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

Yeah, like many others, I guess friends I hung out with as a kid got me involved. It was 1981 and Kiss was the first band I heard, then I got into heavier bands as time went by, I was a serious metal collector by then, spent all my money on records and stuff. Started my own first band, Third Storm in 1986.

*Which artists or bands did influence you the most?

I can give you names of a thousand bands but we don’t sound like any of them, they are just inspirations to do our own thing and nothing more. Back in the day when this band was born, the inspirations were more obvious, bands like Autopsy and Death could clearly be heard in SARCASM’s music. Nowadays what you hear is us. Sarcastic Metal.

*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 am the vocalist in the group. I have never taken any lessons in my life. I played drums a little while in the 80s. We had a crossover band where I was the drummer, we were very bad, very very bad. But it was fun.

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

I listen to almost all kinds of music. Lots of rock and proggressive stuff from the 70s, rock from the 60s, movie soundtracks, classical, ambient, goth music/post punk, etc. But mostly metal of course. Perhaps 30% is non-metal music.

*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 don’t have a full-time job (yet) so I have plenty of time to work with all these bands I have in my day time. If the music would be really succesful and you could live by it so of course. Who wouldn’t?

*If you could start a complete new band (something like an all star band) with other musicians on other instruments, which artists would you pick for wich instrument and why? Would you still go for a melodic blackened death metal band?

If I have to chose a line-up with me included as the vocalist, I would pick Denis „Piggy“ D’Amour on guitar, Chuch Schuldiner on guitar, Dave Janney (ex-SARCASM) on bass and Oscar Karlsson (ex-SARCASM) on drums. But they’re all dead so I’d have to wait till I croak so this can happen. All these guys were some of the best musicians/songwriters around when they were alive. The music would be composed by Chuck and Piggy, that would be really interesting to hear how that would turn out. And Dave as a monster bassist he was, would do all kinds of crazy stuff in every song that whas given to him, no matter what genre, blues, punk or grindcore, he could make the music even more interesting with his style of playing. He was one of a kind. I remember how honored we felt when he accpeted to join SARCASM 30 years ago. And Oscar, well, he was one of the most explosive and innovative drummers in Sweden when he was alive, especially around 1994 when he was a part of our band. No one could play like him. Now, that would be a hell of a band. Our name would be Sarvodeath and we’d play progressive / psychedelic cosmic death / thrash metal with lyrics written in a made-up language.

*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?

Man, that’s hard, It has to be five albums that sound different from eachother. Fields Of The Nephilim – ‘Earth Inferno’ (The best live album ever), Autopsy – ‘Mental Funeral’, Vangelis – ‘1492’, Voivod – ‘The Outer Limits’ and Razor – ‘Shotgun Justice’. Those are what I can think of at the moment. That might change though if that banishment would happen. Hopefully not.

*There were six demo’s in the nineties (1990-1994) and then, all of a sudden, nothing anymore. What happened between 1994 en 2015 apart from a couple of compilations?

We also recorded an album entitled ‘Burial Dimensions’ in 1994 which remained unreleased until 2011, it was included as part of the 3-LP compilation called ‘Never After’. Since then the album has been released several times. The first demo compilation came out in 1998. And we actually did a gig in 1997 and played the entire ‘Burial Dimensions’ album. Besides that nothing happened really. We drank lots of beer though.

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

Our new album is our most diverse and dynamic we’ve made so far. We’re very pleased with the sound, we spent more time mixing it this time. Also, it’s our first concept album which is cool. Standout tracks? My personal favorite from this album would be ‘The Powers Of Suffering That Be’, that song has everything this band is about, atmosphere, melodies, brutality, heaviness, speed etc. I love all the songs on the album but that song is very special. ‘Apocalyptic Serenity’ is another one that stands out really well because of its atmospheric qualities.

– See “CD-Review” for a review (written in Dutch) for the new SARCASM album ‘Stellar Stream Obscured’ (Hammerheart Records) –

*Is there a chance that you will promote these songs through live concerts? If so, would you prefer small clubs or big festivals? And is there a chance we can see SARCASM in Belgium?

We haven’t yet discussed playing shows and festivals. But yeah, it would be nice to play in Belgium.