Sacred Metal Page > The Interview-Section > Montany

Montany

1) Patrick, would you please first introduce the band to our readers.

We've got on drums John Brederode, on bassguitar we've got Strefan Brederode, on guitars there are Dirk Hoek and Albert Houwaart and of course me, Patrick van Maurik, for the vocals. We still have a vacancy for someone on keys!!!!

2) You play a very melodic but still powerful kind of metal, that does not really fit into current powermetal sub genres. What bands, artists, experiences do inspire you to unleash those melodies with balls from your creative minds?

There is a bit of all members in it for instance I very much like Crimson Glory, Queensryche. Albert is a big fan of Malmsteen, Vai and other guitar hero's, Dirk is a big fan of Iced Earth and Hammerfall. And we all very much like Helloween and Gamma Ray.

3) What is the scene like in Holland right now? Is there any place for a real powermetalband that does not wank off on neoclassical hyperspeed symphonic songs or thrash the hell out of the instruments?

The metal scene here is very poor, we have forgotten how to make Heavy Metal. There are a lot of metal bands but 99% of them are thrash, death or doom metal. I know only a handful of bands that play heavy metal, but times are changing I can see around us that there are more and more bands, especially the ones with very young members, who want to make music like Maiden or Helloween. So I think our timing couldn't be better, it's now or never for Dutch Metal.

4) When did Montany start to grow? What were your intentions when you started, was it for the fame, the girls, the parties or the deep love, passion and dedication you felt for the music?

The last week of December 7 copy's were send to Germany for some reviews, the reviews came in February and after that it all went very fast.

About our intentions, we were a little shit band from a small village in Holland. There hasn't been a metal band from Holland who has made a break through in the rest of Europe not even in Holland itself. So what were our intentions? Make music and be proud of the compositions we make, and hope and pray to get a gig somewhere in Holland.

5) Holland had a strong metalscene in the eighties, unleashing weirdo's like Angus, Hammerhawk, Emerald, Picture, Defender, Martyr, Vortex and Dark Wizard upon mankind. Do you feel related in any way to those forefathers of Dutch metal?

We still benefit from their achievements even if that was some time ago. We feel in a way related to them because we fight for the same believe, to spread the Dutch metal across Europe. But on the other hand we play a very different type of metal then those bands, therefore it's difficult to compare or relate ourselves with our “forefathers”. We have had contact with some of the bands through the “Heavy Metal Maniacs” they are a ever growing group of united metalheads who will see to it that Dutch metal will make it's come back. They do a lot of free publicity for the bands and are always on the look out for new talent, they were also responsible for getting us in contact with Germany, thanks a lot Stefan van Zijl and all other H.M.M..

6) So you have a record-deal right now, that's awesome. Was it hard to find the right company that would understand what you want to express with your music?

No absolutely not, February the review in “Heavy oder was” and March we had a deal from a label we could not resist, we had some other offers but this one was the one for us. At this moment we are talking about some minor details but I'm sure we can work this out.

7) So, like every Metalband has some nice gossip to spread, what were your strangest experiences as metalheads ever made? Any good stories left?

We entered a competition in Rotterdam and we played as second out of six. After exactly one song Dirk short circuited his Marshall amp. We had the choice either to stop playing or to let Dirk play together with Stefan on the Bass amp. We choose to continue playing, we had about ten minutes left and with a terrible sound we ended up 5 th . Three weeks later we were practising Dirk had a brand new Marshall amp(again). After one song there was a big flash of light and that was number two. About five weeks later we had a performance in Scum in our hometown Katwijk, after three songs again a big flash of light and amp number three went up in smoke. Dirk was, to put it mildly, a bit pissed. So now we always take a spare amp with us, just in case.