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Interview with
Jan, vocalist and guitarist of the legendary Mincecore/Grindcore band AGATHOCLES
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Diabolical Conquest (Kunal): Jan my man! How's it going brother? What are you up to these days? Agathocles (Jan): Cheers Kunal, at the moment, I am drinking coffee and doing this interview, listening to BLAFKAT 7”EP, an old 7”EP from 1982 of this great raw punk band from Holland. Upcoming weekend, we will play at a benefit festival for a squat movement in Belgium. As for AG releases, I am working on some AG releases such as AG/VRV split 7”EP and a full AG 12”LP with only raw D-beat punk songs on.
A: MINCE CORE is the same as old school grindcore, the way it was in the 80's, raw, minimalistic and socially and politically involved. We took this term MINCE CORE around the end of 80's because sexism, macho behaviour and extreme right political ideologies were getting in the “scene”. That was also the period when « grind » became commercial and mainstream.
DC: Writing and recording so much stuff, is it some kind of a disorder or a disease? Labels might be handling the pressing and marketing/distribution part, but how do you manage the recording cost? A: We have always been working like this, with DO IT YOURSELF ethics creating a worldwide network of friends and like minded people. In this way, working without greedy labels, booking agencies, …. we keep all in our own hands and can do what we want. And we wanna spread our noise everywhere. In the early days, we had some friends who had a 4-track recording machine. Later, we bought such recording machine by ourselves, to make our own recordings. And when we have some money from gigs, we sometimes go to a bigger studio, for example to record full studio albums.
DC: Tell us about the Agathocles song writing process. How many songs do you write on an average sunny day and how many of them are composed in the toilet? How do you remember the songs? How many times have you composed the same song? Haha. A: Haha, the same songs….I don't know, maybe many times but playing the riffs backwards, hahaha. How many songs I write in one time depends on my mood. If all goes well, maybe 5 at one time. I make them on an acoustic guitar, record them and write them down and at the rehearsal I explain the song to the others. It's a fast way of working. The fastest I have ever written was when I made the 16 songs for the “TO SERVE….TO PROTECT” full studio album. I wrote all those 16 songs in 3 hours. Writing the music takes not that much energy, writing the lyrics for all these songs is much more difficult.
DC: Over the period of years your music has changed although not drastically and you have incorporated influences from a few related genres. Bands tend to risk losing their trademark “sound” in such cases. But your music has mostly been recognisable. Which features do you consider integral to your music? A: I think the raw crude guitar sound playing slow riffs, backed up by a fat bass sound and a drum which goes from D-beat or polka beat to grind blasts, shouted over by a high screaming voice and a growling voice, sometimes at the same time, are the features that are most noticeable in our noise. But I listen quite a lot of different kinds of music going from raw punk to grind, raw 80s metal to cold/new wave, experimental to noise. And all the bands or music I listen to have some impact in one way or another on the way I write songs.
A: Well, on tour in South America, we had this tour T-shirt with on the back the text: “Today's world is now, and MINCE is here today, if you don't like our way, then fucking go away”. Hahahaha….I guess that says enough. Criticism, opinions,…everybody has them and that's just fine. AGATHOCLES is not playing to win some kind of popularity contest or to be the best, or the fastest or the best sounding band….That's not what AG is about…..So sorry to all who think AG is just a pile of sloppy, messy, repetitive shit and for not living up to your high standards….Hahahahaha…..and yes, we are a bunch of noisy, sloppy, repetitive bastards.
DC: But seriously, don't you think you've been releasing waaaaaaaaaaaay too much stuff? There's a good chance many of them might be considered redundant you know. What keeps you going man, for so many years and years? A: During the years, we have made a big network of friends and like minded people. In this network, there are many people who wanna release AG stuff so it is nice to release things when we get these offers. I know we release a lot of stuff, more than most bands do, and we like being active like this….It is all done on DIY level, without big labels, managers, contracts and mainstream commercial bollocks like that. We don't work like that, we work in another way and the fact that we can release so much stuff is a proof that DIY ethics really work and can be a great alternative. I know we get shit from people saying that we release toooooo much, but honestly, we just don't care about their bragging and complaining. Hate us or love us, we are not here to please people or to live up to other peoples expectations.
A: I knew the guy from DISPLEASED since end 80s, from his noise band at that time. Roel and Dirk (AG members from the MINCER album line up), suggested to go for a two album deal with DISPLEASED, so we did. DISPLEASED are doing a nice job with the distribution. Things are working out well with GRIND IS PROTEST album. And yes, in the past, we have had some problems with certain labels and individuals who have released AG records. But they are not worth to be mentioned here.
A: Thanx for your nice comments on this album. We are pretty happy with the way it turned out, songwise, soundwise and artwork. And these are the last recordings with Tony, our bassplayer who committed suicide some weeks after the recordings. We look at this album as a statement. It is time to choose, left or right ! We have had enough bullshit going on and people in charge don't do a fuck. This globalisation of capital has fucked up this world and people who don't have anything are getting more fucked up, like always . On worldscale and in this « music scene », it's time to choose. There's a big polarisation going one, left or right, solidarity or egoism.
A: This song is about drunk fucks at gigs or at the pubs, who behave stupid and aggressive by pushing people over, making macho pogo with glasses or bottles in their hands,….they are pathetic. If you can't handle the booze, drink less or not at all.
A: This one is about macho metal type of people….the body building bronzed typed macho fuckers who think they are so cool in their little ignorant metal world. The ones who behave like all the metal clichés such as sexism, macho, right winged,…. The “horns up” thing is this metal sign with the fingers….I totally hate that sign, hahaha,…so it was nice to use this in these lyrics, hahaha. DC:
“Grind Is Protest”: “Speak out loud with grinding sounds/That's what grind is about/No bread nor games for a pathetic crowd” and “We'll keep on shouting, again A: This song is about the way we see GRINDCORE: socially and politically aware fast noisy punk/hardcore, like it started in the 1980's DC: Agathocles have been around since 1985. That's fucking amazing to put it mildly. From the perspective of a grind band, how different were things then from now? Could you tell us about some of the advantages and disadvantages of the current generation and its notable obsession with technology? A: Times change, standards change, tools change when time passes by. Back in the 1980's, of course things were different. There was no internet which has a big impact on today's scene with all these websites and MySpace things. That's really not my thing but it can have some advantages besides some negative aspects. Fast communication can be an advantage but it also can be a big disadvantage, like for example: lies, gossip, rumours are getting spread around the world really fast. And for me, email communication is really empty communication. People don't take time anymore to write long hand written letters, personal letters with a lot of info and stories. Now, all has to be done immediately and that's why most emails are so boring and short. All the scene has become much more impersonal and business minded.
DC: What do you think is wrong with the grind or the general extreme music scene at the moment? Do you think that the prevalent emphasis on tightness, technicality and speed is misplaced in a genre like grindcore? Are there any new grind bands that you admire? A: Newer grind core bands that I like are bands such as RVOTA ( Russia ), ARCHAGATUS ( Canada ), AXED UP CONFORMIST ( Canada ), TWISTED TRUTH (Czech Republic, old band but reformed now), SAKATAT ( Turkey ), PROSUCK ( Russia ), PISSDEADS ( Russia ), POS ( Belgium ), GRIND BASHERS ( Holland )…. They have the spirit of what GRIND is for me. Today, “GRIND” is too much used for bands who have NOTHING to do with GRIND CORE. I mean, bands which spend months in the studio, paying huge prices for recordings, ultra technical riffs and solo's, empty lyrics, asking huge prices for their gigs,… come on, that's heavy metal played in a fast way, not GRIND. GRIND is raw, minimalistic, noisy, crude, socially and politically aware. 90% of the bands that are being promoted by big labels as GRIND CORE are METAL bands ! And if it is like that, then GRIND IS DEAD for me.
DC: There's a preponderance of gore/porn-themed bands these days. Going by the hard-hitting lyrics of “Worthless” attacking that issue, clearly you do not approve of that. Have you had any problems with some of those bands? Any hate mails, snubs at live shows, etc.?
DC: There are also bands with racist ideologies and you've come down hard on them, at least in your lyrics. Speaking of which, I just got reminded of your detailed explanation of how “Fascism Infects Us All!” in the booklet of ‘Razor Sharp Daggers'. That was a great read Jan, very motivating! A: Thanx for your nice words. Fascism, nazism,…in Belgium , we have suffered from these egocentric and cruel ideologies. It is a normal thing to speak out against these kind of ideologies which have so much blood of innocents on their hands and will have again when they are not stopped. Besides, these ideologies are based upon the “survival of the fittest”….And the fittest will always be the richest. We do not agree with that. DC: Hey, what does the name Agathocles mean? Why did you choose that name? A: AG is the name of an ancient Greek warlord, some centuries before Christ. He kicked out the happy few rich which were on power those days and he gave back a lot to the people. I found his history in some book about ancient Greece when I was at high school. DC: You must have had some crazy tours in your career. Any highlights that you would share with us? Any strange/cool/amusing incidents? A: We have played in countries such as Holland , Belgium , Germany , Slovakia , Czech Republic , England , France , Spain , Italy , Turkey , Switzerland , Poland , Luxembourg , Peru , Slovenia , Chile , Argentina , Brazil ,….. Soon we will be doing a tour in Finland , together with noisecore veterans KUOLEMA. That's gonna great. The tour in South America and the one in Spain in 1994 were amazing. Such a big adventure.
A: Living and growing up in another country would ofcourse affect us as individuals and as a band…. But you have to remember that in the 1980's, Belgium was one of the few countries with a very active GRIND/NOISE punk scene. In those days, we had great great bands such as DREFT, DISGORGE, VIOLENT MOSQUITOS, CODA, RONALD RUCK, MUTILATIONS AND DEATH, CHRONIC DISEASE, REIGN OF TERROR,….. All those bands have split up in the 1980's or early 1990's, but they were really the raw GRIND side of Belgium . And very active.
DC: What do you think of India ? Have you ever visited the country? Are you attracted at all to its people, culture, spiritual teachings or at least the scope of charity work that it offers to nice people like yourself? If you're thinking of the latter, I suggest that you start by draping this poor, naked interviewer in an Agathocles tee! A: Hahaha, nice one… India seems an interesting country but full of contradictions. India is supposed to be a democracy, but still, there's this low class-high class system. Also the fact that India spends so much money on weapons while there are actually so many people living on the street, is a shocking fact. I don't think I feel the need to visit India . Here in Belgium, there are many Indian people who were adopted as babies, because of the poverty, diseases,….. DC: Adopt me, I don't have any LPs! Out of curiosity, what do you think of the means of protest adopted by Gandhi? They were non-violent to an impractical degree but were still successful – India is a free country because of that saint-like man. Do you know much about him? A: Yes of course, here in Belgium we know about Gandhi and his peaceful protest. He is known all over the world. His form of protest is really worthwhile to change some facts but other means are necessary to change other situations.
A: Nils, our drummer, is studying to become a social worker, Bram, our bassman, is working as a sound engineer and I myself have been working as a social worker for 14 years now, for an organisation for and with people with a disability. Yes, we are involved in social activities such as squats, youth clubs,….. DC: For someone who's been around for as long as you have, there's a strong chance of disillusionment and cynicism settling in. Yet you seem very positive and enthusiastic about the whole thing. Could you explain your attitude so that others could get inspired? A: Haha, well, it depends on my mood. For sure I can be very cynical and sarcastic sometimes, but overall, I think these feelings should not control your life and suck the energy out of you. And by building a network of friends and like minded worldwide, you get more positive energy and take action and try to get some positive things done. DC: Thank you very much Jan for answering the interview when you could have easy written material for at least couple of splits. It's an honour. Final words are yours. A: Cheers Kunal, thanx a lot for doing this interview and for giving AG space! Best of luck with your other activities. Anyway, some last words, well, it really is time to choose sides. Too many people and politicians just keep in the middle to try to please everyone, but in this way, nothing will change for people who really need more welfare, for people who do not have a voice, for people who are seen as « inferior » by the ruling class. It is time to divide welfare between all people, and not between those who already have enough or who think all belongs to them because of their skin of colour, their ethnic background, their rich families,… And this cause deserves a constant fight, a fight for alternatives which have already proven that they are working as a good alternative. MINCE ON !
Important Agathocles Discography - You must be fucking kidding me. I'll have to create a whole new site to put that up.
[Agathocles Website] [Displeased Records] [Agathocles - 'Grind Is Protest' REVIEW] [Discuss/Comment on the forums]
- Interview conducted by Kunal N. Choksi
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DC:
Like I said in my review, I haven't been able to keep up with all your releases. But apparently ‘Grind Is Protest' is one of your heavier and rawer albums at least since the late ‘90s. It sounds almost as if it's a return to the roots, to the cruder era of the music. 
and again/Grind is protest to create some change/And to break chains, our fight remains” 
DC:
Do you do anything at all besides writing new Agathocles material? What kind of jobs do the band members have? Given the seriousness of your style of music, are you/any of the band members involved in any social activities?
