interview with Rectal Smegma
Have any of you played in other bands? Rectal Smegma certainly isn't the first band for any of us. We've paid our dues in other bands and some of us still do.
How is it that you started playing music? I myself got a guitar when I was 15 or 16 years old. Kinda started fucking around with it, picking up tips and tricks along the way. You know how it goes, playing every local shithole with your high school band and slowly climbing up the ladder.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? Yannic - vox, not that old Baard - bass, slightly older Walter - drums, getting pretty old Stijnator - guitar, senior citizen
Have you had other previous members? Yes, a shitload of them. All of them left for different reasons, voluntarily or not.
Did you make music even when you were young? Define young? If 15-16 years old is young, then yes.
Where are you from? The band is from the Westland part of the Netherlands, mixed with a few more exotic elements.
What year did the band form? The band was founded in 2003 as Carnal Rancidity but evolved into Rectal Smegma pretty soon.
What's your style of genre? I guess most people see us as goregrind, but the music contains elements of grindcore, brutal death metal and incidentally various other styles of metal.
What inspires you? Mainly alcohol, narcotics, women, comedy movies and generic stupidity.
How often and where do you reherse? We rehearse once a week in Naaldwijk, Westland.
How have you developed since you started with the music? I certainly hope we have become better musicians and songwriters. I guess we have a better idea of what direction we want to take and how to execute that.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Yes, unfortunately this band does not generate enough money to just play shows and hang around in swimming pools drinking vodka surrounded by scarcely clad girls...... yet.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Not looking, we're on the roster of Doomstar Bookings. No complaints there.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We are looking for new options for the upcoming album, which is due for early 2016.
What made you decide to make this music? We play whatever we think is cool to play. We're not the type of guys who try to exceed the musical limitations. Having a good time is just as important as the musical part.
What are your songs about? Conspiracy theories on world domination, the Nietzschean view on the influence of Apollonian and Dyonisian concepts on today's society, the role of the christian dogma in masonic ideas and the ultimate fate of the ever expanding universe, and shit. Not really.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? It's a group process mostly, it differs from song to song. Sometimes one of us has an idea that is pretty much finished, sometimes it just grows during rehearsals. Whatever works out best.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Mostly the music, but sometimes it starts with a title.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Being under the influence is the only condition that is truly important.
Have you done any covers live? Not recently, no. We prefer to concentrate on our own material.
What language do you sing in? Both dutch and english, depends on what fits best to the song.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Fuck, no idea. Sometimes you play in front of the bar guy and a couple of senseless drunks. And in two weeks we're playing Summer Breeze which has 35000-40000 visitors?
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Well, we aim for attractive young women but we seem to attract guys with preferences for inflatable toys and toilet articles, of ALL ages.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? The setlist has been about the same for about a year now, but we are hoping to introduce new material soon. We are already playing some stuff from the upcoming album.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? Not really, we prefer to explore new places.
What was your first gig like? No idea.
What was your latest gig? That was In Flammen Open Air, went great despite a few technical problems.
Have you had to cancel a gig? No, not recently.
Where have you played live this year? We played at Gorecity 2 in Eindhoven. Oostende and Brussels in Belgium. A lot of shows in Germany, club shows in Osnabrück and Neuss, and the Ranger Rock open air, Metal Frenzy open air and In Flammen festival open air. And a few smaller shows in our home country.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We have two more open air festivals coming up, Brutal Assault and Summerbreeze. We're playing in the Baroeg, Rotterdam with Jig Ai and a festival in Bristol, UK a week later. Then the Rectal Sake Massacre Japan tour and November to Dismember in Romania in November. In 2016 we'll be playing Grindhoven and doing a USA tour.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Pretty early on. At the moment we have shirts, hoodies, zippers, CD's and vinyl.
Where can people buy your merchandise? At our shows or they can contact us through [email protected]
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? Pirating music has always existed, remember tape trading? A lot of bands benefited from this. I guess real fans will still buy the original stuff.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? Well, there are a lot more special and limited editions available nowadays.
What do you think of my work? Keep it up man, support and exposure for bands is very important. Bands need people like you.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? We would love to play Sweden some day.
Do you have any role models or idols? Ron Burgundy.
Why do you think that they exist? It makes money.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? We don't look at other bands that way. Inspiration comes from ourselves.
What have been your biggest obstacles? We don't think in obstacles, we think in solutions. Peace and love, man.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Buy our albums and shirts.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Have a good drink, hang out with cool and funny people, have a few laughs. Nothing too complicated.
Do you have any new material? We have about ten new songs ready for the upcoming album. Things are going swimmingly.
What are your web sites?
https://www.facebook.com/rectalsmegmawestlandgoregrind
https://rectalsmegma.bandcamp.com/
How can people reach you? At [email protected] or send us a pm on our Facebook page. Or buy us a beer at one of our shows.
What are your plans for the future? Tour Japan and hopefully the rest of the world, record a new album, world domination and unfathomable wealth.
Do you have something to add? Thanks for the support, bro. Keep up the good work and hopefully we'll see you in Sverige in the future. Skål!
