1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band these days?
We’ve got 2 amazing tours coming up. First up is a UK tour supporting Marmozets, which are good friends of us (we toured together on the Feed The Rhino tour a couple of years ago). In April we’re touring with the legendary PRONG throughout whole Europe. Apart from those 2 tours, we’re not doing a lot of headlining shows, since all focus is on the fourth Steak Number Eight album. We are very busy writing the new album at the moment. On rehearsal days we rehearse about 6 to 8 hours non-stop.This in a garbage-filled room full of smoke, banana peels and beer cans. We only go out to take a piss. It’s going fine. We’re over halfway. At least we think we are cause we’re constantly changing riffs or song structures.
It takes a while but the final result will be amazing.
2.In 2013 you had released your last album, how would you describe the musical sound that was presented on that recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you had released in the past?
The main difference about ‘The Hutch’ and the other albums is the whole picture. ‘The hutch’ is musically one piece, one story, one plot comparing to ‘All is Chaos’.
All albums are different and written in a different time of our lives. ‘All is Chaos’ has been written in a chaotic period. After Brent’s brother passed away he started writing’ All is Chaos’. Songs like Black fall can perfectly describe this.
The hutch for instance is and album written more together although the main part is made by Brent. It has a specific sound, something organic/spacy. The drums are recorded much better and musically we are more developed. We experimented a lot more with different amps, mic’s and guitars. You want to get the sound in your head as close as that in real life.
3.The band has been around since 2005 but so far there has only been 3 full lengths, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap between releases?
The band started to play together at the age of 12. It was just messing around till stuff got serious in our country. At the age of 16 we won a battle of the bands in Belgium and released immediately after this ‘When the candle dies out’ (2008). So that was our first album. In 2011 we released ‘All is Chaos’ and 2013 ‘The Hutch’. We try to release a new album every 2 / 3 years.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
The subjects are about daily stuff. Good and bad things that happened. Those daily things are converted in riffs, melodie lines or vocals.
Whatever life brings us.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Steak Number Eight'?
Brent’s brother Thobias had a band called ‘Voidpoint’. Their singer Kenneth had made a song about his 8th girlfriend. ‘Steak number eight’ was the song called. At that time (age 12) we thought that was a cool name.
Thobias unfortunately died in 2005 at the age of 25 so to honor him, we kept the band name.
Steak number eight is a tribute name for Brent's brother. We now realise it might not be the best band name ever, and we get a lot of shit about it (“you will never be taken seriously with that kind of name”) , but when we tell the story behind it, people seem to respect and understand it more.
6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We played gigs like Graspop in front of 8000 people which was amazing. Some London shows were amazing too. Even pub shows where only 30 people go completely nuts are awesome. These are just a few that pop in my head right now but there’s loads more.
Stage performance: Sweaty, Dying, Sweaty. We go all the way and give it all we’ve got. Brent often has to puke right after a show because he pushed the envelope just a bit too far.
7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Yes we do!
As said befoe, we’re supporting our dear friends Marmozets in the UK the next couple of weeks. This is going to be amazing. Playing packed shows and be together with a band of the same nobhead level as we are.
And then there’s the Prong tour. This is our very first ‘big tour’ throughout Europe. Excited about this one for sure!
Hopefully loads of other tours are coming! We love support slots … seeing people’s faces when they first hear us live … seeing them becoming fans.
8.According to the Metal Archives page, the band is signed to EMI, can you tell us a little bit more about this deal?
Nah, we just signed a publishing deal with EMI Belgium for All Is Chaos. That office was shut down a couple of years ago, so now we’re just somewhere at the bottom of a pile of cd’s at some EMI Publishing Agent in the UK. We Are currently signed to Indie Recordings, which is awesome.
9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge metal?
There’s some nice feedback out there. It’s nice to read nice comments on last.fm or other music websites. It’s a huge compliment if people compare us to bands we love. It’s fun to read a comment from a Mexican or Australian fan begging us to come to their country. It would probably be a show for him and his friend, so we can’t make it happen for now of course … but maybe someday. Reaching fans globally is very difficult though.
10.When can we expect new material and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
The new stuff we’re writing is more psychedelic. We think more about how we’re going to bring our ideas to the people.
We hope we can play everyday in an other venue. Touring is what we love to do.
Our dream is to bring our music anywhere on this planet.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We like bands like Mastodon, Deftness, ISIS, Bongripper, YOB, … These are all obvious.
We also have influences like Mahavishnu orchestra, Death Grips, Elvis,…
There’s shitloads we listen to. Too much to write down. I could talk hours about it.
For the moment I’m listening to NIN (with teeth) Neurosis(time of grace), Paul Simon (Graceland).
Every week can be different. For instance I just had 3 weeks of Behemoth mixed with some catchy 80’s song ( Land of confusion- Genesis)
12.What are some of your non musical interests?
I personally am into fitness, good foods and the benefits that come with that. In weekends I love to drink local Belgian beers (they are the best) in a cool bar. :-)
I am very interested in World War I stuff and visit a lot of old battlefields and graveyards.
Brent recently hosted a couple of movie nights at his house. Watching Alien, Aliens and Alien3 with some friends on a big screen. Good times.
In general we like to hang out in our local bar “The Polka” in our hometown.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
You mention the word “wrap". I’m gonna grill some ground beef with spinach and put it in a tortilla wrap. Thanks for the idea!
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