Interview with ABORTED

Aborted is a legendary band. With their new EP Coronary Reconstruction, the band celebrate its 15th year anniversary. Epic. Boulevard Brutal talked with Sven(cho) De Caluwé, the leader of Aborted to talk about the band, the making-of Coronary Reconstruction, his tastes, the fans, his projects, the Canadian tour and a lot of other subjects. Brutal interview with a metal pioneer.

Your new EP, Coronary Reconstruction just came out and you guys say it’s a return to your roots. Why was it the time for such a return to your original sound?

Yup pretty much, why was it time? Because we felt it was besides even before this line up change this is the direction I wanted to take the band back to, it is the style I enjoyed playing the most with the band and I believe the true essence of this band. Every member of the band now has been a fan for years and this is also exactly what they wanted to do and what felt natural and right. It’s not about writing Goremageddon II or making a stale copy, but it is going back to that style and sound with our new and fresh ideas and building upon it.

Listening to this album, I was hearing an evolution in the sound of the band. Do you think so?

Well yes, as said, we returned to the ‘roots’ if you will but with our current version. The way we see as return to the roots is that we went back to the level of agression and brutality of the older releases, having the catchy hooks and grooves as well and adding some more modern elements that blend in nicely without taking into any core or melodeath ventures. There definitely is an evolution, but a more subtle and well directed one than on the last 2 albums.

The sounds at the end of From A Tepid Whiff always make me want to puke. They’re fucking gross. How did you create those? Did you actually put yourself through what is described in the song?

Those come from Jim Carrey‘s ass actually. No joke. We put him through the song.

There’s a badass cover of Entombed’s Left Hand Path on your album. Do you consider Entombed to be one of your biggest influences?

Yes back in the day for sure, especially this song is an iconic song everyone of us grew up with and helped shape our musical preferences today. Aborted has always somewhat been a modern mix of the old swedish death metal sound and the american school in some ways, and we plan on doing a few more covers of classic songs that influenced us back in the day on our next album as bonus. One of the reasons being that a lot of kids don’t know about these great bands and they should not go forgotten.

What bands inspired you the most to make music?

Personally? Suffocation, Carcass, Entombed, Dismember, Slayer, Hatebreed, Hemdale, Napalm Death, those would be the main ones really but I have been listening to so much stuff through the long years that it’s hard to remember it all! (laughs)

Coronary Reconstruction’s cover is awesome. How was it working with Justin Osbourn? (Justin Osbourn is the artist that did the artwork)

It was pretty sweet, he nailed the idea from the first shot. At first I was a bit on the fence about the image, because it seemed a bit too funny looking, then after thinking for a bit I realised that is exactly what we needed, it has this sick sense of humor going throughout the album which makes it hilarious yet horrible to look at, definitely one of my favourite artworks we had so far!

Did you guys created the concept together?

I pretty much gave him the album title and told him the rough outlines and he did the rest. We wanted to have a really old B-movie vibe going through the artwork and he did wonders with it, it was awesome working with Justin for sure and we will work together again for the next album.

Horror and gore are an obvious inspiration for your lyrics. What are your most influential horror movies?

Umm again, seen so many! (laughs) But some of my all time favourite horror movies would be the first couple Hellraiser movies, the Romero « Dead » trilogy, the Evil Dead, Re-Animator, A Nightmare On Elm Street (1 and 3), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (first 3), aaand so onnnnnn….

Aborted’s lineup have seen a lot of changes over the years, was it difficult sometimes for the band to continue?

Yes of course, there are moments where you think if it still makes sense, or if you really don’t feel like doing this shit or going through a line up change again, then again there are the moments that lift you up, and having positive people around you willing to push this band forward with the energy you need makes all the difference. Every line-up change had a good reason and I am in good terms with all the ex members minus the last line up, for good reasons. Life goes on.

The band was created in 1995. What is the biggest change in the band, 15 years later?

Everything and eveyrone besides me? (laughs) The music has stayed still quite true to its sound minus the last record, but we intend to rectify this with Coronary and the next full-length in 2011.

What do you think about music piracy and how does it affect your band?

I am fine with people downloading stuff, but when you like something, please buy it. support the artists, albums aren’t made for free and if you want your favourite bands to still be around and be able to make more good albums, they need your support. buy them from the band directly by all means if stores have ridiculous prices, but a lot of bands sell their records for 10 USD or less, a small price to pay for an album you an enjoy long term. go to shows, buy merch, support your scene and your favourite bands thats all I have to say about it. The downloading thing has its positive effects too cause this way a lot of people get to know new bands and records, just don’t freeload it all.

You guys tour a lot. What is the worst thing that happened to you while touring?

Ehh the last two european tours we have had some bad luck with bands cancelling and vulcanic ash placing a curse on the tour (laughs), so it sucks when something doesn’t go to plan that much, but otherwise things have been pretty smooth and we always manage to fall on our feet. 🙂

You have dedicated fans, they come to your show drenched in blood. How did the blood splattered clothing phenomenon came to life?

Some guy from the UK named Chris started this when we played Hellfest, we were totally unaware of the fact and were suprised by seeing the lot of ’em (laughs), it looked awesome and they come to a few shows since, it’s been a great time and Chris is a great dude who supports the band greatly.

You also started a clothing line called Skarewear mostly about serial killers. How’s it going?

Pretty decent, I need to advertise it more (yes go to www.indiemerchstore.com/skarewear). It’s starting off small and only 3 designs are online so far but I have about 2 more ready to be printed and it should grow slowly, I’m doing this for fun mainly, so if you are into offensive, humorous and serial killer related shirts go check it out!

Why do you have this fascination with serial killers and murderers?

They seem more fun than pop stars.

What do you listen to these days?

Umm, a lot of different stuff, I really enjoy the new Abigail Williams, Burnt By The Sun, Demonical, The Ghost Inside, Napalm Death, Man Must Die, Rotten Sound and Bloodbath releases.

What is your favorite music video?

Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse de Dimmu Borgir. Stuff looks epic as fuck!

How’s System Divide, your other project?

Pretty good, we are releasing our debut album on Metal Blade Records on september 14th, we should be launching new songs and videos and what not real soon so keep an eye out on www.myspace.com/systemdivide or www.systemdivide.com , it’s an extreme mix of various genres so just check it out! Hopefully we will be on tour frequently so you will see and hear more of us.

Looking forward to play with our Montreal brothers – Augury?

Yup, known the guys for yeaaars and this is going to be the first time playing together if you don’t count the time i toured Canada with Leng Tch’e and we did Trois-Rivieres Fest together. should be good times, and many many poutines!!

How did you guys hear about them?

Met them ages ago, can’t even remember when, their old drummer even played for us for a while (Etienne), I think we actually got to know them through Etienne when he was playing for Neuraxis when Leng Tch’e and Neuraxis toured together, forever ago in the US.

Anything else to say to our canadian readers?

Show up to the shows and crush some skulls, toss some kids and midgets, do whatever you want, it’s all about having a good time! we hope to see many of you and tabarnaque and poutine and shit, LET’S MAKE IT GRRRRRRRRRRIND!!!!