Can you give brief introduction to the band Menticide?

Menticide consists of Johan van Damm on vocals and Christiaan R. on synthesizer. We have played music together for something  like 4 years. We first started a band called “Volt” were we played cover versions of other artists music (we made ebm-version of course).  After some years playing together as Volt we changed the name to Menticide and started to play our own music.

Who are the members of Menticide?

Johan has previously playd in a Swedish ebm group called Dupont for some years but the band started to cange direction and in that process Johan left Dupont to try other things – thats when he teamed up with Christiaan. Christiaan has (and is still) a member of a group called C.A.P. were he does music with Leif Holm (the man behind Pouppée Fabrikk) – Menticide is my mainproject –I make the musik and Johan does the vocals.

Why did you stop with Volt and start with Menticide?

Well as we mentioned we got tired of doing covers and started making our own material and about that time we also discovered that there was already another band out there named “Volt” so we had to change for copyright reasons.

How would you call the music of Menticide?

The emphasis is on EBM, but much of the music has darker atmopsheres and some harsher elements, Industrial body music I think is close if you want to label it.

The music has an old school ebm feeling, these days it seems that the old school ebm is on it’s way back? Do you think you fit is this scene and what are you feeling towards the renewed interest of old school and the coming back of elder bands like Nitzer Ebb?

We have been into oldschool ebm (as its called nowadays) since the 80-ies, we like the minimalist sound of it. We do the kind of music we like ourselves and if its the right time or not we havent thought about actually. But you are right about the return of the sound, it certainly seem to be in fashion at the moment which we are happy about naturally.

You released the N.M.E. cd on subspace and it’s now licensed to Infacted, what are the benefits of this license deal for Menticide?

Subspace is our label here in Sweden and they have a good co-operation with the German label Infacted. The benefit is ofcourse that we have a good relationshop with the labels who does their best to promote us. A good partner in germany is always important with our kind of music – we must also mention the Electric Tremmor crew in Dessau, they have been  really important for us also.

How is the response on the cd so far?

Far better then we expected to be honest, we were satisfied with the album sure – but we did not expect it to get highlighted in a bunch of  magazines and that the promotion single “Komm zu mir – club ep” would climb the top 10 in the German DAC charts. The response we have received from listeners and in reviews have also been very positive.

Every recording of a cd is always with some problems, I think lessons to be learned. Would you do things differently the next time?

We had one big problem when we decided to put all our effort into what we wanted to do as Menticide and that was finding our own sound.  When we stoped doing covers and started making our own stuff we had a problem (atleast in the beginnig months) that the sound differed very much – we made one song that sounded like DAF then another  track that sounded more like Ministry, etc. It took a while getting our sound together – thats the only thing we had to work on – otherwise the recording of the album was mostly fun.

In my humble opinion there are some future classic tracks on the album, what is your personal favorite and why?

Thanks for the very kind words. We like some of the tracks that are a bit different on the album like “Enemy” and “Implode” but its hard to choose for us. “Search and destroy” is another one we are fond of.

You had a top 3 ranking in the N.A.C. (nordic alternative charts), how did this made you feel?

Happy and surprised  - to give a short answer haha.

What can people expect from a menticide live show?

Straight and agressive music with Johan roaring on top of that.

With whom would you love to share the stage the most?

Oh, that list could be long but DAF, Die Krupps and Ministry are a few that would be nice.

What is next for Menticide?

Livegigs and a upcomming release. We are currently working on new material and some of it looks likes it will be released this year. Otherwise were playing live when opportunity comes, we have livedates both in Sweden and Germany, check out our Myspace or homepage for details about that.

Any last words for the readers?

Thank you for the interest and hope to see you live soon – dont forget to check out our new album!