CORINNE VAN DEN BRAND (ACROSTICHON, RAZEND, THE COVERING) Interview

1. Corinne: It’s a huge pleasure to make this interview with you! First at all, how had your first steps in music been, at the end of the eighties?
   I was into metal since I was 13-14 years old and went to as many concerts that I could. When my brother Jos started playing guitar with a school mate Richard, I wanted to be part of that . At first we just goofed around with silly songs but then we found a drummer we really became a band and started writing real songs.
2. Please, tell us a little about Acrostichon’s first recordings. Why did you register so many demos between 1989 and 1991?
   Many demo`s ? Only 2 called Prologue and Lost Remembrance.  It wasn`t so unusual back then. We don`t count the rehearsal tape as a demo and neither the live tapes. After the second demo we got a record deal and we recorded Engraved in Black. It took about a year before it was finally released. That was really not funny and a bit annoying. In 1995 we released our second cd called Sentenced. It was a bit more thrash metal . I really like that one. Too bad for the sound on that one. Could have been a lot heavier.
3. Tell us the characteristics of both studio álbums.
   Engraved in Black has a lot of demo material on it and is lot more death/doom than Sentenced which is more thrashier. That`s easy to explain because the first album was mostly written by Richard and the second one by Jos and Michel who had replaced Richard .
4. What can you tell us about “Live” VHS? Why didn’t you never release it again, on DVD?
   We never released it officially in the first place. It was a tape from our release party gig and was just for our own collection. We copied it for some friends too of course. How it ever ended up as an official tape in some traders lists I don`t know.
5. Why did the band split up in 1995?
   The band didn`t split up in 1995. Our latest demo tape was recorded in 1996-1997. After that I left the band and the band continued with Tjerk on vocals but they soon changed their name to Outburst.
6. And what did you do during the fourteen years between 1995 and 2009?
   I moved to Belgium and lived my life. I played percussion in a samba band for some years but that was it. Hahaha.
7. How did you combine your both roles, of Woman, and extreme music vocalist?
   It never was a big deal to me. I always was one of the boys. It annoyed me that people would bring it up. I always was a bit of a tomboy .
8. Why did you take the decision of start again in 2009?
   I moved back to Holland in 2008 and got in touch with the other bandmembers again on a party. A friend asked if we would play on his festival as a co-headliner with Holy Moses. We accepted and that gig was truly amazing. We released that gig on an album released on Badger records. Very fond memories of that night. We did a few shows more with Possessed and one with the original The Gathering but that was it.
9. Did you feel that all that old magic was present, again?
   Yeah, on our first reunion gig I couldn`t stop smiling. It wasn`t really metal. Hahaha. It was just so great and I enjoyed every second of it.
10. Please, let’s talk about “Return to Killburg”. Was it released on vynil format only? Why?
    Why not ? Badger records offered us a deal with only vinyl and we loved the idea. The artwork looks very good on this format.  When you hold an album it is something special. It`s almost like a sacred ritual. Much more feeling to it than a cd.
11. Let’s talk about Razend, now. How did it arise in your life?
    Funny story. Acrostichon became Outburst when singer Tjerk joined and in 2013 Tjerk left and I was asked to sing again . So in a way the circle is round . In a band again with my brother Jos. How cool is that !!!
12. Your Razend’s vocals are basically different to Acrostichon’s. Any special reason for that?
    Different band, different vocals. It`s so easy to go back to grunting again but I really didn`t want to do that. It`s thrash metal, not death metal so I can vary a lot more with Razend than I ever could do with Acrostichon. Always improve yourself. I`m not happy with doing the same trick over and over again.
13. There’s a demo, “White Goat”. Please, tell us something about it.
    It`s a 5 track demo. We recorded it for record companies and bookers but we will officially release it very soon as a bonus on our second cd. It`s a thrash metal demo with no grunts at all. On our second cd there will be some grunts.
14. And, of course, we want you to tell us something about The Covering, too…
    The Covering is a 80`s metal coverband. We play songs from Saxon to Morbid Angel. It started out as a one time only gig but it was so succesful and we enjoyed it so much we decided to continue and ever since we had a lot of gigs. Really fun to do and a good learning school for me. I have to sing all different styles and that`s pretty difficult sometimes.
15. Which had been your better and worse moments in your musical career?
    We did play some great shows with great bands. I really am honored that I took part to the rise of death metal. I really appreciate that I got to go to concerts in the 80`s.
16. Which are the dreams that you would love to see realized?
    I would love to play in South America someday . Think that will be an awesome experience. Wellll, I would like to play everywhere around this globe .
17. Please, tell us about your plans for this year. Do you have a new record in mind?
    Well, we are finishing our second recordings for Razend right now. It will be available within a few months. It will be a bit faster then our first recording.  And we are releasing an album with a side project I am doing with two friends . Just for fun . It will be hardcore meets grindcore and I will pick up my bass again fot that one.
18. Corinne: Thanks a million for your time and your answers… We really hope to see you playing live in Argentina someday… Is there anything that you would like to add?
    Thank you very much for your interest. Keep on doing what you love best and cheers to all of you who are reading this :-)
    

                                       Interview by Javier Parente, para OXIDO.-