interview with MARTYR
Have any of you played in other bands? Yes we all have played in other bands , mostly in between the time MARTYR was inactive from 1987-2006,
How is it that you started playing music? My brother had a guitar but didn’t do anything with it, so I started to pick it up basically.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Rick Bouwman – Guitars
Vinnie Wassinkk – Bass
Rop van Haren – Vocals
Rick Valcon – Drums
Geoffrey Maas – Guitars
Average age around 50.
Have you had other previous members? Yes, recent year we changed our line . Rop and Rick are original MARTYR members.
Did you make music even when you were young? Yes we even started very young, our drummer at that time was 14 for example.
Where are you from? Utrecht - Netherlands
What year did the band form?1982
What's your style of genre? Heavy Metal , mainly classic metal or 80s metal but we moved to a more modern sound recent years and more thrash maybe as well.
What inspires you? That can be everything, form books, to mobies to wehat happens in the world , everything in fact
How often and where do you reherse? Depends , if we are writing a new album and enter the studio we rehearse a lot , for gigs we hardly rehearse.
How have you developed since you started with the music? We all gre older and gt to know our instruments better and developed skills in playing, songwriting etc
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? At this moment we , and we always have done, do most of the bookings ourselves which goes well. We have a booking agency too next to that Wayland management helping us out with the business part of things.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We are signed by Into The Limelight Records and our next record we already have a deal for.
What made you decide to make this music? I am an creative person so this I need to develop something I like
What are your songs about? Can be anything in fact , depending on what comes up . No lovestories however.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Me and singer Rop, but in thisline up also other members write riffs and stuff.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? We start with the music , lyrics come later
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Yes most of the time we write at home recently since the last album You Are Next and record in ProTools or Reaper at home before we do final recordings in the studio
Have you done any covers live? We did just once a song on the Dutch Steel Festival called Starbreaker by Savage. But that was because our producer Jack Nobelen was in it and he was a special guest on that show. On the You Are Next album there is a Raven tribute song “Don’t Need Your Money”
What language do you sing in? English
What ages are most of your concert attendants? All ages in fact , which is a good thing
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We vary so it keeps interesting.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? We play all over the country and Europe and also played Japan , but yes some places we play more often than others .
What was your first gig like? A pure rock club in Utrecht called HE33 , un experienced but lots of fun and an immediate fanbase
What was your latest gig? No Sleep Till Wieleman Fest Mid January . In Feb we play Japan.
Where have you played live this year? We played in Holland, Germany , Belgium , Greece, France, Japan, Poland this year.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? In 2019 we do Holland, Germany , Belgium , Poland Japan for sure
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Form the beginning, we have CD’s, shirts, patches, picks, photocards, MARTYR beer , buttons and more
Where can people buy your merchandise? www.martyronline.nl\store
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? It is the sign of the times, so I think as long as people hear our music and like it , I can dig it
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? It is more difficult to get your music on a label cause everyone can release it themselves and people download more than they buy, so yes to earn some money is more difficult by sales
Do you have any role models or idols? My main idol is Randy Rhoads
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Both actually as we are from the 80’s but are also inspired by new bands
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Never give up and always follow your own path
How do you get psyched for a gig? Drinking Jagermeister
Do you have any new material? Latyest album You Are Next is out since 2016 and we are working on new material
What are your web sites? www.martyronline.nl , www.facebook.com\martyronline
How can people reach you? [email protected]
What are your plans for the future? Write new songs and play a lot , release a live album and a new album .
Do you have something to add? Thanks for the continuous support !
