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Goat Vomit
Goat Vomit is a raw, but crushing death/grind band and after hearing their demo, which was released on tape! I sent band member Julien Francois an interview and here is what he said to my questions:
MC: Give me a history of the band and who is in the band now?
JF: Here we go! The band started in April 2010 with the same lineup as today : David on drums, Mers on guitar, Spud on bass and me (Jup) on vocals.
We recorded, mixed and fucked in 2 days our first demo in July 2010 in studio Mammouth here in our hometown Liège (Europe - Belgium - french speaking part of the country).
Some weeks after, we got an offer from Heavy Steel Records to release the shit on tape (typical underground 300 copies deal).
During the last year we did gigs, got too many times drunk and so here we are! The band has just finished the final mix for the 2nd demo/EP last month and now we try to find some interesting underground deals.
MC: Did any of you play in any other bands before Goat Vomit and how did you come up with the name?
JF: Yeah we all played in different bands in the past. I used to play in a band called "Heretic" in the early 90's. We did a few brutal rehearsal tapes. At the times I used to be a drummer (I was not particulary good). I also played drums for a shitty heavy metal band called "ex Delirium". Actually Goat Vomit is my first experience on vocals.
Don't know too much for the others. All I can say is that David started to drum many years ago. He was already my best friend and he still is. He played together with Mers in bands such as Bazaar, Cosmic Invaders to name a few.
Nowadays, that filthy Spud is also playing in a local punk band called Life is damage and Mers is always on the road with Pestifer, a cool technical death metal band.
Well, for the band name it was me who came up with it. You know, some years ago, I was checking my tape collection and I found an old one called "Goat Vulva demo II 91" with a black and white cover of Mr Chris Moyen.
So that's how it started. Believe me or not, we knew nothing about all the new "goat" bands. I don't follow for long what happen in the underground and I'm tired of the comparison with bands playing "barbaric war black metal" ha ha ha !!
We always wanted Goat Vomit to be a pure death/grind/crust/what the fuck we want kind of band !!!! And you know, when I chose the band name I probably thought it was the best fuckin name in the universe.
MC: How does a song come together and what was the hardest song the band had to write and what was the easiest?
JF: Hard question !!! Usually it's Spud and Mers who are involved in the... well, call it " musical writing process". They come with the riffs, we get a few beers, we try to arrange the song and that's it.
Goat Vomit is a democracy you know, everybody has its word to say. If a riff is not good enough for each member, we forget it.
Concerning the second part of your question, well, I would say that none of our songs are really hard to write. Especially the first demo songs, some of them were written in 30 minutes ha ha... including the lyrics !!!
On our second recording, F.O.A.D. is a perfect example of an easy to come song but it's effective, it's raw, it's pure death metal in the vein of Hellhammer/Bathory/Venom.
MC: Are lyrics easy to come by or is it sometimes hard?
JF: Well, unfortunately for the others I'm the guy who's in charge of the lyrics! Well I'm joking, I do the job seriously. Usually the lyrics deal with, you know, the apocalyptic end of the human race, war, global carnage and other funny stories.
They must be on the same level as the music - total death metal/Discharge way. I like to put some references in the lyrics. On the demo, the lyrics of "Written in blood" are directly inspired by the song "The Return of Darkness and Evil" from Bathory. Read the lyrics and you'll understand. The 2 first Bathory LP's have definitely changed my life when I was a teenager. I've never heard so much darkness and evil condensed in one band before, it was no more music, it was pure magic.
So to answer your question, it depends if I'm in the mood or not. Sometimes lyrics are just a bunch of total cliches/bullshit like "death to you all/mankind massacre" and it takes me 10 minutes to write them and sometimes I try to give the lyrics a literary approach.
MC: If I am not mistaken your releases came out on cassette? Why did you decide to do this?
JF: You right the demo has been released on tape because that's the only suitable format for a demo. The others were a bit skeptical about it but I really wanted to do it that way. I'm pretty sure you understand me.
I like the underground items like tapes, 7 inches... It brings me back memories : trading tapes, ordering fanzines in every corner of the world, hidden cash letters, waiting for fuckin months and receiving broken tapes or torn magazines (well, I said memories not especially good memories !!!).
MC: What would you say the band sounds like and also do you play any live shows?
JF: Don't know, I would say Goat Vomit is a mix between death/grind and punk/crust. We all have different musical backgrounds in the band and I think you can hear it clearly.
Live Shows ? That's my favourite part of the job !!! We want Goat Vomit to be pure frenzy on stage. We want to take the audience down to the fiery pits of hell !!! I have to confess to you that sometimes we're a bit too drunk when we get on stage.
Sometimes we could be more accurate... but what the fuck ! We like messing up the live shows especially when the crowd shares the same feeling.
We play live quite often but it it's sometimes difficult to book some shows in foreign countries as we're all busy with our respective jobs. We played gigs in Germany in august with cool bands : Obscure Infinity, Deathronation, Funeral Whore. Burial Invocation was supposed to play too but it never happened, don't know why...
MC: What has been the feedback to your release so far and do you feel you have gotten any unfair reviews so far?
JF: Well, we mostly sold the tape to our local friends/drinking team and they all said it was good. I read a few reviews on the Internet and they were good as well (especially yours !!!). So, as far as I know, no unfair reviews yet but we didn't promote the band that much. Concerning the sales, we sold all the copies we had. I don't know if the label guy is happy with the sales, we should ask him.
MC: When you listen to a song or a band for the first time what do you listen for?
JF: I'm not the right man to answer this question as I haven't bought a new record for long... Usually I have to enjoy the shit on the first or second listening. I don't want to waste my time listening 10 times a song before enjoying it...
And you know, for me there's only 2 kind of music, the one I like and the one I don't like !!! Btw, the last Visions of war (these dudes are good friends) LP is a good example of what I want to say. You put the needle on the vinyl and... come on !!! You instantly need to open a beer and bang your head !!!
MC: What has been the best band you ever have seen live?
JF: Maybe Morbid Angel for their Blessed are the sick tour (92 ? don't remember). Recently, it was Agathocles when they played with us for the crustmas fest in december 2010. These guys are real gentlemen.
The Destruction special reunion party in 2000 (Bochum - Germany) was one hell of a night. David and I were in the crowd excited as fuck, the lights turned off, we heared "The end is near, Lucifer's legions of death...blah blah" and suddenly: blast, fire, smoke and one hell of a total disaster german moshpit. Quite impressive !!! I remember the band gave a special present to the crowd: 500 liters of free beer... cool !
MC: Does the band have any goals at all?
JF: Nothing special you know, just having fun together, doing the music we like no matter if people like it or not (cliche), travelling and meeting cool people...
I mean, we're serious with the band but it's more or less like a hobby. We all have our job, some have kid... You know, fuckin life !!!
MC: Plug any websites you have? What do you think of sites like My Space and Facebook?
JF: We have a Myspace but this shit sucks !!! Personally I hate social networks !!! I don't need to expose my boring life with people whom I don't care. I think none of us in the band have a facebook page.
Of course, for a band the Internet can be useful for contacts, interviews... It can be a wonderful tool but if I want to have a talk with my friends I really prefer to go to a bar talking face to face.
But you know maybe it's a question of generation...
MC: If you could cover one tune what song would it be and why?
JF: The best tune to cover ? Bathory's Total destruction or maybe Fear of napalm by Terrorizer or Witching metal from Sodom or The day man lost by Carnage or... Why ? Because these are the best songs ever written (for me).
But we're not a covering band. We did once Massacra from Hellhammer on stage but it sucked... At least we had a good laugh. After that we decided to do our own Hellhammer kind of song and we wrote the song F.O.A.D. You will understand when you'll hear it. It's pure tribute.
MC: When can we expect some new music and are you looking at any labels to try and put your music out?
JF: As I said above we just finished the final mix of the recording in October. 20 minutes of pure death/grind/crust. Now, we have to move our ass to find some interesting deals... We would like to release the shit both on tape and vinyl.
Any true dedicated underground labels should contact us through our MySpace. If you're interested leave us your address and we gonna send you some promo stuff !!
MC: What are you thoughts on the underground scene nowadays? Do you feel there is to many bands?
JF: Yes !!! Too many bands, too many labels, too many webzines,... But, times they are changing !!!I don't know, maybe I'm an old prick. I remember Metalion already complaining about the situation in Slayer Mag in 91 !!!
MC: Any last words, horns up for the interview.
JF: Thanks you Mr Forbes for still being active in the metal underground !!! Thanks for the interview and the support. Cheers to all your readers.