SOURCE – At what point did the scope of True Love come into full view? The pre-production demo or earlier?
Rob Franssen (Vocals) – Definately at the pre-production demo time . It has actually been the first time that we had so many songs already pre-produced including vocals at such an early stage in the process of writing the record. Writing a new frecord was pfretty hard at first due to circumstances, but once we got in the groove things started happening quick and pre-production was done in a good way. Pleasant experience.
SOURCE – Lyrically, where are you centered on True Love?
Rob Franssen (Vocals) – I would say more towards the personal. After years of soulsearching I felt some stuff had to be put on paper. Some of it became lyrics. Definately not all the lyrics are personal. There is a very socio-critical edge to lyrics like Bombs Away, End of the Line and Antitown, but the personal weighs in the heaviest on True Love.
SOURCE – How would you compare the period creating Dance with the Devil from the period creating True Love? Were different things informing the songwriting or the way you approached music?
Rob Franssen (Vocals) – I feel the whole process for DWTD was more compacted. A lot of songs were written in a short period of time. The vibe of the whole process wasn’t as good as it was with True Love. True Love was hard at the beginning but once the ball started rolling the vibe was very positive and natural. I think that shows especially in the music. I never wrote lyrics as easily for an album as for this one. Lyrics I personally hold dear and think are some of the best I wrote over the 22 years the band has been around. I, for myself approached it very naturally, it just came out. I know people always say that, but it really did.
SOURCE – Nowadays in every album the person responsible for the sound production is strongly mentioned especially when he is a known one. How important do you think is the producer to the sound of a band?
Rob Franssen (Vocals) – We recorded and mixed most of the music at Antfarm with Tue Madsen. After having done 2 albums with other people , I think we realized that Tue really has the best ear for what a BFP record should sound like. He gave us a signature heavines and aggresiveness over our 2nd-6th album and that is what really was part of what people really liked about us. It has not been different this time. He just knows best how to make us sound. So, is it important? For some bands more than for others. He is definately important to how we sound on cd.
SOURCE – How important are videos for Born From Pain? You already have two videos: New Beginnings and Antitown on Youtube. Could you tell us about it.
Rob Franssen (Vocals) – I like doing them. But I guess the foremost reason is that in this day and age having no videos means less presence. People are very visual. They need to be able to see something. Preferably moving images. We decided to do the Rebirt video very early on last year as a first video for a song off the album. Antitown we loved doing as a video because we had a story to tell of where this band comes from. The area has a story to tell and this band is part of that. New Beginnings was an inbetween release to keep the flow going. It came out cool for what it was but it was not a real VIDEO video. Still cool though. We just released True Love that I loved doing a lot because it is about my earliest love, my club. It is always nice to be able to tell the story to a song and visualize the lyrics and emotions. In that department I’m pretty proud of how both Antitown and True Love turned out.
SOURCE – Given the actual saturation of the hardcore scene, what do you think makes you stand as an act people would want to listen to and see live?
Rob Franssen (Vocals) – That’s a hard thing to say about yourself as a band. If I had to say something, I would say, tight live shows, always convinced and determinated about what we do and talk about. No matter on what label we were or what tour we played, we always stayed true to what we always were and always will be; an underround hc band that has never bent for anyone. Not musically, not lyrically and especially not in mentality and attitude.
SOURCE – This is 22 years for Born From Pain. What do you think or feel when you examine where your roots are and where you are now?
Rob Franssen (Vocals) – Still very closely connected. We played the most underground show last weekend for the release of True Love. We still play numerous songs off Reclaimng The Crown and Sands of Time live. We talk to people and drink with people. The fact that our hometown show was packed with so many old faces >I hadn’t seen in so many years that come out for us as well as the really yound , new kids makes me feel grateful and proves that this band doesn’t need to be afraid to have lost any connection to where we came from.
SOURCE – After all these questions I thanked the band for taking the time to participate in the interview and asked if they wanted to leave any final words.
Rob Franssen (Vocals) – Thanks you for the interview! Cool questions! Come see us live in 2019 and stream or pickup True Love somewhere. You won’t regret it!
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