Roadkill

Run over by a 40 ton semitrailer.....

Answers by drummer Gary after the recording of "Pyramid"

 

 

.

 

 

-Are you still satisfied by 100% of your CD or do you NOW find things U'd like to change?
Well, I personally am really happy with the way the cd turned out. My guitaris Richard is a real critic and he'll always finds little things to complain about. I'm gratefull for this though, cause it'll keep you sharp, it's not good for a band to be easily satisfied with your music or your recordings. My brother Bardo, who is our bassplayer is also pretty hard to please so we'll keep on going untill they also think everything is alright....

-Did it take long to get such pro sounds?
Actually no, it took us one day in the studio to record the 3 tracks on Pyramid and another half a day to do the mix. We did have one hell of a studiotechnician; Willem Driebergen, who really has a feel for the music we make and that makes things a lot easier.

-How are your songs born?
The musical part of the song usually starts an idea I get wile I'm in my car or in bed or some other strange place. If I'm not at home, I'll call my own answering machine and I'll sing the guitarriff or chorus in, when I get home I'll work on it on my guitar an record that on a md or a 4-track to take it to the band and see what we can do with it. We also make stuff up during our rehearsals and that's when the songs really take shape, by input from all 5 of us. The lyrics are written by me or Marco, the singer of Roadkill. I usually come up with a cool word and start working from there but sometimes it's a subject that keeps me busy or intrigues me....

-What characteristics must a song of yours have to be developed and not rejected?
We try to give the song a "hook", a riff or a part that stays in your head, even after you've heard it only once. Of course it's got to be real heavy metal. Most of our songs have a little technical edge, not too much...just to make it more interesting. Most of these characteristics are developed while the band works on the songs. So it's the magic of all of us together that makes it work...

-Have you prepared new songs these days?
Yes, we've just finished a song that will be the titletrack for a movie about Merlin, the wizzard. The movie will be made in England this year and Roadkill will travel to England to record our musicvideo. At this moment, we have enough "approved" material for our full length album........

-Is your line-up steady?
Yeah, right now we have a very steady line-up. Roadkill has allways been my brother Bardo and me and after a little while our guitarist Mario came to rock with us. We saw Richard play with his former band "the Fridge" and we just had to have him, so we did. We did have a lot of trouble finding the perfect singer for our music. We tried a real high pitched voice (like James laBrie; Dream Theater) and also a grunter. Marco turned out to be the ultimate voice for us. The 5 of us just make it work, as friends as well as fellow musicians.....

-The Dutch metal scene is different from the '80s one. Maybe now the most popular bands are not only extreme bands like in the past, or am I wrong?
No, not really but I don't think you need an extreme band to be popular. 80's metal is totally back, so we're right on it. Now let's hope everybody will hear us. The metalscene here in Holland is pathetic, so we will not focus on scoring here. Germany on the other hand is big in metal and only a couple of hundred kilometers from here, so............

-Did you prefer it when HM was popular in the 80s but also more commercial (Metallica's Black album release period for example), or now that it sells less cos it's underground again?
I don't really think it's a bad thing when the music is commercial as long as you don't make the music just to get rich. Like any good musician would say: it's got to come from the heart......not from the wallet.... Of course it's really great to have a lot of people listening to your stuff because it's " the thing everybody likes" but if it isn't, I'll settle for the die-hard-metalhead anytime.... If I know now that I'd never make a cent with the music Roadkill makes, it wouldn't stop me at all and I'm sure I speak for us all !!

-What makes your live shows so special?
We go to a lot of metalconcerts and festivals and I personally think that a good show is almost as important as the music so we put a lot of time and effort in our show. We've got it all; The pyros, the backdrops, the gigantic drumset, the special effect lighting but most of all the Heavy metal heart that will make you bang your head like never before when you come see us !!!!

-Ever played out of Holland?
Yeah, we played in Belgium and we're going to do a little tour in Germany this spring. We've been offered a support tour in America but we had to decline because of our jobs, we could stay away long enough to cover the costs.....too bad !!

-What bands did U play with and who'd U like to play with?
We haven't really played with really big bands. Usually we're the headliners but Iron Maiden's support would be nice but so would a lot of other bands be, so if you got any connections.....feel free to contact us www.roadkill.nl

-Tell us some amusing episodes happened during a show or on a tour.
A couple of weeks back we did a show in a club and during the show one of our smokemachines caught fire. The smoke really hurt my eyes and I yelled at Bardo to put it out. He didn't hear me and I didn't want to stop playing. After a little while the flames were coming out of the machine and Bardo saw that, so while he was playing the bassguitar, he tried to blow out the fire....that didn't work so after he unplugged it (in the dark) he and our singer's girlfriend put the fire out with our supply of springwater (I went to bed thirsty that night ;-)) We had to put it out of it's misery so this was the last smoke the machine ever blew.....R.I.P.

-Did you send your demoCD to lots of labels and magazines?
What were the responses? Yes we did sent a lot of copies of "Pyramid" to a great number of magazines and webzines. Every single review we got was good, a lot were really good and a number of reviews were AWESOME !! (thanx Marco !!) We are really happy that "Pyramid" put us on the map, now lets see wher it will takes us from here...

-What are your future plans for 2003?
We're going to record our new full length album this summer. There will be about 9 songs on it and the name of the album will be "SEE - HEAR - BELIEVE" We'll also record the moviesoudtrack in march and we'll do the musicvideo in the fall of 2003. We hope to do a lot of gigs in Germany and we're already working on a little tour in Italy (NO shit !!) But no promises, we'll let you know what goes on through our site www.roadkill.nl We just want to play Heavy Metal and have as many metalheads as possible listen to our music....

-Take all the place U wish for a final greeting to Italian fans/message/threat/whatever.
It's just great to see that Heavy Metal always survives. The kind of music you hear on the radio today, will be forgotten tomorrow. And then look at all the great metalbands of the past....they're still here and doing what they do best.... Everybody that loves our kind of music is bonded to each other, one way or the other, that's why there's never any trouble during metalconcerts or festivals and that says a lot about us all. Roadkill want to be an active part of that. We want to make you feel good with our music, give it a try and you'll be amazed, 'cause Roadkill IS Heavy Metal

SEE - HEAR - BELIEVE

The more it stays the same, the less it changes.
MARKUS GANZHERRLICH
- 30/1/03



Contacts:
E-mail: info@roadkill.nl
www.roadkill.nl

Line-up:
Bardo, bass
Gabor, drums
Marco, vocals
Mario, guitar
Richard, guitar



Discography:
www.roadkill.nl/releases.htm