GOREFEST Guitarist: 'New Songs Can Be Described As Loud And Louder'

GOREFEST guitarist Frank Harthoorn spoke to Masterful-Magazine.com about the group's decision to reunite and their future plans, among other topics. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Masterful-Magazine.com: The first question, the question that is bound to arise: how did you come around reforming GOREFEST? From what I've read in interviews prior to this one, Hans of Transmission Records (EPICA, AFTER FOREVER, ASRAI) wanted to reissue GOREFEST's back catalogue and a DVD. Thus got the whole thing going. Can you provide us with some insight on how it all went from there on?

Frank Harthoorn: "In order to talk things over properly, there were some personal problems between us that had to be resolved. When that was done, it was actually just a small step to saying, 'Well, if we're here now, we might as well try and have some fun, play some old songs and see if we can salvage anything from the train wreck that was GOREFEST at the end of '98.' Which we did. There were some doubts here and there, I mean there's quite a difference between jamming some old songs with a couple of old friends in the rehearsal room, and actually reforming this band. But after a couple of days it all made much more sense, so we decided to take a shot at it. This meant that the deal with Transmission was off. If you're in a rehearsal room with your old band, everyone's got the same vibe, new material will be written. Which you'll want to record and release. Which means you'll want your back catalogue in order to have some weight in future dealings with possible record labels. So we kept those."

Masterful-Magazine.com: Was there ever any fear to be alienated from your death metal origins? After all, when GOREFEST dissolved in the late '90s, many went off to tackle quite different musical undertakings. Jan-Chris De Koeijer, for one, had to endure a lot of bad criticisms with his new wave/gothic band COLDPOP CULTURE.

Frank Harthoorn: "No. I think we got 'alienated from our death metal origins' along the way, anyway. Some of those elements we liked, we kept. But as much as some people hate the word, you will evolve, as a band, because your musical tastes evolve too, as you get older. This is all fine if you've got a couple of side-projects going on, from which you can pull your different musical needs. But if this is your only band, and you happen to like this band, and you don't have the luxury of having a lot of free time on your hands, you are going to have to deal with these differences in musical interests. But I digress. As for those criticisms, I've never much understood those. Jan-Chris never made a secret of his musical tastes, why would it bother anyone else? Playing one kind of music, to me, doesn't automatically rule out everything else. I think it's actually quite healthy for a musician to do something completely different. Hell, you might even learn a few things!"

Masterful-Magazine.com: Like any band in the re-forming process, new material is being written and rehearsed. How would you describe the material that is currently finished? Down the line of which past album should the new tracks sound? A band statement mentioned "dark" and "brutal" to name a thing.

Frank Harthoorn: "Dark and brutal? Where did you read this? We haven't used the word brutal in at least 10 years, I think, and we're not about to either. I know Jan-Chris said something about dark and very hard, but that's just, you know, semantics. You can't really say anything about material that's not been written yet. The songs we do have, however, can be described as loud and louder. Heavy guitars, drums, the works. Nothing 'loudest' yet, but we're getting there."

Read Frank Harthoorn's entire interview with Masterful-Magazine.com at this location.