A NIGHT WITH: MATT VERSCHOOR (EAR DANGER)

AFTER A GOOD LISTENING OF FULL BLAST AT LAST, ALBUM RELEASED ON 2011 FROM EAR DANGER HERE WE ARE TALKING TO MATT VERSCHOOR FROM THE BAND TO KNOW SOME SECRET BEHIND THE BLAST!

After all this year finally a full lenght, how do you feel about that?
It feels absolutely fucking great. Dick & I started working on an Ear Danger in….. 1984 ! We chose the wrong moment. We were far too busy doing shows (and everyone of us had a regular job or studies) sowhat we recorded was powerless. Also, we had to stop in the middle of recording because we needed our backline to do a gig etc. So, basically, we felt that releasing the LP was taking care of unfinished business. That’s also why it’s called “Full Blast At Last”

How are changed Ear Danger in this three decade?
We ‘ve grown a lot older….. and a bit wiser, hahaha. No seriously The 80s Ear Danger was as much about metal as about living a rock ‘’ roll life. Partying, getting drunk, meeting a lot of very strange people. Nowadays, we’re actually pretty serious about our music. And that’s understandable. We’ve been around for 30 years now. At a certain moiment, you’re done partying, but the music never gets boring.

As I can see it's almost contains everyone of your songs released in the past demo..
Yes, true, like most bands, I’d say. But you shouldn’t forget that our demos are known to a small group of people. Although I was very surprised that Ian Chains (Cauldron) could come up with the titles of some of our songs. But then again, they’re good songs, so why not ? We felt that it’d be important to have an album where all songs fit well together. Although they have been written over a period of 30 years.

Is there a song from yours that you like much more than the other one?
There are one or two songs that stick out, yes. Assassin is one of my favourite and I guess the other one is Beelzebub’s Friend

What does Children of the Sun talks about?
Children Of The Sun is about a very well-known Dutch children/teenage book, calles “Crusade in Jeans” about a boy who travels with a time machine and ends up in the horror of the children crusaders who marched off to the Holy Land to fight the Saracens. ( I will copy the lyrics for you)

... and King of the Midnight FIre?
About a nobleman who has to guard the Holy Flame ( will copy the lyrics as well).

Thousand Days in Sodom is one of your first songs ever, could you tell me more about that?
I wrote that when I was still at Secondary School. We had a class about paintings by Jeroen Bosch and this came to mind. As you will have heard it has absolutely nothing to do with the Venom song. Also I tried to see i fit would work to create a metal song on a 12-bar blues scheme. It has always been a heavily debated track. Either you love, or you hate it, it seems.

Will we see a sequel to Full Blast at Last?
As a matter of fact, we’re well underway wrting songs for the new album. There will also be a couple of songs that were previously released on demo. But them again, 30-year old versions, what cab you say. Hard to say when exactly we will start recording but I would like it to happen in July/August if possible.

Do you prefer live activite or studio works?
Thirty years ago, we absolutely hated being in a studio. But nowadays you can do so much at home that I am actually beginnen to like it. I have a small setup at home ( mixing the album was done at my place) . The worst part in the studiio was the endless waiting until you finally could do something. But still, it’s much more fun playing live than recording.

Which was your stranges live ever?
Strangest live concert…. There have been quite a few very strange experiences I can tell you. I can remeber we once had to play in a hippie hangout. We didn’t know why they hired us, but well….. they did. The place was called “The Swamp”.  In the dressing room, there was large four-poster bed and more comics than we’d ever seen. So, we were so busy reading comics that we forgot the time…. Hurried on stage to find a crowd without any heabangers, but only hippy types, who started dancing and amused themselves throwing balloons at each other while we played. When, after the show, we tried to move our truck, we found out why the place was called “The Swamp”, because we couldn’t move. So, everone had to push. We we were finally able to moe the truck, we had turned into complete mudmen !

What do you think of modern times and the internet influences to the music world?
It has made things a lot faster and easier… there’s nothing worng with that.  If you use internet the right was, you can draw the attention to your band a lot simpler that by sending around demos. The downside is of course illegal downloading…. But that’s just the was it is. Learn to live with it. It’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is more and more people getting mainstream because radio and tv still pretend there is no such thing as heavy metal.  It has made working with Ear Danger a lot easier as well. I live about 220 km away from the other guys. We share ideas/demo etc over the internet so when we rehearse, you don’t need hours to explain your riffs to the rest; they have already listened to the mp3s they have received and so, we already have a basis.

Would you like to leave a message to our readers?
Well, maybe this. The last time in was in Italy I learned to walk, so that’s like 47 years back. It’s baout time I got back there a do some crazy shows. For readers who’d like to order “Full Blast”: we have a limited number of packs available, with free patch and photocard, including s/h for € 12,50, so let us know at info@eardanger.com if you want one. Hope to see you guys soon !