Avoid is currently working on new material for this year's ‘Theatre of Fear'. How much of it is already finished? Will it be very different from your previous record, ‘Into Languish and Decay'?

Jokke: At the moment, all songs have already been written and we're recording them ourselves in pre-production for the album. The new songs will be more melodic, faster, harder and have a lot more variation than those on our previous Mini-CD.

Which aspects of the Avoid sound has the band focused on improving?

J: We've tried to make the new songs a bit more interesting, to work out all the details and to make the whole thing more challenging, not only for us but also for the people who will buy the album. Even the cover won't be typically metal (so no skulls or gravestones), because the artwork will have a more modern feel.

Having undergone the recording process and seen your albums in retail outlets, how much has the band learned about the inner-workings of the music industry?

J: That you have to do most of the promotion yourself and that it's not that easy to reach the general public with your music. Being independent artists, our goal remains to get as many people as possible to listen to our music, so a contract with a label would also be very convenient.

Your music sounds as if it's coming from the ‘Slaughter of the Soul' school of Melodic Death Metal. Is this a fair description of Avoid?

J: It's really on ‘Into Languish and Decay' that has those Gothenburg influences are heard. They will still be rpesent on the new album, but it will contain a lot more different styles. (American Metal, Progressive, old school Thrash combined with Melodic Death.)

It's obvious the band likes its Thrash Metal, in fact wasn't the inclination for thrashing that influenced the formation of Avoid? What are your favorite Thrash or Thrash-influenced albums from the last ten years?

J: Yes, I guess it's obvious that we get a lot of our inspiration from Thrash bands/albums like ‘Riders of the Plague' by The Absence, Kreator's ‘Enemy of God,' Testament's ‘The Formation of Damnation,' and classic Thrashers like Slayer, Metallica and their peers.

The band plays shows very often. How much has Avoid evolved as a live unit since its first gigs a handful of years ago?

J: Each gig allows us to improve our stage presence and we get more and more response from the crowd.

How do underground shows and metal concerts run in your part of the world? Do you always share the bill with a dozen other bands? What usually happens during Avoid's set? Is there a lot of moshing?

J: The Belgian underground consists mainly of Brutal Death Metal, with bands like Aborted. Other notable bands in our scene are In Quest, Spoil Engine and Thurisaz. We're part of the small group playing Melodic Death Metal. You'll find big shows with lots of bands such as the Graspop Metal festival as well as small gigs over here. When we're onstage we always try to interact with our audience as much as possible during our shows and this results in crowd surfing, walls of death, moshing, and headbanging.

Does Avoid already have a pool of fans and male groupies who always catch your shows?

J: Well, I suppose you mean female groupies. But what I've noticed is more and more people are checking us out, so we can say that our fanbase is gradually growing, both male and female.

When did each of you pick up a musical instrument? When did your initial flirtation with playing in bands begin?

J: We began playing around the ages of 15 or 17. It all started out slowly, but because we like to play we were able to get a lot better in a relatively short period of time. We're still improving a lot when it comes to songwriting.

How much do each of you rehearse and what usually goes down on such occasions?

J: We try to rehearse with the band twice a week, and individually we try to play every day. We actually don't cover other bands' songs. We use the time we have to work on our own songs in order to end up with a tight set.

Do you all live in the same hometown? Do the members of Avoid hangout often when not rehearsing?

J: We don't live that far away from each other and when we're not playing you'll probably find us hanging out in some bar. Just hanging around, going to concerts, having a beer.

If I were visiting Belgium for some reason, what is the best way for me to get around and see the cities and countryside alternately? Are there more interesting places to visit aside from World War 1 memorials?

J: Manneken and the Atomium in Brussels are worth a visit, and cities like Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp. You must try Belgian beer and fries!

Thank you for this interview Avoid and god speed on all your future endeavors. For my parting request, perhaps you can elaborate a bit on your musical tastes?

J: Some band members like jazz, classic rock, and funk as we all appreciate a large range of music genres. We currently look forward to watching some Thrashers at work, but we also like to check out bands like At the Gates, Arch Enemy, Machine Head, and Killswitch Engage.

STAY HEAVY