*When did you really get involved into music in general and into metal specific? Who was responsable for your interest in (metal) music?

My family has always been very musical and I showed interest in drums at an early age of 5 (ish). I instantly liked everything that rocked like Purple, Hendrix etc. but my first big crush(?) was The Offspring and especially their Americana album. This was in the late 90’s and I had recently started to noodle around with my dad’s nylon acoustic guitar. Then I somehow learned that there is also a band called Metallica and things started to snowball a bit. This is still before the Internet so I was lucky to even get to this point. At 5th grade in school we had this ‘bring your favourite record/cd to music class’ -thing and a friend brought out his big brother’s Follow The Reaper by Children of Bodom. My jaw dropped like a goddamn anvil! From there everything progressed very quickly. So, in short, my parents and friends are responsible!

*Which artists or bands did influence you the most?

The Offspring, Children of Bodom, In Flames, Dream Theater. In this order in fact. After the internet came it all went a bit blurry so can’t really name any specific bands. Focusing on guitar and guitarists specifically, John Petrucci, Steve Vai and Alexi Laiho are the ones that really influenced me the most. All very different, yet brilliant.

*Which instrument do you play and how and when did you learn to play? Did you had lessons in school or private lessons? If so, was that because your parents expected that from you? Or did you learn to play the instruments by yourself? Do yo still follow some lessons?

I started with drums as a child, then I grabbed the guitar when I was 10-11. I’m still grateful for my parents for getting me a Harley Benton electric guitar for christmas ’00. However, they also forced me to take some studies with it but I quit them after a year or two. Not my cup of tea at all. Best for me was always to listen the stuff I liked and wanted to play, and pick stuff up by ear. The techniques and everything evolved naturally when I played 6-10h per day. My parents weren’t sure what to think of it when I came from school; straight to the basement and played ’til it was dark outside, haha.

*Do you follow other or are you intrested in other styles of music beside metal? If so, what is the music you prefer to listen to?

Everything goes from Beatles to beautiful a cappella singing and beyond. Most kinds of R’n’B, Rap and electronic music with ridiculously loud bass pounding are what I really dislike, unfortunately. Of course I would like to dig everything but it’s just not the case. To add; Beautiful melodies seem to be my thing. Definition of a beautiful melody? That’s the magic of it. I have no idea.

*Is music a full time job for you now or do you have a job beside music? If so, what kind of job are you doing? If you would be really succesful with music, would you quit your other job?

I have worked as an electrician for the past ten years or so. I am simply waiting for the day I can earn my living with music. Not an easy thing to do but I’ll see what I can do.

*If you could start a band with other musicians on other instruments, which artist would you pick for wich instrument and why? (Something Like an “All Stars Band”.) Would you still go for a melodic death metal band? Or would you do something completely different?

I could never choose such a line-up, way too many options. But I suppose I might wanna do something funny like play some really fast funk with drums, I dunno, haha. Definately with a horn section! Then again, playing some classic black metal could be equally entertaining. I guess it depends more of the people that are available at that given time. Not naming anyone here. But I guess I could name a line-up that I’m not in and would go to see any day, no matter what they play. For example: Mikael Åkerfeldt – guitar / Guthrie Govan – guitar / Gavin Harrison – drums / Jordan Rudess – keys / Victor Wooten – bass

*If you had been banned to an uninhabited island and you may pick 5 albums to listen to, wich albums would you choose and why?

I knew this was coming! Ok so here we go:

Children Of Bodom – ‘Follow The Reaper’. No surprise here. This is where things really started.

Dimmu Borgir – ‘Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia’. A masterpiece of it’s kind. Just awesome all the way. Always works. Barker, Vortex and Mustis all really nailed it here. It’s a shame they separeted ways with Dimmu.

Sentenced – ‘The Cold White Light’. Another old favourite. Very Finnish, great sense of melancholy. Kick-ass songs. Would remind me of home in the island…

Opeth – ‘Ghost Reveries’. Well ofc I had to include an Opeth album here. Unbeliavably hard to choose from their discography though but here’s one!

Dream Theater – ‘Images & Words’. Easy pick for me, really. Very musical, beautiful melodies with complex stuff on the side. This really motivated to practice more back in the day.

*Every new album (or ep) of a band or an artist is the best one, that’s what they always say. So here is a chance to promote the album. Why should a music lover buy your album? What are the standout tracks for you on this new album and why?

I find the album quite dark, beautiful, powerful, aggressive, very dynamic. There’s something for everyone. My personal favourite tracks are ‘Drown (Beneath The Endless Rains)’, and ‘Everything Left With Nothing’. Markku and Juho really worked their magic and also let me throw in some soloing.

– See “CD-Review” for a review (written in Dutch) for the new Slow Fall album ‘Beneath The Endless Rains’ (Inverse Records) –

*I suppose you will promote this album through live concerts (when of course everyting is getting back to “normal” after the Covid 19 disaster). If so, would you prefer small clubs or big festivals? And is there a chance we can see Slow Fall in Belgium?

Well, I like any venue that has a decent size stage, so we can move around a bit. Small venues overall are nice and intimate and big festivals just kick ass. I really hope we will be able to tour Europe in the near future, and yes, also Belgium!