IMP started their first tunes in the city of Rotterdam in December 1996. They
were just a guitarist, bass player and drummer at the time looking for a singer
The singer started practising with the band in January 1997, so only a month
later. Each member in IMP lives somewhere else in Holland. We now have a different bass player since 1999 and an extra guitarist since a couple of months.
Traditional question! How did it all started and what does IMP really mean?
Guitarist Fred and the bass player at that time where in a Punk band together and wanted to start a Metal band, they wanted to play Hardcore Metal Crossover like for example''The Crumbsuckers''. The bass player left the band, because it became more and more a real Metal band. So Gerard come to play the bass. Singer Monica and drummer Matthijs were already in the band at that time. IMP is an English word meaning something like devil or demon or evil elf, the Dutch word might be'duveltje'!
What is the intention to set up a Metal band? Any ambitions?
Yes, to play as many gigs as possible, anything, anytime, anyplace.
Can you give a discription af what kinda band IMP are?
IMP plays Power / Thrash Metal with some influences of Heavy Metal and other music. Great throbbing guitar riffs, six string bass play, drums with lots of variety, clean Heavy Metal vocals and sometimes grunts. the songs just sounds great, if i may say so.
Which influences are markable in the music you made , why this ones?
I guess influences from bands such as Slayer, Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Agent
Steel and Nevermore are evident, but we don't sound like any of the bands i mentioned.
A female singer in a Metal band! Since how many years are you hooked up in that scene?
I started singing in IMP in 1997, when i was 19 years old. I've been listening to all kinds of Metal since i was about 16. IMP was my first band. I've done some other stuff on the side as well, like almost every member in the band.
Was it the meaning to set up a band with a female singer or not?
No, it wasn't anyway! The guys were just looking for a singer. I happened to be the first one they phoned from some add i had placed.
I've heard some tunes on the IMP website which are good sounded eighties Metal influenced music. Are the 80's Metal scene important ? Why?
Yes and no. For example, Fred grew up listening to eighties Metal, and we all love to listen to it, but it's more of importance than, today's Power Metal or Thrash, or just any other stuff we like.
IMP features young aged members i guess! From where the passion for an older kinda Metal style?
Ha, i take it you mean young at heart? We differ in age a lot. Our oldest mem- ber is 37, the youngest is me, i'm 25 years old. We all like to listen to different kinds of music, but this kind of metal just comes out when we play and it feels right!
Let's talk about the releases so far and what is coming up? A full length CD?
We've done some demo's in 1997 and 1998 with our old bass player, but they sounded terrible. When Gerard joined the band we recorded a demo with 9 tracks on it, entitled''Stillborn'', of which the quality is much better ! We have just finished recording a brand new mini album. It will be called ''Ashes In The Hourglass'' and there are 5 tracks on it: Successors, Demise Of Man, The Last Descendant, The Great Arrival and Onslaught. The CD can be bought through our website!
How's the reponse from the audience during a live concert?
Pretty good so far. We like to run up and down stages and really involve the audience in what we do. We are there to entertain and it is our job to make them have a great time. I think maybe in that matter we are influenced by the great ones of the 80's Metal scene, because a lot of bands just stand there and try to look control, but we try to have fun and give a good performance.
Well, i hope everything going great in the future and if you have any closing
comments to our readers, go ahead Monica!
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to introduce ourselves! Good luck with your website, it's looking great, by the way. Keep banging your heads, keep rocking. See ya somewhere down the road !