Interviews: Defeated Decade

In this new occasion we have the great opportunity to interview the Hardcore band Defeated Decade from Netherlands, here we will let you their FACEBOOK PAGE to give them a like and follow them.We have nothing more to say, so enjoy this interview!

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?  

Well, we had a poll on facebook for people to choose our name. Defeated Decade was one of the more 'normal' ones amongst a couple of wacky entries. Our band was almost named 'Inverted Squid'. Anyway, we stuck with the name that the people chose, and in the end it worked out well.

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

We play hardcore simply because we want to. Sjors (bass) and me (vocals) had played in other bands before, mostly rock/pop coverbands. We were kinda tired of that so one night we said "hey, fuck it, let's start a punk band". and so we did. We played music kinda like the old Descendents songs, Black Flag, stuff like that. That was five years ago, our band gradually evolved into a more modern hardcore band, mainly because we all listened to a lot of Your Demise, Terror around that time. The punk roots have not been forgotten though, we still maintain a lot of punk-rock influences in our music.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?  

We kinda knew eachother. Sjors and me were friends, and we also both knew Ruben pretty well. Ruben (drums) knew Michiel (rythm guitar) and Suzanne (lead guitar). Things came together from there.

4. Each band member favourite band?  

For all of us, we listen to a lot of bands. There's not really any band we would call our definite favorite. But if we had to pick:

Marijn (vocals): At this moment, Have Heart. I've been listening to their album The Things We Carry a lot and it's lyrics are straight up perfect to me.

Sjors (bass): Flogging Molly. Throughout the years, bands come and go. You listen to this and that now and then but the one band that I can always count on to get my mood up is Flogging Molly.

Michiel (Guitar): I have been listening to The Story So Far a lot lately. Pop Punk is definately an influence on the way we play and write music. And this band is just pure quality across the board.

Suzanne (Guitar): Lately, I've been listening to Stick To Your Guns a lot. Their latest album 'Disobedient' is really well balanced in my opinion and I enjoy pretty much every part of it.

Ruben (Drums): Defeater, hands down. There's no band for me that gets that balance of emotional charge and pure live energy so right like these guys do. Every show i've been to, they never let me down.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

We mostly get inspired by events that happen in our society and daily lives. Our lyrics contain a lot of frustration with the way things work sometimes in life. It's not so much political, more so it's self-reflection. We see things that happen to friends or family that really hit us hard, and write about that. Musically, we are influenced by a ton of bands. We've been compared to Stick To Your Guns a lot, also The Ghost Inside, or Comeback Kid. Call it Heavy Melodic, I guess?

6. Where was your last gig?  

We played a really fun gig in our hometown, in a small bar called Café Os Mam (shout out to everyone that came out!). Next up is Amsterdam and we're really exited!

7. Where would you like to act?  

Our big 'dream' would be the Groezrock festival in Belgium. What hardcore band wouldn't want to play there? But, generally speaking, we'll play anywhere at anything as long as we can make it (excluding nazi gigs af course).

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

We've shared the stage with so many bands that it's hard to say who we'd really wish to play with. We'll accept pretty much every invitation. It'd be cool to open for one of our inspirations once, like Stick To Your Guns or Comeback Kid.

9. Whom not?  

Any band with a bad attitude. If you think you're so much better just because you have more likes on facebook or whatever, fuck off! Hardcore should be an open-minded community. Oh, for that matter, we'd never willingly share the stage with racist/nazi/fascist bands either, but that counts as bad attitude too I guess. In the end, we'd play with 99% of all bands that ask us. We've played with pop-rock bands, 'nintendocore' bands, and even singer songwriters. Who cares? As long as the atmosphere is fun and you don't have to deal with assholes everythings allright!

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?  

In the beginning, some of our band members had some issues with stage fright. It may sound cheesy but what you have to do is just get up there, focus on the music and do your thing. The rest will follow. Once you see people digging your music and going nuts, you get more confident. After a while, you'll be exited for your next show. One thing you must agree on as a band is that every show you play must be better than the last one. Always try to give people the best show you'll ever give. Focus on your band members and your music and you'll be absolutely fine.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?  

Man, there's so many. It changes every once in a while, which is good. It opens up new ways of thinking and songwriting that you hadn't considered before. We take a lot of inspiration out of bands like STYG, The Ghost Inside, Comeback Kid, Your Demise (rip), even bands like Parkway Drive, Counterparts, you name it. We can find something valuable to us in almost all forms of heavy music.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?  

Well, we haven't been asked for strange stuff. Some old dude once wanted to take a selfie with Suzanne after a show, which was kinda weird. It's intimmidating when you're a small band, no one really knows you and suddenly some old guy comes up asking to take a picture with you. In the end it was fine though. One weird thing that happened was that at one show, Suzanne's guitar broke. She asked one band's guitarist for a replacement, which he brought her. After the show, the guy said she could keep his guitar, nice leather case and all. She still has it to this day, and is still trying to contact him to give him his guitar back!

13. What do you think of your fans?  

Man it's great. We meet new people at shows all the time. Because we're still kinda small and local, we tend to just hang out in the crowd. We talk to people after we're done or before we get on. Most people are really positive. It's part of what makes playing shows so much fun. You make new friends every time. I know that sounds cheesy but it's true!

14. What do you think of our site?  

It's great that there are sites around like yours. Sites that don't look at how many Facebook likes a band has, or what genre they play. You're just trying to get local artists from one area far away in touch with the rest of the world, which to us holds a lot of merit. We saw that you featured our friends in Hometown Crew, who are from the same town as we are. They're great guys and it's awesome to see them reach people from further away. We have a growing local scene right now, so it's important that sites like yours really focus in on these small localities and find new talent.

15. Something to add?

I'd like this to be a shout out to all our friends in bands that we've played with from our area: Hometown Crew, Blood of Kings Stab by Stab and Northern Lights from the 0495 NL area, our brothers in Ambush from the dirty south, and new local hardcore/melodic band Particles from Brabant (demo out soon!). We love playing with all of you guys. Check us out on Facebook and Bandcamp. Stay posi brah!