Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Born From Pain

November 23, 2006

The crushing hardcore metal crossover of Limburg, Netherlands' Born From Pain has remained relatively unknown in the United States over the past 10 years, but guitarist Karl Fieldhouse and his bandmates are determined to fix that with the release of their undeniably heavy new album, War, out now on Metal Blade Records. Brutal grooves, heavy, downtuned riffs and breakdowns mark the album, which is sure to garner fans in both the metal and hardcore communities. Fresh off a tour with the legendary Napalm Death, Fieldhouse chats with Live-Metal.net's Jeff Maki about the album, future touring plans and the background into Born From Pain's decade long career.

Karl Fieldhouse: Hey, this is Karl from Born From Pain and thank you for the killer review and support with this interview, it’s much appreciated.

You guys just wrapped up a tour with Napalm Death correct? Being that Born From Pain's music is an entirely different style from Napalm Death, was the crowd receptive to the band?

Yeah, we literally just finished 2 days ago and it was a killer tour and an honour to tour with Napalm Death. We have toured with Napalm Death before, as a part of the 2005 Persistence Tour within Europe (along with Hatebreed, Agnostic front and many others), but that crowd was more of a hardcore orientated crowd which suits us very well, but with being main support on the Napalm Death tour, the crowd is going to be a little more extreme and at the start we were wondering how we would go over and what the reaction to us would be like. The tour ended up being awesome for us and we made a lot of new friends and fans on this tour as we played to a lot of new people who were into what we do. Plus a lot of people who are already were Born From Pain fans showed up too, so it was positive in every sense. We’ve played a lot of shows with different types of bands and we always go over very well and I’m glad the tour turned out as well as it did for us. It was a good time for sure.

Barney from Napalm Death actually makes an appearance on the new album, along with Lou of Sick Of It All. How did this all come about?

Well, we really wanted to do something where we wanted to include some friends on this album to do guest vocals, which also includes Jan Chris from Gorefest and we have Pepe from Hatesphere doing a guest solo too. Some of these guys we’ve known longer than others and some of them we see more than others, but all of them are friends and people that we are honoured to have on the record. Each person contributes their own unique talent that really fit in with the songs they perform on and really compliment Che’s vocal style too and we’re very proud to have these guys on our album. I mean, I’ve been screaming along to these guys for 13 years and now they’re on one of my albums. That’s crazy, but awesome and we really appreciate that they all took time out of their busy schedules to do this for us.

Let me just say that War is an undeniably heavy and killer album. For people that are new to the band - is War on par with past releases? If not then how does it differ?

Thanks very much for the kind words, it’s much appreciated. I know this is a cliché thing for any band to say that’s just released a new album, but War is by far the best Born From Pain album out there, It has everything we’re known for on it, the massive grooves, the fast and aggressive parts, the crushing breakdowns, the anthemic choruses, yet still moves forward and onward with our sound, as we’ve introduced some melody, expanded the kinda New Orleans sound we introduced on previous album In Love With The End and also incorporates more subtle parts that evoke more emotion. To me it’s our most diverse album ever, yet never loses focus. I’m proud of every album we’ve written and released and all of them are different in some small way, yet all recognizable as Born From Pain and that’s something I’m also very proud of, because it would be dull to write the same album over and over again. I think it’s an album our fans will love every bit as any other Born From Pain album and probably more so.

Hmmm, tough. I’d say diverse, crushing and anthemic. To me, those are the best words to sum up the album. It’s diverse because all the songs have their own character and own vibe, yet are totally focused. It’s totally crushing, it’s so damn heavy and hard and then we have some really anthemic sing alongs and choruses on there. Not in a Killswitch kinda way, although I love that band, but when I heard the finished album for the first time, it gave me to chills to think of how kids could sing along with certain parts, and I think that’s a killer thing to have on a record, so yeah, they’re my 3 words.

Well, the whole idea and lyrical content about War is that it refers to all kinds of Wars both on a global level and personal level. It deals with a lot of things that are going on in the world during 2006 on a global level, corrupt governments, environmental disarray, poverty, poor education systems, the media and government’s attempts to instill fear into the world for everything, yet it also deals with the fact that life is becoming harder to live, it’s harder to support yourself, support your family, to find a job, to pay the bills, to keep work. It really is a socially critical album and the whole concept of the album is for us to have a voice and give others a voice, give people issues they can identify with and give them something to feel a part of once again, give them the opportunity to speak out too. A lot of people in the world have given up on themselves or the world or have lost hope in some way, we really want to push a message of not giving in, of not losing hope, to speak out, to show others that they’re not alone and so War deals with real issues that can apply to everybody, because everybody has the same battles within the world and for themselves. We just want to be able to give them that voice, the courage to believe in someone and to believe in themselves.

All the lyrics are written by Rob who plays bass and always have been. Most of the music is written by myself and Dominik, who also plays guitar, although Rob also chips in with odd riff ideas too, so it really is a band effort. We all play a big part in arrangements, although sometimes Dom and I will come to a practice with a full song written and that might get changed, stay the same or totally scrapped ha, and sometimes it takes time and things come together in the practice room. It really depends on what people have to bring to the others.

Your music has been described as “crossover.” Do you think this is an accurate description?

I actually think it’s pretty accurate in some ways, because we’re definitely not a strict hardcore band in the sense of the music we play, and we’re definitely not a strict metal band, although we have a lot of metal influences and calling us metalcore isn’t too accurate either, so I think crossover is a reasonably fair reference. I always just say that we’re a hardcore band with metal influences. We come form the hardcore scene, we’re hardcore kids, have those ethics and that’s what we’ll always be, we just like our metal too ha. Besides, I think the best way to know what we’re like is simple, just head over to our website, myspace page, buy the damn record ha, and listen to our music and people can make their own judgment, not as to what genre or category we fall under, but just if they dig the music. We’re not a band that follows trends or cares about being In a particular genre or having a certain label, we just do what we do. Everyone is welcome at our shows, whether it’s hardcore kids, metal kids, punk kids, alternative kids or whatever, and I’m sure that if you like hard and aggressive music, there will be something to find that you like.

Who where your major influences when Born From Pain started out and who are they today?

Well, I wasn’t in the band when we started out ha, but I did actually release the band’s first MCD. But back then, we were influenced by the heavier NYHC bands such as Stigmata, All Out War, Merauder and other hardcore bands like Integrity and Earth Crisis. But then we were also influenced by metal bands like Bolt Thrower, Obituary, Testament, Slayer and those bands and influences will always be a part of our sound as that is where the blueprint for Born From Pain comes from. As for what influences us these days, well, I think it comes from all over, not from any particular band, but from all styles of music. We all have an open mind and a deep love for all styles of music, not just heavy stuff, but everything, and so I think that kinda thing also works it’s way in there, even if it’s not a totally obvious thing.

I think there is a ton of bands fans would be surprised I like. I love a lot of music, from hardcore and metal to motown and 80’s pop. I have a lot of guilty pleasures ha. I can still recite the whole of “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice 16 years after it was released ha, but maybe the less said about that the better ha.

Are we gonna see you touring the U.S. sometime next year and if so, who with?

I can say with no hesitation that it is a huge priority to get over to the States next year for at least 2 months of the year, on 2 separate tours, and maybe more. As for who with, that’s tough to say, we have to work things out. We were hoping to get across right at the start of January for a month long tour, but I don’t think that will happen now, but fingers crossed. We’ll definitely be over though. We had a blast there when we hooked up with Terror, The Promise and Shattered Realm for a West Coast tour 2 years ago and we’re eager to return.

Born From Pain are from Limburg, Netherlands. How is metal and the band for that matter received there?

Well, Limburg is a small province and in all honesty we don’t really play in the area too often, but without this sounding too arrogant, we’re received very well pretty much everywhere we play these days, whether that be in our home town or on the other side of the world. Metal is definitely alive and well though within Holland. We have a couple of huge festivals each year and I’d definitely say we’re spoiled for touring bands. You only have to drive an hour in order to see pretty much any band you want, so that’s always a bonus.

It’s pretty hard to say what I think of the metal scene in the U.S because I don’t live there, but from what I can see from the bands that are being produced it is totally thriving right now and there are some totally killer bands.

Wow, a long long time ago ha. I guess I started around 14 or 15 years ago. I actually started and gave up 3 times before I really took it seriously, and the thing that made me more determined was when I saw Biohazard on my 16th birthday. That was the first show I ever went to, and the atmosphere and energy just made me want to play in a band and so that was the turning point for me. From that point on, I practiced hard and now I’ve been playing in bands for 12 years or so.

As a band we all play and endorse ESP guitars. Dominik and I both play the LTD Deluxe EC-1000 in Vintage Black, which is a totally killer guitar, and Rob plays the B-500 basses, also in Matt Black. Apart from ESP though, we also endorse Randall amps and Dom and I both play the RM100M with the recto module. It’s what is used on War and it has the sickest tone ever. We love that shit.

The basic advice is to practice and don’t give up. Believe me, if I can play in a band, then anybody can. Some things take longer to master than others, but believe me, you’ll get there eventually. Also, don’t limit yourself musically, have an open mind for all kinds of music, otherwise you’re gonna miss out on a lot of great music that can make you a better player.

You guys have been together now for 10 years. Did you ever think the band would last so long when you first started and how long will you go?

It’s gonna be 10 years in summer 2007 I believe, which is an awesome achievement for any band. As I wasn’t in the band when it started I can’t really say, but as someone who was around the band in some way at the start I can say that I definitely saw a long and bright future for the band as I knew everyone in it to be hard working and committed and those are 2 things you need if you’re gonna last for 10 years. As for how long we will go, that’s impossible to say, but right now, the future is very bright and we have a lot to offer and give the music world.

And finally the question we ask all the bands – When do you think the new Guns 'N Roses album, Chinese Democracy will be released?

Hahaha, em, I’m not sure it will ever see light of day, but I’m gonna go with 2009. Axl will want some cash back on that thing ha. I’m sure it’s gonna suck though. Appetite is killer, and the Use Your Illusion albums would have made one totally killer album if the best tracks had been taken, but everything after was shit, and let’s be honest, Guns N Roses ain’t Guns N Roses without Slash or Duff, so yeah, whatever, who cares anymore? Ha