Joe

Evil Invaders

A German Speed-Thrash band; the greatest kind that riff the Earth. Hailing from Leopoldsburg, EVIL INVADERS is inspired from the early Thrash bands of the 80's and breaks up the frenesis with bouts of NWOBHM harmonies and melodies. With a new album titled "Pulses of Pleasure" out now, and having recently toured Europe successfully and extensively, Chelsea had an informative chat with vocalist/guitarist Joe about the new album, their recent obliteration of the greater part of Europe and the possibility of a North American tour.
By Chelsea Jennings
April 24, 2015
Joe (Evil Invaders) interview
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. "Evil Invaders" have just released their latest effort "Pulses Of Pleasure" via Napalm Records. As "Evil Invaders" is touring Around Europe right now, how is the "Pulses of Pleasure" release being received by crowds on the current tour?

Things are going great for us man! There are positive reviews coming from all over the world and the crowd really seems to like the fact that there's more variation and depth in the new songs. Right now we're on tour with Bloodbound and Majesty so it's a totally different kind of crowd than what we're used to. But overall we get good responses from the crowd. Especially Slovenia was awesome!  We didn't expect that on a Monday evening!

"Evil Invaders" are going to be playing all over Europe between now and June. What location(s) are you looking forward to playing the most and why?

For this tour I'm really looking forward to play in London again! We played there on our previous tour in October with Destruction and it was really cool. Metal fest in the Czech Republic was a total blast for us last year so we can't wait to be back there this year either! There are a lot of cool shows planned so it's hard to mention them all! Perhaps also our video show in April.. We'll be doing probably our biggest headlining show ever somewhere in Belgium which will be filmed with a super cool camera crew. The promoter told us that he's expecting around 700-800 people, so that's really HUGE haha. We'll see if it's really gonna be that crowded, but I'm sure that we'll be having a lot of fun either way.

"Evil Invaders" are clearly covering their ground in Europe this spring. Are there plans to tour in North America or elsewhere? If so, when?

For now we don't have any plans for America but of course we'd love to go there and blast out some brains. Haha.

We're planning to hit back to Asia since last time we went to Japan, the crowd was kickin' some serious ass.  That would be around August.

For the rest we'll be doing a lot of gigs in Europe like Malta, Poland, Czjech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Holland, etc… and we'll be doing some bigger festivals too such as Graspop Metal Meeting right here in Belgium, Out & Loud in Germany, and some others I guess… We hope to add some more to the list of course! Haha.

The latest release "Pulses Of Pleasure" seems to be focused a good bit on insanity, nightmares, and life struggles. What inspired "Evil Invaders" to write about such unique, yet grim topics on their latest release?

That's right! Thanks for checking out the lyrics and giving us a chance to talk about it. Most of the time I get inspired by stuff that happened to me personally or things that I experience in my personal surroundings. The lyrics are really important to me because it helps me to deal with some of my personal frustrations. A lot of shit happened in a relatively short time in my life so I guess that's what influenced the way I wrote these lyrics. I can't sing songs in a convincing way if I don't really believe every word that I'm singing. That's why I've always had a hard time to sing certain songs if I didn't write them myself or at least felt touched by them.

"Evil Invaders"' latest album is titled "Pulses Of Pleasure". What does pleasure exactly entail on a record where nightmares, insanity, and mental anguish seem to be the topics of choice? Where does the "pleasure" fit in for you as a musician and songwriter?

I like to keep certain things open to interpretation so you can look at it in different ways and have  several different points of view on them. For example the title could simply refer to the fact that you like the songs on this album. Sound waves could be pulses that give you pleasure haha. But it could also have a deeper dimension to it all. I think this is the perfect title for this album since most of the songs are about a certain temptation that tries to lure you. It would distract you from the goals you want to achieve in life, trick you to insanity or just lead to your demise! You'll always find pleasure in short time solutions or temptations but it will only be for a certain amount of time. Choices and dilemmas can rip your soul to pieces so you have to know what you want in life and always aim for that one goal you want to achieve. You'll be forced to make a lot of sacrifices… I'll find pleasure achieving that one goal one day.

"Evil Invaders" music is heavily based on the 1980s style of music What inspires "Evil Invaders" to write in that style of metal despite it being 2015?

We just play the music we like. We are all oldschool heavy metal maniacs so that's where most of our influences come from. We like all kinds of stuff going from the classics like Led Zeppelin, Budgie, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest to more extreme bands such as Exodus, Motorhead, Forbidden or even progressive bands like Sanctuary, King Diamond or Savatage.

We think the music scene these days is in need of some good old heavy, speed and thrash metal. I think there's a big difference between modern thrash metal bands and the old ones. It seems like the new ones are just all sounding the same and are missing a lot of creativity. They're all just copying their 1 favourite thrash  metal band. And that's what separates the old bands from the new ones. There were way more influences to be found in bands like Exodus or Overkill. You can clearly hear their love for the NWOBHM. And they just took that to a whole new level. I miss that kind of mentality in a lot of newer bands.

We really try to revive that good old spirit that bands had going back in the 80's. This music is based on energy and it should be played like that!

"Evil Invaders" play a lot of classic speed metal. However, the introductions to the songs are usually slow and rhythmic before breaking out with speed. What motivated "Evil Invaders" to change up the pace of their music this way?

We don't want to sound monotone and we have a lot of different kinds of influences as I just said. I guess it's normal when you improve as a musician that your music evolves too. We're really satisfied with our new material. There's a shitload of aggression and crazy stuff but we also keep a lot of room for melodic parts and tempo switches. Every song on this album has its own soul and that's what keeps our music interesting.

What are the plans for "Evil Invaders" after the current tour cycle in Europe ends in June?

We'll be playing some festivals and a show in Malta, then we'll do some shows in Asia  afterwards  work on some new stuff I guess. Maybe earn some money on some temporary jobs 'till the next tour! hahaha

Does "Evil Invaders" have plans to begin writing a follow-up to "Pulse Of Pleasure" and when can fans expect to hear the next new material?

We're already working on that! We've got some cool ideas for new songs but we're really going to take our time to get everything right the way we want it to be just like we did for Pulses. No idea when it will be finished. But it'll be cool no doubts about that. I can already feel we're making a lot of progress as musicians. We're getting better every day and with Max as our new bass player things are going to a whole new level too! Our gigs are getting tighter every day and the vibe within the band is better than ever!!

"Evil Invaders" is a really unique, yet completely bad-ass name. Where did the name originate from what what inspired the band to pick that for a name?

We were looking for a cool band name for quite a while and suddenly I bumped into the album Evil Invaders from the Canadian band Razor! Cool band, cool album, cool song… so why wouldn't it be a cool band name! It suited the band perfectly and I'm still really satisfied with it today!

Where do "Evil Invaders" envision themselves going after the support tour for "Pulses Of Pleasure" is completed?

The sky is the limit! We're working really hard to reach higher levels and so far everything has been going great! We keep our feet firmly planted on the ground of course. For every climb there could be a fall and we realize that. We just keep try to keep our ropes tight and reach out for the top! We're always looking for our personal weak points and get rid of them as fast as we can. We're a good team and we hope to keep on doing this for as long as we can! Be sure to check us out! And for those there in the UK who haven't had the chance of seeing us live, we'll be playing in London on the first of April!!! We hope to see a lot of those Heavy Thrash Metal bastards out there!!! Rock on!!!

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