born from pain

 

Hi there! Please introduce yourself.

Hey, my name is Ché and I’m the singer for Born From Pain. We’re about to release our new full length called “In Love With The End”, which will be released by Metal Blade worldwide.

First of all: Congratulations to the new album! It´s one of the very few “Tuff Guy” releases in a long time that I really dig. So what do you think are the main differences between “In Love With The End” and its predecessor?

Thank you. Although I’m not really a big fan of the label “Tuff guy”, I’ll consider it as a compliment since you like the record, hehehe. If I may… I don’t consider Born From Pain as being a tuff guy band, I never even did, I always said and thought we were simply a hardcore band with a big metal influence, and groove, which sounds aggressive.

The main difference with the previous record is that we allowed ourselves to use different elements of music within Born From Pain. For this record we just wrote what we wrote, and the stuff we thought was good we kept. There’s a lot of stuff that’s different on this record. I personally think we grew a lot if you compare “In Love With The End” with “Sands of Time”. It sounds much more mature, there’s more groove on this record. But it still sounds like a Born From Pain record. People can still hear it’s Born From Pain.

I´ve got the impression that in some of the new songs you are trying to expand the narrow limitations of the Tuff Guy sound by filling in some melodic guitars. Is that something you want to focus on in the future? I think that it´s really refreshing.

We just wanted to do something different with this record, no limitations. It’s not like I’m not proud of “Sands Of Time”, but in hindsight that record is way more one dimensional than the new record. This record has more of that listen able stuff as opposed to the just dancing stuff. I think “In Love With The End” is a record which has to grow on to people if they don’t like it immediately.

Try and compare our first record “Reclaiming The Crown” with “Sands of Time” and then compare that to “In Love With The End”, you’ll find out that each record sounds different, songwise, but it’s all Born From Pain. That’s something that stands out.

I’ve never been this happy with recordings before as with this record, and I mean this songmaterial wise . To me the whole picture is perfect, the pieces of the puzzle fit.

The sound on “In Love With The End” is fantastic! How was working with Tue Madsen? Do you think that there´s something like a typical Tue Madsen sound?

I think Tue Madsen THE best producer, mixer, masterer in Europe, not to mention the world. With "Sands of Time" he knew how we had to sound like, but with this record he outdid himself. Like us, Tue is a perfectionist, he always striving for something better and better. Good isn’t good enough. The Born From Pain – Tue combination works perfectly. You’re right when you say that the sound is superb.

What is your opinion on kickboxing at shows? Now that there often is a mixed crowd of Hardcore kids and Metalheads there´s always room for conflict because (not only) Metalheads don´t understand that kickboxing thing. Personally, I think it´s okay as long as no one gets hurt but on the other hand it spoils the fun for a lot of people (including me). So what do you think?

Everyone’s there to have a good time, with or without dancing. Which means there will be people dancing, there will be kids dancing HARD, there will be kids in the pit that just want to sing along, or stage dive, and there will be kids that just want to watch the show. If you’re on the side of the pit, you may catch a few blows or whatever. And same goes for the kids in the pit. What I want to say is, most of the time people know what they’re getting at a hardcore or metal show. You should know when you do what, it’s no use when you start dancing real hard when there’s only jumpcore kids or headbangers around you.

Furthermore as long as kids don’t hurt other people deliberately, I’m cool with it, as long as people have a good time.

I´ve got the impression that Metalcore und Tuff Guy Hardcore are especially popular in Germany. Compared to other countries like The Netherlands or Belgium where a lot of new bands are playing Oldschool Hardcore, there´s one Metalcore band after the other in Germany. Can you imagine why that is (This may be a stupid question, but I was wondering about that since someone made a remark about German Hardcore kids being lame because they were following that Metalcore hype)?

I think it’s all good. Right now Metalcore is the big thing in Germany. Big deal. That’s how the world and our society works, and logically a part of our beloved scene as well. Over my years of involvement in hardcore I’ve seen a lot of trends come and go. But with Born From Pain we always survived any trend. For some reason trends never had affected us as a band.

I must say though that all these metalcore emerging now, all sound the same for most parts.

When talking about Tuff Guy Hardcore there´s one band that´s always mentioned: Hatebreed. The comparisons to Hatebreed aren´t news for you. Is it very annoying that everything is always about Hatebreed?

Well it can be annoying. I have to admit that there used to be elements that could be compared to Hatebreed. I always considered this as being a compliment, Hatebreed is one of the best Hardcore bands ever so. However the only thing that sound like Hatebreed a bit on this record are my vocals. But that’s just a pure coincidence. On music like ours a voice like that sounds much better than the screamy voice you hear all the time with al those metalcore bands .

Do you agree that the Tuff Guy sound is a very limited musical style and that there has to some kind of development to keep it interesting? What kind of development could that be?

I don’t know what you mean with tuff guy music? But if you mean metalcore, there aren’t any limitations. The only limitations are the ones a band puts on themselves. 

What do you expect from the cooperation with Metal Blade Records?

A lot basically. They’re already doing a great job with press. The distribution is going to be awesome, as well as the promotional activities. From the first second we started talking and sharing ideas we found out that Metal Blade was the perfect label for us. They know where we’re coming from and what we want to achieve and vice versa.

Did you get any stupid comments from the “scene police” for signing to Metal Blade?

Not really, the only thing I heard was that someone told we were strictly going to play big metal shows and we would turn our backs towards hardcore. As if… I think people know what we did over the last couple of years and think we deserve it.

Something completely different: Just recently there was a statement from Harley Flanagan on the internet where he “ends” his beef with John Joseph and Parris Mitchel and comes up with the idea of setting up one final Cro-Mags show with the original line-up. Is that something you´d like to see? What are you thoughts on all those reunions going on?

Why not? It would be cool to see those dudes on stage together. They’re one of the most influential hardcore bands ever, they’re allowed to. All those reunions? A reunion only makes sense if the band ever meant anything a certain period of time, and survived the test of time.

When the Pope died just a few days before I was surprised about the effect that had on people posting on (Hardcore related) messageboards: Of course, there were stupid comments from some people but others were praying and really thoughtful. I know that there has always been a religous movement within the Hardcore scene but I was surprised nonetheless. Do you think that there´s a place for religion in Hardcore?

Of course you’ll get reactions, the man was a pillar, and meant a lot to many. I personally have nothing with religion, but to each his or her own. I think it’s always sad when someone dies if that person means a lot to others. Not only religious leaders, but just a simple father or a grandmother as well.

I think there’s a place for anything and everything in Hardcore as long as it isn’t fascist, but that’s just my personal opinion. Who are we to tell people what and who they should and shouldn’t believe. The government tries to do that already. Let us all keep an open mind to different thinkers and try and learn something from each other. We shouldn’t build barriers anymore that is what divides the scene. (Someone should tell that some big German "fan"zine and basically the whole scene police that can fuck off - Stefan)

How important are the lyrics for a band like BORN FROM PAIN? What are your lyrics about (I don´t have the lyrics to “In Love With The End”)? The title “In Love With The End” doesn´t sound very positive.

You’re right when you say that it doesn’t sound very positive. In short the lyrics deal about humanity (especially western countries) being so in love with our luxurious lives we’re leading which blinds us from the future and the damage we’re doing with that. Look at the wars we're battling, all the natures disasters, or crime. Humanity is not meant to survive, and that’s something we don’t or won’t see.

Okay, we´re done. Thanks a lot for your time! Is there anything else you want to say?

Thank you for doing this interview, I enjoyed answering. I hope you as the reader enjoys it as well. Check out our new CD out on Metal Blade on April 18th called “In Love With The End”. Also we’re touring in May and June to support the CD , check us out when we’re in a venue near you soon!

(Tobi)