Hello guys. Please give us a short introduction to BORN FROM PAIN and it’s band members.
Hey, how’s life? Well, Born From Pain has been around since 1997 and we’re playing a crushing mix of hardcore and metal. We’ve released 3 albums, the latest one being “In Love With The End’ which actually came out yesterday. We’re a touring machine and have toured with the likes of Biohazard, Hatebreed, Agnostic Front, Madball, Terror, The Promise as well as playing numerous festivals such as With Full Force and Furyfest to mention just 2 and we’ve also done a fair few headline tours/shows. There are 5 band members who are Che – Vocals, Rob – Bass, Stefan – Guitar, Roel – Drums and I’m Karl and I play guitar.



BORN FROM PAIN is often considered of being the European equivalent to HATEBREED. What do you think of theses comparisons?
Being compared to a band like Hatebreed is always a complement and I think we do have our similarities, in that we both write crushing music and that we both work very hard amongst other things, but I don’t think we really sound like Hatebreed. Because we write heavy music and have devastating guitars along with pummeling drums that are coupled with vocals that are strong and anthemic a lot of people always say that we’re the European Hatebreed. To me, that’s pretty lazy and I think if people really listened to the music a little more, they would actually see that the comparisons aren’t as straight forward as they make out to be. I think “In Love With The End” highlights this even more. I can never imagine Hatebreed writing a song like “Hour Of The Wolf” or “Raging Heart” or having some of the solos or melody that we have on this album. To say we sound like Hatebreed to me, is to say that we sound like Chimaira or sound like Heartowrk era Carcass or Killswitch Engage. I mean, none of those bands sound the same, but they have similarities and that’s the way I see it with Hatebreed and us and we have as much in common with those bands above as we do with Hatebreed.



BORN FROM PAIN started pretty early mixing brutal NY hardcore with metal. What do you think about this booming metalcore trend in hardcore music?
The boom is only really because there are a lot of really good bands out there and the media sees how many people are into it. Its that simple and no doubt it will change in a year or 2 when the media finds something else to latch onto, the next big trend as it were. For the time being though, it’s a really positive thing, and its giving a lot of bands great exposure that they deserve. Theres always a chance of overkill when something like this happens, but I’m a firm believer that the best bands will always shine through.

"In Love With The End" is going to hit the stores in April. What in your opinion are the differences to "Sands Of Time"? you are definitely sticking to the typical BFP sound.
Yeah, the new album was actually released yesterday which is awesome. I’m totally psyched on the new album. I think that “In Love With The End” is quite a lot different from “Sands of Time”, but as you say it’s definitely still Born From Pain. I think we’ve managed to evolve and improve what our formula for the band is an awful lot with “In Love With The End”, but never lose site of what is Born From Pain. The way I see it, compared to “Sands Of Time”, “In Love With The End” is a much more diverse record and not as straight forward, there is a lot more going on both in the music and in the vocals. The new album for me has way more hooks and catchy parts than previous albums and also has a lot more melody too. There are songs on this album that might surprise people too, such as “Hour Of The Wolf” and I think that’s a good thing in an album, but even that song, which people may say is not a typical Born From Pain song, sits very comfortable as a Born From Pain song and really adds to what we’ve done. It’s still pretty straightforward and I think that the songs on “In Love With The End” stick out more as songs. There are more solos on this album and I think Stefan did a great job of writing the solos and doing something interesting and different with each of them which totally add something extra to the song rather than just being there for the sake of being there. The production is also a lot better and whilst the production on “Sands Of Time” was devastating, I think “in Love With The End” is even more immense than ever before and it really pummels your ears. It’s so damn heavy and I love it. I’m pretty sure a typical Born From Pain fan will love it and that it will also appeal to a lot of other people too.



"Sands Of Time" lyrically dealt a lot with the end of time, the apocalypse. "In Love With The End" seems to take a similar approach. Where do you see differences in terms of your lyrics?


Well, Rob writes all the lyrics for Born From Pain, so I don’t think that I can really write a lot between the difference between lyrics for “Sands of Time” and “In Love With The End” although when I’ve read lyrics for “Sands Of Time” I don’t see things just about the apocalypse, but with “In Love With The End” Rob definitely has more of a theme or concept for the lyrics which is dealing with the end, although I wouldn’t say it has to do with an apocalypse, although that is the impression people may get from the nuclear explosion on the front cover. “In Love With The End” is more about being in a process of doing something that you know leads to bad effects or outcomes and not doing anything about it, or not being able to do something about it. The whole idea deals with this kind of thing on a whole global level from the environment to politics to what is going on in your own personal life. It’s very much a state of mind thing in knowing you’re doing damage, but not changing what you’re doing, even though you know what the outcome will be and that’s why we used the image of a nuclear explosion on the front. That is kind of the ultimate projection of what could happen and even though we know what the results would be, we’d still do it. There are moments that deal with a more positive message though such as “Raging Heart” which urges you to seize the day and not let opportunities pass you by. Life is for living, so you should take advantage of that. I think “In Love With The End” is a very fitting title for how some people live though and for how we may be heading as a species.



You’ve got a new drummer, are you happy with the new band member, and is he?


Yeah, we’ve had Roel in the band now for just over 8 months, its amazing how time flies, and he’s doing a great job. We’re really happy with him and he’s a great addition to the band as he’s a great drummer and an awesome person. He fits in very well with us personality wise and that’s always a plus obviously. He had a very busy time in the initial four months or so as he had to learn around 15 songs for the few shows we had left in 2004 from Septemebr onwards as wella s learning the songs we were writing for “In Love With The End” and obviously drumming them on the album. It was a lot of hard work for him, but he’s done great. As for whether he’s happy with us, you’d have to ask him hahaha, but I definitely think he is. He fits in great and we’re having a good time.



You just signed a deal with Metal Blade, what do you expect from it and why did you leave GSR?
Well, we left GSR because we want to grow and reach more people than ever before and we got to that stage where in order to do that we had to release our new album with a bigger label. GSR is an awesome label and is growing at a phenomenal rate, but we felt that with the offers we were getting from various labels of a much bigger size, that now would be the right time to make that move and see what level we can reach. In all honesty I’m not really sure what to expect and nothing comes to anybody without a lot of hard work. All I know is that both band and label will be working as hard as possible to push Born From Pain to a higher position and to reach as many people as possible.



You seem to have become good friends with TERROR and they took you on tour through the US. Tell us something about it.
Yeah, we’ve known those guys for quite a while now, although Rob has known Scott for an awful long time, since his days with Feeding The Fire and from when Scott was in Despair I think, so there has always been that contact there for sure. Well, Terror are an awesome band and awesome dudes. We brought them over for our release shows for “Sands Of Time” a couple of years ago and we’ve all hit it off, as bands and as people. Musically, we both dig each other and we all get on really well as people too. They took us on tour on the West coast in early 2004 which was an awesome experience. The shows over there for us were unreal. We weren’t too sure what to expect, but at every show there was a response, kids moshing, diving, singing along etc. It was really good for us and even better to do it with a band like Terror. It was a really good experience and I’m sure it’ll be repeated again soon.



How did you overall experience touring the States in 2004?
Amazing. We all had a blast. Like I said, we weren’t too sure what to expect, but it definitely exceeded what I thought would happen. Some of the shows were pure carnage for us and kids really seemed to be into us. Its just really nice to go half way around the world and play to a ton of new people and see that they know the songs, the lyrics, that they’re moshing etc. It’s a great feeling to see that from the stage anywhere we play obviously, but when you’re on the other side of the world and not sure how people will react at all, and they go nuts, it’s a great feeling. Its definitely been one of the highlights of my life.



At your shows there is a hell lot of violence in the pit. Does this has to be like this because your music is really aggressive and violent or do you prefer “happy banging”?


I think it has definitely to do with the aggression of the music and people see moshing as a good way to let out their aggression and frustration as well as just enjoying themselves too, although it looks like a huge brawl from the stage it’s just kids having fun and having their release. It’s always a great sight to look out from the stage when I’m playing and seeing kids going crazy and when you see that happening when you’re palying it just fuels me even more onstage, but I also get the same reaction to seeing kids headbang or whatever. When you see the crowd respond in anyway its always a good feeling and a sign that they’re into it. Sometimes we’ve played places or to people where they might not know our music like a fan would as such and you look out and they’re all banging their heads with the groove and that’s an awesome feeling, being able to see that they’re into what you’re doing even though they don’t know the music, so whilst seeing a pit open up and kids moshing like crazy, diving or singing along etc, the lighter side of playing a show is also a good thing too and is often the way you make new friends. The worst thing would be to see people stare at you blankly and have no motion or feeling of the music at all, but thankfully we don’t get that kind of response.

What can we expect from BORN FROM PAIN except from touring a lot?


Well, you said it, touring and a lot of it. The new record is out, so basically its time to hit the road, which we’ll be doing on the 28th April as we start a headline tour across Europe hitting over 10 countries and finishing at the end of May. We’re taking our good friends and an aweosme band, Zero Mentality with us and its gonna be a lot of fun. Hopefully kids will have picked up the new record by that time and they’ll be into the new songs too. People can check out tourdates on www.bornfrompain.com and I think there is around 9 shows in germany or something. We’re also gonna be going to the UK in June and playign a few festivals including the Summer Breeze and pressure fest amongst other festivals in Europe. We’re also going to be looking at going to the States at some time in the near future, but that’s all still in the planning stages. So yeah, lots of touring. Other than that, the video for “Rise Or Die”, which is the first song on the album should be hitting heavy music shows all over Europe in the next week or 2, so people should keep their eyes open for that.



Thank you very much for your time, do you have any final comments?
Thanks a lot for the interview ands support, its much appreciated. If you like crushing hardcore with a sharp metallica twist then you should pick up our new album “In Love With The End” which is in stores now. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed and you should also come and check us out on tour too, so check our site for dates. Also, people should listen to or go see Rise & fall, that band kills.