Interviews: Fragmentum

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the  Melodic Death Metal band, Fragmentum from Belgium. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?

We wanted to have a band name which can withstand in the metal scene, easily to pronounce, easy to be remembered but also containing some solemnity and space for interpretation as we see our music this way too. We came up with Fragmentum as we think that making music is trying to put all the little pieces (fragments) together which results in something bigger.

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

I think the things that we write are a mixture of our own musical backgrounds and our skills on guitar. Writing music is much more than playing notes in sequence. Thinking things over and over and trying it on other instruments, searching for the good vibe and putting your soul in it. In my case it’s not a matter of wanting to become kind of genre, but just writing, breathing, listening, living metal music. In the end we choose together for the songs that have enough Fragmentum feeling and go on with them.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

As a kid, I was a fan of the ancient Bellator, which performed on regular basis in the ‘90s and knew Gunnar as one of their guitar players. Later on our paths crossed in musical projects like Mental Shadow and Octahedron. Not losing our musical spirit and finetuning our way of working made that we started this new project Fragmentum somewhere in 2015.

4. Each band member favourite band?

Jan I’m not really into this choosing just one favourite band, but I want to honour Alexi Laiho as one of my major inspirations of all time and want to go for Children Of Bodom! Gunnar Indeed difficult … in my case it was Chuck Chuldiner who inspired me and not only on guitar. A metal icon, but so down to earth when you talked to him. So I’d go for Death. Paul My favourite band is Gojira. I discovered them piece by piece a few years ago. Music this heavy was new for me and it took me quite a long time to get used to it. Right now, I'm still listening to them. Gojira is heavy, refreshing, creative and their songs give me goosebumps all the time. The band also protests against cutting down important forests, pollution etc. I love nature and exploring so this band is just perfect for me.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

In my case writing songs start by having musical ideas in general, writing them down in a DAW, working it out on drums, bass, guitars and keys to a complete song and thinking about lyrics that could work on this. Mostly I try to imagine some weird or dreadful situation where I need to get out in some manner. For this album the main inspiration is the Mayan culture as I became intrigued by their ruins in Copan Honduras. Of course reading The Popul Vuh and other literature was needed to have enough background information to write lyrics for 12 songs. 

6. Where was your last gig?

The last gig we played at the Underworld, Camden London together with Annihilator.

7. Where would you like to act?

We did a tour in US (7 shows) and performed in Germany (2 shows), France (2 shows) and Uk and all shows were well received by the audience, although we noticed kind of local differences. Wanting to explore more we were looking further to do our next tour and had an opportunity to join a band who did an amazing tour playing in the capitals of all European countries and some other big cities. Unfortunately this could not take place due to the Corona virus, but ever since this kind of tour is at our bucket list. Also playing at some metal festivals would be a dream come true. We’ll just see what the future brings, but being on stage is kind of a virus too ;-) 

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

There are many bands we are appreciating for what they do and every day we listen to their music, but if we overlap our most favourite bands we would like to tour with, we end up with Amorphis, Crematory, In Flames, Dark Tranquility

9. Whom not?

We don’t have negative experiences with other bands and we’re open minded, so this question is irrelevant for us.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

Gunnar: I don’t think anyone of us ever suffered from this. We still encounter some adrenaline before every gig and think this is needed to stay focussed. Be well prepared could be a tip and know that at every gig something doesn’t go the way you want.

Jan: Standing at the backstage just before your show is a strange feeling, but you know you just have to go for it. For me it is an innermost moment with the other band members and I need to feel kind of trust/superbia from them to perform at my best. This kind of understanding is the thing you need to find as a band and the rest will flow from it!

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Fragmentum is in our opinion not fitting in just one metal subgenre, because it is mainly a mix of different experiences and backgrounds of two musicians. Just as an example: having a talk with a friend of mind we came up with Equilibrium, which is a German symphonic folk metal band. From that moment I’m listening to all their albums and I’m really into it for the moment. Looking again for the overlap of inspiring bands to ours we can mention In Flames, Dark Tranquility, Amorphis, Enshine, Crematory, Children Of Bodom, Borealis, Carcass, Dark Water, Dimmu Borgir, Dream Theater, Duskmourn, Evergrey, Falkenbach, Hypocrisy, Insomnium, Kalmah, Kampfar, Katatonia, Manegarm, Mastodon, Mercenary, Metallica, Moonsorrow, Moonspell, Mors Principium Est, Naildown, Nevermore, Nighwish, Norther, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Primordial, Rotting Christ, Samael, Satyricon, Scar Symmetry, Sepultura, Seventh Wonder, Shylmagoghnar, Skyfire, Solefals, Soen and many others.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

It wasn’t really a question, but a fan told us she was pissing her pants seeing us after the show and then she did something weird in front of our eyes.

13. What do you think of your fans?

We think they are amazing! They support us and therefore we are planning some great stuff for them. We are curious how they will react to it. More on this on our website, socials & clans.

14. What do you think of our site?

It’s a great spot to find back info about a lot of (unknown) bands and we’re glad we are added.

15. Something to add?

We are planning live gigs and trying to set up a little tour for beginning of next year. We started rehearsing (Covid style) and are starting to build an interactive show.