THURISAZ are not newcomers in the metal scene, since they have been around for almost 23 years. Recently they have released their sixth album “Re-Incentive”, so its time for the band’s drummer Pepijn De Raeymaecker to share some information with us, talking about song writing, touring around the world, lyrics handling with emotions and more.
This really interesting interview follows….

– Hello Pepijn! First of all, I would like to welcome you to our music portal, THEGALLERY.GR. Would you like to tell us a few words about your band, mostly for the people that don’t know you yet?

Pepijn: Hello, we are Thurisaz from Belgium and I am Pepijn De Raeymaecker, drummer of the band. We started out in 1997 and have been going our own way since then. Thurisaz plays atmospheric metal that is very difficult to be labelled, which is fine by us. 

– During all these years you have performed with success quite a few genres of metal such as Death, Doom, Black, Atmospheric, Battle Metal. Which is the secret of staying an exciting group for the listeners without being wearing and tiring? 

Pepijn: I think it’s rather difficult for bands to not fall in the trap of just repeating themselves. As we’ve grown musically along the years, we always welcome new influences. We always try to feel and go wherever the music brings us, without boundaries. We’ve never discard a new song idea because it’s too black, or too doom… If it feels right, we keep working on that song. If everyone gives the thumbs up, it appears on the next record. 

– The lyrics of “Re-Incentive” have to do with melancholy, depression, loss and rejection (as I see it). It is not the most common theme in such kind of music. From where do all these lyrics come from and what gives you inspiration?

Pepijn: Well, the band has experienced those emotions themselves in the last years, unfortunately. When the writing process was in highest gear, we decided to focus our lyrics on the more melancholical side of our emotions. And we found out that we had quite some inspiration at that time. It’s not always easy to talk about depression, loss and such things… It isn’t in our comfort zone. But there’s a saying: ‘the comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity’. It helped us to create an album that was satisfying for us. 

– For “Re-Incentive” you had a collaboration with Jens Bogren, who is well known for his professional attitude. Did he help you during the recording sessions? Did he give you any kind of musical directions?

Pepijn: Jens Borgen helped us with the mastering of our album. The writing, recording, mixing was all ours. And that’s the way we wanted it to be. He’s ofcourse a big name in producing and mixing, but we wanted the album to be entirely ours musically.  It gives us the full liberty of doing our own thing. Jens could have given us directions if we had him for the production, and probably he would have made things for the better. But it wouldn’t have felt like our own album. We like our independency, as we always did during our existence.

– Your latest record was released independently. What made you come to this solution? Was it any a lack of interest from the record companies or weren’t you satisfied with the terms of contracts you were offered?

Pepijn: We had several problems with our record company in the past. Always bug promises but only few of them were met. Honestly, in reality signing with a record company costs us more money than releasing it ourselves. And after being so many years in the music scene, we made an unanimous decision to work without a record company this time. 

– THURISAZ are well known for their participation at many gigs and events around the world. Do you like being “on the road”? Any remarkable or funny story during your tours?

Pepijn: Creating and recording music is always great but the real kick is performing on stage. All of our highlights are of shows we played. India for example, was an incredible experience for us. Many stories to tell, but not always for publication. The USA tour was also one of our most memorable times.  Driving around in a limo in New York City was like being in a movie. Surreal and real fun to do. And the countless parties and memories still make us smile. Maybe I can give you one story: when we were on tour with a famous band from USA (I won’t tell names), they showed off and told they could handle our Belgian beers. Short story: we ended up outside a bar with us holding the hair back of famous Americans puking. Good times.

– On your latest album I have noticed a turn into a progressive path, the reduce of harsh vocals and the introduction of more eerie, clean vocals, not to mention the ability to built layers of atmosphere. Is this the path you want to continue in the future or this was just a result of the recording circumstances?

Pepijn: We never plan those things before we write an album. We do what feels best at the moment. And we just felt like playing in this musical direction was the right path to take. Where we end up is almost never where we thought it would go at first. But that is also one of the things we like about  making music. 

– You had a contract for several years with a Greek record company, Sleaszy Rider but I don’t remember you coming to Greece for a live show. Would you like to perform live in Greece? Do you have any impact from Greek metallers? Have you ever shared the stage with any Greek bands?

Pepijn: Greece  is on our bucket list for sure. We’ve had several requests from Greek fans and when we will come, we hope to meet them and give them a concert to remember. Fortunately we did share the stage with Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh a few years ago, both amazing Greek bands. Sleaszy Rider was not a good experience. Infact, we broke up just before the release of The Pulse Of Mourning and did it all ourselves. But that’s in the past now, no hard feelings.

– You have been around for almost 20 years. Which are your inspirations and what keeps you alive in order to continue composing music?

Pepijn: Actually we’ve been around for almost 23 years and we’re still going. What keeps us alive is definitely the response we get from our fans. We put a lot of time and effort in our music and in more than 20 years we also had our differences, of course.  But it’s the craziness of the tours, the natural high after concerts, the satisfaction after finishing a song and when all the pieces of the puzzle fall in place, … those things are what keeps us going. We also still have the feeling that the best is yet to come. 

– Tell me about your future plans especially in these strange times we live with this COVID-19 situation. Belgium is also a country that was hit hard by this pandemic. How are the things in Belgium now?

Pepijn: We are making plans and have several people contacting us to come and play.  We hope the pandemic is over soon but yes, in Belgium, the virus hit us hard. We already had two lockdowns where we could not even go the rehearsal room. So now we are anxiously waiting for the green light for all things to go back to “normal”. Meanwhile we’re making plans and are preparing for the live shows, but individually at home. When it’s allowed again to rehearse, we gonna take the live experience to the next level. And we will announce some tours very soon.

– I would like to thank you for your time, to congratulate you for the excellent new record and wish you all the best in the future. The final words are yours…

Pepijn: Thank you for the interview and hopefully we’ll meet each other in Greece one day. Horns up and stay safe! 

Interview: Dimos Karadimos
Cover Artwork: Alexandros Soultatos
Design & Editing: Nikos Manousis
Date: March 3rd, 2020
External Link: THURISAZ Official Homepage
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