dinsdag 11 februari 2020, Trix (Antwerpen) | Interviewer: Ilke Clissen
This is the second time you guys play in Trix, I believe. Are you excited to be back?
Ken: Yeah, we’ve been here so many times in Belgium since 2012 and I love the food in Belgium so I’m always happy to be back.
Hiro: Yeah, the food is always great in Belgium.
And what’s your favourite Belgian food?
Ken: Kroket
Hire: I think even some kinds of soup, they taste great!
Ken: Yes, great quality.
There might be a few readers who have no idea who Crossfaith is, so can you describe your band to them using only three words?
Hiro: Three words… hmmm… A. New. Acid. You? (looks at Ken)
Ken: Yeah, no that’s perfect.
You play a very unique mix between metal and electronics, what inspired you to combine these two genres?
Ken: Of course we got inspiration from The Prodigy, and actually we still like their music and each guy has different musical directions. Like our DJ, he loves acid techno and dark techno and rave culture. It’s like our goal to keep liking the music we play and mix genres which no one has done before. So that’s our goal.
Hiro: When we started the band there wasn’t a big influence for us, like the Kenta Brothers and The Prodigy, those bands did inspire us, but there wasn’t any mix between metal and electronic music back then.
So you really wanted to make something new?
Both: Yeah!
Well, you certainly succeeded!
In your older albums, when your started out, there were mainly screaming vocals, whilst now almost every new song also has clean vocals. Was there a reason for this transformation?
Ken: It came naturally, because, screaming vocals can be anything to describe the emotions. But in some points, clean vocals will work better than the screams. Also the dramatics is one of the most important aspects of Crossfaith so we also care about this and the story in the song. So yeah, it was very natural to decide to sing in clean vocals.
You recently released a new song, called Endorphin. What was the inspiration for this song?
Ken: The song has its inspiration from the acid base and acid techno and rave culture and that kind of stuff. Like we told you, we always focus on making new things so this time we got the inspiration from acid base, that’s the main theme about the Endorphin.
Okay, and with the new song, is there also a new album coming up?
Ken: It’s going to be an EP, which will be released around this Spring.
Festival season is also coming up in a few months and you’ve already announced you will be playing at quite a few of them. Is there also a chance we will see you in Belgium again?
Both: Hopefully
Ken: And yeah, actually we already fixed some schedules in European festival but it’s not all fixed so, hopefully we can come back here to a festival, maybe Graspop.
What I was also wondering, how do you start to make a setlist for a concert?
Ken: We always fix the setlist before the show, because especially when we tour in Europe we play in different countries and different cities each day. So you know, each country has different cultures and different people and a different view and also we care about the atmosphere of the venue so that’s why we always change the setlist for each city. I think that’s very natural, but most of the western bands do not change their setlist each night, but it’s very natural to us. Also because it will be better for our performances and also for you guys cause some fans come to see us, not only at one show, some fans will follow us on the tour, so they will not get bored. That’s the main reason.
When you’re on stage, you always have an insane amount of energy, which is very crazy to watch, but is there something you do before the show, like a ritual, to get this amount of energy?
Ken: Thank you! And, uhm, we listen to the music through the speakers and drink beer, for me. And we do proper rituals, such as vocal warm ups and stuff. But special things are the music and the beer.
Is there any place, like a festival, city or country, where you’ve never had the chance to play a concert before, but where you do wish you can one day?
Ken: For me South America; Brazil and Argentina, like those areas we’ve never done before and I’ve heard so many things about South America from the bands and they’ve told us that the people are super crazy over there, and they very much love to attend their concert, so yeah.
Hiro: I want to go to India. When we played with Periphery back in the day, they just played there before we met and they were very interested. Like, India is a famous country for their math and like, metal music and the math somehow go together, you know, that’s their culture. I wanna see how they will react to our music. (Ik denk dat hij het hier heeft over hoe India bekend staat om hun wetenschapsskills en dat de combinatie hiervan samen met de metal zorgt voor heel technische muziek, zoals bij Periphery)
Is It different to play a show in countries like Belgium than it is in Japan?
Ken: Japanese crowds are very powerful as well, I think there is a different type of people in the crowds.
Hiro: Like at Graspop, there are a lot of people drinking beer and in Japan people are really clean, some people drink, but not a lot. So that’s easy to see the difference. Also as you remember the first time we played at Graspop, people didn’t know about us but still they watched it and at the end of the set they were crazy, you know.
Ken: Yeah I love it, I think that’s why we are here.
Hiro: Yeah, like in Japan when they don’t know a band, they just walk past the stage quickly.
Okay, and what is life like on the tour bus? Is it hard to be together like 24/7?
Ken: It’s like family and very natural, so chill and we help each other and that’s the most important thing about being a band. If I wasn’t friends with the rest of the boys I could not do this job.
So to end this interview, do you have a message for your fans from Belgium and The Netherlands?
Ken: Tanks for reading this and if you missed our set this time, we will come back this summer for the European festivals, so please come to our show and party with us. Check our new music, Endorphin and we will release our new EP this spring so keep your eyes on us!
Hiro: Yes, see you in a bit!