banjo playing, perhaps? Yeah i definately needed to get some stuff out of my system on the first two 7” records, some chapters in the history of Fondlecorpse that had to be closed before i could move on. It was a deliberate decision to first do the seven inches before a full cd. This way Fondlecorpse has a slow progression towards a cd, i didn’t want to rush a cd, i think its healthy for a band to grow as a unit and grow as a band by doing demo’s/7” releases first and get ready to make a full cd. As far as the style it won’t be radicaly different, we might just become a bit better musically and more in tune with eachother, but no real groundbreaking changes. Also the only thing i kept from the old line-ups was the lyrics and we decided to just make new music to go with them. But the banjo sounds interesting maybe we should explore the sinister sides of this instrument hahahaha or maybe some close harmony singing when we cover a beachboys song hahaha. But yeah our next release will be a split cd with Engorged we think the time is right to now start with a cd. Than probably we will work on the Creaturegore cd and a split with Frightmare and we have some ideas for a shitload more split releases which we will reveal in the future. We have a lot planned, but progress is slow because we hate to rush things. For now we are focussing on the Split with Engorged which is already being worked on by both us and Engorged so expect some updates on that soon, the release itself will take a while though. We are still finishing the whole concept for the album and making sure it all gets done perfect. But i guarantee you guys won’t be dissapointed, this split is a true collaboration between friends and us and Engorged both talk a lot about the release and we throw around ideas to make sure it will be a very special conceptual release. Basically it will be a tribute to 80’s Thrashculture and since we both are big fans of that we both want to make sure it’s a worthy tribute and that we cover as many subjects as possible. It's been official for a couple of months now, Fondlecorpse has signed to the almight Razorback Records for the full-lenght "Creaturegore" album. Making that the first Dutch band on the label, which is pretty cool in itself (I don't want to sound like some sort of nationalist, but it's pretty cool, nontheless). I can remember in an e-mail I send to you months ago that I thought you were a perfect band for Razorback. The music, the concept... it must be the ideal label for a band like Fondlecorpse to be affiliated with, right? What are your expectations concerning this collaboration? Yeah we are very happy to be on Razorback but it’s also very intimidating because we will be amongst some totally awesome bands that are very good at what they do, and i hope we can make a quality album that is worthy of being on the label. And yeah we fit perfectly in the Hive i think musicwise and concept wise and we have a lot of good friends in the hive we communicate with a lot, i guess the best thing about it is that it is a kind of big family instead of a list of names. We all help eachother out and it’s basically a huge group of friends with similar intrests doing their thing instead of just being a label with a batch of names on a roster. As a band we expect simple things from the collaboration namely a good friendship and to have fun. We signed with Razorback because we stand behind Billy and Jill 100% and they respect us as a band, they help us where they can and they give us the one thing we need and that is full artistic freedom. It is the best thing a band can get from a label. And i think there is a mutual respect for the hard work we both do on band and label and the total honesty with which we do it, we do it for OURSELVES above anything else. For this i salute them. We both know how hard it can be to do your own thing because there are a lot of people who will give you shit for it, be it jealousy or idiocy. You've emersed yourself, basically, in 80's 'thrashculture', deathmetal, comics, B-movies and the like. What are your thoughts on the concept of escapism? Metal is a sure ticket to get out of daily routines in a way, going to see your favorite bands play or reading 'zines. Is Fondlecorpse your own way of getting out of the daily grind and do people in your personal life understand or acknowledge that this is something of great importance to you? Well Fondlecorpse is 100% escapism no doubt about that, it’s an outlet for frustration, creativity, anger, hatred, nostalgia etc etc. And its a way to be busy with something you like and enjoy, so you can forget about the suffocating daily grind of things. Do people understand........ no, not many people get it or understand it. Besides my band, music and b-movie and 80’s thrashculture i don’t give a rats ass about anything else and thats hard to understand for people. They dont understand why i am not building a career, planning my future to get a house, kids, wife...... all that shit doesn’t matter one bit to me, i want to make my music and watch my filth. It’s not much but its MINE. Finally a bit of a fun question to anwer, I hope. Your thoughts on horrormovie industry of the last 20 years, if you please. Do they all suck or are we just not looking hard enough for any of that good exploitation shit? 'House of a 1000 corpses' was fairly decent in my opinion and brought back some of that 'Last house on the left / Basketcase' gritty grindhouse kinda' atmosphere. Horror is coming back in the theatres I think, with the 'Texas chainsaw massacre' re-make and 'Jason vs Freddy' scoring big bucks at the boxoffice and more re-makes (they've run out of ideas 20 years ago, it seems) lined up for 'Dawn of the dead' and maybe even 'Last house on the left'. I have this theory that horror started to suck around the mid 80's when the ratingsboard in the US was introduced. Afterall, why spend a lot of money on a movie that may not even see a theatrical release or WILL be released (if your lucky) but in heavilly censored form? Britain has also been doing this for years now, you might remember the infamous 'Video nasties list' of banned movies which had titles on it like 'Bloodsucking freaks', 'I spit on your grave', 'Cannibal holocaust' or 'Driller Killer'. On a whole the industry has sucked immensly, and the current re-make hype is annoying the shit out of me. It’s almost like they put a ban on creating original stuff. And i know that the ratingsboard has something to do with it, many moviemakers don’t even bother with shooting over the top gore scene’s anymore because they will be cut out anyways. Maybe we were spoiled by the golden age of horror in the old days i don’t know? hahaha. Also we might live in a modern age but censorship is worse now than it was in the 80’s. When i see a flick like Baise Moi being marketed as extreme i am laughing my ass off, that shit is NOTHING compared to some exploitation flicks from the 70’s/80/’s. (advise to people who want to watch the flick, look for the porno flicks of the girl playing in baise moi, you’ll see more in those and a dick up her ass instead of the soft porno crap in Baise Moi) It’s all weak!!!!!!! Is everything bad no, but it takes a lot of effort to find interesting flicks these days. I would say Japan is currently a good country that is releasing some primo shit like Junk, Battle Royale, Wild Zero, Fudoh, Dead or Alive, etc etc. Good gory FUN. Also the spanish filmcompany from Brian Yuzna is doing some cool shit, a while back i watched DAGON from stuart gordon and it was awesome. I really dug it, it had some flaws but definately was funny, also beyond re-animator i found rather amusing but that might also be because i am a big fan of DR WESSSSSSST hahaha. But overall its pretty depressing the recent state of the horror industry and i am also sick and tired of all that CGI horror crap. Fucking BAD shit gets made. Finding a good horror movie these days is hard work, they still exist but you have to look long and hard to find it. Lets ditch all those moral assholes and political correct assholes and get back to creating some sickning movies i say!!!!!! And yeah i remember the the Video Nasties List. It is one of the most absurd lists ever, i have a ton of flicks on that list and most of them are hardly that shocking or gory, hell some are boring as fuck and others are damn hilarious, Driller Killer is a funny flick but if you watch it you cannot possibly believe this to be a “Dangerous” flick. I guess censorship and banned lists are made by uptight moral imbecilles who probably were abused by their mom and pop in their youth and now want to make our life miserable to ban shit. The live thing then, I understood that with your current band situation (you know, your drummer being from outerspace and hunted down by feminine looking bounty hunters) makes it difficult to take the Fondlecorpse freakshow to the road. Is it still possible in the near future? Maybe you can turn in Krite to the intergalactic millitary for a hefty reward or something. Yeah at the moment playing live might prove a problem, but we are working on it, we have an option for a second session guitarist who will play live shows, and trying out a drummer soon maybe. But also i want to see if we can make sure IF we play live we can get the fans some kind of show or something. Make it a memorable occasion. I definately want to play a few select gigs and give people the possibility to see some of the insanity live. I will however need to start working out a bit more if i don’t want to drop off stage with an heartattack after the first song hahahaha. We are looking into making a clip for a song (any good animators or people into animatronics or exploitation films wanting to help out throw us a line) and maybe some weird live shit to put on a DVD, but thats still all in the works, i have one script for a clip but it involves some special effects and some semi nakkid chick........we will see if i can get that idea on tape some time and worked out hahaha, it’s a nasty piece of exploitation work. But who knows i think it would be awesome to take the Fondlecorpse freakshow on the road somethime. Final comments... ? Well thanx for the interview Joost its much appreciated!!!!!, for anybody who wants to check our shit out go to http://www.fondlecorpse.nl/ and drop us a line.