ED VETER Interview

XM: Hello to you Ed! How are you doing? Would you mind telling our readers a little about yourself and what you do?
Ed: Hey! Well I am Ed Veter from Amsterdam (The Netherlands). I am 32 years old and for my job I am a plasterer, which I do in total for around 13 years. I have a huge reptile hobby which I take care of with my girlfriend (José), and of course my YouTube channel takes up a whole lot of time.

XM: Describe your YouTube channel and what kind of content people can find on there.
Ed: It started out with a few videos about random stuff, some work videos, some concerts that I taped, and then I started with doing metal subjects. Which then turned out to what it is today, a channel on which people can find new band for whom I make promotion videos. But sometimes I also just take a random subject which has nothing to do with metal, take my 'do you believe in ghosts' video for example. Or the video in which I explain that I paid of my loan and try to warn people for the dangers of taking a loan. Also do I address subjects that occur in the metal scene; just like the one I did about Emo and 'scene' kids. I have more videos with these kind of subjects waiting. Of course as always I want to inform people but also make em laugh, so I add a good dose of humour.

XM: What is it about music that appeals to you?
Ed: Music is always there. I carry it along with me; I play it at work, when I do grocery, the dishes...as much as possible. With good music you can drift away into a fantasy if you want to, Amon Amarth has a sound which makes me think about the viking time and with the music I can imagine what it must have been like. To me music can also help you through some serious rough times, I have needed my music on more occasions then I bargained for.

XM: What is it about metal music in particular?
Ed: For me it's also a ventilation to let out anger and frustration. Some people I have heard who don't like metal told me that the music makes them aggressive, while in my case it reliefs. Also the passion from the artists is very good noticeable, these guys know they won't get rich and still they go on and make the music, which in a lot of cases turns out in some awesome music.

XM: Your YouTube channel, InfidelAmsterdam, has been around since 2007 and has gathered over 40 000 subscribers. Did you ever think you would reach that many people with your videos?
Ed: I actually didn't I was ever going to make it over the 20.000 subs. When I hit the 15.000 I thought "This is as much subs as I can get, I can never get so many people to like the stuff that I do" But then it just kept on growing and growing...

XM: You have talked about and addressed many things within the metal community. What would you say is one of the top issues within the community that really needs to be more talked about?
Ed: Well as stated there are still some issues I will address in my videos, such as gay people in metal, religion, downloading and more. But I still think that a lot of metalheads like to dictate others what's metal and what’s not, how to dress and how not to, what to listen to and what to hate. And when they get people who try to do that to them, they get all mad. The hypocrisy amongst metalheads is pretty big and that also has to do with the subjects that I still need to cover.

XM: What bands got you interested in metal and have you seen any of them live and/or met them?
Ed: I started with the following list I had on tape: Venom, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Nirvana, Metallica, Black Sabbath and except for Nirvana I have seen all of them live but unfortunately never met any of them. The very first song I ever heard was 'black metal' from Venom btw. It's still a killer song.

XM: Recently you attended and hosted the Malta Death Fest in Malta. Would you do that again and if so are there any plans on doing other festivals elsewhere?
Ed: Actually Frank of Beheaded has already asked me if I wanted to come again, as he also said in one of the videos. And I sure am going there again. I have also been asked to host a little festival here in Holland, but there's not much info on that yet other than one band name being confirmed. But I accepted the offer to come and present the festival

XM: What compels you to keep making YouTube videos?
Ed: Next to the fact that it is a very nice hobby and that I still learn about making videos and edit them, it would be my viewers, my brothers and sisters. I do not use the term 'fan' because I do not feel like some celebrity and in metal we are all as one. The comments, support, video responses, and even gifts I receive from the people are just so damn awesome, I always read their comments with a huge smile and its heartwarming how much my viewers support me. And of course without a doubt, the contact with the bands, learning new bands and having even those people recognize me is just awesome. Guys from Aeon, Missery Index, Beheaded, Aborted, Cerebral Bore, Lost soul, and many more all seemed to know me and to watch my videos. They even recognized me before I could ask them something, which is really cool to experience.

XM: 2011 has been a huge year for metal music! If you had to pick the top 3 metal albums of 2011, what would you pick and why?
Ed: I'd say:
1: IChaos 'The human repellent'
I have seen them live recently and these guys provide live what they also did on the cd, head splitting technical death metal. Like a bull on the loose they come at you and produce some awesome music. That and they are some great guys personally.
2: Septic Flesh 'The Great Mass'
This might be a surprise but I just love Septic flesh. So far I have three of their albums and even my girl José loves them. They create such a doomy atmosphere with such great music and all sorts of influences, gothic, classic, death metal which all together makes it to one spectacular album. And the great mass is in my opinion another very good album, with 'Vampire of Nazareth' and 'Pyramid God' as two of my favourite songs of the album.
3: Krisiun 'The great execution'
This one if fairly new but it's a killer. The fact that three guys can make such an album with such technical precision is just amazing. Unfortunately I have not seen them live before but I am sure I will one day. I really like the new album and if I had to pick I would say that 'Violentia Gladiatore' is my favourite.

XM: One recent addition to your videos has had every metal head I know laughing a little more every day and that addition is Baldrick! How did he come to be lovable but brutal counterpart we know today?
Ed: Haha well, Baldrick was named after the sidekick of the main character in the old English series 'Blackadder'. Started out when I saw some other youtuber doing a similar thing with an alter ego. I thought it was a pretty funny idea to have someone comment on the things I said and then came up with first a version of myself with a pony tail, to set the difference in characters. Then I read from people that they liked those pieces of video and from my viewers I also get all sorts of ideas. Some people said I should give him a name and a bigger role. So I decided to get him to wear a hoodie, and I actually already was thinking about the name 'Baldrick' because of the series, and then someone really said the exact same thing in a contest for his name, so that person won the contest.

XM: How are all your reptiles doing and have you gotten any more warnings from YouTube about those kinds of videos?
Ed: My reptiles are doing fine and the collection is growing still actually. We now have multiple spiders, scorpions, leopard geckos, bearded dragons, chameleons (babies) snakes (ball pythons and Boa constrictors mainly), and a big Buffo Marinus Toad. About YouTube I have made a separate channel for those videos because the risk of losing my regular channel was just too big. Now I upload them there with all sorts of warnings on and around the video so YouTube must know I have been warning viewers. But so far, I have not heard anything of them anymore.

XM: What is your favorite type of coffee and how was that blend you got from Brazil a few months ago from a couple viewers?
Ed: Haha that was from Columbia actually. Those two guys send me that package and the coffee was like I never tasted before. So fresh as if the beans were plucked and grinded within an hour and send to me the next day. I also have a coffee pad machine, which makes coffee from pads under high pressure, which is good when you just want a cup...but when I want more I make a pot of coffee with grinded coffee. And always just some sugar in it.

XM: Who are some of your inspirations and idols?
Ed: Well I don't have single idols actually, but all the people who make others happy with some awesome music can be and is an inspiration. I think that metal artists deserve extra credit for making music, as they always know "I will not get world famous or either rich' and still they go for it. They always want to make the crowd go insane and have a good time, seeing these people play is a big inspiration. And again my viewers inspire and support me to keep on going as I am.

XM: What does 2012 have in store for Ed Veter?
Ed: I think as usual a lot of festivals and concerts. Maybe a few festivals to host. A lot more videos on YouTube with a lot more bands for my viewers to discover. My first debt free year in nine years. Maybe moving to a bigger house cause the reptiles keep on growing. And I hope to be able to get my driver’s license.

XM: Thank you very much for your time! Is there anything else you’d like to add for our readers? Any shout outs?
Ed: You're most welcome and thanks for the interview, it's cool to know people are interested in a bearded, viking look alike from Amsterdam! And to my viewers, I can only hope that the next year will be as good as the last one, even if the world comes to an end we have one advantage.....we are already used to big blasts! Keep watching, stay tuned...there's more to come!
A shout out goes to all my viewers, Matt and Tom of Desoulment, Paul and Cerebral bore, Frank and all in Beheaded, Daniel of Murder Records, Rai Wolters Cor Perlee and of course my biggest treasure in life, José!

XM: Thanks again and have good day, Ed!
Baldrick: Cee jou laaater!!
Ed: "Ow god Baldrick, stay away from the keyboard"..... See you later guys........!