BANGKOK NIGHTS: New interview with INTERFECTORMENT (Lembang Death Metal, Indonesia)

Our second interview with Interfectorment (Lembang Death Metal)

Date: Monday 14 May 2018.

At: Jalan Cihampelas, Bandung

Interview with: Agung (guitar) and Teguh (bass)

Translation by: Teguh and Popo Puji (vocalist, Demons Damn)

Popo Demons Damn: Please tell us about your developments with the band…

Teguh Prasetyo: For now we have just finished recording for our new album – drum record and bass record. In next two weeks, we will do vocal recording. We wanted to do vocal this week. We had done some recording but we thought we needed more time to improve the vocals in the songs.

Kieran James: What is the meaning of the band name?

Teguh: It stems from two words in Latin: Interfectorem – meaning “murderer, killer” and torment as I just love that meaning. We mix the two words. We will torture you and kill you with our music. Agung [guitarist] is the founder of the band. We had the same band a long time ago – Opatan. It also comes from two words, O is the ring, the whole circle of life, and patan is the full circle of stars. The funny thing is that opatan in Sundanese language is “four people” and we are a band with four people of course. It is annoying and funny at the same time. Interfectorment first line-up was: Agung, Panji, Dendy; they needed a bass player and Agung only knows one bass player in the world and that is me [all laugh]. He does not know anybody else but me. All the members are from Lembang; Pedophila [band] is also from Lembang; only Dendy is from Parongpong.

KJ: What are Panji and Dendy doing now?

Agung Prasetia (guitarist): Panji is studying in college now and is very busy with study. Dendy became a truck-driver and has a car-selling family business he must run.

KJ: They must have been young in 2011 when they started Pedophilia…

Teguh: Yes, they were still in high-school. The first line-up of Interfectorment did not stay too long. Panji became a soccer athlete. He was still in high-school when we started Interfectorment. He was quite a good soccer player. He played in the high-school team. He could not play with the band anymore. We had Dendy ask Bayu to join as vocalist (from Pulverized). We made our first single with him. After that we did our album with him too. The line-up was Dendy, me, Agung, and Bayu.

But, in early 2014, Bayu and Dendy left the band because of their work schedules. But, luckily for us at the time, we had Endep as our drummer. We continued using an additional vocalist until 2016.

In 2015, at Bangcock Death Fest, we met with Deddy and asked him to become our vocalist. We were waiting for his answer for several months and finally he agreed to join us.  Deddy is an ex-member of Asphyxiate. After that we stayed with the same members until now.

KJ: Tell me about the experience of BangCock Death Fest…

Agung: Surprised; happy, new experience. It was a dream come true for us that we can play abroad, following on from Jasad, Bleeding Corpse, and Turbidity. We did not expect to be able to play there.

KJ: How did they know about Interfectorment?

Teguh: Bangkok people have a great interest in collecting Indonesian Death Metal music. They will search for new bands and pick bands from there. Bangkok had a big influence on many bands from Bandung and Indonesia.

KJ: How do you communicate with the people there?

Teguh: We never really communicated with them until two months before the gig. Then we started to communicate. The good part of learning a foreign language is so that we can communicate with them; English language is the most important language in the world. On the first day in Bangkok, Agung could not talk in English; but, on the second day, his mouth was overflowing talking for himself. When I woke up he was talking English with Thai people.

Popo: So we must send Daniel to Bangkok, yes?

Teguh: He was just learning in one day. The people in Bangkok are very nice to us; they really support their scene and their movement.

KJ: How many people in the crowd?

Teguh: Total was about 150, more or less, when I asked the promoter. It was indoors in a rock pub.

KJ: How was the crowd different from an Indonesian crowd?

Daniel Turbidity: In Bangkok it is purely people from the community.

KJ: Because it is not a trend.

Teguh: Yes, so they are watching and observing us very seriously when we play. After this, they go crazy like any other gigs. The crowd is mostly older guys like from 20 and upwards. We don’t see any teenagers unlike here.

KJ: So, in the band history, what comes next?

Teguh: We got our vocalist Deddy. We made a new single in 2016. We can say that now we have a different approach to the music compared to before. We have changed.

KJ: How did you change?

Teguh: I think we became more aggressive and we don’t give a fuck about everything; we just want to be ourselves. I think we became more extreme than before. This is not because we want to sound more extreme; it is simply because that is who we are now.

KJ: Tell me about going to Bekasi to record…

Teguh: First we did the drum recording at Extend [Extend Studio in Ujung Berung]. Our drummer is from Bandung but he works in Cirebon. But, for the guitar and the bass, we recorded in Bekasi because we wanted our vocalist to be involved too in the making so we have more experience in the recording.

KJ: Did it cost more to record in Bekasi?

Teguh: It is the same; it really feels like home; it has kitchen, it has bedroom. We can cook for ourselves, it is cheaper; a lot of friends came, it was really fun (Apache Studio). I met Josh Asphyxiate in the process of recording. He planned to hike to the mountain with the owner of Apache Music Studio. We had a chat then they must leave to hike in the mountains.

KJ: Are there any guest musicians on the album?

Agung: No, we don’t have any guest musicians. We are just trying to be us for the album. What is the point if we cannot show what we want to show in the music? For this album we don’t want to use guest musicians as we are afraid it will change something in our music.

KJ: Have you got ten (10) new songs ready with the titles?

Teguh: We are including only seven (7) songs; we have the album title already; we are just waiting for the artwork and the vocal recording.

KJ: Did people get a shock when you were invited to play in Bangkok?

Teguh: We were shocked too, you know? We don’t know why we have a chance to play in Bangkok as we think many bands are better than us. It shocked us and we think it shocked people too. We dream to play our music overseas but we did not dream it would happen that soon.

KJ: Do you think you got more respect from people here when you came back?

Popo: Of course. Many people wanted to learn more about their band.

Teguh: Maybe.

Popo: That is true, we know, people were doing that. Some people who did not know about you wanted to find out about you.

Teguh: We became headliners.

Popo: It is different than before, in people’s sight.

KJ: Are you in Digging Up now?

Teguh: Yes.

KJ: Tell me how you joined, left, and joined?

Teguh: Agung joined first as second guitar player; Ale left Digging Up and so Agung came up again with the same idea as before. He did not know any bass player, as before, so he asked me to join Digging Up as bass player. We still live near each other and he often comes to my place.

Popo: Agung feels comfortable with you so wherever he goes he chooses you.

KJ: So why did you leave the first time?

Teguh: I forget, I think in 2016. Agung was still in Digging Up. After several months, Agung left Digging Up. Then, after several conversations (Agung and I were still good friends with Digging Up), they asked me again to join Digging Up. So I joined again with Digging Up. I think I left in 2016 and Agung in 2017.

KJ: So Digging Up is just four members now?

Teguh: Digging Up just have four members and Agung is with Stigmatuary.

KJ: How do you like playing with Dedra?

Teguh: I learned a lot of things from Dedra, including attitude and music. He is a really good friend. I am comfortable playing with him.

KJ: So you will leave Digging Up again?

Teguh: Maybe yes, maybe no; I don’t know [laughs].

KJ: Did you play overseas with Digging Up?

Teguh: Yes, when Agung and I were still in Digging Up, we played in Thailand and Malaysia.

KJ: Did you play in Bangkok first with Interfectorment or Digging Up?

Teguh: Digging Up played three months after Interfectorment.

KJ: Did they know about Digging Up because of you and Agung?

Teguh: No, they wanted Digging Up to play in Bangkok first but, because of some reason, Digging Up could not play at that time so Interfectorment played first. Finally, they knew Digging Up and Interfectorment had common members when we went over to play.

KJ: Why do you think Digging Up had success recently?

Teguh: I don’t know about how much success we have but what matters is that we can play our songs and meet with all of our friends. That is what makes our gigs so fun. They are a band who tries to stay humble. Before Agung and I joined Digging Up, we knew Digging Up as a humble band. We don’t want that to change.

Popo: Do you feel you are part of Bandung Death Metal Community?

Teguh: Yes, the BDMC embraced us and are holding us. We are just hanging out together like this.

Popo: How do you feel about the community and what are you expecting from this community?

Teguh: It feels like a family, like they are my brother and my sister. They are always helping and guiding me and always become friends who are fun to hang out with. What I expect from the community is that we will stay like this, the family feeling, and we can make something again. It’s not that we are doing nothing but I really want something like Bandung Death Fest happening again, an underground fest that becomes a catalyst for a lot of things in our country. In our part of the world, you can find Death Metal in the mainstream; that is what is great about Bandung Death Metal Community, we can do it again.

KJ: I remember, at a show in Soreang countryside cancelled by police in April 2012; eight (8) out of ten (10) people in the teenaged crowd were wearing Undergod shirts, it was amazing.

Teguh: Really amazing; that is what we are capable of doing and I hope we can do it in the future.

Popo: I know Deddy is not from Bandung. When you must rehearse, do you go to Bekasi or he comes here?

Teguh: We only do full line-up rehearsal if we have gigs to play or we have time to go to Bekasi or Deddy comes here. If we play we will do a practice with full line-up whether it is in Lembang, Bekasi or Bandung. Usually we practice in Bandung in Pieces Studio.

Popo: Why do you choose Deddy? He is from Bekasi. Are there no good vocalists in Bandung?

Teguh: Yes, there are so many but people we have worked with (such as Glenn and Andri Gila) have more than one band. This is why we don’t ask them to be permanent members. It is hard for a vocalist to have more than two active bands.

Popo: There are good vocalists in Bandung but they have more than one band?

Teguh: Yes. They always have a band. It is very hard to find a good vocalist without a band. If we had met Bobby first at the time we might have asked Bobby to join. We think Bobby and Deddy are at the same level; Bobby had Bleeding Corpse before; Deddy had Asphyxiate before. They are both our inspiration. We would have asked Bobby first if he had been available. We think our decision is great. We have our vocalist Deddy who changed our music to become really us. Bobby joined Turbidity and made Turbidity something I liked more than before. It is a really win-win situation.

Bobby, Daniel Turbidity, Kieran James, Agung, Teguh

Daniel Turbidity: When will Teguh be married and what happened with the garbage can?

Teguh: I will get married when the time has come. About the garbage can, I had not drunk any alcohol for about one year but, as you know, Turbidity has a really good drinking habit; and Daniel really forced me to drink at Turbidity anniversary. Daniel says this anniversary will not happen every day. So I just drunk two cups of liquid and I puked in the trash can. I realized that, before I puked, that I must find the most hidden trash can I can find. They know the story but they never saw the fact! Let me say it: Fuck Turbidity; they can change my habit in one day.

Popo: When will you have a long hair?

Teguh: In the beginning of my musical journey I had really long hair; it nearly reached my butt but I did not maintain the hair very well. The hair fell out through the front so I decided to completely remove my hair. I will grow my hair someday if I can grow it. All the legendary bands have a member with very little hair such as Slayer, Death, and Suffocation. So this is my plan to be a legend!

Popo: That’s your alibi.

KJ: Message for the fans?

Agung: Don’t forget to eat.

Teguh: You can like us or hate us but we don’t really care. What matters for us are our friendships.

*****END OF INTERVIEW*****