Ancestral Sin plays hard music, they come from
Holland and they were so nice that they answered
some questions from me in march 2023.
Please tell me a little bit history of the
group?
We started as friends in 1989 in in Jake’s
garage and had our first gig in 1990. After that
we released a demo tape in 1991 and featured
some compilations. In 1992 we released an album
(Feel it Erupt), only on tape. In 1994 we
released a titleless EP, only on CD. We quite
often supported American HC bands (e.g. Gorilla
Biscuit, SFA) when they toured and came to the
Netherlands. In 1996 we split up and formed
other bands and in 1998 we did one last reunion
gig. We decided to reunite in 2018 with a new
drummer. We wrote new songs and recorded a new
album in 2021 (Social Hate Speech) without the
bassplayer, he left the band in the ‘ covid
era’. After the album was released in 2022 we
got a new (our recent) bassplayer.
Please tell me a little about every member in
the group right now, age, family, work,
interests and something bad about everyone?
Earlier bands? Other bands on the side?
Jake – vocals, age 51, father of 2, Forrester,
especially interested in moss. Bad thing; Used
to smoke 2 packs a day, but quit smoking 15
years ago. Other earlier bands; Molosser/ Room
#13.
K.J. – guitars, age 50, father of 2, Engineer,
interested in historical books and windsurfing.
Bad thing; controlfreak-ish. Other earlier band;
Ultimate Chaos/Wise Men of Gotham.
Ragnar Blastbrok – drums, age 36, father of 1,
Welder/Handyman/Drumwhore, interested in
everything, bad thing; to many interests, other
bands on the side: Cote d’aver/Braincasket/MyMindsMine/Inhume
Marcell – bass, age 48, has a girlfriend,
teamboss at a mail company, interested in the
occult, bad thing; interest in the occult ;-)
Earlier bands / side projects; Sexual OCD/Molosser/Lugubre/
Gärgäntuah.
I can hear much different influences but mostly
hardcore and metal and a little bit grindcore?
Favorites from the past? You’re absolutely
right.
Our present drummer is a grindcore drummer in
essence, so we decided to introduce double-
stroke blast beats and use that for the new
album. And since we’re long time Terrorizer/Napalm
Death fans this fitted in in perfectly.
Ancestral Sin are you satisfied with the name?
How did it came up and what do you mean with it?
You weren’t afraid that some other band would be
named like this? Which is the best band name you
know?
We got the name from a lyric from an old dutch hardcore/thrash band called Disabuse. We didn’t come up with it ourselves, it is actually a common phrase throughout the world when it comes to religious discussions etc. Therefore, if some other bands wants to use the name it’s all cool. Best bandname to me (KJ) I can think of at this moment is Teethgrinder, a dutch grindcore band.
What´s the best thing with playing live? Your
biggest concert you have done?
Best thing is to be able to express ourselves in
an artistic way and get credits for that by way
of appreciation from the audience. Biggest show
we did was Waldrock (open air) on June 24 1995 (Line
up: Ancestral Sin, Madball, Pro Pain, My Dying
Bride, Sick Of It All, Benediction, Machine Head
and headliner Venom).
And where is best to play? And the worst place?
For our kind of music that would be a
small- scale venue with a leveled stage. That
way we interact with the audience and can be
part of the pit! Worst place is a stage when
we’re way up there, too distant from the crowd.
How is to play this sort of music in Holland
right now? Which types of bands do you have
concerts together with?
Well, there’s an audience for it in Holland and
we always get positive response.
But we are kind of an oddity for not being
hardcore or metal or grindcore which makes it
hard to be categorized. The upside of that, is
that we do shows with all those genres, which is
really cool.
How would you describe your music in three words
to people who never have heard you?
PUNK - BUT - FASTER (three words ;-)
What does punk mean to you, is it only a word or is it
a lifestyle? Have it changed through the years?
Which song/album or group was it who took you
into punk/hardcore?
Cro Mags/Agnostic Front/Youth of Today/ Ripcord/
Heresy/Intense Degree/Repulsion/Infest
What shall a young guy do today to shock their
parents as the way we did when we were young?
They have already seen everything
?
Haha, you’re right, there’s nothing shocking
left!
How is it to live in Holland right now?
Politically? Fascists?
It’s a political carnage. The landscape is scattered over 23 parties! No decisions are made and everyone’s finger pointing at the other. Because of that populistic parties have gained voters and influence. But unfortunately, these parties carry out neo-fascist polarized messages and a very grim vibe.
Is there any good bands from Holland right now?
Is the punkscene/metalscene/hardcorescene big?
How is it in your hometown? And how about good
old dutch bands?
Good Dutch current bands we played with or
will play with are for example; My Minds
Mine(inert), Teethgrinder, Suffering Quota,
Boneripper, Ten Ton John, Bladecrusher, Atmoran,
Ornaris, the Gathering…
The scene is pretty widespread throughout
Holland, also in our homebase- town. We all know
each other and attend at each other’s shows,
it’s a friendly scene. Old dutch bands are for
example Disabuse, Disgrace, Room no.13, Blood I
Bleed, Brutal Obscenity, Right Direction,
Backfire, Pestilence, Gorefest etc.
What do you know about Sweden? Have you been
here sometime? What is typical Swedish?
It’s a large country, low- dense
populated, lots of trees, large timber logging
industry, great nature and wildlife. Jake has
been there several times on vacation. Typical
Swedish is .. blond hair..! At least that’s what
all of dutch think…;-)
Have you heard any good bands from Sweden?
Oh hell yeah! The first ones coming to
mind are Entombed, Meshuggah and ABBA. And one
of the first Swedish bands we listened to on
tape was MOB 47 and Protest Bengt on the
compilation Really Fast!
Your lyrics, who does them and what influences
you?? Please tell me a little about the
following songs
-Waste of God
-More of the shame
-Western Paradigm
Lyrics (and music) are written by KJ.
-Waste of God is about the downside of religion,
it’s often the cause of war and suffering as one
religion tries to force itself upon others. What
a fuckin waste of god.
-More of the shame reflects on the 2008
financial crisis and its aftermath. No lessons
were learned and we’re in again in the same
shameful position at the present day.
-Western Paradigm analyses the (among others)
Dutch expansion and imperialism of the last four
centuries. The Dutch took it as their (self-
declared) God-given right and duty to submit and
oppress Asians and Africans to convert them into
civilized Western citizens. Even in the
twentieth century those people were still seen
as inferior beings and looked down upon. This
even was taught in early 20th century
schoolbooks; thus it can be considered as a
paradigm.
Is there any subject that you never will write
anything about? Or isn´t anything sacred?
No there isn’t.
Politic and music, does it goes hand in hand?
Which is your most political song? Is it
important to get out your opinions in music? Or
is it OK to play music and not sing about
politics?
Both are okay to us. Although we prefer
politics over other topics politics because it
affects our everyday lives. But we don’t force
ourselves upon anyone. We hope people read our
lyrics and make the right choices Our most
political song is Narcissus Borealis. This
addresses a currently active Dutch politician
who’s not really a politician for he has no
vision. In his victory- speech he spoke of the
Boreal world referring to the supremacy of the
northern European race. That combined with his
narcissism, resulted in the title Narcissus
Borealis.
Best political band/artist?
Th’ Inbred from Morgantown, USA. Awesome
lyric writer (Bob Cotter) and awesome
hardcore/punk tracks. And MDC too!
Do you think that music(lyrics and so on) can
change anyones life, I mean people who listens
to music? Do you have any example?
Yes, it did for us. It made us aware of
things we were oblivious to. So yes!
Your favorite recordcover alltime? Who does your
recordcovers? And do you have any good
recordstores in your hometown?
Cover of the Reign in Blood album! Man,
it’s like Rembrandts Nightwatch!
Ours was done by Robert Mink of Mink Graphics,
who is a friend of us.
There are two good records shops in Leeuwarden
that sell our album among other alternative
music.
Is it important to get out physical records of
your stuff? Why or why not? Vinyl, CD, cassette,
what do you prefer if you could choose whatever
? The latest record came on vinyl or?
Yes it is, first of all because vinyl is really
cool with a large sleeve cover and so we wanted
Social Hate Speech to be our first on vinyl.
Secondly, we sell it at our shows and use the
money to record a new album. We got a lot of
questions for CD’s because they’re easier to
carry around at a show.
Please tell me a funny thing which have happened
during your career and under some gig? With this
band or some earlier band?
We (Asin) once had a breakdown with the
van when we returned from a gig. To get to the
engine we had to unload the cargo space and we
set up the drumkit at the side of the road, so
our drummer did an open air solo. After we fixed
the problem the van would only go 30 km/h, so we
all sat on the roof and drove home at 4 am!
Another thing was with NY hatecore band SFA.
After a show with them we shared a dormitory,
when suddenly in the middle of the night their
singer started beating up their guitarplayer,
man it was hilarious.
How does your audience look like? Which people
do you miss on your concerts? Which is the
biggest band you ever have played together with?
Our audience goes from age 18 to 60. It’s
a mixture of metalheads and hardcore punks, so
we don’t miss anyone.
Biggest in the 90’s was with Venom and in the
present was with D.R.I. august 2022, great guys
by the way.
Please rank your five favoriterecords, five
favoriteconcerts and five most important things
in life?
Records In random order:
Slayer – Reign in Blood
Infest – No Man’s Slave
Terrorizer – World Downfall
Heresy – Face up to it
Th’ Inbred – Family Affair
Shows in random order:
No means No
Slayer
Entombed
Napalm Death
Agnostic Front
Most important things in random order:
Freedom
democracy
friendship
bandship
love
First, last and most expensive record ever
bought?
Don’t remember, sorry.
Is it boring with interviews? Is it much
interviews?
Email interviews are boring ‘cause of all
the typing. We had an interview with an American
YT channel via Zoom last year. Much better! ;-)
We don’t do many interviews fortunately. We
rather play shows.
Do you care about reviews? Which is the most
peculiar you ever had, with this band or any
other band you have been to? Have you ever
changed anything after a bad review?
Reviews used to be important before social
media, but nowadays they have much less value,
because we interact with our audience/fans in a
direct way. We will never change anything after
a bad review, hell no!
Which bands do people compare you to, is it
boring that people compare you to other bands or
is it understandable?
People compare us with e.g. Slayer or
powerviolence bands like Infest, which is a
great compliment and totally understandable.
If you could choose five bands from the past and
the history and nowadays and both dead and
living bands to have a concert together with
your band. Which five have you been chosen?
No surprises there:
Slayer
Infest
Terrorizer
Heresy
Th’ Inbred
Is music a good way to get out frustration and
become a nicer person outside the music??
Yes, to us it is.
Which is the most odd question you ever have got
in an interview?(Except this one)
There’s no such thing as an odd question,
who’s the judge of that?
Which is the question you want to have but you
never get. Please ask it and answer it?
Will you come to play in Sweden if I make
all the arrangements? Answer = Yes please!
Futureplans for the band?
Playing shows in Sweden, Norway, Denmark,
Germany etcetera. And
we’re currently working on a new album of
course!
For yourself?
Keep breathing, stay tuned and stay
pissed!
Wisdomword?
It’s not the destination, but the trip
that matters
Something to add?
Nope.
One more question….Beerfavorite sort? If you did
a beer with your bandname which sort would it be
and what have it been called?
Jake; any special brew
KJ; any special brew
Ragnar; any special brew
Marcel; any special brew, but above all whiskey
Our beer brand would have been called Skål Sin!