An Interview with Stockholm Syndrome
There is a lot of noise coming out of Noord-Brabant these days. It may not please the neighbours, but the kids definitely seem impressed.
One of the noise conspirators creating such a racket and responsible for their own brand of aural chaos in and around the Roosendaal area is Stockholm Syndrome, currently a four-piece featuring Mario van Meer (vocals), Maarten van der Poll (guitar), Antal Derene (bass), and Martijn Konings (drums).
Why they are being written about here is because they are not your standard metal/hardcore act, attempting to batter you into submission with blunt riffage and 200bpm drumming. That music has it's place, but here at Incendiary, I am much more fascinated by the use of jagged guitars, dissonance and dynamics in order to create a sound that is both powerful and sinister. That's the real Stockholm Syndrome effect.
So let me present an introductory interview with vocalist, Mario van Meer.
When was Stockholm Syndrome formed?
November 2000. We played our first show one year later, on our 7" release
party, November 2001.
How did you all get together?
First, since 1998 or something, we were a metalcore band named Unfold, but
we got tired of playing that style so we changed the band name to Stockholm
Syndrome, threw away every song we had so far and made new ones.
Back then SS was just a side-project because Jeroen was pretty busy with his
other band Second To None and i was in Bob
Miller And The Nightmares.
Are you very confident and settled with the current line-up of the
band?
Yes. I know this line-up is just as good (or maybe even better) as the previous
ones. When Jeroen (our former bass-player and main songwriter) left, we thought
it would be really difficult to replace him, but we played the last show with
him on May 5th this year, and the first one with Antal on May 25th. Right
now, we have three brand new songs in our set and we have two others that
are almost finished.
Who is the main songwriter now?
Now Maarten is kind of the main songwriter, but it's more "democratic"
these days, because Jeroen's songs were all ready-made at home by him. He
wrote 90% of the CD we're going to release soon, and i think he also thought
up most songs for his new band Dead Rivers, and his old band Second To None,
which makes him a kind of a genius.
When the songs are being written, is there a clear idea of where
they should go, or is it more a case of pinning riffs together and deciding
what sounds best?
Maarten mostly comes up with new ideas and puts them all together with Antal
and Martijn, and i write the words when the song is completed. Our new bassist,
Antal, also contributed a completely new song. We never just cut and paste
riffs together, as we're very critical on what sounds good together and what
fits best where.
Are your lyrics political or does political thought affect the songwriting?
We have some political / social lyrics, and also some personal stuff.
You aren't typically metal, nor simply indie rock? What were the bands
that influenced and inspired you?
Our mutual favourite bands are Refused and Cave In, and also Mastodon, NRA
and Snapcase, i think. Maarten also listens to a lot of Dave Weckl and Joe
Satriani, and is the only Mordred fan left on the planet. Martijn listens
to a lot of punk rock (he's also in The
Coffinkids) and bands like Hot Water Music and Sparta. Antal (he also
plays drums in Envy
The West) has quite a jazz-collection (John Coltrane, Miles Davis, etc),
but also listens to various things like Breach, Low, Tortoise, The Sea And
Cake, Sonic Youth, and Botch. I listen to all kinds of music but mainly stuff
like Entombed, Slint, Shellac, Fireside, Rollins band, The Oath, Rubbish Heap,
and old stuff like Ramones, Minutemen, Black flag, and Bad brains. And recently
i discovered Text, the sequel to Refused's final album, which is amazing.
Is it ever difficult to tie in the musical influences of each member
to keep everyone happy?
I think the diversity in our taste makes our music sound original. We never
think, "well ok, I don't really like this but since you like it so much
i'll play it." We all like what we do 100%.
The music of Stockholm Syndrome brings with it a lot of energy. Do
you still feel that same passion and energy when you listen back to the music
you have recorded and released?
I do. Right now, we have about 25 songs, but our setlist only contains about
10 or 11, so we try to play different songs at each show, so it still stays
fresh and we don't get that "automatic pilot" feeling.
Is it easier for you to create the energy live than on record?
I think it's easier live. In the studio (195)
we are really focused on playing it as good and tight as possible. Live, we
just rock. It's more spontaneous.
Heavy music in the Netherlands tends to get a good response and the
Dutch fans seem to support local bands well. Do you feel this is true and
do you get a good response to your live show?
We go to a lot of shows and everywhere you go you see mainly the
same faces, so i guess it's true. When we play ourselves, we never get the
"circle pit" kinda response, but afterwards there are always people
who compliment us and stuff. And that's good; i'd rather have people listening
than smashing each others heads together, wondering what band's onstage at
the moment.
Your gigs have included slots at all-day metal shows or with other
heavy bands, but are audiences accepting if you play live with quieter bands?
We've played a lot with Envy The West in the beginning, but i think they were
louder than us. Most of our shows are with old school hardcore and metalcore
bands. That's okay, but we also would like to play with more Dischord-a-like
bands or something. Don't get me wrong: i love playing with hardcore bands
but it would be a challenge. I wonder what that kind of audience would think
of us. This year, we almost were supporting Ten Grand, but they only asked
us a day in advance and we already had other plans, so we had to say no. That
would've been a great opportunity.
Have you had any experiences playing the Dutch summer festivals yet?
Besides hardcore shows, we played on one summer festival, together with dumb-ass
"bands" such as Di-rect and Beef. We played okay, but there was
no vibe at all. We wanted to bum out the children and parents there by playing
as hard as we could, but i think we didn't get the message across, because
people kept applauding and shit. But, it turned out to be an okay festival
because we had fun and got really drunk afterwards, and also got to see Walker
Diver play, which was great.
In February you're going go play in France and Spain. How has this
come about?
We got this booker's address from our friends in Against Time, who often played
there. Now this guy's gonna help us out over there and we hope it all works
out.
Do you have any future releases planned currently?
Well yes, we're still working on releasing our full-length CD. We haven't
had much luck at this so far, so maybe we're gonna split the album in half,
and do a split 12" and a mini-cd. Maybe.
What is your favourite thing about Stockholm Syndrome?
The afterparties.
You can find out more about Stockholm Syndrome on their website here.
If you are keen to check out the music straight away, here are a couple of songs...
Steven McCarron
:: back to top ::