Stereoboard Speak To Dutch Metallers Textures About Their 2011 (Interview)
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Written by Ben Bland
Within the cavernous confines of Manchester Academy, Stereoboard spoke to Textures guitarist Jochem Jacobs about the mutual love between the Dutch metal sextet and Taylor Swift…and other things…
Well, first of all, congratulations on the success of Dualism (released earlier in 2011), that record seems to have got a really good reaction on from a wider group of people than ever for you guys. How happy does that make you?
Well firstly we are very proud of the record because we worked very hard on the album. We are proud of the way we pulled it off as well. It was a struggle in a way and I think we faced more challenges than we had before an album. I mean, we are a band that had just lost not only our singer but our keyboard player as well just before the album came out so it was kind of difficult for us. We had to crawl our way back up to being able to make an album. We needed someone to sing on it for example! Playing shows was perhaps less challenging after the changes but getting back and making an album with the new line-up was something we had to prove to ourselves that we could do and I think we did very well and I think the reaction has lent merit to that view. To be honest though, the reaction is just like the icing on the cake. It vindicates our faith and commitment in our abilities but it is not define them.
You talked about the line-up changes there, would you say that had a major impact on the writing and recording of the album?
No, not really. I mean, because the album was already half written it did not have a massive impact on the writing so much. We knew what we wanted this album to be and where we wanted to take our music. A lot of the stuff was down and we were really convinced that we wanted to stay as we were in lots of ways. We did not want to abandon the things that made us what we are, that made us Textures. We did not want another guy to come in and just totally change the way we do things. We searched for people that fitted into the band…and we found them and the album went well.
You’ve just been on tour over in the US and now you’re back here over in the UK. It’s nice for UK metal fans because it feels like we don’t get to see you on our shores very often…
Well it’s good to be back! Although, to be fair I think, people say we haven’t played here for a while. We haven’t actually played very much the last few years, compared to how much we played the years before that perhaps. The other thing is that our territory is expanding, I guess. We now have more places in which we can go and play shows than we did a few years ago. I would not say that means we have ignored any places more but it does mean that, by necessity, we have had to find the time to play places we have not played as much in the past more. That does maybe have an impact on places we had played more regularly in the past. I mean we went out to India and played massive shows over there which was just amazing. We could not pass up the opportunity to do that over just doing another European tour you know?!
How do you find the comparison between playing here and playing in continental Europe, say…do you notice a major difference?
It is very different. I always think of the food first but the others tend to get bored of me going on about that. It is important though (laughs). I think the US is pretty different but the most different of all would definitely be India because that is so much of a cultural change…and I mean the fans are also pretty different. They are more excited in a way I guess because they do not have the same amount of shows over there as we have in Europe or there is in the US.
You’re quite a technical band in many ways. How do you go about writing such technical music yet retaining the sense of melody that I think you have always had present in your music?
Well I think the first thing you have to understand is that we don’t create music that is technical, as you say it, for the sake of it. We just play and then small ideas come out. We take those building blocks together, all of us. We mess things about until they are perfect (in bracket).
There has been a rise of more technically minded bands of late across the metal scene. How do you feel about the so-called ‘djent’ scene and do you perhaps get a bit frustrated by it? Because you’ve been doing this kind of music a lot longer than lots of other bands who have already achieved more than perhaps their due of success…
The way I see it is that we have got recognition for a decade now. We just do what we do. We don’t pay attention to what else is going on in a so-called ‘scene’ or anything. I mean, we did not invent the genre so we have no right for frustration I don’t think. There were bands like Botch and Dillinger before we came along. To be honest I don’t see this whole kind of ‘djent’ scene at all. I don’t think it’s a genre or a scene it’s just hype. Maybe in 2012 it will all disappear, this hype, I don’t know. I like the bands, don’t get me wrong. I like it when there is a lot of contribution to a genre because then it helps everyone work harder to progress and get better. The genre accelerates if you like. There’s just more flow of music and there’s more good music as a result I think.
Do you think technical skill is an important part, or should be an important part rather, of music, especially heavy music like metal?
We do not deliberately make music technical, as I said earlier. Our technical side is not über-technical you know. What I do think however is that if you make music more technical you can make it more interesting, in essence. You can hide things so that you can listen to something more times and hear new things, for example. We do not want to make the weirdest music ever. We do not want people to think we are all technical and no heart I suppose.
Talking of “weird music”…have you heard the Metallica & Lou Reed record?
I have not heard it yet…but I have heard that it sucks!
It really, really does. It is a horrible record and you should avoid listening to it if you can but it did prompt me to wonder that, if you guys could collaborate with a musician from outside the world of metal to make an album, who would you like to work with?
I don’t think it is really a very Textures thing for us to do that to be honest. That is really a difficult question actually. Help me out guys…
(Stef Broks, Drums): Well you really love Dolly Parton, don’t you Jochem?
Oh of course, I do love Dolly Parton but I mean that is just the production! Fitting Textures with Dolly Parton would probably not go so well. I think, in all seriousness, that probably the best thing to do would be to match Textures with maybe some minimalist classical composers and musicians maybe. I think that could produce something quite interesting perhaps. Then again we also found out the other day that Taylor Swift plays our music when she is in the studio. Isn’t that right?
(Stef): Yeah, I hear she loves it.
It was the other way round, sorry. We play Taylor Swift in the studio but I mean the assumption is that if we play her music when we are making a record then she must play ours when she makes hers…surely that makes sense right?
Obviously, because all musicians listen to each other right. In fact Textures and Taylor Swift would make quite a good headlining bill for a tour…
We could do with a number one hit first I think…to headline the venues she does…but yes, of course.
So the answer to the original question was actually Taylor Swift?
(Stef): Yes!
No! Dolly Parton!
“Dualism” is out now on Nuclear Blast Records.
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Well I think the first thing you have to understand is that we don’t create music that is technical, as you say it, for the sake of it. We just play and then small ideas come out. We take those building blocks together, all of us. We mess things about until they are perfect (in bracket). 
