Today on Sludgelord I am interviewing excellent Welsh Instrumental Sludge Metallers – ZONDERHOOF
Zonderhoof are a brilliant Sludge Metal band who blend Doom, Sludge, Stoner and Punk into a heavy instrumental volatile mix.
They impressed me in Sept 2011 with their excellent latest release – HAKKEN. Which I originally said.
“This album highlights what a brilliant band Zonderhoof actually are. And one you need to check out now. Amazing.
Quite simply a brilliant album and true standout in the realm of Stoner/Sludge Metal.”
The band have just started a new band called Hogslayer who I have just recently featured.
Well it's about time I interviewed them and see what is happening with these excellent Sludge Rockers.
Q1 – Hi Guys, Thanks for doing this. How are things with you guys Today.
We're great thanks.
Q2 – For people not in the know can you give them a brief history of the band and how it came about.
We began in the darkest depths of mid 2000, from a love of European hardcore, horror movies and defunct Russian space tech. Oh, and an almost pathological hatred for pedantic frontmen.
Q3 – How would you describe your sound.
Reinforced sludge with a warm belly of grizzly bass.
Q4 – Which bands and artists influence you directly as musicians.
This is a tough question as it's continually changing, but at the time we formed, we were influenced by early Sabbath, Black Flag and some really obscure things Beek was into.
Q5 – Are you all full time musicians or do you have regular jobs to pay the bills.
We would love to be full time muscians, but we dont make any money from playing at all, we have all got jobs thankfully, which means we can continue to do this thing we enjoy.
Q6 – Are your family and friends supportive of your music.
Yes, very. They may not "get it" but they still support us. Well, apart from Kraal. His friends abandoned him; he says it was the band,
Q7 – What is the song-writing process in the band. Is it a group collective or is just down to one individual.
Yes, we all contribute apart from damek, as he is of low emotional intelligence, scoring just a 4 in the fagen test.
Q8 – It's been one year since HAKKEN came out. Were you pleased with the reception you got and did it meet your overall expectations.
We were pleased with the reception, as our expectations were not high. Also we were not able to promote as much as we would have liked, due to life.
Q9 – Is there a scene for Sludge/Doom/Stoner bands to perform in your home town on a regular basis. Or do you have to travel further afield to perform on a regular basis.
Where we reside at the moment, there is a town 30 kilometre down the road that has quite healthy sludge/doom/stoner alternative scene with some great bands like Pus, Thorun and Fire Witch.
Q10 – Do you have any interesting and exciting stories from tour. Have you toured with anyone famous. If so who have been your fave band to perform for/with.
You know we really havent toured with anyone famous, well apart from Zenny Wunger, but as you would have guessed, nothing funny happened on that tour as Zenny is quite a serious guy. We've had some amusing moments with Damek, but if we mentioned them he'd probably get arrested ha ha... some of my fave bands that we've played with would be Big Business, Abominable Iron Sloth and Keelhaul.
Q11 – What are your favourite bands around at the moment. Do you listen to modern day rock/metal or do you just listen to the classic era of Stoner/Sludge/Doom Metal.
We like bands like Laudinum and Saviours at the mo, but we still love the classics.
Q12 – What are your views of blogs such as Sludgelord featuring and reviewing your records, as opposed to mainstream music magazines? Has your music reached the mainstream mags, at home or around the world?
Are you serious? you don't even need to ask. These blogs are way better than magazines, as these blogs are straight from the heart, from people who write and share their passion with others, receiving no gain, apart from the knowledge that they're reaching out to like minded people. So that when the blogs review our music it is always without pretense and get the ideas we're trying to express. And for the record, Sludgelord is most certainly our favourite for the above reasons.
Q13 – Now you have a new band/side-project. - Hogslayer. Can you tell us how that came about.
It came about from playing gigs with an awesome band called Shaped by Fate, we would always be in awe of their singer. So as we felt we wanted to play something heavier with a frontman, it would only happen if he agreed to sing with us.
Q14 – Does this mean Zonderhoof is now on hiatus. What are your plans for Hogslayer.
Yes, Zonderhoof is on hiatus, we now want to have some fun with Hogslayer.
Q15 - What are your future plans for the upcoming 12 months or so. Anything we should be excited about.
We plan to record and release music with Hogslayer, hopefully this should get you excited if you like heavy down tuned sludge with a throat at the front.
Q16 – What are the most and least rewarding aspects of participating with the band.
The most rewarding aspect is having met the other band members, the least rewarding is having met the other band members.
Q17 – Does it surprise you that people buy merchandise from you guys.
Yes of course, as its a very personal process at times, pleasing ourselves when we write and play, so that we are very humbled when people like our music.
Q18 - Finally, Do you have anything to say your fans
Yes... Steve Derreck and Trevor - Mum said when your finnished with the goat, could you leave him round back as grandpa's got toothache?
Well guys thanks for doing this interview. All the best from ourselves at Sludgelord. Am a massive fan of your music. Long may it continue
Thank you, and Good Luck to you
Check Out Zonderhoof from the links below:
Check Out Hogslayer from the links below:
BandCamp
