interview with Agents of Entropy
What´s the name of your band? Agents of Entropy
How was the band formed?
BJ, former vocalist/guitarist of punk band Vals wanted to start a new band that would sound heavy, dark, epic, melancholic and intense. A bit in the veins of bands like Fall of Efrafa, Downfall of Gaia, Ekkaia, Ictus, Svffer, and Autarch perhaps.
Johnny, former drummer of thrash metal outfit Nuestros Derechos and current timekeeper for death metallers Bloodgod, liked the idea and teamed up. That was in 2012.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?
Agents of Entropy’s current line-up consists of:
BJ (ex-Vals) – guitars and vocals
Ruben (also ex-Vals) – bass and vocals
Johnny (ex-Nuestros Derechos, Bloodgod) - drums
Could you explain your music to someone that hasn't heard you? That’s a hard question! In short? War cries for dismantling and destruction! At some points it’s quite heavy and aggressive, but it also has a lot of dynamics. Some would call it atmospheric post hardcore, post metal or neocrust. How would you describe it?
Where was your first gig? That was December 30, 2012 at ACU in our hometown Utrecht. The next day we played at a New Year’s Eve fest in Belgium. That was in the original line-up with Jedi Jet (ex-Nuestros Derechos) on bass.
Where was the latest gig? That was with Enhet from Latvia, Khroma from Finland and the final goodbye show of a Dutch band called New World Disorder. You should check out those band too!
What are your songs about? We’ve all read Derrick Jensen's two-volume book Endgame, which made quite an impression on us. As a band we’ve decided to write songs inspired by / based on the premises of Jensen’s thought-provoking writing.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Nah, we don’t do covers. It’s all original music, although you may recognize some of our influences. Maybe one day we’ll do a cover version of a song that has special meaning to us. Just one, for fun.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We haven’t released any album yet but are planning our first studio recordings before the end of this year. Expect an EP rather than a full-length.
Do you have any clips on YouTube? Sure, have a look on http://www.youtube.com/user/EntropyAgents
Which band is the best you´ve seen?Not sure about BJ and Ruben, but I’m cherishing the memories of seeing legendary band Death with the late Chuck Schuldiner live for a number of times in the ‘90s.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Not sure. The thing is, the music you discover and like in your younger days when you’re a teenager, is the music that will stick with you for the rest of your life. Even when newer, more modern bands have come around and released great stuff too.
What's the first step when making a new song?Easy: it all starts with good guitar riffs.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums?
It doesn’t matter how we feel about it, it’s just a given fact. The world has changed, just like people a driving cars rather than horses nowadays. In fact, lots of people don’t even download anymore, they just stream it directly from the internet.
Internet is a great way to discover new music for free, which is awesome for underground bands like ourselves. Just remember: priceless music is not the same as worthless music. Every honest band can be described as a bunch of struggling musicians who put their heart and soul in the efforts to come up with the best song so far.
Have you been part of any other projects or bands?
BJ and Ruben were in a punk band called Vals for ages. The’ve known each other for a long time and got on a lot of adventures together, including some US tours.
Johnny was in a band called Nuestros Derechos for over a decade. That band did quite a lot of show too and released a demo, a split EP, another EP and a full-length album.
What would you do if there was no music? We’d probably lazy ass alcoholics. Perhaps making films, writing books or finding other ways to turn frustrations and other negative emotions into something with beauty and meaning.
How important are your fans? Very, very, very much. Absolutely.
Where do you rehearse and how often? We rehearse once a week at a complex of rehearsal studios and a small venue called dB’s in our hometown Utrecht. It’s a great place with wonderful people, definitely worth to drop by for a beer or two when you’re near.
Do you have any webpages?
Of course. Have a look here:
http://agentsofentropy.nl/
https://www.facebook.com/agentsofentropy
https://twitter.com/EntropyAgents
http://www.youtube.com/user/EntropyAgents
http://agents-of-entropy.tumblr.com/
http://instagram.com/agentsofentropy
http://about.me/agentsofentropy
