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Het instumentale Sardonis lijkt de nieuwste ster aan het doom firmament van België, dus nam ik van de gelegenheid gebruik om deze jonge band te interviewen. Drummer Jelle stond me te woord om tekst en uitleg te geven over hun ep en hun komende full lenght CD.
Text: Erik
It would be nice to know some more about Sardonis? For starters, introduce yourselves. Who are you, where are you from and what is it you do in the band.
SardoniS is a two-man army healing from the eastern part of Belgium, Limburg that is! On the 666strings there is Roel and I, Jelle, am sweating it out behind the drumkit. We play instrumental heavy songs and we play them very loud. People have compared us before with bands like High in Fire, Electric Wizard and Sabbath.
When was the band founded, and why?
Roel and I know each other for several years now and we were walking around with the idea of doing something really heavy. We began jamming and creating walls of sounds in the summer of 2006 and it felt good with just the two of us, so quite early we decided to go along the road as a two-man band.
Be honest: does your band name come from a youth series on TV?
Yes, it does! For the people who don’t know this series, here’s the story. In the eighties there was a very popular weekly television show for kids on the Flemish national television named 'Merlina'. It was the cliché story of the good hunting the bad. In this case a group of detectives were chasing down a group of villains who kidnapped children, terrorized the elder... The bad guys were lead by this super villain named SardoniS. When we were young and we did something bad, our mama always told us to be nice, otherwise SardoniS would come and get us. He was the demon of our youth. We think it is a great name for the band.
Have you played in other bands before (or are you still making music in other bands besides Sardonis)?
Roel is 36 and I’m 30, we’re both playing in bands since we were fourteen years and if I have to make a list of bands where we both played in, then it would be quite extensive and boring cause most of the bands/projects existed for just a short period. During the mid 90’s I played in a band named VICTIM 34; pure sludgy doomcore, followed by several trash/punk/HC/metal bands. Roel played in even more bands then I did and still does the guitar for MR MAMA and SOLENOID; a NWOBHM band with a Mötorhead edge who will release their debut this month.
Who are your main influences why you started the band and if you had to describe your sound, with which bands would you compare yourselves?
We’re both into heavy music of the last nearly four decades, so it’s hard to exactly point what our main influences are. People and reviewers compared us with Electric Wizard, Celtic Frost, 5ive, Pelican and other heavy bands. We’re both massive fans of the thunder of High on Fire, the atmosphere of 5ive and the groove ‘n burn of bands like Karma to Burn.
Why is Sardonis an instrumental band? I mean, I do like the sound of you guys, but I could imaging that with the right singer this would be an even more killer band!
We’re not opposed to introduce vocals to the band and if the right person crosses our path, then maybe SardoniS will have vocals in the future. But for the moment it feels right doing our shit with just the two of us. We have some vague plans to introduce a bass guitar and even vocals when we're going to record, but not now and not on the first full length.
You just released an EP that was very limited. Why so limited? How are the reactions towards that EP up to today?
The reactions are beyond our expectations. We had hoped that some people who would be enthusiastic about it, but we never imagined getting this massive response. We’ve pressed two hundred and fifty copies because we wanted to offer something exclusive and we didn’t wanted to end up with boxes full of 7”s on the attic, so we pressed two hundred regular black and fifty limited white ones that sold out in less than four days and we’re also down to the last box of black vinyl’s.
And why release it on Electric Earth Records? How did that deal come around?
Electric Earth is run by me and I seriously doubted to release this slab of vinyl of my own band but when we heard the final master I was so impressed by the bulldozer we created that I decided to release it in courtesy of Electric Earth. And I didn’t regret it for a second cause not only am I proud of the result of the band, but it’s also a great release for the label.
You will release a new full length on Electric Earth in due time. Do you have songs ready? Can you call out some track names and perhaps give us a hint of what to expect?
The full album will be a continuation of the EP; we’ll record some more traditional doom alike songs mixed with the more uptempo sludgy High in Fire style. Songs that are done already and that we play live are “THE WOLF’S LAIR” and “THOR”. We’ll pick up an older one named “CRADLE TO CRADLE” and we’ll also record the new fucker “TO THE BARN!” We’re currently working on some new shit and try to have a total of nine to ten songs of which we will pick eight to nine for the album. We’ll also record some bonus stuff, but I can’t tell you much about that at this moment. We hope to meet a label that wants to do a cd version of our full album and Electric Earth will probably release it on vinyl, although we leave all doors open.
How do you decide how to name a song? I mean, seems kind of hard when no lyrics are available to guide you in some direction. Where do you get the inspiration from? Have you ever had the intention of writing a lyric to a song? And how does a song get written actually? First the title, then the song or vice versa?
We don't have a specific philosophy when we write and compose the songs, but the magic hits the rehearsal room when the right riff flows out of the cabinet and that special atmosphere pops up. When a song is finished we baptize it with a name that suits the feeling of the song. Just listen to 'Nero D'avola' which is Italian for 'black fog' and you'll know what I mean. We absolutely don’t have any intention of writing a lyric to a song; let the music speak for itself.
What is the goal you want to achieve with Sardonis? What is the big dream behind this all?
We don’t have any illusions on becoming the next big hit in mainstream music land, therefore our music is too loud and too heavy. Our main goal is to continue our mayhem and to grow as a band so that our music can grow too. We want to keep writing new stuff and releasing new music regularly; keep the train of doom going on. We want to share our music with the people and tour from time to time and it would be great to find shelter with a record label that believes in our band and our music so that we can work together in a positive and constructive way.
What do you think of the Belgian scene? Are there bands we have to look out for, that you can recommend?
Belgium has a big hardcore and metalscene, but the doom and heavy music scene is rather small. Everybody knows SERPENTCULT who just released their massive debut ‘Weight of Light’ in courtesy of Rise Above Records. If you don’t know them yet, be sure to check them out and buy their album, you won’t be disappointed. From Ghent comes sludge ‘n doom band MÖSE, underground and heavy as fuck. ULTRAPHALLUS and BLUTCH both come from the French speaking part of our country and are absolutely highly recommended.
I see on your MySpace that you gig regularly. Do you like playing live? What’s the kick of it? What do you think of bands you play with (Vandals X /Drums Are For Parades/ etc..)
On September 1st, we released the 7”EP and during the three months after that we did about fifteen shows to promote the EP. We shared the stage with Kongh, Switchblade, Obiat, Grand Magus, SerpentCult, Pelican, Torche and many other great bands. It’s an intense and interesting time to perform the songs you’ve worked on live, although we also look forward to continue writing new pieces of heaviness for the debut full album.
Thanks for the interview and good luck with the gigs and recording of the new album…
Thanks go out to you Erik for the interview and all who took the time to read it here at Lords of Metal, we hope to meet some of you on tour. If you’re interested in our mayhem, be sure to visit the website at www.myspace.com/sardonis666. There are some EP’s, shirts, girlies and hoodies left, only for sale at shows or via www.electric-earth.com. Or get in touch via sardonis666@skynet.be. Keep it heavy and thanks for supporting the brotherhood of SardoniS.
http://www.myspace.com/sardonis666
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