With:	Felix Schoonen & Pim Blankenstein
Conducted by:	Marcel Hubregtse, Lucas (in person)
Published:	01.10.2008

Usually we get to interview bands but for a change we decided to interview the driving forces behind a festival. In this case the organisers of the Dutch Doom Day which will be hosting their seventh edition during the last weekend of October this year.
To get into the right mood for the interview both Metal Storm interviewers (Marcel & Lucas), which also happen to be the oldest and youngest Metal Storm staff members, attended the Ashes to Ashes, Doom to Dust festival in Tilburg the day prior to the interview.
Still in the right doomy mood we set off to Baroeg in Rotterdam Monday afternoon to meet up with the organisers of Dutch Doom Day to talk about the upcoming festival in October and also, of course to talk about its past. Willing to talk to us were Felix Schoonen (current organiser of Dutch Doom Days) and Pim Blankenstein (vocalist of Officium Triste and former organiser of the festival).






- The Dutch Doom Days, the seventh edition. Pim, let's start with you, what can you tell us about the history?
Pim: The founding of Dutch Doom Day was pretty much out of self-interest, at the time I was organising a lot of my own gigs for Officium Triste (Pim is the vocalist of Officium Triste) and because of that I had a lot of contacts with foreign bands. Then I got the opportunity to bring Whispering Forest from Estonia to The Netherlands, so I started looking for a location and since I have been a long-time volunteer for Baroeg I naturally ended up there. I'm not sure if it was with Leon or René Veerkamp at the time that we agreed to build a festival around it, but anyway, we started looking for other bands to play with us. It started out as a single day festival, six bands, just a small festival. That was the primary reason to start the Dutch Doom Day.


- When and why did you start organising a two day version of the festival?
Felix: That was in 2005 and the reason was very simple, we had another band for the next day. They couldn't play on the first day, or something like that.
Pim: If you look around you'll notice that the offer of bands from the Doom genre is very diverse and also fairly large, so we could easily fill two days with good bands. So why not?


- How do you arrange all those bands?
Pim: Through my past with Officium and organising gigs on my own I gathered a lot of contacts, and Felix has also been in this little world for quite some time, so you build up a network of contacts through time.
Felix: At this point bands know that the DDD are sometime in October or November, and from March they start contacting us if they can play at the DDD.


They start contacting you and not the other way around?
Felix: Yes, I start with those. We don't have a fixed weekend each year. The only thing is that it is always around October/November, so this year I got an e-mail from Kostas from Pantheist saying: "I want to play at the DDD this year and we're on tour with Skepticism." So I replied: "Good, pick a Saturday around that time and we'll arrange it."


- So you organised the festival around them this year?
Felix: Yes, we have another package that built their tour around the DDD, which consists of Griftegård, SubRosa, and Beneath The Frozen Soil. I know Linus of Beneath The Frozen Soil quite well since he has been coming here for one or two years now. He wanted to play DDD this year. So, he offered Griftegård and SubRosa too, so, all together it adds some nice obscure names. SubRosa consists of four Mormon women from the US, so it is a nice and interesting addition.


- You get a lot of offers from bands, so how do you decide which bands you take and which you don't? You'll have to disappoint some bands.
Felix: I sadly have to decline most offers. Usually these bands are good bands but only a few bands can play each year.
Pim: There are a couple of things about this festival that I found important when I started with this, for example, that there are underground, new Dutch acts presented to the public. And up to now we have managed to do that every single year. This year those are Faal and??
Felix: Hooded Priest which is half Dutch half Belgian. And last year Akelei and we've had Eria d'Or (although they had to cancel at the last minute last year due to illness of a band member and were therefore replaced by Heavy Lord who had already played DDD before, ed.), Heavy Lord, Abysmal Darkening, Bunkur, Nymphea Aurora, In Age And Sadness, Mary Bell, Lahar (which is now called Tekhton). And nothing against other Doom festivals but we try to be as broad as possible with Funeral and Death/Doom to Traditional and preferably some Sludge too but we have noticed that they are a lot harder to find. The scene is getting a bit more popular though because the big bands are getting more popular and that spawns the birth of a lot of smaller bands. At times it is really hard to make a choice of the bands we get offered. But this year we really had to search hard for a headliner. My first option unfortunately couldn't do it.


- Well, you did get Skepticism this year to headline, and they hardly ever perform live.
Felix: Actually, Worship are headliner on the Sunday.
Pim: You notice when looking at other festivals, such as Doom Shall Rise in Germany, they took a time-out this year and will be back again next year. Belgian Doom Night isn't a regular feature on the calendar either.


- It seems like you're the only constant doom festival factor currently.
Pim: Well, in Italy there's a doom festival, Switzerland too, Moscow. And of course there are regular festivals in England.


- Haven't you reached your max by now? Especially regarding the current location.
Felix: I think that's a good question. But I don't really think so.


- How do you think you can expand then? Turning it into a three-day-festival?
Felix: I am not planning such a thing yet.
Pim: We still have enough room to grow when you look at the number of visitors we get each year. DDD hasn't once been sold out yet. Baroeg can hold about 400 people and usually we get quite a few people, but we haven't reached our max yet. But, of course, it is fuller then with the bands there and the merch stands. It would be cool to grow even bigger but that is not a priority.


- About finances. Where do the bands sleep? How do you keep those costs as low as possible?
Pim & Felix: Well, quite a lot of bands sleep over at people we know. Some bands sleep over at our places. We, of course have addresses where they can stay. Here in Rotterdam or friends in Brabant. Thanks a lot guys, you deserve a lot credit! That does save a lot of money and hotel rooms, of course. But if they have to stay over in a hotel we of course pay for the expenses. But then again that is standard procedure for all the venues in this country. If you get a band over that's the least you can do.


- But I guess, you won't easily get bands from the US or Japan to come over and play cause then your expenses will sky rocket?
Felix: Nothing is impossible.
Pim: We have had Evoken play here in the past. And that was at the second edition of DDD. They of course came over from the US.
Felix: SubRosa are also from the US. And we've had Nadja from Canada.


- Were they also on tour at the time?
Felix: They were on tour with Methadrone at the time.
Pim: Methadrone, also from the US by the way, but they were on tour cause they could play at DDD. Then they have a reason when they're over in Europe to do some extra gigs. Because it is usually too expensive to fly a band in for just one gig.


- So, no Coffins for one show?
Pim: That would be great but that might be too expensive for us.
It would be great to get such a band over, but then you might need to organise an entire tour around it.




- How much time does it cost to organise DDD? I guess you start right after the current edition is finished?
Felix: It really does cost loads and loads of time.
Pim: That was the biggest reason for me to pass on the baton to Felix. It really does cost a load of time.
Felix: At first I was still in college and now I work for Baroeg full-time in this office.
Pim: And I have a regular job next to this.


- When did you pass on the baton to Felix?
Felix: This is my third Dutch Doom Days.


- Pim, you still do some work for DDD is it more an advisory role, or what?
Felix: I usually start. I start looking around. Because I know, I don't have to ask him for example, shall I get Skepticism? Because I know what he likes. When I have the outlines of an upcoming festival we sit down and discuss what he would really still want and what I would still want. And also what we absolutely wouldn't want. I generally know what he absolutely wouldn't want. And then I'll see if it is all feasible. Usually most of what we want isn't realistic. And sometimes some of it is feasible.
Pim: I can of course sum up everything I want to have here but a lot of it just isn't realistic, and then I am not talking about a band such as Coffins because I do realise that such a band is not a realistic option. Like for instance when I played in Portugal with my own band and Process of Guilt I really wanted to have them over. A brilliant band. But when our programme is already full there just isn't a place for another band. And it is very difficult to get such a band for just one gig. But such a band I will keep in mind. In that area (Portugal, Spain) there are some really good bands.
Felix: I always have a so-called list of leftovers consisting of bands I really do find a shame I don't have them at that moment in time. But I do keep an eye on those bands and then we'll see if it is possible to get them the year after or during the year in between DDDs for single shows or short tours. Like, now I already have my mind set on some bands for 2009.


- A band such as Faal is a total newcomer and almost next to unknown, how do you get such a band? Of course their drummer Ward played at DDD last year with Akelei.
Felix: I already knew all those guys, but they had never played live yet. So we had Pim let them open at Officium Triste's try-out gig for the new drummer Ronald in Ridderkerk. I couldn't attend that show myself so I asked Pim to text me if they were any good and then we'll book them. I subsequently got a text message saying: "Okay, book them."
Pim: If you're interested in the music you're programming for such a festival then you'll follow closely what's going on in the scene. You'll hear names being mentioned, you check them out. In the case of Faal I hadn't linked them to Akelei yet, that only came later on. I just thought: "Faal, let's check it out." Well, they came across really well live.
Felix: From what I've heard I think they can be one of the big surprises of the upcoming Dutch Doom Days.
Pim: I think that's a band with a bright future.
Felix: They have also already signed a record deal with Ván. Which also has The Devil's Blood and Fluisterwoud on its roster. And The Ruins of Beverast. It's a German label. Faal's debut will be released just before Dutch Doom Days and their show here will also be their album presentation. You've a scoop here because no-one knows this yet.
I am really actively on the lookout for Dutch doom bands.
Felix: We really dig it to have scoops regarding Dutch bands. Bands that have never performed live before, or at least not outside their hometown.
- So, like with Akelei last year?
Felix: Yes. Pepijn of In Age And Sadness was still part of the band back then. Mary Bell in also didn't play that much live when we had them, same for Nymphea Aurora.
Pim: Heavy Lord was another one we had really early on in their career.


- Let's say, you get offered Candlemass totally free of charge. Would you have them?
Felix: Of course I would.
Although you even know it will be totally sold out with people who are only interested in Candlemass and couldn't care less about the other bands?
Felix: Of course. I'll do it immediately. But I understand what you're getting at with this question. That the so-called real doom fan, who's also interested in the rest of the bands, won't be able to get in.
Yes, exactly. Those people that are actually more interested in the bands that aren't as well-known.
Felix: I have thought about that question a couple of times since I have tried to get a bigger other band and that almost worked out. And I really toyed with the question: "Should I really do that?" Because people that really want to see the other five six bands might not be able to option a ticket. But up to now it hasn't happened.
Pim: But I can guarantee you that will never have a Candlemass or any other band of that magnitude play Dutch Doom Days. Cause we simply don't have the budget to pay such a band.
Okay, but let's just say money is not an issue, you got an unlimited supply of it at your disposal for Dutch Doom Days, then what will be your ideal line-up?
Felix: So, my favourite bands?
You could say that.
Felix: Mmm, more or less all my favourite bands have already played here. But, okay, Coffins would be cool.
Pim: I would get Witchfinder General.


- Okay, and let's say you can also pump money into a reunion...
Pim & Felix (without a second of thought and almost simultaneously): Winter.
Pim: But I would also like to have a Solitude Aeturnus then. By the way, they have played the Baroeg in the past but not on DDD. Or maybe some other obscure bands which we will be able to come over from the US or thereabouts.
Such as?
Felix: Asunder?
Pim:?or Grey, an all female band.
Felix: Pim wants them over for some time already, but it just didn't work out, yet.
Pim: Grey will be releasing an album soon on Kreation Records. Or, mmm, Las Cruces, I don't know if you know them.
Felix: But I think that most of the bands we really wanted we already have had over. Every year we have one or two that we are really proud of being able to have played here.
Pim (a few days after the interview): A band I would really love to see is one from our very own country but has unfortunately split up. Namely, Celestial Season the Solar Lovers era formation.


- You always have a very diverse line-up...
Felix: Especially this year.
How broad will you go? So where are the limits as to what you would consider appropriate and what not? For example Asphyx, would you consider that DDD material?
Pim: That's too much death metal for this festival.
Why I am asking is because some people already consider Asphyx doom death...
Felix: Yes, but those are people that have no idea what they are talking about.
Pim: Coffins would also be very borderline to be honest, but would just fit in because they lean more towards Winter.
Felix: Autopsy, Winter.
Pim: Winter is... when talking about doom the purists will call it all slow death metal. If it fits within the constraints of what we deem doom then a band will be an option. And we have set those constraints ourselves. People can debate that for as long as they want but in the end we decide.
Felix: I think it is important that Pim and I are on the same wave length, but besides that both of us also like other alternative music styles. And I think that helps us put it within the right framework.
Pim: Let's say we get offered a package which has Asphyx in it, so them with a doom band. Let's say they come over with Candlemass and we can get that package for a nice price then we'll take them.
Felix: We've had bands that came with a package but which I would never have booked. Well, we'll have them but we'll put them on early in the day. We once had a gothic band.
But for example Jex Thoth?
Pim: Oh, what used to be Totem... That would very maybe be possible when you look at the boundaries we adhere to but I don't think we would take them.
They are more or less hyped, probably because there's a woman on vocals.
Pim: I would say hyped because of the popularity of bands such as Witchcraft. Which is being hyped, so other labels are on the lookout for similar bands. I personally am already fed up with all that Seventies drivel .
Already?
Pim: Yes, already at this point in time. I'd rather listen to a band such as Pentagram, so something that is authentic not all those people that try to sound like that.
Felix: But The Devil's Blood you do really like.
Pim: You really can't compare those.
Felix: But they touch upon it.
Pim: Yes, but they are way more hard rock. A lot of Thin Lizzy influences that I heard in their music here last Saturday (The Devil's Blood played at Baroeg Open Air two days prior to this interview, ed.) But I like I did say I do find that genre of Seventies influenced music in which bands like Jex Thoth and Witchcraft operate quite overrated. Such as Blood Ceremony.
Felix: Of that genre I really did like Burning Saviours though.
Pim: It does fit within the framework of this festival, but personally...
Felix: Let's keep it at: If the band is good I might book it.


- So, it is like some of the epic metal such as The Gates Of Slumber...?
Felix: Yes, that does lean towards doom metal, but of course they played at DDD V.
I know, but if you listen to their latest, Conqueror, that one almost touches upon a Manowar type of sound.
Pim: Sure, but no matter what way you look at it Manowar has made some 100% pure doom songs in the past.
All that sort of thing does make it difficult at times, though.
Slough Feg, The Lord Weird Slough Feg you might also consider as borderline then as well?
Pim: No, that I do consider as pure heavy metal with folk influences.
Felix: They are a great band which has played Baroeg in the past but they only drew 25 people.
Jeez, even less than Warning?
Felix & Pim: Yes... that's the drawback of good music.


- I really found it a disgusting crime that only about sixty people showed up for Warning.
What do you think is the reason for such low numbers showing up for those bands?
Felix: Popular music generally isn't the best kind of music.
Pim: When you read the internet forums, the people that post in threads on those sorts of bands are just a few and always the same people. I think that in The Netherlands there are about thirty people you can name that really like that sort of music. And if of those thirty, fifteen live in, let's say Groningen, those won't be coming over to Rotterdam to see such a band.
The weird thing is that when you play it to people they do like it.
Pim: Yes, that's true. It's clearly a case of something being unknown automatically means it is unloved.


- Do you think that you don't get enough chances in the media?
Felix: I don't think that really would make much of a difference. What I do notice is that we are growing in the number of visitors from abroad.
What percentage of the DDD visitors are from abroad?
Felix: That is hard to estimate for the past editions, but now it is easier with our new ticketing system. Currently it would be 75% of the sold tickets are sold abroad.
That many?
Felix: Yes, up to now almost no-one from The Netherlands still.
So, you seem to be going the way of Roadburn when you look at where your visitors are from?
Felix: Yes, but it is quite logical cause people that come from far don't want to find out it is sold out once they get here. But people from nearby will take a chance. People from Israel will surely get a ticket beforehand. I have seen a lot of Swedes, Italians, Germans, Englishmen.
Pim: And also Irish, Darren from Mourning Beloveth.
Felix: The guys from Imindain will also be coming over, and those guys from Spain, Autumnal, Helevorn. Also sold some tickets to Austrians, who have already booked their flights.
So, the way forward in the growth department is with the number of people from abroad. The people that love doom in The Netherlands know about this festival already.


- The scene is of course small.
Felix: Limited, yes. Here in The Netherlands you always see the same faces at every single doom gig.
Yeah, that's what I noticed yesterday (at the Ashes to Ashes Doom to Dust festival, ed.) as well, you see a lot of the same faces you see at other doom gigs, okay, there were also loads of those people whom you normally don't see but they specifically came for My Dying Bride.
Pim: That is a problem here in this country. People just think: "Hey this band I like", but don't look any further for other bands. They generally don't want to delve any deeper.
And they only show up at the venue later on in the day and don't want to see the other bands whereas I want to be there before the first band starts, even though I might not know a couple of the early bands but who knows?
Felix: Yes, that way you might discover some real gems and be surprised. But we'll have the same problem here as well. But I can guarantee you that even the most seasoned doom fans will be able to find a couple of surprises at our festival. And that is the challenge for me every year. To try and get those sorts of bands in that are able to surprise the visitor. When, for example, I see a post from you (Marcel, ed.) on a forum saying: "I don't know that band." I really like that.
Check out as many bands as possible, and if you don't like it, tough shit.
Pim: Yes, that's the fun part of it. That when a band has put on a hell of a show that people after the gig will say, also on forums, that they were blown away by a certain band which they hadn't known about before that time. That is really satisfying for the organisation those best bits. My suspicion is that Griftegård will blow people away.
Felix: What I also like are the discussions going on beforehand and then afterwards you hear people say: "I really dug that band." And others say: "No, I really thought they sucked."




- I remember last year people saying that you didn't have enough true doom and way too much slow death metal. Which I thought was preposterous cause you had something of everything.
Felix: Well, you'll always have those people that are a pain in the ass. Of course we had a couple of really heavy bands on that list but also a couple of very light ones. Pagan Altar are also only borderline doom of course.
Yeah, like a Witchfinder General would be.
Felix: Yes, Pagan Altar is more straightforward heavy metal than doom metal.
Pim: Witchfinder General will be playing live again next year. Only the vocalist has been replaced. A new album has just been released as well. I think it was released last week on Buried By Time And Dust. So, this is their first studio release after 25 years. What I have heard from people that have already heard it is that it is a really great album.
Are those the sort of people that will say it is bad when it is bad? And not the fan boy type of people?
Pim: These were the sort of people that are actually totally opposite from the fan boy type. They initially said: "Well, this will probably suck cause it isn't the original vocalist singing." But those people were really impressed.
But now the question of course stands: "quanta costa?" So, can we afford them and can we get them? And of course next year we'll also have to take Doom Shall Rise in Germany into account. You don't want to have the same line-up. Even though they are about half a year earlier in the year. I have this vague suspicion they'll have Revelation.
Felix: I don't have a vague suspicion about that at all...
Pim: Okay, so they do have Revelation.
Felix: I was working on getting them but their tour has been moved.


- Do you have any competition from those other festivals?
Pim: They are good friends of mine.
Felix: And I also know them well.
Pim: Jochen of Mirror of Deception and Frank of the German Well of Souls organise Doom Shall Rise together. Fred of Serpentcult and Heiko of Doom-metal.com organise the one in Belgium.
Felix: But I don't think there will be another edition of the Belgian Doom Night this year. We are more or less in a fixed season every year whereas they were all over the calendar.
Pim: And it is harder to organise in Belgium. They have to rent a venue whereas we have Baroeg at our disposal. That helps a lot. Doom Shall Rise also has to rent their venue which is a chapel. They draw more visitors, about double of what we get.
Felix: The chapel isn't that big and that isn't even sold out.
A chapel? Cool.
Felix: Yes, an old military chapel of a former US military base.
Pim: The first time I played there with Officium Triste in 2003 it was held in a gym hall. But Felix and I know all those guys really well. We also co-operate a lot. Because when they get bands over from the US to play Doom Shall Rise a small tour is built around it and then we see to it that they play Baroeg on one of the tour dates. So that we can programme more good bands here. We have done that on quite a few occasions. That's the way we help each other out. For them it is important that they can offer a band a 10 day tour so that they get the bands they want and we profit from that as well.
Felix: It is not competition because there is about six months time between Doom Shall Rise and Dutch Doom Days, a whole summer.
And the distance between the two festivals is quite large as well.
Pim: That too, plus they focus more on traditional doom.
Felix: And that is something I do not want to do, I want to programme broader. So not limiting ourselves down to one style. Our aim is to programme as broad as possible. More or less to piss some people off (laughs, ed.), no, seriously, of course, to offer something different. There are always people that will whine about it though. But there are people that do enjoy that broad programming. I myself do really enjoy traditional doom as well as funeral doom, but too much of the same is killing, I think.
I think that with our line-ups we can keep hold of people's attention much more easily.


- But on your second day you're more focused on the more extreme side of doom.
Felix: We've had that before, but you can't always avoid that because of touring packages. In this case the Skepticism, Pantheist, Ophis package, I had already booked Worship. But both the package and Worship could only play the Sunday. And then your hands are tied. Alas.
Pim: But we have Faith that day to counterbalance it a bit.
Felix: And Fall of the Idols. Some Christian traditional doom by Faith. So I put Fall of the Idols on that day as well and Hooded Priest.


- So, for you it won't be a problem to programme a Christian band like Faith now?
Felix: No, I don't care about that all, it is the music that counts and should do all the talking.
Pim: Within the doom scene that is totally not an issue.
Within doom quite a few bands are Christian. Look at Trouble.
Pim: But there you really name one... But lyrically there are also anti-Christian bands. There is the usage of a lot of crosses but that is more in the sense of flirting with it all.


- What is your background that you are able to do this? You said you more or less rolled into it because of contacts.
Felix: I don't really know how. It must have been a logical choice.
Pim: I became a metal fan, then started playing in a band. I also did other stuff, like write for some magazines. And it just grew from there. Because when you start organising stuff for your own band you come into contact with a lot of people and then it becomes easier along the way. It really isn't all that complicated. You just send an e-mail...
Is it really that simple that you just send an e-mail to a band?
Pim: But nowadays we've already got such a name for ourselves that bands contact us that they really want to play the festival. And then we also have to disappoint bands that they can't play here.
Felix: Especially when those are really good bands and bands we would actually want.
Pim: Who then say they will play for just the crate of beer. Even though they come from far. We would like to take advantage of that but it isn't always possible. But that does make the list for the coming years a lot easier.
Felix: The headliners we do have to lobby for, talk to, email a lot with them. But those bands are of course used to more. Forgotten Tomb was harder to get then some of the others.


- Is this voluntary work or do you get paid for it?
Felix: I work for Baroeg. But I don't get paid extra for Dutch Doom Days.
I guess that is part of your job here? Organising DDD.
Felix: Yes. But before I did it on a voluntary basis.
Pim: Everything I do here is on a voluntary basis. But I don't do as much as I used to.
Felix: He DJs a bit.
Pim: But nowadays there are more of those as well here. I limit myself to behind the scenes here. Write something about stuff and such. I started as a volunteer here in 1992. I am one of the longest running volunteers here at Baroeg. I already DJed here back then.
Felix: And I was still playing with Lego at the time, hahaha.
At the time when metal was dead because of grunge, or so they said.
Pim: Well, totally not here. Here it was still alive and kicking.


- What have been the highlights for you guys over the past six festivals?
Felix: Although the sound wasn't good for them last year I must say it was The River. I thought they were great. I really love that band. So I was really pleased they played here. Saturnus in 2006. I had waited a really long time to see them so that was great too. Of course another highlight would be Reverend Bizarre in 2006, that was pure genius. Especially because half an hour after everyone had left they jammed for a further half an hour. That was really really brilliant. Isole I really liked as well.
Pim: For me personally... Evoken was great. And, in spite of what happened to the band, that we were the first to get Thee Plague Of Gentlemen to play in The Netherlands.

- A real shame what happened to that band although part of it is now Serpentcult.
I understand it is impossible to get hold of Thee Plague Of Gentlemen's album nowadays?
Felix: Yes, unless you bump into it second hand. Everything that was still in store was retracted and destroyed, plus also the albums that were still at the record company were also destroyed. But back on topic, Pagan Altar was also great. I was really pleased with being able to get them to play here. I was really proud of that.
All the editions of DDD have been a success in my opinion.


- So, there is not a single edition you look back on with indifference?
Pim: No. Even the edition with Nadja, Methadrone...
Felix: For me personally that was the least favourite edition I saw. That edition was the one with quite a lot of experimental bands. Besides Nadja and Methadrone also Wreck of the Hesperus played that year.
Pim: Wreck of the Hesperus was also pure genius by the way. But when you get such a package...
Felix: True, but you do have quite a few bands playing then that do cost a lot of energy taking in their music. A lot of people were somewhere else at the time.


- What about Officium Triste for you personally at Dutch Doom Days, Pim?
Pim: Well, you can't judge that for yourself, now can you?
What I mean is, DDD could have been one of your better gigs, or your worst.
Felix: I never hear him say that about a gig of his own band.
Pim: We have never ever done a bad gig... But, I really can't say.
Felix: What I heard from Lawrence (OT bass player, ed.) is that he said it went really well.
Pim: We once had a cd presentation here at Baroeg and that was so much better and more intense. But like I said you really can't say that about your own band.




Past editions of Dutch Doom Days:

DDD 1, 14 October 2002
Thee Plague Of Gentlemen
Antimatter
Jack Frost
Whispering Forest
Officium Triste
Pantheist

DDD 2, 28 September 2003
Evoken
Mirror Of Deception
Whispering Gallery
Desire
Bunkur
Ataraxie
Lahar

DDD 3, 19 September 2004
Reverend Bizarre
Insanity Reigns Supreme
Beyond Belief
Doomshine
Well Of Souls
Heavy Lord

DDD 4, 1 + 2 October 2005
Mourning Beloveth
Nadja
Stereochrist
Methadrone
Wreck Of The Hesperus
IN Age And Sadness
Thee Plague Of Gentlemen
Beyond Belief
Isole
Another Messiah

DDD 5, 28 October 2006
Saturnus
Ataraxie
Inborn Suffering
Doomraiser
Funeralium
Nymphea Aurora
Abysmal Darkening

DDD 5, 29 October 2006
Reverend Bizarre
The Prophecy
The Gates Of Slumber
Centurions Ghost
Insanity Reigns Supreme
Season's End
Mary Bell

DDD 6, 3 November 2007
Forsaken
Officium Triste
Mael Mórdha
Imindain
The River
Autumnal
Eria d'Or

DDD 6, 4 November 2007
Pagan Altar
Esoteric
Serpentcult
Indesinence
Malasangre
Helevorn
Akelei







This year's edition:
Dutch Doom Day 7, Saturday 25 October 2008
Forgotten Tomb
Isole
The Lamp Of Thoth
Mourning Dawn
Griftegård
SubRosa
Wizards Of Doom
Beneath The Frozen Soil
Faal

Dutch Doom Day 7, Sunday 26 October 2008
Worship
Skepticism
Pantheist
Faith
Fall Of The Idols
Ophis
Hooded Priest


Metal Storm Supported Event October 25 + October 26, 2008