Das Interview mit Savage Beat zum Release ihrer neuen EP (English Version)

Die Punks melden sich zurück: Street-Rock 'n' Roll mit Schmackes

Artist: Savage Beat

Origin: Amsterdam, Niederlande

Genre: Oi!, Punk, Rock ’n‘ Roll

Label: Rebellion Records

Links: https://www.facebook.com/Savagebeatamsterdam/

Bandmembers:

Vocals– Marko Petrovic
Gitars – Steven Van Der Werff
Bass – Rogier Heumakers
Drums– Lionn

Quelle: Gordeon Music

Savage Beat started in 2016 simply to play some songs for the love of early Oi! and street punk. After their first album Wired Not Forget and tours even overseas, another street punk banger from the Dutchmen is now released. Hearty rock ’n‘ roll with accusatory lyrics comes exclusively with new songs on the new 12″ vinyl EP. Yes, read that right. The guys are releasing the EP really old school exclusively on a disc limited to 600 copies. Musically, the guys go down well. They describe themselves as „three chord disciples“, but they master this one very well.  Due to the distance and the current situation, we conducted the interview dutifully via digital media.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Hello guys,
first of all thank you for your time. First and most important point at the beginning. Hopefully nobody has problems with the virus and you are all well?

Savage Beat:
No problem! Thanks for the interview. Other than not being able to play gigs we are doing quite alright. Of course we wish all of this to be over as soon as possible, but unfortunately there is not much what we can do about that.

Time For Metal / Norbert: 
But preliminary, let’s talk about your past. Streetpunk doesn’t have a big tradition in the Netherlands as far as I know. How did you find each other?

Savage Beat:
Well Holland has a long tradition of punk, hardcore, oi, rock and roll. Since the late seventies there have been tons great bands. Streetpunk is a weird term as far as we are concerned. We love everything from that has attitude, a good chorus and some proper riffs. We got equal love for Radio Birdman or Blitz or the Hellaccopters or Stiff Little Fingers or Suede Razors or Giuda or whatever. Rock and roll is what its all about baby!

Time For Metal / Norbert:
In which projects/bands did you play before? Do your roots come from other genres? Would you like to introduce the band now?

Savage Beat:
We were in bands like Wanderlust, The Shining, Heros & Zeros, The Works, The Lords of Altamont, Buiten Gebruik and many others. We mostly come from a rockandroll/punk/hardcore background and all have played music for 15-20+ years depending on  who in the band you ask. Right now Savage Beat consists of Marko on vocals, Rogier on bass, Steven and Jim on guitar and Lionn of drums.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
As a band of your genre you are easily pushed into the right corner. How do you deal with such people, and where do you see your role models?

Savage Beat:
Nah we’re not in the right corner and we don’t get pushed there. If someone wants to take it in that direction I wish them good luck, arguing with 5 educated assholes who know where they stand and keep the MC5 in high regard. They can take that shit somewhere else.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
It was supposed to be a year with a lot of live concerts, but it all turned out differently. Now your new EP is out and still no tour is scheduled. How do you deal with the current situation?

Savage Beat:
We’re writing more songs. Our time will come. We all have played hundreds of shows the last 20 years, so we can deal with it. We really miss it though. Make no mistake. There’s not much that is more fun then getting in the van with 5 idiots and play some gigs and meet friends.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Do you have a relation to Germany as a neighboring country? Does any of you speak German?

Savage Beat:
Rogier is married to a lovely German girl and we have tons of friends in Germany and can’t wait to play the many awesome clubs in Hamburg, Berlin, Köln, Hannover, Essen and so on. Combine that with the awesome beer and great food you can easily say we love Germany.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Do you have a booking management or do you do everything yourselves? Do you work a lot with other bands? Is it like, you play with us, we play with you?

Savage Beat:
We’ve just started working with some agencies. AUC Bookings in Holland. City-Rat bookings in Germany. Good people but the pandemic put all that stuff on ice… We play a lot with some of the great bands from Paris like Squelette, Lions Law and Bromure and hope to play with friends from Germany, the USA and the UK soon later. We’re in good contact with bands like The Chisel, The Detained, Reapers, Live By The Sword, Covids, Bent Out Of Shape, Death Ridge Boys, Concrete Elite, Les Lullies, The Black Mambas, The Young Ones, Suede Razors, The Choice Few, Hard Wax and many more and can’t wait to share the stage with all of them and drink ourselves stupid until the early morning. Either in Amsterdam or somewhere else.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
New World, dark cover, dark bandpic. Are you referring to the pandemic, or are you concerned about the general situation on earth?

Savage Beat:
Right now it refers to both. Can’t say the outlook in general is very good but we’ll see what happens. The band pic also refers to some great bands from the past. Specifically to a certain New York band with Ross the Boss in its rank and its not fuckin’ Manowar 😉

Time For Metal / Norbert:
With 15 minutes the EP is quite short. But you should have enough songs. Are you preparing a new, complete album?

Savage Beat:
We’re currently are working on some project and will enter the studio soon to finish two 7inches on which we’ll have more news soon. After that we have some more stuff in the works and hope to record another album. We’re not in a hurry though.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
You are releasing your album exclusively in many special vinyl editions. Are you vinyl fans yourselves? Unusual for your age. That’s more something for old bones like me?

Savage Beat:
Vinyl is the only physical format that matters. Most of us are in our mid/late 30ies or early 40ies so we’re not exactly that young. Most of us have serious vinyl collections although some are definetely worse then others in terms quantity hahaha

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Who came up with this great idea with the screenprint? I haven’t seen that for a long time…

Savage Beat:
Our labels Rebellion Records and LSM/Longshot Records, who always support all our crazy packaging ideas or come up with crazy options themselves, have  put out records with the same sort of screenprints. We recorded these 5 songs last year and thought this would look fabulous. And we think Steven our guitar player absolutely succeeded in making it look great!!

Time For Metal / Norbert:
How is the pre-order for the vinyl going? I had secured a silver one and hoped you would sign it for me. I asked for it in an email, but it was delivered without signatures.

Savage Beat:
As far as we know the orders are doing quite well. We’ve sold half our band copies already and both Rebellion and LSM-vinyl are selling them through their websites. If anyone wants a signed copy order one through our band camp at savagebeat.bandcamp.com. Unfortunately we never got your question to sign your copy haha.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Does the release of the EP have an effect on possible tours? Will you be asked more now or will the pandemic put a brake on that?

Savage Beat:
We’d love to do some more shows but with the pandemic it might take a while before the whole touring thing starts again. We also all have jobs and some of us have kids so tour would be limited to a week a time or something like that. But if a good offer comes we’ll always look if we can make it happen. Like the US/Canada tour in 2019 with Death Ridge Boys.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Punk, Oi and harder sounds are partly declining, partly booming. What does the scene in the Netherlands look like? Are there regional differences to you besides Amsterdam?

Savage Beat:
Amsterdam is gentrifying rapidly which is not really good for alternative culture. There’s a lot of bands in Holland but the scene in general is getting older. We get the idea that in France, Belgium and especially Germany there are more young people getting into alternative music.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
What do you think of the current livestreams that everyone is talking about? Isn’t a ghost concert an option for you to show your fans „Yes, here’s the new record and we’ve got it“? There are hardly any live recordings of you on the internet anyway, although you offer an energetic show.

Savage Beat:
We’ve done one seated show and will do a livestream in April. Its ok for what it is. We might present our new record like that. There’s some shows on the internet but not that much. If you look good YouTube will deliver though 😉

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Since you are all still very young, I assume that you are not yet „professional musicians“. Do you finance your music with the live performances, the merch or now also the new EP, or is there already something left over? Travelling, equipment, marketing, these are also big cost factors.

Savage Beat:
hahah we guess the picture of New World taken by Mirjam Muller is very flattering since we’re all in our mid/late thirties early 40ies. We all have real good gear we have gathered over the past 20 years. That shit costs money obviously but the band finances itself. It really does help a lot that our guitar player Steven owns a recording studio www.studio-mono.nlso if you want your band to sound fantastic get in touch!

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Have you played any big festivals? Which artist or which band would you like to support on a longer tour, or do you have your own bigger goals?

Savage Beat:
We’ve not played many big festivals but would love to do that. Opening for Cock Sparrer in Serbia was a highlight for sure. We’d love to support or tour with our friends bands. Japan would be a goal too or NYC. There’s so much to do.

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Do you read all the reviews of your album? How do you react to criticism and how do you deal with it? Do you already know my review? You can find it here: https://time-for-metal.eu/savage-beat-new-world-ep/

Savage Beat:
Yeah man! We saw it! Thanks! 9 out of 10 is not bad at all!!! Next time we’ll see if we can get 10/10 ;)))

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Last but not least, of course, the question of what I didn’t ask but you’re dying to tell our Time For Metal readers.

Savage Beat:
Take care, have fun, start a band! It only takes three chords…Thanks for the interview. If you want a copy of new world go to www.savagebeat.bandcamp.com or www.rebellionshop.com or https://shop.piratespressrecords.com/collections/lsm-vinyl and check out the great stuff they have there. We hope to see you all at a show soon!

Time For Metal / Norbert:
Thanks again for taking the time to feature you guys in my questions. We wish you all the best and I hope to see you again at a concert. Somewhere between Hamburg or the south of Denmark….