Huge thanks to Herlaka from Kovenant Rose Promotions (USA) for doing this interview with Raspatul!
1. How does the process for you start in writing lyrics for a song?
- Regarding writing lyrics, I am not the best person to ask because I do not interfere with the lyrics as far as Raspatul goes. And the person that can answer your question is no longer on Earth. Our singer Ayim passed away in a tragic motorcycle accident 2 years ago and he was only 23 years old. But the usual formula for us writing a song is pretty much a common one, the music would definitely come first, and once the music is more or less structured, Ayim would start on writing the lyrics and it is very important that the singing progression has to suit each riff in the song. Ayim took a lot of pride in that, and we also felt that he was an awesome singer/screamer. I can say that most the lyrics he wrote was definitely on the darker side of things and the things that evolved around the world and how felt about them.
2. Do you prefer to stay underground with your band or want to be more known in the DEATH*BLACK* METAL world?
- Well we haven't really thought much about whether we will stay true to the underground or be in the 'real' Death Black Metal world, so to speak. I feel that it's just a fine line between the 2 denominations, if you ask me. With enough promotion and exposure, and of course, quality playing and songwriting, a band would definitely catch some serious attention. Basically, we just do what we have continued to do with Raspatul and we had been doing the same style of music for the past 10 years or so, and we are not exactly going to compromise for anything else. In fact, with the past 4 to 5 years, I have been constantly doing promotion for Raspatul and I think all that hard work had finally paid off, with really positive reviews, compilation participations, and having some good labels to distribute our music a while back.
3. How does the area embrace your band when on stage playing?
- Singapore is a very small country, and in fact, you can actually call it a small island. So the Metal scene in general is very small as well, and almost everyone knows every band in some ways or another. Raspatul always get pretty good response whenever we play live shows, and we are very energetic when playing live, so that does make the crowd even more adrenaline-charged. But to be honest, Raspatul had always been a band that is both unique, and at the same time, we are pretty much low profile in our area. I guess we have the attitude that we believe in what we do, and not let the others affect us. We seemed to be pretty much neutral in the Metal scene here, and we try to stay away from the usual gossips and rumours happening around. Music definitely comes first for Raspatul.
4. Spread the word on what your slicing up for the future as far as your band.
-Sad to say, Raspatul is officially dissolved this year, due to fact that it was impossible to find a replacement singer for Raspatul. Ayim was the singer from the first day and all of us grew up and improved as musicians together as a band. We were actually due to record our full length album just 2 weeks after Ayim passed away. We got on with the recording, but eventually we came out of the recording studio with nothing. It was just insane to go through the recording when our singer just passed away a week before. We weren't mentally ready, and till this day it is still the same. So the 3 of us decided that it was time to move on, and lay Raspatul to rest. Bad news aside, I have found Obskure Sombre Records from Canada to sign us to release an album of our old material all the way till 2004 and it will be entitled 'Devils In Renewed Birth'. James Murphy (Death, Obituary, Testament, and Disincarnate) will be handling the mastering for our CD and it is such a huge honour for someone like James Murphy to be involved in the end-production process. The artwork and layout of the CD was done by my very good friend Tomas Andersson from Sweden, who used to be from the now-defunct Thrash Metal band Denata. Tomas was recently involved with the artwork for the upcoming Malevolent Creation DVD, so do keep a look out on that as well. Pre-orders for the Raspatul CD will be available on the label soon, please check out our label's website at www.obskure-sombre.tk or www.myspace.com/obskuresombrerecords