{"id":72148,"date":"2018-08-27T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2018-08-27T00:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=72148"},"modified":"2018-08-27T17:33:47","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T17:33:47","slug":"feature-siege-of-power-09-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-siege-of-power-09-18\/","title":{"rendered":"SIEGE OF POWER – Bleeding For The Cause (August 2018) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SIEGE OF POWER – Bleeding For The Cause<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nAugust 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

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Siege Of Power (l-r): Paul Baayens, Theo van Eekelen, Chris Reifert and Bob Bagchus<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nInternational death metal outfit Siege Of Power formed in 2013 under the provisional moniker First Class Elite, the brainchild of then Asphyx bandmates Paul Baayens and Bob Bagchus, who respectively handle guitars and drums. Paul\u2019s additional death metal outlet at that time was Hail Of Bullets, their bassist Theo van Eekelen being recruited to the fold. The trio still remain five years later, although the vocal position has changed since that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul and me wanted to do some kind of project in the Discharge, Amebix and S.O.D. kind of style, so we just jammed some songs,\u201d Bob Bagchus, drummer for Siege Of Power. \u201cYeah, that\u2019s how we started. We did a split album with Violation Wound, which is another band of Chris Reifert\u2019s. That came out on Horror Death Gore Productions, and that was five tracks. Then the following year, we recorded other tracks. Last year, we recorded seven more, so we had like 20 tracks. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt all started by just jamming in the studio. We didn\u2019t rehearse, or whatever. We just booked some studios. We started recording some short, thrashy songs, and that\u2019s about it. We don\u2019t have to be the next big thing, or whatever. We did it just for our own fun. When we started recording in the studio, the jam sessions, we didn\u2019t have a label or a singer. Our old singer left (Hans van den Brenk), so there was just the two of us. Later on, we asked Chris Reifert (Autopsy) – October last year, I think it was – if he wanted to sing on our songs. That\u2019s pretty much it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hans van den Brenk fronted the predecessor to Siege Of Power, namely First Class Elite. \u201cHans was a friend of ours, a roadie for Asphyx,\u201d the sticksman tells. \u201cHe got into a nasty divorce though, so he had to quit the band. We were called First Class Elite, and he came up with that name. When he had to leave the band, we said \u2018Okay. Let\u2019s try to find another band name.\u2019 As he came up with it, it was his name anyway, so we said \u2018Okay. We\u2019re not going to use it.\u2019 We found another band name.\u201d<\/p>\n

The common thread within the Siege Of Power fold happens to be friendship. \u201cMe and Paul have been friends since he started in Asphyx in 2007, and Theo is also a friend of ours,\u201d Bob cites. \u201cWe just needed a singer, so we were like \u2018Let\u2019s ask Chris.\u2019 Chris is from the United States of course, but I\u2019ve known Chris for more than 30 years now; I\u2019ve known Chris since 1987 when the first Autopsy demo came out. He had just started Autopsy, and I had just started Asphyx. I used to write and trade tapes with Chris in those days, so yeah, it was easy to ask him. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe love his voice, and we knew that he had a hardcore, crossover band in Violation Wound. He had Abscess too, which had lots of crossover stuff in it as well. We thought that he was the perfect guy for the job, and we were right. He is. I asked him if he could do some vocals for a project we had, and he said \u2018Yeah. Send over some songs.\u2019 Then he called me. He said \u2018I love those songs.\u2019 That\u2019s why we did the whole album.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siege Of Power borrows its name from a Napalm Death composition, taken from July 1987 debut Scum<\/em>. \u201cWhen we were talking about how we had to find another band name, at that time, when we were emailing each other, I was playing Scum<\/em> on my record player – on my little turntable,\u201d the rhythmist discloses. \u201cThen I thought \u2018Okay.\u2019 I was listening to the song \u2018Siege Of Power\u2019. I thought that that was a pretty cool band name, and said \u2018What do you guys think?\u2019 They were all like \u2018Yeah, that suits the music. Let\u2019s go for it,\u2019 so it was done there and then.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bob Bagchus<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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A myriad of styles comprise Siege Of Power\u2019s material. \u201cThat\u2019s a bit difficult,\u201d Bob muses. \u201cIt has some death metal in it of course because we all have death metal backgrounds, but it also has some punk in it too, some crust, some doom – some thrash metal as well. I think it\u2019s a mixture of S.O.D., Carnivore, Discharge, Amebix, some Exploited too. We just put it in a blender, and then you have Siege Of Power. It\u2019s 70% D-beat. Metal crossover.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siege Of Power is slightly different than the majority of other entities its members belong or have belonged to, the other entities largely conventional death metal propositions. \u201cThey are, yeah, of course, but that\u2019s why we did Siege Of Power,\u201d the musician reasons. \u201cIt was just for fun, doing something else than we normally do in our bands or projects, which are death metal of course. We are also fans of the bands I just mentioned, in the first place, like Discharge and S.O.D. That\u2019s why we\u2019re called Siege Of Power. We\u2019re mostly influenced by S.O.D. – Speak English Or Die<\/em> (August 1985), that album. There\u2019s no use making a typical death metal album, because we are always in death metal bands. We just wanted to do a kind of crossover. Our other bands are 100% death and doom metal. Siege Of Power has two doom tracks in it, but that\u2019s about it. I think this sounds completely different than all of our other projects, and other bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inclusion of Autopsy mainman Chris Reifert did not affect the material per se, the music having been authored prior to his arrival. \u201cPaul had already done the music,\u201d Bob confirms. \u201cWe just sent all 20 of the tracks over to Chris, and then he did his own thing. On \u2018Warning Blast\u2019 and \u2018Mushroom Cloud Altar\u2019, he really sings the growling death metal kind of stuff, because of the songs. With the more uptempo, fast songs, he sang a little bit different. He really adjusted great to each song, and that really adds to it, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

To fully flesh tracks, studio time was booked. \u201cPaul wrote the riffs and he called me, like \u2018Okay, I have plenty of riffs again. Shall we book a studio?\u2019,\u201d the skin-beater divulges. \u201cHe sent the riffs by email, for me to check them out. Then we booked a studio, and just went into the studio. We started jamming there, and while we were doing that, a guy was recording the jam session. That\u2019s pretty much what this album is; it\u2019s a jam session at some studios, and then we came up with this. Paul sent us some riffs, like \u2018Okay, this riff is repeated four times, and then this riff two times, and then we repeat riff one four times, and then riff two two times, and then another riff six times, and that\u2019s it.\u2019 We said to the engineer \u2018Start recording.\u2019 We\u2019d start jamming, and see what it would sound like in the end. That was pretty much it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamming to see what material emerges is arguably a more old school approach nowadays. \u201cWith our other bands, we rehearsed a lot, and then we went into the studio,\u201d Bob observes. \u201cWe were totally focused on the songs, we had a record label, and people had certain expectations. With Siege Of Power though, we didn\u2019t have a record label. We just went into the studio, and did our own thing. We\u2019d just jam, and we had fun. We had beers and we did some music we liked, with no stress or expectations or any of that stuff. We\u2019d just have fun in the studio, and that was it. We got a record deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

No leftover tracks exists. \u201cI think there was one leftover track, which was \u2018Mushroom Cloud Altar, Pt. 2\u2019,\u201d the performer references. \u201cThat\u2019s played in a slower version, which is more mid-tempo, but we said \u2018Just put it on the album.\u2019 20 tracks were enough for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A variety of topics are covered on Warning Blast<\/em>. \u201cThere\u2019s some gore on it, like on \u2018The Cold Room\u2019,\u201d Bob lists. \u201cThere\u2019s some mental stuff on it, like \u2018Torture Lab\u2019 where you go more and more insane and then you probably lose it. There\u2019s political stuff on it as well, and all kinds of stuff. All kinds of daily stuff you experience when you walk through life, like things which are bothering us, like political stuff. Yeah, all kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recording sessions for Warning Blast<\/em> occurred at a number of locations. \u201cThe drums were recorded here in our area, the guide guitars as well,\u201d the drummer shares. \u201cThe rest of the guitars and the bass were done at Paul\u2019s own studio. When I look at the hours, I think the drums were done in maybe five or six hours or so in total, and then Paul recorded the guitars in his own studio. Theo did the bass there too, and Chris recorded his vocals in the United States, at Earhammer Studios in Oakland. Then we got the vocals back from Chris, and we sent them all to our friend, who is a mixer – Dennis Israel from Germany. He has a studio for mixing and mastering called Clintworks, and used to do some sound things for Asphyx too. He became a friend. They all blended a little bit together, so we we said \u2018Can you make a nice mix for a few bucks?\u2019 He said \u2018Yeah. Why not?\u2019 He did. It didn\u2019t cost that much, because we didn\u2019t have any money. That\u2019s basically how the whole album was recorded and mixed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The sessions in question were a quick affair. \u201cIt was all done quickly, and not in a rush,\u201d Bob reckons. \u201cWe didn\u2019t really rehearse, and there wasn\u2019t a lot of preparation. I don\u2019t think that there was any preparation at all. We just went into the studio, jammed some songs, and they were recorded. The last session was in 2017; we did seven songs in two hours, and then we went home again. The guy from the studio was like \u2018What the fuck are you guys doing? I didn\u2019t make any money.\u2019 I think he made like 70 bucks that afternoon, so we did it really quickly, but just for fun. Not to be serious; not to be the next big thing or anything, but just for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sticksman\u2019s drum contributions were \u201cnothing special at all,\u201d he submits. \u201cIt\u2019s straightforward D-beat drumming with some doom elements, like I\u2019ve been doing for more than 30 years already. This time it\u2019s even more simple, but I like it. That\u2019s what I like. I like to listen to simple, straightforward music myself, not technical or whatever. Last night, I listened to Extreme Noise Terror from the UK. I actually really love that. That\u2019s straightforward stuff, and that\u2019s how my drumming is; just going with the song and being supportive of the song, and not standing out in any way or whatever. It\u2019s just a simple D-beat, and that does it for me. That\u2019s what I like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cover artwork duties were handled by Roberto Toderico, who resides in Naples, Italy. \u201cIt\u2019s something different than he usually does,\u201d Bob critiques. \u201cOur album is called Warning Blast<\/em>. The song itself is about a nuclear blast and what\u2019s left of it, so we just told the cover artist \u2018Can you make a landscape which is totally abandoned, where there\u2019s complete loss of all life? Just the grey, depressive landscape. That\u2019s all we need.\u2019 He did it. I think it fits really good; it fits the album great.\u201d<\/p>\n

To promote Warning Blast<\/em>, studio-based performance videos for the tracks \u2018The Cold Room\u2019 and \u2018Mushroom Cloud Altar\u2019 were released. \u201cThey were both recorded in our rehearsal room,\u201d the rhythmist informs. \u201cWe did it in one afternoon, also with a friend of ours (Carl Assault). He does other videos. He has a camera and stuff, so we asked him if he could do songs and that we could do it Saturday. He said \u2018Yeah, okay. I\u2019ll come over.\u2019 We did it at our rehearsal room, and Chris did his part in a studio in Oakland where he lives, that area, and then our friend kind of blended it all together. Both videos look quite the same, because they were both recorded in the same afternoon in our rehearsal space. We just like the music; we don\u2019t like to do anything too special or whatever, but more straightforward stuff. This is what you get, and yeah, that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second full-length from Siege Of Power is likely. \u201cWe signed a deal with Metal Blade for three albums, and that\u2019s pretty standard,\u201d Bob affirms. \u201cThere will be a second record. Not yet, but maybe in two years when we feel like it; when we are saying \u2018Fuck it. Let\u2019s go to the studio again, and do this again\u2019. I think it\u2019s 100% sure that there will be a second record. We do Siege Of Power for ourselves; it\u2019s not for fans or people out there to please them. We just do this project to please ourselves; if we feel like it\u2019s time to please ourselves again, then we will make a second album.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prospect of Siege Of Power embarking on a fully fledged tour is unlikely. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten some offers, a lot of offers already, but it\u2019s a little bit difficult,\u201d the musician explains. \u201cThe three of us – Paul, Theo and me – are based in Holland, but Chris is living on the west coast of the United States. It will be difficult to get him over here for just one or two shows. We\u2019ve already talked about it, about when we get a cool offer or maybe two cool offers and we say \u2018Okay, that\u2019s worth doing.\u2019 Then we might do some shows, but we are not going to do any touring or whatever. We\u2019ve done that with our bands in the past – with Autopsy, with Asphyx – so that\u2019s out of the question, but what we can do is maybe one or two shows, like at a festival or an indoor gig or whatever. That\u2019s a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of Siege Of Power, Bob steps behind the drumkit for several other assortments. \u201cMyself, I have Infidel Reich,\u201d he notes. \u201cI\u2019m playing drums in that, and that\u2019s with Vincent Crowley, formerly with the American black metal band Acheron. I also have a doom metal band; it\u2019s doom \/ death metal, fairly slow stuff, like Winter, Celtic Frost, old Paradise Lost and Cathedral. That\u2019s called Minotaur Head, and I\u2019m doing that with Rogga Johansson from Sweden (Ribspreader guitarist, among others).\u201d<\/p>\n

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Siege Of Power (l-r): Theo van Eekelen, Chris Reifert, Bob Bagchus and Paul
Baayens<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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From 2013 through to 2018, the entertainer had parted ways with Asphyx, Grand Supreme Blood Court, and Soulburn, lending credence to the notion that he was perhaps slowing down. \u201cI wanted to slow down,\u201d he admits. \u201cThat\u2019s why I quit Asphyx at the end of 2013; Asphyx was becoming a little bit too big for me, and for my family life and my work and stuff. Yeah though, slowing down. The bands I\u2019m involved in now like Siege Of Power, Minotaur Head, Infidel Reich are pretty much not touring bands, and they\u2019re not full-time. It\u2019s basically more studio stuff. We might do some shows with Siege Of Power, and we might do some shows with Infidel Reich and Minotaur Head. That\u2019s maybe only one or two shows a year and that\u2019s it though, so then I have a lot of time to focus on the studio work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touring was not a factor in Bob\u2019s 2018 exit from Soulburn. \u201cSoulburn didn\u2019t play live that much,\u201d he mentions. \u201cWe have played live a lot in the past, but this year we only had two gigs. Yes and no, though. The reason I split with Soulburn was because I kind of lost the feel of doing it. I had other bands like Siege Of Power, Infidel Reich, and Minotaur Head, and I felt more connected with those bands lately than with Soulburn. If I cannot be 100% into a band, when I\u2019m not too sure any more and I cannot put my heart and soul into it, then I might as well quit, because then I\u2019m just fooling myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remaining within the Soulburn camp would not have been fair on the drummer, or Soulburn\u2019s members. \u201cYeah,\u201d he agrees. \u201cI\u2019m fooling myself, and I\u2019m fooling the band. I had been thinking about it for half a year already, that maybe I should quit. There was a gig coming up, and I was like \u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019 My head was with another band, another project which I enjoy more. I\u2019d rather stay true to myself and to the guys, and be honest. I said \u2018My heart is not in it any more. Please find a replacement.\u2019 That was pretty much it. It was fairly simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warning Blast<\/em> will be released on September 7th, 2018 via Metal Blade Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in August 2018. All promotional band photographs by Martijn Peters.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SIEGE OF POWER – Bleeding For The Cause Anthony Morgan August 2018 Siege Of Power (l-r): Paul Baayens, Theo van Eekelen, Chris Reifert and Bob Bagchus International death metal outfit Siege Of Power formed in 2013 under the provisional moniker First Class Elite, the brainchild of then Asphyx bandmates Paul Baayens and Bob Bagchus, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-siege-of-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72148"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73247,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72148\/revisions\/73247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}