Summon: How did the band get started?
Evil Zjaak: I started Lepra in 2003 I guess. Penis Christ was still on hold since I kicked everyone out in 2001. I just wanted to release some silly funny Dutch languaged death metal/grindcore. And people whom think I got inspired by acts like “kringspiertyfus“ or “Kutschurft“, are very wrong. Lepra is inspired by “Fried Full Rubber“, a Dutch death/grind project from the late 80-ies!
Summon: What kind of music do you play?
Evil Zjaak: Lepra is fun death/grind.
Summon: How has the fan response been?
Evil Zjaak: Totally shit so far. I truly don’t have any fans!
Summon: Where did the band name come from?
Evil Zjaak: All band names come from me, and they are very original to my opinion, except the band name Lepra, there are some more bands using that name.
Summon: Introduce the band members and what they do in the band.
Evil Zjaak: For Lepra my name is Evil Zjaak, also all instruments, vocals and such by me.
Summon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Evil Zjaak: I write lyrics when I have time for it for my own projects.
Summon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Evil Zjaak: For my projects, it is just total madness, not to be taken too serious. When it comes to Lepra, I have lyrics that are about having sex with a T-rex doll and an exploding alcoholic.
Summon: What is your view in Satanism and Occultism?
Evil Zjaak: To my point of view, evil is in mankind. I am not a satanist or occultist. On the other hand, people wearing inverted crosses, pentagrams, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth or Behemoth shirts don’t impress me either. Fucking posers. And why should I hate Christians only? I just see a world full of hypocrites, no matter what religion they have. I dislike/hate a lot of humans, no matter what their religion is, I really don’t care if they die. I guess that makes me a misanthrope then.
Summon: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Evil Zjaak: I released 2 Lepra albums.
Summon: Do you have any side projects?
Evil Zjaak: Yes haha. 3.
Summon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Evil Zjaak: Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer and Bathory concerning Penis Christ. For the other projects I really can’t mention an influence as I don’t listen to death metal or grindcore that much.
Summon: Which current bands?
Evil Zjaak: Well, since Darkthrone is not black metal anymore, I can’t say any current band inspires me. So none.
Summon: What is the band like when you play live?
Evil Zjaak: A long time ago, I did some guest vocals for The Impaler on occasion for a few times, and since then I decided I don’t want to do anything live.
Summon: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Evil Zjaak: No.
Summon: How big of crowd shows up at shows usually?
Evil Zjaak: There’s no big crowd, just an empty void…
Summon: How is the crowd response when you play?
Evil Zjaak: The void is silent.
Summon: What do you think of the US Black Metal/Death Metal scene?
Evil Zjaak: Oh! Well tons of great bands to mention! Too many to mention… The US has a great black/death metal scene with bands like Infernal Dominion, Luciferian Insectus, Wolves in the Throne Room, Thornspawn and Bewitcher to name some. But I really don’t like Morbid Angel…
Summon: What do you think of the Overseas scenes?
Evil Zjaak: I prefer the thrash metal of bands like Sodom and Destruction, the Norwegian black metal scene, and I discover great English black metal bands since a lot of them ask for a review in SpeedSlaughter magazine. Also I have a CD release done for Necrolepsy (on SpeedSlaughter productions), they are from Bangladesh and really brutal.
Summon: What are some of new favorite black metal/death metal bands?
Evil Zjaak: Not favorite, but I really do like Disinterred and Witch Trail from Belgium, Graverobber from the Netherlands.
Summon: When do you guys plan on writing any new material?
Evil Zjaak: When I have time for it… It really is busy with SpeedSlaughter, the magazine and label I run. At the moment it is all on hold. With the “label“, I try to help bands that can’t find a label, or when a label doesn’t want to release a CD for the band, I can do it for them. It is just to help out, not professional yet, but we have Zwaertgevegt label/distro helping us with selling the albums. We promote the bands and releases on our own youtube channel, in the magazine and on soundcloud and we also have a bandcamp page. I started the “label“ to publish my own releases as well, after I found out Satanica Productions from New Zealand is a fucking rip off label!!!
Summon: What does the future hold for the band??
Evil Zjaak: Record new albums whenever I can. It is all a bit on hold since SpeedSlaughter is getting bigger and bigger and takes a lot of my time. SpeedSlaughter is always welcoming new bands and people that want to work with us.
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/speedslaughterproductions
https://www.youtube.com/user/SpeedSlaughterPro
http://speedslaughterproductions.webstarts.com/
https://soundcloud.com/speed-slaughter
http://speedslaughterproductions.tumblr.com/
https://twitter.com/Speed_Slaughter
And just 1 link to my artist page to keep it short:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/DaInzaneProjektzMazter/233754763309480
Cheers and hails to my friends and to you for taking your time to do this interview with me.
To all unsigned bands: watch out for rip off labels!!!
