A brand new Interview with Insurrection

Insurrection is a band from the Netherlands that is not well known in our lands. However, I hope that it will change soon, because soon (exactly 30.08.2019) the debut album of this group titled "Circles of Despair" is released, and you can take my word for it, it's a very good piece of feisty, venomous muse, which especially fans of At the Gates, Legion of the Damned and Carcass from the time of "Heartwork" will love deep and lifelong love. This album also kicked my ass solidly, so when the opportunity arose, I decided to ask one of their guitar players Marten Hutten a few questions. I invite you to read.

Hello Marten, this is Bart from Apocalyptic Rites, how are you?

Hi Bart, I’m very well! I just came back from a nice holiday and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate coming home than releasing our very first album! 

Before we get to the point, tell me please, have you ever wondered why metal is a genre that captured your soul? How did your adventure with this extreme form of artistic expression begin?

I have actually thought a little bit about this, coming from a more classical background someone might not expect a person to love Bach and also love metal. But I think I fell in love with the constant barrage of pounding drums and exciting riffs that really draw you in and make you want to listen to them again and again just to figure out what the hell is going on! And for me it all began with the absolute legends: Metallica. My sister’s boyfriend listened to them and I think I was hooked after hearing ‘One’. It was pretty much spiraling down towards the heavier stuff from there… ;)

In a few moments the premiere of your first album titled "Circles of Despair", which can kick the shit off a listener. So far, what has those who had the opportunity to listen to it say about it?

I mean, I always believed we make pretty exciting music and we do try to work on every detail to make our songs the best they possibly can. But even having that in mind the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Even my mum has managed to say that she likes ‘Non Existent Fall’ when I showed her the video, though she did say she found the outfits to be a bit scary.. 

What are your hopes for this album?

I just hope that everybody who listens to the album enjoys it, appreciates the hours, sweat and tears that went into it and maybe comes to a show to cheer us on. Whatever happens besides that is just a bonus! 

How does the creative process take place? Who, what, how and why?

We really work as a team. This means that pretty much all the songs are co-written by the whole band. Maybe this is why we take a bit longer than average to produce material, because we all have to agree… But I think the results justify the approach. Usually, a song starts with a (couple of) riff(s) by either Armand or myself. Then we toss it over the fence to the lads to have their say, to add, change, polish and send it straight back. Once we have kind of a defined idea of what the song will be like, we will start the process of adding the drums, fiddling with the arrangements, writing the lyrics and vocal lines, again fiddling with the arrangement, adding layers and after that we go back and evaluate again what we have. If it can stand the final scrutiny, we have a song! If not, we either go back to the drawing board to work on what we feel is missing, or in some cases we put the song on hold until we know how to proceed (which might take anything between a month or multiple years). 

Are you satisfied with the sound of the album? Personally, I think the drums are a bit too synthetic, which I wrote about when reviewing the album. The production process went smoothly, or maybe some spicy stories (quarrels, freaks, orgies) that he will remember until the end of his days?

I’m very happy with the work that Frederik Nordstrom has done, I think it has come out the way we envisioned it. Not entirely sure what you mean with synthetic, but I do know that Douwe is a really tight drummer (and his drumming is tight too!). Because Fredman Studios is quite some kilometers away from our home base, it was not really an option for us to sit down with Frederik and produce some real orgies (besides orgies of sound of course..). 

On "Circles ..." you can hear that you feel best in powerful, poisonous, melodic Death Metal richly seasoned with thick, spicy Thrash touch. However, you do not go into exaggerated bullshitting, your music has a claw and it is specific. Why do you think some bands from this trend, despite many years of being able to stay on stage and be the class (Dark Tranquility, At the Gates, Legion of the Damned), and others whose names I will not mention,  not to make them ads, go towards easily digestible, soft pulp that has as much in common with metal as me with the priest of the nearest parish?

Funny you should mention the priest, I’m actually writing a song about that, but that’s a different story… I mean, I cannot speak for other bands, but I know that I always try to do something different, so that might explain some people to go in different direction than the nice thicc MeloDeath sound you talk about. We are not planning to stray unrecognizably far from our sound though, so if you liked “Circles..” then I’m sure our next material will feature some hard hitting tunes that can peek your interest. 

How are your live performances? Do you have any broader plans? Maybe some tour, festivals? If someone from my country would like to invite you to present yourselves live, what conditions would they meet?

Live performances are a blast! I feel like we are improving all the time, both in the musical performance as in the entertainment department. But we don’t take ourselves too seriously and like to screw around a lot on stage as well. We have the ambition to play some larger festivals in the next year and would like to tour a bit as well, but everything depends on the opportunities that arise. Douwe has a lot of connections in all kinds of places and we usually try to exchange gigs with other bands to be able to get out there. Because the genre we play is not exactly mainstream it usually comes down to our own initiative, but we are lucky we have such a dedicated drummer/manager who puts his heart and soul into it! Man, I would love to play in Poland one day, I hear you guys are crazy (but the good kind of crazy)! The conditions depend on too much factors, but if someone is interested they should definitely contact us at insurrectionmetal@gmail.com or through facebook.com/insurrectionofficial .  

Apart from playing in Insurrection, do you carve something aside? Maybe some country, blues or banquet music?

Haha good question! I already briefly mentioned my love for Bach. I actually sing in the ‘Bach Ensemble Amsterdam’ which is an awesome choir and orchestra with very dedicated members. People call me crazy for combining both, but I love it. 

And what do you listen to at home when nobody is watching or overhearing? Your favorites?

At the moment I am captivated by the new Periphery album, it’s blasting trough my speakers as we speak! I also listen to Symphony X/Michael Romeo, Haken, the new album by Devin Townsend is pretty epic, and of course I love me some ABBA. Surely that is everyone else’s favorite as well. Right? Right?...

And what are your springboard from the world of metal noise? Sports, movies, crocheting or something completely different?

I wish! Chrocheting sounds absolutely epic. If I have a few minutes for myself I like to binge on some series (Scrubs, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Community), but honestly, between balancing work, music and family not much time is left. I guess my favorite past time at the moment actually is writing new material for whatever Insurrection release is coming after this one. 

Now let's go back in time. Your Ep “Catatonic” released in 2015 went a bit unnoticed, at least in Poland. Do you still think that it fulfilled its role?

I like to think it did. It was our first effort in actually immortalizing our music and I think we did a good job with the material we had at the time. I think that, at least locally, it gave us a good starting point, something to show the world, proof that we existed. But it’s hard not to notice the improvements we have made in the next few years!  

By the way, what was the foundation of the Insurrection? You wanted to be stars of hard playing, have fun in whores and mayonnaise, or the reasons were quite different?

No that’s actually pretty much spot on. The band started with me and Sander, our former bassist/vocalist, who wanted to make some Melodic Brie. It took a while to get a full gang of four bangers together, first adding Douwe to the line-up and Armand a little later. Then when Sander left the Insurrection-orgy, we were desperate to find a power-bottom. Luckily we then stumbled upon Pieter enormous…voice, and we’ve been a happy foursome ever since!  

How is the cooperation with your label going? Are you satisfied with what they do for you?

Big Bad Wolf is doing their job very nicely and I wouldn’t change them for the world… 

If a major, like Nuclear Blast contacted and offered you a contract, would you be tempted? Would you like to be the number 85485164 (random number) in their publishing catalog, or would you prefer smaller labels that are closer to the bands?

…unless of course a bigger label comes along! No, joking aside, I wouldn’t like to be squeezed out and reduced to a number, so if that is the inevitable consequence with being with a bigger label then I’m not interested. That being said, there are some clear advantages to having a bigger label behind your back. So if they come knocking at our doorstep, I would love to hear what they are offering and then I’m sure we’ll make a collective decision.

 It may be too early question, but you are already thinking about the successor to "Circles ..."? Maybe it is worth following the blow and consolidating your position on the stage, for which you undoubtedly work hard?

Because we are a band that works slightly slower than average, it means that sometimes we are already working on the next thing when the previous thing is not entirely finished. Like I already mentioned, we have already tentatively started writing new material which will probably end up on a next release. In the meantime, we try to do as many shows as we can to share some Insurrection magic with those (un)fortunate to catch us live! 

Ok, that's it for the first date. Perhaps when we get to know each other better, the next time the questions will be more intimate. Thanks for your time, if you would like to add something, greet someone or preach, now is the time.

I look forward to it! Like we say in the Netherlands: More intimate, more better! (_)_):::::::::::::::D~ ~ ~

And everybody who’s curious for our music or the new album should check out the music video we recently did of ‘Non Existent Fall’: https://youtu.be/wSmVmv_8uDk

And like us on Facebook ofcourse: 

www.facebook.com/insurrectionofficial

Thanks, stay warm and see you next time. Greetings.

Cheers!