by Vpower
The Band:
Bathsheba
Country: Belgium
Answers by:
Michelle (vocals)
We are here today to talk about new Doom
sensation BATHSHEBA. As you may know already guys we don’t give a damn about
commercial stuff or trends, this is Metalbrothers.es’ territory all the way and
Bathsheba fits perfectly on it. A band with their own personality, as Michelle
points out, they are the blend of several different characters and the result
is brilliant. They give the doom approach a new sense and Michelle’s voice is a
clear example of that. You never know how is going to be in music business, but
this guys have it all to make a stand out. Plus, Michelle’s opinions are cool
and different, to say the least.
Hello Michelle and congratulations for your
first full length album “Servus”
Thank you
very much! And thank you for this interview!
Good to have Bathsheba and Michelle on the
microphone, not singing just talking this time J Michelle, you are not new in this business, you have experience from
previous bands, what’s your story?
Yes
although we are a new band, we all have a little history in music already. You
might know Jelle mainly from Sardonis, a heavy 2 piece band that just stopped
previous year. Dwight is known from bands as Disinterred and Raf used to play
in Gorath and in Death Penalty with me. I set my roots in music with
Serpentcult. I also have another project that is called Leviathan Speaks, which
is more ambient triphop with noise. The music scene in our area is quite
interesting and there’s some nice and good musicians reaching out to each
other. Jelle and Dwight wanted to start a band. Jelle knew me from the tour we
did with Grand Magus, Sardonis and Serpentcult. And I knew Raf because we were
friends. Et voila.
How has your previous works in bands such as
Death Penalty or Disinterred influenced your sound in Bathsheba?
That’s an
interesting question indeed. I think you mainly take the experience with you. Every
band is different and in every band you are another version of yourself. I
think through the experience you develop your own sound or style. You always
take something with you to the next band or project that you have developed or
learned in the previous thing you were doing.
Your name has something to do with the Hebrew
myth of Bathsheba?
Yes. When
looking for a band name we were thinking of having ‘someone’ representing us. It
didn’t matter if this representative would be a male or a female. We just
wanted to have someone with a very complex and colored personality representing
us. Bathsheba has many faces. She’s dark, seductive, kind, mysterious, clever,
she is the Daughter of the Oath, mother of King Solomon,… And on a deeper level
as well there is much to tell about her, even though she is somewhat in the
background.
You released a demo in 2014 and an ep in 2015. Is
there an evolution regarding your new album?
There is
definitely an evolution. In 2014 we were still very much looking for an
identity as we just started this band, end 2013, early 2014. Although we are
still the same, we also really grew. Two demo songs are also on the album.
That’s ‘The Sleepless Gods’ and ‘Manifest’. Then we recorded the 10 inch in
2015. Servus of course still has somewhat the same tone. A song like
‘Conjuration of fire’ still carries that heavy doom but we also developed more
apart from of that doom genre. ‘Ain Soph’ and ‘I, at the end of everything’
carry a somewhat more black metal feel. My personal favorite is ‘Demon 13’. I
can’t even put my finger on a style there. It’s very outrageous and honest. I
think this was the most important thing to us to come to a point that you can
express utter emotion indifferent to what style you are bringing.
A great analysis, indeed. How long have you
dedicated to the composition of Servus?
Of course
there are two songs we did in 2014 on there but apart from that we wrote a good
one and a half to two years on it I think. All together taken. We like the idea
of letting things develop naturally and record when you are really ready. Some
bands like to hurry and I do say I got impatient too at moments. But you know
this is something that when you record it, you can’t undo it. It will be out in
the world like that so you better be sure that you make it the best you can and
that you are ready for it.
Is there any big force inside Bathsheba that
shines more than the others in terms of composition or musical direction?
That’s
something interesting to think about. I think the doomy aspect, the slow, heavy
sound is very important to us. But for Servus it was also important to get out
of that more typical thing. I think we all had that urge to explore something
more. We are all equal and I couldn’t see BATHSHEBA continuing without any of
us. I think that is a big force too. The fact we are all equally important and
we are all very different. A big
motivator for me personally was sorrow and frustration and to be able to
express that as much and honest as possible.
What is the story you tell in Servus in terms
of lyrics?
Servus is
like waking up in the morning and realizing that everything and everyone is
your enemy. The moment you wake up and open your eyes and you feel the walls
closing in and you’re being smashed towards the walls of fact. You feel tired
and heavy, even more than when you went to sleep. You get up wondering why you
exist at all. There’s so much sorrow. Sorrow from life itself, events that
happen, people you lose,… But there is also some intrinsic sadness. An
understanding about life and our own inability to see how beautiful it can be. So
it’s almost a hymn to the burden of life you are carrying both on an earthly
and spiritual level. It also has some frustrating and schizophrenic moments
where you are almost happy to wallow in the decay. Like you are the chosen one,
hated by all and you love it. Because you feel better knowing you are not part
of the society who live with their eyes closed. Sadness, sorrow and hurt never
disappoint. You can get so lost in your own mind. The abyss of your own mind
can reach levels so deep you couldn’t ever fantasize about that. But indeed
sometimes there is also sun, let’s try to not forget that.
Kind of a big nightmare it seems…, something we
have all felt or experienced one moment or another I guess. I would like to
remark, Michelle, your great work on vocals, you really make a difference with
other acts
Thank you
so much. Well the guys agree on that it is different and very personal. I try
to become myself more and more vocally. I think it’s pointless to sing like
anyone else. How could I if what I express is what is inside of me. Then it’s
so personal that it has to be me you know. And when this somehow sounds good to
people then I think I can just say that I’m very grateful to be able to sound
like that. My main purpose wasn’t to sound good, it was to sound honest. And
with doing that I am really satisfied. It’s the first time in my career that I
actually like my voice and that I can actually listen to my own album and enjoy
it and undergo what is happening, what we have done.
I could say
as a person I am quite dark. I mean I’m also very light. But, there is a
certain dark side of me that is very present. And I am somewhat a bizarre
person I know that. I don’t mind, I don’t want to change either. I think I lack
of any technical knowledge so the only thing I can do is give a part of myself
in what I am doing. So naturally this darkness and bizarre thing that is a big
part of my personality is expressed in what I do. Musically I think the
atmosphere again comes from the fact that we are all very different and we all
have different ideas.
I praise your sincerity and maturity. Dwight
delivers some tremendous riffs and solos
along the album, with some psycho rock and stoner feeling
Yes Dwight
is a rare character. When I met him I really didn’t know what to make of him. Sometimes
he does something and I feel it completely differently. Or visa versa. So we
are somewhat adversaries. It’s hard sometimes to let go of your own judgement
or preferences but it somehow works. So during our process we really developed
a trust in one another. I also really don’t like solo’s too much but what he
did on Manifest for instance… There’s a riff I truly immensely love and the
solo he did is so full of feeling that even I have to love it. He comes up with
very diverse riffs. One moment there’s an epic riff and another moment it’s
more a death metal riff but he has this natural weirdness I suppose and it just
works somehow.
We are talking about six songs in your album
and no one less than five minutes, with Manifest over ten minutes. How is a gig
by Bathsheba?
Haha yes.
It’s sometimes difficult when you only have 35 or 40 minutes. We have a fixed
set for now that is about 45 minutes but if we have to play less it’s sometimes
really a puzzle to do so. We somehow always manage, sometimes we ask for 5
minutes more. Because if you play 35 minutes that means 4 songs if you include
manifest and the samples… Which to me is really not enough to express myself
often. But after 45 minutes I gave so much I’m entirely finished too. So 50
minutes would be perfect. We could play the whole album with samples then.
Talking about Manifest, it’s one of my favorite
tracks and I think a clear statement of what Bathsheba is able to deliver now
and in the future, a brutal new force in the Doom scene
For me
personal it was the song I liked less because well there’s obviousely not so
much singing so it’s not a very exciting song for me to do. We mostly end our
concert with this song because it gives me the chance to calm down again when I
finish. Also the guys can do their thing and it’s a good song to finish a gig I
think. When I listen to it myself, yeah I hear it. It’s a great and powerfull
song, it’s really a manifest I think. I also think it’s Jelle’s favorite and
maybe the other guys favorite too.
You have signed by Svart Records, how is going
the promotion of you great new album?
We are
working together with Svart records and Bidi van Drongelen from Bidi Bookings. We
can’t complain for now. Noisey had the première of streaming the album, we were
on Never mind the Hype Radio, Metal Hammer.de had the premiere of the lyric
video for Ain Soph, We had interviews with Zero Tolerance, Rock Hard Italy, you
guys etc. So I think we are spread about and people are talking about the
album. We are very grateful to Svart and Bidi for all the support and of course
to all of you, sincerely.
Great to hear so. Have you released any videos
or any other promo material or you will do it in the near future?
We did the
Demon 13 video, Ain Soph lyrics video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzd3Kyod9WU
And now we
are mainly preparing to do live gigs and in meanwhile slowly writing some new
material. It’s all good to make video’s and let people see some footage of the
band, but the focus for us has to be in making music and playing our gigs well
live. We also like that kind of mystery where a band doesn’t shove themselves
in everyone’s face all the time.
How do you see the current Doom scene?
I’m not so
much in most doom to be honest. I find it a bit boring most of the time. Doom I
really like or music that has a doomy touch are bands like Blutch and Thee
plague of Gentlemen but they both don’t exist anymore. I like things like
Primitive Man or Bongripper, Raketkanon has some interesting doomy parts,… I
don’t think I’m the right person to talk about doom music. I know very little
of doom bands. Doomed Gatherings in Paris previous year, where we played had
some great bands playing like Throw me in the Crater, Toner Low, Mantar,… I
think doom needs a serious innovation as we are seeing now in the black metal
scene. I think black metal is now much more interesting than doom nowadays.
A very interesting opinion, once again. Belgium is a too small market for a big doomy monster in constant growth as
Bathsheba?
Belgium has a cool metal scene and doom has
had some expension but indeed Belgium is Belgium. We are a bit spoiled I think.
There are so many great Belgian bands and luckily some of those bands even make
it to the main stream. Things like Amenra or Steak Number Eight. They are
pretty underground musically but still attract a great audience. So I’m very
glad that things like that are possible! I don’t think though it will happen to
us because we are already a weird trade within the tiny doom scene.
Well, who knows, let destiny do his part… Have
you planned some tour dates around? What countries will you play through?
For now we
haven’t any tour dates fixed. I hope to announce some cool gigs soon. What I
can announce is our release party 30th March in the Botanique in Bruxelles
together with the release of Emptiness new album. We play at Roadburn in the Netherlands, Rodeofest in Belgium, Dragonfest in the UK,…
We won’t be there, too far from home, but we
wish the best. What can we expect from Bathsheba in the future?
Hopefully
more good music, more growth, some nice live shows, maybe a tour,… I hope we
can continue our path and become better, wiser, deeper,… and always be
ourselves.
Thank you very much Michelle for your time and interesting
opinion, keep your glorious path
Thank you
so much for having us. It was a pleasure to answer your questions. We really
hope to come to Spain and play there and reach out to you
guys! Thank you for reaching out to us!
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