Detonation is a very interesting young band, thus I took all the more pleasure in doing this interview with Koen Romeijn, guitarist and vocalist of this debuting group. We asked him about their music, Dutch scene, life in Holland, future and some other things. It seems that Koen is a very businesslike man - he answered our questions with commitment, openness and sincerity.

1. Hail Detonation! Before we talk about Your debut album "An Epic Defiance", please tell Us a little bit about the origins of the band. Let's go back to '97...
     Well, we started the band under the name Infernal Dream in '97. Thomas (drums) and I came up with the idea to start a band with the sole purpose to play metal in whatever style we felt like. Thomas and I already played together several years in our school-period, playing covers and stuff. We met Mike and asked him to join our new formation, and so he did. We rehearsed a couple of times just for fun, mainly in a sports-cafeteria, in between the tables and bar! We wrote our first song in '97, entitled "Through the Eyes of God", and it turned out to be kind of a black metal song. Meanwhile, all three of us were playing in our own main band, but after rehearsing for about a year we decided to make Infernal Dream our priority band. It was at this point that we encountered Otto, our bassist. He was only 16 years old when we met him, but made a serious impression on us. So he joined us, and we started rehearsing on a more regular basis. Shortly after, we decided to change our name to Detonation.

2. A few words about your previous releases and search for your musical style. When did you realize, that Detonation became a promising band on the Dutch metal scene?
     Our first recordings were in '98, when we recorded 2 songs for the Crushed Skull Compilation CD, released by SkullCrusher rec. from our hometown Utrecht. These 2 songs are clearly black metal orientated, in the vein of "Through the Eyes...". To our surprise, we received a lot of positive reactions regarding our songs, and also got a nice number of gigs offered. Meanwhile, the writing-process continued, until the point that we'd written 4 new songs to record for our 1st official release, our MCD called "Lost Euphoria". We stormed the studio, the same as before, in 1999, and released the CD through SkullCrusher in 2000. Again, we gained good responses, and again gigs were played all throughout Holland. It was at this point that we first heard from people that we could be a promising band for the future.

3. How would You describe the musical path, you decided to follow? If I didn't know a bit about You, I would say: Another melodic-death metal band from Sweden.
     Ha! I take that as a compliment! Our musical path is actually quite simple to describe. At first we played Death metal with loads of black metal influences, at that time I already was a huge fan of the Gothenburg sound, and so was Thomas, but we technically not skilled enough to play that kind of metal. I think, after playing a few years, our instrumental skills had really improved, so it was an easy choice for us to create metal we always liked: Melodic Death metal! It's not that we try to copy the Gothenburg sound, but we just have a passion for twin- harmonic leads, and for groovy, yet brutal metal. I really do think we have our own style, and I know that every band says so, but I'm convinced we do. All right, we do make melodic thrash-Death like At The Gates or Dark Tranquility, but have you heard those bands play blast beats as fast as we do? I think not! There are more elements in our music which distinguish us from Swedish metal bands, for example Mike's guitar solo's, our lyrical concept, and the melodies in our riffing.

4. You've decided to enter the Excess Studio to record a debut full-length album last year. How did the session go? Are you satisfied with the obtained results?
     We spend 2 weeks in Excess recording the album, and everything went pretty smooth. Primarily because of Hans Pieters, our producer. This guy is really dedicated to the genre, and he delivered an excellent job, in recording and mixing and mastering. Thomas first recorded all drum parts and Otto followed him doing the bass. After this we took a CD home with us, so Mike and I could listen to it, and rehearse and arrange our guitar parts along with it for about a week. So, when the time had come, Mike and I stormed into the studio and recorded all guitars in about 4 days. My vocals were recorded in 1 day afterwards, and then we started to mix. We did take a rest period of a week before starting the mixing. When we finally got the master CD, and listened to it, it blew our ears off! Goddamn, I've never heard something I participated in sound as brutal and fresh as this! So you'll understand we're totally satisfied with the results, and we'll definitely go back to this studio for the recordings of our next album.

5. ...and finally You took the business in Your own hands. The distribution is up to You so far. It's hard to believe, that You hadn't been offered a proper deal. Which labels got interested in Detonation anyway?
     Well, when I'm writing this, we have actually been offered a few deals, finally!!! We are very close to signing a deal with a well-known label, whose name I cannot mention at this moment… sorry. But the breaking news will come to light in a week or so! But as far as the distribution went up to now… we took care of it on our own strength, selling and sending everything ourselves. We've put a lot of time and money in Detonation for many years, and I'm glad to see it has all been worth while.

6. The response must be eminent. How does it look like from all the directions (press, other bands, metal fans)?
     That's true! Up to now, we've only had good and positive reactions concerning "An Epic Defiance". Most people that encountered the new album has been supporting us with words such as: "We hope that you'll get signed soon, and we're sure that Detonation will get the success they deserve!" Things like that. We also noticed that we're slowly starting to build a fan base, which is a really surprising thing for us! People are mailing us, telling us how they like our album and stuff. It's a great experience for all of us.

7. Let's focus on the content of "An Epic Defiance". This stuff is quite fucking good! How much time did you spend on composing, arranging, rehearsing? I guess that all the gigs you have given before entering the studio, were the best way to master one's parts.
     Thanks for the compliment! I do not know exactly how much time we spend on composing/arranging and rehearsing, but most songs on the album were written from January 2001-June 2002. Only "Starve" is an older song, I think we wrote that one somewhere in 2000, but we slightly changed it before entering the studio. We are quite productive as a band composing songs, but we always throw away a lot of 'm away, we only want to use our best material, and if a song is not 100% satisfying, we try to improve it. But sometimes that just doesn't work out with a song, and we then usually decide to never play it again. But, as a stated before, the arranging process is ever-present. Before we entered the studio, we practically changed every song in some way. I personally think that's what makes our songs interesting, the small accents and the melodies we added in the end. About rehearsing, we always practice 2 times a week together, and Thomas usually plays one day a week extra on his own. But you're right: playing gigs is the best way to get familiar with the songs, and to get more skilled and confident with your instrument.

8. What are your favorite bands then? It's no doubt, you are mostly influenced by Swedish bands. Do you find inspirations in other kinds of metal music?
     Well, I have a lot of "favorite bands". But a lot of them are Swedish, ha! I can't deny it. Opeth is probably one of my favorites, and I worship the old work of bands such as Dark Tranquility, Dissection, At the Gates, Dismember, Eucharist etcetera. But I do not only like Scandinavian bands, I'm also into Death, Morbid Angel, and softer bands such as Anathema, Katatonia, Pain of Salvation, you name it! I'm into all kinds of music, it varies a lot. And I get inspiration from all kinds of music, from Classical to Black metal.

9. The lyrics on "An Epic Defiance" seem to be formed in some kind of concept (correct me if I'm wrong). Could you explain us the meaning of the record's title? Is there any message laying in Detonation's songs?
     Wow, you're actually the first person who discovered our lyrical concept! It's true that all lyrics on "An Epic.." are in one line with each other, they all deal with personal and psychological problems we have to deal with in modern time. Things we are confronted with in every day life, in our own social environment. That's were the title refers to: An Epic Defiance, or in other terms. A symbolic reflection of our view towards men and society, and how we try to withstand the problems we encounter. I do admit that all of our lyrics are pretty autobiographical. For instance, "The Prophecy Unfolds" is directly dealing with this subject, and that we believe "good" will defeat "evil" in a matter of time, no matter how fucked up a situation may appear. Other songs are less positive, such as "The Collision of Despair", which is about how life can drive people insane, especially when something goes wrong, and your misfortune seems to attract other problems, until the mind cannot deal with the problems anymore.

10. What do you guys do in life? Doesn't your regular actions collide with the band's business? Confronting the world with your music requires lots of effort and devotion.
     Except for Otto, we all have (fulltime) jobs. Mike works at a company that sells audio equipment for projects like festivals, Thomas just finished his Journalism study, Otto is still studying at the Science University of Delft, and I have a fulltime job at a pension-office as administrative worker. It's indeed quite difficult to combine work with Detonation, but until now it has still been possible. I do am aware of the fact that things will get more difficult in the future, and we'll probably have to work less or even stop working once the CD sales will increase, and especially if we're going on a European tour or so. But we have all agreed on one thing: this will most likely be a "one of a lifetime" opportunity, so we're going all the way with it! No matter what kind of jobs we got, Detonation will remain priority.

11. It seems that the 21st century belongs to pop-culture, creators of profitable trends and blind masses following those trends. I wonder, if it's hard for You to be in opposition - I mean, look at this shitty music TV stations. How does the situation of metal music looks like in your country? Is there a many metal TV/radio stations, fans, metal chicks, clubs, etc. (Like metal chicks)? It would appear, that Amsterdam is one of the fucking DJ's paradise.
     You're right, it's pop music, but also crap like R&B and dance, that have the upper hand in the music business, also here in Holland. But fortunately I can tell you that the metal scene is growing rapidly in our country! A lot of good bands are formed the last 2 years, and I also noticed that several Music stations on radio and TV are playing metal more often. It's still not enough, of course, but I have good hopes for the future! We always have had a lot of venues here in Holland, were bands get the opportunity to play on a regular basis, but there's been a time that venues were only booking commercial acts. And if I look at the gigs we played ourselves the last few months, I draw the conclusion that metal music is getting more appreciated every day! But you're right about Amsterdam, which actually goes for every big city in Holland: Dance events, Disco's, shit like that, are still annoying me as hell.

12. Could You leave Holland for any better place to live? If so, which country it would be and why?
     No, I don't think so. Holland is a nice place to live, although it's not perfect of course. What I do hate about my country is the wetter and the landscape. Winters are wet and summers are also wet! And if the sun accidentally shines, it's too humid to breathe. And the landscape. Well, everything's flat you know, I'd rather be living in the mountains. If I had to choose another country, I guess it would be a Scandinavian country (because of the landscape).

13. How do the religion things look like? Are there a lot of true believers in such a modern and liberal country? Does the Catholic Church offer a lot to young Dutch people? ...or maybe it's simply ignored?
     Religion hasn't been an important issue in Holland over the past 20 years or so, but primarily in the larger cities. Except for the Muslim population, they are (as always) holding on to their religion. If you take a trip to the countryside or east of Holland, you notice that religion is of more importance there. But generally, churches are disappearing and the young generation doesn't want to get involved with any type of religion in my opinion.

14. What do the following ideas mean to You?
USA - Iraq conflict: The USA is as always blowing things out of proportion, but they are right in some points I think, Iraq could be a threat to the western society.
Xenophobia: Hmm... Tuff one, Let's say I can understand why, but I'm not suffering from it.
Cloning: Why not? Pretty cool stuff!
Fake breasts: If done properly, and not too much, Hell yeah! But I prefer real ones.
Black "spoken music" performers (Hell! Why are they always dressed in white?): I don't know, not my kind of music.

15. Okay, let's go back to more important things. Describe Your dream gig: place, line-up, audience. and what's your best performance so far?
     My dream gig... let's see, that's a difficult one. I could think of several, for example playing at Dynamo Open Air festival as one of the closing acts, in front of 20000 people, but for me personally it would be fucking great to do a world tour with a band such as Opeth or Dissection (if they were still active).

16. The cover artwork of your release is made by Niklas Sundin. I think, it fits perfectly to the character of Your compositions. How did You induce this man to do the job?
     We just asked him by e-mail, this was months before the recording of our the album, and he asked us to send him a CD so he could check us out and design something that would fit with our music. So we send him a CD with some rehearsal recordings from new songs, and he admitted to like our style. So he came up with an idea for the cover, or actually several ideas, and we picked one. Niklas has really done an excellent job creating the artwork and I also think it suits the music on "An Epic Defiance" great! Beside all this, Niklas was very cool to negotiate with, and a real nice person also. We cannot thank him enough for the stuff he's done for us.

17. Two of Detonation's musicians play in other bands. A few words about those:
     All right, Mike is also active in several other projects. Primarily, he's guitarist in M-90's, a power-thrash metal band from Utrecht, our home town. They play a kind of "Death/Grip Inc. meets Slayer" metal, very cool! And also quite technical! They just released their first official CD, entitled "Desert Of Pangea", check it out! He's also active in a Utrecht-based grind core band, whose name I cannot remember right now. I am playing in other bands/projects as well. Engorge, a death metal band in the vein of Bolt Thrower, is my second band. I play the guitar with them, and some backing vocals. At this moment, we're recording our 2nd full-length CD entitled "50 megatons Of Armored Steel" which will be a concept album about the German 2nd World War battleship the Bischmarck. Besides Engorge, I'm also active in 2 other small projects: Bastard Squad, were I play drums (death 'n roll) and I just started a project with Thomas (our drummer), which will be some lighter music, with loads of melodic acoustic guitars and clean vocals.

18. Question about the future: What are Your plans? Let's assume, that no label offered You a proper deal - what would You do? Are You going to record next album next year?
     Well, as a matter of fact, we have been offered a few deals lately!! And we've almost finished negotiating with one in particular, but I cannot mention their name right now, sorry! The contract is almost ready, so the big news will be announced soon! What I can say, is that the label is quite well-known in the scene, so keep your eyes and ears open for the big news! I can say that we will most likely record our next album at the beginning of 2004, if all goes well. Our first goal is to re-release "An Epic Defiance" worldwide!

Well, we reached to the end of my questions. Is there anything You want to say, to finish Your statements? A few words to the diabolous.com visitors:
     Yeah! Thanks for this interview, Deathox, and good luck with all your activities! And to you reading this interview, take a look at our website www.detonation.nl, and listen to a few songs from the new album for free at www.mp3.com/detonation. If all goes well, you'll be able to buy our CD in the stores in a few months, so keep looking for it! 2025 will be our year, so you will most definitely hear a lot more from us! Keep up the spirit, and enjoy the brutal things in life!
Koen Romeijn, Detonation.

Detonation
http://www.detonation.nl