Inquisitor – interview with Wim and Erik

Wim: Since I had quite playing drums for about 12 years after I stopped playing in Centurian I felt for some time the need to pick up the sticks again. I didn’t want to start a new band or project, so it came at the exactly right time that I got in contact with Erik again because of the re-release. And this happily lead into a re-start for the band which feels especially great now because we are playing in the original line up that started in 1991. The break-up in 1996 / 97 didn’t feel good (I think they never do) in spite of the fact I did very well in the following years with Centurian. There’s some unfinished business on stage that INQUISITOR needs to set straight !!!

2. Is the contemporary INQUISITOR different from the one in 1996? What remains inchanged in the band and what would be developed?

Erik: Interesting question. First of all, the line-up of the contemporary INQUISITOR is with the members of the original line-up which lasted roughly from 1991 till the beginning of 1995. Which means that we have Alex Bakker back on the bass guitar, who was unfortunately absent on the recordings of “Walpurgis – Sabbath of Lust”. Although we didn’t play together as a band for a very long time, we have grown as individual musicians, which gives us the opportunity to expand our style a little bit, without dramatically changing it too much. I’ve read in several interviews of other bands talking about chemistry, and maybe that’s why this may sound like a cliché, but the chemistry between the four of us is still there, as if it never ever disappeared.

Wim: Ha, we aged a bit, that’s for sure, and the looks are gone. But in spite of this you’ll find out what we are still able of in the coming years.

3. Is there any material from the time of DESULTORY that would be reproduced in your future release? Is it possible a retrospective release of DESULTORY? 

Erik: Only in the very early days of INQUISITOR we used to perform two songs of Desultory, but I don’t see us reproduce old songs of Desultory in any form again under the name of INQUISITOR.

Wim: Desultory played in a different style then INQUISITOR did. There’s now way playing Desultory songs would fit in an INQUISITOR show today. Besides this, Desultory was the band in which most of us started playing so the level of musicianship is ehh… quite different than what we are capable of today.

4. Should we wait a new release soon or you are for the responses of the audience?

Erik: No, we are not waiting for the responses of press and audiences to whether we will write new material for a possible new release. I don’t know how soon there will be a new release of INQUISITOR, but we will write new songs that’s for sure.

Wim: Don’t hold your breath, but we are working on it. First we need some time to get back in shape after our almost 20 year hiatus. But I can promise it won’t take us 20 years again !

5. After the long silence can we expect an explosion of ideas and aggression? 

Erik: We already have a few great ideas, which are absolutely suitable for INQUISITOR. Although we will expand our style and maybe even stretching musical boundaries, we will try not to make the mistake of releasing a less aggressive release compared to our predecessor.

Wim: Lots of ideas went to other bands in which we were busy with of course, but there are loads of new ideas in the vein of old Inquisitor style and also the aggression is still there.

6. Is there interest from promoters toward the band to see you more fans in 2015?

Erik: On the 25^th of July next year, we will play at a great Dutch Metal Festival called Stonehenge. This year, we already did a try-out gig in our area but at this moment we consider our appearance at Stonehenge as our real return. We’ll see what happens, but I expect that some promoters are interested to feature INQUISITOR on their metal-event.

Wim: Our label manager (from Hammerheart Records) also has big plans for us, and he has a wide range of contacts with promoters etc, so this will help us getting to the right gigs and festivals.

7. Are there any bands you wish to share the stage with? Could you see yourselves in a somewhat old-school death metal community or you are more representatives of the metal scene as a whole?

Erik: Of course there are lots of bands we wish to share the stage with like Dark Angel, Carpathian Forest, Cannibal Corpse and and many other great bands, but we’ll see. If we ever got the chance to play in Denmark I would like to share the stage with INVOCATOR if they still exist. I still like their album “Excursion Demise” a lot. We don’t want to limit ourselves as representatives to only an old school death metal community. We do appreciate old school death metal but we also like lots of other styles of metal as well.

Wim: Sharing stages with SADUS is one thing we’re very interested in, since they always were a big influence. Other band that suits us, I think, are Impaled Nazarene.

8. Send your message and/or wishes to the reading metal fans!

Wim: Thx for showing interest in INQUISITOR. Best wishes for this new year of course; the year that INQUISITOR will be back on stage and maybe even will be back with new material. We’re working on it !!! For all latest news and information check our FaceBook page at: www.facebook.com/InquisitorXtremeThrash.