ABORTED Interview with Sven de Caluwé

XM: Let’s start by getting our readers up to date on what’s the latest happening with Aborted?
Sven: Well besides chilling in our hot tubs, rubbing our genitalia against the elderly and prostituting ourselves for crack we basically managed to compose, record and finish a whole new record. A very heavy task for a bunch of social deviants as ourselves, somehow it turned out good and we are most proud, almost as proud as Britney must have felt when she shaved that lovely scalp the first time. We are also preparing to tour, unfortunately putting out a record on a record label means you have people from that record company chasing you with all sorts of mystical weaponry to actually get out there and make them money, go figure, we are scared of weapons so we just go out there and prostitute ourselves a bit more. Hi mom!

XM: ‘Global Flatline’ will be released in just a few short months! Can’t wait! What was the recording process like this time around? Was there anything different that happened or was it the same old studio thing?
Sven: Well this time a gross of the studio budget went to my Nutella addiction, I gained a round 500 pounds during the recording sessions and had to give the rest of the money to my bandmembers to beat it off of me again. On a side note, it went pretty wonderfully, we came, we recorded, we destroyed. This whole recording was a trip down memory lane, going from the drive to Denmark or getting to the studio and meeting Jacob again, bringing back those goremageddon days, that or I AM getting old and need more retalin. Everything was pretty straight forward, record drums, fake guitars and program vocals of course!

XM: Can you tell us how this album differs from the previous ones? What can we expect and what is the message behind it?
Sven: Well let us assume Strychnine and Slaughter never existed, then Global Flatline would be the bastard child of Engineering the Dead, Goremageddon and the Archaic Abattoir, blended with a whole new flavor of homeless metal to give it that certain je-ne-sais-quoi. Basically, it sounds like a bulldozer running over the entire human race, which is exactly its message. Everyone must die, the human race is nothing but a pile of shit.

XM: How did you guys choose who you wanted to have as guest vocals on the new album?
Sven: Fairly simple, we made some baseball cards of our favorite and most handsome death metal singers out there nowadays and we played scum cookie surprise! Orrr we figured lets have fun with this record and have a bunch of people we have known for ages and have our friends lend their amazing talents to make our album sound less shitty, whichever you prefer!

XM: A video for the track “Origin Of Disease” has been filmed this summer, when will fans be able to catch a glimpse of it? How was the process behind making the video?
Sven: It should be available on all media by January I believe, we might release a trailer a bit sooner, depending if we are allowed by the elder gods. Process was pretty intense, we flew in-between festivals this summer to the UK for 2 days and acted like total lunatics in front of a bunch of cameras for 8 hours straight, then flew back and played Summer Breeze the same day, interesting and physically destructive, but definitely worth it!!!

XM: Could you describe your song writing process? What comes first – the music or the lyrics?
Sven: Music always, I never write lyrics prior to having vocal patterns laid out, its a waste of time and usually limits your vocal pattern creativity. Usually everyone comes up with some riffs and then we all toss it in the blender to come up with our purty little chansons ov death.

XM: Give us some info on the types of gadgets being used by the guys in the band.
Sven: I'm not sure this is very necessary for anyone out there to know what gadgets we use, I mean if you wanna know our bassplayer uses Gucci and Prada only because he has to look pretty, I work with iPhones and strap -ons all the time cause its related to the job that pays my bills, our drummer can‘t stop jerking off over xbox360 and the guitarists love poetry, together. But gearwise ummm, we play on EVH or Peavey 5150, amptweaker, compressors, tuners, Zildjan cymbals, some drums, Silverfox sticks, axis pedals, Ibanez guitars and some shitty microphones.

XM: The Decimation Of Europe Tour is soon approaching so I am curious as to how the band prepares for touring? Do you have weekly jam sessions? How do you choose what tunes you are going to play of your 7 albums?
Sven: We meditate a lot, we feel meditating is a lot more effective than practicing, practicing is for real musicians and bands, we just pose and make it look like we're cool. Seeing as how we are somehow stupid enough to have people over 3 different continents, we don‘t practice, we meet each other for about a good week prior to tour and practice every day until it‘s tight as a ******* anus. Choosing is kind of easy, ignore previous 2 full-lengths, play some new, play some Engineering, Goremageddon and Archaic, done! There's the obvious songs we have to play live because they're the 'hits' if you can call it that and they are fun to play, then there is the new stuff that is fun to play, not that hard. If we don‘t get at least 20 minutes, then we just fight like infants.

XM: There has been a crap load of killer cds being released this year, what has been a couple of your faves so far?
Sven: Definitely, Benighted's Asylum Cave has to be one of my favourite death metal releases of this year, so brutal, intense and still grooving along quite nicely, these guys are dishing it out like its Christmas every day, LOVE it!!!! I dig Cerebral Bore's last album quite a bit as well, the new Black Dahlia Murder record is absolutely killer, we could go on for a long time really haha

XM; What do you make of new bands playing old school death metal – a true resurgence of that glorious style or just a trend?
Sven: I think it depends, if its done right its done right, if the spirit is there and the right feel its all that matters, its not because you are a younger kid that you can't grasp the right feeling and write good songs. I applaud that way more than every other Whitechapel or Meshuggah clone out there nowadays. And don't get me wrong, nothing against Whitechapel or Meshuggah at all, we love the guys and they are a great band, but there are hundreds of cheap, soulless knock offs that should stop programming drums and try to get some own identity and write actual songs that are their own.

XM: Which band would you like to see come back to life? Conversely, which bands do you think should never have reformed?
Sven: None, I hate reunions, most of them are only all about money, and to me music is about passion. There is a reason bands break up, coming back for a quick buck is making a mockery of yourself, your art, and your fans. This set aside, I think the best reformed band has to be Suffocation, they are still at it and do it for the art obviously, they have been playing KILLER shows and releasing great records, nothing but respect for them and I couldn't be happier they reformed. Too many bands that should have never reformed, no need for names.

XM: When you are playing a live show what do you want to be most remembered by? (like appearance, playing, writing, stage displays,etc.)
Sven: The full monty, when we play live we give 200%, we want to be tight and energetic as fuck and people to go home and remember the night, have a good time, adding a little visual to it with stage displays and what not is always nice but in the end its always about the performance and how band and audience interact. A show is only as good as how the interaction is, it‘s also up to the crowd to make it a night to remember, if youre just going to stand there bored watching a band you're not doing yourselves or the band playing any favors, get involved and party!

XM: Halloween is just around the corner so I thought it would be cool to find out what the best and most ridiculous costumes were that you had growing up.
Sven: Sadly we do not have Halloween in Europe and they only started doing it the last years so I am afraid my answer is very dull and uninteresting, just like about everything that comes out of my mouth ;)

XM: What does the band have planned for the New Year?
Sven: A ton of stuff really! but nothing I can reveal yet at this point, all I can say is we will be touring a whole bunch and the US better get ready to see us more than a few times next year!!!

XM: On behalf of xplosivemetal.com I would like to thank you for taking a minute with us to answer a few questions. Any last words for the friends and fans out there?
Sven: Thanks for all your support, no band is anything without the support and dedication of its fans, so thank you all and thanks for the interview, check out Global Flatline when it drops and kill someone! Thanks!

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