With:	The entire band
Conducted by:	Marcel Hubregtse, Lucas (in person)
Published:	11.11.2008
Band profile:	Faal

Immediately after their opening slot at Dutch Doom Days Metal Storm (Lucas & Marcel) had a chance to catch up with these young Dutch doom hopefuls. Since last June Faal had been creating some ripples of excitement in the Dutch doom scene. Now at DDD it was their chance to present themselves to an international crowd and also to present their debut album. Judging from the crowd's response and the line in front of their merchandise stand after the gig they did make the impact as predicted by the DDD organisers (see the interview with Felix & Pim here). So high time to catch up with Faal and let them introduce themselves.










Marcel: Please tell us about the history of the band as most people reading this will not know a single thing about Faal.

Alex: I started out with Ward (drummer) in 2005. I asked him if he wanted to start a doom metal band and he immediately agreed since he was also looking for something along those lines. First off we started writing some stuff, I had already written some material so we combined the two. Subsequently we fooled around on the computer with the things we had written. Eventually we started looking around for other people to join the band. That's when we came across Pascal (guitarist) via the Internet. And the funny thing is he lived in the same city as both Ward and I.
After Pascal joined we started searching for a bass player and that was a good friend of mine, Stijn. But he joined just shortly after Pascal, so more or less at the same moment in time. That was at the end of 2007 start of 2008.

Marcel: But he has already left. Cause I do remember him still playing with you in Breda when you supported Ataraxie. And now you have Geert on bass.

Alex: Yes, that was his final gig with us. He didn't have enough time to put into Faal anymore. Busy with his studies and some others bands. So that was a shame. But we found Geert (Nibdem, ex-In Age And Sadness, ex-Akelei) and that is working out fine currently.
Ward: I have known Geert now for a longer period of time already due to Akelei. Although he never performed with Akelei.
Alex: After Stijn joined we started looking as quickly as possible for a vocalist. And that turned out to be Jan. We got him through www.metalfan.nl.
Jan: I saw an ad on Metalfan saying "band is looking for a vocalist." So I decided to check it out. I liked what I heard and subsequently mailed Ward some of the stuff I had done with my previous band and they invited me for a rehearsal.
Lucas: What was the band called?
Jan: Blacklist which was a death thrash band.
Marcel: So, you don't have any roots within doom metal?
Jan: Absolutely not.
Marcel: What about you, Alex?
Alex: This is my first true band. Although I am very doom minded.
Marcel: And you, Ward?
Ward: I really can't describe my taste in music. I really like doom but also post-rock. Everything that has this melancholic vibe to it I do enjoy. But also a lot of non-metal stuff. I am trying to combine all those different influences in Faal. Everyone in the band has their own background and taste in music.
Marcel: So what is your background, Pascal?
Pascal: Also doom metal, but more funeral doom and that totally fits into this equation. With doom my credo is: "the slower the better."
Marcel: And you, Yara?
Yara: Also doom, but my taste in music can be compared more to that of Ward. So also a lot of post-rock.






Four minutes into the interview Geert finally shows up and is welcomed by shouts and jeers of the other band members.
Marcel: Geert of course also has a doom background and also black with In Age And Sadness (doom) and Nibdem (black)
Alex: True.

Marcel: Do all of you have equal parts in the song writing process?
Alex: We all do. But the songs we currently play live are actually mostly written by Pascal and Ward and me. Some of the stuff I had already written.
Ward: Alex and Pascal came up with the riffs and the three of us composed from there on.
Marcel: What about the keyboards?
Yara: Those are supplementary to what was already there.
Ward: Except for the intro.

Lucas: A new cd, your debut. So first you had a demo?
Ward: We actually didn't have a demo out. Everything went so fast that we already had contract with a label even before our demo had been released. So, what we did was we remixed the recordings of the demo and had that released as our debut album.
Pascal: We first wanted to mail the demo to Ván Records and ask them to release that and then the label guy asked if we had an extra song so they could make an entire album out of it. So, that went extremely fast.

Lucas: How did you end up with Ván Records?
Jan: I ordered stuff on a regular basis from that guy and I sent him an e-mail saying: "I sing in a doom band, it is probably not your sort of stuff, but could you listen to it nonetheless." I didn't have any thoughts about landing a contract or something like that. I just wanted his opinion. He said he liked it and when the demo would be out he would want to spread it through his mailorder. We kept on talking about it and then he said he wanted us on his label.

Marcel: You haven't performed live that often up to now, have you? If I am not mistaken today was your third or fourth gig?
Faal: Yes, today was our fourth.
Marcel: Damn, then I missed one of your gigs. There goes my perfect record.
Pascal: After we did our debut with Officium Triste in Ridderkerk we also played with Nymphea Aurora in Woerden and that's the one you missed (although that town is closest by where I live, Marcel) and then a couple of weeks ago with Marche Funébre, Izah and Ataraxie in Breda and now opening the Saturday of the Dutch Doom Days.





Marcel: Will you be getting any tour support from Ván?
Alex: We've got a tour coming up in April/May.
Ward: Yes, but that one hasn't been finalised, yet. After today's gig we're gonna start writing new songs for a new album.
Yara: And so we can play different setlists.
Pascal: The new album is still in its infancy so we're gonna work hard on that. The last couple of months we've been rehearsing a lot every week so then you don't have time to write. And we're all busy with school and work during the week as well and since not all of us live in Breda during the week it isn't always easy to rehearse more and write more. So that is usually done on Sunday afternoons and that in combination with going out on Saturday nights, hahahahahaha.
The next couple of months we have enough time to work on new material. We have enough ideas for the new songs anyway.
Ward: We actually have too many ideas. For the next release we really want to record in a proper studio. A 60 minute album and record it professionally. It should be possible because we will have enough material ready by that time.
Pascal: In a truly proper studio and not in our bedrooms like this time around. The drums were recorded in Ward's bedroom and the rest in my bedroom.

Marcel: So, this was more like your typical bedroom black metal recording, hahahaha?
Faal: Well, the sound of the album is actually quite good.
Marcel: With a higher volume than the Akelei demo?
Ward: Certainly. The recording volume on that one wasn't too good.
Lucas: Mmm, great. I just bought that demo hahaha.
Ward: It's non-refundable just crank up the volume of the stereo, that should do the trick as well. Hahaha.





Another discussion ensues about Akelei and Faal, although we had agreed to talk about Faal, of course.
Marcel: The coincidence is that Ward plays in both Akelei and Faal (and as was rightly pointed out to me Pascal also plays in Akelei) and last year Akelei opened the Sunday of Dutch Doom Days and this year Faal opens the Saturday. So, what will happen next year? Yet again a new band by the two of you to open Dutch Doom Days? Hahahaha.
Ward: I really don't have any time for that.

Marcel: You were talking about post-rock influences. In what parts of your music do you hear those? I personally am not fond of the term post-rock at all since I find it way too vague.
Ward: There's a lot of reverb on the guitars with those sort of floating guitar lines. Which makes it sound atmospheric and broad. Totally not dry. We want everything but a dry and flat sound. We want more of that Isis type of sound to our music.
Alex: More of those soundscapes.
Ward: Really a lot reverb. Like on Perpetual Solitude and sound that envelops you which you can sink into and be absorbed by. Within the individual songs we want different types of atmosphere. From very sad to aggressive, mad, and despondent. As if someone empathizes with you. That's the effect we want to create by means of all making those parts contrast with each other. Really quick to really slow. Lots of dynamics within a single song. A bit the opposite of what Akelei does.
Marcel: You want a lot of variation.
Alex: Yes, so it makes for an interesting listen.
Ward: Like I said earlier I am influenced a lot by post-rock. Stuff such as Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Ros, I really enjoy that sort of stuff. It is not that you will really hear that in our music, but still.
Marcel: (Giggles) I really don't like Sigur Ros at all. But Lucas does love them by the way.
Lucas: Yeah, I really love them. And am going to see them soon.
Ward: So am I. Have you actually really tried listening to them? Try that white album.
Marcel: Okay, okay, I will give them another try. But this about wraps it up I guess.






Ward: What I found weird and intriguing were the comparisons that were being made when it came to our music. Anathema, Paradise Lost that sort of stuff and the description used on the Dutch Doom Days site where we were described as melodic doom and we were compared to old Anathema and Paradise Lost (it said the following: "Deep emotional music with influences of later Anathema and Katatonia" so actually comparing Faal to newer Anathema, ed.)
Pascal: I have heard more people say that, so...
Alex: Personally I hear more My Dying Bride in it. Probably because I listen to them a lot.
Marcel: Luckily you don't sound like them...
Fun bashing of newer My Dying Bride starts by some of the band members directed at Alex.
Pascal: But seriously, luckily we respect each other's opinion on stuff such as this.
Ward: I do enjoy My Dying Bride's music but I can't stand...
Alex:...the whining vocals.
Ward: Exactly.

And on the light hearted note of a discussion on the pros and cons of older and newer My Dying Bride the interview ended.


Thanks to the band for wanting to speak to us right after their performance.

Disclaimer: All pictures were taken by Chantal Pots and used with kind permission.

http://www.myspace.com/faaldoom