Interview with BACHT'N DE VULLE MOANE
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
Tell us a few things about BACHT'N DE VULLE MOANE (Members, Starting Year etc).
Well, there are just two of us, Scum and me, A.A.K. We started Bacht’n De Vulle Moane last year, in 2024. After living abroad for many years and coming back to Belgium, I had been trying to start anew band without much success. Eventually, Scum and I met up and talked about the possibilities of starting a new project. We’ve known each other for about 20 years through the music scene, but never considered playing together. The band he was playing in just broke up, and he was looking for a new project as well. It turned out that we both had very similar musical backgrounds and interests. Next thing you know, we released Klaagrituelen six months later.
In 2024 you released your EP ''Klaagrituelen''. What was the feedback from your audience as well as from the press?
Reactions in general have been great. I don’t know what to understand under ‘press’ these days, but the handful of websites that gave us some attention were very positive. We also received some very interesting gig offers and interest from people wanting to release Klaagrituelen on tape and vinyl, so I guess we can’t complain.
The cover artwork has a sick atmosphere! Tell us a few things about it.
Thanks. It’s a woodcut print by the Dutch artist Johannes Aarts. He worked at the start of the 20th century, which I think is a very interesting period for visual art. The artwork depicts a figure choking someone to death in a pile of books. In that illustration, you can read as much as you want. I make graphic art myself and am very much influenced by the expressionist movement of the time.
And what about the lyrics?
Lyrics are in Dutch, mostly in the West Flemish dialect (as is the name Bacht’n De Vulle Moane). They mostly deal with our not-so optimistic observations about society.
Label or DIY and why?
Oh man, I’m all for DIY. It’s the only way to go if you want to get things done. I’ve been playing in bands, making zines, releasing tapes and records and organising gigs and tours since the early 90s. Doing stuff yourself and not relying on others to do things for you puts you in the driver’s seat. However, DIY doesn’t mean you can’t rely on labels or a network of people you know and trust and have the same ethics. DIY is doing things underground without the big bucks of the music industry, which can totally go fuck itself.
Is there any funny or weird story from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
Nah, not really ...
Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
Personally, I don’t care too much about the format. It’s nice to have vinyls and tapes, absolutely, and I use all of the aforementioned media. Most of my collection from ‘back in the days’ was on tape, because that’s all I had money for and also how tape trading worked. I like vinyl a lot as well, if the band puts some effort into their release at least. I have my moments. A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to loads of tapes. This week, it’s all CDs. It all depends on where Memory Lane takes me at that point in time. But what counts the most is the music. I also get digital releases and streaming, just because it’s convenient to listen to wherever I am.
Your music style is Black Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
Is it black metal, though? Haha! I think it’s definitely our biggest influence, but fuck, the world is bigger than just black metal and there are lots of other genuinely dark genres out there. Scum and I were both teens in the ’90s, so the music from that era definitely had a big influence on us. Especially the raw, unpolished sounds of bands like Beherit, Ildjarn and Darkthrone. But we’re both also massive fans of electronic and experimental music. I personally get my kicks on late ’60s early ’70s psychedelic music, which then evolves into krautrock and ‘kosmische musik’. That takes me to postpunk, industrial and EBM in the early 80s. I also love ambient and experimental music. I’ve had my fair share of electronic music projects in the past. All these influences play a massive role in Bacht’n De Vulle Moane. Let’s make something very clear here: Bacht’n De Vulle Moane is mainly an electronic band. We do sound a lot like black metal, but the way we compose, arrange and produce our songs has nothing in common with a bunch of guys jamming riffs in a rehearsal room. We work in our small home studio, and that studio is packed with analogue synths and drum computers. The basis of our songwriting does not only come from a guitar riff, but often also from a sample, a synth line or a rhythmic pattern.
Which things do you think a band should sacrifice in order to succeed? Have you ever sacrificed anything in your life for a better future for your band?
What a strange question. I believe that as long as you keep your integrity and your heart in the right place, you’re free to do whatever the fuck you want. I make my choices, you make yours. As long as you made those choices with good intent, well, good luck to you. I have quite a few friends who have become professional musicians over the years. They had to sacrifice a lot (time, money, relationships, careers, financial stability, ...). Some do it for the right reasons and make the right choices and are in it for the long run. I fully support them. Others I know have made decisions I don’t agree with. I don’t really talk much to them anymore.
Describe your ideal live show as a performance band. Have you already experienced that?
The best gig is when the audience is wilder than you. I remember playing The Underworld in London in 2005 or something, opening for another band. The place was packed; we started playing and it was absolute madness. The audience went wild and even the PA mixer shouted “WHAT THE FUCK! through the monitor wedges after the first song. Good times. I was deaf for a whole week after that gig I think.
What do you think about the rise of AI in music production?
I haven’t used AI for my music production. Listening to music generated by AI, it’s a sad state of affairs. Using it to generate content (text, music, video, images, ...) out of thin air is a big pile of shit if you ask me. It has no soul, it’s just empty slop. If it serves a purpose (background music while you’re on hold on the phone), I don’t care. But don’t try and sell it to me as ‘real art’ or ‘real music’. However, as a music producer, I have heard of good uses of AI as a tool (not as a content generator). You can, for example, split a mixed recording into individual instrument tracks. This is great for remixing very old albums that were not recorded on a multitrack recorder (The Beatles, anyone?), or for cleaning up samples. No doubt AI will take massive steps forward in the coming years, and probably not for the best, just as happened to the internet in its early days. I wouldn’t be surprised if more and more AI music acts start popping up. It’s easy money, and that’s what the music business is about: making money. We should distinguish AI slop from real music and avoid that soulless generated crap like the pest.
What attributes do you think that a new Black Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
Integrity. Nothing else.
Do you believe that Digital Platforms help the new Black Metal Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a band to promote its work?
Are streaming services treating bands like shit? Yes. Do they help your music get heard? Yes. Is Spotify stealing from musicians? Yes! Does it serve a purpose in the greater scheme of things? I guess ... The best way to promote your work is the old school way; to network with real people, real faces. And if you play gigs; make them worth your while.
From your experience in the music industry, what would you tell to a new Black Metal band to avoid or what to do?
I have no advice to give apart from the things I have said earlier in this interview.
Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in Belgium (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.).
I used to be very active in the Belgian scene. When I moved abroad, I kinda lost the connection which made it difficult when I moved back seven years later. I noticed a few great new bands like Moenen Of Xezbeth, She Wolff, Matavitatau and of course our friends in Alkerdeel. There’s also De Pankraker Records, which released Klaagrituelen on vinyl; Peter also has a radio show and publishes a magazine. The tape label Haunted By Ill Angels, which released our tape also does some good stuff. That’s about all I can say for now. I’m nit gonna bore you with the mainstream crap we have here and the stuff that’s not worth listening to, I guess every country has’em.
What does Black Metal mean to you? And give us 10 metal albums that run in your veins.
God, I’m not gonna bother you with empty slogans like ‘black metal is war’ or black metal is pure evil’, fuck me, that’s not who I am or who we are. We like making music that moves us, and it doesn’t have to be black metal per se. Music is our means of expression, and what you hear is how we feel. If you think that’s black metal to you, great. If you think it’s something else completely, also great. 10 metal albums that run in my veins? This list is impossible ... Here are a few that come to mind, but there’s A LOT MORE:
Filosofem, Jilemnický okultista, Live After Death, Born Too Late, Tales Of Creation, To Mega Therion, From Beyond, Spiritual Healing, Altars Of Madness, Endless Pain, Eaten Back To Life, Written in Waters, Bergtatt, Relentless, Come My Fanatics, ... and on and on and on .....
Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
I played with a few Greek people in bands over the years, and I know the Greek black metal bands from the 90s, but that’s where my knowledge about the Greek scene stops. I absolutely love Zemial, they’re a great band. I also like Selofan, but they’re not metal. Apart from that, I really like Vangelis and Aphrodite’s Child. Isn’t also the His Wounds label Greek? I like what they’re doing. Scum is a big fan of Diabolos Rising, and it's a big inspiration for him when working on Bacht’n De Vulle Moane. He’s a lot more knowledgeable about Greek bands than me.
What are your future plans?
We’re working on new material. We’ve got the basics already for a handful of songs and we’re very happy with it. I think we’re going to concentrate on that new material and record it along the way. Maybe next year we’ll have something new ready, who knows.
Thank you very much for your time & keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Thanks for your interest. It means a lot.
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
BACHT'N DE VULLE MOANE CONTACT:
https://web.facebook.com/vullemoane?mibextid=ZbWKwL&_rdc=1&_rdr
https://www.instagram.com/vullemoane/
https://bdvm.bandcamp.com/album/klaagrituelen