Bacht'n De Vulle Moane Interview

 

1. For those who have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical project?

Bacht’n de Vulle Moane is Scum and A.A.K. (me). We’ve known each other for nearly 20 years through mutual friends, and in the Spring of 2024, all the elements fell into place when we were both looking to start a new project. We’re both big fans of raw black metal, krautrock and early electronic music, which is what brought us together. We have just released our debut, ‘Klaagrituelen’. It’s now available on tape via Haunted By Ill Angels and for digital download on Bandcamp.

2. You have a demo coming out later in December. Can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

Some people have called us a mixture of black metal and industrial music, although I’m not so sure our idea of old-school industrial music reconciles with the contemporary concept people have about industrial music. I like to describe our music as a combination of the feral intensity of black metal with the pulsating oscillations of analogue electronics. It’s aggressive, pounding and psychedelic. Listen to it and judge for yourself.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?

Our lyrics are mainly a reaction to our society and humanity as a whole. Clearly, we’re not happy with how things are going. The lyrics are not a reaction to specific events but more a critique of how things are dealt with from a social and moral point of view.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Bacht'n De Vulle Moane'?

Bacht’n de Vulle Moane means ‘behind the full moon’ in Westflemish, which is the dialect we speak where I live. It’s a tribute to two bands we both like a lot; Bak De Syv Fjell and The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud.

5. Can you tell us a little bit more about the sigils you added to the band logo?

Scum drew the logo in a creative stroke of genius. We had been playing around with different hand-drawn logos over the past few months, but not one really hit the spot until he suddenly came up with this one. He told me he doesn’t remember how he did it, it was just suddenly there. I get it; sometimes songs also happen like that; they just write themselves. Things just happen, and they don’t always need an explanation. Thank fuck for that.

6. How would you describe the artwork that is presented on the demo cover?

It’s a work adapted from Johannes Aarts, a Dutch artist from the early 20th century. He was a painter, but he also made some magnificent graphic art and woodcut prints that were full of symbolism. As with most art, it shouldn’t be explained; it should be experienced. I have a soft spot for early 20th-century art, especially graphic art.

7. Currently, there are only two members in the band. Are you open to expanding the lineup, or do you prefer to remain a duo?

We’re open to anything as long as it contributes creatively to the music. However, from experience, I think that having fewer people in a band results in more consistent creative output. We’re able to express ourselves freely with our current setup and abilities. As a two-piece, performing our music live is the only restriction we encounter, and it’s something we’re working on.

8. The band has a live show in February; what can we expect musically once you hit the live stage?

An aggressive wall of sound, that’s what you can expect. We’ll be playing our first gig with Serpent Mass and Shewolf in a local club. There’s a lot of preparation work that needs to be done. Basically, our music has been written and produced like an electronic music record. We didn’t consider live shows while producing the record, fully realising that we’d have to rearrange our music to be able to produce it live. So, right now, we’re working on new arrangements together with a sound engineer to make our performance as heavy and aggressive as possible. When we were talking about the experience we want to convey on our upcoming gigs, one band specifically came to mind: SWANS! They’re not a metal band, but in the more than 30 years we’ve been attending gigs, we have not seen a single heavy metal band putting down a heavier wall of sound than SWANS.

9. On a worldwide level, how have fans of black metal and industrial music reacted to your music?

At this point, our first release has only been heard by close friends (it will be released publicly in two weeks, on the 21st of December). Reactions range from extreme enthusiasm to indifference. We’re happy about the positive reactions we get, and we can understand the indifference in a music scene where people are flooded with new releases every hour. We hope our music makes a difference.

10. What is going on with Apovrasma, a solo project that shares a band member with your project?

 Apovrasma is Scum’s solo project. He has made a handful of releases in the past five year and is currently also working on new material. 

11. When can we expect a full-length, and where do you see the band heading musically in the future?

In this day and age, I honestly don’t see a difference between a demo, an EP or a full-length. We work on a series of songs that coherently fit together, and that’s a release to us. Whether it’s released on tape, vinyl, CD or streaming digitally makes no difference on whether it’s a demo or an album.

We do like physical releases, however, and we were very happy to hear that Haunted By Ill Angels wanted to release Klaagrituelen on tape. A vinyl version of Klaagrituelen was also on the way, but for reasons unbeknownst to us, the label that was going to release it ghosted us in the weeks running up to production.

As for new music, it’s in the making, but nothing useful can be said about it yet. We don’t have a master plan laid out in front of us.

12. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have influenced your music, and what are you listening to nowadays?

Our black metal influences are quite obvious, I think. We love the bands we grew up with as teenagers, such as Beherit, Ildjarn, Burzum, Sadistic Execution, Darkthrone and so on. It’s also no surprise that many of these bands also share a common influence of krautrock and early avant-garde electronic music–projects such as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Cluster, Neu, DAF, Front 242, etc. We love the meditative repetitiveness of simple yet effective riffs, the drive behind a motorik beat and the unpredictable timbre of analogue synthesis. Some recent bands I personally really enjoyed the past few years are Beak>, Minami Deutsch, The Serfs, Ruhr, Invunche, Lubbert Das, Wulkanaz, Abul Mogard, and many others.

 13. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thanks for your time. Check out bdvm.bandcamp.com.