Interview:


The name of the band, Distillator leads one's mind to alcohol, obviously, and that might build an impression of a joke activity. How serious are you about the band and how serious is the band's music/message?
Distillator is by far the most successful band we had so far.
The name of the band was found in a brainstorming session between Laurens and Frank.
“Distillator”, is a derivative of “Distiller”, someone who distills his own alcohol. We see this as a way of self-reliance and independence. This is needed since governments are trying to limit our freedom. We see it necessary to be somehow self supportive and autonomous in this modern times we’re living in right now. The name of our band is more or less a metaphor for independence.

Talking about names, Summoning the Malicious is the title of your second album, released this year, and it can lead the thoughts to either Satanic themed lyrics, or if someone digs just a bit deeper, to social, maybe even (anti-)political topics. What's the truth about your lyrics, what's your target when writing them?
Actually, Summoning the Malicious was released in May 2017. The themes on the album can definitely be defined as social and political. Until now, every album we have written is a concept album. On our Debut album “Revolutionary Cells” we wrote songs about events that did happen in the last 100 year. On “Summoning the Malicious” we took that to our current time. The lyrics are about topics like refugees, computerization of society, whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, Oil-trade and Narcissistic leaders to name a few. These are things that are happening right now, but most people seem not to care about it. We are not judging in our lyrics, but we want to give people notice to some fact that we think are important. We think that our freedom is taken away piece by piece and we want people to think about this.

The production of this new album to me seems similar to your debut one's, am I right? Are there any differences? Where was Summoning the Malicious recorded and how happy are you about the final result?
We recorded both our albums by ourselves in our own studio. The mix and master of both albums are done by Dennis Koehne (Sodom, Caliban, Lacuna Coil). The first album sounded so good, that we wanted to have a new album that sounded just like that. For us, the final result is very satisfying! Recording in our own studio will allow us to work in a relaxed environment without the interference of someone who is an outsider of the band. This way we can get the most out every member’s performance and get the songs recorded exactly the way we have it pictured in our minds.

A band's force and catchiness must be proven live, that's a no brainer, but I'm interested in your opinion of the current role of recordings, how important still are the recordings (EPs, albums) for the new generation, or for the regular listener who is bombarded with music all over but finds little time to spend for it.
It’s mandatory to keep recording songs and putting out records. Playing live is important, but you need to bring something new to the table once in a while. Over the years, a band will start to improve themselves in terms of songwriting and sound. At some point there is a mismatch between the catalog of the band and the current quality. Also, people will forget about the band and focus on other bands instead.
Currently, we have focussed our creativity into a split album (together with Space Chaser, from Berlin). We have experimented with some new sounds, compositions and added some progressive elements. It will be released this (2018) spring on This Charming Man Records.

Thrash Metal seems to have its strength in fascinating a certain mass of fans all the time, there are fans of all ages and I don't see this stopping anytime soon even if it relies on its old-school sonorities. Do you think it's good as it is, or it should somehow reinvent and refresh itself?
It’s very nice to see that there is a huge following in the thrash metal scene. These days, it seems that there is more interest for thrash metal than some years ago. For example, there are tons of new bands seeing the light of day that put our records and play shows. However, bands like Vektor for example, really transcend the boundaries of what we know as thrash metal. We think this is awesome and would encourage bands to try something different as well. A lot of bands sounding the same these days, not only in Thrash, but also in other genres as well.

Your label is (was) also home of some legendary names like Ostrogoth, Warlord or Medieval Steel. How do you find your labelmates and how happy are you about the collaboration with this label?
We are very honored to be on the same label as these metal legends. Also, you forgot to mention Evil Invaders and Insanity Alert, which are great bands/guys that were signed at Empire Records. The label boss, Tony, is a very cool guy that really has passion for the music that he releases on his label.

As said earlier, Summoning the Malicious was just released this year, do you plan on touring Europe (or even further) in support of it? How should an ideal 2018 look for the band, what should happen in order to be the perfect year?
We just finished our tour with Pestilence and Rebaelliun, which took place in January/February. We played all over Europe, including our first gigs in Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Slovakia. This was very awesome and hope to be back soon! In May, we will do a short tour with Gama Bomb throughout 4 countries. Later in 2018, we are planning to do a second big European tour. Beside our regular shows, it would be cool to do some summer festivals as well!

February 2018


distillator.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/DISTILLATORNL
distillator.eu
www.youtube.com/user/DistillatorOfficial