Wasted Bullet www.facebook.com/wastedbullet

What were the beginnings of the band? What aims do you have?

The band was formed about 2 years ago after all of our members being in separate bands before. I guess our aim as a band is to get as much as possible out of our music. We put a lot of effort in our songs, in both the musical part as well as the part where the lyrics come in.

How would you describe your music to those who don’t know you? What are your principal influences?

I don’t think there’s a specific label that fits our music, but if I have to describe it I would say it’s a mix of melodic hardcore and metal. There’s a lot of melody to be found in our music, but we’ve also got (some) breakdowns. We’re often compared with bands like The Ghost Inside, Architects, A Day to Remember.

What do you like and what don’t you like about the metal scene in Netherlands? What differences and similarities you found compared to Europe?

We like the fact that it’s a pretty tight scene, but at the same time that’s what we dislike about the scene in the Netherlands. As a new band, you have to deal with a crowd that has pretty high expectations. If you don’t live up to them, it’s done. So the scene in the Netherlands is pretty narrow-minded, that’s what we dislike. On the other hand
we love to play shows in the Netherlands, it’s awesome to see familiar faces and good friends!

The main difference with the rest of Europe is that if we play in, for example, Germany (or Spain), people seem to show their affection with your band a whole lot more than in the Netherlands. I cannot say they respect your music more, but they are just more enthusiastic. That’s why we love to play abroad!

Why have you chosen Lights Below Sunrise as your album title? Is there any meaning behind it for the band?

That’s a pretty good question, we just thought the phrase ‘Lights Below Sunrise’ sounded cool, and there’s a bunch of ways you can interpret it. For the band this album was a huge step forward since our EP ‘Changes’, but the title doesn’t specifically add something for us.

The album has got strength and attitude, it’s feeling a strong commitment by the band, were you aware that you could be writting something important?

No, not really. Of course we wanted this album to be our best recording so far, so we put all of our energy and time in it, but we didn’t expect it to be picked up so well as it did so far!

How was the recording process? Who was the leader on the writting?

The recording process went really well, in contradiction to our previous recording we recorded pretty much everything ourselves, which gave us a greater amount of control. Also the cooperation with Jochem Jacobs (Textures) felt extremely good, so we knew this album was going to have the shape we wanted it to be.

Normally Jasper comes up with an idea for a song, which we take into the rehearsal room and then adjust the song where needed. Sometimes we throw away whole songs, but use the intro of it as a bridge for another song.

Few months ago you did an European tour. How did the chance come up?

Actually it wasn’t an European tour, but we did play weekends in Spain and Italy indeed! That was great! We basically just mailed with some promoters from the area which responded positive. We just love playing abroad and seeing places we’ve never been before and meeting new people!

What have you learned from the european tour? If you had to draw a conclusion, what would it be?

I guess we’ve learned how to deal with each other while we’re on tour. As you can imagine, there’s always a moment where everybody is tired and annoyed and wants to go home. That is natural. But we learned through these experiences how to deal with that and just enjoy the good times we’re having with this band.

Talking about of the European tour. With regard to Spain, I was wondering about the fact that you were not in two important venues such as Madrid or Barcelona. Why did this happened? Will you try to come to Spain again?

The last time we played in Spain we had help from our amazing friends in Fifth Period. We played shows in Murcia, Castellon and Valencia. Both Madrid and Barcelona were just too far to drive within a day. So that’s pretty much the main reason we didn’t play there. But we will come back to Spain in November! And we’re planning on playing both Madrid and Barcelona! Another place we’re planning on playing is Sevilla! But as soon as we have more info on that, it will be announced on our social media and website!

Do your songs change a lot when you’re playing them live? What’s your opinion about this?

We don’t change anything about our songs when we play them live. We always finish a song entirely before playing it live. When somebody takes the effort to listen to our songs, we think it’s important to play it the way our fans listen to it.

Which are the Wasted Bullet main goals in the future? Which are your plans at the moment?

After the summer we will do some cool support shows, and also we’re gonna do a European tour with Dine In Hell from Italy, in October! We will play in Slovakia, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands! Besides that we’re working on weekends in Spain and Italy in November. In between we’ll play as many shows as possible in the Benelux! We’re also planning on recording something new this summer. Again, if there’s more info we will announce it immediately!

If you have anything more to add, thank you for your time!

Thank you very much for this interview, we loved playing Spain, you guys are great! See you in November!

By Ana Barettino